The Ganzfield Experiment, I just put myself through sensory deprivation, here's what happened.
So I just spent four hours with my head phones on listening to the static sounds from an old TV, with a piece of red plastic bag tied over my eyes.
Ganzfield Phenomena
I have not gone mad, at least I don't think I have. I was attempting to recreate the ganzfiled procedure.
The ganzfield procedure was basically a sensory deprivation experiment developed by psychologist Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930's and later modified by William G Braud and Charles Honorton to be used in parapsychology.
Sensory deprivation has been said to bring about altered states of mind or deeper levels of consciousness, hallucinations or visions, and has seemingly been used as a tool for gaining wisdom and insight for a very long time. Ancient Greeks such as Pythagoras would hang about in caves to cause sensory deprivation for the purpose of divination.
The word ganzfield is translated from German as 'complete field' and the ganzfield phenomena happens when a complete field such as the field of vision is without any discernible structure and then after some time the brain essentially begins to add structure into that field.
The Apparatus
Traditionally the removal of structure from the visual field is accomplished by taping half a ping-pong ball over each eye, I didn't have a ping-pong ball to hand so instead I cut an eye mask from a piece of foam.
A red light bulb illuminates the room in the original method, I didn't have one to hand so I cut a red plastic bag to secure the mask and provide a pinkish hue to my visual field.
White noise is played through headphones to remove structure from the audio field, I found white noise audio on youtube.
So I strapped on my ganzfield mask, stuck on my head phones, and lay down on my bed waiting for the magic to happen
Here I am donning my ganzfeid mask, I'm ready to see into the future and gain deep wisdom!
The Experiment
So there i was laid down, slightly apprehensive about the reports of hallucinations but excited to see if I had any psychic visions and mostly just interested to observe whether there were any dramatic changes in perception.
The first thing I noted was that after about ten minutes it was difficult to tell if my eyes were open or shut, then, all of a sudden, I fell asleep. It had been a long day so I had a nap for about 30 minutes.
I awoke slightly startled, removed the apparatus and made a coffee. I moved into a sitting position in front of the window to allow a little more light to filter through the mask and turned up the white noise sound, I started the test again.
This time round despite a very brief break to the lavatory, I sat for about three and a half hours straight with the mask on, my eyes open and white noise filling my ear canals.
The Results
The first three hours of this experiment yielded nothing I would deem extraordinary.
There was a shift in my state of being. Pictures did appear within my minds eye which could be read as some profound spiritual insight, though almost everything that showed up could be linked to conversation I had earlier that day.
I saw a purple planet, an alien, the eye of horus, an owl and a couple other things. That day I had heard someone ask how to say "purple" in Indonesian, I had conversed with the same person about theories that included aliens from other planets. I had recently learned the Indonesian word for "must", which translates as "Harus", so make of that what you will.
All in all the general experience for the first three hours was a deep meditation, thoughts came and went, images came and went, sensations and emotions in the body came and went.
Round about the three hour mark there was a big shift and i was overcome with a great sense of well being, it's difficult to explain really but firstly my heart began to radiate the warmth of love into my entire body and then my body dissolved into a warm glow of well being, it was similar to a pleasant dream though more profound as I was awake to the experience.
There was a natural flow of wanting to send this love outward to the people I know and a strange sort of astral projection where I glimpsed these people an delivered this loving feeling. In referring to "I" in this experience there was no real sense of self involved, only an energy in the spirit of love.
My "out of body experience" lasted maybe five minutes, I continued the the ganzfeild experiment for a further ten to fifteen minutes then decided to call it a day.
Awesome work bro ;)
The @steemmasters work is really helping new Steemians! =)
Ahhhhh thank you @samstonehill! and thank you @steemmasters, it was actually really interesting to do the experiment, ordinarily I might have tested the ganzfield method for an hour and given up, but I persevered in the name of steemit, so steemit has inspired me to push the boundaries a bit and try out new things, which is quite humbling and pretty cool!!
Great post! Excellent work! I am looking forward to hearing more! Upvoted and resteemed with pleasure! =)
Ahhhh thank you @jockey! Keep up the good work and in particular the stuff your doing with @steemmasters, it's really helpful in getting started out on steemit. Thank you!
Thanks mate! You are very welcome! =)
I like this post...because I am in the same inspiration...
Well in that case I must follow you!!
btw, I would love to see a follow up post either with the actual science behind your experiment or maybe with a repetition :)
Yes I have been thinking about what to do next, the technique is used to apparently amplify psychic abilities, so I might see what happens if I attempt a "remote viewing" and try to psychically gain information about the location of a test subject, or something along those lines. Thank you for your comment and the inspiration!
We use simlar technology to screen for retinal disease. Its called ERG.(electroretinography). We use similar full Ganzfield to test every point of the retina to indentify the type and in most cases cause of the retinal problem. Interesting read. Keep up the amazing work!
Elecroretinography? I will have to look that up I've never heard of it and can't really see how ganzfield assists in diagnosis.. (no pun intended) , interesting. Thanks.
I might give this a try too, a bit afraid I will go crazy though :D
P.S: Since you talk about the Ganzfield Procedure it would have been nice if you added some references with more info about it ;)
Have you ever thought for a second you might already be crazy, and that you might finally be cured?
just saying.
Peace.
I was not expecting the post to get much attention, but yes any future posts in a similar vein will include sources of research and links for further research should anyone be interested, I would add links now but I must be up early for a flight, if you try the experiment maybe you can see if you can psychically try and figure out where I am? 😂 I also had slight trepidation at first but the process was gradual and I feel I could have pulled out at anytime had I wished to do so.
Why not? Check the science tag. Most posts are crap. Yours wasn't :)
Oh.. Thank you
I like this post, you have my vote, by the way,
thank you for stopping by and voting on one of my post
really appreciate it.I started following you @mannyfig1956
Thank you, I have followed you too. God Bless.
Very interesting, Thank you for sharing. I wonder if one were to do Hemisync instead of white noise if the effect may happen quicker?
I did wonder about this, I've played around creating binaural beats stuff on protools in the past and I understand where you're coming from, it makes sense to use white noise as it is all audible frequencies played at equal power and the aim in the ganzfeild method is to have an (audio) field free from structure, though using binaural beats or isochronic tones would almost certainly bring a faster induction into an altered state, I'm sure.
Perhaps the white noise actually leaves more room for the "imagination" whereas other tones may lead it and confine
Yes. I also think that white noise is played as opposed to silence because it's not possible for a hearing person to hear silence, people placed in anechoic chamber (a completely sound proof nonreflective room) will hear their own heart beat and other noises such as blood swooshing through their veins.
It seems a lot like meditation, which also supposedly enlightens you. I tried it once (i keep meaning to practice it more), it was very very calming and helps for stress and fear. Lets you escape from all the noise in this busy world and helps you sort your feelings and thoughts without any distortion. There is lots of guides on how to meditate on the i-net, i think you should try it also and post your experience.
Peace.
Yes it was meditative, I have in the past done a lot of meditation as well as ridiculous amounts of self hypnosis and used NLP methods on myself but now I generally view life itself as meditation. I had never experimented with sensory deprivation, I think maybe I will try find a sensory dep tank and give it a go just for the experience or possibly go on a sensory deprivation retreat or kick about in a cave for a few days, it's interesting stuff. Thanks!
I find just taking a walk in the woods for a few hours can really bring you back into tone with yourself and nature also, really healing for the mind.
Yes, I love the woods! And the hill tops, also walking in nature with others appears to strengthen the bond of the group and from a mental health or neurological perspective there are other noted benefits to being in the great outdoors.
I agree :) its our mother earth giving us what we need, instead of the life we have created for ourselves today ruled by profit and competition.
Peace.
"In The Descent of Man, Darwin wrote only twice of “survival of the fittest” – but 95 times about love , 92 times about moral sensitivity, and 200 times about mind and brain!"
Nice Post, very motivating!
What is your resume on this experiment? Do you see any benefits in doing this once in a while?
I'm using meditation and binaural beats to release me from stress since a few years, but I never tried this. It sounds very interessting!
This was the first time I tried this experiment, I plan to do further experimentation with it regarding its supposed use in the paranormal or more specifically remote viewing (psychic stuff) and purely for curiosities sake. To be fair I should have written a disclaimer on this post because the method should most probably be conducted under the supervision of a trained professional or at least with the go ahead from your GP , it could possibly prove detrimental regarding certain preexisting health conditions such as epilepsy or mental health conditions, using the method as means of therapy would be better supervised. On a personal level I don't see much benefit to doing this on any regular basis as means of therapeutic relief, as Adyashani would put it, it takes you to a "whacked out spiritual state", though I see nothing wrong with sensible use of the kind of brainwave entrainment you speak of. I have had personal struggles with addiction and stress and depression and anxiety and tried mountains of methods to deal with these things, my saving grace came in "The Living Inquires" developed by Scott Kiloby, another method I find useful is "Trauma & Tension Release Exersises" developed by Dr David Berceli. Hope this will help!!
Thank you very much!