Why I Don't Have a Sensory Deprivation Tank

[zellerzone]

I always wanted one. Ever since I read John Lilly's piece "Experiments
in Solitude" back in 1971. By then I had already been experimenting
with sensory deprivation for fifteen years.

I read everything by Lilly I could find. I eagerly anticipated his
1977 book _The Deep Self_. Then I got the book. It was clear to me
from reading it that I simply didn't have the room to put the thing.
I have a bigger house now. I could throw some things out and make the
room, but there are other considerations.

You have to keep the thing heated. That means electricity, which
costs. If it springs a leak, you have a mess to clean up. Not just
water, but water saturated with epsom salts. A white mess when it
dries. And this: (from the book) "Epsom salts can be obtained in 100-
pound bags relatively cheaply...Each time you change the solution it
will cost from $60 to $100 (1975)"

There are places that have tanks and rent them to people, but this
necessitates cleaning them frequently. They pass the cost (and then
some) on to their customers.

So, I've never had the chance to try one. But, I've tried the next
best thing. There's an old cranberry bog behind my house, not
currently being farmed. It's surrounded by ditches full of water. I've
cleaned the muck out of one section of the ditch, so now it's lined
with clean sand. Thanks to a lucky find at the town dump I have an old
wet suit, complete with balaclava (hood) that fits me perfectly. I
sometimes get up before dawn, put the suit on, and float on my back.
The suit adds just enough buoyancy.

In the morning, people walk their dogs on the pathways around the bog.
A few have noticed me, but nobody has found it overly disturbing.