Week 2

Dear C

I’ve been thinking about the unconscious.

            Maybe that’s pointless.

            Maybe that’s missing the point.

But more specifically how we can cultivate the unconscious

How we can listen to the unconscious.

Some of our reading dealt with that

            Perhaps that’s the point of the class.

            To discover how to listen to the unconscious.

The text mentioned one way…

A sensory deprevation chamber.

I actually had the chance to experience this a few weeks ago.

I was in Honduras for vacation with my family.

On the dive isle of Utila there is a man who has a business.

He calls it

“Float Utila.” http://www.floatutila.com/

It was one of the most

surreal and unusual experiences

I’ve ever had.

It was an 8 foot by 8 foot by 6 foot chamber.

There was about 6 inches of salt water on the bottom of the chamber.

I got in. Shut the door. And laid down.

I was in complete

            And utter

                        Darkness.

            Blackness.

I’ll admit it was a bit strange,

and at first I didn’t know what to do with myself.

                        But soon… I just gave in to the experience.

                                    You had to.

                                    Otherwise you would have been bored out of your mind.

Eventually I gave in…

            And just found…

                        Nothingness…

It’s hard to speak about what I felt

or what occurred for the

one hour and thirty minutes

I was in that chamber.

I just….

            Floated.

That really is the best word to describe it.

In some ways it was an out of body experience.

            At some points I felt like my body had disappeared into the salt water.

And I was left as just a consciousness.

Just a mind.

Just existing.

After a while I did get bored.

But I found solace in rhythm. 

I began to push off of one side,

and float to the other.

And I would count.

1,2,3,

4,5,6,

7,8

1,2,3

4,5,6

7,8

Inhale. Push. Exhale. Push.
Inhale. Push. Exhale. Push.
Inhale. Push. Exhale. Push.
Inhale. Push. Exhale. Push.

I found a rhythm and was able to

forget about my mind.

And find that un(conscious) place.

I found that mountaintop experience.

The question now,

Is how to find ways to replicate that mountaintop experience?

Short of creating a sensory deprevvation chamber in my own basement…

            Which is impossible.

            I don’t have a basement.

How do I replicate that experience?

How do I cultivate that same kind of presence of mind?

How do I cultivate that same kind of un(consciousness)?

            Maybe that’s the point of this class.

            Hopefully ill figure that out…

T