Sensory Deprivation

After reading latest book find "Better Sight Without Glasses" by Harry Benjamin and experimenting with the palming I have come up with an idea to create a device that simply helps deprive sight.

I really liked practicing the palming exercise which was relaxing and can probably help with relieving stress as well as its intended effect which is to improve vision. The device I'll be making is similar to an eye mask only not exactly an eye mask. Eye masks tend to have a pressure around the eyes. My intention is to make something lightweight where it does not apply pressure on the eyes or even around the head. It has to almost feel as if there is nothing there.

Using palms to cover eyes is very comfortable as it is warm and gentle so the idea is something similar to that. Latex material to create this would be a more appropriate material (non toxic and closest feel to human hands) but that would be long. For now I'm creating a mock up version. I experimented this morning by placing palms around the eyes like two cups completely covering eyes. The effect was darkness behind closed eyelids but still some sense of light, then I put sheets to cover palms over eyes and this was darker. The material has to be both lightweight and opaque enough that no light seems to penetrate through it.


A talk by Oliver Sacks reveals that people with impaired vision or complete blindness have a higher tendency for hallucinations



The idea of meditation is to deprive the senses and throughout history it is mentioned in many spiritual texts and teachings. In some books about Jiddu Krishnamurti there is mention of how he would experiment with blindfolds around his eyes which I found interesting and never really considered doing so myself nor was it revealed what purpose he was trying to achieve by practicing this.

After reading a part of a chapter from the Better Eye Sight Without Glasses explaining how vision works I had my lightbulb moment that I needed to deprive my sight from all light. Why would I need to do this? In a recent salvia experience which I have not published (there are many I have not published until I get time to write it all out from my notes) something has been happening to my eyes during the Salvia trips and even after. I could simply do this at night time but the whole point is to practice it during day time to retain ordinary waking consciousness and keep all the mental faculties processing.

Throughout the day I have been getting sharp pains in right eye. Since then this book came to me maybe by some good fortune and I know that I have to be careful in my next trip not to open eyes. The cup around the eyes will keep them closed for a much deeper meditation, it's time that I actually stopped opened eye salvia trips. There's also the unknown element in that I don't know why but there's some reason why I have to do this but the fear of messing up my vision somehow by all the hallucinations is more than sufficient.