Mind Over Matter?

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“Man sees God after his brain is turned off by science.” An odd sentence to come across, let alone process. But let’s set the scene—imagine your typical eerie laboratory of scientists whose passion borders obsession. There’s also the test subject, an elderly man who claimed he had ‘nothing to live for’. The first naturally arising question is simply, “why?”. In 1983, a group of scientists attempted to test a hypothesis, which stated that our five senses disrupt the unobstructed perception of the world, or rather, the world beyond. If we are not limited by our five senses, we would know more, and perhaps be able to communicate with God.

As one can tell, the crux of experiment rests on the concept of sensory deprivation. What was expected (or hoped) to come out of this experiment, was that as the ties to the outside world get tethered, and as the mind starts closing in on itself, left alone in the void, it would create sensory experiences to compensate for the absence of them. Whether these constructed sensory experiences would bring one closer to God or not, was the primary question.

In order to conduct the experiment, the test subject, an old man who claimed he had ‘nothing to live for’ was purged of his senses by surgically altering neural connections to his brain. Sounds extreme, doesn’t it? And it certainly was. This particular experiment, way before its time, dipped toes into an area that hadn’t at the time been well studied. It has been established that one’s mental stability is closely tied to sufficient perceptual experiences and awareness with the physical environment (Solomon et al., 1957). Based on observations, sensory deprivation generally results in intense desires for extrinsic sensory stimuli and bodily motion, increased suggestibility, impairment of organised thinking, oppression and depression, and, in extreme cases, hallucinations, delusions, and confusion.

During the initial course of the experiment, the test subject appeared to be as comfortable as it was possible for one to be in the situation at hand. A couple of days into the experiment, he began to hear voices—which was expected. He conveyed the same to the scientists in slurred sentences, being unable to to hear his own voice. Not much heed was paid to him. Further into the experiment, the test subject claimed that he was engaging in communication with his late wife. At this point, he expressed that he now indeed did have something to live for. There was an instant change of heart concerning the experiment, however. He began to reveal details about the scientists’ dead relatives, ones which he had absolutely no way of knowing. From this point on, things took a darker turn. Some scientists dissociated themselves from the experiment altogether, and others very wary, but still hopeful. They believed that they were getting somewhere. The test subject began to hear things that could only be assumed to be extremely disturbing. Plunging himself against walls in order to try to feel physical sensations, he begged to withdraw from the experiment. As the experiment progressed, he increasingly began to hear hostile voices of dead people—all speaking of Hell. On one occasion, he muttered, "No heaven, no forgiveness" for hours on end. He began to pick at his skin, especially around his eyes, in order to make some sense of his experiences and gain some form of tangibility. The scientists, however, were sure that he was on the path to establishing a line of communication with God. The words uttered by the test subject no longer made sense. His plight was truly pitiful, resorting now to biting his flesh off. The scientists saw fit to restrain him in order to prevent further self harm, and also physically rehydrated him as compensation for the incessant crying. Ultimately, what marked the end of the experiment, was the first coherent sentence formed by the test subject in a while. Despite his blindness, he appeared to make direct eye contact with one of the scientists, and said, “I have spoken with

God, and he has abandoned us" and his vital signs stopped. There was no apparent cause of death.

This haunting account, despite having no official record, is one that is extensively debated on. Urban legend or not, it serves as a testimony to our fascination with the mind as a boundary between reality and the unknown. The notion rendering our senses inactive might reveal hidden realms or even divine knowledge challenges our understanding of consciousness and the limits of perception. Could it be that, without the filters of our sensory input, we might access some deeper truth, or would we only uncover the darkest recesses of our own minds, and nothing else? This question appears to be a good place to end this perhaps unfruitful discussion—does reality really extend beyond our perception?

References

Solomon, P., Leiderman, P. H., Mendelson, J., & Wexler, D. (1957). SENSORY DEPRIVATION. American Journal of Psychiatry, 114(4), 357–363. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.114.4.357

Professor Lucius. (2020, August 31). Gateway of the Mind (CreepyPasta Animation) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tg7raHQdSY

About The Author

Saniya Kolwalkar, Head of PsyCreative Column

Psychology Committee, JDSOLA, NMIMS Mumbai.

Saniya, a second-year student currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology, lives by the principle of romanticising the mundane. She embraces the “jack of all, master of none” philosophy, valuing the idea of throwing in random facts about various fields into everyday conversations. A lover of all things literature and psychology, Saniya gets a thrill out of analysing just about any piece of media from both lenses. A self-proclaimed Rory Gilmore wannabe with a soft spot for gothic literature, she firmly believes that there’s nothing that a good playlist and a cup of tea can’t fix!