Altered States

The tank itself was unusual in that it was vertical...

...and looked like an old boiler.

Inside the tank, the subject wore a heavy glass bubble.

You would have thought the whole contraption uncomfortable to say the least.

It was, however, effective.

Of the 23 students tested, only two found the experience unpleasant.

Some even called it exhilarating. A number of students hallucinated.

Dr. Jessup found the encephalographic evidence especially interesting.

And one Saturday afternoon, in April 1967...

...he decided to try the experience for himself.

Arthur. Hey, Arthur.

Are you there?

Can you hear me, Arthur?

Arthur, answer me.

Is that it? You want me to come in and get you out?

Yeah.

I want to get & look at those EEG tracings.

All right. How do you feel?

Not bad.

I hallucinated like a son of a bitch.

A variety of dream states, mystical states.

A lot of religious allegory, mostly out of Revelation.

You were in there close to five hours.

- It felt like an hour. - I'd like to try that myself sometime.

You should. You'll like it.

Did we have any communication?

Oh, sure. I kept checking you out like you told me to.

How'd I respond?

Very orderly. At one point you were crying.

You mean actually crying?

You were sobbing. There were tears on your face.

When I asked you what was going on...

...you said you were re-experiencing your father's death.

- Did you make notes? - It's all there.

I'd like to try this again next week.

Do you think you could make it again next week?

What are we looking for?

I don't know, yet.

There's really very little literature on this kind of research.

There's some good people in the field, Tart, Ornstein and Deikman...

...but most of it is radical-hip stuff, drug-culture apologias.

Obviously, the first thing to do is set up some sensible methodology.

Study these experiences under controlled conditions.

It won't interfere with the work we're doing with Hobart.

What are we getting into? A new sensory deprivation? Isolation studies?

Where will we be going with the tank stuff?

We're not writing up a grant. Strictly bootlegging, for kicks.

As long as we've got the use of this tank...

...let's play around with it. Let's find out where it takes us.

It's fascinating stuff, Arthur. I think we ought to get into it.

I didn't even know they had one of those isolation tanks at New York Hospital.

Must be some guy in the psychology department...

...doing sensory deprivation studies.

What's Jessup doing with it?

You've got me. He's been taking students out of his classes and testing them.

He's been doing this for three, four months.

- Did you know... - Arthur.

- ...Jessup was into this stuff? - Not until you told me.

- Arthur? - What do you want, honey?

How long are you going to let it ring?

It's okay, I'll get it.

He's the last guy to be screwing around...

...with anything as flaky as altered states of consciousness.

Well, let's face it. Jessup is pretty flaky himself.

That's him.

Arthur says you're very shy. He wants me to draw you out.

Draw me out? That doesn't sound like Arthur.

Well, what he actually said was you were a high-handed, arrogant prick.

A little nuts, but brilliant...

...and that if I ever got you talking, I would find you fascinating.

That sounds more like Arthur.

He says you're doing some work at Payne Whitney.

- Yes. - What sort of work?

Toxic metabolite stuff, replicating Heath's and Friedhoff's strategies...

...to find maverick substances specific to schizophrenia.

We're chasing our tails. What do you do?

I'm a physical anthropologist, sweating out my dissertation.

- Where? - Columbia.

Holloway and that bunch.

You're kind of young for a Ph.D., aren't you?

- I'm 24. - That's still pretty good.

I didn't get my Ph.D. until I was 25 and I'm supposed to be a whiz kid.

I'm a whiz kid, too.

Anthropology seems to attract good-looking women.

So you don't think schizophrenia can be reduced to a single etiological agent?

I'm not even sure it's a disease.

You think madness is simply another state of consciousness?

There's a body of evidence to support that.

You don't like to talk about your work, do you?

As a rule, no.

I've always been interested in interior experiences.

Especially religious experience.

The reason I'm working with schizophrenics...

...is that religious experience is so significant in schizophrenia.

There's only so much you can do with animals.

Monkeys can't tell you what's going on in their consciousness.

You need human beings for that.

You're not allowed to ablate humans, you can't stick electrodes in their skulls.

I have to use some kind of trance-inducing technique.

The isolation tank seemed the least risky. Listen...

...I'd like to go home with you tonight. Would that be all right with you?

I've got a roommate. We'll be confined to the living-room couch.

What's wrong with the living-room couch?

You tend to slip off a lot.

I'm sure we'll manage.

Yeah, I'm sure we will.

So whenever you want to go there, you let me know.

- How about right now? - Heh.

What are you thinking about?

God.

Jesus, crucifixions.

As a rule, do you usually think about...

...Christ and crucifixions under sexual stress?

When I was 9 years old, I used to see visions.

Visions of saints and angels, even Christ himself.

Of course, I don't do that anymore.

Not since I was 16.

Were your parents religious?

Anything but.

My father was an aeronautical engineer. My mother, a clinical psychologist.

What happened?

I mean, how did a little kid who saw visions of Christ turn into a physiologist...

- ...teaching at the Cornell Medical College? - I stopped believing.

It was very dramatic.

My father died a protracted and painful death of cancer.

I was 16 years old and very fond of my father.

I used to race to the hospital every day after school...

...and sit in his room doing my homework.

He was very heavily sedated.

The last few weeks he was in coma.

One day I thought I heard him say something.

I got up and leaned over him...

...my ear an inch away from his lips.

"Did you say something, Pop?"

Then I heard the word he was desperately trying to say, a soft hiss of a word.

He was saying:

"Terrible."

"Terrible."

So the end was terrible, even for the good people like my father.

So the purpose of all our suffering was just more suffering.

By dinnertime, I had dispensed with God altogether. I never saw another vision.

I haven't told anybody about this in 10 years.

I'm telling you now because I want you to know...

...what sort of a nut you might be getting mixed up with.

Arthur was right.

You are a fascinating bastard.

Dad! Dad! Dad!

Hi.

Well, it's settled.

Metcalfe spoke to Spencer this morning and it's definite. The job's mine.

I'll be in Nairobi doing my post-doc work July and August.

And in September, I'll be teaching at Harvard.

Terrific.

So looks like we'll both be teaching at Harvard in September.

Looks that way.

Well, you can't get any tidier than that, can you?

We're gonna be together in Boston, and I think we should get married.

You know, of course, I'm supposed to be a little bit nuts.

A little bit? You're an unmitigated madman.

You don't have to tell me how weird you are. I know how weird you are.

I'm the girl in your bed the past two months.

Even sex is a mystical experience for you. You carry on like a flagellant...

...which can be very nice, but I sometimes wonder if it's me that's being made love to.

I feel like I'm being harpooned by some raging monk in the act of receiving God.

And you are a Faust-freak, Eddie.

You'd sell your soul to find the great truth.

Well, human life doesn't have great truths.

We're born in doubt. We spend our lives persuading ourselves we're alive.

And one way we do that is we love each other, like I love you.

I can't imagine living without you.

So let's get married, and if it turns out to be a disaster, it'll be a disaster.

We'll shake hands and say good-bye.

He's giving her dimethyltryptamine.

It takes effect in about a minute and she'll trip out for about half an hour.

Do you feel different now?

Less anxious?

Much less.

Do you have any special feelings?

I feel...

...like my heart is being touched by Christ.

There's a lot of religious delusion among acute schizophrenics.

Some say schizophrenics are physically different from the rest of us.

It's almost as if they were trying to change their physical selves...

...to adapt to their schizophrenic image of themselves.

All right, we'll get married, since it's that important to you.

I'm not comfortable with women...

...and I'm not likely to find anyone half as remarkable as you again.

I think I can make a reasonably good husband.

I don't want to lose you, you see.

I suppose that's the closest thing to a declaration of love...

...that I will ever get out of you.

Am I really that weird in bed?

Sometimes.

Shall I try to change?

No, I kind of like it.

- Daddy, I'm tired. - We'll give the lady a ride.

- Whoa! Oh! - Hey, Mason, be careful.

- How you doing, Eddie? - Hi, Mason. How about a beer?

- If I didn't see this, I wouldn't believe it. - You weren't supposed to be here.

Hi, what's your name? My name's Mason Parrish. This is Margaret.