Since this book was first published in 1977, it affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of readers. The Deep Self has been a profound inspiration for people to explore unchartered domains of consciousness. The testimonials in this book document the maiden inner space voyages of many people who have become household names of pioneering consciousness: Gregory Bateson, Werner Erhard, Richard Feynman, E. J. Gold, Stanislav Grof, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jerry Rubin, Andrew Weil, Robert Anton Wilson, to name a few.
Change is in the nature of consciousness, as well as in many external things which have gone through transitions since this book first appeared. However, the original text of the book is as poignant and significant today as it was thirty years ago. We included the entire text of the first edition, carefully redesigning the layout and adding a few updates. Only the chapter on tank design, written by Steve Conger for the original edition of The Deep Self, is not included in this edition since it has become obsolete through the developments in tank design over the past thirty years. The seeds that were planted with this Consciousness Classic over thirty years ago, have fruited in time. The Samadhi Tank Company is alive and well, perfecting the floatation tank design and making the technology available to thousands of users of this highly efficient exploration tool worldwide—from their headquarters, now in Northern California (www.samadhitank.com). Other floatation tank manufacturers have followed their example; experimentation, inner exploration and scientific studies using the floatation technique are being conducted globally.
John C. Lilly, M.D. died in the fall of 2001 in Los Angeles. It was his wish that this book be re-published. The Editors
The Editors