By Samantha Richter
Humankind has long had a fascination with the sea and fantasized about being able to survive under water. Depictions of mermaids can be found as far back as Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece. Cross culturally, human-like creatures who cavort in the waves or have secret underwater cities are a common motif. While these fantasies have surfaced often throughout human history, humankind was not able to achieve the ability to breathe and therefore survive underwater until the 18th century with the invention of the diving dress.
Once humans obtained the ability to spend hours underwater, it brought them closer to their mammalian cousin, the dolphin. Dolphins and humans actually have more in common physiologically than it would at first appear. Dolphins are able to live their lives underwater thanks to a biological phenomenon known as the Mammalian Diving Reflex. This reflex is present in both dolphins and humans as well as other mammals. It is often thought to be an evolutionary holdover from the time when all life existed in the ocean. This reflex starts to affect the human body as soon as one’s nostrils touch the water. As one’s body adjusts to the pressure of the water, excess blood and oxygen are drawn away from the extremities and towards the vital organs. The lungs also begin to compress so that they can acclimate to the pressure while heart rate slows. The effect this has on the human body not only allows us to survive longer in water but also has a calming effect on our nervous system.
This calming effect is further explored in Nichols (2015) where he discusses the concept of the “blue mind”: that is to say, the phenomenon of humans entering a mild meditative state through exposure to the ocean, a state which is only heightened through swimming and diving. Through his neuroscientific research Nichols has observed the ways that the mind is affected by being in and under water. His research takes a bit of a self help angle as he recommends obtaining “blue mind” as a remedy to “red mind” which is the term he uses to refer to the over-stimulated and anxious state that many people experience living in the digitally stimulating world of the twenty-first century. He also claims that this blue mind effect is one of the reasons that people seek out the ocean and other places where they can be connected to water, his argument being that humanity’s innate connection to water allows for a unique sensation to occur within it.
The ideas presented above can serve as a primer for the following discussion of the sensations surrounding scuba diving and the underwater sensorium. I personally have been a licensed scuba diver since 2016. One of my greatest frustrations in trying to convey my joy of scuba diving is the lack of a visceral and literal language for my sensations. When asked what scuba diving felt like to me, I would grasp at metaphors in a desperate attempt to relay the sensations before ending the conversation by saying something like “you just have to do it to truly understand”. It is for this reason that I ground my discussion in scientific reasoning and biological functions. As an academic, I feel the need to justify my reasoning and to quote informed experts. In what follows, however, I will also be relating some of my own direct experience.
To start with, the process of suiting up for a dive results in taking note of all one’s senses as they function normally before their alteration underwater. Preparing for a dive means putting on a dive suit, a foam neoprene suit that is supposed to be worn from your ankles to your wrists to your neck “like a second skin” as my diving instructor would say. This, coupled with gloves and flippers, makes it hard to rely at all on your sense of touch. You then taste the air of your tank to make sure it is not contaminated before placing the mouthpiece in your mouth, which insures it is the only thing you will be tasting for the entirety of your dive. Following these steps, you put on a mask, which completely blocks your peripheral vision and your sense of smell.
Once you have completely fitted yourself in what one could describe as the ceremonial costume for this dive into the underwater sensorium the next step is to dive into the sensorium, literally. Divers must enter the water not by ladder or one flipper at a time but by freefalling into said water. This further disorientates you as you are hit all at once with the force of the water and blinded by the bubbles that appear from your splash. It takes a moment for the water around you to settle and beginner divers are warned to relax and not let panic over take them upon entry. You are immediately aware that you are not on the surface world anymore.
After you are actually submerged within the water the alteration of your senses only increase as you are pulled further into the underwater sensorium. The density of water as compared to air alters the way that humans can perceive sight and sound. The alteration of light waves makes it hard to judge distances or perceive colors accurately. The warping of sound affects the ability to perceive distance and the sound becomes more hollow. All of this is to say that none of the familiar 5 senses can reliably be used once placed underwater in scuba diving equipment. All of the above contributes to the the unique sensorium that exists underwater.
Merchant (2011) investigates some of these underwater sensations in her article. In Negotiating Underwater Space: The Sensorium, the Body and the Practice of Scuba-diving, Merchant defines the difference between dysappearance and disappearance. Both terms refer to the body/s awareness of its movements and functions. Dysappearance being that of an attention to these sensations while disappearance is the opposite. Merchant (2011) discusses how being placed in new “states of being” that require a dysappearance allows divers to be enriched by their environment and become more aware of sensations that might be ignored or numbed in more everyday scenarios. This mirrors the sensations that I have described above, the underwater sensorium not only allows for new sensations but also makes the body hyper aware of sensations that we typically take for granted.
I myself have experienced this awareness that Merchant describes. Simply moving your limbs or the sound of your own breathing through the respirator heightens your awareness of these functions. This gives divers the feeling of “letting go” (p. 218) that Merchant describes and gives a newness to these sensations that most people haven’t experienced since they were young children. Dysappearance unlocks humans abilities to take stock of parts of ourselves that would be ignored above water.
A sensation that is heavily remarked upon by Merchant and her participants is the effect of gravity on the body and movement through the water. Merchant’s participants discuss this when claiming that floating through the water felt akin to “slow motion flying” (p. 227). This change in movement and space requires divers to reconceptualize how they consider inhabiting a space and moving through it. On land everything is typically on a level plain but in the ocean it is not unusual for someone to be floating above or below you and for creatures to be present on several different plains. Nothing is impervious to the warping of perception in the underwater sensorium, even the sense of your place in space becomes confused and disorientating.
From the observations I have made, both metaphoric and scientific, a preliminary conclusion can be drawn. The preliminary conclusion being that the unique stimulation of the underwater sensorium creates a paradoxical situation. The underwater sensorium is a world where the senses are both less reliable and yet made more noticeable through an alien interaction with them. By studying these sensations and the sport of scuba diving we can gain a greater understanding of not only our own senses but why people volunteer for scenarios that might at first seem scary or alienating. The feelings most often attributed to scuba diving oscillate between peaceful or thrilling, calming or scary. People are disoriented and left with a feeling they can only describe as “something that must be experienced” for oneself. Yet even with this brush with sensations unknown, humans happily volunteer and dish out lots of money for another turn in the underwater sensorium. The allure of scuba diving shows the human capacity to explore new states of being and ultimately a willingness to dive into the senses.
Bibliography
Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992). Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. The British Museum Press. pp. 131–132. ISBN 0-7141-1705-6.
John Lethbridge, inventor from Newton Abbot, BBC website
Merchant, S. (2011). Negotiating Underwater Space: The Sensorium, the Body and the Practice of Scuba-diving. Tourist Studies, 11(3), 215-234. doi:10.1177/1468797611432040
Nichols, W. J., & Cousteau, C. (2015). Blue mind: The surprising science that shows how being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do. New York: Little, Brown Spark.
Panneton W. M. (2013). The mammalian diving response: an enigmatic reflex to preserve life?. Physiology (Bethesda, Md.), 28(5), 284–297. doi:10.1152/physiol.00020.2013
“Teacher’s Guide”, Alexander (PDF), MPT, archived from the original (PDF) on April 9, 2008