Seed: Science Finally Tackles Hypnosis: "The long-controversial practice of inducing a trancelike state through suggestion is getting a modern makeover by scientists armed with the latest neuroimaging tools and techniques. These researchers are beginning to offer evidence that, neurologically at least, hypnosis is entirely real."
Monday, October 23, 2006
Seed: Science Finally Tackles Hypnosis
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I myself have been hypnotized twice, the first time completely by accident and the second time by a psychology professor during class.
Some years ago I witnessed a hypnosis demo at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. I was very impressed, nay moved, by the reality of what I observed. It strongly shook the foundations of my belief system as I realized that the conscious mind, and a fortiori the rational mind, is a tiny fraction of what is really occurring, and that our sensations of consciousness and control are largely illusory.
Following the revelation I experienced, I became very interested in hypnosis for a few weeks afterwards and realized it is not that hard to achieve and indeed I ended up hypnotizing my son. I realized also that, contrary to what was stated at the Festival, it is very much possible to use hypnosis to get people to do things they don't really want to do, would never do if given a conscious, rational choice. It is a very powerful tool, one whose power is too great for me to feel comfort using, and one which, we must be honest, is used much of the time by various social entities to control us.
As the exhibitor at the Festival said (why did he remind me of "Something Wicked This Way Comes"?), we go through life hypnotized much of the time. Or, as the Buddha said, "asleep".
I have tried to explain this almost religious experience several times, but have been largely met with stonewalled denial. It is insisted upon by people who were not present that I was fooled, that the people in the audience were shills, that it was all a fake, etc. Yet my wife and my eldest sons were all there and we all saw it and we all know the truth we experienced. The myth of consciousness, the myth of rationality, the myth of control, is not a myth most people are prepared in the least to relinquish.
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