hypnolibertarian

Several questions have lead me to the conclusion that I should talk about levels of trance, what “light” means, what “medium” means, and what “deep” means.  All this terminology is confusing and sometimes not well defined, even among hypnotists.  I will set it out as I use the terms; however, don’t be surprised if they are used in other ways by other hypnotists.

A light trance is characterized by an opening of the unconscious mind to input in a special way, focused on the hypnotist, but with the conscious mind definitely present.  It will be experienced as a relaxed, pleasant state, where you hear everything that is happening, but you are too relaxed to care.

A medium trance is when there is a balance between the conscious and unconscious minds.  Ideomotor responses from the unconscious, such as catalepsy, arms and hands rising and falling, and signals from the unconscious are possible.  Much work can be done in the light and medium trances, and often is, placing suggestions in the unconscious mind.

A deep trance is when only the unconscious is present.  This is the state that most people think of when they think of hypnosis.  Suggestions can be made directly to the unconscious mind.  There may or may not be amnesia for the session.  Many hypnotists divide the deep trance into different stages, the first being somnambulism (an old term, meaning you can move and walk while still in trance), what has been called the Esdaile state, and a final state sometimes called Ultra-Depth (this term has been trademarked, and I believe some litigation is involved in its use) or extreme depth or many other names.  The Esdaile state is named for a Scottish surgeon who in the 19th century did hundreds of operations using only hypnosis.  It is characterized by either complete anesthesia or by being able to achieve complete anesthesia easily.

Many claims have been made for the extreme depth state.  Some say that it is easy to heal injuries or diseases in this extreme depth state.  Others experiment with clairvoyance and other psi / paranormal abilities in this extreme depth state.  Certainly more research needs to be done before any of these claims can be said to be substantiated.

A state when watching TV where you are totally involved in the story, to the point of not hearing those around you or any external sound or signal, is a deep trance.  Advertisers want to move you into commercials without disturbing that trance.  Many commercials will imitate TV shows to keep you in that state; others will start soft and grow louder to implant their message.  Business spend money on TV advertising because it works, and works well.

Can you remember when a TV show sucked you in completely?  What were the commercials?  Can you even remember?

From some of the comments I have seen in a few of the recent posts, I can tell that I was remiss in not explaining the difference between conscious and subconscious reactions, how they differ and how they are the same.  To say that one becomes “aroused” at an unconscious level does not mean that every male gets an erection and starts panting.  Exactly what it does mean takes a bit of explaining.

I have talked about the unconscious mind as a series of patterns, or models, of how the world around us works.  These models can be thought of as “shifting” or “shuffling” constantly in response to the input we get from the world around us.  It is this “shuffling” that gives things context; for example, if we are talking about dogs and I ask how your bitch is doing, I clearly mean your (female) dog, not your wife.

Things that we see, that we hear, that we talk about, and that we think about can bring some of these patterns “up towards consciousness.”  This is similar, to those of you in computer science, to processor chips and disk drivers that try to predict which memory is to be accessed next and to have it in memory (register or main memory) and therefore save time.  These patterns in our subconscious come close to the surface but don’t necessarily become conscious unless the subject becomes more direct or the situation requires some action or decision based on those patterns.

Thus, a number of lingerie clad women flashing on the screen rapidly followed by a different subject (like helping little girls with their self-esteem) “arouses” us subconsciously in the sense that these sexual response patterns are close to the surface of our minds.  If a commercial (or a TV show) has a beautiful woman running her hands up and down her body, preening herself for the audience, then these patterns rise to the level of consciousness and we become physically aroused and consciously know why.

Physical reactions sometimes happen with unconscious stimulation, but often do not.  However, with those patterns right up at the edge of consciousness, those reactions can be used in all sorts of ways, sometimes on the conscious level and sometimes on the unconscious level by using other images directly after such sexual “flashing” images.

So keep in mind that you may not be aware of your unconscious “arousal”.  It does not mean you are physically responding, or even are consciously aware of it.  It means that those patterns are being activated and moved to the forefront of the brain (RAM from disk, to go with the computer analogy).

Some religious disciplines, such as Buddhism and some Sufi paths, strongly recommend a “mindfulness”, or an awareness of what is going on inside.  If this is not done obsessively (and therefore becoming conditioning in and of itself) it can assist us in avoiding the effects of this kind of conditioning.

Before we get into politics, news, media, advertising, and other powerful professional influencers, we have one (at least) more subject to address, and that is hypnotic communication.

Hypnotic communication, by the normal English rules of adjectives, means communication that is hypnotic, and most people would interpret this as communication designed to induce a state of trance. However, there are many kinds of communication that is aimed at a person in the waking, conscious state but which are aimed at the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is always active, processing, recognizing situations, interpreting your sensory input, and making sure you are safe. Various techniques can then “bypass the critical factor” even though the person (client, subject, victim) is not in a trance per se. We will identify some of these mechanisms as we see them in political and other advertising and communication.

So when we talk about “hypnotic communication” we do not mean inducing a trance. We mean communication that is designed to slide past the critical factor in the waking state. This entire practice is often called “covert hypnosis.” When you see people advertising “covert hypnosis” they don’t mean putting someone in a trance secretly, but using hypnotic communication for influence. Conversely, we will speak of “hypnosis inducing” or just “induction” language patterns for language intended to induce trance — for language intended to hypnotize someone.

What is hypnosis? If we are to discuss the use of hypnosis in political and other kinds of communication, you as my guest in this blog must know what I mean by hypnosis. I must warn you that my definition of hypnosis is different from anyone else of which I am aware. Nevertheless, I believe it captures what most people (and particularly most hypnotists) mean by hypnosis. Many of the most advanced hypnotists use the words trance and hypnosis interchangeably; I make a strong distinction between them (or, rather, between hypnosis and trance in general). To get at hypnosis, we must first start with trance. Trance is a mental state characterized by holistic thinking, unconscious processing, and creativity. Trance is part of the normal processing in the brain. Everyone enters trance at various times during the day. Trance (which includes dreaming) is necessary in the transfer of short term memory to long term memory, for learning, and for sheer sanity; deprive someone of trance states for a long period of time and they will go insane. Hypnosis is the deliberate use (and usually the deliberate induction) of trance. Hypnosis has the property of intentionality; someone wants to go into trance, or someone wants to put someone else in trance. To understand trance, we also need to understand the conscious and unconscious minds. Mind you, there are authorities that deny the existance of a separate “unconscious mind.” However, for the purposes of our discussions, we will characterize conscious processing as linear, aware (we are aware of what we are consciously thinking), logical thinking, and what might be called the “critical factor” — that part of ourselves that looks a gift horse in the mouth. Unconscious processes are characterized by lack of awareness (driving automatically), hollistic thinking, creativity, and a lack of that “critical factor.” In these blogs, we will be interested in the use of language, images, rhythms, or whatever can be used to induce a trance state that might be taken advantage of by someone. We must note here that lack of a “critical factor” does not make someone a robot, or guarantee a suggestion will be accepted. The suggestion must “fit in” with the patterns already in the brain. Suggestions are often refused. But the use of hypnosis and hypnotic communication has obvious advantages to the hypnotist, and we will talk about those advantages in this blog.

When starting a blog that can be (with some literary license) called professional, an introduction is in order.  Perhaps some of you have been attracted by the unusual name of the blog, and wonder what it means.  Well, the “hypno” part of the name is fairly simple: I am a certified hypnotherapist.  The libertarian part is also fairly simple: I believe that, when possible, the government should leave people alone to make their own decisions.  However, I also acknowledge that the exact point where “possible” occurs, both in general and in specific cases, is something upon which reasonable men may disagree; I am therefore not a member of the Libertarian party.  Those of you who are used to political debate will instantly recognize that this definition can apply to almost any form of government, right up to socialism.  I admit this; however, the sense in which I mean ” leave people alone to make their own decisions” is, for the purposes of this blog, fairly specialized and specific.  This has to do with the “hypno” part of the title, which is not there just to tantalize.

As a professional hypnotist, I recognize a large number of areas where those in what has been called the “power structure” use hypnotic language and hypnotic techniques to bend the people to their will — to make them behave as those in power want them to behave.  This includes the government, political campaigns, corporations, and anyone whose existence — to be very prosaic, whose job — depends on making you do what they want you to do.  Rather than use the force of arms, in the form of explicit laws and police, they use the force of covert persuasion (which is often more effective, as we will discuss at times).

As a small “l” libertarian, I believe this to be, if not immoral, then at least something which should be exposed to the conscious deliberation of the public.  It is my self-chosen task to expose these tactics here, in this blog, for those who care to read about it.

I shall continue the introduction part for the next few blogs, then get into some specifics that are of interest in this campaign season.  I hope you will travel along with me.