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Hypnosis ana the Mind Ina atan and the Many peoy what hypno ited degree that is so 0 profound ar remarkably sive. The defin the standard ‘ end “an inwa “a putting asi “misdirected pectation” to hypnosis” a hypnosis”, Milton E of hypnosis, ¢ special states in character, dependent uj experiential ] and controlle tist.” And thi, No wonder th not really, ex So just wl talk about. Or that to relax ij nothing, whi do (just ask mind will rel thing So conce) etic type) or thing, be it ot the physical | 22 and Facts tion out. Consciousness would appear to be avery selective filter - somewhat like an iris - that just opens a bit every now and then and if you are around at the right time and have information with the right key youcan get in. Although I use the words conscious, subconscious and unconscious, I feel thes terms are misleading. They seem to imply that there are two (or even three) separate minds with the other-than-conscious ones being full of nasties, remote, unknown and maybe better left alone. And it almost leads to thoughts like; “I wonder if I can have it surgically removed, I’m doing fine without it anyway.” I prefer to consider the mind, wonderful organ that it is, as being one single thing. After all, if we have more than one mind, I wonder where we left the others! Hallucination Consciousness I imagine as a sort of 7 internal torch in the warehouse of our emo- Many people have tried to define just what hypnosis is, most with only a lim- An example of the incongruities and diffi- tions and memory banks. Whatever the torch ited degree of success. For something culties in defining hypnosis is the phenome- is shining upon is what we are thinking of at that is so obviously able to tap quite non known as negative hallucination, or not the time. If you want to think of something profound areas of our minds it is both seeing something thatis there (as compared else, move the torch. remarkably simple and remarkably elu- to positive hallucination - seeing something Now in this cavern of mazes, there are, sive. that is not there), Now negative hallucina- as you'd expect, areas we don't go to and ‘The definitions I have heard range from tion is supposed to be one of the test criteria areas we only visit occasionally. It doesn’t the standard “it’s a state of deep relaxation” for assessing the depth of a trance, and is in mean we can’t, only that we don’t. Maybe and “an inward focus of attention” through fact an indication of a quite deep state of we've lost the map or forgotten how to get “y putting aside of the critical faculty” and hypnosis. there, or maybe we are afraid of something “misdirected attention plus belief plus ex- Have you ever tried to go out some- there and so avoid it - a bit like Redfem pectation” to “there is no such thing as where, and no matter how many times you station at night. | hypnosis” and “all communication is search the house, top to bottom, looking in Memory hypnosis”. places no human has ever eyeballed before, . ; P Milton Erickson, a modern day master you still can't find the car keys, only to have Nevertheless, we can ik Breet pane of liypnosis, defined it as: “The induction of them turn up an hour later in the middle of Sneed, exteatndgement Gr desire) recover any special states of awareness, circumscribed the table you are absolutely certain you and every experience or memory we've ever in character, not easily intruded upon, and searched thoroughly at least six times? This had, But you won't find a by wandering dependent upon the subject’s own total | is an example of negative hallucination and around ce the tracks you've you in the experiential life, as selected by the subject | if it hasn’t happened to you, it’s pretty Carpet in the foyer of your mind. Phose and controlled and directed by the hypno- common. J his means, by allreliable criteria, cupboards only conta the programmes, list.” And this man was a master of words! | /Aat you were in a deep state of hypnosis at lollies and the fire extinguisher, as you al- No wonder they say “it's abit like sleep”. It’s the time. \t didn't eel like it, did it? ready know. A , | not really, except to the outside observer. So, what is hypnosis? Basically, we ee a BEE ta ee ny, So just what is it? Easy to do; difficult to don't know, We know how te do it, but not hypnosis bes! the modern urban myth that tallvabout. Oneat the feu abou Gene is really what it is. It does seem that one of the hypnosis is like that practised by Mandrake that to relax it, itis not necessary to think of main activities of our conscious mind is the the Magicianor what Obi-wan Kenobi did to nothing, which is actually very difficult to critical [culty - thatis, the ability to evaluate the praynae Dash ¥ adere an Star Wars do (just ask any meditmor), Instead, the information, weigh it up, check it for flaws , While I don trule out the possibility of mind will relax when you think of just one and compare it to our pust experiences. And this level of magical influence existing, 1 thing : itis this quality of our mind that we put aside don’t think it could be considered hypnosis So concentration (not the forceful ener- when we go into hypnosis. a practised eel) seaxeea xt BItjEDe, Goes RE getic type) or focusing of the mind upon one Consciousness See: Actually I'll partially retract these last two paragraphs and say that good and pro- conscious mind, itseems, is to keepinforma- found hypnosis relies at least in part on the thing, be it object or idea, plus relaxation of the physical body gives hypnosis. Another of the functions or roles of the A 22 Nexus New Times Three OE em ee Fs Fallacies by Dean Winter Hallucination | An example of he inongtes andthe © Another of te functions or roles the - consciousmink itscensstokespinformae