Today everyone knows about hypnosis. The question is what do you know about hypnosis?
The media has surely done its part to emphasize a certain aspect of hypnosis that does not deserve so much attention. Stage hypnosis has spread all over the country, and I guess everyone has seen someone acting like a total jerk thinking they’re a chicken or some kind of pop star or whatever else the stage hypnotist was up to.
And then, of course, there are the movies. Hypnosis has been part of many movies. But you have to keep in mind that Hollywood is not about education but about entertainment. And while Hollywood did a good job of entertaining people, it didn’t do as well in establishing an accurate picture of what hypnosis is and isn’t, what hypnosis can and can’t do.
So most people actually have a false ideal of what hypnosis really is. Now that in itself doesn’t matter that much. Why should people know about hypnosis, what’s the point of that? And so far I agree. But the sad thing is that many people never get access to this extremely powerful tool of the mind. Instead, they allowed others to hypnotize them, and they don’t even know it. Yes, it is possible to hypnotize other people secretly, without their knowledge.
It was the legendary hypnotist Dr. Milton H. Erickson who developed the art of covert hypnosis. If you ask any expert hypnotist what hypnosis is, you’ll probably get some kind of variation of a statement like this: hypnosis is a state of mind in which the hypnotized person is relaxed but highly focused and concentrated on a thought or idea. A person under hypnosis is highly suggestible because the filter of critical thinking is bypassed. The conscious mind is not involved. Instead, suggestions and commands go directly into the subconscious mind.
This is what is called a hypnotic trance. If you put people into a hypnotic trance, you can do all kinds of things. For example, many people who smoke cigarettes have used hypnosis to quit cigarettes, after trying every other way possible. Why is that possible? it is possibly because with hypnosis you can communicate directly with the subconscious mind and you can reprogram the patterns that make the person behave in certain ways.
Now, there are dangers in hypnosis, especially when it is used by people who are not properly trained or by people with bad intentions.
Regarding people who use hypnosis with bad intentions or to deceive other people, the only thing I can feel for them is pity. Because they must be of very little intelligence. Once you’ve mastered the skill of conversational hypnosis, you can accomplish just about anything you set your mind to. You can influence and persuade other people in any way you want. So why would you waste such a valuable skill on such a useless activity as tricking other people? Do you think Bill Gates would have become as rich, powerful and influential as he is today if he had decided that instead of developing software that people use, he would crack the software that other people were selling and illegally copy it? Do you think Warren Buffett would have become the person he is today, the second richest man in the world, if he decided instead of running an insurance company to trick an insurance company into paying him? Nope.