Cartoon of the day

one of these days I'll write about the difference between meditation, hypnosis, the Jesus prayer and the prayer of quiet.

Summary

fact one: not everyone can be hypnotized/enter into a trance; the ability if neurologically wired into the brain.

Fact two: If you look upward and slowly close your eyes when you do so, and measure the amount of white of the eye present, you can estimate the ability to enter into a trance by the white of the eye. This is called the eye roll test.

Example: watch TV, and a lot of the actors will show a lot of whiteness below the iris; most actors say they act "as if"

Fact three: Ten percent of people cannot be hypnotized. They have a negative "eye roll" (hardly any white showing".

Fact four: Ten percent of folks cannot be hypnotized because they are mentally ill (e.g. schizophrenic, demented, paranoid).

Fact five: people who have a high score tend to be creative and easily persuaded to do things. Those with a low score tend to be scientific and non emotional. most of us fall in between.

Fact six: Practice enables you to increase the depth of the state of self hypnosis.

So what does hypnosis have to do with prayer?

Hypnosis is not falling asleep, but deep concentration, that allows you to enter into your subconscious mind.

In medicine, we do this for pain control (which is why distracting folks with music or films will allow them to concentrate)

This is also why powerful films in a cinema (i.e. where commercials and Fido don't interrupt) and charismatic preachers in churches or lectures can be so influential: In cinemas or auditoriums, you have fewer distractions so you are more vulnerable to their agenda.

In transcendental meditation, you are seeking something inside yourself. It may be God, or god, or self, etc. It may or may not be good for a Christian, since YOU are seeking it, and even Hindus recognize the danger of egotism and delusion.

In the Jesus prayer, it can be a way to keep Jesus in mind, or just words.

Theoretically, the prayer of quiet is supposed to be something that God grants to you after you think about scripture or prayer, and then quietly let the words sink into your mind. TM and other exercizes of quieting your mind will allow you to learn to do this, but the grace you get is from God.

Finally, some folks "panic" when they are hypnotized/learn TM. The emotions that you didn't handle but buried, the bad memories you covered up, etc. will come out, sometimes terribly. That is why I freak out when half trained nuns teach this to meetings.

I once had a man who wanted to stop smoking, and I refused to teach him, saying I sensed he might panic. I then found out he was seeing a psychiatrist for depression and anger issues against an abusive father.

You cannot be hypnotized against your will, but if you are a level three or four, you can easily be persuaded to let someone hypnotize you.

Finally, a very small few people who can enter into these states (i.e. what we call a "five" level) are the ones you see acting stupid for stage hypnotists. They are very vulnerable, and can be manipulated, and not just with hypnosis. They are often the folks who decide (under the suggestion of the hypnotist) that they were Cleopatra in their last life...and they are also alas the type who can follow the suggestions of a therapist that they had been abused as a child (i.e. false memory syndrome, and you don't need hypnosis to do this).