Conscious Self Persuasion

The last entry in a 3-part mini-series: Conscious Self Persuasion - Beyond Hypnosis and the Waking Sleep. We draw together the threads from the first two posts and explain hypnosis.

False dichotomy
The popular distinction between “consciousness” and “hypnotic trance” does not exist. Humanity is generally in a state of sleep, meaning susceptible, en masse or individually, to suggestion of all types. While people can maintain focused attention, which is needed to perform tasks, this does not constitute consciousness, properly speaking.

Self awareness, if not taken on as a deliberate study, is rare and accidental. The mental state is continually shifting, within a morass of emotions, thoughts and attitudes, conditioned by personal type, level of intelligence, formative background and established beliefs – all subconscious.

Manifestation explained
I have heard it said that hypnotic subjects hypnotize themselves – and this would align with the research findings cited previously: Wagstaff and Spanos each identify a voluntary element in the response of hypnotic subjects. But since the conscious stratum of the mind is erratic, where numerous sub-identities take turns surfacing in the mental economy, this is only a relatively conscious, momentary element. Weak and undisciplined, it commits the whole person to accept the direction of the hypnotist; the clever suggestion of the sociopath; the alarmist demands of the propagandist; the promises of the politicians; and the lies of the advertisers.

Attitudes and beliefs may be more or less open to change. The significance of one’s prevailing belief system is this: the conceptualizations people accept and deeply hold to be true of themselves determine the manifest world they live in. This accounts for the varied results in clinical hypnosis, as well as the strange mix of order and confusion that is reflected in the life of humanity.

Since the life of Man is nothing but mentation, we are unbound by conventional physical laws. The power of the human imagination appears limitless, and paranormal effects, once believed, manifest as seeming external reality.

The esoteric assessment holds: the conscious function is embryonic, it is merely a seed, awaiting the influences – the right teaching or system of ideas – that will prompt and support its awakening.

Hypnosis and autohypnosis for self change?
Let’s return to the question posed at the outset: if we truly desire a new concept of ourselves, why not just hire a hypnotherapist? After all, we have determined, following not only Bristol but Neville’s explication of the creative process, that the key to concretize a desirable state is not consciousness itself, but rather, belief. Both hetero-hypnosis and autohypnosis are effective in establishing new beliefs, as discussed above.

The point here is to realize one’s position. As already mentioned, the mind is in constant flux, whereby one relatively aware aspect of personality comes into view for a while, identifies with one or another state – and its associated beliefs – then disappears as the mind is dominated by another sub-identity, which has different identifications. This impaired and fragmented mode of being is the usual “waking” state, hardly distinguishable, as we have seen, from the “trance” state under hypnosis.

The authors I had mentioned above (as a representative group) give instruction in autohypnosis or self suggestion in the conventional sense. However, the conventional authors do not have an esoteric perspective. Therefore, they do not see or explain the deep sleep of the masses, but operate under the popular misconception that the normal waking state is “consciousness”.

Conscious self persuasion
By contrast, Dr. Rolf Alexander is unique in the literature of autohypnosis. He makes the permanent state of objective consciousness the supreme goal. 

Follow the rest of the argument in S02E15, audio or transcript.