How to Use Hypnotic Rhythm

Foundational instruction

The teaching that Neville presents must awaken in the mind the creative source itself: “Man must know that his awareness of being is God.” (Your Faith is Your Fortune- Ch3).

The self definition of God given in Exodus – “I am” – must be taken as psychological experience, not pronounced by the ego. Not realizing this, conventional thinkers and religious people will consider Neville’s statement audacious, not to say blasphemous. The irony is that Neville is the most conservative of them all: he adheres carefully to scripture.

If anyone points to something (physically or mentally) and says “lo, here” or “lo, there” to define God, it is false – whether it be a person (like a king or a pope), an image or icon, the world of nature, or, indeed, any lofty concept or idea that Man can conceive, name, describe or change. What is the one changeless thing in human experience that no one can ever invent or “point to”?

The foundational instruction must have been conscious in origin, because that is exactly the effect that it activates. The logic of this is scarcely refutable. But it is psychological; i.e., experiential, in nature, not literal.

As we attempt to consistently put into practice this teaching, the trouble soon met with is that it becomes lost in a sea of mediocrity. We allow the “hypnotic rhythm” of life to lull us into deeper sleep.

Hypnotic rhythm

The term was introduced in Interview with the Devil – an ingenious dialogue created by Napoleon Hill. It signifies all the repetitive patterns in life which tend to engender fossilized habits of thought and feeling. Anything in the mind that is both repetitive and automatic steals valuable time.

As far as Hill is concerned, it causes you to drift; in essence, to give up your capacity to think for yourself.

No one can stop the rhythms of nature and patterns imposed by the necessities of life. But there is no absolute necessity that hypnotic rhythm must crowd out the important – conscious – influences. We allow it to do that for lack of better ideas.

As mentioned, hypnotic rhythm normally works against us by inducing a petrification of thought. It does this in a hundred different repetitive cycles, on many time scales. Consider this trial list of common experiences that tend to induce negative habits of thought:

· standing in line

· sitting in traffic

· worrying

· entertaining fears about one’s health

· bad weather

· a seeming undesirable time of day or night

· a seeming undesirable day of the week

· a seeming undersirable season of the year

Notice how each example has definite mental associations, mostly morose.

Method

At each detected occurrence, you must do something radical and original in your mental environment. This thing you do invokes Neville’s core teaching. You must surrender, yield completely, to this notion, which is a way to invest it with faith. Let it be continually fresh, lest it, too, becomes a sterile habit.

This exercise sharpens your powers of vigilance over yourself. It brings to your attention something remarkable: a previously unnoticed hypnotic rhythm has led you to cloud your mind.

You are going to ruthlessly reverse this detrimental effect.

For more context and detailed instruction, as well as a relevant passage from Neville, please go to S02 E02 of Neville On Fire. You can either read the full transcript, or listen to the audio.