“So, as you’re becoming conversational hypnotists, the very first thing you must learn is what is hypnosis is, and what it is not. Now, I’m going to address that second part first – in other words, what hypnosis is not – because you really must clear up any misconceptions of what it is you are trying to achieve right at the outset.
Now many people have this huge misunderstanding about what hypnosis is – the films, the media, books, articles – all these things have really created this isconception of ‘power’ in hypnosis; of complete control; of domination of another human being. Personally, I think it’s a good thing that that is not possible. You see, in hypnosis you are negotiating with someone’s unconscious mind. And the unconscious mind is the place where people’s ethics and moral code is really stored.
So in hypnosis you’ll never get someone to break their ethical code. But “hold on” you’ll say, “I saw a stage show and all these people were running around, acting like chickens, and doing all kinds of crazy things. Surely the hypnotist, on that show, had complete control?”
Well, yes and no. Let me explain what I mean by that. An analogy I’d like to draw is: imagine a magician doing his show. Now, in this show he causes a woman to levitate up off the ground, and fly around the audience, before coming right back to the front stage. The question is this: “Did the woman fly?”
Sure, she was 6-foot up in the air. Sure, she made a tour around the entire audience, and she was genuinely up in the air in that position. But was it really levitation? Was it really flying?
No. Everyone knows that some kind of trickery, some kind of machine, wires, whatever you want, was actually involved in creating the illusion of flight.
Well, a stage hypnotist’s job is to create the illusion of control. Think about the very first thing that a stage hypnotist does. He invites people to come up on stage. He invites volunteers. So who’s going to volunteer to that? The person who doesn’t want to ‘cluck’ like a chicken? The person who doesn’t want to make a fool of himself?
Of course not! The people who do volunteer are the people who want to be exhibitionists, want to show things off. Of course, on one level they are actually having the experience that the hypnotist is suggesting. But, it is not in any way conflicting with their own moral code.”
Excerpt from: The Power of Conversational Hypnosis
