Hypnosis

[Deus_tecum]

There was a good thread on hypnosis on here, and when I went back to check it, it was gone. Why would it be removed? All sorts of controversial subjects are discussed at this site where people can openly support mortal sin, but hypnosis is a banned subject. I don’t understand this.

 

[Exiled_Child]

I’m pretty sure it was just in the wrong place, Deus tecum. The Prayer Intentions thread is supposed to be solely for prayer requests. I agree that it was turning into a great thread, but it wasn’t the right place to have a full-on conversation. You found the right place now, though! One of my comments I accidently saved, so I guess I may as well re-post it:

I agree with Monte, self-hypnosis just means auto-suggestion, which is something we’re all engaged in constantly. Relaxing yourself in a stressful situation and engaging in repetitive, positive self-talk is a form of self-hypnosis. What each of us needs to be focusing upon and asking ourselves is actually precisely the opposite: how do we break trance? Television is probably the most dangerous form of it, though computers, films, music, etc. all serve to lull is into daydreams and waking sleep. Sitting in front of our screen and focusing our senses intently on a fixed point while our bodies are deeply relaxed is the same essential state and process as hypnotic induction and the hypnotic state. I think that is exactly what Christ was referring to in Matthew 26:40 and Romans 13:11. Jesus calls for us to awaken from our trances. To me, that’s what prayer actually means. Saint Paul’s constant prayer is a way of saying we need to find the means within our hearts of being present to Ultimate Reality on a constant, timeless basis, and not losing ourselves in our fantasies and imagination and spontaneous self-hypnosis.

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[Exiled_Child]

Hopefully others will weigh in on whether self-hypnosis is spiritually dangerous. Also of great interest is what, if any, commonalities self-hypnosis might share with prayer. Not necessarily the communicative/spiritual aspects of prayer, but the learning aspects of prayer. In other words, could continuously repeating the Jesus Prayer or The Lord’s Prayer be considered a valid way of internalizing Christ’s ideas and pondering over them? I ask because I suspect the endless repetition might serve as a form of hypnotic induction. Saint John Cassian suggested as much:

**It is not without reason that this verse [Ps 70:1] has been chosen from the whole of Scripture as a device. It carries within it all the feelings of which human nature is capable… ‘Come to my help, O God; Lord, hurry to my rescue’… The thought of this verse should be turning unceasingly in your heart. Never cease to recite it in whatever task or service or journey you find yourself. Think upon it as you sleep, as you eat, as you submit to the most basic demands of nature. This heartfelt thought will prove to be a formula of salvation for you. Not only will it protect you against all devilish attack, but it will purify you from the stain of all earthly sin, and will lead you on to the contemplation of the unseen and the heavenly and to that fiery urgency of prayer which is indescribable and which is experienced by very few. Sleep should come upon you as you meditate on this verse until as a result of your habit of resorting to its words you get in the habit of repeating them even in your slumbers.
**

 

[GEddie]

how do we break trance? Television is probably the most dangerous form of it, though computers, films, music, etc. all serve to lull is into daydreams and waking sleep. Sitting in front of our screen and focusing our senses intently on a fixed point while our bodies are deeply relaxed is the same essential state and process as hypnotic induction and the hypnotic state. I think that is exactly what Christ was referring to in Matthew 26:40 and Romans 13:11. Jesus calls for us to awaken from our trances.

Counter to popular wisdom, it has been found that the human brain is **more **active while sleeping than while watching TV.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Deus_tecum]

I’m pretty sure it was just in the wrong place, Deus tecum. The Prayer Intentions thread is supposed to be solely for prayer requests. I agree that it was turning into a great thread, but it wasn’t the right place to have a full-on conversation. You found the right place now, though! One of my comments I accidently saved, so I guess I may as well re-post it:

Well they could have just moved it.