According to Dr Robert Anthony every person has been hypnotised to some degree either by ideas he has accepted from others or ideas he has convinced himself are true. These ideas have exactly the same effect upon his behaviour as those implanted into the mind of a hypnotic subject by a hypnotist.
Hypnosis defined
Hypnosis is the induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction. Frequently, it is used in therapy to recover suppressed memories or to allow modification of behaviour.
Many people think they can change their lives through sheer will power. This is not true. Negative ideas in the imagination cause such persons to defeat themselves. Regardless of how hard they try; it is no use. They have accepted a false belief as if it were fact. “All their ability, good intentions, effort and will power are of no avail against the powerful false belief they have accepted as truth.”
In the same manner, Dr Anthony opines that that there is no limit to what a person can or cannot do when he or she is hypnotised because the power of imagination is limitless. The observed magical power the therapist to make a subject able and willing to do things they could not or would not ordinarily do is a fallacy.
The truth is, of course, that the power is inherent in the subject. Without realising it, subjects hypnotise themselves into believing that they could or could not do these things. No one can be involuntarily hypnotised as each person collaborates in the hypnotising process. The hypnotist is only a guide who helps the subject accelerate the phenomenon.
This simple demonstration of hypnosis illustrates a psychological principle, which can be of great value to you. This same principle is becoming increasingly evident in the modern educational process where the student in effect, actually educates himself with the skilled assistance of the teacher. And, even more dramatically, in the healing arts where the patient heals his own body under the professional guidance of a qualified healing arts practitioner.
Once a person believes that something is true, (whether it is true or not) he then acts as if it were. He will instinctively seek to collect facts to support the belief no matter how false they may be. No one will be able to convince him otherwise unless, through personal experience or study, he is ready to change. Hence, it is easy to see that, if one accepts something that is not true, all subsequent actions and reactions will be based upon a false belief.
It is; therefore, of utmost importance that you do not assume you are awake to the truth about yourself. Said another way, you must not assume that what you now hold as truth is, in fact, really the Truth. Instead, you must proceed with the idea that you are presently hypnotized by false beliefs, concepts and values that are keeping you from expressing your true potential.
The average person never comes near reaching his unlimited potential because he is living under the false assumption that he already knows the truth. He believes what his parents have told him, what his teachers have taught him, what he has read, and what his religion has told him without actually proving it for himself.
Millions upon millions of people have blindly followed the rhetoric of so-called “knowledgeable” people without making sure that the principles these “experts” expound stand up to the realities of life.
Your first job is to awaken from the hypnotic condition that is presently keeping you from being the person you want to be. “The degree to which you awaken will be in direct proportion to the amount of Truth you can accept about yourself.” This is the key that determines how much you will be able to change your life. In the words, “know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.”
Your beliefs imprison you
Beliefs are the conscious and unconscious information that we have accepted as true. Unfortunately, our beliefs often imprison us and deny us access to what is real. A filter of misconceptions prohibits Truth’s passage and we see only what we want, and reject everything else.
Truth can never be revealed to the so-called “firm believer.” You know the type: always quoting “facts.” He does not want to recognize anything outside of his belief and sees everything with which he disagrees as a threat. He goes through life labelling all that is new, different and enlightening as “evil” or, at least “unacceptable,” and all that is old, traditional and suppressing as “good.” He cannot understand that Truth – no matter how painful – is always by its very nature, “good,” and that a lie – regardless of how much we are in love with it, is always, by its very nature, “bad.”
To protect his beliefs, he builds a wall around his world. Some “firm believers” have a big wall and some a small one but, regardless of the size of the structure, it can only serve to shut out more of the Truth than it can hold.
The person who is a “firm believer” has no option to change his mind. This makes him ignorant. He can only recognize what lies within the walls he has built around himself and is prevented from exploring the limitless Truth, which lies outside the wall. What he fails to realize is that Truth is always greater than any structure built to contain it.
Belief and faith are not the same thing and should not be confused. Unlike belief, faith is not totally limiting. It recognizes there is more to discover and know, and that one must always seek to unfold more and more of the Truth. With faith, all things are possible. The “firm believer” always thinks he knows the answer. The person with faith, aware that there is always more to learn about himself or herself, constantly seeks enlightenment.
Mistaken uncertainties
If we wish to make a fundamental change in our life, we must first understand the root of our problems. This invariably lies in what Dr Anthony calls: “mistaken certainties.”
Mistaken certainties are things we are sure are true but which, in fact, are not. They are generally based on wishful thinking, which distorts reality and leads to self-deception. We want things to be as we would like them to be rather than as they are. We look at the world, filtered by our beliefs, which blinds us to what is real.
We can only change the world to the extent that we can change ourselves. We can only change ourselves to the degree that we become aware of our mistaken certainties. Most of our troubles arise from expectations, which have not become realities. Most of our disappointments come from our mistaken ideal of how we think the world should be, and what we think we “should,” or “ought” to do, be or have. “This is known as resisting reality.”
Emerson said, “We are what we think about all day long.” Everything that is happening to you right now in your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual world is the result of what is going on in your mind.
“You accept, relate or reject EVERYTHING in your mental and physical environment based on your PRESENT level of AWARENESS.”
Your present level of awareness is determined by your education, environment, family life, childhood experiences, successes, failures and religious beliefs. You will discover that many of the things you thought were true are the things that, in reality, are not true. These will include the beliefs that make up the solid foundation of what you assume is reality.
Up to now, your greatest problem has been ignorance of who you are and who you were meant to be. The wrong self-image has kept you from releasing your unlimited potential. Your ‘mistaken certainties’ have prevented you from realising how truly worthy, capable and unique you are as an individual.
BY CAPT SAM ADDAIH (RTD)