THE EXPERIMENTS

WHEN EXPERIMENTS WERE DONE BY PSYCOLOGISTS AND OTHERS ON PERSONS IN THE HYNOTIC STATE, IT OCCURED THAT THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND IS NOT CAPABLE OF MAKING SELECTIONS AND COMPARISONS WHICH WERE NECESSARY FOR A REASONING PROCESS. ON THE CONTRARY IT WAS FOUND THAT THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND WILL ACCEPT ANY SUGGESTIONS, HOWEVER FALSE. TO ILLUSTRATE THE AMENABILITY OF OUR MIND TO SUGGESTION, IF AN EFFICIENT HYNOTIST SUGGESTS TO ONE OF HIS SUBJECTS THAT HE IS NAPOLEON, HE WILL ACT OUT THE PART WITH INIMITABLE ACCURACY. HIS PERSONALITY BECOMES CHANGED FOR THE TIME BEING. HE BELIEVES HIMSELF TO BE WHATEVER THE OPERATOR TELLS HIM HE IS. ALSO TO TAKE ANOTHER EXAMPLE SAY IF A SKILLED HYNOTIST SUGGEST TO ONE OF HIS STUDENTS IN THE HYPNOTIC STATE THAT HIS BACK ITCHES, AND TO ANOTHER THAT HE IS A MARBLE STATUE, AND AGAIN TO SOME ANOTHER THAT HE IS FREEZING AND THE TEMPERATURE IS BELOW ZERO THEN EACH ONE WILL FOLLOW OUT THE LINE OF HIS PARTICULAR SUGGESTION, TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS TO ALL HIS SURROUNDINGS WHICH DO NOT PERTAIN TO HIS IDEA. THUS THESE SIMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS PORTRAY CLEARLY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR CONSCIOUS REASONING MIND AND OUR SUBCONSCIOUS WHICH IS IMPERSONAL, NON-SELECTIVE, AND ACCEPTS AS TRUE WHATEVER OUR CONSCIOUS BELIEVES TO BE TRUE. HENCE, THE IMPORTANCE OF SELECTING THOUGHTS, IDEAS, AND PREMISES WHICH BLESS, HEAL, INSPIRE, AND FILL OUR SOUL WITH JOY.