Chapter 17 - Rules Of The Mind

For you to understand why hypnotism is possible, its causes and effects and the results which can be achieved with it, you should not only know how to induce the state of hypnosis, but you should know some of the rules of the mind. These rules may govern the nervous reactions you desire to bring about. They may also explain the reactions you get which you do not desire to bring about. They may assist you in determining what course or method to pursue to induce hypnosis, or what to do to produce a certain result through hypnosis. These rules also explain why hypnotism is possible.

Rule Number One

Every thought or idea causes a physical reaction. Your thoughts affect the various functions of your body. Worry thoughts may bring on ulcers. Anger thoughts affect your adrenal glands and result in surcharging your blood with its product. Frightful thoughts affect your pulse rate. Hunger and thirst thoughts affect your stomach and salivary glands. Sex thoughts affect your sex organs. The stated reactions are not the only reactions of your body to such thoughts, but they are stated as an illustration of the rule, because they are well known to everyone. Such thoughts may reach the subconscious and become a fixation there, to become a compulsion, driving the person on to do or not to do things which" even the person doing the things may realize are silly, wrong or useless to do or not to do. Such thoughts may be put into a person's mind by parents, friends, relatives or by the person himself. This may be done at any stage of life, but the younger a person is, the more he is apt to pick up ideas which are not supported by facts and good reason. An older person may be able to discard such ideas. But remember, that if an idea is accepted as true, it will be lodged in your subconscious mind to govern your actions later.

We will not go into the mechanics of receiving and discarding an idea. We will leave that to the psychologists. An idea may be accepted or discarded. If accepted and retained, it will influence the person thereafter. The retention of an idea is governed by the strength of the impression it makes on the mind of the person concerned, and this in turn is governed by the memory power, imagination and knowledge of that person. These things should be remembered by hypnotists who use their skill for treating patients. Do not expect a forgetful person to act on your suggestions for an indefinite length of time but have him come back for treatment more often than one with a good memory. You will realize more fully the meaning of

this rule when you have studied nervous reactions.

The two women above are in a deep state of hypnosis. They were hypnotized in separate chairs, given post-hypnotic suggestions that they would go to sleep on command, awakened and told to walk to the place where they were sitting, then commanded to go to sleep. They went to sleep instantly and nothing could have kept them awake.

Rule Number Two

The next rule in importance and one which is of vital concern to the hypnotist is: THE EXPECTED SENSATION TENDS TO BE REALIZED. It is not my intention here to say that a person must expect the sensations of hypnosis in order to be hypnotized. It is not necessary for the subject to know anything about hypnotism or the sensations of hypnosis. Children and older persons who have never heard of it or seen it performed and who know absolutely nothing about it, can be hypnotized.
However, it is my intention to say that a person really expecting to be hypnotized is easier to hypnotize than one who is doubtful, either of the ability of the hypnotist or of his susceptibility as a subject. If the reader will refer back a few pages, he will note that hypnosis is a natural state brought about by certain procedures. This being true, when these procedures are effected, hypnosis results and foreknowledge by the subject of the results is not necessary. It is the combination of ideations which bring about the results. But such knowledge, sufficient for the subject to expect the sensations of hypnosis, may be helpful. For example, the subject has heard that the hypnotist is an expert and has never failed. The subject then expects to be hypnotized. This subject will be easier to hypnotize than if he had no such knowledge.

Expectancy by a patient may also be an aid or a hindrance in affecting a cure of an ailment. If the patient has a negative expectancy, this must be removed by suggestion before relief can be obtained. Negative expectance forms one of the worst obstacles medical doctors have in effecting cures. If a patient expects to stay sick, lame, paralyzed, helpless, even to die, the expected condition tends to be realized. Here is where the skilled hypnotist can step in and put the subject on the road to possible recovery. He can brush away the despondency, the negative attitude, and place in its stead a hopeful expectancy—expectancy of health, strength and well-being, which will tend to be realized.

Rule Number Three

The third rule of the mind is: IMAGINATION IS MORE POTENT THAN KNOWLEDGE WHEN DEALING WITH THE MIND OF ANOTHER; or stated thus: IMAGINATION OF THE SUBJECT IS MORE POTENT THAN HIS KNOWLEDGE. This is a good rule to remember when treating patients through hypnosis. The subject's imagination may have been excited by yellow journal accounts of terrible things hypnotists have done to people. If such is the case, the subject would be difficult to hypnotize. It would be best to ascertain his attitude and impressions regarding hypnotism before any attempt is made to induce the state. Unfavorable ideas should be explained away. If his imagination can be fired with favorable ideas of the results to be obtained, all the better for him, but avoid false claims. Remove any fears he may have as to the effects of hypnosis. Avoid anything which would cause disbelief in hypnotism, or in the operator's ability. Belief is not necessary for induction of hypnosis, but real disbelief is a positive hindrance. It blocks the operation and effect of the formula for induction of the state. As I have said before, hypnosis is a natural state brought on as a result of a natural reaction to stimuli applied to the mind. Actual disbelief is negative to this stimuli.

I am of the opinion that the degree of hypnotiza-bility depends upon the strength of the imagination of the subject, provided the subject has a sane mind. This may explain why persons of education and brilliance of mind are so easily hypnotized. It also explains in part, why persons under the age of twenty are more easily hypnotized than those who are older. The imagination is more active and less restrained in younger persons. My experience has been that persons having the least imagination are the most difficult to hypnotize. Also, I might say, that the more stupid a person is, the more difficult he is to hypnotize, but some persons who are not stupid, have no vivid imagination. On the other hand, such persons may be very smart in some lines of activity and yet be lacking in strong imaginations. Of course, the more intelligent a person is, the greater the power of concentration, which is a necessary factor along with imagination. This power of concentration must be present in order that the hypnotist may take advantage of rules Number One, Two and Three. The faith and belief elements must also be present. That is one reason young persons are easy subjects.

Here I must explain my position more fully as to stupid persons, lest I offend some very brilliant persons. I do not mean that everyone who cannot be hypnotized is stupid, idiotic, imbecilic, or lacking in imagination. A very brilliant and imaginative subject may use such powers to defeat the hypnotist by thinking about the procedure employed to bring about hypnosis and by trying to analyze his reactions, instead of following the instructions and letting himself react to the words of the hypnotist. This breaks up the chain reactions which the hypnotic formula is intended to create and prevents the ultimate reaction of hypnosis. To avoid such failure, the subject is requested to cooperate and not let other thoughts enter his mind. Some persons who apparently cooperate do not, because they avoid listening strictly to the hypnotist, breaking the effect of his words. Some absolutely refuse to be hypnotized for various reasons. One such person I coaxed into being hypnotized and she made an excellent subject. Her fears and opposition had been talked away.

Here I wish to emphasize more strongly the power of imagination by adding the further rule. Generally speaking, IMAGINATION IS MORE POWERFUL THAN REASON. That is why some persons blindly rush into some unreasonable act or situation. That is why some people blindly follow the rabble rouser, the war-mongering despot like Hitler, the possessor of a fake map of buried treasure, the seller of fake stocks, the promoter of skin games. Such persons let their imagination run riot with their reason. Perhaps they cannot help themselves in such situations, and this has led some psychologists to term such mental conditions a form of hypnosis, with which position I strongly disagree. For my reasons, see elsewhere in this book.
In this connection, I might add, that faith and prejudice are other things which also run riot with reason. So is anger, hatred, love, etc.

Now, you ask of what advantage is knowledge of these rules to the hypnotist? Just this: He may use them in dealing with his subjects. If he is qualified to treat their ailments, he may take advantage of these rules. These rules, every last one of them, aid or hinder the induction of hypnosis, and whether you know them or not, you use them whenever you induce hypnosis. They are based on the reactions of the mind. Those based upon reactions in the subconscious mind control the human being, because he has no means of reaching the base of their activity. At least, he has not cultivated the means which he may have of reaching the source of his trouble. Only through hypnotism can these deep-seated ideas be reached and altered. The hypnotist may take advantage of these rules through proper use of them by means of suggestion, altering the ideations in the subconscious mind of the subject, so that the desired mental attitude is substituted instead of the undesirable one. It is better to have these rules with you than against you.

For an example of what I mean, I will use a very simple illustration which can be understood by everyone. Suppose the subject is worrying about his mother-in-law visiting him. He dislikes her. He wishes she would leave. She is in the way. He is uncomfortable with her about his home. He is getting ulcers from worrying. He is hypnotized and is told his mother-in-law is a lovely person and made to believe that he likes her and that she likes him; that he will enjoy her company and will do everything he can to make her happy and enjoy her stay with him. He is told that the way to get along with people is to make them like him by doing things to please them. He is told that his ulcers will go away; that he will quit worrying and will be well and feel fine right away; that he will feel perfectly at ease around the mother-in-law and that she will not worry him any more by anything she does or says. Here we have an example of altered ideation which reaches the imagination and prejudices of the subject.

Now, let us see how imagination could aid induction. Suppose the same person had heard that the hypnotist could hypnotize anyone; that no one could resist his skill. He believed it. Such a person would make an ideal subject.

Rule Number Four

Another rule which the hypnotist should know and remember is: ONLY ONE IDEA CAN BE ENTERTAINED AT ONE AND THE SAME TIME. This does not mean more than one idea cannot be remembered or harbored in your memory, but it refers to the conscious mind recognizing an idea. This has its corollary in the rule that: CONFLICTING IDEAS CANNOT BE HELD AT ONE AND THE SAME TIME. This rule has to do with the recognition of an idea as true, correct, guiding, dominating the personality, and accepted. These might be classed as two separate and distinct rules of the mind, but for sake of time and space, we will discuss them together. As you have noted previously, in order to induce hypnosis, it is necessary to obtain the undivided attention of the subject. His attention cannot be divided. We are speaking of the absolute response of the conscious mind to the words of the hypnotist. When the mind is so occupied, no other idea can intrude to disrupt the stimuli acting upon the subject's mind. It is my opinion that the suggestions of the hypnotist must act without interruption through the various centers of the brain to which the suggestions are relayed by the auditory nerves and with a minimum of activity on the part of the conscious mind centers. This is the idea of the diverted attention by means of some object, or routine which requires the very minimum of conscious mental action. By this means, the conscious mind is made not alert and ceases to feed stimuli to the sub-conscious mind and other nerve centers. It is off guard. It ceases to be active and the sleep idea is driven home through the auditory senses so that the idea activates the sleep centers by a surprise reaction in keeping with the idea slipped through the consciousness of the subject. The synapses are unconnected, as was explained, on Page 88, and the subject goes to sleep suddenly as his or her conscious mind loses control. The sleep idea has taken control of the mental functions as far as the conscious mind is concerned, and the idea is supreme. As long as it is entertained, the subject will remain asleep. Now the sub-conscious mind may be reached through the sensory nerves, i. e., hearing, feeling, smelling, etc., and its activities directed without disturbing the idea of sleep which has been fixed in the subject's mind. The sensory centers do not relax or become dormant as is the case with the conscious mind centers, but remain alert, because they were alert and active when the conscious mind centers went into inactivity. This explains why the subject remains asleep while carrying on a conversation or walking about. The sleep idea is predominant and activates the nerve centers controlling the synapses between the conscious and subconscious mind. Somnambulism, light hypnosis, medium hypnosis, and the other states of hypnosis, are merely caused by different degrees of severance of the faculties concerned in sleep and hypnotic phenomena.

Sleep walking. Note the expression.

I have stated the rules above as to the entertaining of one idea at a time, but I do not have the time to argue the points concerned as to the faculty of the mind involved. If you wish to read a full discussion on this, you should get a good book on psychology. Just for an experiment, try to think of a beautiful girl and an ugly one at one and the same moment. You will note that there are two distinct ideas at two distinct instances in your thoughts. The time is infinitesimal, but it is there. Conflicting ideas cause nervous conflict, if attempted to be sanctioned together, as you will see by discussion elsewhere in this book. Needless to say, you cannot believe two contrary things at one and the same time. Just try to believe 2 plus 2 makes 4, and 2 plus 2 makes 5, at the same instant.' In fact, you cannot believe 2 plus 2 equals 5, because you have always been taught differently. So much for the rule, and I have given you its application to hypnosis.

Rule Five

Another rule of the mind which plays an important part in hypnotism and in the treatment of nervous ills through its application is: AN IDEA ONCE ACCEPTED TENDS TO REMAIN UNTIL REPLACED BY ANOTHER IDEA OR IS FORGOTTEN. Another companion rule to this is: ONCE AN IDEA HAS BEEN ACCEPTED, THERE IS OPPOSITION TO REPLACING IT WITH A NEW IDEA.

Once an idea has been accepted, it tends to remain. The longer it remains, the more it tends to become a fixed habit of thinking. This is how habits of action are formed, both good and bad ones. There is the thought and then the action. We have habits of thinking as well as habits of action, but the thought, the idea, comes first.

We accept as true certain conclusions of fact. These conclusions of fact are impressed on our minds and are the basis of our everyday actions. For example, we accept as true the conclusion that ten dimes make a dollar and we make our calculations on that basis when dealing with dimes and dollars. We accept the idea that the sun rises at a certain time every day. We govern ourselves accordingly, even though we do not see the sun, because of clouds. We accept the idea that fire burns, water moistens, ice chills, water evaporates, rain falls and plants grow under certain conditions. These are instances of correct fact ideations which have become fixed in every sane mind and which govern actions of sane human beings under normal conditions. We have many thought habits which are not correct and are just as fixed in the mind as are the illustrations given above. Some believe that they must have a drink of whisky to steady their nerves. This is not correct, but the idea is there, and is a fixed habit of thought. There will be considerable opposition to replacing it with a correct idea.

I wish to give another illustration of a fixed idea, the changing) of which would meet with serious resistance and might result in trouble for the ones involved. A man loves a woman. This in itself is an idea. He believes in her faithfulness. This is also an idea. These ideas have become fixed ideas in the man's mind. He strongly believes in them. A good friend of the man knows that the woman is not faithful and is not virtuous in any sense of the word and is using the friend for a good thing. He wishes to advise his friend of the fact so as to save him from the unscrupulous woman. He tells his friend. Now, what reaction happens? That depends on the temperament of the friend who has been awakened. Nearly always the friend is angry and does not believe it. It could lead to a fight. It might lead to a murder. Now, this is an everyday illustration of fixed ideas and resistance to change, which everyone can understand.
The drinking, smoking, dope, and other habits are also fixed and are based on fixed ideas. Some have been indulged in so long that the system has a craving for the effects which indulgence in the habits bring. However fixed the habit may be, it is traceable to the original idea fixed in the brain cells. Remember: First, the thought, then the act, then the habit of thought, then the habit.

Now, in advancing the above rules, we are speaking of real ideas, not just passing fancies. Such things pass through the mind and are gone, but may not involve a fixed idea. We are not referring to memory here, although memory is involved in recalling the ideas, but to an idea fixed in the mind and called to the consciousness. Here again we could become involved in technicalities but let it pass for the sake of my point.

The hypnotist is concerned with fixed ideas. He may need to alter them or to use them. No matter how fixed ideas may be, they may be reached and, with proper suggestions, faulty ideas may be removed, altered or amended, as the case may require. Once the new idea has been accepted, it tends to remain.

Certain things which are mental as well as physical, tend to determine as to, how well an idea is retained. Circumstances and associations are also determining factors. However, these factors do not alter the rule that an idea once accepted tends to remain until replaced or forgotten.

The above Rules, Four and Five, also explain why some persons have nervous breakdowns from worry, or from frustration, or so-called secret sins. They try to harbor two conflicting ideas at one and the same time. Although they cannot believe in such contrary ideas at one and the same time, they can harbor one and believe in the other. They believe in their hearts in one idea and may execute another completely antagonistic idea. Their minds become completely confused. Their ideas teeter back and forth until their nerves break under the strain. Here is where hypnotism comes in. It presents a direct approach to the seat of the ideation, the sub-conscious mind. It reaches into the memory. It digs into the causes, uproots them and replaces them with a better and more stabilizing idea, restores the unbalanced mental state, removes the conflict and soothes the nerves.

But if you wish to succeed as a hypnotist, never try to compel a subject to do anything while under hypnosis which you know is against the moral, religious, political or other deep-seated convictions of your subject. If you do, you will most likely lose control of the subject, never to regain it, and cause the subject to awaken, or to remain passive, failing to execute your orders. The effect is much the same as if the person had a bad dream. Even if the subject should not awaken, he will refuse to perform the order and after awakening, usually refuses to be re-hypnotized, even though he may not be able to explain why. The methods to circumvent and remove any improper ideation, although it may be a fixed habit of thought, will be taken up under proper heading.

Rule Number Six

This rule is familiar to all medical men, although they may not be able to express it in the same words. Also, they do not dare frankly express it to their patients, even if they realize the truth of it. Any medical man who is bold enough to tell his patient that the patient's condition is due to his imagination, will most assuredly lose a patient. Worse yet is to say that the patient's condition is a mental one. Right then, the patient doubts the intelligence and the knowledge of the physician. Ask any doctor who has tried this.

The rule is: AN IMAGINED CONDITION TENDS TO BECOME REAL IF PERSISTED IN LONG ENOUGH. This rule may also be stated in another form, to wit: A MENTAL ATTITUDE TENDS TO REFLECT ITSELF IN THE BODY STRUCTURE AND THE PHYSICAL CONDITION. In- reality, these could be set out as two distinct rules, but they carry such similar import, that they can be considered together.

It has been acknowledged by many reputable medical men that more than seventy percent of human ailments are functional instead of organic. Such ailments are brought on generally by malfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which controls the body functions. Their symptoms may fool the physician and he will prescribe medicines which have no beneficial effect. Even operations may be undertaken without benefit. If the doctor discovers that nerves are the cause, he may prescribe sedatives which may be worse than no medicine, because they may deaden the very nerves which should be properly activated. Still worse, they may form a habit which the patient cannot break.

Now, there are many more rules of the mind, but they are not as important as those stated. In considering these rules, you must keep in mind at all times that you are dealing with a human being with a mind, which is more or less flexible and subject to vacillation. Nevertheless, these qualities may be used by the alert hypnotist who knows the rules and applies them sensibly to his profession. When you get to the chapter on the nervous reactions in the brain and nerve paths, you will understand how knowledge of the above rules will help you. You will also understand how they aid in bringing on hypnosis.

A Friendly Word To The Medical Fraternity

More and more, the power of the mind over the body functions is being realized. When the teachers in the medical colleges are able to lift up their eyes from the putrid body over which they lecture and' visualize a living body with a mind akin to God, which once was the putrid body over which they stand, they will then, and not until then, begin to teach the power of the mind over the flesh. In the corpse they can find none of that power, and it is easily understood why their ideas are purely materialistic and turn to material means for cures. They may never think that an idea may have killed the cadre before them. If the person had died from mental shock, they could not find any symptom of it in the corpse. If the person had died from ulcers or from high blood pressure brought on by worry or any other mental state, the doctors could find no cause in the corpse. No wonder medical men have not believed in psychosomatic medicine. No wonder they poke fun at hypnotism as a means of medication. They have never been taught that the mind controls the physical activities of the body and that a failure by it to do so or an improper control by it, may result in physical disability, or sickness.

I am not intending to recite here the many functional disorders which may be brought on by the mental reactions of the individual. Every person is familiar with some of them . . . stuttering, fainting or miscarriage from mental shock, blindness or deafness from a subconscious desire not to see or hear, paralysis as a result of a desire to withdraw from a disagreeable situation, as a result of worry or anger, the heart may be affected or ulcers of the stomach may occur. Excessive drinking, smoking, eating, dope habits and many other things are directly traceable to mental conditions. These facts are now well known to the medical profession, but generally, they still insist on materia medica and operations, as the remedies. They even insist on severing parts of the brain to cure certain unsocial activities. In other words, just cut the ideation out They are even severing nerves to cure ulcers .... Cut off the stimulus which nature needed for digestion. Doctors, this may hurt, but why not face the truth and accept the facts as they are, instead of insisting on the old order of things? It is coming to the time when the general public will insist on it—why not beat them to the draw?

Here is something on which you medical men will thoroughly agree with me—this is in line with the rule above stated: EVERY EMOTION REACTS UPON THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE AND ORGANS OF THE BODY IN DIRECT PROPORTION TO ITS INTENSITY AND IN LINE WITH ITS NATURE. The emotion of love excites possessory, protective, creative instincts and organs in line with the quality of the desire. Anger excites aggressive and defensive organs and those glands secreting fluids used in such activities. Fear excites protective and defensive organs and reactions. These illustrations are just part of the reactions of the sub-conscious mind. There are many more. These reactions are instinctive in the lower animals. In man, they are instinctive and volitional. That is, man's education and experience also determine his reactions along with his instinctive reactions. Man's social customs and laws further complicate his mental reactions and set up conflicts which may undo his nervous system.

Now, the doctor of psychosomatic medicine, takes these reactions into consideration and affects cures with them. Some day in the near future, psychosomatic medicine will be taught in every medical school, and it will be optional as to whether the student wishes to specialize in one profession or the other. There will be such a doctor available to every hospital. Every mental hospital needs such doctors and there are not enough to go around. Such a doctor does not need a complete medical course, but he does need enough medical knowledge to diagnose an ailment, unless he works in cooperation with a medical man. But every medical doctor ought to know enough about psychosomatic medicine to know when it is indicated and when materia medica is the remedy. Also, he ought to know enough so that he will not frighten his patients to death when his services are needed. Now, Doc, if I have hit you hard, just do like Brother Jones in the Amen corner does—pass it off on the other fellow, but make up your mind to seriously study what I have said.

As I have said before, one of the things to remember in considering hypnotism from any angle is the personality factor. On account of this factor, it is not possible to obtain exact results or exactly similar results in every case, or to determine the exact results to be obtained under any set of circumstances, or under any given procedure. We can determine about what will happen, but experience and experiment are the only means by which to obtain an exact answer. Right here, I wish to say that experimenting with hypnotism is not as dangerous as experimenting with drugs or an operation. The results of hypnotism can be wiped away with a few words. Not so with drugs or the effects of an operation. Nerves, brain cells and organs cut out or destroyed needlessly cannot be restored.

Another thing to be cautioned against is the erroneous attitude that every patient who complains about an ailment is mentally sick or neurotic. The practitioner must learn to differentiate between a disease caused by germs, parasites, virus, or other things attacking the human body and those ailments caused by malfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Caution must also be exercised in making the diagnosis known to the patient. Some persons are offended by being bluntly told that their troubles are mental or nervous. They take it as a reflection on their mental powers or sanity. Any doctor or practitioner who makes such a mistake is just plainly lacking in good sense.
The foregoing rules have been known to wise men of the world for centuries. Even the savages have known some of them. The Bible is full of them. I will quote one: "AS A MAN THINKETH IN HIS HEART, SO IS HE."

Rule Number Seven

A SUGGESTION ONCE FOLLOWED TENDS TO CREATE LESS AND LESS OPPOSITION TO SUCCESSIVE SUGGESTIONS; or stated another way:

A MENTAL TREND IS EASIER TO FOLLOW THE LONGER IT LASTS UNBROKEN. This is one way of saying that a habit once formed is difficult to break and easier to follow.

To use this rule in hypnotism, the subject is requested to do some simple thing like closing her eyes tight and suggesting to her that the lids are stuck tight and that she cannot open them. If she tries and the lids fail to open, the mind enters a mental trend. Next, tell her to stop trying to open her eyes and have her lock her fingers together. Tell her they are stuck tight and she cannot open them. If they stay locked, tell her to relax her hands and arms. She is further along the mental trend of obedience to the suggestions of the operator. A habit of mental reaction has been formed, and if not interrupted, will continue to grow in force and effect at the urgings of the hypnotist, until the subject is in deep hypnosis. Command deeper sleep after each test.

Now, if the subject does not go deep enough asleep or enters a light stage, you may use the same rule to deepen the hypnosis. If you put her to sleep while gazing at an object, tell her to open her eyes (do not mention waking), and command her to gaze at the object again while you repeat the sleep formula. If she again fails to go deep enough asleep, repeat the performance until she does. This is called pyramiding hypnosis, and can be used to get the deepest state of hypnosis. For some persons, it may require a long time to reach the deepest state.

There are other methods of doing it, but the above is the simplest and illustrates the principle. Do not let the subject's mind interrupt the mental trend you have started, but keep hammering home to her mind the words and acts which will accelerate the trend towards sleep.

In other words, once the suggestions of the hypnotist have been accepted by the sub-conscious mind as compulsive, they will be acted upon by the motor centers, and the more suggestions which are obeyed, the deeper the trance becomes. This effect, aided by frequent suggestions of deeper sleep, will continue to the deepest stage to which the subject can be led, unless some direction, or act of the hypnotist, should violate some deep-seated inhibition of the subject. In such an event, the trend will be interrupted and the subject will awake or refuse to perform the suggestion. This is what happens when a subject is ordered to commit a crime, or do something against moral or religious principles. Like a woman subject commanded to disrobe— the suggestion is to do something against her moral principles and deep-seated inhibitions. Her mental trend is interrupted like a nightmare intruding into peaceful slumber. She is immediately aroused from the trance by her sub-conscious mind centers. This is done through a reflex action and not through the conscious mind. It is like moving from the edge of the bed, awakening when you become cold, throwing off the covers when too hot, arising when you desire to visit the bathroom, awakening at six o'clock or any number of subconscious acts one can think of, as illustrations.

This brings us to an important thing to always remember when a subject is entering hypnosis. If such subject shows signs of nervousness and appears to be struggling to come out of the trance, instantly speak soothing words to the subject and awaken her. If you do not, you may have a screaming and very excited person on your hands. This would not help your performance any and might be very bad indeed, if you happened to have impulsive and uneducated persons present. Such excitement is a sure sign that the person does not wish to be hypnotized further and wishes to be awakened. Do not hypnotize such person again, unless it is necessary for medical purposes. If this be the case, learn what caused the excitement and negate the reaction by proper suggestions.

The above method of pyramiding hypnosis is also used to obtain the deepest stage of hypnosis. The deepest stage is not necessary for ordinary purposes, either for stage performances or medication, and I would not advise any beginner to try it. It is a stuporous trance in which the physical processes are slowed to the lowest activity. The subject may like it so well and his consciousness be so inactivated, that the operator will meet with great difficulty when an attempt is made to awaken him.

Now, we have studied the various formulas for inducing hypnosis, the most important rules of the mind concerned with its induction, and with the reactions after its induction. In the next chapter we shall see how these rules act upon the nerve and brain centers to bring about hypnosis. We shall see how ideas are switched about in the" brain cells and nerve paths by some mysterious power of the mind to create hypnotic sleep and cause the peculiar reactions developed in that state. 

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