DEHYPNOTIZING YOURSELF
Every person has been hypnotized to some degree either by ideas he has accepted from others or ideas he has convinced himself are true. These ideas have the same effect on his behavior as those implanted into the mind of a hypnotic subject by a hypnotist.
Over the years I have hypnotized hundreds of people to demonstrate the power of suggestion and imagination. To best illustrate my point, let me explain what happens when a person is hypnotized. Under hypnosis, I tell a normal, healthy woman that she cannot lift a pencil that I have placed on a table. And, surprisingly, she finds herself unable to perform this simple act. It is not a question of her not trying to lift the pencil. She will struggle and strain, much to the audience’s amusement, but she simply cannot lift the pencil.
On the one hand, she is trying to act as voluntary
effort and the use of her body muscles. But on the other, the suggestion that “you cannot lift the pencil” causes her mind to believe that it is impossible. Here we find a physical force being neutralized by a mental force.
It is a case of will
power versus imagination. When this happens, imagination always wins out!
Many people think they can change their lives through sheer willpower. This is not true.
Negative ideas in the imagination cause such persons to defeat themselves. Regardless of how hard they try, it’s no use. They have accepted a false belief as if it were fact. All their ability, good intentions, effort, and willpower are of no avail against the powerful false belief they have accepted as truth.
In the same manner, I quickly prove that there is no limit to what a person can or cannot do when he or she is hypnotized because the power of imagination
is limitless. To observers, I appear to have the magical power to make her able and willing to do things she could not or would not ordinarily do. The truth is,
of course, that power is inherent in the subject.
Without realizing it, my subject hypnotized herself into believing that she could or could not do these things. No one can be involuntarily hypnotized as each person collaborates in the hypnotizing process. The hypnotist is only a guide who helps the subject accelerate the phenomenon. I have introduced this simple demonstration of hypnosis to illustrate 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.
This is not a new idea. Since the beginning of time, both men and women have been in a kind of hypnotic sleep of which they were unaware, but which has been
recognized by great teachers and thinkers throughout the centuries. These people have perceived that humankind limits itself through its “mistaken certainties” and have sought to awaken us to our potential for greatness which goes far beyond anything we can imagine.
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.
It may be astutely observed at this point that you and I are primarily the results of what we have been told and taught, and what we have been sold and bought. 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.
They further limit themselves by holding onto these concepts, values and beliefs even after they have actually evolved beyond them. Fortunately, something or someone has triggered your interest in moving beyond your present level of awareness, which includes the discovery, and development of total self-confidence.
Your first job is to awaken from the hypnotic condition that is presently keeping you from being the person you want to be. Read the following statement: The degree to which you awaken will be in direct proportion to the amount of Truth you can accept about yourself.
Now read it again! 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.” Many of the concepts presented in this book will be in direct opposition to what you now hold as the Truth.
Some may even seem “way out” or illogical and will challenge your belief system. You will have a choice to either find out if they are true or resist them. The choice is yours. This brings us back to what we said earlier: your life will be transformed
in direct relation to the amount of truth, you can accept about yourself.
If you are sincere about changing your life and increasing your self-confidence, you must have an open mind. I neither want nor expect you to accept as true anything you read in this book, just because I say it’s true. If you do, you will gain little from what you are reading.
You must try out the principles for yourself. The inner conviction and security, which comes from having proved to your satisfaction that what is presented as the Truth is indeed really the Truth, is the foundation upon which to begin building a dynamic self-confident personality.
To construct a new “functional” building on a site where a “nonfunctional” building exists, you first have to raze the old structure. This must be done by shattering those “mistaken certainties” which have held you back from expressing the unlimited, abundant, wholesome life you desire. This is primarily what this book is about.
HOW YOUR BELIEFS IMPRISON YOU
Just what are beliefs? They 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 labeling 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 but 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.
WE ARE LIMITED BY OUR “MISTAKEN CERTAINTIES”
If we wish to make a fundamental change in our life, we must first understand the root of our problems. This invariably lies in our “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. To put it more exactly:
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.
As you progress through this book, you will discover that everything you are accepting, relating or rejecting is based on your present level of awareness. Unfortunately, your present level of awareness may be faulty or distorted.