Page 82 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

The important truth indicated by hypnosis

One of the best examples of a world created with artificial stimuli is the
technique of hypnosis. When a person is hypnotized, he experiences extremely

convincing events which are indistinguishable from reality. The person under
hypnosis sees pictures, people and various images, and hears, smells and
tastes many things, none of which exist in the room. Meanwhile, because of the
experience, he becomes happy, upset, excited, bored, worried or flustered.
Moreover, the effect of the experience on the person under hypnosis can be
watched from outside physically. In very deep hypnotic trances, certain kinds
of symptoms can be observed in the hypnotized person, such as an increase in
the pulse rate and blood pressure, redness of the skin, high temperature, and
the removal of an existing pain or ache. 16

In one hypnotic experiment, a hypnotic subject is told that he is in a
hospital and that there is a dying patient on the tenth floor of the hospital. He
has been hypnotized into believing that if he rushes to the patient with the
right medicine, the patient will be rescued. The subject, under the influence of
hypnosis, thinks he is rushing to the tenth floor. Meanwhile he gets out of
breath and can't control it, due to a feeling of being extremely tired. Then the
subject is told that he is on the top floor, and succeeded in fetching the

medicine, and that he can lie on a comfortable bed. The subject then starts to
relax. 17 Although the subject experiences the locations and the atmospheres as
if they were completely real, the places, people or events as told to him do not
exist.
In another experiment, a hypnotic subject in a normal room is told that he
is in a Turkish bath and that the bath is very hot. As a result, he starts to
sweat. 18
This draws our attention to a very important point. In order for a person
to sweat, some conditions must exist. The reality that we come across in this

instance of hypnosis is that the hypnotized person has sweated, even though
there is no physical factor which would cause him to sweat. This example
shows clearly that there is no physical necessity of direct experience of the
original of places or atmosphere to feel such an atmosphere or place. Similar
effects can be created through artificial stimulants or hypnotic suggestion.
The British hypnotherapy specialist, Terence Watts, a member of many
organizations including The National Hypnotherapy Association, The

80 MATTER: THE OTHER NAME FOR ILLUSION