Page 74 - Knowing The Truth

72 KNOWING THE TRUTH

MURAD: Sure it is. Hypnotism can help us understand our subject
much better. Look at the hypnotist. By the suggestions he makes, he has the
audience do things that aren't really happening. Look, that guy thinks he's
a famous football star, and thinks the pillows are footballs. That woman is
trying to wipe away imaginary stains. The tall fellow thinks that everyone
he sees around him is from outer space. There, you see? Through hypnosis,
a person constructs a non-existent dream-like world, on the basis of
suggestions. And as long they're under hypnosis, they live in that world.

AISHA: True! Now, if we go to that guy and say, "This is all your
imagination and you were hypnotized. You're not really a famous
football star and what you're kicking isn't a football," we'd get denial in
response. If we said, "At this moment you're in a studio with almost a
hundred people watching," we'd never get him to believe the reality.

MURAD: You're right. Now let's get to today's topic. To repeat what
we said yesterday, "Everything is formed from perceptions which reach
the center in the brain relevant to them. There we make sense of the
impressions that we perceive." There are three important questions: First,
does the brain perform all these functions? Second, what is the nature of
the perceiver, or what we call "I?" Third, what is the source of these
impressions and why are they transmitted to us?
IBRAHIM: Certainly, the brain performs all of these functions. Just
think. If we didn't have brains, there wouldn't be any image or sense.

AHMED: You're right.

MURAD: Do you mean to say that the brain is the source of images
that create emotions, laughter and tears, moral, spiritual values and
conscience? Isn't the brain a piece of flesh weighing about one and a half
kilos? Is there a difference between the material substance of the brain
and of those other objects that we can see? Just think about this. Isn't the
brain an impression just like an arm or a leg?

AISHA: I never thought about it that way.