Historically the human eye has often been seen to be a focus for
attention. Hypnotists took advantage of this. They would often come very
close to the subject to emphasize this. (Though I never do, myself.) In
this animation I have taken that basic eye motif. I have added my image
for those who respond to the human face. If you catch the glint in my eye
at the closest you will, I hope, take it that I do not take the acronym
you can form from the floating words too seriously.
Many years ago I happened to work in a small office which had wallpaper
with a repetitive small pattern on dots on it. I discovered that asking a
client to focus on the dots often created, after a few minutes, a strange
detached feeling in them. A form of trance in fact. In this animation I
have taken that idea and compensated for the fact that there are fewer
spots by making them rotating spirals. The two central ones are blue to
help you slightly to re-focus on them so that the two blend into one. You
should then see one blue spiral rotating clockwise against a background of
black ones rotating counterclockwise. This tends to hold the eyes in focus
as they try to work out this unfamiliar situation.
The spinning spiral has long been a popular icon of hypnosis. It is more
commonly in black and white. But any two complementary colours can, I
think, have the similar effect. Each colour is that of the afterimage of
the other. Why is the spiral effective? Well it creates the illusion of
forward motion. If we are moving forward then our focus of attention is
drawn to where we are going. So we focus more on the the picture and on
its centre.
Here the attention of the eye is captured by the slowly oscillating
opposites in colour. Is the central colour yellow with a purple afterimage
or a purple image with a yellow afterimage? Is the shape a hexagon or a
cube? The eye tries to get the mind to resolve these questions. But they
have no final answer. This can be compared to the Buddhist practice of
contemplating Koans such as the question, "Two hands clap and there
is a sound; what is the sound of one hand?" The impossibility of
answering the question eventually takes the mind into a trance.
This employs a psychological principle used by the famous Milton H Erickon
in informal hypnosis. It someone is presented with contradictory
directions it is very hard to resolve them at a conscious level. The most
natural reaction is to give up the attempt and to go for the easier
alternative. In this case the harsh order "try to concentrate",
which is seemingly askin the conscious mind to focus hard, is difficult to
reconcile with the relaxed and fluidly morphing "trance". After
a while the mind will slip into the more pleasant alternative. Why the
bright colours? They are eye-catching. I find they remind me, at least, of
childhood and the bright shiny magic of christmas tree decorations. Any
association with childhood is likely to bring back modes of thought which
are less rational and controlled.
This
animation is a stand-alone suggestion. Think Shaman. Think Big Chief
Silver Birch. Think of the head-dress that confers the power of nature
represented. Think of the many summers and the many winters that the tree
has been growing roots deeper into Mother Earth and branches higher
towards the winds of heaven. Feel the power. Feel the wisdom. Let his
words enter.
As
people enter trance-like states they often say "I was deeper into it
that time." Traditionally hypnotists have used the word "deeper"
to encourage that process. This animation straightforwardly creates the
illusion of moving forward - deeper - into the scene. The word itself
appears repetitively. Repetition is one of the simple common tools of
hypnosis. The scene is simple. Simplicity is also a characteristic tool.
We want to eliminate all the many, varied and irrelevant thoughts in the
mind. The whole animation is designed to give the mind an idea of what is
required. A kind of simple deepening focus.
This one is tongue in cheek. It takes the movie version of eye fixation to
the limit. Here we have an alien fungus in my local Adel Woods, using the
power of its eyes to make any passerby fall under its power. So if I ever
seem strange... now you know why!!
On some platforms I find that the sound track seems to go quietly mad
after many repetitions. That, I suppose, is the fate of anyone who buys
into the idea that hypnosis is all about trying to take control of another
person's mind.
This takes the many spirals background theme (see above), though this time
they rotate to and fro, more like the balance wheel of a clock and adds to
it a repetitive combining and separation of opposite colours. It has
something of the rhythmic movement of the once-fashionable induction
procedure of swinging a watch in front of the eyes.
Another stand alone animation. Here the motive is to speak to the
depressed. The stone seems cold and lifeless and dead. And yet... and yet... perhaps
even when all around seems lifeless and empty of all promise then there may be a surprise in store. Perhaps if
you look around you, you will see something in someone's eye that will
alert you again.