RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGY AND HYPNOSIS
In September 1947, at 17, as a very green and yet skeptical kind of student, I entered Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB, http://www.mta.ca I entered to take the basic BA degree in preparation for teaching, preaching, law, whatever.

Looking back, I realized later, that I was fortunate indeed to have had as my faculty adviser the late Rev. Arthur Ebbutt--later a ThD--who was also the newly-appointed adviser in charge of all theological students of which there were 60 males and one female.Times have changed. Females now outnumber the males.

In a private meeting with my adviser I told him that I was very skeptical in matters of religion and the Bible. It was then he mentioned the word 'psychology'...and philosophy.

"I think you are the kind of student" he said, "who will enjoy the study of psychology".

Then, I had no idea what he meant by 'psychology'. He told me that it meant "the study of the mind" and he added: "Psychology comes under the department of Philosophy. If you choose this as your major, you will be under the guidance of Dr. Charlie Baxter--a PhD from the University of Toronto, and a truly humble person.

Interestingly, later I found out that Dr. Baxter had volunteered for the war (WW 2) as a private. When they later discovered his academic standing he was promoted to serve in other ways, as a captain.

Without hesitation I said, "OK, that's for me. Psychology it is, for now."

Because of my interest in psychology--which I later discovered is the child of pneumatology--I have been a student of what is commonly called hypnosis since the 1940's.

Later still, based on the word 'pneumatology', instead of using 'hypnotism' I started calling the phenomenon, 'pneumatism'.

Pneumatism is the power of the human spirit (the pneuma) and its ability to use the mind (psyche) and the body (the soma) as servants of the higher good.

Interestingly, pneumatologically, or spiritually, speaking experience has taught me that it is possible to measure how much imagination (including, faith+hope+love) any individual has. Over the years I have done any number of experiments with individuals and groups, which demonstrate this. Just the other day, I did it with a person, right over the phone.

IMO, THERE IS ONLY SELF-HYPNOSIS
Incidentally, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The master-subject model of hypnotism is an illusion. Check out the work of the father of American hypnosis, Dr. Milton Erickson--an MD and psychiatrist.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Erickson
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The following, based on the pneumatological ability to imagine, is just a foot note. I will comment on what it means to me, later.

E(that is, the energy in and through all creation, as we observe and sense it)= M(ass) X C2 (speed of light, squared) + I(magination), which can include faith, hope and love.

It is my humble attempt to add to the famous Einstein equation the element of the imagination, to which he already alluded when he said: "Imagination is more important than knowledge".

Question: Could it be that it is the human imagination--used positively or negatively--which makes all the difference between a good or evil result?
Just asking, OK?


Last edited by Revlgking; 08/28/08 10:20 PM.

G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org