A Creepy Adventure, Even Deeper Into Clarity!

I have momentarily run out of creative ways to lead off these posts with greetings!

This is the first time in a while that I'm actually making a post not more than a day after my previous one. This one will almost be finished on the very same day, to be more precise (In my country).


The reason I'm doing this entry is mostly to clear up some confusions caused mostly by my horrible explaining last time. I will try to do better this time, but that remains to be seen.


There is no music for todays post. This is not because I didn't compose anything today, but rather what I made turned out to be too good for me to post it here, in my opinion (first world problems...). The basic idea (chords, rythm and melody) behind the music piece I created was quite different from what I usually do, so I'll keep it to myself for now (for further development).


Instead, I'll share with you the (intentionally) creepy "art" that I made today.

Now what is that?

Basically, that was todays training of expressions and shading (also know as: me being bored during music class and deciding to draw something unsettling).

What's interesting about this drawing is that I actually used a reference picture.

I found this (probably around two years old) picture in my penal (pencil case). It's dirty and not very clear, but I noticed that, childish as I am, I had drawn moustaches and such on the people in the picture.

What I also noticed is that the people in the picture had what I'd call priceless expressions on their faces.

I know you can't see the picture that well, partly because of the lighting, but mostly due to the picture having been in a place between several dirty pens and who knows what for an eternity of time...

Here is an early stage pic of the drawing:

Creepy right? You might notice that I switched the gender roles (The one to the right is [as I decided] a russian masculine-looking female):

Afterwards I just added more of what I thought looked like creepy details.

Yup. That's what I do in school. Here are two more wierd pictures drawn today (I obviously didn't even try on the first one).

What do you mean with that there is something seriously wrong with me? The last one was also mostly boredom, concocted together with a little bit of weirdness and shading practise (I suck at shading, and I usually never practice, school not included).

Anyway. Now that that is out of the way, let's clear up some confusions shall we not?

A big mistake with my previous entry, touching upon the subject of hypnosis, was that I just bunched an amount of loose examples and terms together without even beginning to describe what hypnosis really is in it's core existence.

Let's begin by using a quite extensive definition that I found on the interwebs.

Hypnosis: An artificially induced altered state of consciousness, characterized by heightened suggestibility and receptivity to direction.

That is to say, hypnosis is a tool used to put people in a more suggestible state of mind, with a whole other experience (feel) than your usual mindset. Depending on how the word is used, it's a synonym to trance, but it can also not be, depending on whether you're speaking of the state of consciousness or of the phenomenon  in general (like the act of hypnotizing, or hypnotizing as a tool [you can't really say trancing, can you? Since the word doesn't work that way.]).

Hypnosis is also used to reach "deeper" (as in parts you don't normally enter) parts of your brain; while you are in trance, you have access to different parts of your brain and your memory.

It is actually possible to elicit  forgotten memories, and flashbacks. These can be as strong as hallucinations, except when you only use your memory you usually know that the flashbacks are flashbacks (you know you're not actually going through that particular event in real time).

An interesting thing is that the details of these flashback memories can be as accurate as if you were there right now. It's not actually only in movies that the police make use of this. I don't know how common it is, but it happens that hypnosis is used to recall specific deatails about something that has happened.

Many people believe that hypnosis is something comparable to the paranormal (which I don't believe in), but that is about as wrong as one can be. Hypnosis is not magic, it's a psychological tool. It's basics could be said to be rooted in biology.

What can hypnosis be used for?

For good: Improving different aspects of your life, for example. It's actually VERY common that smokers who try to quit but can't, succeed after trying hypnosis for quitting (Naturally it isn't like a magic hypnotist snaps his fingers and you suddenly never want to smoke, but more like a therapy session).

Since the mind is in a more suggestible state, you can simply strenghten the will to quit smoking. In trance it's possible to enhance different aspects of you. Sometimes only for a while, like concentrating ones brain on different tasks, othertimes for a longer duration of time. It's easier to motivate someone to do things through hypnosis, and you can actually imporove performances a lot.

I've heard of top league athletes having personal hypnotists before trying to do something demanding, but I have no idea how common that is.

For bad: Hypnosis often uses confusion as a tool, and it's possible to trick people more easily using covert forms of hypnosis.

Did you know that in many (I'd guess, probably most) countries it's actually illegal to use hypnosis in commercials? (Again, It's not like hypno-toad from futurama, or someone holding a waving pendulum. It's a convincing way of speaking or showing things). Understandably, It's not good to listen to hypnotic speech when driving or doing something that demands your attention, since your focus is likely to be mislead.

I haven't begun explaining HOW to use hypnosis yet, nor will I do in this entry, since it's meant to better explain what hypnosis is.

I'll say that a key word is confidence though. If a hypnotist lacks that, it will easily, unconsciously or not, be read from his body language, and the hypnosis is at least five times less likely to work.

Otherwise, IF DONE RIGHT, it's highly unlikely that the hypnosis will completely fail.

The probability of success is dramatically increased if the person you're hypnotizing is willing, or even excited to get hypnotized, but it's very possible even otherwise. Even sceptics (not of religion, but of what we're speaking about) tend to get hypnotized, possibly not quite as easily as if they believe in it's existence.

This is because hypnosis isn't really something that has to be believed in, in order to exist; it's there whether you want it to be or not (unlike other, for the moment not to be mentioned, things).

There is one final thing from the previous post that I wish to clarify.

I mentioned different hypnotic phenomena. I mentioned things such as amnesia and catalepsy.

What I want to stress is what I meant with them being hypnotic phenomena.

Obviously, amnesia (memory loss) doesn't necessarily have to do anything with hypnosis, but it can have.

Do not take my word for it (no real research made concerning this particular part), but I would say that hypnotic phenomena like anaesthesia are only hypnotic phenomena if induced through hypnosis.

That is to say, you can of course experience these phenomena for different reasons than by using hypnosis, in everyday life. They can however, be (if you will) summoned and the sensations strengthened through hypnosis.

For example: If done correctly, when experiensing catalepsy while in trance due to hypnosis, the sensation of not being able to move that certain bodypart targeted is actually so strong that you can't manage to move it an inch even if you try; you actually feel like there is a force holding your hand still (mostly not in an unpleasant or creepy way). Sidenote: during sleep paralysis you won't actually be able to move for a while either, so the sensation of catalepsy can be strong even without the use of hypnosis.

Beware however, there are risks if you're doing things wrong. Just because you see to it that someone doesn't feel pain, it doesn't mean you should set them on fire to prove it. That would prove it (the effect would however probably disappear due to the terror of realizing you're burning; you snap out of it, so to say), but the harm could not be undone, and it would hurt afterwards...

There is also a small risk with people who have traumatic pasts. If they experience a flashback, it can become too strong, if connected too much to an emotional memory, and the results can be bad. BAD I TELLS YOU!

that last "sentence" is my cue to stop writing, I believe.

The reason I made this post is upon request, indirectly; not really a request to make this post, but something more similar to criticism, FINALLY!

Both negative and positive criticism is most welcomed, and taken into account.

I really managed to stir up some confusion with my previous, very lacking entry, so I decided to try to make up for that.

Tell me, did I succeed?

Ask me upon further confusion.

This post was dedicated to the one confused by the previous one (for good reasons), a.k.a. the most critical mastermind who goes under the name OneSketchist.

I once again must apologize for accidentally creating a wall of text. I know it might be a bit too much heavy reading for some.

Around 1600 words again...

And this time, much more of it was actually factual and kinda straight to the point. I'm sorry for making you read this (if you did), but at least to me, hypnosis and psychology in general are intriguing subjects.

As I said, comment and criticise as best as you can (in the comment section, or in "real life".).

I will notice you reading me later! (My words of postroduction!) (yes, I invented a new word).