In a very real way the control paradigm functions as a trance, that is both individual and global. Akin to propaganda and other mind control methods, it entrances us into unconsciously believing that it is the only way to experience reality. Our beliefs shape the way we create our worlds, and the repetition of daily life in the external world reinforces our assumptions.
To be effective, mind-control methods must be hidden or pass as something acceptable or "normal."
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In Waking Up, Charles Tart - an American psychologist and parapsychologist known for his work on the nature of consciousness - introduced the phrase "consensus trance" to our lexicon. Tart likened normal waking consciousness to hypnotic trance. He discussed how each of us is from birth inducted to the trance of the society around us. A similar theme is discussed in depth by Berger and Luckmann in their book The Social Construction of Reality.
Stephen Wolinsky, drawing from more than 23 years of therapeutic practice, including Eriksonian training, more than 18 years of meditation practice and 6 years of living in a monastery in India, states, "The job of the hypnotherapist is no longer to induce trance, but rather to dehypnotize the individual out of the trance [he or she is] already experiencing."
Trance involves our minds voluntarily choosing to bypass their critical abilities and to focus selectively. The following is an extreme example of what we experience on a daily basis. There are four primary characteristics of trance.
1. Eliminating the critical faculty
In concentration camps every assumption about human dignity was violated. Prisoners were taken from their homes, stripped naked, shaved from head to toe, and showered en-mass. They were treated as if they were criminals. Having lost their autonomy, even regarding their own bodies, many went into shock and realized that their critical thinking would make no difference in prison life.
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