Re:Question of trance induction..

Brian, thanks for the question. I think you are over emphasizing a particular angle of Erickson's work. His points, as I took them (maybe Rossi is different on this but I don't think so), are pretty well known ideas. That is, all change involves a moment(s) of confusion of sorts, wherein, the old framework (not leading to change) shifts to a framework which does. The moment of switching can be referred to as confusion. Also, many people spend a good deal of time not knowing what to do but aware that their understanding of things is not working. This too is confusion…a long-standing low level of it. You have seemed to conclude that he was talking of a psychotic and unsettling sort of disorientation that would (for certain) be dangerous and upsetting. In my watching, hearing, and reading his work I never found a time in which he drove to a confusion that made someone uncomfortable or frightened. He sometimes raised the anxiety level but not with confusion (like the man who went to dinner with the divorced woman he found so attractive that it made him anxious, etc.). The confusion of being unable to be certain of what you were thinking about before you fall asleep happens to most people nightly…it does not cause harm is not harmful or unpleasant (unless you want to stay awake to compete that paper due the next day!, rather, it allows you to ‘re-concentrate’ on other experiences – those compatible with the emerging need for sleep.

To be sure, an altered state is altered from the normal waking state by the introduction of experiential resources not found to be common in the normal waking state. This is common knowledge (you could see C. Tart's work on 'States of Consciousness' for an explication of this in the more traditional approaches he studies, or an article I wrote in the Erickson Monographs #1 in which I 'updated' Tarts ideas with an more modern understanding (esp. Erickson's approach).

Let me use one more analogy, that I have been teaching for the last few years now and finding very compelling to audiences, that comes from Aikido (a non-violent martial art introduced by Morihei Ueshiba). Aikido uses the energy of the attacker to neutralize the aggression or violence. In every encounter (there may be some exceptions) the attacker will find him or herself moving in a manner that they did not expect to be moving. This is purposeful on the part of the aiki practitioner. Quick example, attacker stabs a knife toward your chest, let’s say, you step aside, remaining close on that same side, pivot on your forward foot away from the attacker…and….(be sure to) catch the forearm or wrist as you do. Lower you center of gravity and continue to turn in this same direction. The force of the thrust will allow (facilitate) that the attacker actually follow you in this arc of the turn. You can actually turn all the or half the way around and, since you pivot foot is very very close to the attacker, he or she will spin right around with you. Interestingly, they also begin to use you for their balance. At this point a pin or a throw or whatever can be applied, or a weapon take-away can be executed, depending.

Okay,…now the point is…this rotation is not planned, not expected, and not even previous experienced usually. It is very hard to compute as the attacker finds it to be a novel behavior. It would be right to say, the attack is confused about his or her balance (where/when/how to step, how to shift body weight, etc.). This makes the change very easy even in this more difficult context. But keep in mind, while the confusion is essential here, it is not a psychotic, chaotic, frightening, harmful experience. It is just unknown and it loosens the attacker’s grip on the expected reality…. making it possible to veer from the known. (Which is very good, since the known (you getting stabbed) was not going to be helpful to either you or the attacker.)

Does this help place the matter in a more palatable context then what you had been thinking?

Replies:

Re: Question of trance induction.., by Brian Lawless, 06/18/01 Re: Question of trance induction.., by Ginny, 06/19/01 goodness, by Steve Lankton, 06/19/01 Re:goodness, by thanks.., 06/22/01

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