The Mathematics of Hypnosis

I once heard, from a source I trust completely, that during one of the stretches where Britain controlled India, the Royal Navy had difficulties with Indian hypnotists. The story goes that sailors would come back from shore leave, appearing quite normal (for sailors that were coming back from shore leave anyway) and would act normally until suddenly they were discovered doing strange things, even treasonous acts like preparing to hand over information. The concept was this: the sailors would be hypnotized while on shore in India, and would return with instructions to act more or less normally except for some specific instructions (generally, to find and prepare information they would deliver next time they were on shore leave).

Stay with me here, this is the story, and I will certainly research it more now (as you will see why). When the Navy figured out what was happening, they figured out how to combat it because apparently, when one is in a hypnotic trance, it is nearly impossible to do math. What the officers did was to subject returning sailors to a series of math tests. Those who couldn't do even the simple math were the ones under hypnosis. Furthermore, the hypnotized sailors had a near-violent reaction to the math tests, despite being horrified when they were released from the hypnosis (it being a rather large offense to be even verbally violent around, let alone to, an officer).

Another source I tend to trust claimed (in the late 1800s) that humanity would go through three major wars: a chemical war, a physical war, and a mental war. I have heard it said that World War One was considered the chemical war, due to the emergence of chemical weapons, and World War Two was the physical war due to the development of nuclear, atomic weapons.

It is not too difficult to believe that we are in the midst of the mental war. Battles are still being fought conventionally (as they were in WW1 and WW2) but the biggest blows in the war appear to be all mental: waged through the portrayal of information. The information doesn't have to be true, doesn't have to be a lie, it's just information, packaged (as this blog) with the intent to appeal to mental warriors on either side.

What becomes more than a little troubling is, of course, the thought that great groups of people may be unwittingly hypnotized, or its counterpart - mesmerized. How easy it is to be sucked in by powerful personalities on either side. Wielding their charisma, people produce written, audible, or even visible words or concepts designed to motivate us to advance their agenda.

Does this sound like I am perhaps attacking both sides? If I stopped there, yes I would be. However, I believe there is a difference between arming minds with information and hypnotizing them with dangerous instructions. Both sides are likely, at this point, to claim the other side is brainwashing their followers. How are we to be able to tell which side is providing compelling truth and which side is using alarming manipulation?

For me it is simple, and it comes back to mathematics and hypnotism. Mathematics is the embodiment of logic. Objects and operands interacting to set rules, producing the right results when applied correctly. If you find one side of an argument having a violent reaction to logic, it is almost a certainty they have been hypnotized. Perhaps not by some classic hypnotist with a fob watch and fuzzy words, but speeches, movies, images, lyrics, music, and other emotional and mental manipulation - generally reinforcing each other. This phenomenon has been widely observed - the way speeches can be written to play out upon our minds, what we expect in the ebb and flow of well-spoken words - can greatly influence not only our support or opposition to a concept, but our very actions (and the intensity thereof).

I beg you, nobody will know but you, but next time you are feeling wound up about something, or perhaps just feeling strongly about an opinion or a political stance, an agenda or anything that brings contention into the world, see if you can do simple math. Start with the simplest, 2+2=4, 4+4=8, etc. Then move on to something more difficult 4*4=16, 2*11=22, 100/20=5, etc. See if you can hold on to what you believe about the subject - be it war, abortion, global warming, gun control, whatever - while doing math in your head. Not that you think about it at the same exact time, but see if you can remember why you feel so strongly about your political beliefs between math operations. Nobody needs to know except you, but I do hope that, if you find it difficult to concentrate, you will consider the very real possibility that you have been hypnotized. If you can't expound on your beliefs while calm, you had better reconsider the beliefs.

If faced with someone who seems completely unhinged about a political or global problem or concept, ask them to do simple math (not if they are holding a dangerous weapon). Tell them you will not argue with them, you will not listen to them or believe them until they can reiterate their argument after doing the simple math problems I have included above.

Don't do it for me, don't do it for the person you're arguing with, do it for yourself. Consider how much of your life you could be wasting because someone else has hypnotized you.