Hilarious Hypnosis or Holy Spirit - You decide!

[hypno-therapist]

Hi All,

While in my teens I got involved with a revivalist church, however soon left when I saw what they had to offer me. I want to share a movie from such a church and ask - Is this Hilarious Hypnosis or Holy Spirit? I have my own views but would like to know what others have to say.

Here is the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjujnAs-6tM

[John Guanzon]

lol, that video made me giggle. That is great sight to behold. I honestly think that everyone, whoever they may be outside of their skin everyonce and a while. Something like that and the feelings of just letting go must be awesome. Thanks for sharing that. It provided me with some insight.

My thoughts on it? I beleive it's neither actually. Simply an exploited oppurtunity to step out of the realm of everyday occurence.

[hypno-therapist]

[hypno-therapist]

Hi All,

I got in contact with Chaplain Paul Durbin who is also a Clinical Hypnotherapist. He asked me to post the following on his behalf.

[hypno-therapist]

Hi All,

Just a quick update. I emailed Andres Bisonni to see if he could help us understand whether these videos are 'Hilarious Hypnosis or Holy Spirit'. Here was his reply:

[littlefranciscan]

I do not completely understand how holiness is connected with so much noise ..but then again..who am I to say what holiness is?

For them all this noise and laughter somehow manifests God Spirit?

It is all too much for me.

Now, I have friends that would run for that and say that this is the Holy Spirit.

My understanding though of God's presence or His Holy Spirit in one's life is Peace..

My understanding of peace ..is tranquiilty...but then again some may feel Peace is being able to let loose and act silly and laugh and carry on.

[lightseeker]

I didn't make it through the whole video ( I made it 'till 2:14 though) because....the people just kept laughing.

Initially, I thought the people were just being polite because I've listened to a couple religious ministers myself and most of them kind of have this habit of laughing eventhough there really isn't anything funny (I've always thought they were just buying time to get on with their sermon) and people (except me because, umm, yeah) would always just kind of laugh along out of respect or politeness, I guess.

There was one time, though (and this wasn't a religious congregation at ALL) when I was in a room with about 10 people and we all kept laughing (for about, uhh, 15 minutes) for no reason. And we weren't on drugs, just in case you were thinking

I don't think it's either (hypnosis or some holy presence) though. I think it's just...hysteria? Kind of like what happens to voodoo practitioners when they gather, I guess.

[littlefranciscan]

All the preacher did was move about, point his hands, and all broke out in laughter..

[The Fantomaya]

I'm sorry but video made me laugh. It's just weird..and weird. I say that it's not the Holy Spirit. (This is just my opinion and I have been wrong so many times)

Your might be right lightseeker. It can be hysteria. BUT we're not even sure if Hysteria is real.

[lightseeker]

[rendy]

Can unbelievers be hypnotized? I think a person has to believe first before he can go under the spell. I guess that what it's all about in the video. Those people believed in the Holy Spirit and miracles. So even if the reverend might only be "suggesting" something, the congregation "felt" it and reacted accordingly. Laughter can be contagious.

[TheBooster]

Indeed laughter is contagious. I do believe that belief is contagious as well. If someone says they saw or heard something, everyone will automatically assume they will or did too.

[Rick_Lefever]

It occurs to me, that even the most skeptic observer, in a room full of frothing beleivers, will have enough reason to doubt his skepticism to leave a doorway for reduction of his critical faculty and the establishment of environmental trance. It seems a classic example of the social reality phenomena cited numerous times by Cialdini.

An often repeated experiment, in an extremely small nutshell, is this:

Place one person on a busy streetcorner looking up at an imaginary object. People will walk by, look up, see nothing, and consider him daft. Place two people on that corner looking up, and the same result. Place three people on the corner looking up, and passerbies will stop and look up much more carefully before walking on. At some point, as you continue to add people looking up, the passerbies will change from thinking 'what's wrong with you' to 'what's wrong with me that I can't see anything'. Reality becomes socially defined regardless of what's 'really' out there.

Now change from a busy street corner to a room full of people filled with the 'holy spirit' of any denomination. The longer a skeptic stays in the room, the more opportunity there is for doubt to begin to occur...'maybe there realy is something going on'.

Now let's change from a skeptic, to someone that wants to believe. The shift occurs much more rapidly. Most hypnotists sooner or later run into a phenomena known as abreaction. It seems to occur when the entranced client lets go of some emotional upheaval she had been repressing. This abreacton can manifest as anything from crying, to limb shaking, to any unusual behavior. In therapy, it's usually counterproductive, so the therapist just suggests it away. However, in a room were wierdness and flailing about is a sign of the Holy Spirit, and such behavior is not only allowed, but desperately sought, one would expect a significantly higher instance of 'on demand' abreaction. Once someone sets the context and expectation by starting the process (often a stooge), the rest of the adherents can honestly and sincerely begin to flop like beached fish. A nice mix of creating a social reality and an abreactive trance.

[hypno-therapist]

Great reply Rick!

[Rick_Lefever]

I didn't cite the reference quoted by Cialdini...here it is "Note on the drawing power of crowds of different size. Journal of Personality and social Psychology13, 79-82...Milgram, S., Bickman, L., & Berkowitz, O."