Year: 1987
Posted by Robert Anton Wilson
Genre: philosophy, politics, semantics, psychology, discordianism
Publisher: Loompanics Unlimited
ISBN: 091517961X
English language
Format: PDF
Number of Pages: 67
I shall endeavor to show, in these pages, that the Natural Law metaphysics can accurately be described as a verbal construct that, like a hypnotist's commands, creates a trance state in which experience is edited out and the verbally-induced hypnotic revery becomes more "real" that sensory-sensual stimuli. In other words, Natural Law appears to be a map that does not correspond to any real temtory, but like other Idols it becomes almost "real" when the worshipper stares at it long enough with passionate adoration. Like Catholic statues of Mary, it will even Seem to "move" or "come alive."
I shall also attempt to show that this kind of trance should be considered statistically "normal" because most people most of the time are similarly entranced by word-and-symbol hypnosis and self-hypnosis. We appear to be a race, as Max Stirner said, with "spooks in the head. "
This claim is not intended as polemic, but as sober diagnosis. I shall demonstrate as we proceed that hypnosis occurs quite ordinarily in human affairs and is easily induced by the repetition of metaphysical chants and other meaningless verbalisms.
A hypnotist tells you that now you are going away from this room, far away, and now you are in a lovely green field, and it is a warm sunny day, and the sun is all over your body.. . .you can feel the warm sun all over your body, and it is very relaxing.. . .very relaxing.. ..and now you hear the sound of a very beautiful bird call.. . .
And, of course, if the hypnosis works, you \do\ hear the bird call.
Similarly, the Natural Law theorist (or any other metaphysician) tells you about abstractions with capital letters, and he talks about these marvelously transcendental entities, and he talks, and he talks.. . .and if the hypnosis works, the abstractions suddenly seem as "real" as, \or even more "real" than\, a ham sandwich and a cup of coffee. The process of going away from the sensory-sensual experience into verbally-induced fantasy works the same way in both forms of hypnosis, as we shall see.
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