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The Nature and Action of the Power of Suggestion · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There are many forms of suggestion, some more subtle
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  than others. Peer pressure is one form that
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  everyone experiences at some point in time.
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  Our friends and acquaintances do something and encourage us to
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  participate and do it also. In some cases this can lead to
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  lifelong consequences, such as gaining an addiction to alcohol,
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  drugs, tobacco, etcetera. In other instances, it can be a
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  positive force. Suggestion is a form of
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  influence that acts when it finds a sympathetic vibration or
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  receptivity in an individual. Another form of suggestion is
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  advertising and it's further extension of propaganda.
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  In these instances, the suggestion is a highly organized
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  campaign designed to influence behavior over time through
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  repeated exposure of the message.
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  Subliminal sleep programming is another form of suggestion that
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  has been used to teach various subjects while the individual is
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  asleep. Aldos Huxley and his Brave New
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  World describe the use of this technique to program societal
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  propaganda into the minds of the children, so that it became a
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  core truth of their being without their recognition of the
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  source and meaning of this belief.
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  Suggestion, however, need not be only in the form of overt
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  statements or example. There is also the exercise of
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  willpower which can exert force upon an individual to bring him
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  to do things desired by whoever is exercising that will.
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  A reported example was a parent disputing with a neonatal nurse
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  about what the hospital and nurse wanted to do with the
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  newborn infant. The parent was speaking calmly
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  but forcefully, and the nurse reacted by saying that he should
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  cease attacking her or she would have him banned from the
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  hospital. The nurse felt the will pressure
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  and interpreted it as an attack. Charismatic dictators and
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  demagogues use the force of will to reinforce their words and
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  specifically stated desires, to adhere the followers to their
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  wishes and have them act even without explicit instruction.
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  Not all suggestion comes from human sources either.
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  Vital beings who prey upon human emotional outbursts as well as
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  forces that transmit illness or other traumatic situations, are
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  able to project their force to try to weaken and penetrate the
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  vital envelope and physical protection of the individual.
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  And if they succeed, the individual can succumb to that
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  vital pressure, react in ways that are even uncharacteristic,
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  or wind up with a bout of illness.
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  When one is in the presence of a spiritually awakened master, the
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  pressure in the atmosphere surrounding them is palpable.
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  It is said that in certain ashrams of certain Vedic rishis,
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  wild beasts would live quietly side by side with animals who
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  would normally be their prey. Due to the influence of the
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  atmosphere, certain locations are imbued with a force of
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  suggestion that accumulates in the very stones of the
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  buildings. An experiment was done with a
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  stone that came from a temple that had been used for hundreds
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  of years as a place of prayer, worship, and aspiration.
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  Kerlian photography showed a distinct and powerful radiance
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  coming off that stone compared to no such radiance from an
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  ordinary stone not subjected to decades or centuries of intense
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  prayer energies, Sri Aurobindo observes Quote A suggestion is
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  not one's own thought or feeling, but a thought or
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  feeling that comes from outside, from others, from the general
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  atmosphere, or from external nature.
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  If it is received, it sticks and acts on the being and is taken
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  to be one's own thought or feeling.
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  If it is recognized as a suggestion, then it can be more
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  easily got rid of. By suggestion I do not mean
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  merely thoughts or words. When the hypnotist says sleep it
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  is a suggestion. But when he says nothing but
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  only puts his silent will to convey sleep or makes movements
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  with his hands over the face, that also is a suggestion.
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  When a force is thrown on you or a vibration of illness, it
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  carries to the body this suggestion.
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  A wave comes in the body with a certain vibration in it.
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  The body remembers cold or feels the vibration of a cold and
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  begins to cough or sneeze or to feel chill.
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  The suggestion comes to the mind in the form I am weak, I don't
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  feel well. I am catching a cold and quote
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  reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of
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  Life Chapter 3 Hidden Forces around page 55.