Article March 10, 2014 ISSUE

No force besides God

Paul Sedan

When I was in high school some friends and I went out for dinner. Afterward we sat in a car, talking. One of the guys said he could hypnotize us. As he started up with his mental suggestions, I silently decided that I wasn’t going to allow myself to be hypnotized. And I wasn’t. But a friend fell under the spell and was soon talking and acting at the hypnotist’s commands. Later, when the spell was broken, this friend couldn’t remember anything that had happened.

Sometimes what we term hypnotism or mesmerism can be thought of as innocent fun or entertainment. Other times it can be thought of as a means by which problems can be solved; for instance, there are hypnotists who run ads claiming they can help you stop smoking. And hypnotism has been used maliciously to make people act contrary to their sense of what’s right.