Before I pose my question, I would like to emphasize that I am doing so with a genuine attitude of seeking to know, rather than being negative, or wishing to offnd anybody -

The Abundance for Life course stresses that it helps us in breaking away from the trances that entrap us - my question is that, is not following the course and listening to the paraliminals, a form of being in a trance? Is it that, by following the course we are taking the role of being the hypnotist, and that we are choosing which trance we want to be in, and therefore being in more control of our lives?

My question to that question is, what do you think is the difference between the two? And what does engaging in one vs. the other do for you?

Is it imporant which jar you put the bean in? The jar labeled "trance" or the jar labeled "awake"?

Is there a state outside of trance, or is it all trances?

I believe that expanding one's awareness can wake you up from a trance, relieve you from your fixation, and enrich your map of the world.

I believe the answer is in how freely one may move between states, modes of perception.

The feeling exercise, I think, is just that if you let go to the meaning ascribed to the state and just feel it.

I do think the notions presented, that what you are feeling is in actuality a manifestation of an unlimited consciousness is a trance induced belief, because I as of yet have not had direct experience of that consciousness. Or at least that I know about.

I don't think it's all trances and that every state is a trance. But, this is really just semantics. Label it whatever you want.

When the student is ready the teacher will arrive.

If we are ready to start leaving our trances we find the ways and means to do it. Some will go to the mountains and other just order the Abundance for Life course.

I don't know if you've noticed in the course but in all instances Paul is handing the reigns of your life over to you aksing to to notice what you are saying to yourself. The paraliminals will keep you in a trance if you try using them as an escape and avoid actually doing anything expecting them to be a magic cure all or they will help you escape from the trance.

If you're standing on a burning boat with the seat of your pants on fire the water can put the fire out but you could also drown if you don't learn how to swim.

Getting out of the trance is still a learning process and many people have written how to but I guess this is the first time someones actually created the tool kit so we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Alex

InquiringMind, I have had the same thoughts. I must conclude that the answer is yes.

Here, is how I deal with the system. First I notice that I am operating under a trance (model of the world / set of beliefs). Then I ask myself is this trance serving me? Do I want to free myself from the trance?

This course gives you the tools to help control your life. Tools for discouvering trances. Tools for evaluating trances. Tools for discouvering your Goals. Tools for realizing you potential. Tools to help you release or modify a trance.

You become more aware and more capable to shape your life. However, you must make the choices.

You are perfection.
Iam2

Thanks so much for your replies! The reason this question occurred to me, is that Paul Scheele at one point in the CD says, "if you don't do such and such, you are not following the program". This may be just a matter of semantics, but that was then it hit me that if this is a "program", it is pretty much a method of going into a particular type of trance.

I am also one of those people who practically passes out when listening to a paraliminal, and I usually wake up at the end. The same has been happening when I listen to the meditation CDs, which leads me to believe that these tools do put me in a certain form of trance.

Of course, maybe it is necessary to go into one trance to get out of another?

It's interesting but most people when they learn to go within notice an expanded awareness that says something to the effect of 'hey there's more going on than I'm aware of'.

From Pauls point of view the outer experience is were most of our trances are created. Perhaps it should be referred to as 'perceived limitiations' or 'I can'ts' rather than trance. When we learn to go within we discover who put the limitor on us. Funny thing about going within... we can become aware of so much more, reaching our intuition and so on.

In PhotoReading we learn that we take in billions of bits of information and yet only about 40 bits come into our awareness... that means consciously we don't even perceive 0.001% of the information available to us.

Going within may seem to be a trance in the sense that we are doing something that the majority are not doing and while we are there we are listening to other options from within ourselves to expand our horizons.

We've been using trance reducing tools since tibal times. The sharmans were the wise and the healers of the community.

I say reducing because the label was created by those who remained in the 'normal' realm thinking they had lost one of their own and yet when you think about it... theone they thought they lost became the tribal leaders, healers and guides for the rest of the community. So when are we in a trance really?

As Paul has once said you cannot have an experience and evaluate that experience at the same time. In my view when we try to label or pigeonhole things we are creating the trances.

I've noticed my successes come when I'm not evaluating them.

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited May 04, 2004).]

AlexK,

Thanks for a great reply. These comments have given me much to think about (or, more so, for my other than conscious mind to process). I will continue using the tools and methods, and let my intuition come up with the answer!

As an aside, I do percieve normal waking reality as being in a trance, as we are hypnotized by the society and culture we live in (what some people call, "consensus reality"), reacting to people and circumstances rather than acting from a point of view of total freedom. The state Paul calls, "the state before you were born", is the state which is before one is exposed to the world, and hypnotized into a trance state. From this "pure" unborn state, one can be in better control of actions and hence, life, rather than responding to life as an automatum. The teacher, Gurdjieff, used to say that most people are like walking automatums - which is rather hard to accept initially, but if you think about it, quite true!

Techniques such as self remembering and mindfullness are used to become more aware of this trance state. Perhaps the tools in AFL will also help break down set mental patterns to achieve this state of wakefulness rapidly.

Sometimes you don't receive info because you are filtering it out (trance), and sometimes you just don't know.

In terms of cultural conditioning, I hear what you are saying. There are ways to experience new cultures within your own culture, but I think that visiting other countries and cultures is a good way to become aware of and break cultural trances.

You know, I really don't know whether it's that we are just living in trances and can't see what is in front of us, or that we just aren't sensitized to certain kinds of information. I guess you could categorize this as trance, but it seems much less complicated to me than that.

I mean, if you visit a different culture, certain signals break through threshold and your awareness expands.

Have you seen the World's Apart series on the National Geographic channel? It's worth a watch. It's good stuff.

Unfortunately, I have only visited Ireland and Germany. I was only in Germany for a short while, so the benefits were limited. I was in Ireland for a month. They're very much like we are here. I only got to rub elbows with the locals in a limited way.

I really look forward to, someday, visiting perhaps an Asian culture and living there long enough to absorb the culture. Life is so short and the planet is so big. There are so many cultures and points of view to experience. I think that if you want to break trances and get multiple descriptions, immersing yourself in other cultures is a way to go.

Hi babayada,

Yes, travelling is definitely a great way to become aware of trances. I am originally from Asia, and when I first came to North America I perceived the trance people were in (as opposed to the ones people in Asia are). In Asia everyday life is relatively chaotic and one has to be more "awake" even while driving since there is much more randomness in it.

At the same time, there are trances with respect to other areas people there are entrenched in, and coming to think of it, being aware of these different trances is the state of witness!

I have found there is a going into a trance (enculturation) wheneever one goes into a new environment, such as a new office. People act and talk in a certain way, which is initially perceived when one first visits the place, but which is quickly forgotten as one gets sucked in (which is what management wants to happen!) Breaking from the trance will enable one to be able to act from a position of freedom.

Cheers.