22 QUESTION: Can deep-seated psychological problems pertaining to a previous life, be solved by human methods of hypnosis alone, or does it need regression?

ANSWER: You mean whether certain problems, resulting from a former life, can be solved without becoming aware of them? {Yes} That depends very much on the case. There are many, many cases where the psychological problems can be solved without regression, without the knowledge of the particular incarnation involved. There are instances where this knowledge is an absolutely necessary factor, where the problem can be solved thoroughly only if this knowledge is made available. But these cases are in the minority.

However, I would like to add this: only if the person in question undergoes the strictest process of self-development and purification, only if the steepest and most direct path is taken, should or even can such knowledge be made available without harm. Then the Spirit World of God will interfere, will direct, and help with the right timing and the proper and necessary guidance, and see to it that not more than just certain sectors of knowledge are brought back. Otherwise, there would be no point in taking away your memory when you are born on this planet.

All that you hear today about previous incarnations and knowledge that is supposed to be so easily available should not be believed, my friends. It is one of the hardest, most difficult things to accomplish. The world of God guards this knowledge very carefully. This knowledge can never come to you, be it through hypnosis or through mediumship, without the Spirit World of God.

The latter will not lend a helping hand if there is not a very good spiritual reason. If this knowledge serves the purpose of further purification, then without this knowledge this further and utmost purification cannot be accomplished quite successfully. It should not be taken merely as a cure – let alone to satisfy personal curiosity.

It must be taken as a heavy piece of responsibility. The person should think and feel somewhat like this: “If I learn certain factors about previous lives, then I have the duty to fulfill even more in my own development and in what I have to give to God.”

This knowledge must be the material for further self-purification – nothing less. And before this knowledge is made available, this attitude has to be proven already, at least to some extent. It will not be made available unless it is proven that the person is following this Path.

Now, as to the technical and practical procedure with regression in hypnosis, here it is my very strong and definite advice that it should never be undertaken without God and Christ. Both the subject and the hypnotist should feel themselves to be instruments, and should surrender to God and ask for guidance and inspiration. Otherwise, it may be either fake – and thus have no meaning whatsoever in the life of a person – or even dangerous.

If it is undertaken in the proper attitude, then the Spirit World of God will help and will, among other things, show the hypnotist how to go about it. There are no definite rules that can be applied with everyone in the same way. It depends very much on the case, on the individual. Therefore, it has to be done differently with everyone. And only the spirits of the world of God are in a position to see into the soul to know how much knowledge this person can digest without shock, how the timing and the procedure should be handled.

Only the soul is capable of conducting this operation. It can do so if the hypnotist is open to this guidance and inspiration. Such a hypnotist will also have to go through a particular training of this sort. This kind of hypnosis must be handled entirely differently than ordinary hypnosis. And never, never should one start with hypnosis.

Only after much progress has been achieved by other approaches in psychological problems that can be handled without such regression – in purification, in uncovering the subconscious trends for the purpose of harmony in the soul – only after some considerable progress of spiritual development, emotional maturity and stability, only then should this treatment be started – if God has given the answer, as always, in this matter, just as in others. I would be very happy, occasionally, to give advice in a more specific form.

67 QUESTION: I want to ask about hypnotism. There has been a lot of comment in the press lately about the possible ill effects on the hypnotized subjects. Will you tell us a little about that?

ANSWER: Naturally, it can have ill effects. The same applies to anything else. Hypnotism is not good or bad per se. It depends on how it is used. Many considerations play a part in determining whether or not it is harmful. For instance, if unrecognized, selfish, vain motives play a role, the effect can be bad. In fact, outer selfish motives, fully recognized by the hypnotist, may be less harmful than the unrecognized ones.

Therefore, a person who practices hypnotism in order to exploit others may sometimes do less harm than the person who is conscious of the best motives, but unaware of certain insecurities, causing a particular temperament to alleviate this insecurity by means of gaining power over others.

This does not only apply to the fields of the psyche, it is just as important with any kind of teacher or person who has influence over others. And yet, harm cannot come to another person whose inner will does not call it forth due to self-destructive tendencies. Self-destructiveness will always know how to find destructiveness. If need be, it will manage to squeeze it out of a person who has otherwise a minimum of it, but in this particular case, unfolds the maximum he or she is capable of because it has been touched off by the self-destructiveness.

These are the seemingly mysterious, but actually very real laws and mechanisms of the psychic forces. This knowledge will give you a sense of the apparent contradiction, the puzzle to figure out how, on the one hand, you ought to be cautious and feel responsible, while on the other you should know that nothing untoward can happen arbitrarily. But this must not cause you to plunge ahead heedlessly.

So we always come back to the importance of self-understanding. You do not have to be free of all your conflicts before you can help others. If this were necessary, help would not exist on this Earth sphere. But the maximum help exists in conjunction with a maximum inner freedom. The awareness of one’s own obstacles, and of their exact nature, is already a great deal – and is rare indeed.

As to hypnotism itself, it also depends upon how and to what end it is used. It can be helpful in a number of ways. But there are aspects of it which are harmful, even if the hypnotist fulfills the stated requirements. For instance, symptoms which would serve the person to find the cause of, can be hypnotized away. This can apply to physical as well as to emotional symptoms.

If hypnotism is used merely for the sake of making life more pleasant for the moment, without trying to find the underlying causes, then it is not constructive. If it is used, however, to give certain relief while still finding the inner causes, or if it is used with the aim of increased self-knowledge, then it can be constructive. All this demands understanding and discrimination, judgement – and certainly a maximum degree of maturity and freedom from one’s own conflicts.

QUESTION: I also wanted to ask about the effects of post-hypnotic suggestion. Is that something that lingers?

ANSWER: No, it does not linger, not if it is not constantly renewed. Whatever is not part of a person’s nature cannot linger. Do not forget, it is nothing but suggestion. A suggestion that is followed without being part of the personality cannot have a lasting effect. There are many other ways, methods, systems, that operate by the power of suggestion – many metaphysical movements do just that. It has to be constantly re-effected, otherwise it wears out. Each time it is forcefully renewed, a stronger inner exertion is necessary that is bound to create an inner tension.

The better way to go about it is to find out why that which is desirable cannot be produced naturally by the personality itself without making post-hypnotic effects necessary. If this can be answered and explored to the very bottom, so that a deeper understanding and realization occurs, nothing will stand in the way of producing the happier or more desirable state that is otherwise produced by suggestion. But here too, there are exceptions, of course. There are cases where post-hypnotic suggestion can be constructive and fruitful.

QUESTION: What determines the subject’s susceptibility to hypnosis?

ANSWER: The power to let go. The power to give up the self with all its defenses. A bad subject at all times holds on to the subtle bodies, usually because of an unknown fear. If, however, a person is a bad subject only at certain times, the reasons may be varied. One reason may be lack of confidence in the hypnotist, although this may be entirely unconscious. Or it may be that an unsolved problem, an unconscious deviation of the hypnotist, may particularly affect one person because of a correspondence.

Thus, being a bad subject may, at times, be a healthy, unconscious defense mechanism. With a person who is always a bad subject, it indicates a tight holding on, a general fear and distrust in life as a whole, that manifests in this way. It may not be of importance to be a good subject, but this may be just one symptom out of many others. Please, do not oversimplify by believing that everyone who is a good subject is free of such tight holding-on to the self, has no fear or distrust of life. The fears may manifest in other respects.

A person who is too good a subject may possess unhealthy currents. It may be an indication of some imbalance. There may be a strong unconscious inclination to lose power over the self because the conscious mind holds on too tightly. This may afflict the intuitive sense of discrimination. A healthy person would cooperate in some cases and not in others.

QUESTION: As you explain it, it sounds as though it were desirable to become a hypnotic subject.

ANSWER: I do not say that, nor do I say that it is even necessary. I have just said that in many instances it is not desirable. But the inability ever to be hypnotized is a symptom of a condition to be examined. The same condition may produce other symptoms as well. It is important to eliminate the cause, not because of hypnosis, but because it indicates something.

Such an inner rigidity produces ill effects in other areas of life which are important for the person. I do not say you have to make it your aim to become a good hypnotic subject. That in itself may be entirely unimportant. But if you know this to be the case, regard it as a symptom, without dwelling on the hypnosis itself.

QUESTION: Do you mean a person who wants to be hypnotized and cannot?

ANSWER: The term “bad subject” applies to people who cannot, even if they want to. Now, as I said, for most people, it may be entirely unnecessary to ever experience hypnosis. They can go through life being perfectly happy and healthy without it.

The point is not necessarily one of becoming a good subject. The point is that if a person never can be hypnotized, it may indicate a rigidity which ought to be removed for other reasons, just as being too good a subject may indicate something else that ought to be removed.

QUESTION: Would you say in general that one should disregard hypnosis?

ANSWER: No, I do not say that either. I said it can be constructive if it is properly understood, properly used, and if it serves to solve one’s inner conflicts to some extent, or if the hypnotist’s personality is free to some degree, without compulsions, without fears, without uncertainties, feeling at ease with life and people.

QUESTION: If the hypnotist has to be free and the subject has to be free, there seems to be a lot to fulfill before it becomes possible.

ANSWER: The subject does not have to have such inner health. The subject may seek the help to become free. In some cases hypnosis helps in this direction. A person may be a so-called “good subject,” but still need help in many other ways. As I said, being a good subject does not mean being emotionally healthy and having inner freedom.

The same thing applies to an analyst who also has to be relatively free and emotionally mature. An analyst, as well as a hypnotist, does not have to be completely perfect and purified, but a certain degree of inner poise has to exist, with at least the awareness of where the main difficulties in the self are. As to the patient, or subject, all that is necessary is the willingness to go along. The outer willingness is insufficient in either case. The inner willingness has to be greater than the inner resistance. Otherwise success is impossible.

To make it perfectly clear, the knowledge of where and why one is still unfree is very important and the hypnotist can help, even when coming across a problem in the subject that he also has. Then the help the hypnotist gives will also help his or her own problem. And through self-help, the hypnotist further helps the other person.

In order to do that, one has to be aware of the conflict to begin with. If this awareness does not exist, help cannot be given, at least in this particular conflict which might very well be a most important one for the patient. You need not have overcome all your conflicts before you can help others, but you have to understand their essence.

QUESTION: When does a hypnotist know he or she is ready?

ANSWER: They know this after experiencing certain major breakthroughs, certain victories, certain reliefs, having lost certain fears, a self-confidence that they did not have before, shyness they have overcome, and most of all, the full understanding of their own inner conflicts.

When they can find one common denominator for all their various symptoms and problems – not by a laborious thought process, but because everything is falling into place as if by itself as a result of the work that has been completed – then they know they are ready.

QA188 QUESTION: Can you comment on hypnotism and acupuncture as forms of therapy for relieving pain, or the process itself?

ANSWER: All of these can be helpful tools, but they can only be helpful tools if they are recognized as such and not interpreted as direct approaches for healing. Because in either of these two orientations, the personality is in a passive state. And, as such, it cannot be healed.

No therapy can be truly healing unless the entity is made aware of his self-responsibility, of using his own energies, of reactivating himself, of coming to himself, of realizing he is doing it. Unless this is the outcome, such tools are then not tools but hindrances. But if they are used with this proper understanding, they can be used for exactly this purpose.

For example, the personality in a state of hypnotism can be impressed upon with this need. He can be helped to activate what blocks him. So, in that sense, this could be a helpful tool. The same thing about acupuncture, in a different way, in that energy blocks can be removed from outside from these treatments – but for the explicit purpose so that the entity or the personality is then better capable of using the reigns of his life. Again, the answer is not “it is good” or “it is bad.” It depends in what way it is being used.

I do realize that this constant coming back on the central point must become, at times, annoying for many of you, not because it is monotonous but because the soul is so opposed to this and wants panaceas, wants some miraculous helps where this can be avoided, but unfortunately it does not work that way.

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