Trance

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The first comprehensive account of the 'trance state' in all its various aspects -fi-om hysteria, hypnotism and automatism to mediumship, somnambulism and mystical states
Recent cases of 'highway hypnosis', 'shopper's trance' and epidemic hysteria have revived interest in the extraordinary range of trance manifestations recorded in history. Associated in the distant past with shamanism and witch-doctors, trance has had a long and remarkable life - and shows no sign of abandoning the modem world.
In this intriguing and stimulating account from the earliest times to the present day, Brian Inglis assesses the evidence and shows
that many trance conditions seem to have served an evolutionary purpose. Hallucinations have acted as warnings or sources of inspiration;
hypnotism and hypnotherapy have proved effective in the relief of pain; hysterical laughter is a convulsive form of emotional relief; trance induction can remove the symptoms of some... Tovább

Fülszöveg

¦ ' il
iVriii

; ! : I'
The first comprehensive account of the 'trance state' in all its various aspects -fi-om hysteria, hypnotism and automatism to mediumship, somnambulism and mystical states
Recent cases of 'highway hypnosis', 'shopper's trance' and epidemic hysteria have revived interest in the extraordinary range of trance manifestations recorded in history. Associated in the distant past with shamanism and witch-doctors, trance has had a long and remarkable life - and shows no sign of abandoning the modem world.
In this intriguing and stimulating account from the earliest times to the present day, Brian Inglis assesses the evidence and shows
that many trance conditions seem to have served an evolutionary purpose. Hallucinations have acted as warnings or sources of inspiration;
hypnotism and hypnotherapy have proved effective in the relief of pain; hysterical laughter is a convulsive form of emotional relief; trance induction can remove the symptoms of some diseases.
Many people have experienced mystical states of ecstasy: Arthur Koestler did so in a Spanish gaol while under sentence of death, and Marcel Proust when tasting a spoonful of tea. Einstein claimed that ideas came to him through automatism, sometimes visual, sometimes 'of a muscular type'. Hallucinatory states include out-of-the-body and near-death experiences; fire-walking and 'coal strolls' take their place among other trance-related phenomena.
If, in the face of medical and scientific orthodoxy, we understand better the evolutionary function of trance, we will - the author argues - find in it an ally capable of transforming our lives. From being a protective device in the animal world, trance has come to provide us with a link between our subliminal minds, with their vast but only partially tapped resources, and our conscious selves. We cannot afford to ignore such a significant element in the power of mind over body.
Brian Inglis was bom in Dublin, went to Oxford University, and served in World War II as a pilot in Coastal Command, finishing with the rank of squadron leader. After the war he became a feature writer and eventually parliamentary commentator on the Irish Times. Rejoined The Spectator m 1954 and was editor from 1959
to 1962. He also worked in television as writer/presenter for What tke Papers Say and All Our Yesterdays.
Among his recent books are The Diseases of Civilisation, The Paranormal: An Encyclopedia of Psychic Phenomena, The Unknown Guest and The Power of Dreams.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1974. He is a trustee of the Koestler Foundation and a member of the Society for Psychical Research. Vissza