Esoteric Vulcan Hypnosis
We smile at one another before departing to wilds unknown and separate.
As I am about to walk out the door, my brother stops me, “Hey Ellie.” I turn back to look at him. He is standing there, holding up his hand, fingers splayed in the familiar V of the Vulcans. I laugh and give him back the signal. When we were younger and it was not the thing for older brothers to be seen fraternizing with younger sisters, my brother would always acknowledge me by that quick gesture. I would do the same (though probably at bit more enthusiastic than the nonchalant subtly my brother showed).
My nephew who is watching this looks back and forth between the two of us, suddenly intrigued that these adults have some odd code between them…or perhaps this is another bit of strangeness that come from being older than 30. It suddenly dawns on us that my nephew has no frame of awareness for what has transpired.
“It’s Vulcan,” my brother says to his son.
My nephew is even more puzzled and some old memories of geography lessons run through his mind, “Vulcan?”
My brother grins at me, “Why yes, it is Vulcan. It is from the greatest hypnotist of them all (save your aunt) - Mr. Spock.” I laugh and realize that I never thought of this myself.
This memory I have shared with you is not very new, but has surfaced again with the release of Star Trek: Origins. I was hoping to see the movie last night, but alas, other obligations interfered. I am pleased and excited about the movie because it is keeping the Federation alive for current generations. There will be no more secret code between my brother and I, but at least my nephew in his young adulthood, will be privy to our symbology (if he choose to be).
But the memory has brought up the whole idea of Vulcan hypnosis. Granted it has been awhile since I explored the mental Vulcan landscape, so I have gone in search of references. And sure enough, there are a few.
Did you know that Vulcans employ what is called the Art of Suggestion? Though it would seem to be more telepathic in nature, with suggestions being implanted by thought or finger direction, I think it qualifies (the induction is just a little different than using words).
Self-hypnosis or meditation is also part of their way towards relaxation. They use this to lessen the functioning of the body, slowing down both body and mind. They do this through a self-induced trance.
They also use self-hypnosis for fast healing.
Ah, the mental discipline. An interesting vehicle of literary whimsey? I think not. I am not sure I agree with my brother that Spock was the greatest hypnotist ever, but I think some of this mental prowess added to his mystique, like those citations I just mentioned, are a reality in this here and now. There is a form of non-verbal hypnotism. Relaxation is a big part of the hypnotism experience (though not required). And there are several studies (especially in regards to cancer) that show that hypnosis creates faster healing in people who utilize it.
The Vulcans know their stuff (or at least the writers do). We can all take a page from their mental discipline training.
Sources:
May 9th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Funny you should mention Vulcan hypnosis: its sort of the reason that the Vulcan Mind Meld was created, which probably led to the whole panoply of Vulcan telepathic abilities.
According to “The Word of Star Trek” (which is somewhere in the back of the library in the next room), in the episode “Dagger of the Mind”, Spock was going to use hypnosis to try to discover the truth and some facts from one particular person. The network Standard & Practices section listed several complaints about this, the most obvious one was the restriction of showing an induction on screen for fear of hypnotizing someone in the audience. (There had not been an FCC regulation about depicting hypnotic inductions on TV, as fas as I’ve been able to determine: its always been the Standard & Practices.) The other major complaint was that this was a medical procedure and Dr. McCoy should be the one performing it. (Which is qutie correct.) In order to maintain the story to allow Spock to discover this information, the Vulcan Mind Meld was created.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Hello. Great job. This is a great story. Thanks!
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
I like your writing style…it’s very easy to read and understand.