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The
human mind is changing different states of the mind
during the day. The consciousness is involved in most of
these states. The difference is in level of
consciousness. Consciousness is differently expressed,
depending on the state of the mind.
Hypnosis
is the state of mind where the consciousness is
increasingly focused on one area, while the other
feelings, thoughts and sensations are suppressed.
Basically, our conscious mind is at certain level of
consciousness during hypnosis, while other parts of mind
are far below conscious threshold. It is interesting to
compare hypnotic state of mind with dream state, as well
as with awaken state.
During
the sleep state our mind is below conscious level of wakefulness.
The exception are periods of dreaming, which we are
often aware of. Even more, it is possible to train the
mind to achieve the lucid state of dreaming. Lucid
dreaming is a dream where the subject is aware of a
dream. With practice it is able even to design the dream
and to change the flow of events.
Wakefulness,
the state of mind that we are mostly aware of. During
this state we are aware of all what is around us. As a
result, we feel, see, and hear many things, but as
result sometimes we are not focused too much. Our senses
are often overloaded with all kind of inputs. Therefore,
conscious mind is wide, but is not deep and focused.
When
we compare all three states of mind, the wakefulness,
dreams and hypnosis, we notice some similarities. During
of all these states of mind a part of consciousness is
above and other part is below threshold of awareness. The
difference is in levels above and below the awareness
threshold and in width and depth of focus on certain
object, thought or sensation experienced. The following
diagram can explain the state of mind activities.
The
vertical axis represents the level of wakefulness,
while horizontal axis shows the width of functions of
the mind.
While
being
awake, the most of the mind processes are above the
consciousness threshold. The processes are wide and they
are fluctuating. During the sleeping the mind is mostly
below consciousness level, with exception of dreaming
period, when is slightly above the consciousness
threshold.
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