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The Age of Subliminal Communication

by Tristano Ajmone

researcher at ISI-CNV

Welcome to The Age of Subliminals...

A reasonable number of decades has now passed since the first whistles were blown on the issue of the media's employment of subliminal messages for mass-control purposes. Indeed, we owe to people like Wilson Bryan Key and Vance Packard if knowledge of the secret agenda of the hidden persuaders has reached us.

Subliminal Manipulation of Freedom of Speech...

Subliminal communication is strictly related to the issue of mind control. In a society that proclaims freedom of thought and speech the only alternative to censorship is mass indoctrination — instilling “politically correct” thoughts and opinions will ensure no backslashes from free speech. Now, all this has to be done in a covert way in order to preserve the face-values of a democratic society. This issue is so hot that it has immediately captured the interest of advertising agencies and political propagandists.

The results are quite astonishing: what is commonly considered immoral gets subliminally embedded in a final products that is bought at face value for what it in fact rejects at its core. Clear examples of this are the many x-rated and four-letter-words that populate the subliminal side of almost every ad to be found in middle-class magazines.

The New Awareness of Subliminal Communication Sciences...

The nature and workings of subliminal messages and subliminal perception as been at the centre of a long lasting debate amongst psychologists. Up until recently there has been much disinformation implanting and cover up by government agencies who were under the spot light for accusations of having carried out mind control experiments and subliminal presidential propaganda. At last, the grip over the academic world is getting looser as the new generation has gained deeper insight over the issue of subliminal communication.

Subliminal Learning: The Creative Use of Subliminal Technology

First, the potentiality of subliminal messages has been creatively examined and experimented with educational purposes — subliminal learning while sleeping, DIY subliminal messaging software for self-learning and self-improvement, and the like.

Advances in Subliminal Perception Research...

Second, much academic research has been carried out on the field of subliminal stimulation and perception in order to settle the controversy. Unfortunately, the question is still all but settled, but at least we can proudly say that there are many people who have reached a satisfactory point of understanding of how and why subliminal messages work.

From Propaganda to Hypnosis: The Many Faces of Subliminals...

While the world of advertising was investing its time on the visual side of subliminal stimulation, the music industry was carrying out extensive reasearch on audio subliminal messages. Some multinational colossus even investigated thoroughly the olfactory side of subliminal perception and stimulation — but little has been disclosed on their discoveries. In the meantime it happened that a group of psychologists much interested in hypnosis also investigated the role of subliminal stimulation in hypnotic sessions. These investigators were to become the fathers of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and their names are now history: Richard Bandler, John Grinder and Robert Dilts, all three of them being inspired in this side of their work by the life and teachings of Milton Erickson, the famous hypnotist.

Subliminal Self-Growth: Bypassing The Conscious Limitations

It has now clearly emerged that while most people are opposing the covert use of subliminal messaging for hidden propaganda purposes, many people are willingly accepting subliminal stimulation as a self-empowering tool for educational scopes. The idea of being able to learn any subject while fast asleep is something quite intriguing, especially if compared to the frustrating experience of having to spend precious daytime energy over mind-wrecking texts. What does amaze is the fact that if hypnosis is employed to put at rest the conscious mind, the unconscious part of our self is ready to absorb with great easiness the same texts that the conscious mind perceives as hard to digest.

Subliminal Stimulation in NLP and Hypnosis...

Hypnosis, especially Ericksonian Hypnosis, offers a solid model of understanding of the processes which surround the issue of perception. It is scientifically proved that the unconscious mind is readier to take-in information than the conscious mind is, this being due mainly to the barriers that personality builds around the self.

While subliminal advertising aims at hitting the unconscious mind directly, thus totally bypassing both the conscious mind of the targetted person as well as his consent and knowledge, hypnosis aims instead at reaching the unconscious mind of the subject through the subject's consent and cooperation. Therefore, there is more than one approach to the issue of subliminal communication.

Nevertheless, Ericksonian Hypnosis is the first kind of hypnosis that does offer a fully-covert approach to communicating with the unconscious mind. Ericksonian techinques of embedded commands have become widely known thanks to NLP. Since then there has been a lot of research for finding out which way the different techniques and strategies can be combined to obtain best results.

Approaching Subliminal Communication: Covert Schemes vs Overt Schemes

In my opinion, there is no best way, only contextually better ways! Usually, if you go to a NLP-based self-improvement workshop, you are aware that some covert commanding and subliminal messaging is going to be employed during the teaching process, therefore there is an underlying unspoken consent which does maximize the effects of the techniques involved.

Nevertheless there has been much evolution in the absolutely covert persuasion techniques, especially in the fields of salesmanship and seductionship. Again, the same techinques emerge in this context, yet they are combined differently and with different emphasis.

The Quest For A Unified Model of Subliminal Communication...

We, at ISI-CNV, are working toward a unified model of subliminal communication that includes all the facets of subliminal perception and its applications.

In this website we present you a selection of articles dealing with issue of subliminal perception and communication. The articles are provided for informational purpose only, ie we do not imply any kind of total agreement with what is in them purported. Instead, we like to give voice to all those who have contributed in the quest for a unified theory of the nature of perception, and then leave to you the choice of deciding where truth rests.

For those interested in finding out more about the development of ISI-CNV's research in the field of subliminal communication, it's possible to establish direct contact with Dr. Paret, Director of the ISI-CNV International Institute, via email.

Tristano Ajmone

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