Contronyms are words which have no fewer than two opposite meanings. When we use contronyms as a part of hypnosis, our subject is momentarily fractionated since their mind simultaneously performs a transderivational search on both meanings. As a result, contronyms may be used strategically to open minds and to deepen trance.
To give a quick example, the meaning of the verb to bolt depends on its usage. When we bolt something to something else, those things become firmly attached to one another. And when a kitten bolts… it’s doing the opposite of becoming firmly attached.
Contronyms are quite literally a means of driving fractionation.
And as such, they can be used to deepen trance states.
Or even just to consume mental resources to help knock out the critical faculty.
As with everything in hypnosis, it’s important to not overuse contronyms. And in order to not overuse them, we need to first know how they work.
How Do Contronyms Work With Hypnosis?
Contronyms are used in hypnosis as a means of creating ambiguity, which consumes mental resources.
Whenever we experience anything at all, our mind automatically performs pattern matching with everything else we’ve ever experienced. It then partially retrieves those matches, and puts them together to create our subsequent thoughts.
So for example, if someone mentions a boat to us, we will automatically call up at least part of our representation of oceans, lakes, stainless steel, and so on. This may or may not enter our conscious awareness.
When we are presented with something ambiguous, our mind will bring up all associated meanings before it decides on one based on context.
This process of calling up all associated information is known as transderivational search, and it happens constantly at every scale.
Every word we experience results in our brain performing this pattern matching process. And when a word has multiple meanings, all of them are explored.
Or at least, the ones we know.
When we use contronyms, something interesting happens: Our minds are momentarily forced to hold two contradictory concepts at the same time. For at least that moment, there is ambiguity about the meaning, and that has the effect of fractionating us.
Our focus and scope is momentarily broadened, and then collapsed down onto one meaning. Alternatively, we can leave the ambiguity in place as a means of holding a mind in an open state.
How to Use Contronyms in Hypnosis
To use contronyms in hypnosis, make a list of a few contronyms that you commonly use, then practice structuring your sentences in such a way as to cause ambiguity.
When using contronyms in hypnosis, it’s vital to only use words where people commonly know both meanings.
If the subject is not unconsciously aware of both meanings, the effect won’t happen.
It makes sense, right? The subject must have both meanings somewhere within their mind.
The unconsciously here is critical. It’s entirely possible for a subject to hold two contradictory meanings for a word inside their mind, and never become consciously aware of it.
It’s Literally Just Like This
Consider the word literally.
It literally means much the same thing as exactly.
But quite often people use it to mean figuratively.
Even though the word figuratively has literally the opposite meaning to the word literally.
So it can be used for emphasis.
And right now, if you’ve been paying attention, your mind is probably resting just a little.
After being thrown for a few loops reading the preceding sentences.
Most people never become consciously aware that they are using the word literally in two contradictory ways. But at the same time, most people are unconsciously aware of it.
So literally is literally a good example.
We Can Dust If You Want To
The verb to dust is another one.
We can dust something, and in the process remove dust from that thing.
I’ve just dusted my cabinet.
I’ve just dusted my cabinet with a feather duster.
I’ve just dusted my cabinet… with castor sugar.
Now clearly the last one is a tad ridiculous. But you still knew exactly what the sentence meant!
Where it gets interesting is that at the point where we say the word dusted, at least in those sentences, the listener has no way of knowing whether we’re going to be adding or removing some kind of powder.
A lot of the time they can probably make an educated guess from the context.
At the point where we say the word dusted, our subject’s mind is opened up.
When we tell them what we’re applying the dusting to, it collapses back down quite a lot.
If we’re dusting furniture, they will imagine we’re removing dust. And if we’re dusting a cake, we’re adding it.
And of course, you can throw them for a loop by telling them you’re dusting with the wrong thing. Like castor sugar on a cabinet.
It’s Best Not To Cleave
Did you know that the verb to cleave has two meanings?
Most people don’t.
Just about everyone is familiar with the expression to cleave something in two. It essentially means the same thing as split.
But a lot of people don’t know that you can also cleave to something. And when the word cleave is used in that way, it means much the same thing as to stick.
Cleave is a contronym. But it’s one that we potentially shouldn’t use in hypnosis for the simple reason that most people will only know the first meaning.
Of course, you could also rely on the fact that someone either knows both meanings or they don’t. If they know both meanings, they’re fractionated. And if they don’t, they’re confused.
Either way will consume mental resources.
Hypnotic Contronyms Step-by-Step
Follow these steps to use contronyms in your hypnosis. The key is to fractionate your subject by hiding them in plain sight.
1. Make A List Of Contronyms You Personally Use
It’s of vital importance that you choose only words you commonly use. If you randomly throw in words you don’t habitually use, you’ll end up sounding odd.
And when we sound odd, people can tell that something’s off, even if they don’t quite know what it is.
So in my case, I can quite happily get away with using contronyms like literally, dust, and bolt. Words like sanction and enjoin don’t fit with the way I typically speak in most contexts.
2. Practice Structuring Your Language
Once you’ve identified at least a couple of contronyms that you use, write out some sentences in which you flip between the meanings, like the ones in my examples above for literally and dust.
The idea is that you want to become comfortable with flipping from one meaning to another.
The ambiguity in the meaning will cause fractionation. Ultimately you want to create mini-waves of fractionation centered around that ambuiguity.
Think of it as being like pumping up a tire, or swinging on a swing.
The basic pattern is to create ambiguity, and then either collapse the ambiguity, or leave it open to interpretation. Both can be effective.
Collapsing the ambiguity will lead to fractionation which tends to deepen their state, while leaving it open allows you to drop ideas into their mind.
3. Use Contronyms To Fractionate Your Subjects
Next, practice on some of your regular hypnosis subjects.
The easiest way to do this is to choose just one contronym at a time, and spend an entire day randomly dropping it into conversations. Ideally aim to get to the point where you’ve habituated that usage so that it starts to happen automatically.
Some Examples
To get you started, here’s a list of some contronyms. I’ve not included the meanings since if you don’t know both meanings, that’s a sign you shouldn’t use that one.
- Literally
- Transparent
- Give Out
- Dust
- Sanction
- Bolt
- Lease / Rent
- Fast
- Enjoin
- Overlook
- Variety
- Dollop
- Finished
To get started, pick just one contronym, and play around with it. There are more that I’ve not listed, so once you’ve worked through these, take the time to discover what other ones you can use.
Next Steps
In this article, we’ve covered using the inherent ambiguity of contronyms to cause fractionation in our hypnosis subjects.
Fractionation is a core hypnotic process that we may use to train our subjects to experience states that they’d like to have.
And ambiguity is just one way out of many that we can use to induce fractionation.
Quite often when we’re hypnotizing people, they want one of two things: Either they want us to help them solve some kind of problem using hypnotherapy, or they want to have a conscious experience of deep trance.
And here’s where it gets annoying: Many people will imagine that they weren’t hypnotized at all if they don’t have that conscious experience. Even though hypnosis itself is an unconscious process. They don’t appreciate that the reason they imagine they weren’t hypnotized is that hypnosis is unconscious and so they literally can’t notice it.
Naturally, this really is just their imagination. But it can still be frustrating for the hypnotist.
Luckily there’s an easy solution. All you have to do is guide them into deep trance so that they can consciously believe they’ve been hypnotized.
And as a bonus, quite a lot of hypnotic stuff works better when they’re in deep trance anyway!
In Deep Trance Secrets, I give no fewer than 7 easy ways that may be used to rapidly fractionate hypnosis subjects, with the aim of guiding them into deep trance.
These are the exact methods that I use to effortlessly induce deep trance. And since most people have no idea that they even exist, it’s extremely difficult for them to resist.
So if you’d like to know the simple processes that I use to induce deep trance without even thinking about it, go check it out right now!
And if you prefer to listen, it’s also available as an audiobook.
