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Introduction
When our language deviates from a strict scientific
usage it leaves poor customs, bad linguistic habits, clichés, and faulty logic
to rule the use of ideas. This explains partly why people can’t help but walk
around in a hypnotic trance. For most people, when reality,
ideas, and communication about reality aren’t exactly in alignment, reality
becomes unreal. And the further our concepts deviate from reality, the deeper
the dissociative state is and the less real reality becomes.
Truth = concepts in exact alignment with
reality, a statement of fact.
Falsehood = concepts out of alignment with
reality, a statement of lies.
A mind governed by falsehood is more likely to
be susceptible to induction (introduction to a trance state.) Why? Because when
a mind is governed by falsehood it is not grounded in truth, the facts of
reality, and can therefore be easily led or misled to perceive altered states
of reality (illusions) and of consciousness. Consciousness is a deliberate use
of our state of awareness activated by our span of attention and we are only
aware when we are perceiving reality and conceptualizing about it. So when a
person cuts him or herself off from that connection between reality and
consciousness, they are in fact in a hypnotic trance surrounded by illusions
created from themselves or by others. Lyrically, metaphors should
be classified as secondary inductions because they activate material ALREADY in
a person’s mind.
Aspects of Metaphors
A metaphor is a statement or concept connecting
two or more ideas, people or conditions indicating some similarity between
them. The strength of a metaphor comes from two sources. The first is the
artist or songwriter whose lyrical abilities permit them to conceive of very
insightful or clever connections, which in turn allows them to develop
inventive metaphors that expose a deeper meaning or a hidden awareness. The
other source of the strength of a metaphor comes from the listener.
Verbal tools that assist in the activation of
metaphors are words or phrases that evoke a sense of deserving, a call for the
use of imagination, or memories. In general, words or concepts of this
character trigger mental states that bring about a potential hypnotic state
related to a unique composition and song lyric. In previous articles, I’ve
discussed the power inherent in music to produce hypnotic states, so we will
not revisit that subject here. Instead, I will simply link to those articles
later on if you are not already familiar with those ideas.
An innovative metaphor carefully constructed by
a clever writer can only achieve power within the mind of the listener, but
it’s the imagination, intelligence and experience (or lack thereof) of the
listener that can inhibit or enhance the potential strength of a great
metaphor. Therefore, a great metaphor can only achieve power in the mind of a
listener when its potential power is revealed or viewed in its fullness by a mind
capable of seeing it. In contrast, a lack of imagination, a lack of
intelligence, and a lack of experience can each or in combination dampen the
potential emotional impact or induction potential of a cleverly crafted
metaphor.
Thought and the Hypnotic
Potential of a Metaphor
Essentially, there are two phases of thought
that a listener must be able to bring into action in order that the full
inductive power of a metaphor can be released. These two phases of thought
correspond exactly with the two layers of emotional or mental depth that a good
metaphor presents to a listener. The first layer is the superficial layer which
means the listener’s mind perceives the basic connection or association the
writer is making with their metaphor. At this level of thought, there is little
emotional investment or imagination required of the listener. The second layer
goes much deeper emotionally and imaginatively. In this phase of thought, the
listener’s mind associates freely beyond the immediate and obvious connection
which was made during the superficial level of thought. What this means is that
the associations extend further than the obvious connection of the metaphor and
additional associations are made with the effect of shifting the listener’s
mind into a dreamlike state of consciousness.
The basic diagram of a metaphor is:
Item A is like or similar to Item B.
But when the deeper or imaginative phase of
thought is activated, the diagram changes to:
Item A is like or similar to Item B and all the
things Item B is like, similar to, or connected with.
For example, as Forest Gump said in the
blockbuster movie, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what
you’re going to get.” The objects and conditions that were compared and thought
of as similar in this example were “a box of chocolates,” “life,” and the
message “you never know what you’re going to get.” The utterly simplicity of
the statement is, I think, the most potent aspect of its hypnotic quality. I
wouldn’t even be surprised if a coalition of candy or chocolate manufacturers
paid to have this metaphor used in the movie. Moreover, I bet many people
probably responded to it by salivating or suddenly craving, smelling, or
otherwise sensing chocolate – imaginatively. I also wonder if sales of boxes of
chocolate dramatically increased shortly after this movie went big.
Taken a bit further what other associations
could you make about “life?” How about boxes of chocolate? And finally, what
about the statement, “you never know what you’re going to get?” As far as boxes
of chocolate are concerned some additional associations one could make concern
women, romance, wrapping paper, factories, plants, sugar, childhood, mothers,
wives, anniversaries, holidays, etc. How are these things linked to your ideas
about life? And how do you feel about these concepts? Concerning items such as
women, childhood, romance and holidays, do you agree or disagree with the idea
that “you never know what you’re going to get?”
Therefore, superficially there is an obvious association
making an immediate connection, but on a deeper level the imaginative mode of
thought searches for a nuanced interpretation which reveals the true power of
the metaphor to bring about a hypnotic state. As you can now plainly see, the
power or strength of a metaphor is clearly limited or enhanced by the existence
or non-existence of imagination, intelligence, or experience within the
listener.
Different Types of Listeners
On the audience side of things, we must remember
that the strength of a metaphor is limited by the imagination, intelligence,
and experience of the listener’s mind and that a mind governed by falsehood is
more susceptible to the trance state. Notice the relationship between these two
mental conditions. So we must be careful to write for the audience we are
trying to reach instead of writing over or under their heads. Using metrics
such as sales, customer feedback, or downloads to determine which pieces are eliciting
the best response so as to reproduce the results of your most effective songs
and to make those songs matter to fans and followers.
Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that
when a listener is able to perceive a powerful metaphor whether or not it was
intended by the songwriter, the listener enters into the second layer of the
metaphor’s induction potential and begins to associate freely throughout their
mental environment. This is point at which the effect of the metaphor becomes
unpredictable. We cannot know at a distant how a particular song lyric will
affect a mind on the other side of the globe. We cannot know what things a mind
will associate with a metaphor, verse, or chorus you’ve written. Furthermore,
the mental processes we’re discussing here can be performed deliberately or
automatically.
Some listeners tend to be very committed to the
music they seek out and when the find an artist they can really get into, they
really get into them. These types of fans are the ones that will buy the CD’s,
t-shirts, bumper stickers, read the liner notes in the CD, go to live concerts,
and memorize the lyrics of entire albums. For this type of audience member the
associative process is very active AND emotional and their relationship with
this artist tends to be a lifelong affair. In many cases, entire sections of
this person’s life can sometimes be defined by a handful of songs by a few of
their most cherished songwriters or bands. Often lyrics of favorite songs
become philosophical statements about this person’s life and become guides to
their behavior until new songs replace the old, but they rarely do. In this
state, the metaphor is related to memories and emotional states the individual
is connecting to it. In other words, this person is purposefully bringing more
and more things in their past and present into relation with the metaphor and
song lyrics you wrote so as to give their lives even more meaning. The song
also rises in value and importance as it begins to take on a central role by
uniting (or tying) numerous memories and other deeply emotional events together
into one mass of mental energy.
Similarly, when these personalities locate an
artist who songs they absolutely loathe they will do so in the same manner –
actively and with lots of emotion.
In contrast, the more passive listener will
almost always slide into the state of free association as they lose themselves
in the music allowing their minds to be taken over and placed into the control
of the work of the artist. In this state, the metaphor is given free rein to
pull in memories that have even the slightest connection with its components –
Item A or Item B. The casual listener, on the other hand, usually stays on the
first layer of association and never really emotionally connects via metaphor
or other forms of meaning. Typically, much of their enjoyment of music they
hear but do not love is intellectual. They can acknowledge a clever metaphor, a
smart lyric, or a delicate rhyme, but it never really reaches them all that
deeply.
All of these types of people will be affected by
your lyrics and use of metaphor, but each in their own way, in differing
degrees, and to various extents.
Conclusion
So what’s this have to do with songwriting? What
you’ve learned so far is merely the groundwork for scientific research that
hasn’t yet been fully explored. How exactly the hypnotic state is produced in
the brain and what it is isn’t fully answerable at this time. One of the most
interesting forms of research being conducted now is in studying spiritual
mediums – people who seem to be able to channel messages from the beyond. It’s
interesting that people refer to their activity of bringing messages from the
beyond as “channeling.” Perhaps, the mind of each individual is a channel for
communication between us and the hereafter or different dimensions of reality.
Whichever direction this research goes and where
it finally arrives is besides the point that lyrics and music have a definite
influence over the minds who hear them. It’s important to know this so that we
can be aware of the responsibility we hold as musicians and artists when we
communicate through our craft. Excluding instrumental music, the messages we
send to listeners through our lyrics have the power to change the activity of
their brain and alter the way they think for better or worse. I’m only partly
discussing this issue as a warning to you as a songwriter. It is imperative
that you keep this in mind, accepting responsibility for this, and heed this as
a warning before we move on.
Words and music are the raw material of
Hypnotic Songwriting. Words link a mind to its memories of
experiences, emotional states, and a person’s sense of self. And once in a
trance state, words will guide the person through the experience produced by a
songwriter with a series of lyrical commands. In contrast and in support of the
words in a song, the music eases a person’s mind and body into a mental and
physiological state conducive with a hypnotic trance. The hypnotic state can
vary greatly across a wide range from the ecstatic and wild, as in tribal
ritual like voodoo dances and punk pits, to the meditative as in yoga and
sleep.
As we wrap things up, let me first remind you
to be aware that your song can be a primary or secondary trance generating
loop. The difference between the two types of loops has to do with whether or
not your music is going to install a new loop or reactivate an existing loop –
one previously installed at some point in a person’s life by some other event,
emotional state, individual or song. If you’re thinking about writing a song
about a highly specialized subject – like cars or birds – then you may be
attempting to install a primary induction. Compositionally, this means you must develop a sense of what might be a
musical or lyrical trigger in another’s mind. Of course, you will also have to
estimate the correct number of repetitions of a musical or lyrical hook that
will, in fact, result in trance. This approach will
likely be time consuming and become an unreliable attempt to correctly guess
what lyrics or metaphor structures will affect the listener in the most
effective manner. Instead, you would be better served to elicit the effort and
consent of the listener’s mind rather than in finding specific triggers that
put them into light or hypnotic trance states.
In my opinion, the most powerful form of metaphor that you can compose will be vague
and will seem to connect things that appear on the surface to have no
connection at all. What this means is that you will structure metaphors that
force your listener to use the deeper thought level to identify the hidden
meaning and nuances related to the elements of your metaphor. This allows their
mind to freely associate and work to make connections where there are none or
where you did not intend. As we know, a metaphor is a statement that draws a
comparison or similarity between one object or condition with another object or
condition, what will happen is the mind will search to make the connections
between two or more seemingly dissimilar things. The harder the mind works to
find the connections the deeper into the trance state the person goes. And the
deeper the mind goes into the trance state the more mental and emotional energy
accumulates around your song, lyric, or use of metaphor.
One of the traps of writing in this manner is
in the success of one of your songs or albums. Sometimes an artist hits upon
just the right message that it resonates far into the population and brings
them massive success. In the majority of cases, the artist is unable to repeat
the outcome with subsequent material that it dooms them to repeat the old
stuff, which ultimately reduces them into a human jukebox. What usually ends up
happening is that they tour playing the old material, re-release the old
material, and even retire into obscurity from income generated from covers of
their old material and royalties. The problem here isn’t that they can’t or
don’t write anything new, in fact, they may be writing for other artist or
producing, but rather it’s just that the old stuff gets AGREEMENT via triggers.
This explains why some artists or bands today
perform material they wrote years ago, but never seem to write or perform
anything new. Usually what it is that sticks them in this precarious position
is that no one wants to hear what they have to say NOW as artists, instead what
people want them to do is to remind them of something they once felt in the
past. In essence, they want to be sent back in time to re-experience a moment
of pleasure or pain in order to enjoy it or to relieve themselves through some
form of catharsis. People remember the song and how it made them FEEL when they
first heard it. It reminds them of their youth, past relationships, old
friends, school, family, holidays, vacations, former lovers, and so much more.
And every time they hear “that” song, all of these memories come flooding back
to them. It’s this experience that I’m showing you how to produce and replicate.
This is what music means to people and how they use it to add meaning to their
lives. This is the goal of the Hypnotic Songwriter and what your goal should if
you want your music to mean anything to anyone on this small planet.
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Richard: Everything is hypnosis.
John: There’s a profound disagreement between us. There is no such
thing as hypnosis. I would really prefer that you didn’t use such terms, since
they don’t refer to anything. We believe that all communication is hypnosis.
That’s the function of every conversation. Let’s say I sit down for dinner with
you and begin to communicate about some experience. If I tell you about some
time when I took a vacation, my intent is to induce in you the state of having
some experience about that vacation. Whenever anyone communicates, they’re
trying to induce states in one another by using sound sequences called “words.”
…you will discover that somnambulistic trance is the rule rather
than the exception in people’s everyday “waking activity.”
-
Richard Bandler and John Grinder, Frogs Into Princes
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Using the 5 Magic Emotions in Your Songwriting
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Marc
http://stereothesis.com/
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