By William Harwood ©2010, ISBN 978-1-935444-21-3, Published by World Audience Inc. 303 Park Avenue South, Suite 1440, New York, NY 10010-3657, 424 pp., pbk., $37.16
Reviewed by Leland W. Ruble
This book contains two separate novels of hypnotists and their use of the pseudo scientific method of hypnotism for economic gain. The author writes from a perspective that makes it evident that he has an extensive knowledge of hypnotism and those involved in this profession on a daily basis.
At one time, not too far in the distant past, hypnotism was viewed far more favorably and less critically than it now is. Mainly because it has been exposed in the media as not being a valid scientific method, and has been classified along with other non-scientific procedures, as an exercise incapable of achieving the realistic results a hypnotist may attempt to convince an audience, can actually occur while an individual is supposedly under the spell of hypnotism. Over the last several decades performances by professional hypnotists have dwindled to a trickle. There may, I am certain, still be the occasional magician in Las Vegas or some resort that still uses hypnotism in his act. Then there is of course, the often recurring use of hypnotism on TV programs and in movies, used mainly as a device to add interest to the plot of the story.
I am not certain, but I don’t think hypnotism is any longer accepted in the medical community as an effective means of treating an illness. However, I can still imagine Christian Science converts using the hypnotic symbol of an imaginary god as having the awesome capability to cure the body by convincing the patient that this god is using its magic to rid the patient of an illness. It still continues, in spite of evidence disproving its effectiveness, to be used by some psychologists, psychiatrists and others in the mental health profession, as part of their bag of tricks to miraculously cure certain afflictions of the mind. It also has been used in other deceptive ways to deceive individuals into believing they were abducted by aliens, lived one or several past lives as Napoleon, King James, Joan of Arc, or even participated in torturous and imaginary satanic rituals, while supposedly in a drugged state of being. It has also been deceptively used by child psychological inquisitors, investigating unfounded cases of child molestation to deceive children into falsely believing they were sexually molested when they were not. Some adults involved in the childcare system have been falsely accused of child molestation and have been wrongly incarcerated because of information gathered through the unfounded, unscientific method of hypnotic suggestion.
The author uses his extensive knowledge of hypnotism to weave two separate stories of men who practiced the profession of hypnotism with some success. Pat Zubrick is the protagonist of the first novel, The Great Zubrick. It is told with great humor, while also leading the reader into the murky, uncertain environment in which Zubrick lives, acts, and thrives in Australia. As spectators into the private life of Zubrick, one becomes immersed in a life that revolves around the constant quest for monetary gain, sexual escapades, and many other humorous and serious situations derived from Zubrick’s immersion into an environment where hypnotism becomes the driving force in his life.
The author who has a wide and comprehensive knowledge of religion often uses this knowledge to draw comparisons between religious faith, hypnotism, and sex. For instance: Whoever heard of a god that defined sin as “the unnecessary hurting of a non-consenting being” and decreed that, “If it doesn’t hurt somebody, then it can’t possibly be objectionable to any sane god.”"? What was the point of being the One True God, if Yahweh could not arbitrarily decree that right and wrong were whatever He said they were, heads it’s a sin and tails it’s a virtue?” (p.20)
According to the author, most candidates willing to be hypnotized, do so, as more or less willing subjects who follow the commands of the hypnotist, while deceiving themselves into falsely believing they are under the sway of an hypnotic spell. If a command is given that is perceived as mentally, sexually, or physically disagreeable to the subject, they in most circumstances will not comply. However, if the subject, for instance a female, is seeking a sexual relationship with the hypnotist, she most likely will oblige the hypnotist’s suggestions and react accordingly in order to satisfy a sexual urge. The female can excuse herself from her actions, by mentally convincing herself that what she did, was done under the self deceptive pretense that she was hypnotized into participating in a sexual act, not under her own volition, but under the suggestive commands of the hypnotist.
In reference to a popular faith healer and televangelist, the author has Zubrick say: “This guy is the Barnum of bullshit.” Pat explained. “He’s as much a hypnotist as I am, He makes zillions in America pretending to represent a god he doesn’t believe in. I might pick up a few pointers. If this is the way to get rich, why not. It’s all show business.” (p.80)
And, “The Pope says birth control is a sin,” Johanna picked up one of the priest’s throwaway lines.” (p.89)
“Yes, and in his conscience it is. The Holy Father does the best he can with the limited capacity God gave him, and we can’t ask more than that from any of God’s creatures. If the Pope’s reality, or my reality, is also your reality, that would certainly simplify your decision-making. But I’m not going to tell you what you must do. That’s up to you.” (p.89)
Zubrick because of a minor sexual offense in Australia, exiles himself to Canada. He had agreed to plead guilty to having carnal knowledge of a girl under sixteen, and that all other charges had been dropped. (p.98)
“…In most of Australia, shagging an experienced fourteen-year old would get you a fine. This is the theocracy of Queensland. The Premier could take human rights lessons from the Ayatollah. The place is so backward, state elections still use first-the-post voting, like children, retards and North Americans…” (p.98)
There are numerous incidents of Zubrick’s encounters with the opposite sex. Many are humorous episodes, with the occasional reference to biblical morality and how state and religion have worked hand in hand to make offensive certain sexual acts, which are neither offensive nor aggressive, and used mainly by political theocrats as the means to further their authoritarian control over a society’s morality.
In a discussion on the subject of religion there is this humorous conservation: “I’m a Loveite,” Dorie affirmed, and Loveites are allowed to think for themselves. If a prime minister or a president said wearing red socks on Thursday was a capital crime, wouldn’t you put him in the loony bin? Yet gods make laws equally capricious, like not going without a turban or not eating pork or drinking tea or copulating without a license, and people accept it. Could a god really be responsible for laws based on ‘heads it’s a sin and tails it’s a virtue? Fanatics who bomb tadpolecide clinics accuse their god of inspiring them. Couldn’t Bible authors have told the same lie?” (p.153)
There are articles on the subject of hypnotism and reviews of the author’s many books. The Last Hypnotist, begins on p.241 and concludes on p.424.
This novel is the story of Van Kruger who studies to become a priest, but after being exiled to remote New Guinea, he abandons the priesthood, which in turn, leads to his decision to become a professional hypnotist. This also, like the other novel, is a clever, humorous story with many examples of the author explaining the weakness, imperfections, defects, and flaws, inherent in Christianity. For instance, the blunders, mayhem, and tragedies it has caused by sticking its tyrannical nose into the functions of society, and deciding with the assistance of political theocrats, what is and is not morally permissible from the austere perspective of a Christian fundamentalist persuasion. For instance, ever since the late R. Reagan’s make-believe presidency, the Republican party in the USA has become more and more a politically functioning branch of a Christian religious fundamentalism, and its never-ending attempts to achieve a political theocracy based on the worst examples of biblical oppression. Tea Party favorite and politically dipsy, Sarah Palin, is a perfect example of the religiously fundamentalist conservative. A woman who is applauded and generously supported by an adoring audience of right wing, politically motivated religious and other asinine dimwits, drooling over the probable aspect of a future government based on the imbecility of fundamentalist Christianity.
Here is one of many examples the author includes to depict the fatuous, idiotic motives incorporated in various religions based on the biblical god: “Surely you don’t think that the Catholic god, who bans birth control but permits smoking and eating pork, and the Jewish god, who bans eating pork but permits birth control and smoking, and the Mormon god, who bans smoking but permits birth control and eating pork, are the same god? Don’t you think he’d have to be, how do you say, split-brained with many selves?”
“Are you saying god is schizophrenic?”
“No, love,” Bjorn grinned. “You just did.” (p.289
Here’s another example: “When did I ever claim to believe in your god?” Rob responded. “Protestantism came into existence as a rejection of the kind of god that would make laws based on, ‘Heads it’s a sin and tails it’s a virtue.’ Unitarianism was a rejection of a three-headed god so evil that it would applaud the Inquisition. Then there’s Deism, which rejected gods so egocentric and megalomaniac that they demand constant sucking up from terrified sycophants. Hugieism is Deism with an anthropomorphic face. We don’t believe a god named Hughie actually exists. He represents a ‘what if?’ You have your imaginary gods and I have mine. Don’t ever confuse the two.” (p.377)
The author, not only in this novel, but in the entire book, covers a wide range of subjects related to the nonsense of religions, as well as other aspects of religious faith, by allowing his characters to discuss these and other issues as the story develops. Anyone no longer mentally stifled by the absurdity of allowing one’s mind to be manipulated by the clergy or the evangelical fervor of modern Billy Graham’s, using their mouths to convey an insane depiction of an alien world inhabited by winged angels, or an underworld of flames and eternal fire, should read this entire book for the sheer enjoyment, intelligence, and numerous exposes of religious tyranny and its oppressive authoritarian ambitions to achieve a sadistic theocratic society.
A hypnotist is not unlike an evangelist. With the exception, that they are not as insane nor as god intoxicated as foaming at the mouth, wild-eyed evangelists like Benny Hinn. A man who has been extremely successful in convincing Christian fundamentalists he has the supernatural ability to heal people of their worst physical ailments. Christian converts, convinced that there is a living, breathing supernatural god, can easily be duped into being convinced that a religious huckster like Hinn, has, because of his feigned belief in a god, been miraculously gifted with the power to heal. In reality, the only thing Hinn has ever healed is himself, with the use of prescribed medication, and a doctor’s treatment of his illness, not through the improbable, impossible intervention of an invisible deity.
It wouldn’t be fair to divulge the ending of either novel, however, the reader will not be surprised, and if not religious, consider the outcome, a most likely scenario for those who, previously involved in the practice of hypnotism, have drifted into another, more lucrative profession that has for centuries been used successfully by those seeking to thrive economically through the use of suggestion (preaching), to convince a public that belief in an alternate reality (god belief) is possible and probable. Unfortunately, most of those hypnotized in this fashion, remain hypnotized for the remainder of their natural lives.