This chapter is the first of a series on this subject. I’ve covered it before in this volume, but not quite in this way.

It presents an excerpt from a session conducted by Jack True with a patient. In the next several chapters, you’ll see what happens to this patient. Don’t assume you’re getting the whole story in this chapter.

The patient was a 44-year-old man who had been involved in Tibetan practices with a monk who had left the fold. The monk was studying hypnosis, and he worked with the patient, a chiropractor, for a number of sessions (of hypnosis).

The thrust of these sessions with the ex-monk was PERCEPTION OF THE UNDERLYING NATURE OF REALITY. The details of those sessions was very sketchy when Jack entered the scene. Jack then took over.

He put the patient in a light trance and simply asked him to look at the underlying nature of reality and report what he saw.

Here is the excerpt:

Q: What are you seeing?

A: I don’t know. I’m confused.

Q: Is that confusion with you or is it in what you’re looking at?

A: Oh. It’s in me, I guess.

Q: Where in you?

A: It’s in my space.

Q: Right. So now just try to look at the underlying nature of reality and tell me what you see.

A: I see a lamp. It just popped up.

Q: What color is the light?

A: Gray green. Now it’s yellow. The map is hanging from the sky like it’s in some fairy tale. Did I say map? I mean lamp.

Q: What’s around the lamp?

A: Sky. It’s black. It’s a kind of friendly black. I’m looking closer now. I’m seeing crystals. A crystalline take on the sky. The sky is composed of multi-shaped crystals, like ice or snow. These crystals are inside the sky. They’re a deeper level.

Q: Keep going.

A: The crystals seem…noble. They’re very regal, in a way. I see kings and queens, almost like on playing cards. I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Kings and queens. They are representatives, messengers, guardians. It’s interesting.

Q: Yeah.

A: The kings and queens are sort of attached to the crystals. They’re part of the structure. They’re beckoning me on. Deeper. They want to lead me somewhere. They want to show me something. My mouth feels dry. I’m going where the kings and queens lead me. They’re pointing the way down a hall or a path in the woods. Hmm. The energy…of the crystals is leading me on deeper into something. I’m attracted to this. I feel a magnetic attraction. It’s important. This feels important. I’m not sure where I’m going, but the sense is, I’m supposed to see all this. It’s predestined, sort of. (pauses)

Q: What else?

A: There are rays of light coming from somewhere through the trees in the woods. It’s noble. This is a noble enterprise. It has great dignity. It’s…enveloping. It has sound, too. I’m trying to hear it. Music. Almost music. The tinkling of objects. I see robes, great robes. They have objects sewn into them, and the objects are making me feel…calm. I feel very calm. There are more messengers. They’re wearing robes. They’re leading me into a clearing. It has plants. Some are in pots. It’s a very sculpted space. There is a prayer going on. It’s an undercurrent. Someone is saying a very powerful prayer. It was always going on, but now I can hear it, like a hum. Like the hum of the ocean. I’m coming to the ocean now. It’s illuminated. It’s all lit up. The light is coming from inside the ocean. It’s a blue light. It’s very calming. It’s easy. It’s easy to look at it. I can see the blue light without any strain. I feel relaxed…That’s all…it’s all gone now.

End of excerpt

The next day, the patient phoned Jack and told him his headache (that he had had for almost a week) had gone away. He felt good. He was supposed to come in that afternoon for another session, but he cancelled it.

Two days later, he called Jack to say he was in a depression. He didn’t know why. He made an appointment for the next night.

Jack said to me, “I expected something like this. I didn’t think his euphoria would last very long. This patient very easily experiences euphoria.”