Now that the old year’s hangovers and first Football Bowl Subdivision games of the new have passed, many people resolve that this year, 2012, will be different despite the apocalyptic prognostications surrounding it (or because of them). For them, the time is ripe to get out of the rut and create the better persons they can be, however many times they’ve repeated the cycle.
Treating such maladaptive patterns formed the basis of the presentation given by Dwight Scoles Monday evening, January 2nd, in the first of the Minneapolis Theosophical Society’s series of monthly lectures. Mr. Scoles outlined how the peace stealers inhabiting the conscious self can be overcome by reaching to one’s “Higher Self,” the “True Essence of Who you Are.” By employing what he termed Advanced Spiritual Hypnosis (ASH), a person can “leave behind these peace stealers” and achieve one’s “higher overriding purpose to live out of [his or her] core being or divine self” and experience the peace, power, and fulfillment of “Life as it was meant to be.”
Heavily influenced by the quantum entrainment teachings of German chiropractor Dr. Frank Kinslow, Scoles method involved leading the group through a series of simple self-help exercises designed to replace the negative scripts of the subconscious mind with triggers that elicit positive responses that reach the “Real You” inside. Rather than become isolated meditators upon their navels, these exercises enable individuals to achieve “ultimate alignment” whereby they expand their capacities “to live in a conscious state while experiencing [their] core selves.”
A computer programmer by trade, Scoles’ lay-person sincerity lent a certain testimonial credibility to self-help therapies that have been denounced by Steve Salerno and other critics as part of an nine-billion-dollar-a-year sham. Applying self-hypnosis techniques to match the rhythms of the autonomic nervous system does not automatically signify people are tapping into some benign “Higher Mind.” Nor do the benefits derived from ASH necessarily result from reaching a divine inner self as from the more innocuous placebo effect.
Nevertheless, mainstream science has verified the efficacy of guided imagery, relaxation techniques, and other forms of autogenic training to reduce stress and improve mood. While Scoles’ definition of the subconscious derives more from popular culture than from clinical psychology, those seeking release from the treadmill of combatting weight gain, quitting smoking or relieving anxiety may well find his Soul Touch Connection the means for fulfilling their personal resolutions in this new year.
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