What is Hypnotic Rhythm?
Hypnotic Rhythm is a concept introduced in Napoleon Hill’s book ‘Outwitting The Devil’.
It’s the means by which nature makes habits permanent.
When you are under the spell of Hypnotic Rhythm you become a mindless zombie.
In the book, Hill claims to have had a conversation with the Devil.
The Devil begins the conversation by boasting about his dominion on Earth.
“You should know I control 98 percent of the people of your world”.
What allows him to control so many people?
Hill later discovers (after much prodding) it’s due to the habit of ‘Drifting’.
To understand, Hypnotic Rhythm we first need to learn about the ‘Drifting’ Phenomenon.
What is Drifting in Outwitting the Devil?
Let’s look at the Devil’s own explanation of ‘Drifting’
Imagine someone driving a car down a highway.
They are in full control,
Alert,
And will safely make it to their destination.
Now imagine a person who is drunk and driving down the same highway.
They have some awareness of what’s happening but begin to close their eyes.
They wake up and swerve back onto the road only to fall asleep again.
They eventually crash into a tree and die.
The first person is honoring their gift of consciousness and is not a drifter.
The second person is rejecting the gift and is a drifter.
Sadly, the vast majority of people on earth do not think for themselves.
They relinquish this power to parents, teachers, and authorities.
They are willing to trust anyone over themselves.
A drifter goes with the flow of life and has no power to consciously create.
They are victims of circumstance.
Drifters make no definite plans.
Drifters do not question things.
Drifters fall easily into societal programming and hence tend to achieve mediocre results.
When one drifts for too long they fall victim to the power of Hypnotic Rhythm.
How does Hypnotic Rhythm Work?
Hypnotic Rhythm is the means by which people stay drifting forever.
This happens through the habituation process.
Here is how the Devil explained it,
When we learn something for the first time we manually process each movement.
We rely heavily on our conscious minds to pay attention.
This is why learning something new tends to quickly become stressful.
A great amount of energy and concentration is needed to make the smallest improvements.
With time, many of the actions get delegated to the subconscious mind.
The more we practice the more automatic the process becomes.
Eventually, after enough practice, we no longer think about the activity.
The music just flows out of us.
The words just write themselves.
We walk without tripping.
We can drive without thinking.
This is the power of habituation.
What Makes Hypnotic Rhythm So Strong?
Hypnotic Rhythm gains its strength from natural laws.
Here is what the Devil had to say about the process,
Nature maintains balance by making things predictable.
The seasons follow a set pattern.
Day follow night.
Gravity brings things down instead of sending them up.
There is consistency in nature.
This consistency is what has allowed us to make advancements in science.
You need consistency to correctly utilize the scientific method.
To test a hypothesis, something needs to be falsifiable.
If nature didn’t behave we wouldn’t have been able to test anything.
The Devil goes on to explain something profound,
“The same law which holds your earth in position and helps nature to maintain a perfect balance over the four dimensions—in which all matter and energy are contained—is the web in which I entangle and control the minds of human beings.”
This universal energy which seeks to create consistency through recurring phenomena is what also entangles the minds of man.
When someone stops thinking for themselves, nature automates the drifting process.
The person’s behaviour becomes as predictable as the changing seasons.
This is done to save energy.
Look at the natural world and you will see many Laws aim to conserve energy.
When someone thinks for themselves, Hypnotic Rhythm makes critical thinking a habit.
The non-drifter has more power to create their lives.
Non-drifters benefit from Hypnotic Rhythm because it allows them to automate positive habits.
Just as easily as it automates destructive habits: like smoking or pessimism,
It can automate positive habits like:
- Positive thinking,
- Seeing the upside in negative circumstances (“the seed of an equal or greater benefit”),
- Mindfulness,
- Reading,
- Gratitude.
Can you escape Hypnotic Rhythm?
The short answer is NO.
The Devil explains how nature doesn’t need permission to fix your dominating habits with Hypnotic Rhythm.
Hypnotic Rhythm is a derivative of fundamental laws of nature.
The Laws of Motion and Thermodynamics cannot be broken.
Much like the Laws of Gravity.
You can’t escape gravity, but you can learn to use it to your advantage.
Hypnotic Rhythm as mentioned prior is only a problem for those who have habits of drifting.
To free yourself from drifting,
Think for yourself.
Soon, it will become automatic.
Do this and I promise you will be one step closer to living and dying well.