power of suggestion

There's this house in my neighbourhood. It's huge, maybe 300x200 square feet, maybe bigger. I would'nt be suprised if one day the owner fancied razing it to the ground and conjured up a football stadium in it's place. The name on the black glittering marble reads 'Lakshmi Venkateshwara Nilaya', I have never seen the owners, but word has it that they are one of the wealthiest families in Bangalore; owning a score of medical and engineering colleges. It's built like a palace, a monstrosity reeking of a vulgar ostentatious display of wealth. Onlookers stop to gawk unashamedly at this hallowed turf worthy of kings, some even snap up pictures, others even pose next to the obscene dwelling maybe wanting to show the output to relatives and friends.

There's something else about the house which demands attention, though it has been fully completed there is always some construction work going on. Nonstop, every single day, there is plastering, painting or some other form of modelling. A flurry of activity with labourers mixing cement and sand, carrying bricks and stones geting their orders from an important looking mason. The reason for this is a prophesy made by the family astrologer, who told them that there must always be some building work in progress or one of the male heirs would suffer a horrible death. Now, when there is no construction work required the masons break down a piece of the palatial edifice and re-build it. They have been doing this for more than five years and because the family fears for the life of their sons this is destined to go on forever.

The power of suggestion is astonishing, it bludgeons reason and replaces it with kooky crap. It happens all the time and it gets itself deeply enmeshed in the inner reaches of the mind and then starts to govern almost every action of ours. Our every ego impulse becomes the sum of the number of suggestions that we have been party to. It gets sucked in and slots itself softly in the confines of the unconscious. No freedom of choice.

Childhood is fertile ground to plant the insidious seed.....

'Don't play in the water, there's a monster waiting to grab you'
'Don't go into that room, the boogie man awaits'
'Don't climb trees, there are ghosts in the high branches'
'If you don't eat your food you are a bad child'
'If you do not do well in school, nobody won't love you'
'Say sorry, you bad child, why did you play in mud'
'Sex is sin, God will disown you if you even think about it'

Guilt, shame, phobias, insecurities, neuorosis, depression and what have you.

The power of suggestion,when used as a placebo though has tremendous self-affirming and therapeutic powers.

Yeah, about that astrologer who made that prediction, it's rumoured that he has a fortune amassed, most of which comes from a monthly direct credit into his account from an anonymous builder. Some say it's the same builder who's built the 'Lakshmi Venkateshwara Nilaya'. I don't believe it, but hey I may soon start believing it. Never doubt the power of suggestion.

Plant it and it will grow. It's yours to use or abuse.