Does The Gaze Induce Modified States Of Consciousness?

The first time we spoke of the gaze as a factor affecting the consciousness of others was two centuries ago; Franz Anton Mesmer, Austrian physician and philosopher, was the one who laid the foundations for what would be called the “Theory of Animal Magnetism”. According to his postulates, the human body radiates energy just as other bodies do. This energy, in turn, would exert an influence on other bodies.

On the basis of these considerations, James Braid, a Scottish physician, coined the term ‘hypnosis’ and indicated that ‘ the sustained fixation of the gaze paralyzes the nervous centers of the eyes and their dependencies, which, by altering the balance of the nervous system, produces the phenomenon ”.

One of the methods of hypnosis that has been developed from this way of understanding influence has been the “gaze technique”. Halfway between belief and knowledge, this technique consists of discussing with a person while staring them in the eye. Phrases appear which she likes, and which therefore lead her to enter this kind of intermediate state between wakefulness and sleep that we know as hypnosis.

More recently, there has been a study carried out by researcher Giovanni B. Caputo, of the University of Urbino in Italy, where it has apparently been verified that the gaze induces altered states of consciousness. This information has not been corroborated by other contemporary studies, since it is presented simply by way of illustration.

Giovanni Caputo gathered 50 volunteers to carry out his experiment on the gaze. Initially, he formed 15 couples. The members of each couple were to sit face to face, less than a meter apart, and gaze into each other’s eyes for 10 minutes.

Another group stayed in an adjoining room and did the same exercise, but this time the members of this group were not to look at each other, but at themselves in front of a mirror. Finally, both the first and second groups responded to a questionnaire that had been prepared for the study.

According to the answers Caputo got, 90% of the people who took part in this study had hallucinatory experiences, in both groups. They said they saw distorted faces or monstrous figures. They also indicated that they felt like they were “outside” of reality. On this basis, it was concluded that gazing induces altered states of consciousness.

This time aiming for a completely different objective, the organization Amnesty International carried out an experiment on the gaze. It started from an assertion made by social psychologist Arthur Aron: looking at a person for 4 minutes generates an unsuspected closeness.

Amnesty International therefore carried out a small experiment by couples made up of a European citizen and a refugee from another country in the world. They were simply asked to face each other and gaze into each other’s eyes for 4 minutes. The goal was to prove that a lot of prejudices disappear when you take the time to see and look at the other, however different they may be from you.

Without exception, all those who participated in the experiment managed to feel close to the person they had in front of them. Without exception, too, they began to chat affectionately and developed a mutual empathy. And the results obtained were those that were expected: it doesn’t matter where we come from, what language we speak, or what color our skin is. Finally, at the end of the day, there is a recognizable human being within us.

The gaze has always been a source of questions and fascination for human beings. There are many myths associated with the power of the gaze. The best known is that of the “Medusa”, the mythological figure who transformed into stone all those who looked at her. There is also the myth of Tiresias, the blind man who could read the future.

The gaze has so much power that it constructs meanings by itself. Every look has an intention; sometimes it is that of recognizing, sometimes that of invisibility. When you look and when you don’t look, there is an effect. Love looks are “respect” and “admiration”. Envious looks give rise to the “evil eye”. Looks of hatred kill, or are like a dagger.

Looks create or modify the consciousness of the person being looked at. They confront and cause someone to think of themselves as “seen” or “ignored”. As “discovered” or passed over in silence. The eyes, these mirrors of the soul, are a window through which one escapes from the world of human beings, but also through which one enters it.