A well-known communication principle states that "You cannot not communicate." Even when you are silent, your silence communicates something to the people you happen to be with. At the same time, when you talk, you cannot not suggest certain things for people to represent in their minds. Understanding words demands that the listener/reader represent them in some way in their minds. Thus, all comprehended language suggests certain internal representations in the minds of those present. The principal idea behind educational hypnosis is the desire to consistently suggest internal representations that lead someone to facilitative states and beliefs. Pinker, in his l994 best seller The Language Instinct, summarizes this power inherent in language use, which we are calling hypnosis:
As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one of the wonders of the natural world. For you and I belong to a species with a remarkable ability: we can shape events in each other's brains with exquisite precision. . . . Simply by making noises with our mouths, we can reliably cause precise new combinations of ideas to arise in each other's minds. The ability comes so naturally that we are apt to forget what a miracle it is. (p. 15)