How can a thought be planted in someone’s mind?

Did you ever wonder how thoughts enter our mind, how they are planted, grow roots, and then become more and more real? It’s a process that definitely seems mysterious and sometimes chaotic in the way it unfolds, although there are certain neurological-scientific explanations. The human brain is undoubtedly a wondrous, captivating “machine” – and in Lior Suchard’s mentalism shows, this is clearly expressed, mesmerizing and surprising audiences time and time again, including parts that seem as if the thoughts were literally planted in the participants’ minds.

So how can a thought be planted? Is it even possible, and what happens there during those surprising, amusing, and thrilling “magic moments” at the performances of Lior Suchard, the leading master mentalist in the world today? Well, these are partially Lior’s trade secrets as an entertainment artist and mentalist, but some of it can be explained and elucidated, and that is what we will try to do today.

Essentially, what is a thought?

In general, a thought is the name that we give to the process by which we take in information from our surroundings through our senses and our memories, and then process and organize that information in our brains. The result of this process is our thoughts, whether they are generated as a response to an external-environmental stimulant or as the result of inner cognitive processes, such as memory. Science has a certain degree of understanding regarding how thoughts are “born” and emerge, but there is also a lot that we do not completely understand regarding the way in which we as humans think a specific thought.

External stimulants, memories, feedback from other people, images, sounds, and ideas all create thoughts that include opinions, emotions, positions on certain issues, belief systems, new ideas, and so forth. This is certainly an enthralling subject that emphasizes how amazing the human brain and thought process really is.

Can a thought be planted?

While we tend to think of elements such as programming as belonging to the world of computers and technology and not to our characters and cognition as human beings, in a sense, it is possible to “program” people. This is mainly expressed as the construction of perceptions, opinions, and positions regarding a range of subjects – which can practically be described as planting thoughts.  But is it really possible to plant a thought in a person’s mind?

The answer, not surprisingly, is more complex than a simple “yes” or “no.” It is impossible to simply plant a thought in our brains the way that a certain definition can be programmed in a computer program or digital-electronic component. However, it is definitely possible to manipulate the mind in various ways in order to try to lead it to conclude certain thoughts on its own. Although many of us would like to view ourselves as strong and immune to various manipulations, the truth is that it is relatively easy to “trick” our brains and cause us to see or think things, ignore other things, and so forth. It happens all the time via sophisticated advertising techniques, various media/internet outlets, and definitely in the entertainment industry as well – like at Lior Suchard’s shows. But at Lior’s shows, there is of course nothing harmful and it is done for purposes of pleasure, surprise, and wonderment at the complexity of the human mind.

How does it happen, and can anyone plant thoughts?

Of course, it is not so easy to plant a thought in someone else’s mind, and no everyone can simply start doing it. Mentalists perform similar processes, for entertainment and show, by implementing a range of techniques and very careful practice, as part of the amazing performances that incorporate elements that look like mind reading, predicting what participants will choose, and so forth.

How is a thought actually planted? In general, using techniques such as suggestion, guiding words that are carefully selected, NLP, guided imagery, subtle but precise hints and directions that are implemented skillfully by a high-quality, expert mentalist like Lior Suchard.