In the book "In search for the Miraculous" In the middle of a chapter O discusses the text below a reference to the forces which keep man hypnotically asleep:

"First of all it must be realized that the sleep in which man exists is not normal but hypnotic sleep. Man is hypnotized and this hypnotic state is continually maintained and strengthened in him. One would think that there are forces for whom it is useful and profitable to keep man in a hypnotic state and prevent him from seeing the truth and understanding in his position."

"There is an Eastern tale which speaks about a very rich magician who had a great many sheep. But at the same time this magician was very mean. He did not want to hire shepherds, nor did he want to erect a fence about the pasture where his sheep were grazing. The sheep consequently often wandered into the forest, fell into ravines, and so on, above all they ran away, for they knew the magician wanted their flesh and skins and this they did not like."

"At last the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his sheep and suggested to them first of all that they were immortal and that no harm was being done to them when they were skinned, that, on the contrary, it would be very good for them and even pleasant; secondly he suggested that the magician was a good master who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the world for them; and in the third place, he suggested to them that if anything at all were going to happen to them it was not going to happen just then, at any rate not that day, and therefore they had no need to think about it. Further the magician suggested to his sheep that they were not sheep at all; to some of them that they were not sheep at all; to some of them he suggested that they were lions, to others that they were eagles, to others that they were men, and to others that they were magicians."

"And after this all his cares and worries about the sheep came to an end. They never ran away again but quietly awaited the time when the magician would require their flesh and skins."

"This tale is a very good illustration of man's position."
--page 219


There are other writings/authors that discuss a similar "force" attributed to some kind of usurping of our energy through hypnosis by a "higher being" . Castaneda speaks about this in his Don Juan book, in the chapter about the "Mud Shadows" and the flyers. Gnostics have spoken about this entity as the "Archon" .
Historically , there are stories documented in ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamia about the Annunaki; some of which can be read in the work Zacharia Sitchin which potentially can draw

While reading "In Search of the miraculous", I found these paragraphs about the eastern tale In the beginning of a chapter that does not build anything upon what this "Tale" implies. Without going deeply into other "conspiracy theories" which linger on the internet, I have been searching for any further commentary on this idea that seems analogous to O, Castaneda, and Gnostic ideas with out success.

I'd love to hear opinions / references from others in this forum to this statement.