Re: Books On Mind Manipulation
Date: May 24, 2011 10:40PM
Just my opinion here.
I think there can be an ethical quandry in disclosing too much information about how covert influence is done. If someone were to publish actual mechanics of covert influence, that would put that information straight into the hands of unscrupulous operators and make them even better at what they are already doing.
I sometimes dread that some of them actually come and read our discussions so as to better refine their methods.
Look what happened when Bandler and Grinder figured out the mechanics of how Ericksonian trance induction works.
Erickson was a medical hypnotist, bound by the ethics of medicine. He wanted people to regain all the autonomy they were capable of, so they would not need to see him for the rest of their lives. Erickson never that his methods be used on a large scale to sell people stuff they dont need, or to inflame their dependency upon gurus or seminar trainers or sales people.
And Erickson only worked with people who knew he was going to utilize trance.
Reading Margaret Singer and Cialdini will be very helpful.
Again, here is my idiosyncratic list of warning signs. It in no way reflects the opinion of Ross Institute.
Many cults (though not all of them) tend to exalt experience at the expense of reason and facts. If you offer some facts and the person replies 'Well that wasnt my experience'--run.
(However some cults have been based on an appearance of rigorous intellectualism. The factor that runs through all is authoritarianism)
1) Begin by recognizing that any person, no matter how intelligent or well educated, no matter how socially sophisticated, will have vulnerable moments. We are human. We are social. We are influenced by the company we keep. If we are scared, ill, bereaved and disoriented, we will look adult but regress to the level of young children who need protection. Anyone can exploit us if fate lands us in such a situation. Think of how you felt when someone you love died. Or if you got shocking news of some kind.
A side note. Our minds are embodied. Put enough pressure on a human body and we can be worn down. And it doesnt take waterboarding to accomplish this. If you fantasize that you are too smart or too strong to be broken and influenced, you are actually that much more vulnerable to a con.
2) Be aware that some venues that should be safe are being abused as points of recruitment for junk.
I am very sorry to report that Byron Katie and Eckhart Tolle are mentioned a lot in 12 step groups. If you happen to be a member of a 12 Step group, keep in mind that according to the traditions, one should only use 12 Step literature, one must avoid controversy of religions or causes. Anyone who shows up at your 12 step meeting and tries to get you to go see their guru or go to a non 12 step seminar is violating the Traditions of the 12 Step scene.
I say this because I shared some sensitive material at an Alanon meeting and was in tears. Afterward a woman pounced on me trying to get me to go to a Byron Katie talk. I regret now that I was so very polite to her. She was using my shaky moment as an opportunity to proslytize for BK.
3) Something never comes from nothing. Everything has a history. Most of us are nervous about speaking in public. It takes training, long patient training and practice, to learn how to market oneself and how to impress total strangers and work a room. So ask yourself where this operator learned to do this. Who taught him or her.
No one is born knowing how to run seminars or multiday workshops. Where did the person learn to do this.
It costs money to print posters and get web sites up and running. It costs big money to rent bill boards and the kind of advertising one sees on the sides of busses. Where did that money come from??
If a glossy multicolor poster advertises free workshops---who paid for that poster? At what point will your participation no longer be for free, eh?
4) Someone who advertises proficiency in a multitude of disciplines, each of which would by itself take a lifetime to master--be alert. Someone who says they do yoga, sufism, advaita, Kabbalah, shamanic trance--thats too much stuff for any one person to master in its entirety.
5) Someone who is both a therapist and has a schedule as a retreat leader--if they are running around all over the country doing frequent retreats, they wont have the time to be steadily present in a way that is needed for a long term therapeutic relationship. Two, someone with a heavy schedule as a retreat leader will have a very hard time staying current with developments in psychotherapy. A real therapist works hard to stay up to date in Continuing Education.
7) Anyone who considers professional boundaries to be oppressive and thinks clients and patients should be equals and be friends--that person isnt willing to take full responslibity for the actual POWER of being a therapist.
8) If your attempts to ask about power issues financial transparency and the possiblity of abuse meet with accusations of your being negative--get out. This is a sign of being in a social setting where there is no social support for disciples and all the excuses go toward justifying whatever the powerholders do. Its dangerous turf and one needs to get away, fast.
9) If anyone uses the term crazy wisdom, run. Go look up the careers of Adi Da and Chogyam Trungpa.
10) Watch for the hype factor. If people seem childishly invested in the marvellous personality and public persona of a leader, even if its someone who is a social justice activist--be careful.
11) If that person keeps telling certain Big Stories again and again, and the crowd just eats it up--watch out. If people get hysterical and accuse you of cynicism, of being a hater, or of being an atheist if you question the glorious personality, the story, the achievements of the Great Person--watch out.
Other precautions
Precautions for Attending MultiDay Events (not just the one discussed here)
Only only go to an event, especially a multiday event, in your own car. Dont surrender your car keys or cell phone. If you need coffee to function, bring caffiene tablets and some protein powder in case they try to stick you on a low protein no-caffiene diet. A few energy bars up the sleeve are always good.
Dont surrender your car keys. Next, despite this being scorned as selfish and un Green, dont have anyone carpool with you. Why? Because if you decide you want to leave, if you have buddies who rely on you for transportation and they want to stay, you'll be stranded.
Tell them to send you the paperwork you will have to sign as a condition of participating. This can be sent online via a pdf file.
What you want to know before you send payment is whether you will have to sign you are asked to sign paperwork in which you relinquish any right to sue or mediate for damages in case you are harmed during one of their workshops.
If you are expected to take responsiblity for your life, any program (not only the one discussed here, but any program) should take responsiblity for its life transforming potential by acknowledging there are possible risks.
Physicians and licensed therapists do not require patients or clients to sign away rights to sue or mediate for damages in case of harm.
If they dont let you see the paperwork until you are at the event, insist on sitting in a quiet coerner to read it. Get out if you are not allowed to do this.
Ask (loudly)whether there will be breaks and how often they will arrange breaks.
Demand to know how late in the evening the event will be.
Dont disclose too much personal information on forms. You need to know if they are taking precautions about confidentiality. You dont have to tell total strangers what you do for a living. Thats between you and the tax revenue department. You dont know who handles the data at their office. What if someone splits and decides to swipe a list of names and sell it?
Ask if you are going to sharing intimate painful material from your life during the event. Ask also whether you will be filmed or recorded or if anyone will be taking notes. If they are evasive or try to put you on the defensive ('Why are you being so negative?') get out.
Now...this advice goes for any human potential event, not just the one being discussed here.
Someone may read this and say 'Oh, you are so negative and paranoid. Why not be open?'
The question is---open to WHAT?'
Here's the thing. These things are adventures.
People who take adventures in the great outdoors always plan for a possible emergency. People engaged in rock climbing, camping, hiking, take care to bring maps, carry rain gear, water purifyier tablets and food. They will also leave word with friends and families about where they go, and what route they plan to take and when they plan to come back.
THat way, if they fall and break a leg and dont come home on schedule, someone will have the information needed to inform the Search and Rescue unit that covers the area.
This pre-planning is not paranoia. It is realism and respects that all true adventure includes the unknown and risk.
Well, we need to know how to prepare for social/pschological adventures.
The folks who run these programs plan the event and the environment very carefully.
THose of us whom they want to attend as new members--we need to plan too.
So that if we see that a storm is brewing we have our own means of transportation and can go home.
And if someone says, 'But you have not experienced this, how dare you pass judgement'
I would reply 'Experiences can be misleading. There are some kinds of experiences I *know* I can do without.'
And valuing heart and experience at expense of the mind is not a divine truth. And it is not a stance that transcends and includes all else.
Instead it expresses a bias that is not transcendental, but originateds in a particular belief system--in this case, Romanticism. Romanticism, a Western belief system and set of attitudes, arose from the middle and upper middle classes starting in the mid-18th Century. Much of what we think we know about "shamanism", buddhism, and other Asian religions has been biased and filtered through Western Romanticism, which priviliges experience and heart and self expression. Romanticism exists only among those who dont have to worry where their next meal or set of meals, come from.