Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
MacReady
()
Date: April 27, 2012 09:39AM
Robert Jay Lifton's Eight Point Model of Thought Reform:
[www.cs.cmu.edu]
The following points in particular can be applied in some degree to UM and Serge's presentation and writing techniques:
2. Mystical Manipulation
The claim of divine authority or spiritual advancement that allows the leader to reinterpret events as he or she wishes, or make prophecies or pronouncements at will, all for the purpose of controlling group members. Lifton: "The inevitable next step after milieu control is extensive personal manipulation... Initiated from above, it seeks to provoke specific patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that these will appear to have arisen spontaneously from within the environment... ...Ideological totalists...are impelled by a special kind of mystique which not only justifies such manipulations, but makes them mandatory... They are the agents 'chosen' (by history, by God, or by some other supernatural force) to carry out the 'mystical imperative,' the pursuit of which must supersede all considerations of decency or of immediate human welfare. Similarly, any thought or action which questions the higher purpose is considered to be stimulated by a lower purpose, to be backward, selfish, and petty in the face of the great overriding mission... At the level of the individual person, the psychological responses to this manipulative approach revolve about the basic polarity of trust and mistrust. One is asked to accept these manipulations on a basis of trust (or faith)... When trust gives way to mistrust... the higher purpose cannot serve as adequate emotional sustenance. The individual then responds to the manipulations through developing... the psychology of the pawn. Feeling himself unable to escape from forces more powerful than himself, he subordinates everything to adapting himself to them. He becomes sensitive to all kinds of cues, expert at anticipating environmental pressures, and skillful in riding them in such a way that his psychological energies merge with the tide rather than turn painfully against himself. This requires that he participate actively in the manipulation of others, as well as in the endless round of betrayals and self-betrayals which are required. But whatever his response...he has been deprived of the opportunity to exercise his capacities for self-expression and independent action."
3. Demand for Purity
The world is viewed as black and white and group members are constantly exhorted to strive for perfection. Consequently, guilt and shame are common and powerful control devices. Lifton: "In the thought reform milieu, as in all situations of ideological totalism, the experiential world is sharply divided into the pure and the impure, into the absolutely good and the absolutely evil. The good and the pure are of course those ideas, feelings, and actions which are consistent with the totalist ideology and policy; anything else is apt to be relegated to the bad and the impure... The philosophical assumption underlying this demand is that absolute purity...is attainable... ...y defining and manipulating the criteria of purity, and then by conducting an all-out war upon impurity, the ideological totalists create a narrow world of guilt and shame. This is perpetuated by an ethos of continuous reform, a demand that one strive permanently and painfully for something which not only does not exist but is in fact alien to the human condition... ...Each person is made vulnerable through his profound inner sensitivities to his own limitations and to his unfulfilled potential...[i.e.,] his existential guilt... ...The individual thus comes to apply the same totalist polarization of good and evil to his judgments of his own character... He must also look upon his impurities as originating from outside influences... ...[O]nce an individual person has experienced the totalist polarization of good and evil, he has great difficulty in regaining a more balanced inner sensitivity to the complexities of human morality..."
5. The "Sacred Science"
The doctrine of the group is considered the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or disputing. The leader of the group is likewise above criticism as the spokesperson for God on earth. Lifton: "The totalist milieu contains an aura of sacredness around its basic dogma, holding it out as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence. This sacredness is evident in the prohibition (whether or not explicit) against the questioning of basic assumptions, and in the reverence which is demanded for the originators of the Word, the present bearers of the Word, and the Word itself. While thus transcending ordinary concerns of logic, however, the milieu at the same time makes an exaggerated claim of airtight logic, of absolute 'scientific' precision. Thus the ultimate moral vision becomes an ultimate science; and the man who dares to criticize it, or to harbor even unspoken alternative ideas, becomes not only immoral and irreverent, but also 'unscientific.' ...The assumption here is not so much that man can be God, but that man's ideas can be God... At the level of the individual, the totalist sacred science can offer much comfort and security. Its appeal lies in its seeming unification of the mystical and the logical modes of existence... For within the framework of the sacred science, there is room for both careful step-by-step syllogism, and seeping, non-rational 'insights.'... ...o strong a hold can the sacred science achieve over his mental processes that if one begins to feel himself attracted to ideas which either contradict or ignore it, he may become guilty and afraid. His quest for knowledge is consequently hampered..."
6. Loading the Language
The group develops a jargon in many ways unique to itself, often not understandable to outsiders. This jargon consists of numerous words and phases which the members understand (or think they do), but which really act to dull one's ability to engage in critical thinking. Lifton: "The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis... Totalist language, then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon, prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly judging, and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: in Lionel Trilling's phrase, 'the language of nonthought.'..."
[www.cs.cmu.edu]
The following points in particular can be applied in some degree to UM and Serge's presentation and writing techniques:
2. Mystical Manipulation
The claim of divine authority or spiritual advancement that allows the leader to reinterpret events as he or she wishes, or make prophecies or pronouncements at will, all for the purpose of controlling group members. Lifton: "The inevitable next step after milieu control is extensive personal manipulation... Initiated from above, it seeks to provoke specific patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that these will appear to have arisen spontaneously from within the environment... ...Ideological totalists...are impelled by a special kind of mystique which not only justifies such manipulations, but makes them mandatory... They are the agents 'chosen' (by history, by God, or by some other supernatural force) to carry out the 'mystical imperative,' the pursuit of which must supersede all considerations of decency or of immediate human welfare. Similarly, any thought or action which questions the higher purpose is considered to be stimulated by a lower purpose, to be backward, selfish, and petty in the face of the great overriding mission... At the level of the individual person, the psychological responses to this manipulative approach revolve about the basic polarity of trust and mistrust. One is asked to accept these manipulations on a basis of trust (or faith)... When trust gives way to mistrust... the higher purpose cannot serve as adequate emotional sustenance. The individual then responds to the manipulations through developing... the psychology of the pawn. Feeling himself unable to escape from forces more powerful than himself, he subordinates everything to adapting himself to them. He becomes sensitive to all kinds of cues, expert at anticipating environmental pressures, and skillful in riding them in such a way that his psychological energies merge with the tide rather than turn painfully against himself. This requires that he participate actively in the manipulation of others, as well as in the endless round of betrayals and self-betrayals which are required. But whatever his response...he has been deprived of the opportunity to exercise his capacities for self-expression and independent action."
3. Demand for Purity
The world is viewed as black and white and group members are constantly exhorted to strive for perfection. Consequently, guilt and shame are common and powerful control devices. Lifton: "In the thought reform milieu, as in all situations of ideological totalism, the experiential world is sharply divided into the pure and the impure, into the absolutely good and the absolutely evil. The good and the pure are of course those ideas, feelings, and actions which are consistent with the totalist ideology and policy; anything else is apt to be relegated to the bad and the impure... The philosophical assumption underlying this demand is that absolute purity...is attainable... ...y defining and manipulating the criteria of purity, and then by conducting an all-out war upon impurity, the ideological totalists create a narrow world of guilt and shame. This is perpetuated by an ethos of continuous reform, a demand that one strive permanently and painfully for something which not only does not exist but is in fact alien to the human condition... ...Each person is made vulnerable through his profound inner sensitivities to his own limitations and to his unfulfilled potential...[i.e.,] his existential guilt... ...The individual thus comes to apply the same totalist polarization of good and evil to his judgments of his own character... He must also look upon his impurities as originating from outside influences... ...[O]nce an individual person has experienced the totalist polarization of good and evil, he has great difficulty in regaining a more balanced inner sensitivity to the complexities of human morality..."
5. The "Sacred Science"
The doctrine of the group is considered the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or disputing. The leader of the group is likewise above criticism as the spokesperson for God on earth. Lifton: "The totalist milieu contains an aura of sacredness around its basic dogma, holding it out as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence. This sacredness is evident in the prohibition (whether or not explicit) against the questioning of basic assumptions, and in the reverence which is demanded for the originators of the Word, the present bearers of the Word, and the Word itself. While thus transcending ordinary concerns of logic, however, the milieu at the same time makes an exaggerated claim of airtight logic, of absolute 'scientific' precision. Thus the ultimate moral vision becomes an ultimate science; and the man who dares to criticize it, or to harbor even unspoken alternative ideas, becomes not only immoral and irreverent, but also 'unscientific.' ...The assumption here is not so much that man can be God, but that man's ideas can be God... At the level of the individual, the totalist sacred science can offer much comfort and security. Its appeal lies in its seeming unification of the mystical and the logical modes of existence... For within the framework of the sacred science, there is room for both careful step-by-step syllogism, and seeping, non-rational 'insights.'... ...
6. Loading the Language
The group develops a jargon in many ways unique to itself, often not understandable to outsiders. This jargon consists of numerous words and phases which the members understand (or think they do), but which really act to dull one's ability to engage in critical thinking. Lifton: "The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis... Totalist language, then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon, prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly judging, and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: in Lionel Trilling's phrase, 'the language of nonthought.'..."
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
frodobaggins
()
Date: April 27, 2012 02:02PM
[www.cs.cmu.edu
Thats really good stuff Macready!
Thats really good stuff Macready!
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: April 27, 2012 11:22PM
Quote
The claim of divine authority or spiritual advancement that allows the leader to reinterpret events as he or she wishes, or make prophecies or pronouncements at will, all for the purpose of controlling group members.
This item is especially heavy stuff.
A lot of people seek healing due to having come from backgrounds where as little children, they were in the control of adults who behaved inconsistently.
Small children have age appropriate needs for consistency and firm rules.
Little kids, and even older children need people in their lives whose moods are within a steady range.
Inconsistent caregivers who keep changing rules and moods can leave deep wounds and cause a child to emerge as an adult with a fractured self.
A leader of a political or spiritual group who in Lifton's words "reinterprets events as he or she wishes, or makes prophecies or pronouncements at will" will re-enact the very traumas that cause people to seek healing as adults.
People in such groups (whether its a boss who keeps changing rules and moods, or a tyrannical lover or spouse who keeps changing rules and moods, or a guru) will risk regressing to the age in childhood where they were given this same inconsistent behavior by their failed caregivers.
It takes intact self to activate critical thinking, agency, plan and found resources to question, to leave, and to tolerate the loss of comraderie and solidarity found in such groups.
Spend enough time with any authority figure whose moods and behaviors are inconsistent and one risks losing the inner coherance needed to leave.
Quote
A self psychological approach to the cult phenomenon
Clinical Social Work Journal. Vol. 20, No. 4, Winter 1992.
Doni P. Whitsett, Ph.D.(psychologese for a wounding assault on the victim's core sense of self)Quote
"It is important to note here that people do not seek out cults." Whitsett writes. We are going through life transitions. We are feeling shaky and looking for social support and self support.
""Cushman has eloquently shown how the cult (in guise of offering normal human support) first induces "pathology" and then purports to cure it. Through various indoctrination techniques particularly an assault on the cultural frame of recruits, which includes their values, belief system, codes of behavior, and language, the cult induces a narcissistic crisis
"Quote
The self, thus besieged, fragments and looks for selfobjects
(something/someone to hang onto so as to regroup and stablize We do this from year ONE when as tiny kids, we wake from a nightmare and cry out for our parents. Or run to the nearest parent when spooked by a scary situation. This is deep in who we are as human beings, no matter how intelligent and well educated we later become. This is as instinctive as when someone who is drowning gasps for air and clings to the nearest rope)
"(What Whitsett calles 'fragmentation of self' laypersons call freakout or self doubt/self crisis-Corboy)Quote
The charismatic leader and group step in and offer the warmth and reassurance, self confidence, and definitive answers necessary to soothe and cohese the fragmenting self (of the marked recruit). Yet, after the transferance is seductively developed, fragmentationoccurs once again as the result of a cult induced narcissistic injury.
Whitsett describes how unlike true therapy, the toxic cult therapistand assistants in an un named therapy cult turned the emotional support on and off - turning it off right when the victim showed signs of growing strength and autonomy -- which a true therapist would have validated, and thus enabled her to outgrow the process and leave.
In genuine parenting and real therapy we are validated and supported when we make progress. True parents and genuine therapists are pleased when we grow more and more independant and become less reliant on them for support (Corboy)
But here below in the un-named therapy cult described by Whitsett, the very growth promised by the cult at time of recruitment was, contrary to the recruitment promises, punished, not validated. This left the subject/victim disoriented, and all the more dependant and self shaming. Then in collapse, and self blame she'd be validated -- all this doing the opposite of therapy, making her more dependent on the ones twitching the strings and doing this pseudo therapy.
"(Corboy note. Whitsett, the author of this article does not say so, but by sending her children away, this poor lady was left all the more dependant on the leader and the cult. And, her children would have competed with the leader for her full loyalty. In her memoir Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life With Carlos Castaneda, Amy Wallace tells how she was pressured to show commitment to the group by giving away her two beloved cats. )Quote
A young, divorced mother had been told over and over for the first year of her life in the cult that she was a bad mother. At first she did not believe this, because she had been raising the children on her own, was very attached to them, and seemed to be doing fine, except for a persistent depression due to the divorce.
'In the cult, she forced a strong, idealizing transferance to her therapist who would with draw the narcissistic supplies (validation) whenever she did not conform.
"With each narcissistic wound she became more and more fragile and fragmented, reacting with narcissistic rage, (Corboy note - she was panicking, feeling adrift, exactly as a small child does when overwhelmed with shame and rejected by a lbeloved parent), reacting with rage, throwing things, hitting her head yelling, punching windows.
"The therapist would then point to her irrational behavior (which the cult therapist had instigated in the first place-Corboy) as evidence of her "insanity" and her "inability to take care of herself, much lest her children."
"Emotionally exhausted and confused, she sent the children to live with their father for their own protection from her..Quote
"The cult validated her for her selflessness and concern for the children as long as they were gone.
"HOwever, whenever they would come to visit, she would be "busted" for not acting 'right' with them, for being phony, for not being a good mother.
"She would once again doubt her own experience of herself with the girls and see herself through the eyes of the cult.
"When she accepted their view, she was validated, when she resisted that view, she was emotionally abandoned.
"The recurring cycle of trauma-mirroring(validation)-trauma resulted in a fragmented self."
The entire cycle is repeated again, with cult leaders and other members calming the victim. Thus a cyclic process of vulnerability is established, whereby members search and find soothing followed by repeated injury
p 366
Now..lets look at Whitsett's analyses of how people bound with group mates.
Recruits are "'(I'd say tie to humanity, kinship, brotherhood, sisterhood, a sense of 'tribe' or 'family'--corboy)Quote
often people who have felt different as children, alien in some way. Or are just lonely due to being in a strange place, leaving home, bereaved, etc.
"The cult is often the first experience recruits have of "feeling like other people..these are people who feel a sense of differentness yet, like everyone else yearn for a sense of sameness.
Whitsett describes the group bonding process - which becomes important when the charismatic leader is less available.
"Whitsett, page 368Quote
While certain factors make people vulnerable to entering cults, other factors help keep them there. The development of a strong twinship transferance (that sense of finding one's "soul mate/s or one's "other half" -- Corboy) is one major contributing factor in maintaining people in restrictive groups. While the mirror and idealizing transferance explain, to a large degree, teh strong ties to the leader, the twinship transferance contributes a great deal to understanding the strong (one could call them 'magical- corboy) ties to the group.
"It particularly explains attachments in those cults where members have minimal direct contact with the idealized leader.
"The twinship transferance underlies the often expressed sentiment among former cult members that only other people who have come out of cults can truly understand their experience, a feeling akin to being "war buddies."
Additional Corboy note: Psychologist Len Oakes, author of Prophetic Charisma, found that not all members of a group come because of traumatic vulnerability. He found that many are quite strong and capable persons who seek a charismatic leader and group because of wishes to grow, to engage in a group endeavor of service, to assist in a 'great work'. These more capable persons will often have doubts concerning the leader as well as admiration and are more likely to leave when the leader fails to help them in their goals, or will leave when their goals are met and the leader is no longer needed.
Whitsett studied a more vulnerable group of persons who had sought personal healing and who incurred higher risks when crossing paths with healers who were egotistical and controlling.
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: April 27, 2012 11:28PM
Another thing about Jesus, in case SB tries to compare himself to JC
Jesus kicked the money changers off the steps of the Temple, telling them it was wrong to turn Gods house into a market place.
So much for a guru selling products.
And any geologist will tell you that there are tremblers all day, every day all over the planet.
That bit about earthquakes being Earths way of clearing pranic influences is another unprovable statement.
Its right up there with one local cartoonist, Keith Knight, who in his K Chronicles, suggested that earthquakes were the planets way of scratching its ass crack because humans had built too many cities!
Jesus kicked the money changers off the steps of the Temple, telling them it was wrong to turn Gods house into a market place.
So much for a guru selling products.
And any geologist will tell you that there are tremblers all day, every day all over the planet.
That bit about earthquakes being Earths way of clearing pranic influences is another unprovable statement.
Its right up there with one local cartoonist, Keith Knight, who in his K Chronicles, suggested that earthquakes were the planets way of scratching its ass crack because humans had built too many cities!
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
frodobaggins
()
Date: April 28, 2012 02:24AM
Another claim serge goes on and on with is his knowledge on reincarnation. Apparently from my understanding he says there are no "new" souls or people on this earth. We just keep reincarnating over and over again. So there is no new fresh blood so to speak.
I could be completely missing something here but if there are no new people who enter this earth at birth then I have one simple question...
If this is the case... How does Serge explain population growth? Do our souls split into multiple re entries onto this plant? The maths of it all doesn't add up. But this could be my pranic evil mind working against me.
He also says we "choose" our next life. If that's the case I'm stoked because I'm
Coming back as rich and good looking. But based on this claim... I often sit and wonder why the millions in Africa chose to enter this earth and live in some of the worse conditions known to man kind.
I'll leave these 2 simple questions for any potential UM to ask at your next meeting. I would love to know his answer.
I could be completely missing something here but if there are no new people who enter this earth at birth then I have one simple question...
If this is the case... How does Serge explain population growth? Do our souls split into multiple re entries onto this plant? The maths of it all doesn't add up. But this could be my pranic evil mind working against me.
He also says we "choose" our next life. If that's the case I'm stoked because I'm
Coming back as rich and good looking. But based on this claim... I often sit and wonder why the millions in Africa chose to enter this earth and live in some of the worse conditions known to man kind.
I'll leave these 2 simple questions for any potential UM to ask at your next meeting. I would love to know his answer.
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
HerbertKane178
()
Date: April 28, 2012 01:14PM
Quote
frodobaggins
Another claim serge goes on and on with is his knowledge on reincarnation. Apparently from my understanding he says there are no "new" souls or people on this earth. We just keep reincarnating over and over again. So there is no new fresh blood so to speak.
I could be completely missing something here but if there are no new people who enter this earth at birth then I have one simple question...
If this is the case... How does Serge explain population growth? Do our souls split into multiple re entries onto this plant? The maths of it all doesn't add up. But this could be my pranic evil mind working against me.
He also says we "choose" our next life. If that's the case I'm stoked because I'm
Coming back as rich and good looking. But based on this claim... I often sit and wonder why the millions in Africa chose to enter this earth and live in some of the worse conditions known to man kind.
I'll leave these 2 simple questions for any potential UM to ask at your next meeting. I would love to know his answer.
What about Darwinian evolution? Did the specific number of souls Serge decrees all appear at once on earth then? Forget evolution, the apes etc. According to Serge's logic none of this could have happened. So he's really in the territory of the fundamental christians who take the book of Genesis as fact.
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
MacReady
()
Date: April 28, 2012 02:27PM
Quote
HerbertKane178What about Darwinian evolution? Did the specific number of souls Serge decrees all appear at once on earth then? Forget evolution, the apes etc. According to Serge's logic none of this could have happened. So he's really in the territory of the fundamental christians who take the book of Genesis as fact.[/quote
Serge's creation fables outdo even those fundamentalist Christianity. According to UM theology we aren't even meant to be here, but our pranically-influenced, ego-driven spirits seperated from our souls (which existed within the body of God) and, knowing there was much fun to be had in the physical dimension, willed themselves into existence. They didn't quite get the human form right straight away though; allegedly our spirits went berzerk and experimented with different forms for awhile, resulting in the various half human/half animal beings of mythology such as mermaids etc.
Evolution according to Serge involves re-connecting to our souls and ultimately returning to the body of God, which can only be achieved of course by strictly following the teachings presented by Universal Medicine.
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
frodobaggins
()
Date: April 28, 2012 03:38PM
macready your a great source of information on all this. Great explanations. I could never get this info out of my partner.
I think Serge's imagination has got the better of him. Its movie material stuff... Someone sign this guy up for a movie deal... Make a fortune with a sci-fi plot like this.
I think Serge's imagination has got the better of him. Its movie material stuff... Someone sign this guy up for a movie deal... Make a fortune with a sci-fi plot like this.
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
frodobaggins
()
Date: April 28, 2012 03:51PM
I actually held hope for my ex partner to come out of this... From everything on this forum I have read I am giving up trying to convince her. I keep thinking serge is going to go to far one day and the penny will drop for these people. But if they are buying into all this crap (particularly what macready has just said) and it hasn't raised alarm bells then I got no hope. Thanks everyone for your contributions. I am signing off but if anyone wants to contact me feel free to PM me and I'll respond.
Re: Universal medicine
Posted by:
HerbertKane178
()
Date: April 28, 2012 11:01PM
Quote
MacReadyQuote
HerbertKane178What about Darwinian evolution? Did the specific number of souls Serge decrees all appear at once on earth then? Forget evolution, the apes etc. According to Serge's logic none of this could have happened. So he's really in the territory of the fundamental christians who take the book of Genesis as fact.[/quote
Serge's creation fables outdo even those fundamentalist Christianity. According to UM theology we aren't even meant to be here, but our pranically-influenced, ego-driven spirits seperated from our souls (which existed within the body of God) and, knowing there was much fun to be had in the physical dimension, willed themselves into existence. They didn't quite get the human form right straight away though; allegedly our spirits went berzerk and experimented with different forms for awhile, resulting in the various half human/half animal beings of mythology such as mermaids etc.
Evolution according to Serge involves re-connecting to our souls and ultimately returning to the body of God, which can only be achieved of course by strictly following the teachings presented by Universal Medicine.
How does he get around the issue of fossils then, and particularly the lack of 'mermaid' fossils?
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