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QuestionEverything
...Hawkins pronounces what the truth is and anyone who disagrees with him can be discounted because their consciousness rates low on the scale.
You are very correct. You have hit on several of Lifton's eight criteria just in your statement.
[
www.culteducation.com]
[
www.reveal.org]
Milieu control - Hawkins determines who is or who is not above "200," or in the "elite" as you put it. If one is below 200, his followers are to avoid that person, controlling who they can and cannot speak to. This also applies to books. For example, Dr. Robert Carroll blasted Hawkins' AK quackery, and Hawkins replied saying that the philosophy professor is at "160" the level of "sophomoric egotism." Therefore, there is no reason to hear his criticism, he has been labeled, judged by "God"/Hawkins.
Mystical Manipulation - Hawkins believes that he possesses God's attributes and that his work is for the "higher good" and is committed to the enlightenment of the world, and that everyone else's opinions are "vanities." The individual is to give up all of his beliefs in favor of God's, who is synonymous with the results of the AK muscle test and Hawkins supposed absolute authority. If you are liberal, that is too bad because Hawkins is conservative. If you think George Bush is "non-integrous" (a Hawkins word) then you are wrong because Bush calibrates at 460, in the very intelligent range. If you dislike Bill O'Reilly, that is too bad because he is a valid measure of truth per Hawkins. If you disagree with war and agree with pacifism, you will have negative karma. If you think women can reach full enlightenment, Hawkins tells you that they need to reincarnate in a man's body because the energy is too powerful. If you think, you have erred. Only AK and Hawkins can think for you. Indeed, the way to reach enlightenment is to surrender all "thinkingness." To never note the source of his Ph.D. or that AK has never been demonstrated scientifically to work is certainly unimportant as he is the revolutionary new savior of mankind, nearly if not already at the level of consciousness of Jesus Christ, Buddha and Krishna.
Demand for Purity - Everything is either above 200 or below, very black and white thinking. One must always be making the effort to raise their level of consciousness higher and higher until they reach full enlightenment, at 1000. If Hawkins calibrates a certain thing a certain way, that is the absolute truth and should be conformed with in the pursuit of enlightenment and the raising of consciousness of the planet. If one disagrees with Hawkins, shame and guilt occur as he is the sole true measure of truth, with AK, in the universe. If you want yourself and the planet to do well, you agree, or you are obviously at a lower level of consciousness. Steven Hassan has noted that in a system with levels (as Hawkins') one can almost never come to a final objective conclusion, as they are simply at a lower level of consciousness and must move up before they can decide.
Confession - One is to always surrender all of one's thoughts, feelings and emotions to God. This is a private confession, but certainly becomes public on some of Hawkins' supporters group websites, for example. Hawkins' AK can see everything - there are no more secrets, nothing is hidden from the "Eye of the I." A friend can calibrate your level, your motives, your thoughts. She can see that you are really only 205 and she is 871, and so on.
Sacred Science - Hawkins' system is absolutely true and should be absolutely followed if one wishes to be saved (at 540) or enlightened (700-1000). His scientific claim to credibility is in the form of his Ph.D., which he was awarded in association with his AK "research." Of course, Hawkins never noted anywhere, in any of his books related to the topic, or on his websites, that his Ph.D. is from the diploma mill Columbia Pacific University. If one questions this “science,” they are below 200.
Loading the Language - Hawkins' pseudoscientific use of numbers such as "200" and "160" carry specific meaning. Below 200 items, thoughts or people are literally supposed to make your muscles "go weak." And as Dr. Wayne Dyer, Hawkins' principal promoter, pointed out, even the heart is a muscle. (Oh boy!) He created a system that a person internalizes which rewards or punishes a person based on Hawkins' "findings." He has also invented words such as "integrous." If you are told that a person or thing calibrates at "160" or "350" you know a plethora of information about them instantaneously based on Hawkins’ "findings." For instance, if a person is at "420" you will "know" that they are merley rational, intelligent, scientific, and not up to being loving or enlightened. In effect, you are relieved of thinking, or even learning as you already "know."
Doctrine Over Person - If a person feels happy to listen to "Hey Ya" by Outkast/Andre 3000, for example, that experience just can't be, because Hawkins calibrates that song as being negative/below 200 - the doctrine is put before the person's [i:5ed414fbd1]own individual experience[/i:5ed414fbd1], and makes it such that the person is at a low level of consciousness, wrong, perhaps even "evil." Hawkins repeatedly makes statements such as, "All opinions are vanities," and, "The mind has no capacity to tell truth from falsehood." He instructs everyone to give up ALL of their personal thoughts, opinions and very identity in a literal way to God. Then the opinions left are those of Hawkins that he feeds to his followers with the pseudoscience AK, which he says he uses to get past people's "doubt block." Of course, eventually one sees that Hawkins himself is claiming to be God. As Lifton notes, at first it is the devotion to higher principles that a follower is devoted to, but over time it transitions into worship of the teacher himself (even if Hawkins explicitly states that a teacher should not be worshipped, though he does state that he possesses the attributes of God). When a person reads double-blinds studies that state AK is not more useful than random guessing, and says so, they are now below 200. When a person sees that AK does not work, is not replicable, etc., they are below 200 (or some other ad hoc hypothesis used to rescue the pseudoscience from refutation).
Dispensing of Existence - Hawkins and AK decide who is or who is not above 200. Everything below must be avoided so as to keep "holy" company. Hawkins also decides who is enlightened or not, even what is true or what is not, to the point of denying your own personal experience, or outright evidence (e.g., he says global warming is not true based on AK "research"). An individual can use AK, but of course it is "not more useful than random guessing," per studies, and so Hawkins remains the absolute and final authority on all calibrations and therefore on all truth in the universe. Hawkins metaphorically and symbolically decides who lives, who dies, who is enlightened, who is not. He is the master of the universe. It is black and white, those above 200, and those below. It so happens that a full 80% or so (this figure has changed slightly over time) of humanity calibrates below 200. Hawkins decides who.
A more full examination of Hawkins' work in light of Dr. Lifton's criteria is still being carried out, I understand, though you can already see that it applies. I am sure I have forgotten some things and there is much overlap in the criteria, but it is clear simply from a preliminary examination that this work, teacher and followers are totalistic or cultic in nature.
Vicarion wrote this here [
board.culteducation.com] (a thread that also discusses release technique)
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So basically, this "calibration" nonsense is Hawkins' way of trying to lend some objective credibility to his own personal opinions?
Reading about his so-called "work" reveals that he passes personal judgment on everything from movies to churches to philosophies, disclaiming all responsibility for his choices and judgments, using a clearly disproven pseudoscience as his measuring tool. If he were a person of any credibility, he'd own up to his opinions. But he does the same thing that "chanellers" do, that is they make pronouncements and attribute them to "the Universe", "Ramtha", or whatever "higher" source will not be questioned by the readers or seekers.
Whoo-eeee! P.T. Barnum was right!