Just Googling,

I understand where you are coming from and trying to say. From a general, overall perspective you could say that the media and cults are no different in that they try to persuade us to their point of view. But upon closer examination, you will see an enormous difference between the two, which is so elegantly shown on the Singer chart. See [www.culteducation.com]

It's really worth the time to study and compare the chart with your experiences in a cult and with some of your other interests.

While we can be influenced by the media, our thoughts are not actually RE-FORMATTED by it. You still have the ability to change your opinion when new information comes along.

There is a clearly defined spectrum on the chart. Each type of persuasion from Education--> Advertising--> Propaganda --> Indoctrination, all the way to --> Thought Reform employs zero to increasingly devious, exploitive processes. The intention of each category from education to thought reform is also profoundly different. Education is for our benefit. The users of thought reform have no interest in our benefit. The difference also is that we increasingly lose our ability to choose as we succumb to each category after education.

Have you ever been to a live hypnosis show or gone to a hypnotist to stop a bad habit? It is always surprising to see who goes under easily and who obviously is resistant. My father, a brilliant and inventive man used to say it was all nonsense, yet he would be the first guy to go under at entertainment hypnosis shows, according to my mom. I had dinner with some friends recently where hypnosis was the topic of conversation. One suggested that a person with greater intelligence is more susceptible to hypnosis because they make more connections in their thinking and have greater access to information in their brains, (but he couldn’t cite any research to prove this. ) Another suggested that it has nothing to do with intelligence, rather it is the more creative people with high imaginative capabilities who are most susceptible to hypnosis because they have greater access to the subconscious mind (one could argue that creativity and imagination is a form of higher level thinking/ intelligence). He also suggested that the ability to be hypnotized is an innate talent like the ability to draw and that it is also a skill that can be developed.

Googling, think about how you got involved in CB’s cult. Just like with hypnosis, you are put into a relaxed state of mind and had positive, high expectations about what would happen in your life as a result of the experience. You are inducted into a relaxed state of mind to receive new messages beyond your conscious mind. This was reinforced by a convincing and supportive peer group that seemed to be really nice (cool, reliable, educated, credible…) people. What you didn’t realize is that those new friends had already been deeply reformed. You didn’t “feel” manipulated or hypnotized, but there you and others were for years.

CB has followers chant mantras, make kirtans (group chanting with musical instruments), eat nice vegetarian food, listen to lectures. These are all very pleasant and relaxing experiences. Followers live a very healthy and clean lifestyle and manage ordinary businesses. What could be wrong with that? But while practicing the meditations and associating with people whose lives are completely invested in the cult, in this state, research has proven that you are very susceptible to hypnotic suggestions. Hypnosis can give you helpful suggestions to stop smoking or eat properly; or for entertainment purposes, make you act silly, but a cult uses the same techniques to make nefarious suggestions, like believing that an ordinary man is God’s representative on earth and you should give your life and money away to him. Where was your choice then? You really had none. You were set up (and luckily one of the few to escape.) You did not know then what you know now, so there was no choice. A reserved person does not go to a hypnotist's show to act like a chicken and get laughed at by the audience, but marvels later at how quickly and easily he was made to act that way.

A person who has been hypnotized will tell you they did not feel a thing. My father would argue pridefully with my mom that he never really went under. And with more meditation and practice, a follower becomes more adept at deepening the inductive process and reinforcing the cult dogma. I think that the people in Chris Butler’s cult honestly do not think they have been programmed. When you watch an ad or news on television, you can argue back, hold a different opinion, chose not to buy a product, turn it off, write a letter to the editor, email a congressman. You can’t do that in a cult.

Look at the difference between education on one end of the spectrum and thought reform. (Education defined as pure education, not tainted by politics or religion.)

See [www.culteducation.com]
- Education is based on “many bodies of knowledge, based on scientific findings in various fields.”
- With thought reform, the “Body of knowledge centers on changing people without their knowledge.”

Weren’t you taught that just by hearing the holy names of God and the pure devotee’s words that people would transform? That it would soften hearts, etc. You believed that by giving people prasadam (food offered to g0d and guru) and chanting out loud that this would also change the world. Why else put on Sunday feasts or put up with the crap you did?

Science was mocked as materialistic. Investigating things outside of the cult was discouraged. The base of knowledge was narrowed and focused solely on converting the world, right? Didn’t the group stop chanting the maha mantra (hare krishna) publicly and replace it with “Madonna Mohana Murari” to deceive the public? Didn’t devotees pass out free prasadam (food offered to Hindu g0ds) samples at Down to Earth or in beach parks?

- With education, a “two way pupil-teacher exchange encouraged.”
- With thought reform: “exchange occurs, communication is one-
sided.”

Every single interview (with the possible exception of the interview on CB’s Gentle Force Album), was FAKE and SCRIPTED by Jagad Guru Chris Butler himself. No one EVER dared to question him publicly. The pressure was/ is too great to ask him anything when you have doubts. Do you know of ANYONE who challenged him about anything while in the group? What happened if they did?

- In education, “Change occurs as science advances; as students & other scholars offer criticism; as students & citizens evaluate programs.”
- With thought reform, “Change occurs rarely; organization remains fairly rigid; change occurs primarily to improve thought reform effectiveness.”

Apparently, the changes that have occurred with Butler’s group since you were there is that they are employing more meditation, relaxation and hatha yoga exercise; going back to the hypno-suggestive techniques in “Psychic sleep” from Chris Butler’s Sai days. Without the direct experience of the very charismatic Chris Butler, in order to keep his cult going, he has taught his followers how to implant suggestions more effectively.

- Education is not deceptive.
- Thought reform is deceptive.

The group has been deceptive for a very long time. They have just become more adept at it. It became the whole societal infrastructure to be secretive. I think children growing up in this cult must not know anything about living in an open way, with honesty and having transparent dealings with the outside world.

At least in Hawaii, where the cult started, it used to be a very open subculture until Chris Butler decided to meddle in politics. Gradually, Jagad Guru’s paranoia appeared and he became more and more unavailable and secretive. Followers were told never to reveal Siddha’s whereabouts or talk about his projects. They were told not to chant the maha mantra publicly and to dress like ordinary people. People no longer carried their beads around and used crowd-counter clickers to chant the mantra all day (or was it just a way to keep the thought reform running?) The Science of Identity Foundation was created to run operations and apparently put up smoke screens. Communications were limited to top followers and initiated members. Businesses and politicians deny connections with the cult.

It is common and public knowledge that a very devoted follower of Chris Butler was a drug dealer and very likely funneled money into the organization without implicating his messiah. What would make him do that while sitting in jail, if not thought reform? Did he really make a conscious choice? What made it so that Charlie Manson followers would not implicate him in the murders he inspired but did not actually commit?

Now compare advertising to thought reform:

-Advertising “Uses an instructional mode to persuade consumer/buyer.”
- Thought reform, “Takes authoritarian & hierarchical stance; no full awareness on part of learner.”

- With advertising, “Consumer/buyer can accept or ignore communication.”
- In thought reform, “Group attempts to retain people forever.”

- In advertising, “Has a narrow goal of swaying opinion to promote and sell an idea, object, or program; another goal is to enhance seller & possibly buyer.”
- Thought reform, “Individualized target; hidden agenda (you will be changed one step at a time to become deployable to serve leaders).”

- Education respects differences and diversity.
- Advertisers put down the competition.
- But in thought reform, there is “No respect for differences.”

Remember? New guys never got the full load of philosophy at first. The ideas by which people might be turned off were avoided. For example, “if you join our cult you will have to be celibate, not eat meat or drink a glass of wine, change your attitudes about women, accept that other religions don’t have the full truth, and bow down to a man who claims to be the messiah of the whole world. Oh, and by the way, give over your whole life, family, labor, and most of your money!”

I’m sure you get the idea. A television news show or advertisement is profoundly different than a guru lecture. With the media and internet, your spiritual life is not at stake and you do not have the social structure to continually support the indoctrination and thought reform. There are too many sources and points of view, which is why Jagad Guru has forbidden most of his followers from reading the internet. (All they seem to be allowed to do is flood the internet with old Siddha quotes on every free blog available. If you notice, there are no discussions, forums, exchange of ideas, or even any new teachings from Chris Butler.) If it was an authentic religion, you would see questions answered and controversies examined. All Chris Butler’s followers can do is parrot old thoughts and answers.

The media can be used as a tool to reinforce thought reform, but it cannot enslave a person or make them behave the way a cult does. A person under the influence of thought reform only has the freedom to choose media that reinforces the programming. And that is not real choice.

messed up. Could this please be deleted?
Meant to post this on the Jagad Guru forum.

vera

Good post vera. Worth printing out for reference, I think.

Quote
solea13
Good post vera. Worth printing out for reference, I think.

Thanks. The original Singer article is well worth the study. See [www.culteducation.com]
I didn't mean to post it here, but if other people can relate to it, then great.