Brainwashednomore,
I'm extremely happy you were able to break away from Impact I know how hard it is.I'm curious about what happened that helped you realize what was really going on.I think by talking about it might help someone else to break free also.I'm wondering about the orgies,the adultery and the breaking up of long term relationships and marriages that happen and how you know all about it and is it something everyone knows about but some decide not to believe it or what.I'd really like to hear your good story and would also like to hear more about LMT and what goes on there.I know that if you just broke away your emotions are pretty stirred up and there is no pressure for you to respond to all my curiosities I just wanted you to know there are people out there and alot of them who feel like you and this thread does help.

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jeeperscreepers
Why did this thread title become "Trust Me?"

Where did exImpact ever go?

I'm here. I have successfully integrated Impact into the same category as "religion" in general and have put the nonsense behind me. When anonymous conversations lean towards religion, I tend to be your stereotypical blunt and insensitive agnostic/atheist, which is not the main purpose for this board, so I observe in silence. I am more than happy to have a direct, personal dialogue with anyone on anything, simply PM me. But I think I have exhausted every opinion I have considering Berger's Church and his moronic disciples in this forum.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2009 02:05PM by exImpact.

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jk.genesis
So call me crazy or too opinionated or whatever you want. But I'm calling "bullshit" on the pandering to and promoting of New Age beliefs on this board. It's fine to believe whatever you want but it's not fine to promote the same kind of thinking that got people sucked into the rabbit hole to begin with, especially in a forum that is here to educate and help people recover from just that kind of "thinking."

Made me feel warm and good inside. Thx jk :)

Quoting Glaucon from 4/8:
"Trust your friends and family, not internet strangers!
I would be surprised if people reading this trust total strangers more than their friends and family. Talk to your friends and family who have gone through this program. After talking to them, make your own decision...."

This "Glaucon thinking" is exactly the kind of bogus, illogical thinking that Impact wants to foster. Friends and family who have been processed by Impact are exactly who an investigator should not listen to. Strangers, who have experienced the Impact process and gone on to recover their senses are infinitely more reliable as sources of true and objective information about Impact than Impact devotees, who are currently under the Impact spell.

The true Impact effect on families is only too easy to verify. Talk to some family members who have not been co-opted by Impact and they will tell you of the divisive effects of Impact on the family. True, those family members who are in the process or recently processed will tell of how close they are now to their fellow trainees. What about the remainder of the family, siblings, parents, children etc., who remain sane and un-processed? They feel repulsed by their family members who have now the strange and alien Impact ways and language.

Talk to the unprocessed and you will prove to yourself that I am right, and also that Glaucon is wrong. This is why Impact tells people to not play the right/wrong game. To do so exposes Impact's true nature.

Hopeful Soul said:

"Quoting Glaucon from 4/8:
"Trust your friends and family, not internet strangers!
I would be surprised if people reading this trust total strangers more than their friends and family. Talk to your friends and family who have gone through this program. After talking to them, make your own decision"....

This "Glaucon thinking" is exactly the kind of bogus, illogical thinking that Impact wants to foster.......Talk to the unprocessed and you will prove to yourself that I am right, and also that Glaucon is wrong. "

Hopeful, I was quoting Steve from the Rip Off Report. What you are strongly disagreeing with is what Steve said, while if you read further down in my post you will find that we both agree on the ridiculousness of Steve's logic, or lack thereof. I have never written anything pro-Impact.

Hopeful said : "What about the remainder of the family, siblings, parents, children etc., who remain sane and un-processed? They feel repulsed by their family members who have now the strange and alien Impact ways and language. "

I was definitely enraged that my family was in Impact's bullshit, but I wasn't repulsed by them. Besides, I was in the mormon church when they went through Impact, so I wasn't "sane and unprocessed" either.

I stand corrected. I should have said Steve Thinking. Glaucon is right on that. My error. What I did not error on was in using the verb "repulsed." That was the correct verb in my family, case.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted. I’ve actually been moving on with my life, which has been a wonderful experience. It’s funny because when I was at Impact I had all of these goals and I would affirm them repetitively and then work and wait for the miracle to happen. Only after I left Impact and starting focusing on what I wanted and putting my efforts into research and methods rather than chance and “hocus pocus” did things actually start to happen. I’m more successful in my life NOW than I ever was while at Impact. I know this is a no-brainer for anyone who has left the training, but I wanted to leave my comments after seeing this.

[www.youtube.com]

It’s funny how trainees claim their lives are running smoother, but if you know them you know what’s really going on. So many trainees are struggling to make ends meet, continue to live in crappy apartments and do second rate jobs all under the guise that they are still stuck in their ego mind and that’s why they need Impact. That’s also why the miracle hasn’t come yet. Well, guess what, if they would stop waiting for the miracle and go and get a real education and a real job, THEN they might experience a miracle. The denial these people are in never ceases to amaze me.

In catching up I wanted to comment on a few things written by Ali5683.

Copyrights: Some things have been reported about the music Impact uses, but obviously the feds have other priorities. Even the copyrighted materials used in LMT (from The Golden Braid Bookstore) have been reported, to no avail.

Support Groups: I have thought about recovery groups and therapy groups to help people coming out of Impact, but I’ve realized that becoming dependent on another system or group only perpetuates the problem. In order to truly heal from such an experience, I think you have to do a lot of self evaluating and rid yourself of the dependent behavior that got you into Impact to begin with.

Notes from LMT: I have written a few things that I remember from LMT 1 (it was TIT 1 when I went through) and have posted them below. The thing is, I began the history and then shortly after started moving on with my life so the details I’ve recorded are sketchy at best. My original plan was to do a similar history for TIT 2, but I never got to it, and probably won’t. Call me selfish if you wish, but I have better things to do with my time then reminisce on one of the most damaging experiences of my life. I guess something is better than nothing.

What I can remember from TIT 1

In going through all of the handouts and memories I have, I honestly don’t remember the order everything happened. I don’t even recall for sure exactly what came in TIT 1 and TIT 2. From what I hear they’re trying to push so many people through to TIT 3 that they throw in as much information as early as possible anyway. So I don’t think the order is completely clear in the trainer’s mind, either. They just kind of teach what the group calls forth. So, this is the best recollection I have and regardless of the order, it’s all based on things I learned in TIT. I will speak about it in the first person and it may sound at times like I actually believe this stuff, but believe me, it took everything I had not to add my sarcastic comments and point out the logical fallacies inherent in these beliefs. For what it’s worth, I hope this helps!

During TIT 1 we talked about the creation, Moses and the red sea, parts of the Bible, especially parts that talked about doing things that Jesus and Moses did and the phrase “will you change it”. There was a big emphasis on how the history of the world was already planned out and that the time of destruction had passed and gone, but didn’t happen because the vibration of humanity had changed the predicted outcome. Basically, we begged for the earth not to be destroyed because the experiment of Earth was not finished yet. The experiment of earth was the fact that we all wanted to come here and descend to a low vibration and then see if we could pull ourselves out of it. We wanted to do this so we could learn what love and joy and peace and all of these other positive emotions are. A very basic version of this whole thing is explained in “The Little Soul and the Sun”, which they often read in either Summit or Lift-off. So, now we’re here doing everything we can to ascend back to our higher vibrational selves that somewhere inside we already know we are. Side note: If anyone is thinking this sounds familiar, just compare it to the LDS doctrine about the plan of salvation and becoming as god is. It’s here where they also emphasize (again) that Christ didn’t say to become like him. He said to be as he is, meaning we already have the power inside of us to be like Jesus Christ. Along with this there is a grand lecture about Satan and how he is really a gift and the true brother of Jesus Christ because he is here to be an ultimate polar force in our path of learning. Satan is the one that volunteered to lower his vibration lower than everyone else so that through his perceived evil we would have the contrast to good that we were looking for. In this way we should be ultimately grateful for his (Satan’s) sacrifice.

TIT 1 also talks about the chakras and energy centers of the body. We talked about how these energy centers are horizontally placed in our body and that through the life experience and the lower vibrational fields they are now clogged. There are colors associated with each of these energy centers. As we tune in to them we can sense the vibrancy of the colors. This is how we know whether they need cleansing or not. We also talked about the vertical pathway that connects us to “source” and how because of the denseness of the earth it has also become clogged. We did a mediation where you put your hand over the different chakras and start spinning your hand in a clockwise direction - all the while picturing its color and clarity. After you have your chakra spinning you then start pulling out the negative energy in order to clear it. After the chakras are clear you start pulling the light down from the central sun through the vertical pathway thus clearing your physical self of the density. By doing this regularly it can lead to health in the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. This addition of light also raises your vibration and other people will begin to sense this and begin to be attracted to it. The afore mentioned physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies are also known as the four lower bodies.

We received a diagram of the four lower bodies and were told about how we experience they are affected by the activities of our lives. Basically, the etherical body is affected first and then the mental followed by the emotional and the physical. If we let trauma go far enough then that is when emotions start to make us physically ill. However, if we’re in tune then the affect will never get that far and the whole point is to be in tune enough to know when things are affecting the etherical body and “nip it in the bud”.

All of this together makes up the chemicalization process. Basically it starts with a commotion sor of thing where you don’t feel in control of your world because everything is shifting and changing it and conditions flare up in finances, relationships and emotions. The there’s a stirring up of old ideas where old opinions, relationships, health problems, financial affairs and memories of past unhappiness is prevalent. During the quietness stage there’s a transition from lesser to greater good. The instruction is to not get frightened or discouraged. There a period of feeling an apparent loss or failure where you may feel stripped or bare. Something drops away to make room for the new and whatever is taken will be divinely restored. During the fulfillment stage a new good begins to appear in your world. Natural unfolding of events and ideas come about and you may not want to talk about it. The suggestion is to quietly nourish this and it will wax strong. Through this constant “cleansing” this is how we receive our abundance.

I remember a process where we chose a partner who then took plaster of paris and made a mold of our face. This mold represented the true release of the masks we’ve been wearing that hide our true spiritual, divine selves. We then spent a couple of hours decorating the masks to show our gratitude for how they have served us and the gifts we’ve learned from them and that we now release ourselves from what they have bound us to.

This is where we learned about the five rites. The five rites are a series of stretches intended to bring you in tune with your chakras and the energy flow through your body. It is a “grounding” process during which you set your intention for the day. If you have ever done a yoga or Pilates session then you have done the five rites without even knowing it. It is once you are in tune and clear that you can then begin to clear your chakras using the previously mentioned meditation.

I also remember doing a process where we had to go out into the world and sense the vibrations of our surroundings. During this time we also collected and prepared a “stretch” that characterized one of the chakras. We used its color and music to emphasize it’s properties. It was another of those times where we watched people sing and dance and stretch and by the end of each “stretch” everyone was up singing and dancing and stretching so we would all be filled with the power of that chakra. At the end we danced around the room in the “rainbow” of light with the rainbow colors hung up at the front of the room.

Below is an interesting link to an edited excerpt from Chapter 22 of Robert Jay Lifton's book, "Thought Reform and the Pschology of Totalism." Eight topics are listed. I will comment on just one, "Loading the Language."

[www.culteducation.com]

This chapter is a must read for anyone trying to understand the Impact process. In the introduction to the chapter, the author says this:

Topics
Milieu Control
Mystical Manipulation
The Demand for Purity
The Cult of Confession
The "Sacred Science"
Loading the Language
Doctrine Over Person
The Dispensing of Existence


A discussion of what is most central in the thought reform environment can lead us to a more general consideration of the psychology of human zealotry. For in identifying, on the basis of this study of thought reform, features common to all expressions of ideological totalism, I wish to suggest a set of criteria against which any environment may be judged - a basis for answering the ever-recurring question: "Isn't this just like 'brainwashing'?"

These criteria consist of eight psychological themes which are predominant within the social field of the thought reform milieu. Each has a totalistic quality; each depend upon an equally absolute philosophical assumption; and each mobilizes certain individual emotional tendencies, mostly of a polarizing nature. In combination they create an atmosphere which may temporarily energize or exhilarate, but which at the same time poses the gravest of human threats. End of quotation.

The last sentence describes the Impact effect so well, that is the "temporarily energize or exhilarate" part.

Under the topic of Loading the Language" we have have terms that Impact uses to achieve their brainwashing such as: the thought-terminating cliche, reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed etc. This is where things like "There is no hope" and "Understanding is the booby prize of the universe" fit in. The term "Language of non thought" is used.

So, here is hoping that this will lead a few academically inclined readers of this board to something that is already posted on the "Cult Education Forum" but deserves additional attention.

Here is further proof that Impact Trainings are wrong when they say that there is no right and wrong. Cult Education Forum is right, and Impact Trainings are wrong. Printed out, this excerpt is just over eight pages long. I promise that Impact grads will find much familiar in the eight topics from the trainings. The sub title of Lifton's book is "A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China." This will also be good food for thought for anyone thinking about taking Impact Trainings, while they can still think.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2009 05:08AM by Hopeful Soul.

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Glaucon

I was definitely enraged that my family was in Impact's bullshit, but I wasn't repulsed by them. Besides, I was in the mormon church when they went through Impact, so I wasn't "sane and unprocessed" either.

Interesting comment there, but I won't go down the road I am tempted to. Rather, I will congratulate you on being a member of Impacts key enrollment demographic while successfully avoiding the undoubtedly awkward pressure from family members to have you "join up". IMO, the reason Berger's flavor of Krazy Koolaid has been able to thrive ONLY in Utah is because of the current religious climate that exists in this state. I suppose some people get tired of drinking Crystal Light and want to go for the "real thing". Sad really. The LDS church puts out impotent cautionary fliers against LGAT-like organizations instead of protecting their congregation as they ought to be morally compelled to do. And...I'll stop there.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2009 05:42PM by exImpact.

I have some thoughts that I could PM to exImpact and Glaucon, but I hope that they have wider impact. Their comments are the kind that have propelled this thread to 1490 posts and 41,355 views. They have important relavence to Impact Trainings and why folks get so conflicted over them. The terms "key enrollment demographic" and "impotent cautionary fliers to protect congregations" caught my attention. In being descriptive rather than prescriptive about LDS doctrine I have an observation. The cautionary statements are not as impotent as some would believe. The reason goes back to a statement by Joseph Smith in response to a question about how he was able to control his followers. His response was that he taught them correct principles and they governed themselves. What better way to prevent costly litigation. It works this way, as illustrated by a not entirely hypothetical example. Sarah, a newly returned LDS missionary, on return to her home finds that her family is deeply divided into the pro-Impact faction and the anti-Impact faction. The Pros enroll Sarah in Quest. The Antis get wind of it and raise red flags to Sarah's local ecclisiastical leaders who have hand books with the so called impotent cautionary information about self-awareness groups. Sarah is counseled and finds fellowship in her young single adult ward. She has no further interest in Impact Trainings. This really works; I have seen it.

Apparently Impact is not so virulent or having such an effect on members that special proclamations are in order. The last general statement on LGAT type stuff I am aware of is by Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Counseling with Our Councils, "Ensign, May 1994, p.24. A more current statement by Elder Ballard below, is taken from his April 2009 Conference address, "Learning the Lessons of the Past." Who do you suppose he was talking about when he talks about rejecting the notion of right and wrong?

"We live in an era when the boundaries of good taste and public decency are being pushed to the point where there are no boundaries at all. The commandments of God have taken a beating in the vacillating marketplace of ideas that absolutely rejects the notion of right and wrong. Certain factions of society seem generally mistrustful of anyone who chooses to live according to religious belief. And when people of faith attempt to warn others of the possible consequences of their sinful choices, they are scoffed at and ridiculed, and their most sacred rites and cherished values are publicly mocked."

My points are: Impact divides families, this is anti-LDS purpose and doctrine; the Church is not, in the least, impotent in countering such.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2009 01:40AM by Hopeful Soul.