Levels of Mind Control

by Introspection 2 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  Introspection

  I was thinking that it seems like often when we speak of mind control, we only seem to think of something controlling our mind, but we don't seem to think of how our mind controls us. I thought to put it in a diagram it would look something like this:

  Controlling entity -----> Your mind -----> You
  (Religion etc.) (schema) (your life/behavior)

  So, the second connection is often just seen as a given, and we only work on the first part between the organization and our mind. Of course, it would be insane to just cut off your mind, but I think maybe the thing that makes us feel so helpless is thinking that the "control" only comes from one direction. In reality, I think it works both ways on all levels. You only have to look at all the people who have left the JWs on this board to see that this is true. So I think a more accurate model would look something like this:

  Controlling entity -----> Your mind -----> You
  (Religion etc.) <----- (schema) <----- (your life/behavior)

  Now, I put control in quotation marks because obviously nobody as absolute control. However, if we see the whole process and where we fall into the big picture, we will have a better idea of what factors we can tweak in order to affect the dynamic of this whole thing. What this would imply, though, is that you don't cut off any connections - you can't, actually - but rather see precisely how different factors interact with each other and again see how you might indirectly affect change from where you are. Now some people might say "Okay Intro, that's about as clear as mud - what do you actually DO??" That would depend on your specific situation of course, but what I am laying out here is just a different perspective - just the perspective of overall awareness, which is no perspective really, in that things are not colored by a certain set of perception. So often people seem to want to work on one of the three things rather than the relationship between them - reforming the org, changing your mind or behavior - but really the real change happens through the action between them, because none of those things are static entities anyway. Another way of looking at it is that the only thing that does not change is awareness, what happens in awareness might change - so you might say awareness is the one place you can make your home. If you identify with anything other than awareness, (which is really no identification) you're bound to be disappointed at one point or another, because things change.
• 

  onacruse

  Introspection: Excellent considerations! If I'm on track with your thinking, I might reformulate just a little--

  The first step (the interplay between the "controlling entity" and our "scheme"):

  We need to recognize that we allow these "controlling" entities to dominate our thinking only because we receive some benefit from acquiescing to their control. For example, as a JW, "knowing that we we are right," artificially enhances our self-image. E.i. "we" are right and we can therefore easily invalidate those who are "wrong." No real thought process involved, because we have relegated the standard to an external authority. True, this diminishes our happy participation in society, but it's almost like a "fix," and an easy one at that, so we accustom ourselves to it. Soon it becomes unconscious.

  The second step (the interplay between our "scheme" and our behavior):

  We need to recognize that much of our "scheme" is actually nothing more than the interpretation we put to the experiences we've had (events). What "happened" has happened, the events are merely points in time. But as we try to add "the reason for" to these events we categorize them as "good" or "bad." As our interpretation feeds back into these events, we begin progressively to behave more in response to what we "thought happened" than to what "actually happened." Soon our behavior becomes conformed to our interpretation of the events, and not to the real meaning of those events.

  The resolution:

  Recognize that WE have control over each of these processes. WE can break these patterns at any time. Life is dynamic; it exists not in the dead and static past but in the active now and energetic future. To be really alive, WE must choose the course we think is right, and take responsibility for that choice.

  As you say: self-awareness.

  Craig
• 

  Introspection

  Well, actually this is where my thinking differs a bit - it's not so much about us being the controller or the chooser, but it's rather seeing that your psychological mind set, behavior and how you fit into the world are all processes, therefore you cannot say there is a you that does this or that, strictly speaking. There is only processes, and relationships, basically. The apparently stable factors like the individual is only a perspective you take depending on where you sit in the process. Awareness itself is not influenced by these processes, that's why I made the point about that at the end. This may sound like a small point, but hopefully I can clarify..

  Even as I was posting that I realized it'd be more accurate to put that into a triangular diagram, (where the same bi-directional relationship exists between the you and the controlling entity) which would mean it's basically a circular relationship or non-linear in that each of the three influences and is influenced by the other two, but that's just harder to type out. As I said, the fact that we cannot control everything is not really a problem, the thing is if you understand the whole process and know what you can change, just changing those things (or even if it's just one thing) does in effect change the whole process. So where awareness comes in is knowing what your options are, because you gotta know that you have choices before you can choose any of them. These three things are really arbitrary distinctions as far as I'm concerned, it's just that it's a little easier for us to approach it this way. I mean ultimately it's just one big process of life right, so from that perspective it's just a matter of seeing this mind and body and where it stands in relation to other body-minds as a point of influence, there is not a sense of self or "me" having control. The word control is too strong for a picture this big I think, but often subtle ways of influence can be very powerful. Again, I think the power lies in our awareness of what our choices are, because then you can actually do anything that's in your power, rather than going at it through one angle trying to pry it open.

  So.. If I was to try and paint a picture of what this looks like, I would say it might be a doubting dub doing things that are not forbidden but simply conscience matters. Of course, the truth is that everyone is really free to do whatever, but since they are convinced through years of conditioning that the things the society forbid them to do is just not an option, they can start by exercising their freedom or influence (participation in life) through those areas which they are aware of. Sooner or later those "pockets of awareness" may expand and make contact with apparently solid things like their witness indoctrination, and slowly over time the whole things becomes more fluid, you might say the lifeblood of awareness flows unrestricted by the arterial plaque of religious indoctrination - and the heart is open.