Mind Control

by brotherdan 40 Replies latest jw friends

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  brotherdan

  So I've been reading Stephen Hassan's book on mind control and he made an interesting point that made me think about myself. He asks the question, "What makes some people just walk out of cults on their own, while others require much harsher measures from others to get them out?"

  I was trying to think about how I got out. Most of you know that I was thoroughly indoctrinated as a JW. I believed it ALL. I believed the GB was God's representative. I believed EVERYTHING that they said. And when they changed things, I never had a problem with it. I just accepted it and viewed it as an exciting revelation of new light. So why was I able to see the truth so easily and yet there are others that have been in the org for 40,50, or 60+ years and they STILL have not come to this realization?

  I haven't finished the book yet, so maybe he answers it in more detail. But what his initial comment was was this: "I found that "walk aways" were people had been able to maintain contact with people outside the destructive cult. It was clear that if such people could maintain communication with outsiders, valuable information that could change a person's life could penetrate cult-controlled mental walls."

  But I had very little outside contact. I read Crises out of morbid curiosity. It helped change my life, but at the time (before reading it) I was not experiencing MAJOR doubts. Of course I had some. And I wasn't "spiritually strong" in the JW sense of the word.

  Does anyone have any opinions or insights on this? How are some people able to "walk away" and others are stuck for life? How can some read Crises or Captives and see the truth of it, while others can only call it "lies"?
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  Ding

  That's why the WTS does everything it can to keep JWs from developing genuine friendships with people outside the organization and threatens them with disfellowshipping if they have any unapproved contact with "apostates."

  That's why they keep JWs so busy reading new publications that they don't have time to look at the old ones and start asking questions about the flip-flops and contradictions.

  If all you get is one point of view, it's very hard to develop another one.
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  wannabefree

  BrotherDan, I would say the cognitive dissonance factor. Being captives of the concept. What JW doesn't want to experience the utopia offered at the end? People in long term have too much invested to get out so most stick with the investment holding on to hope for the return. Then, of course, comes the social aspect. A person in for a long period has a tangled web of family and friends in the organization. I think it just gets to the point that for many the investment has been too big to walk away.
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  OUTLAW

  I was raised in the JW Cult..

  I just walked away..I was told I would`nt make it on my own..

  Wrong!..

  ..................... ...OUTLAW
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  brotherdan

  That's my question though. Why do some experience the cognitive dissonance, while other's don't? I mean, I know some VERY intelligent JWs that have degrees and have a lot of knowledge and wisdom. Why will some of these people not experience the CD and other's will?

  Wannabe: Do you think selfishness is a big factor then? They want THEIR OWN reward of paradise earth. They like their OWN social circle too much to really investigate?

  I think it may be some of that. I also think much of it could be fear... I'm not a fearful person. But my mother is terrified of everything from cars to child molesters to bad meat at the grocery store. She once told me that her greatest fear was that her family would leave the truth. Unfortunately I'm fulfilling that for her. It tears me up...but it's something I have no choice over. I CAN'T belong to something so wrong.
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  brotherdan

  What made you see the truth and walk away, and other's don't (and never will), Outlaw?
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  JWoods

  I saw a TV interview in Oklahoma City of a teenage girl who ran away from the Jim Jones Peoples Temple and escaped during the poisoning.

  They asked her when she decided to run. She said she had decided to get out several weeks prior to the end - and the reason was that somehow she saw a cable or taped TV image of the OU Sooners football team and then-coach Barry Switzer.

  She said - I looked at Coach Switzer, and then thought about Jim Jones whining about how sick he was and just thought - "This guy is not God, he is not Jesus Christ - he is not even much of a man. So I made up my mind to get out."

  So, I think the conjecture that having trusted outside reference points is a very valid one.
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  brotherdan

  Hmmm....good point JWoods. So maybe much of it has to do with the RESPECT of outside points of view?

  So maybe to help someone "get out" you should begin by encouraging them to see things (maybe not even religious things) from an OUTSIDE view. From a source OUTSIDE the society?

  Maybe we go about this the wrong way sometimes. We try to get people to see the wrong things that are going on within the organization. But if they don't respect any points of view outside of the WT then it is pointless. So maybe getting OTHER points of view to them is a good first step...
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  JWoods

  So maybe to help someone "get out" you should begin by encouraging them to see things (maybe not even religious things) from an OUTSIDE view. From a source OUTSIDE the society?

  Well, I can tell you that I saw this girl's interview while still inside the JWs (but starting to think something was decidedly wrong), and it sure made me think about whether or not I would have had the guts she did in the same position.

  I know that this Jonestown incident made a lot of JWs secretly think about how cult-like their religion actually was.
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  sabastious

  This is the way I explain the phenomenon you are referring to:

  As we all know Witnesses have a term called "Individual Spirituality" and this spirituality can be measured by the individual and others "qualified" to and of course everyone else can attempt to.

  The WT ALWAYS tells you to keep in the busy work. Personal Study (using WT literature), Prayer, Field Service and Meetings. This takes up a large chunk of your free time and for some who work a lot almost all of it.

  The WHOLE framework of the Witness life is designed to condition and indoctrinate. "Individual Spirituality" and Indoctrination are interchangable terms.

  When the WT refers to the lowering of ones Spirituality they are actually referring to their conditioning taking a weaker hold on your conscious mind.

  If you miss meetings, even for a short time, your "closed eyes" open up just a little and you can see the light of day, just a little.

  Once you have the "eye slits" as I refer them to you always have the possibility of seeing the inside of the Kingdom hall for what is TRULY is.

  I believe that the Kingdom hall is where the "awakening" happens most. The KH is a creepy scene. Very rhythmic and repetitious, everyone is nodding their heads and look as if they are just SOAKING up something they have never heard before.

  You take a look at those nodding heads. Then you listent to what is being said. The content is dry and is the thousandth time you have heard this particular part of the conditioning and maybe the ten thousandth time the person you are looking at's time.

  "What the hell IS this?"

  It's a freaky and liberating revelation.

  I believe that this CANNOT happen spontaneously. It might have felt spontaneous, but likely it was the climax of a long process, but the Awakening is the most memberable and life shattering.

  In order for this to happen, you have to have a "low spirituality" which again, is synonymous with "lower indoctrination."

  -Sab