Mind Control in Twenty Minutes'Mind Control' (aka 'Brainwashing' or 'Thought Reform') is a shorthand term for a complex process of mental and psychological manipulation, which occurs within a cult.
The most effective mind-control is the kind that isn't recognised by the victim as any kind of manipulation. You don't feel it, you think you are in control.
Briefly, this is how it works. A cult promotes its cultish belief system, and then believers control their own minds, as they train their minds and reform their personalities, in accordance with the tenets of their cultish new belief system.
Understanding the addictive, disorientating, drug-like nature of a cult belief system is the key to understanding cult mind control.
Cults promote a belief system which is utopian/idealistic, and also dualistic and bi-polar in nature. Dualistic in that they see the world in terms of two opposite poles, such as good versus evil, the saved and the fallen, the enlightened and the ignorant, etc.
Cult belief systems are also bi-polar in psychological terms, rather like Bi-polar disorder or manic-depression. Cults promote a vision of an ideal 'new life' or 'new self' ('the true individual' in FWBO terms), which members believe they can attain by following the cult teachings. E.g.:
'The central teaching of the Buddha is that we can change our lives. Buddhism offers clear and practical guidelines as to how men and women can realise their full potential for understanding and kindness. Meditation is a direct way of working on ourselves, to bring about positive change in our lives. We teach two simple and complementary meditations. One helps us develop a calm, clear, focused mind; the other transforms our emotional life, enabling us to enjoy greater self-confidence and positivity towards others.' [1]
Cult belief systems are bi-polar because they encourage the aspirant to identify with this imagined ideal new self, and then, from the perspective of this new self, to see their old self as comparatively inferior and flawed. An inner tension or conflict is set up, between the 'positive' new self, and the 'negative' old self. In effect, a split personality is created, with ego-utopia or hubris for the idealised new self, and ego-dystonia or shame and guilt for the negative old self.
The hubris can either be a personal hubris, in the case of the cult's top hierarchy, or more usually, for rank and file members, it is a kind of projected hubris, or hubris-by-proxy - the hope and expectation that in due course, after diligent practice, they will attain the ideal for themselves. This expectation can sometimes lead to a sort of collective arrogance or hubris among established cult members. They see themselves as part of an elite, and tend to look down rather sniffily upon the mores and values of mainstream society.
To varying degrees, believers can experience a sort of religious mania of inspiration, when they are in the hubris phase, identifying with this idealised imaginary new self, with its perfect perception and understanding, etc.
Believers can become addicted to this inspiration, and can become dependent on the group and its leadership (whom they regard as teachers and guides) to validate their spiritual progress and to maintain this inspiration. Of course, cult leaders can exploit this dependency for their own purposes.
If members fall out of favour, even temporarily, with the group leadership, or if they begin to doubt if they can achieve the group's ideals, they may experience a sort of religious depression, in the form of anxiety or guilt over their seeming inability to free themselves from their negative 'old self', with all its bad habits and weaknesses and lack of faith. This depression reinforces their desire to return to the inspired state, and can reinforce their addiction to the utopian vision of the cult belief system, so there can be a feedback system operating too.
At an extreme, believers fear they will become ill or fall into hell if they leave the group.
All this goes on within a cult members mind. A cult does not control its members by using external coercion. It is the belief system itself which is the primary active agent in cult mind control. The actual controlling of mind is done by the person themselves, as they attempt to discipline their mind and reform their personality, in accordance with the tenets of their new belief system. Effectively, a cult, via its belief system, uses a person's own energy and aspirations against them.
It would be a mistake to assume that only weak willed people join cults. On the contrary, it is often the more ambitious and strong-willed people who become the most committed cult members.
Of course, ordinary society can be a bit bi-polar as well, with its pressure to be successful, with perfect physique, lifestyle, etc. The pressure is just more focused and sustained within a cult. A cult can play on both a person's anxieties and their aspirations at the same time. They (or rather their belief system) can potentially make a person feel both more guilty about their 'old self' with its normal human weaknesses, and simultaneously inspire them with an imaginary idealised vision of a wonderful new self and a new life. Very bi-polar.
In general, when you talk to a cult member, it can be helpful to understand which self, either the old self with its old set of beliefs, or the new self with its new set of cult beliefs, is more dominant at any particular time.
If you criticise a cult member, this may just encourage their tendency to see themselves (their old self) as flawed, and may push them further into the cult. If you criticise their church or group, the cult-member will go into cult-self mode and will see your criticisms as tending to confirm the cult's warnings about the outside world and its negative effects. A better approach may be to acknowledge and encourage a cult member's old self, without criticising or threatening the new cult self. If a cult member feels valued in themselves, and their old self does not feel devalued, then this weakens the cult's attraction for them.
Why do people join cults?
Obviously, no-one is forced to join a cult. No-one is forced to adopt a new belief system. Equally, however, no-one can really make an informed assessment of a group or its belief system in advance, without having first had some personal experience of it - you can't knock it if you haven't tried it. It is difficult to know in advance whether or not it would be beneficial to follow the study and training opportunities offered by the group. The benefits, if any, of group involvement can only really be evaluated after a suitable period of time spent with the group. How long a suitable period of time might be, depends on the individual, and cannot be determined in advance. In other words, it can be very difficult to know from the outside whether a group is a cult or not.
The danger for someone who may unwittingly become involved with a cult is that they will be exposed to the cult belief system, which is psychoactive, like a drug. It can be addictive and disorientating, and dangerous even to experiment with. Once involved, it may not be all that easy for someone to escape from a cult belief system.
Cults will do their best to ensure initial apparent benefits for new members. A cult is rather like a card sharp [2], who will let a newcomer win the first few games in order to take all their money in the long run. There is no problem, so long as a member is happy to continue their involvement with the group. However, should a member at some stage become unhappy with their involvement, or develop serious doubts about the belief system or the integrity of the group's leadership, then the process of disentanglement may not be all that straightforward.
Leaving a cult.
Rejecting the belief system in its entirety may not be easy, or even desirable. Even after physical contact with the group has ceased, elements of the cult belief system are likely to linger in the mind of an ex-member for some time, depending how deeply and for how long they were involved. They may experience feelings of anxiety and disorientation as they try to rid themselves of the unwanted remnants of the cult belief system and worldview, while simultaneously trying to regain some confidence either in their old, pre-cult belief system and ways of relating to the world, or alternatively, in some new, post-cult belief system.
In trying to rid their minds of the unwanted remnants of the cult belief system, an ex-member is effectively trying to use their own thought processes to disentangle their own thought processes. This is quite a difficult task, rather like trying to lift yourself up by your own bootlaces.
For a while, an ex-member may exist in a sort of limbo between the cult world and the outside world, unsure which to believe in. To the extent that the cult belief system retains any degree of respect or credibility within an ex-member's mind, then to that extent leaving the group will seem like abandoning the ideals and aspirations of the group's belief system, and therefore a failure.
On the other hand, to the extent that the cult belief system fails to retain credibility and is eschewed, to that extent an ex-member will tend to feel shame at their foolishness and gullibility in having once adopted beliefs and aspired to ideals which they now regard as unrealistic.
So either they are a failure, or a gullible fool. Either way their self-esteem takes a knock, and they may find it difficult to have much confidence in their own judgement, or in their ability to come to reasonable decisions. For a while, they may not know what to believe, or who to trust.
While an ex-member is in this process of disentangling themselves from the cult belief system and ways of thinking, it can be helpful to talk to other ex-members from various different cults, who have gone through a similar process of disentanglement. Additionally, there are professional 'exit-counselors', often former cult members themselves, who may be able to help unravel any psychological disorientation or damage resulting from cult involvement. However, some caution is also necessary, because some so-called cult awareness networks are, ironically, actually run by cults, and some supposedly independent academic researchers are in effect cult apologists, whose research is sometimes indirectly funded by cults seeking a positive report for their own marketing and public relations purposes..
How do cults get away with it?
Mind control is an intangible thing. It is a complex psychological process which leaves no physical trace or evidence behind. Therefore it is virtually impossible to prove that mind control has occurred in any particular case, or even that it exists at all. [3]
Mind control occurs as a result of an individual becoming involved with a cult and its belief system. Unfortunately, the workings of cult mind control are not widely understood by the general public. Consequently, cults are almost never held responsible for the beliefs they promote, or for the changes in an individual's behaviour that those beliefs may cause. The individual is held responsible for acting on those beliefs, but the cult is rarely if ever held responsible for promoting those beliefs in the first place.
No criticisms of the allegedly harmful effect that a cult's belief system may have had upon a member's mind or behaviour can ever be proved objectively, because the whole subject of personal belief is by nature largely subjective and intangible, and therefore unprovable either way.
Victims are left with the near-impossible task of proving the unprovable. A cult can simply say that its critics are motivated by personal resentment and negativity, or that they had hidden psychological problems before they became involved with the group. So long as the burden of proof remains with the critic, a cult can never lose. A cult can be a complete scam, and damaging to those who become involved, but nobody can ever prove it.
Therefore it is very difficult to oppose a cult, or to prevent it from continuing to expand and to attract new recruits.
(c) Mark Dunlop 2002
Notes
[1] FWBO Norwich Buddhist Centre leaflet and programme of classes, Autumn 1999.
(NB Buddhism as a whole is not a cult, but like any mainstream faith or belief system, it can be twisted and used by a cult.)[2] The 'card sharp' simile for a cult is courtesy of Verdex, an ex-FWBO member from Germany, who maintains the Internet site,
http://www.fwbo-files.com
Another Verdex simile: A cult is like a black hole; the attraction increases as a person moves closer to the group, and there is even an event horizon, beyond which communication with the outside world is lost.[3] There is some debate in academic circles about whether mind control (aka brainwashing) actually exists or not. On the one hand, some academic researchers claim that the concept of mind control has been scientifically discredited. Details of these researchers, sometimes described as 'cult apologists', can be found at:
http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/faq-you/cult.apologists.txt
On the other hand, DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 1994) specifically mentions cults and brainwashing under 300.15, "Dissociative Disorder NOS."
Other sources:
For a more detailed (8,000 word) version of the above analysis of cult belief systems, see 'The Culture of Cults' at:
http://www.fwbo-files.com/CofC.htmFor general information about cults, mind control, and recovery issues, see:
http://www.freedomofmind.com
http://www.rickross.com
http://www.csj.org/aff/affindex.htm
http://www.cultinformation.org.uk
http://www.catalyst-uk.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.caic.org.auGood books on cults and mind control include:
'Combatting Cult Mind Control' - Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults, by Steven Hassan, pub 1990, Park St. Press.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0892813113'Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves', by Steven Hassan, pub 2002
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967068800'Cults in Our Midst' by Margaret Thaler Singer, et al.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0787902667'Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Other Abusive Relationships' by Madeleine Landau Tobias and Janja Lalich, pub Hunter House,1994. ISBN 0-89793-144-0
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0897931440