Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Promise of Special Powers...

Binding Rituals

Another ingenious mind control technique

One example is the 'billion year contract' members sign in Scientology

When you commit to something in a physical form, it is of course more psychologically binding

Monday, May 9, 2011

Confession-Type Rituals

Kind of what goes on in a certain cult with the so-called auditing

An ingenious mind-control technique that ties the member to the person receiving the confession-type input

This general mind-control technique, after all, is known to work in classical romantic seduction, in psychotherapy etc.

In essence, the member invests a part of them self to the cult and thus is psychologically bound to it

Phobias

Another mind control technique

Members are inundated with cautionary tales about former members who left the cult and were so guilt-ridden that they went insane or became sick and died

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Blind Obedience

A requisite of most cults; of course! If you blindly obey, you will further not question anything untoward you discover about the cult - essentially a behavioristic method to quiet down doubt

Hidden Truths

It's easy to keep cult members hooked when you offer them the promise of hidden truths that can/will be discovered provided the members stay on long enough and become good enough

If you can make them believe that it may take decades (or even a lifetime) of spiritual practice to discover these truths, then you've got it made as a cult leader!

This is especially true since many people joining these groups are sensitive souls honestly seeking the truth, something higher, more meaningful than what ordinary life has to offer

Abuse (Or Mix Pain With Pleasure)

Despite the initial 'love bombing' originally employed by many cults to recruit new members, often starved for a sense of belonging and acceptance (and aren't we all ?), eventually psychological abuse ensues: severe criticism, punishments, humiliation etc

The question is: why do recruits put up with it?

Is it that we find something familiar in being abused, perhaps even familial (in the sense that it makes us regress to a previous stage in our lives when we were dependent upon our parents)?

Maybe it has to do with the 'mixing pain and pleasure' principle used in many seduction settings?

wouldn't it be simpler to just continue 'love bombing' cult members after they're in?

Or would that, for some reason pertaining to human psychology, be ineffective?

Is it that we all harbor a deep-rooted sense of guilt that we feel ameliorated when we are abused?

Isolation

Another sure sign of a cult

Isolating people - who are often times already emotionally vulnerable -  from their familiar surroundings makes it easier to create and eventually entrap them in a new manufactured reality, that of the cult

Charismatic Leader

One of the sure signs of a cult

HYPNOSIS-