Mind snatchers

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Human Potential

Realizing your full potential as an individual depends in no small measure on having conscious control over your own thoughts and actions. Apparently there are numerous very well evolved technologies to take that control away from you, to overpower your mind with suggestions and commands - both for "good" and for "bad" purposes.

It would appear to me that anyone wishing to keep their wits about them in these difficult times better be aware of the myriad of technologies and techniques that exist to wipe out conscious thought and replace it by suggestion and external command ... and I am not advocating the use of such technologies, even for "good" manipulation, because manipulation it always is!

A lengthy but very interesting article on the site of Dick Sutphen should allow us to at least know what's going on.

THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND

Persuasion & Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today

By Dick Sutphen

The following is an expanded version of a lecture Dick Sutphen delivered at the World Congress of Professional Hypnotists Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the paper carries a 1984 copyright to protect the contents from unlawful duplication for sale, Dick invites individuals to make copies and give them to friends or anyone in a position to communicate this information. Since the paper was released, it has been distributed to millions and is currently available on dozens of Websites. As a result of this awareness, Dick has been contacted by law enforcement officers, the BBC and investigative reporters. On numerous occasions, the information has helped to bring public attention to the misuse of conversion tactics. Some government agencies don't want this information generally known, for the techniques are used in armed forces basic training. Some Christian Fundamentalists, cults, and human-potential trainings would also prefer that the public remain unaware of how they are recruiting new members.

Summary of Contents:

*    The Birth of Conversion / Brainwashing in Christian Revivalism in 1735.
*    The Pavlovian explanation of the three brain phases.
*    Born-again preachers: Step-by-step, how they conduct a revival and the expected physiological results.
*    The "voice roll" technique used by preachers, lawyers and hypnotists.
*    The 6 steps to conversion.
*    The decognition process.
*    Thought-stopping techniques.
*    The "sell it by zealot" technique.
*    True believers and mass movements.
*    Persuasion techniques: "Yes set", "Imbedded Commands", "Shock and Confusion", and the "Interspersal Techniques", Subliminals.
*    Vibrato and ELF waves.
*    The "only hope" technique to attend and not be converted.
*    Non-detectable Neurophone programming through the skin.
*    The medium for mass take-over.

I'm going to talk about conversion, which is a nice word for brainwashing. Everything I will relate only exposes the surface of the problem. I don't know how the misuse of these techniques can be stopped. I don't think it is possible to legislate against that which often cannot be detected; and if those who legislate are using these techniques, there is little hope of affecting laws to govern usage.

In talking about mind manipulation, I am talking about my own business. I know it, and I know how effective it can be. I produce hypnosis and subliminal tapes and, in some of my seminars, I use conversion tactics to assist participants to become independent and self-sufficient. But, anytime I use these techniques, I point out that I am using them, and those attending have a choice to participate or not. They also know what the desired result of participation will be.

So, to begin, I want to sate the most basic of all facts about brainwashing:

In the entire history of man, no one has ever been brainwashed and REALIZED OR BELIEVED that he had been brainwashed.

Those who have been brainwashed will usually passionately defend their manipulators, claiming they have simply been "shown the light" ... or have been transformed in miraculous ways.

The Birth of Conversion
Conversion is a "nice" word for Brainwashing ... and any study of brainwashing has to begin with a study of Christian revivalism in eighteenth century America. Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques during a religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts. By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings would break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was doing was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so that the mind accepts new programming. He would tell those attending, "You're a sinner! You're destined for hell!"

As a result, one person committed suicide and another attempted suicide. And the neighbors of the suicidal converts related that they, too, were affected so deeply that, although they had found "eternal salvation", they were obsessed with a diabolical temptation to end their own lives.

Once a preacher, cult leader, manipulator or authority figure creates the brain phase to wipe the brain-slate clean, his subjects are wide open. New input, in the form of suggestion, can be substituted for their previous ideas. Because Edwards didn't turn his message positive until the end of the revival, many accepted the negative suggestions and acted, or desired to act, upon them.

Charles J. Finney was another Christian revivalist who used the same techniques four years later in mass religious conversions in New York. The techniques are still being used today by Christian revivalists, cults, human-potential training, some business rallies and the U.S. armed services.

Let me point out here that I don't think most revivalist preachers realize or know they are using brainwashing techniques. Edwards simply stumbled upon a technique that worked, and others copied it and have continued to copy it for over two hundred years. And the more sophisticated our knowledge and technology become, the more effective the conversion. I feel strongly that this is one of the major reasons for the increasing rise in Christian fundamentalism, especially the televised variety, while most of the orthodox religions are declining.

The 3 Brain Phases
The Christians may have been the first to successfully formulated brainwashing, but we have to look to Pavlov, the Russian scientist, for a technical explanation. In the early 1900's, his work with animals opened the door to further investigations with humans. After the revolution in Russia, Lenin was quick to see the potential of applying Pavlov's research to his own ends.

Three distinct and progressive states of transmarginal inhibition were identified by Pavlov, The first is the Equivalent phase, in which the brain gives the same response to both strong and weak stimuli. The second is the Paradoxical phase, in which the brain responds more actively to weak stimuli than to strong. And the third is the Ultra-Paradoxical phase, in which conditioned responses and behavior patterns turn from positive to negative or from negative to positive.

With the progressions through each phase, the degree of conversion becomes more effective and complete. The ways to achieve conversion are many and varied, but the usual first step in religious or political brainwashing is to work on the emotions of an individual or group until they reach an abnormal level of anger, fear, excitement or nervous tension.

The progressive result of this mental condition is to impair judgment and increase suggestibility. The more this condition can be maintained or intensified, the more it compounds. Once catharsis or the first brain phase is reached, the complete mental takeover becomes easier. Existing mental programming can be replaced with new patterns of thinking and behavior.

Other often-used physiological weapons to modify normal brain functions are fasting, radical or high sugar diets, physical discomforts, regulation of breathing, mantra chanting in meditation, the disclosure of a awesome mysteries, special lighting and sound effects, programmed response to incense, or intoxicating drugs.

The same results can be obtained in contemporary psychiatric treatment by electric shock treatments and even by purposely lowering a patient's blood sugar level with insulin injections.

Before I talk about exactly how some of the techniques are applied, I want to point out that hypnosis and conversion tactics are two distinctly different things-and that conversion techniques are far more powerful. However, the two are often mixed ... with powerful results.

How Revivalist Preachers Work
If you'd like to see a revivalist preacher at work, there are probably several in your city. Go to the church or tent early and sit in the rear, about three-quarters of the way back. Most likely repetitive music will be played while the people come in for the service. A repetitive beat, ideally ranging from 45 to 72 beats per minute (a rhythm close to the beat of a human heart), is very hypnotic and can generate an eyes-opens altered state of consciousness in a very high percentage of people. And, once you are in an alpha state, you are at least 25 items as suggestible as you would be in full beta consciousness. The music is probably the sane for every service, or incorporates the same beat, and many of the people will go into an altered state almost immediately upon entering the sanctuary. subconsciously, they recall their state of mind from previous services and respond according to the post-hypnotic programming.

Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many will exhibit external signs of trance -- body relaxation and slightly dilated eyes. Often, they begin swaying back and forth with their hands in the air while sitting in their chairs. Next, the assistant pastor will come out. He usually speaks with a "voice roll."

Voice Roll Technique
A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers, several of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when they desire to entrench a point firmly in the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker were talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The words will usually be delivered at the rate of 35 to 60 beats per minute, maximizing the hypnotic effect.

Now the assistant pastor begins the "build-up" process. He induces an altered state of consciousness and / or begins to generate the excitement and the expectations of the audience. Next,