Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum
thought reform
GregFL:
Thought reform is not a new idea, and has been praticed on prisoners of war and by various cults thru out the world including the church of unification, the hari krishna
movement, Al queda, the church of scientology, and, of course, the seed. Check this out below and post your comments;
Eight Conditions of Thought Reform
*as presented in "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism" by Robert Jay Lifton, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1963.
Milieu Control -
Purposeful limitation of all forms of communication with outside world. Environment control and the control of human communication. Not just communication between people but communication within people's minds to themselves.
Mystical Manipulation
Potential convert is convinced of the higher purpose within the special group. Everyone is manipulating everyone, under the belief that it advances the "ultimate purpose." Experiences are engineered to appear to be spontaneous, when, in fact, they are contrived to have a deliberate effect. People mistakenly attribute their experiences to spiritual causes when, in fact, they are concocted by human beings.
Confession Only by pushing toward perfection, as the group views goodness, will the recruit be able to contribute. The environment demands that personal boundaries are destroyed and that every thought, feeling, or action that does not conform with the group's rules be confessed; little or no privacy.
Self-sanctification-
through Purity Public confessional periods used to get members to verbalize and discuss their innermost fears & anxieties as well as past imperfections. The creation of a guilt and shame milieu by holding up standards of perfection that no human being can accomplish. People are punished and learn to punish themselves for not living up to the group's ideals.
Aura of Sacred Science- Idea that the cult's laws, rules and regulations are absolute and, therefore, to be followed automatically. The group's belief is that their dogma is absolutely scientific and morally true. No alternative viewpoint is allowed. No questions of the dogma are permitted.
Loaded Language- The invention of a new vocabulary, confusing well-known words with their own meanings, trite clichÈs. Controlling words help to control people's thoughts. A totalist group uses totalist language to make reality compressed into black or white using thought-terminating cliches.Non-members cannot simply comprehend what cult members are talking about. The words constrict rather than expand human understanding.
Doctrine over Person-
Past experience and values invalid to new cult morality--value of individual insignificant compared to value of group. No matter what a person experiences, it is the belief of the dogma which is important. Group belief supersedes conscience and integrity.
Dispensed Existence-
Elitist world view--sharp line drawn by cult between those who have been saved, chosen, etc. (cult members) and those who are lost, in the dark, etc., (the rest of the world). The group decides who has a right to exist and does not. Former members are seen as "weak, " "lost," and "the enemy". There is no other legitimate alternative to the group.
kaydeejaded:
That about covers it Greg let me go and vomit now. Straight and the Seed and Kids and AARC and and ...... and parents still think they saved us. Please. any more help and I'd be dead.
marshall:
These links expand upon your thought-reform conditions and touch upon the use of cognitive dissonance that wally mentioned:
(Caution: may cause readers to analyze & get into their head! :skull:)
http://www.spiritualabuse.org/articles/totalism.html
http://www.rickross.com/reference/brain ... hing8.html
http://www.uwm.edu/People/hynan/205/205PRESS.html
cleveland:
OK, I will take on the first couple of the cultic standards Greg set down:
Milieu Control
[Purposeful limitation of all forms of communication with outside world.]
Seed version: Newcomers spend the first three days by 'taking the cotton out of your ears and putting it into your mouth,' 'What's heard at the Seed stays at the Seed,' 'No talking to newspaper reporters or people from other drug rehabs,' 'No newcomers talking to other newcomers'(no talking); 'No reading newspapers, magazines or books, or listening to the radio, or watching TV until you're an oldcomer...' (no outside media)...
[Environment control and the control of human communication.]
Seed: No going to the bathroom by yourself, or walking anywhere by yourself, raising your hand for permission to do anything (no freedom of movement)...
[Not just communication between people but communication within people's minds to themselves.]
Seed: No 'getting into your head' (no thinking); 'Get your head out of the gutter!' (supress fantasy and sexuality, inspire shame); 'That's not important' in response to almost any question (don't challenge).
Mystical Manipulation
[Potential convert is convinced of the higher purpose within the special group.]
Seed: 'My higher power is Art or the group...'
[Everyone is manipulating everyone, under the belief that it advances the "ultimate purpose."]
Seed: Everyone is encouraged to confess in a group setting, anyone's behaviour is subject to comment in a rap, at home, or by staff. Everyone has to ask permission from a shifting hierarchy of staff, jr. staff and senior oldcomers for everything. People are encouraged to report anything and everything to a senior member, staff or to Art.
[Experiences are engineered to appear to be spontaneous, when, in fact, they are contrived to have a deliberate effect.]
Seed: a rap is a carefully orchestrated, well-rehearsed one-way conversation. People's stories are so consistent because anything but the party line ("I was an asshole before; now, I'm saved, becasue of the Seed") is disapproved of and supressed.
Anyone else? I'll add more later...
Antigen:
--- Quote ---On 2005-02-02 14:19:00, cleveland wrote:
Anyone else? I'll add more later...
[Potential convert is convinced of the higher purpose within the special group.]
--- End quote ---
Awareness! :nworthy: Gimme some of that telepathic, empathic (not empathetic, that was a made up word; and one that will sometimes give away your linguistic heritage in Synanon) simple answer to all of life's complexities, Awareness! To this day, I have a hard time writing that word out in this context w/o capitalization. And I generally avoid it's use in other context. It's a ruined word for me; one that my kids might not hear often enough to pass on to the next generation.
I know people who, 10, 15 or 20 years later still confuse the ability to make snap judgements based on Program dogma and to fully convince themselves of their profound, God given merit w/ an actual ability to read people really well.
I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious -- unless he purposely shut the eyes of his mind and keep them shut by force.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
--- End quote ---
_________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Seed sibling `71 - `80
Straight South (Sarasota, FL)
10/80 - 10/82
Anonymity Anonymous
Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
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