Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum

Radical Idea

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Stripe:
Right now, I'm thinking the whole Good/Bad Seed idea may, and my idea/hypothesis is just in its early stages - I think it might be a matter of whether a person operates from the base brain or the higher brain.  

The base brain, as I understand it, is that unevolved portion of our brains that calls to fulfull the base desires - food, sex, feeling good (and what that entails.)  Sometimes those base desires take over the being and a person becomes driven to fulfill those desires- hence addiction.  Again, this is just my understanding right now, but the higher brain allows a person to take control of the primative urges in a rational manner choosing to gratify the urges or not - instead of giving up control to the base desires or some other external power - be it a Seed, a church, the military.
 

Maybe the perception of good experience/bad experience is based on whether a person is base brain oriented (so seed was good because it kept them off drugs, or,more importantly, allowed them to remain at a lower consciousness) versus  persons who are presently or are becoming higher brain oriented, who have cnoflict with the program because it forbids/impeads development
of the higher brain or consciousness.

From looking at the posts since I've joined (early November2004) I can see where that might be a reason for the sharp divisions of opinion.

Are there no official studies on the effects of these programs?

cleveland:
Stripe, although I think there may be something to that, I would think it's an oversimplification.

My thinking would be, that whenever a person is in a stressful, peer pressure, "group think" situation - whether work, family, friends, church, AA, whatever - they are working on a basic, emotional level. Think of gangs, charismatic churches, etc. And think of how powerful our emotions are in these situations - how we were when we were at the Seed, and how strong those memories are. But, I don't think we give up on the higher, critical functions -
if we think back, we remember doubt, we remember critical thoughts - but we chose to give in - "OK, I'll go along because (fill in the blank) I'm a fuckup, they are smarter, I want to graduate, they love me, let's get this over with" - whatever. And, of course, everyone's different. Don't you remember some scary 'super seedlings' who were mindless in their devotion? Note, none of those people ever were on staff. You had to retain your critical thinking to be effective, so you had to be able to make an internal compromise.

That's my thinking. Our analysis, or 'getting into our heads' about it. You and I are both over-educated fools - from a Seed standpoint!

Anonymous:
This gives a fairly good explanation of the primitive brain as it pertains to alcoholism.

http://orange-papers.org/orange-addmonst.html

Stripe:
"That's my thinking. Our analysis, or 'getting into our heads' about it. You and I are both over-educated fools - from a Seed standpoint! "

Yup. That would be me.  Still looking for answers to life's unanswered questions, unable to accept the easy answer the seed provided. do like us, think like us, be like us and if you do the "RIGHT THINGS - the RIGHT THING will happen."  Now I say, "What??? "

I just don't know if that experience brought me out of it - as in, it being addiction; that was never a problem I when I was there. That obsessive behavior didn't start until much later in my life and those "Seed tools" did not not help me to overcome that issue.  I beat the addiction by willpower and choice.

cleveland:
I think we're on the same page. When I was at the Seed, I gave up on trying to understand life and just accepted what I was told. Never again, I hope.

Interesting. I feel sort of bad about questioning Seed ideas, even today, especially when it's clear that there are a lot of people in pain and looking for answers, and who am I to throw a wrench into it? On the other hand, I think that people together, being honest, are truly helpful of one another in the long term.

I think the problem with our society is that we are so NOT aware of what we're feeling and thinking at times -  that we are addicted to life's illusions, easy answers, cheap thrills, ego gratification, material goods, etc. and I am no different. It is a very complex world and we will never figure it all out. But I'll keep at it, knowing that there are no easy answers anyway...

I remember, a Seed staff member used to tell me, "Boy, I feel bad for you Wally, being into your head, it must be a scary place" and you know what - it is scary in my head AND my heart, but also -  beautiful, challenging, exciting...

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