Warm Greetings, All,
I'm sure everyone is aware of the more spectacular instances of the movements usually referred to as "cults" using psychological techniques to brainwash people into becoming blind followers. In an earlier post, I made light of the issue of brainwashing, stating in response to someone who commented about 12-step programs being "brainwashing" that when I began working the steps of a self-help program, brainwashing was all right with me, because my brain needed washing! There is a kind of thorough indoctrination into new ways of thinking and relating to others and to the universe as a whole that is part of the self-help recovery movement. In a sense this is "brainwashing"; however, this is not the kind of brainwashing used by cults, as I'll contrast here shortly, and this is done only when individuals need an almost complete revamping of their minds, as is true in recovery from addiction, and is done only when the person agrees to surrender their will--not to the group, or to the leader, but to a Higher Power. When I was new to recovery I attended 12-step meetings nearly daily, and continued quite regular participation for several years. As time went on, I gradually withdrew from the program, quite uneventfully.
In the cults, however, the emphasis on surrendering one's will is always to the group leader, who is viewed as God, or God's incarnation, or the Second Coming, or at the very least a Prophet, with a capitol P. Techniques such as hypnosis, altered states of consciousness, and guided imagery are used, but these are only part of a much broader set of techniques that are designed to obliterate the individual's will and identity. Thus in cults you will see hypnosis used along with sleep deprivation, forced isolation from friends and family, control of all information received by the individual, control of diet, control of sexuality, forced participation in spying on other members, use of coalitions and cliques, over-practice and over-repetition of behaviors and statements to the point of insensibility, and the use of doctrines that minimize the individual and aggrandize to the point of deity the leader. The use of mind-altering drugs is also not unusual. Movements that utilize these techniques are truly "cults" and not merely new religions or self-help movements. The People's Temple of Jim Jones and the Branch Davidians of David Koresh are perhaps the best known and most spectacular of such cults, but there are many smaller ones that have done almost as much evil, and some that have made the transition to being religions with some degree of public acceptance.
When someone encourages you to turn your will over to God, it is worthwhile to listen, to explore what that would mean for you, and to ponder what sort of God is being advocated, and whether this God is consistent with the God of your understanding. When someone encourages you to turn your will over to them, don't listen, and run like hell!
In Unity,
j.j.salt
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