True Believers & Mass Movements
Before ending this section on conversion, I want to talk about the
people who are most susceptible to it and about Mass Movements. I am
convinced that at least a third of the population is what Eric Hoffer
calls “true believers.” They are joiners and followers people who
want to give away their power. They look for answers, meaning, and
enlightenment outside themselves.
Hoffer, who wrote THE TRUE BELIEVER, a classic on mass movements,
says, “true believers are not intent on bolstering and advancing a
cherished self, but are those craving to be rid of unwanted self.
They are followers, not because of a desire for self-advancement, but
because it can satisfy their passion for self-renunciation!” Hoffer
also says that true believers “are eternally incomplete and eternally
insecure”!
I know this from my own experience. In my years of communicating
concepts and conducting trainings, I have run into them again and
again. All I can do is attempt to show them that the only thing to
seek is the True Self within. Their personal answers are to be found
there and there alone. I communicate that the basics of spirituality
are self-responsibility and self-actualization.
But most of the true believers just tell me that I’m not spiritual
and go looking for someone who will give them the dogma and structure
they desire.
Never underestimate the potential danger of these people. They can
easily be molded into fanatics who will gladly work and die for their
holy cause. It is a substitute for their lost faith in themselves and
offers them as a substitute for individual hope. The Moral Majority
is made up of true believers. All cults are composed of true
believers. You’ll find them in politics, churches, businesses, and
social cause groups. They are the fanatics in these organizations.
Mass Movements will usually have a charismatic leader. The followers
want to convert others to their way of living or impose a new way of
life-if necessary, by legislating laws forcing others to their view,
as evidenced by the activities of the Moral Majority. This means
enforcement by guns or punishment, for that is the bottomline in law
enforcement.
A common hatred, enemy, or devil is essential to the success of a
mass movement. The Born-Again Christians have Satan himself, but that
isn’t enough-they’ve added the occult, the New Age thinkers and,
lately, all those who oppose their integration of church and
politics, as evidenced in their political reelection campaigns
against those who oppose their views. In revolutions, the devil is
usually the ruling power or aristocracy. Some human-potential
movements are far too clever to ask their graduates to join anything,
thus labeling themselves as a cult-but, if you look closely, you’ll
find that their devil is anyone and everyone who hasn’t taken their
training.
There are mass movements without devils but they seldom attain major
status. The True Believers are mentally unbalanced or insecure
people, or those without hope or friends. People don’t look for
allies when they love, but they do when they hate or become obsessed
with a cause. And those who desire a new life and a new order feel
the old ways must be eliminated before the new order can be built.
Persuasion Techniques
Persuasion isn’t technically brainwashing but it is the manipulation
of the human mind by another individual, without the manipulated
party being aware what caused his opinion shift. I only have time to
very basically introduce you to a few of the thousands of techniques
in use today, but the basis of persuasion is always to access your
RIGHT BRAIN. The left half of your brain is analytical and rational.
The right side is creative and imaginative. That is overly simplified
but it makes my point. So, the idea is to distract the left brain and
keep it busy. Ideally, the persuader generates an eyes-open altered
state of consciousness, causing you to shift from beta awareness into
alpha; this can be measured on an EEG machine.
First, let me give you an example of distracting the left brain.
Politicians use these powerful techniques all the time; lawyers use
many variations which, I’ve been told, they call “tightening the
noose.”
Assume for a moment that you are watching a politician give a speech.
First, he might generate what is called a “YES SET.” These are
statements that will cause listeners to agree; they might even
unknowingly nod their heads in agreement. Next come the TRUISMS.
These are usually facts that could be debated but, once the
politician has his audience agreeing, the odds are in the
politician’s favor that the audience won’t stop to think for
themselves, thus continuing to agree. Last comes the SUGGESTION. This
is what the politician wants you to do and, since you have been
agreeing all along, you could be persuaded to accept the suggestion.
Now, if you’ll listen closely to my political speech, you’ll find
that the first three are the “yes set,” the next three are truisms
and the last is the suggestion.
“Ladies and gentlemen: are you angry about high food prices? Are you
tired of astronomical gas prices? Are you sick of out-of-control
inflation? Well, you know the Other Party allowed 18 percent
inflation last year; you know crime has increased 50 percent
nationwide in the last 12 months, and you know your paycheck hardly
covers your expenses any more. Well, the answer to resolving these
problems is to elect me, John Jones, to the U.S. Senate.”
And I think you’ve heard all that before. But you might also watch
for what are called Imbedded Commands. As an example: On key words,
the speaker would make a gesture with his left hand, which research
has shown is more apt to access your right brain. Today’s media-
oriented politicians and spellbinders are often carefully trained by
a whole new breed of specialist who are using every trick in the book-
both old and new-to manipulate you into accepting their candidate.
The concepts and techniques of Neuro-Linguistics are so heavily
protected that I found out the hard way that to even talk about them
publicly or in print results in threatened legal action. Yet Neuro-
Linguistic training is readily available to anyone willing to devote
the time and pay the price. It is some of the most subtle and
powerful manipulation I have yet been exposed to. A good friend who
recently attended a two-week seminar on Neuro-Linguistics found that
many of those she talked to during the breaks were government people.
Another technique that I’m just learning about is unbelievably
slippery; it is called an INTERSPERSAL TECHNIQUE and the idea is to
say one thing with words but plant a subconscious impression of
something else in the minds of the listeners and/or watchers.
Let me give you an example: Assume you are watching a television
commentator make the following statement: SENATOR JOHNSON is
assisting local authorities to clear up the stupid mistakes of
companies contributing to the nuclear waste problems.” It sounds like
a statement of fact, but, if the speaker emphasizes the right word,
and especially if he makes the proper hand gestures on the key words,
you could be left with the subconscious impression that Senator
Johnson is stupid. That was the subliminal goal of the statement and
the speaker cannot be called to account for anything.
Persuasion techniques are also frequently used on a much smaller
scale with just as much effectiveness. The insurance salesman knows
his pitch is likely to be much more effective if he can get you to
visualize something in your mind. This is right-brain communication.
For instance, he might pause in his conversation, look slowly around
your livingroom and say, “Can you just imagine this beautiful home
burning to the ground?” Of course you can! It is one of your
unconscious fears and, when he forces you to visualize it, you are
more likely to be manipulated into signing his insurance policy.
The Hare Krishnas, operating in every airport, use what I call SHOCK
AND CONFUSION techniques to distract the left brain and communicate
directly with the right brain. While waiting for a plane, I once
watched one operate for over an hour. He had a technique of almost
jumping in front of someone. Initially, his voice was loud then
dropped as he made his pitch to take a book and contribute money to
the cause. Usually, when people are shocked, they immediately
withdraw. In this case they were shocked by the strange appearance,
sudden materialization and loud voice of the Hare Krishna devotee. In
other words, the people went into an alpha state for security because
they didn’t want to confront the reality before them. In alpha, they
were highly suggestible so they responded to the suggestion of taking
the book; the moment they took the book, they felt guilty and
responded to the second suggestion: give money. We are all
conditioned that if someone gives us something, we have to give them
something in return-in that case, it was money. While watching this
hustler, I was close enough to notice that many of the people he
stopped exhibited an outward sign of alpha-their eyes were actually
dilated.