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THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND, by Dick Sutphen — 22.2 KB
Persuasion & Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today
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. New trance-inducing churches.
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
Technique.” Subliminals. Vibrato and ELF waves. Inducing trance
with vibrational sound. Even professional observers will be
“possessed” at charismatic gatherings. 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 Dick Sutphen and this tape is a studio-recorded, expanded
version of a talk I delivered at the World Congress of
Professional Hypnotists Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although
the tape carries a copyright to protect it from unlawful
duplication for sale by other companies, in this case, I invite
individuals to make copies and give them to friends or anyone in a
position to communicate this information.
Although I’ve been interviewed about the subject on many local and
regional radio and TV talk shows, large-scale mass communication
appears to be blocked, since it could result in suspicion or
investigation of the very media presenting it or the sponsors that
support the media. Some government agencies do not want this
information generally known. Nor do the Born-Again Christian
movement, cults, and many human-potential trainings.
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. I do know that the first step to initiate change is to
generate interest. In this case, that will probably only result
from an underground effort. In talking about this subject, I am
talking about my own business. I know it, and I know how effective
it can be. I produce hypnosis and subliminal apes 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 state 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. The problem was that the new input was
negative. He would tell them, “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 trainings, some business
rallies, and the United States Armed Services . . . to name just a
few. 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 really 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 Three Brain Phases
The Christians may have been the first to successfully formulate
brainwashing, but we have to look to Pavlov, the Russian
scientist, for a technical explanation. In the early 1900s, 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 progression through each phase, the degree of conversion
becomes more effective and complete. The way 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,
exitement, or nervous tension. The progressive result of this
mental condition is to impair judgement 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 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 person’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 the human heart), is
very hypnotic and can generate an eyes-open altered state of
consciousness in a very high percentage of people. And, once you
are in an alpha state, you are at least 25 times as suggestible as
you would be in full beta consciousness. The music is probably the
same for every service, or incorporates the same beat, and many of
the people will go into an altered state almost immediately upon
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1998