As an interesting exercise let's list some of the techniques used in mind control and then compare these to our experiences during these LGAT courses. I will relate my own experiences here too.
Firstly, what is mind control ?
The headings below describe the mind control techniques and the commentary below each describes the experiences from the course.
Sleep Deprivation and Fatigue - creating disorientation and vulnerability
Each day of my course ended late so that you got home at about 10pm. You had to do about 3 hours of homework and I was so buzzed anyway that not much sleep was had before you had to be back at the venue early the next day. Lateness was severely frowned upon.
Change of Diet or Fasting - creating disorientation and increased susceptibility to emotional arousal
In my course there were no meal breaks apart from lunch. No snacks or drinks, apart from water, were allowed and breaking the rules was met with isolating comments and guilt tripping. They also played around with the temperature which switched from hot to cold throughout the day, enhancing the disorientation.
Hypnosis - inducing a high state of suggestibility, often thinly disguised as relaxation or meditation.
I remember a session at the end of the 2nd day where we all had to sit in silence, close our eyes and breath deeply whilst the Instructor softly suggested that we were afraid of the person next to us, then the whole room, whole city, whole world etc etc. Without going into detail it was a very dramatic event and people were sobbing uncontrollable as well as laughing hysterically. I just remember it being very odd and slightly disturbing.
Metacommunication - implanting subliminal messages by stressing certain key words or phrases in long, confusing lectures
My course was saturated with these 'suggestive' words within long 'conversations' as they called them. Even that word 'conversation' is subtle and suggestive isn't it. And after a few days you are using these words all the time, even with non course members which is very disconcerting for your family and friends. You are there to create 'new possibilities', your old beliefs are called 'rackets' and we needed to have a 'transformation' that allowed us to live 'powerfully'. If you look on the internet LGAT graduates use these implanted words all the time. If you have a different point of view to a convert then you are accused of submitting to a defunct way of 'being'.
Sleep Deprivation and Fatigue - creating disorientation and vulnerability
Each day of my course ended late so that you got home at about 10pm. You had to do about 3 hours of homework and I was so buzzed anyway that not much sleep was had before you had to be back at the venue early the next day. Lateness was severely frowned upon.
Change of Diet or Fasting - creating disorientation and increased susceptibility to emotional arousal
In my course there were no meal breaks apart from lunch. No snacks or drinks, apart from water, were allowed and breaking the rules was met with isolating comments and guilt tripping. They also played around with the temperature which switched from hot to cold throughout the day, enhancing the disorientation.
Hypnosis - inducing a high state of suggestibility, often thinly disguised as relaxation or meditation.
I remember a session at the end of the 2nd day where we all had to sit in silence, close our eyes and breath deeply whilst the Instructor softly suggested that we were afraid of the person next to us, then the whole room, whole city, whole world etc etc. Without going into detail it was a very dramatic event and people were sobbing uncontrollable as well as laughing hysterically. I just remember it being very odd and slightly disturbing.
Metacommunication - implanting subliminal messages by stressing certain key words or phrases in long, confusing lectures
My course was saturated with these 'suggestive' words within long 'conversations' as they called them. Even that word 'conversation' is subtle and suggestive isn't it. And after a few days you are using these words all the time, even with non course members which is very disconcerting for your family and friends. You are there to create 'new possibilities', your old beliefs are called 'rackets' and we needed to have a 'transformation' that allowed us to live 'powerfully'. If you look on the internet LGAT graduates use these implanted words all the time. If you have a different point of view to a convert then you are accused of submitting to a defunct way of 'being'.
Remember that word 'enrol'. Well this is the clever bit I suppose. It is 'suggested' that in order to achieve in anything you need to get people on board. The word they use is ENROL. You need to enrol people into your new way of being and new enthusiasm. To succeed in creating your new life and personality you needed to enrol people in it. Now, throughout the course you are constantly asked to sign up for new courses as well as sign up other people to do the course. The word used here is also ENROL. Enrol your family and friends and enrol on the advanced course etc etc. So they subconsciously have you link success in the course with ...... signing up others. Or, you haven't 'got it' if you don't sign up others. Your just being your old unsuccessful self if you don't sell it to others.
This company's only source of marketing and advertising is this very very powerful, yet devious, subconscious language pattern technique. You sell their product for them and they get that service for free. Lovely.
Verbal Abuse and Finger Pointing - desensitising and destabilisation techniques
Lots of this goes on and I was singled out after I complained about the constant sessions on enrolling others to do the course. The Instructor got me out the front and after about a one hour verbal wrestling match she eventually broke me. She called me cruel, and then said I was only cruel because I cared for people. She would accuse me of something else and then pat me on the head. Twisting me up and down and around. Good cop bad cop. Destabilisation techniques basically. I remember I had half the crowd with me willing me on to confront her and express what they were also thinking. But she was an expert, very persuasive and when she broke me she also broke all my co-dissenters in the crowd at the same time. Mass suggestion - very effective.
Peer Group Pressure - suppressing doubt and resistance to new ideas by exploiting the need to belong
As the course ground on I remember we all became little puppies in the Instructor's hands. Any resistance was suppressed and often met by odd looks of astonishment and disdain from your fellow course participants. Here is what another attendee wrote:
Verbal Abuse and Finger Pointing - desensitising and destabilisation techniques
Lots of this goes on and I was singled out after I complained about the constant sessions on enrolling others to do the course. The Instructor got me out the front and after about a one hour verbal wrestling match she eventually broke me. She called me cruel, and then said I was only cruel because I cared for people. She would accuse me of something else and then pat me on the head. Twisting me up and down and around. Good cop bad cop. Destabilisation techniques basically. I remember I had half the crowd with me willing me on to confront her and express what they were also thinking. But she was an expert, very persuasive and when she broke me she also broke all my co-dissenters in the crowd at the same time. Mass suggestion - very effective.
Peer Group Pressure - suppressing doubt and resistance to new ideas by exploiting the need to belong
As the course ground on I remember we all became little puppies in the Instructor's hands. Any resistance was suppressed and often met by odd looks of astonishment and disdain from your fellow course participants. Here is what another attendee wrote:
Resistance to the curriculum was always met with more curriculum, with any attempt to debunk the material only serving to strengthen it. Sometimes fellow students got into the mix by yelling out “rackets” or some other term coined in the coursework as a response to a skeptical student’s questions. After a while, people stopped protesting altogether and started conforming just so they wouldn’t feel excluded. Group think began to settle in.
Confession
The whole 3 days was peppered with many instances of people coming to the front and sharing their weaknesses, sordid life experiences and darkest moments. This is a big part of LGAT schemes.
Rejection of Old Values
One of the main points throughout the course was that your ego is getting in the way of you progressing in life. All your problems in life and the problems you have with particular people in your life are all down to you and your ego. No arguments. That's it. All your current reasoning of your pivotal life experiences needs to be thrown out. Obviously we all need to live and learn in life and move on from destructive thought patterns. But a sledge hammer one size fits all approach to this would never work unless the above mentioned mind massage tecniques were employed.
So the question is: Are people who go on these self help courses learning profound new life changing skills, or are they being subjected to well known mental torture techniques ? Are the breakthroughs they experience enlightening epiphanies, or is this just the mind popping from sustained physical and emotional pressure ? I remember when I 'popped' late on Sunday night at home. It was like I had just taken the best drug on the planet. I thought I had just been zapped with profound insight into how the universe worked and that everything was now possible. I remember playing a game of squash the following evening and I played about 10 levels above my norm - my squash coach was dumbfounded ! It was as if I had moved into another limitless realm.
Confession
The whole 3 days was peppered with many instances of people coming to the front and sharing their weaknesses, sordid life experiences and darkest moments. This is a big part of LGAT schemes.
Rejection of Old Values
One of the main points throughout the course was that your ego is getting in the way of you progressing in life. All your problems in life and the problems you have with particular people in your life are all down to you and your ego. No arguments. That's it. All your current reasoning of your pivotal life experiences needs to be thrown out. Obviously we all need to live and learn in life and move on from destructive thought patterns. But a sledge hammer one size fits all approach to this would never work unless the above mentioned mind massage tecniques were employed.
So the question is: Are people who go on these self help courses learning profound new life changing skills, or are they being subjected to well known mental torture techniques ? Are the breakthroughs they experience enlightening epiphanies, or is this just the mind popping from sustained physical and emotional pressure ? I remember when I 'popped' late on Sunday night at home. It was like I had just taken the best drug on the planet. I thought I had just been zapped with profound insight into how the universe worked and that everything was now possible. I remember playing a game of squash the following evening and I played about 10 levels above my norm - my squash coach was dumbfounded ! It was as if I had moved into another limitless realm.
But is that good ? You can get the same experience from taking A grade cocaine. Yet what goes up must come down. In my experience new personalities need to be worked on gradually. The leaders of these courses are experts in breaking personalities down, creating a clean slate and building up another one in about 3 days. The trouble is the new personalities are all very similar and talk the same way. The richness and diversity in people is washed away to produce wide eyed converts spouting buzz words and meaningless catch phrases. They are quintessential pyramid schemes with no labour costs as everyone is a volunteer trying to save the world. The more I think about it the more I am in awe of the robust simplicity of these pyramid enrolment arrangements intertwined within self help programs that prey on peoples natural desire to break free from mediocrity.
Looking back I am amazed at how quickly people's thinking and subsequent actions can be tailored and moulded by simple 'rough up' techniques and subconscious friendly suggestive language. There is no doubt there is good stuff in these LGAT courses, but a con man always mixes good in with the bad. In what other ways are we being mentally moulded ? What does subjecting yourself to mainstream media cause in our perception and views ? What consent does it manufacture ? But don't get me started down that track........!!
Looking back I am amazed at how quickly people's thinking and subsequent actions can be tailored and moulded by simple 'rough up' techniques and subconscious friendly suggestive language. There is no doubt there is good stuff in these LGAT courses, but a con man always mixes good in with the bad. In what other ways are we being mentally moulded ? What does subjecting yourself to mainstream media cause in our perception and views ? What consent does it manufacture ? But don't get me started down that track........!!
