Summary Of Contents
I'm Dick Sutphen and this is an 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 tapes 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.
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 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, excitement, or
nervous tension.
The progressive result of this mental condition is to
impair judgment 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.
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 entering the sanctuary. Subconsciously, they recall their
state of mind from previous services and respond according to the
post-hypnotic programming.
Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many
will exhibit external signs of trance--body relaxation and slightly
dilated eyes. Often, they begin swaying back and forth with their hands in
the air while sitting in their chairs. Next, the assistant pastor will
probably come out. He usually speaks with a pretty good "voice roll."
The "Voice Roll"
Technique
A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by
hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers,
several of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when they desire to
entrench a point firmly in the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound
as if the speaker were talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound
as though he were emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style.
The words will usually be delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats per
minute, maximizing the hypnotic effect.
Now the assistant pastor begins the "build-up" process.
He induces an altered state of consciousness and/or begins to generate the
excitement and the expectations of the audience. Next, a group of young
women in "sweet and pure" chiffon dresses might come out to sing a song.
Gospel songs are great for building excitement and involvement. In the
middle of the song, one of the girls might be "smitten by the spirit" and
fall down or react as if possessed by the Holy Spirit. This very
effectively increases the intensity in the room. At this point, hypnosis
and conversion tactics are being mixed. And the result is the audience's
attention span is now totally focused upon the communication while the
environment becomes more exciting or tense.
Right about this time, when an eyes-open mass-induced
alpha mental state has been achieved, they will usually pass the
collection plate or basket. In the background, a 45-beat-per-minute voice
roll from the assistant preacher might exhort, "Give to God...Give to
God...Give to God...." And the audience does give. God may not get the
money, but his already-wealthy representative will.
Next, the fire-and-brimstone preacher will come out. He
induces fear and increases the tension by talking about "the devil,"
"going to hell," or the forthcoming Armageddon.
In the last such rally I attended, the preacher talked
about the blood that would soon be running out of every faucet in the
land. He was also obsessed with a "bloody axe of God," which everyone had
seen hanging above the pulpit the previous week. I have no doubt that
everyone saw it--the power of suggestion given to hundreds of people in
hypnosis assures that at least 10 to 25 percent would see whatever he
suggested they see.
In most revivalist gatherings, "testifying" or
"witnessing" usually follows the fear-based sermon. People from the
audience come up on stage and relate their stories. "I was crippled and
now I can walk!" "I had arthritis and now it's gone!" It is a
psychological manipulation that works. After listening to numerous case
histories of miraculous healings, the average guy in the audience with a
minor problem is sure he can be healed. The room is charged with fear,
guilt, intense excitement, and expectations.
Now those who want to be healed are frequently lined up
around the edge of the room, or they are told to come down to the front.
The preacher might touch them on the head firmly and scream, "Be healed!"
This releases the psychic energy and, for many, catharsis results.
Catharsis is a purging of repressed emotions. Individuals might cry, fall
down or even go into spasms. And if catharsis is effected, they stand a
chance of being healed. In catharsis (one of the three brain phases
mentioned earlier), the brain-slate is temporarily wiped clean and the new
suggestion is accepted.
For some, the healing may be permanent. For many, it
will last four days to a week, which is, incidentally, how long a hypnotic
suggestion given to a somnambulistic subject will usually last. Even if
the healing doesn't last, if they come back every week, the power of
suggestion may continually override the problem...or sometimes, sadly, it
can mask a physical problem which could prove to be very detrimental to
the individual in the long run.
I'm not saying that legitimate healings do not take
place. They do. Maybe the individual was ready to let go of the negativity
that caused the problem in the first place; maybe it was the work of God.
Yet I contend that it can be explained with existing knowledge of
brain/mind function.
The techniques and staging will vary from church to
church. Many use "speaking in tongues" to generate catharsis in some while
the spectacle creates intense excitement in the observers.
The use of hypnotic techniques by religions is
sophisticated, and professionals are assuring that they become even more
effective. A man in Los Angeles is designing, building, and reworking a
lot of churches around the country. He tells ministers what they need and
how to use it. This man's track record indicates that the congregation and
the monetary income will double if the minister follows his instructions.
He admits that about 80 percent of his efforts are in the sound system and
lighting.
Powerful sound and the proper use of lighting are of
primary importance in inducing an altered state of consciousness--I've
been using them for years in my own seminars. However, my participants are
fully aware of the process and what they can expect as a result of their
participation.
Cults and human-potential organizations are always
looking for new converts. To attain them, they must also create a
brain-phase. And they often need to do it within a short space of time--a
weekend, or maybe even a day. The following are the six primary techniques
used to generate the conversion.
The meeting or training takes place in an area where
participants are cut off from the outside world. This may be any place: a
private home, a remote or rural setting, or even a hotel ballroom where
the participants are allowed only limited bathroom usage. In
human-potential trainings, the controllers will give a lengthy talk about
the importance of "keeping agreements" in life. The participants are told
that if they don't keep agreements, their life will never work. It's a
good idea to keep agreements, but the controllers are subverting a
positive human value for selfish purposes. The participants vow to
themselves and their trainer that they will keep their agreements. Anyone
who does not will be intimidated into agreement or forced to leave. The
next step is to agree to complete training, thus assuring a high
percentage of conversions for the organizations.
They will usually have to agree not to take drugs,
smoke, and sometimes not to eat...or they are given such short meal breaks
that it creates tension. The real reason for the agreements is to alter
internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and hopefully causes at least
a slight malfunction of the nervous system, which in turn increases the
conversion potential.
Before the gathering is complete, the agreements will
be used to ensure that the new converts go out and find new participants.
They are intimidated into agreeing to do so before they leave. Since the
importance of keeping agreements is so high on their priority list, the
converts will twist the arms of everyone they know, attempting to talk
them into attending a free introductory session offered at a future date
by the organization. The new converts are zealots. In fact, the inside
term for merchandising the largest and most successful human-potential
training is, "sell it by zealot!"
At least a million people are graduates and a good
percentage have been left with a mental activation button that assures
their future loyalty and assistance if the guru figure or organization
calls. Think about the potential political implications of hundreds of
thousands of zealots programmed to campaign for their guru.
Be wary of an organization of this type that offers
follow-up sessions after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might be weekly
meetings or inexpensive seminars given on a regular basis which the
organization will attempt to talk you into taking--or any regularly
scheduled event used to maintain control. As the early Christian
revivalists found, long-term control is dependent upon a good follow-up
system.
Alright. Now, let's look at the second tip-off that
indicates conversion tactics are being used. A schedule is maintained that
causes physical and mental fatigue. This is primarily accomplished by long
hours in which the participants are given no opportunity for relaxation or
reflection.
The third tip-off: techniques used to increase the
tension in the room or environment.
Number four: Uncertainty. I could spend hours relating
various techniques to increase tension and generate uncertainty.
Basically, the participants are concerned about being "put on the spot" or
encountered by the trainers, guilt feelings are played upon, participants
are tempted to verbally relate their innermost secrets to the other
participants or forced to take part in activities that emphasize removing
their masks. One of the most successful human-potential seminars forces
the participants to stand on a stage in front of the entire audience while
being verbally attacked by the trainers. A public opinion poll, conducted
a few years ago, showed that the number one most-fearful situation an
individual could encounter is to speak to an audience. It ranked above
window washing outside the 85th floor of an office building.
So you can imagine the fear and tension this situation
generates within the participants. Many faint, but most cope with the
stress by mentally going away. They literally go into an alpha state,
which automatically makes them many times as suggestible as they normally
are. And another loop of the downward spiral into conversion is
successfully effected.
The fifth clue that conversion tactics are being used
is the introduction of jargon--new terms that have meaning only to the
"insiders" who participate. Vicious language is also frequently used,
purposely, to make participants uncomfortable.
The final tip-off is that there is no humor in the
communications...at least until the participants are converted. Then,
merry-making and humor are highly desirable as symbols of the new joy the
participants have supposedly "found."
I'm not saying that good does not result from
participation in such gatherings. It can and does. But I contend it is
important for people to know what has happened and to be aware that
continual involvement may not be in their best interest.
Over the years, I've conducted professional seminars to
teach people to be hypnotists, trainers, and counselors. I've had many of
those who conduct trainings and rallies come to me and say, "I'm here
because I know that what I'm doing works, but I don't know why." After
showing them how and why, many have gotten out of the business or have
decided to approach it differently or in a much more loving and supportive
manner.
Many of these trainers have become personal friends,
and it scares us all to have experienced the power of one person with a
microphone and a room full of people. Add a little charisma and you can
count on a high percentage of conversions. The sad truth is that a high
percentage of people want to give away their power--they are true
"believers"!
Cult gatherings or human-potential trainings are an
ideal environment to observe first-hand what is technically called the
"Stockholm Syndrome." This is a situation in which those who are
intimidated, controlled, or made to suffer, begin to love, admire, and
even sometimes sexually desire their controllers or captors.
But let me inject a word of warning here: If you think
you can attend such gatherings and not be affected, you are probably
wrong. A perfect example is the case of a woman who went to Haiti on a
Guggenheim Fellowship to study Haitian Voodoo. In her report, she related
how the music eventually induced uncontrollable bodily movement and an
altered state of consciousness. Although she understood the process and
thought herself above it, when she began to feel herself become vulnerable
to the music, she attempted to fight it and turned away. Anger or
resistance almost always assures conversion. A few moments later she was
possessed by the music and began dancing in a trance around the Voodoo
meeting house. A brain phase had been induced by the music and excitement,
and she awoke feeling reborn.
The only hope of attending such gatherings without
being affected is to be a Buddha and allow no positive or negative
emotions to surface. Few people are capable of such detachment.
Before I go on, let's go back to the six tip-offs to
conversion. I want to mention the United States Government and military
boot camp. The Marine Corps talks about breaking men down before
"rebuilding" them as new men--as marines! Well, that is exactly what they
do, the same way a cult breaks its people down and rebuilds them as happy
flower sellers on your local street corner. Every one of the six
conversion techniques are used in boot camp. Considering the needs of the
military, I'm not making a judgment as to whether that is good or bad. IT
IS A fact that the men are effectively brainwashed. Those who won't submit
must be discharged or spend much of their time in the brig.
Once the initial conversion is effected, cults, armed
services, and similar groups cannot have cynicism among their members.
Members must respond to commands and do as they are told, otherwise they
are dangerous to the organizational control. This is normally accomplished
as a three-step ~ Decognition Process.
Step One is alertness reduction: The controllers cause
the nervous system to malfunction, making it difficult to distinguish
between fantasy and reality. This can be accomplished in several ways.
poor diet is one; watch out for Brownies and Koolaid. The sugar throws the
nervous system off. More subtle is the "spiritual diet" used by many
cults. They eat only vegetables and fruits; without the grounding of
grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products, fish or meat, an individual becomes
mentally "spacey." Inadequate sleep is another primary way to reduce
alertness, especially when combined with long hours of work or intense
physical activity. Also, being bombarded with intense and unique
experiences achieves the same result.
Step Two is programmed confusion: You are mentally
assaulted while your alertness is being reduced as in Step One. This is
accomplished with a deluge of new information, lectures, discussion
groups, encounters or one-to-one processing, which usually amounts to the
controller bombarding the individual with questions. During this phase of
decognition, reality and illusion often merge and perverted logic is
likely to be accepted.
Step Three is thought stopping: Techniques are used to
cause the mind to go "flat." These are altered-state-of-consciousness
techniques that initially induce calmness by giving the mind something
simple to deal with and focusing awareness. The continued use brings on a
feeling of elation and eventually hallucination. The result is the
reduction of thought and eventually, if used long enough, the cessation of
all thought and withdrawal from everyone and everything except that which
the controllers direct. The takeover is then complete. It is important to
be aware that when members or participants are instructed to use
"thought-stopping" techniques, they are told that they will benefit by so
doing: they will become "better soldiers" or "find enlightenment."
There are three primary techniques used for thought
stopping. The first is marching: the thump, thump, thump beat literally
generates self-hypnosis and thus great susceptibility to suggestion.
The second thought stopping technique is meditation. If
you spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in meditation, after a few
weeks, there is a great probability that you will not return to full beta
consciousness. You will remain in a fixed state of alpha for as long as
you continue to meditate. I'm not saying this is bad--if you do it
yourself. It may be very beneficial. But it is a fact that you are causing
your mind to go flat. I've worked with meditators on an EEG machine and
the results are conclusive: the more you meditate, the flatter your mind
becomes until, eventually and especially if used to excess or in
combination with decognition, all thought ceases. Some spiritual groups
see this as nirvana--which is bullshit. It is simply a predictable
physiological result. And if heaven on earth is non-thinking and
non-involvement, I really question why we are here.
The third thought-stopping technique is chanting, and
often chanting in meditation. "Speaking in tongues" could also be included
in this category.
All three-stopping techniques produce an altered state
of consciousness. This may be very good if you are controlling the
process, for you also control the input. I personally use at least one
self-hypnosis programming session every day and I know how beneficial it
is for me. But you need to know if you use these techniques to the degree
of remaining continually in alpha that, although you'll be very mellow,
you'll also be more suggestible.
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 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 embedded 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.
Subliminals are hidden suggestions that only your
subconscious perceives. They can be audio, hidden behind music, or visual,
airbrushed into a picture, flashed on a screen so fast that you don't
consciously see them, or cleverly incorporated into a picture or design.
Most audio subliminal reprogramming tapes offer verbal
suggestions recorded at a low volume. I question the efficacy of this
technique--if subliminals are not perceptible, they cannot be effective,
and subliminals recorded below the audible threshold are therefore
useless. The oldest audio subliminal technique uses a voice that follows
the volume of the music so subliminals are impossible to detect without a
parametric equalizer. But this technique is patented and, when I wanted to
develop my own line of subliminal audiocassettes, negotiations with the
patent holder proved to be unsatisfactory.
My attorney obtained copies of the patents which I gave
to some talented Hollywood sound engineers, asking them to create a new
technique. They found a way to psycho-acoustically modify and synthesize
the suggestions so that they are projected in the same chord and frequency
as the music, thus giving them the effect of being part of the music. But
we found that in using this technique, there is no way to reduce various
frequencies to detect the subliminals. In other words, although the
suggestions are being heard by the subconscious mind, they cannot be
monitored with even the most sophisticated equipment.
If we were able to come up with this technique as
easily as we did, I can only imagine how sophisticated the technology has
become, with unlimited government or advertising funding. And I shudder to
think about the propaganda and commercial manipulation that we are exposed
to on a daily basis. There is simply no way to know what is behind the
music you hear. It may even be possible to hide a second voice behind the
voice to which you are listening.
The series by Wilson Bryan Key, Ph.D., on subliminals
in advertising and political campaigns well documents the misuse in many
areas, especially printed advertising in newspapers, magazines, and
posters.
Does Subliminal
Programming Works?
The big question about subliminals is: do they
work? And I guarantee you they do. Not only from the response of those who
have used my tapes, but from the results of such programs as the
subliminals behind the music in department stores. Supposedly, the only
message is instructions to not steal: one East Coast department store
chain reported a 37 percent reduction in thefts in the first nine months
of testing.
A 1984 article in the technical newsletter, "Brain-Mind
Bulletin," states that as much as 99 percent of our cognitive activity may
be "non-conscious," according to the director of the Laboratory for
Cognitive Psychophysiology at the University of Illinois. The lengthy
report ends with the statement, "these findings support the use of
subliminal approaches such as taped suggestions for weight loss and the
therapeutic use of hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming."
I could relate many stories that support subliminal
programming, but I'd rather use my time to make you aware of even more
subtle uses of such programming.
I have personally experienced sitting in a Los Angeles
auditorium with over ten thousand people who were gathered to listen to a
current charismatic figure. Twenty minutes after entering the auditorium,
I became aware that I was going in and out of an altered state. Those
accompanying me experienced the same thing. Since it is our business, we
were aware of what was happening, but those around us were not. By careful
observation, what appeared to be spontaneous demonstrations were, in fact,
artful manipulations. The only way I could figure that the eyes-open
trance had been induced was that a 6- to 7-cycle-per-second vibration was
being piped into the room behind the air conditioner sound. That
particular vibration generates alpha, which would render the audience
highly susceptible. Ten to 25 percent of the population is capable of a
somnambulistic level of altered states of consciousness; for these people,
the suggestions of the speaker, if non-threatening, could potentially be
accepted as "commands."
This leads to the mention of vibrato. Vibrato is the
tremulous effect imparted in some vocal or instrumental music, and the
cyle-per-second range causes people to go into an altered state of
consciousness. At one period of English history, singers whose voices
contained pronounced vibrato were not allowed to perform publicly because
listeners would go into an altered state and have fantasies, often sexual
in nature.
People who attend opera or enjoy listening to singers
like Mario Lanza are familiar with this altered state induced by the
performers.
Now, let's carry this awareness a little farther. There
are also inaudible ELFs (extra-low frequency waves). These are
electromagnetic in nature. One of the primary uses of ELFs is to
communicate with our submarines. Dr. Andrija Puharich, a highly respected
researcher, in an attempt to warn U.S. officials about Russian use of ELFs,
set up an experiment. Volunteers were wired so their brain waves could be
measured on an EEG. They were sealed in a metal room that could not be
penetrated by a normal signal.
Puharich then beamed ELF waves at the volunteers. ELFs
go right through the earth and, of course, right through metal walls.
Those inside couldn't know if the signal was or was not being sent. And
Puharich watched the reactions on the technical equipment: 30 percent of
those inside the room were taken over by the ELF signal in six to ten
seconds.
When I say "taken over," I mean that their behavior
followed the changes anticipated at very precise frequencies. Waves below
6 cycles per second caused the subjects to become very emotionally upset,
and even disrupted bodily functions. At 8.2 cycles, they felt very
high...an elevated feeling, as though they had been in masterful
meditation, learned over a period of years. Eleven to 11.3 cycles induced
waves of depressed agitation leading to riotous behavior.
Dr. Patrick Flanagan is a personal friend of mine. In
the early 1960s, as a teenager, Pat was listed as one of the top
scientists in the world by "Life" magazine. Among his many inventions was
a device he called the Neurophone--an electronic instrument that can
successfully program suggestions directly through contact with the skin.
When he attempted to patent the device, the government demanded that he
prove it worked. When he did, the National Security Agency confiscated the
neurophone. It took Pat two years of legal battle to get his invention
back.
In using the device, you don't hear or see a thing; it
is applied to the skin, which Pat claims is the source of special senses.
The skin contains more sensors for heat, touch, pain, vibration, and
electrical fields than any other part of the human anatomy.
In one of his recent tests, Pat conducted two identical
seminars for a military audience--one seminar one night and one the next
night, because the size of the room was not large enough to accommodate
all of them at one time. When the first group proved to be very cool and
unwilling to respond, Patrick spent the next day making a special tape to
play at the second seminar. The tape instructed the audience to be
extremely warm and responsive and for their hands to become "tingly." The
tape was played through the neurophone, which was connected to a wire he
placed along the ceiling of the room. There were no speakers, so no sound
could be heard, yet the message was successfully transmitted from that
wire directly into the brains of the audience. They were warm and
receptive, their hands tingled and they responded, according to
programming, in other ways that I cannot mention here.
The more we find out about how human beings work
through today's highly advanced technological research, the more we learn
to control human beings. And what probably scares me the most is that the
medium for takeover is already in place. The television set in your living
room and bedroom is doing a lot more than just entertaining you.
Before I continue, let me point out something else
about an altered state of consciousness. When you go into an altered
state, you transfer into right brain, which results in the internal
release of the body's own opiates: enkephalins and Beta-endorphins,
chemically almost identical to opium. In other words, it feels good...and
you want to come back for more.
Recent tests by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that,
while viewers were watching TV, right-brain activity outnumbered
left-brain activity by a ratio of two to one. Put more simply, the viewers
were in an altered state...in trance more often than not. They were
getting their Beta-endorphin "fix."
To measure attention spans, psychophysiologist Thomas
Mulholland of the Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, attached
young viewers to an EEG machine that was wired to shut the TV set off
whenever the children's brains produced a majority of alpha waves.
Although the children were told to concentrate, only a few could keep the
set on for more than 30 seconds!
Most viewers are already hypnotized. To deepen the
trance is easy. One simple way is to place a blank, black frame every 32
frames in the film that is being projected. This creates a
45-beat-per-minute pulsation perceived only by the subconscious mind--the
ideal pace to generate deep hypnosis.
The commercials or suggestions presented following this
alpha-inducing broadcast are much more likely to be accepted by the
viewer. The high percentage of the viewing audience that has
somnambulistic-depth ability could very well accept the suggestions as
commands--as long as those commands did not ask the viewer to do something
contrary to his morals, religion, or self-preservation.
The medium for takeover is here. By the age of 16,
children have spent 10,000 to 15,000 hours watching television--that is
more time than they spend n school! In the average home, the TV set is on
for six hours and 44 minutes per day--an increase of nine minutes from
last year and three times the average rate of increase during the 1970s.
It obviously isn't getting better...we are rapidly
moving into an alpha-level world--very possibly the Orwellian world of
"1984"--placid, glassy-eyed, and responding obediently to instructions.
A research project by Jacob Jacoby, a Purdue University
psychologist, found that of 2,700 people tested, 90 percent misunderstood
even such simple viewing fare as commercials and "Barnaby Jones." Only
minutes after watching, the typical viewer missed 23 to 36 percent of the
questions about what he or she had seen. Of course they did--they were
going in and out of trance! If you go into a deep trance, you must be
instructed to remember--otherwise you automatically forget.
I have just touched the tip of the iceberg. When you
start to combine subliminal messages behind the music, subliminal visuals
projected on the screen, hypnotically produced visual effects, sustained
musical beats at a trance-inducing pace . . . you have extremely effective
brainwashing. Every hour that you spend watching the TV set you become
more conditioned. And, in case you thought there was a law against any of
these things, guess again. There isn't! There are a lot of powerful people
who obviously prefer things exactly the way they are. Maybe they have
plans for...?
Modified for WWW distribution May 27/95 by Dynamic
Living Media
May be freely copied and reproduced complete with all graphics.
Neither the editor nor the publisher know the current whereabouts of Dick
Sutphen. Please conduct searches for the author through the usual
channels.
See also
What is Mind Control?
Essential
Silver,
What are stem cell enhancers? 