CULTS – PERSUASION

A term often used when describing cult activity is ‘brain-washing’. I’m not quite sure what this means. Maybe it’s nonsense. Certainly things happen with the mind of the disciple, but ‘brain-washing’ seems a pointless term.
To understand what really goes on between guru and disciple, we need to get to grips with the natural ability of the mind to be persuaded. And it is this that the cult guru is an expert at.

TRANSFERENCE

The first thing a guru needs to do when he has a new disciple under his influence is to become his counselor. The disciple feels he needs this, as he wouldn’t be there if he didn’t have searching questions or frustrations.
An old psycho-analyst’s trick then comes into play. The guru appears to be a blank receptor for any ‘issues’ the disciple wants to get off his chest. In no time at all the disciple is telling the guru everything, the latter becoming a conduit and soaking up these issues until the guru and disciple appear as one mind.
The disciple is now hooked, the guru becoming a sympathetic mirror of himself. And it is here that this psychological interplay becomes a two-way street. For now the guru can pass his ‘issues’ into the mind of the disciple, confirming his beliefs.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCING

This ‘trick’ is thought to be behind the phenomenon of False Memory, implanting thoughts and ideas the person thinks are real. And a vital factor in the interplay is to now convince the disciple that the guru has the only system worth following.
This is achieved by blaming the society ‘outside’ for all the disciple’s problems. These problems are usually down to the disciple himself, but by laying the ‘blame’ on society, the guru can confirm that he, and only he, is his saviour.
Known as ‘psychological distancing’, once complete, the disciple is more than happy to accept that only the guru is worth following, and in following him, he is protected from outside influences, which caused his problems in the first place.

© Anthony North, May 2007

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