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
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.

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 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."

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 Armegeddon.
    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 consciousnes--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.

Six Conversion Techniques

    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 judgement 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.

Decognition Process

    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.

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.

Subliminal Programming

    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.
    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."

Mass Misuse

    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."

Vibrato

    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.

ELFs

    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.

The Neurophone

    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 programm 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 livingroom 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?