They say that they want everybody to be singing the same way.
Why? As long as the tune and words are right, who cares if they sing exactly the same way?
LOL: Maybe there's subliminal messages in the CDs....just kidding...I think.
Is it true that the WT uses hypnosis covertly during KH meetings?
by seatrout 38 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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journey-on
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hamsterbait
What was that SciFi movie, where convention reps were hypnotized and remembered nothing?
One guy had to hide that he had not been "put under".
I don't go to ASSemblies now, but people who come back sure sound as if they had been given some kind of psycho programming.
HB
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sspo
Yes, as elders we received special training as we gave talks to hypnotize the audience and influence them to do more and give more to the Faithful and discreet slave.
It worked, that's why the watchtower is one of the richest organization around with millions ready to jump off a cliff if told so by the FDS
They are all in a hypnotized state.
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OnTheWayOut
If you have been to the meetings for years, there is a trigger-phrase that
will cause you to liquidate all your assets, give them to the WTS, then commit
suicide. The song CD's reinforce the command. All Watchtower study articles
have the message hidden in them, but it takes about 5 years of hearing the
readings for it to take over your free will. The phrase is ridiculous and you
wouldn't hear it anywhere else but at the Kingdom Hall (or an assembly).I will reveal the phrase now, but please do not read this out loud, or else you
will still most likely donate your savings and kill yourself. The phrase is
"Jehovah's Faithful and Discreet Slave has become our Master." -
Sarah Smiles
I think the songs will put YOU in a trance!
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greendawn
It's not likely that they do though they us eclever mind trickery that acts directly on the subconscious mind evading detection by the conscious mind. It has effects taht go unperceived in other words and it can take a long time to pinpoint and destroy once a person severs the connection with the devious cult.
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carla
Here is an interesting article on the subject -
http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=6
Cult, Hypnosis & Thought Reform
Everyone experiences some form of altered state of consciousness at some time in their life. Whenever we become wrapped in a movie, focus on a new task or prayer, daydream, or even wandering back in our minds to times past etc we are experiencing an altered state of consciousness or a trance-state. These dissociated states of consciousness are not difficult to bring about and one does not need a hypnotist to go into this type of trance.
Contrary to popular belief, one does not empty one’s mind to enter the trance state. Rather one has to actually focus on something tangible such as a voice, prayer, an object, a movie, etc. In fact, the mind has to be actively concentrating on this object during a trance induction.
For example, guided imagery is an excellent method of induction. One can facilitate trance induction by saying “Imagine that x .....” or “Relax and picture yourself when you were 5 ....” etc. So receptive is the mind to imagery that if someone were to ask you for directions to a place you know well you would probably automatically picture the place they are asking for in your mind as you describe how to get there.
The point that must be remembered is that one does not have to use the word “hypnosis” to induce a hypnotic state. All one needs to do is have the person’s interest absorbed or focussed on something. Once the hypnotic trance has taken place any post-hypnotic suggestion can be implanted in the individual and from then on the individual will obey those suggestions and to the world will look quite normal. All that is required is that the suggestions be re-enforced on a regular basis. Hence the constant repetitive indoctrination in the cults.
In the cults this type of state will and often is induced to prepare and keep someone in the re-education process. Most people believe that hypnosis is sleep, or needs to follow a set pattern to induce someone into a trance, but this is not the case at all. The trance state can be induced in many ways and most people are not aware when they are being induced into the trance state.
In the thought reform environment the first encounter a person will have is with the cults sales pitch. This is the communication process that gets their attention in the first place. From there they individual will be introduced to the various forms of manipulation that will make them more and more suggestible as time goes on.
For example, some types of induction into altered states of consciousness include guided imagery, sensitivity training, reverie, meditation, disguised hypnosis techniques (relaxation training), behaviour modification, repetitive singing or continually repeated trigger phrases or words. Communication techniques similar to Neuro Linguistic Programming are also used. The cults have become very adept at stimulating and maintaining the suggestibility and thought distortion in their recruits.
Generally you will find one of the following combinations in the thought reform environment:
- Confinement (communal) + thought reform practices
- Self Hypnosis/Meditation + thought reform practices
- Deprivation + thought reform practices
- Prolonged sensitivity training + thought reform practices
- Intense repetition & physical/emotional exhaustion + though reform practices
Added to this environment is the peer pressure which manipulates the recruit into compliance. This is done through psychological and/or physical rewards for conforming to the group ideal and some form of punishment for not conforming.
It can be argued that these techniques are legally defined as UNDUE INFLUENCE. According to Black’s Law Dictionary;
Undue Influence: Persuasion, pressure, or influence short of actual force, but stronger than mere advice, that so overpowers the dominated party’s free will or judgment that he or she cannot act intelligently and voluntarily, but acts, instead, subject to the will or purposes of the dominating party. (page 1528)
Recommended reading on how you can detect when someone is using manipulative and/or deliberate language patterns to slip ideas past you are the books The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense by Susan Haden Elgin and Trance Formations - Neuro-Linquistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis by John Grinder and Richard Bandler.
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brinjen
I think they do use a form of hypnosis... it's called 'Repetition For Emphasis'. Like the craptower study where the paragraphs are read, then the questions then half a dozen answers straight from the mag. After you've already done a similar study at home yourself. As for subliminal messages etc, no they don't use those.
I think Heathen's experience could quite easily be explained if the congregation was using a wireless microphone system (in my experience, most do). It's not hard for someone (like a prankster) to find what frequency these systems use, they are heavily regulated by the ACMA (or equiv U.S. system). If all else fails, all someone would have to do is stand near a KH with a scanner and find out that way. From there, it would be pretty easy to stand near the hall somewhere and talk over their microphone system. No magic tricks.
It could even have been frequency splatter. Happened with the local KH here a couple of years ago. They were splattering an amateur repeater located 1/2 a km away, they were using a frequency that was a few megahertz apart from the one the repeater was on. Anyone trying to use this repeater when there was a meeting on found it impossible as the dubs kept going over their signal (as they were located much closer to the repeater).
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jgnat
Not hypnosis in the classic sense where the person is "taken over" against their will. After all, their indoctrination techniques have had no effect on me, except that I now pick apart the logical fallacies and manipulative language in my own pastor's sermons. As others have said, the repetitive same-ness induces a trance-like state, where the person is more open to suggestion.
Consider how many times a Watchtower article is "gone over" by the reader:
- Read the paragraph.
- Read the question, then re-read the paragraph and highlight the "right answer".
- Have the paragraph read to you again in the meeting.
- Hear the question and respond with the "right answer"
- Respond again with the "right answer" at the "Do you Recall?" review at the end.
I've heard entire public talks dedicated to how to "Keep Attention" at the meetings. There is no word about how freaking boring the entire process is. Instead the listeners are encouraged to READ THE HEADINGS and MEDITATE on the topic at hand.
Listeners are coached on how to respond to negative information. I remember one convention (Saturday Afternoons seem reserved for Apostates) where the speaker said that Apostates will spin you around like a merry-go-round, their words make you dizzy. The response is to cling ever harder to the "truth" until the dizziness passes. Not a week later, I engaged an apologist on this board who told me I was twisting them around and making them dizzy. Power of suggestion? I think so!
Consider also how re-definition of common words have a trigger-effect on a Witness and former Witness. For instance, the "Truth", "Conscience Matter", and "Wait on Jehovah".
Also, I wouldn't say the society "covertly" uses the power of suggeston in the meetings. I think they are quite open about it.
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still_in74
I can say that there was one time that they used electronic deception and there are times I think they use some sort of gas in the air conditioning
you are joking right? I mean seriously......
there was one time I heard a voice talk over the guy on stage , don't know where it came from and for the longest time thought I had some sort of religious experience
I remember as kid working at the mighty Burger King one day we heard voices coming over our internal PA, it was a guy talking on a CB radio. Apparently it was far more common years ago when these types of PA systems were much more vulnerable to other signals. Some people knew this and would taunt us lowely burger flippers from the parking lot!! It was actually pretty funny....
Perhaps this was the case????
