This is from my files. I like it a lot. I didn't write it. I can't remember who wrote it.
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The Art of Inculcation
The word inculcate comes from the Latin word inculcatus, which means 'to trample' (from calx, calc-, heel) Inculcation is a unique type of instruction that is designed to slowly trample down an individual's reasoning ability and self-worth. As self-worth wanes, faith-in-self is replaced by faith in the organization doing the inculcating. Religious organizations that inculcate prefer to describe their activities with euphemisms like religious instruction or religious training..
The word religion comes from the Latin word ligare, which means 'to bind'. An English derivative is the word ligature. When inculcation is combined with religion, an individual can be emotionally trampled down and bound.
The goal is control. Like the Japanese art of binding the growth of a tree
-- bonsai?binding the reasoning ability of a human mind is best begun at an early age.
Some factors that facilitate inculcation are:
*Children need the attention of adults.
* A child equates almost any form of attention with love - - and only rarely looks back objectively for the remainder of his or her life.
* Young children have a tendency to believe what they are told by adults and by older children.
* When a charismatic person passionately believes something?whether it be true or not?he or she becomes a convincing salesman.
* That which children perceive as reality can be molded by repeated suggestion from key adult leaders and peer group pressure.
The targets of inculcation are gently anesthetized by the attention they receive. The perception of love is a potent anesthetic?so few of the children who are being inculcated are likely to realize what is taking place.
Some obstacles to inculcation are:
* Beyond the age of about five years, children become increasingly able to separate reality from fiction.
* The ideas that children are exposed to during inculcation must be protected from open discussion outside the classroom.
The mind of a child can be programmed for a lifetime by adults who operate under the warm, fuzzy aura of love and repeat a blend of truths and myths often enough to make a lasting impression.
There are no deliberately deceptive persons at work here. Those doing the inculcation?the inculcators?were similarly warm-fuzzied and molded by the same techniques during their most impressionable years. The inculcators are sincere, they are innocent victims?and they help to make more innocent victims. We are blinded by what we perceive as love.
Most people need and enjoy open discussion. TV and radio talk shows enjoy high ratings. Talking about problems is how people overcome problems. However, it's also how people separate fact from fiction. Since delusive concepts are vulnerable in the light of day, open discussion is inculcation's eternal enemy. To satisfy the human need to talk things over, carefully-controlled discussion may be incorporated into religious inculcation. To further preclude the possibility of truly open discussion, children may be cautioned (at the risk of being a traitor to 'God's Holy Family') not to discuss everything that goes on in religion class with outsiders. One may presume that dire consequences beyond the grave awaits such traitors.
When an inculcated person reaches a specified age, usually between the ages of eight to sixteen, he or she will be called upon to formally join the organization. The initiation ceremony is sometimes called confirmation. The initiate confirms the church hierarchy's teaching and thereby submits to the authority of the hierarchy and its dominant male. The person who is being confirmed/initiated may be required to kiss the ring of a supposedly superior holy man?the equivalent of kissing the royal ring to show obedience to the king. The name of the game is seemingly submission and domination. The payoff is respect. The respect must be automatic and devoid of consideration as to whether the superior person deserves respect or not.
Ring-kissing is a traditional form of showing respect. Holy men take ring kissing rather seriously. One of the alleged crimes of Joan of Arc (1412?-1431, French name Jeanne d'Arc) -- the 17 year old woman who saved France from the English invaders?was that she did not prevent her admirers from spontaneously kissing a simple ring she wore, inscribed:
"Mary and Jesus." This ring was given to her by Joan's mother and father. For this and other so-called crimes against God's Holy Church?Joan was judged guilty by a panel of priests, raped, and burned alive in an "Act of Faith" celebration.
When inculcated children grow up and have families, they unconsciously assist in preparing their own children for inculcation. Consequently, the inculcators will only need to reinforce and build upon the basics that the children were already exposed to at home.
Inculcation is designed to produce individuals who are dependent on the organization doing the inculcating. The organization claims to have everything of value. The child is expected to show up, show respect, keep quiet, and listen. Inculcation is also designed to produce individuals who bring cash to the organization. In Mormon inculcation classes, giving a minimum of 10% to the church is advanced as an unquestionable holy duty. In the Roman church's inculcation classes, the idea of bringing cash donations is introduced around the age of six.
To keep the ball rolling in a power-bent organized religion, no marriage is performed unless both parties indicate their intention to put their children through the organization's inculcation system. In the event that both parents die, the obligation of exposing the children to the inculcation system falls upon the godparents. All of the bases are covered. As a result, children are likely to be coerced to attend religious inculcation classes as well as religious services. However, when a child is repeatedly coerced or forced into situations where he or she is not given choices, problems can result. One of the most insidious problems is lowered self-esteem.
"If I did not go to Mass, I could not eat that day. The family sat around the table and I was alone in the corner. If I missed confession, I could not eat with the family. Nobody spoke to me. Nobody was allowed to comfort me. All this was done in the name of God. It was the silence that hurt; it is the silence that I remember." - Paul, age 28.
Controlling the reasoning ability and the emotions of a young mind requires less time than one might presume. The Roman church hierarchy has stated that, if they have access to a child through the age of six, that child will be theirs for life. The Mormon church, seems to feel that their inculcation program will have succeeded by the time a child reaches the age of eight.
