I am convinced that Jehovah's Witnesses are under constant brainwashing. In analyzing my behavior within the sect, and observation of other members, I can say with much certainty that they are fully indoctrinated in such a way that their brains are literally disabled when it comes to using powers of reasoning or critical thinking skills. They seldom carefully analyze their beliefs or put into question why they believe in something. If they do, they will evade being impartial in considering the evidence objectively. They will not do a thorough investigation with credible or neutral sources because they are not allowed to investigate freely. In their research, they will avoid any sources that are not acceptable because of the prejudice or negative criteria established by sect, or simply because it does not favor their ideas. They are constantly manipulated by emotions and feelings as they are conditioned to respond to stimuli that is not based on the power to think critically. Rather, they are conditioned and rewarded with stimuli that makes them feel good to believe in something, even if the basis for believing is not very clear; their brains are literally paralyzed to the extent that they are guided by way of feelings and let the cult cloud their worldviews and decisions. Believing something is rewarded by feeling good, where as questioning, where someone can use critical thinking, which involves investigating impartially to find and correlate data that will not always support a theory or belief is penalized.
Jehovah's Witnesses will struggle to do any critical thinking or to question anything because that is considered to be defiant, and that implies wanting to be independent. That in turn imparts a feeling of guilt in wanting to rebel from authority and brings up questions about the humility that is expected of the servants of God. They are accustomed to using faulty circular reasoning and inconsistent information provided by the highest authority the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" that usually twists, takes information out of context and manipulates references to their convenience. By relying on this misleading authority, their ‘logic’ is used erratically and it leads nowhere other than to support their established beliefs. Their arguments will always defend the doctrines imposed by the Watchtower.
If at any moment a member can begin to think on his/her own in an unbiased manner, perhaps questioning any belief or doctrine, a mental block of self-defense to induce guilt and fear is triggered. This starts a chain reaction for the brain to be turned off in order to avoid any questioning. It is really a very basic formula. They have been, literally programmed, like a machine to stop working when something is considered a threat to their survival. The routine is simple, induce emotions like fear, such as the fear of Armageddon, and being ex-communicated (disfellowedshipped) and turn off any critical thinking skills. The brains are indirectly programmed to protect the identity created by the Watchtower (ie, the identity that requires self-sacrifice, a submissive mentality without questioning).
Emotions are basic survival instincts to set priorities according to the degree that something could pose a threat to the life of a person. Fear is a form of self defense mechanism in order to avoid hazards that can cause death. Fear is exploited by cults as an ideal mechanism to subjugate and manipulate the victims. Anything that might endanger their survival is a higher priority. Anything that causes fear will be avoided at all costs. This fear may be real or articial. A person or an entity can create an artificial fear that can make people act irrational, driven entirely by emotions. That is why the sect built the concept of "spiritual conscious" that protects against all ideas that can be considered as an external threat. This acts to protect and enhance mental triggers such as guilt and fear, as a way to reject any ideas or beliefs that can threaten the cult identity. It also urges the victim to fight against the instincts that each human being posses.
These defense mechanisms installed in the minds of the victims act as a "Trojan horse" in their brain. They enter the consciousness of the victim in an innocent way, the ‘knowledge’ is considered of divine source, from the Bible and God Himself. Furthermore, the instruction provided is praised as helpful principles to improve the lives of individuals, which in fact can have a positive effect as way to provide a basic level of education for the person, but at the cost of giving up individual independence and the ability to think for themselves. Clearly, the cult interprets and manipulates the teachings and in a sagacious way, not only enters in the consciousness of the bible student, but in the mind. The victims are often vulnerable people, vulnerable, fragile, idealistic, perhaps looking for a mission or purpose in life. In many cases people who have already hit bottom of the pit by addictions or instability in life due to abuse or trauma, or life experiences. Wanting to fill basic needs, like being part of something, to belong to a group, the sectarian teachings by the cult become something attractive. Thus, the victim is 'bombarded' with love to a degree that makes him/her feel very special. Little by little he is taught by a periodic bible study the importance of adapting to the person of God, to put on the new personality, or reborn, be humble and submit to God. The new bible student is taught that Satan means "adversary," or being "rebellious. " It emphasizes the teaching of not trusting yourself. Therefore, it is wrong to question, investigate other sources, or to desire independence. You have to be subjected, to adhere to God's standards that are enforced and interpreted only by the authority of God on earth, of course, this applies only the Watchtower Society, which acts as the faithful and discreet slave mentioned in the Bible, according to them. The recruit must be loyal to God, through their organization. This is how the strategy of manipulation by the religious organization known as Jehovah's Witnesses or Watchtower (as the legal entity) can be summarized.
This trojan horse acts as a "firewall" or defensive barrier that blocks access to the gates that communicate with the rational brain. This virus installed unethically eliminates any external threat to the doctrines imposed by the cult. This illustration may be the best way to understand the effect they have on the ability to think on a person. They use coercive persuasion or thought control to control a person’s way of being. The cult destroys the ability to trust your own belief system and urge you fight your own powers of reasoning consistently.
Often, the Watchtower emphasizes the teaching not to trust in the heart because it is based on emotions, but ironically, they frequently appeal to the emotions with their teachings based on fear; such as constantly admonish "to be in good standing in order to survive the end of this worldly system of things" coming very soon. They say the heart is treacherous, "you can not trust it. " But in reality, the cult wants to get rid of thoughts of the person, the individuality, the ability to think for yourself and make it look like emotions from heart.
From personal experience and seeing others, a major jolt in life of a person is needed to restart or trigger re-activation of the brain to start thinking again. It requires a big event in personal life in order to begin to question the belief system with logic and objective research using all sources without prejudice. You have to start from scratch. This is the only way to remove the security barrier imposed by the mind control that could allow the brain to start working again.
Al no tener facultad de raciocinio independiente, cualquier explicación proveniente de la Watchtower será suficiente para aceptar sus enseñanzas y doctrinas, no tiene que tener sentido (por ejemplo, "fracciones de la sangre", "el traslape de la generación ", etc. ). With no ability to do any critical thinking, or independent power of reason, any explanation from the Watchtower will be enough to accept their teachings and doctrines, it does not have to make sense (for example, "blood fractions", "the overlap of generation", “disfellowship policy”,etc. ) It only has to make one feel good, be a source comfort, to strengthen the faith or give hope for the future. As bad or wrong as it may be, it simply does not matter, because it is blind faith, which provides for the basic human needs to belong to a group, fellowship, and give hope in a harsh and cruel world. This is the case for the vast majority of witnesses, they continue without thinking. It rewards not to question, not to investigate, not using the powers of the brain. It encourages behavior of submission, accepting without question; this is the only acceptable way to gain status and have a sense of belonging and to continue to advance within the sect. It is the only way to gain power and authority where others can serve oneself in an elevated position imposed by the sect. It only demands loyalty to the authority of this cult.
This sectarian mindset or cult mind control has everything to do with denying yourself as an individual who has free will, to get rid of personal identity. That explains why birthdays are not allowed, anything that exalts individualism, the feeling of independence, or self-indulgence is forbidden (eg, masturbation, etc. ) The importance of the collective, the group, the leadership is always what stands out and given importance. It is always about the great fellowship around the world, God’s chosen people on earth and never about what the individual thinks or represents. The cult victims have to follow what is imposed from the cult leadership.
This is how I can sum up the mind control by the cult and how they have managed to have much control over millions of people who blindly submit themselves through manipulative methods to their detriment as individuals.
More on 'trojan horse' installed by Watchtower on Jehovah's Witness' minds
by TastingFreedom 16 Replies latest jw friends
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TastingFreedom
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LostGeneration
That is great explanation of how the JW mind works. Thank you.
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TastingFreedom
It takes a while to put all the pieces together of the puzzle, but once it is done, it's not so difficult to see how they do it. Once you open your eyes to reality, you can see their moves or the 1s and 0s just like the Matrix movie analogy.
I think we have hacked the virus, we, the survivors, have managed to clean the virus from our minds. Althought, I must admit, their is some residual damage that takes years to purge....You have to rebuild parts of the mind, because the virus didn't allow it to develop! We have to defragment parts of the brain to run smooth and be efficient with thinking.I have to say the JWs don't have monopoly of these mind control methods, I think religion in general manipulate people, but the Watchtower was waay to ambitious and they pushed the envelope. I really think the Watchtower started out as mind control experiment on religion (just like the Mormons, Scientology), measure how far they could go, how much they can get away with, and once they realize there was potential, that people bought the Bullshit, they kept using it as cash cow... Milk the cow, until the cow dies.... or skin the sheep until it dies. Very profitable business empire, but I'm sure there is more to that, it's a constant laboratory experiment to push the limit on Mind Control experiments!!
I think they are getting more sophisticated with the new song books, and changes in doctrines, they will keep evolving, they will keep patching their "bug" or "virus" to make it more sophisticated for anti-viruses... Hope you like the analogy! hahaha -
cyberjesus
Very Good Mr!
I think we have hacked the virus
Al no tener facultad de raciocinio independiente, cualquier explicación proveniente de la Watchtower será suficiente para aceptar sus enseñanzas y doctrinas, no tiene que tener sentido (por ejemplo, "fracciones de la sangre", "el traslape de la generación ", etc. ).
What what? I think the virus kicked in :-0
A person or an entity can create an artificial fear that can make people act irrational, driven entirely by emotions. That is why the sect built the concept of "spiritual conscious" that protects against all ideas that can be considered as an external threat
Are you proposing that Someone created that concept with the purpose of making them act irrational?
I really think the Watchtower started out as mind control experiment on religion (just like the Mormons, Scientology)
Is this a conspiracy theory? Who do you think started the experiment? the US government? the Communists?
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WalkTall
Loved this TastingFreedom. It's a great analogy. I totally understand about the residual damage. I woke up about 5 years ago, but still find myself fighting WT imbedded thoughts and tendencies. So I know parts of the virus are still there, running in the background. It's the knowing that is helping me to fight back, but I have a ways to go yet.
Thanks for the great thread!
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WTWizard
It is like a computer virus--and, looking back at the time I was going into the cancer, I can see it had a virus-like effect on my thinking. But, in my case, it wasn't 100% because I could still use logic to a degree. For instance, I could hear that the end is close and getting closer, and still realize it could mathematically not get here because I did pretty well in algebra. But, once I realized that I was in for a much bigger guilt trip if I made it into the New Dark Ages than anything the witlesses could do now, I realized that I was better off out of the cancer whether or not it was the truth. And, since obviously I could not do fornication, I decided to do apostasy.
However, that doesn't mean total healing. You can remove a virus from your computer, even removing all traces of it and every single file it generated. But, unless you block off the source, the same virus could force itself right back on your computer (whether the way it got on in the first place or a different route). Also, the virus can corrupt other programs on your computer, and this virus can corrupt other thinking processes that will not be normal even after the virus is gone (more so in born-ins and those who joined under duress). Returning these processes to healthy states is more difficult even than removing the virus itself.
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TastingFreedom
Some corrections have been made to this article posted here a few days ago.
It can be found at :
http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7546&p=96804#p96804
En Español se puede encontrar en el siguiente enlace:
Bringing it to the top for those JWs are still struggling within the cult. It may help you to understand how you have been deceived by the Watchtower.
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moshe
Whatever the JW wants to see , they see.
They would just see another book, but maybe you see something else?--
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geevee
Awesome article. I don't often get in here to post these days.... 5 years free!!! But you have summarized it nicely. This is a keeper.
How cool to cut and paste it and send it to all our JW buddies and challenge them to read it!
Most would delete it straight away or stare blankly up into the corner of the ceiling and then delete it!
