theMormonMind

During my years as a member of the Church, I never questioned my belief in my free agency.  I was certain that I was completely free to make any choice I wanted, and to think any way I wanted. 

But after leaving the Church, I came to the shocking realization that my thoughts and choices were not entirely my own.

I just finished reading an informative book by Steven Hassan entitled Combatting Cult Mind Control (Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 1990).  Now, before you jump to any conclusions, let me point out that Mr. Hassan does not mention Mormonism even once in his book.  So, it’s not “anti-Mormon literature” or anything of the sort.  Mr. Hassan was a former member of the “Moonies” cult, and now provides exit-counseling to former members of destructive cults.  His book is clearly written and contains a wealth of information on the techniques used by these cults to control the minds of their members.

Reading his book was an eye-opening experience for me.  As I progressed through its chapters, I was shocked to discover that many of the methods he describes are, in fact, used in the Church.  I’m not labeling the Church as a “destructive cult,” so don’t misunderstand me on this.  On the whole, I don’t believe the Church completely fits Mr. Hassan’s definition.  However, I found there to be a frighteningly high degree of overlap.  And I suppose that what made this discovery “frightening” to me was that I had been a member for so long and had never even noticed.

What I would like to do here is list some of these methods, straight from Mr. Hassan’s text, without any comments from me.  If you are or were a Latter-Day Saint, I’m betting that these will jump off the page at you, and that you will immediately notice the parallels within the Church.

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“The Moonies do a very thorough job of convincing people that former members are satanic and that even being in their presence could be dangerous.” (p. 3)

“…the Unification Church keeps its vital statistics as secret as possible….” (p. 6)

“…we also used psychological pressure to convince members to turn over all their personal possessions and wealth to the church.” (p. 6)

“If [members] snap from the pressure and begin to challenge their leaders’ authority or otherwise fall out of line, they are accused of being influenced by Satan….” (p. 7)

“It is remarkable that so many people become involved with the [Unification] church while knowing absolutely nothing about it or about [Sun Myung] Moon’s background.” (p. 8 )

“These people [cult members] related to each other as easily as brothers and sisters and clearly felt they were part of one global family.” (p. 13)

“The most powerful of Mr. Miller’s [a cult leader] lectures that day was called ‘The History of Restoration.’  It claimed to be a precise and accurate map of God’s method for directing mankind back to His original intention.” (p. 17)

“[After hearing one of the cult’s introductory lessons, Hassan’s escort] begged me to pray about what I had just heard.” (p. 17)

“After several earnest days of prayer, I received what I thought was the ’sign.’ ” (p. 18)

“I can also see very clearly that the higher I rose in the hierarchy, the more corrupt I became: Moon was making us over in his image.  Once he actually told the leaders that if we remained faithful and carried out our missions well, we would each be President of our own country one day.” (p. 20)

“[I] was instructed to drop out of school, quit my job, and move into the center.  My hair was cut short and I started to wear a suit and tie.” (pp. 20-21)

“I learned how to fast….” (p. 21)

“During my time in the group, I was directly involved in numerous political demonstrations, although they were usually organized under the names of front groups.” (p. 21)

“There had been a good deal of public exposure to the group’s activities, and we felt the full brunt of public ‘persecution.’  We truly identified with the early Christians: the more people opposed us, the more committed we felt.” (p. 24)

“It was as if we were God’s army in the middle of a spiritual war….” (p. 24)

“I was still thinking somewhat in black and white terms: good versus evil, us versus them.” (p. 30)

“In the United States, cults exert tremendous economic clout by buying up huge blocks of real estate and taking over hundreds of businesses.” (p. 36)

“Members are taught to suppress any negative feelings they have about the group and always show a continually smiling, ‘happy’ face.” (p. 41)

“For the most part, these people were ‘wide open,’ and really recruited themselves.  It was always amazing to me to realize how many people in this category told us they had just been praying to God to show them what He wanted them to do with their lives.  Many believed they were ’spiritually’ led to meet one of our members.  With them it was simply a matter of sharing our ‘testimonies’ with them to convince them they had been led to us by God.” (p. 42)

“Today, it is also quite common for some cult groups to spend huge sums of money on public relations firms.  They paytop dollar to experts to help them make a positive ‘image’ which will enable them to be more effective in pursuing their hidden agendas.  They hire marketing specialists to design their recruitment campaigns.” (p. 42)

“In some cults, members are systematically made to be phobic about ever leaving the group.  Today’s cults know how to effectively implant vivid negative images deep within members’ unconscious minds, making it impossible for the member to even conceive of ever being happy and successful outside of the group.” (p. 45, emphasis in original)

“Members truly believe they will be destroyed if they leave the safety of the group.  They think there are no other ways for them to grow — spiritually, intellectually, or emotionally.  They are virtually enslaved by this mind control technique.” (p. 46)

“People [in the cult] are made to feel that some personal or spiritual weakness is the cause for their medical problems.  All they need to do is repent and work harder, and the problem will go away.” (p. 50)

“[Cult members] are taught that the world is a hostile, evil place, and are forced to depend on cult doctrine to understand reality.” (p. 51)

“In destructive cults there is always something to do.” (p. 60)

“In many cults people eat together, work together, have group meetings, and sometimes sleep together in the same room.  Individualism is discouraged.  People may be assigned a constant ‘buddy’….” (p. 60)

“The chain of command in cults is usually authoritarian, flowing from the leader through his lieutenants to their sub-leaders down to the rank and file.” (pp. 60-61)

“Each particular group has its own distinctive set of ritual behaviors that help bind it together.  These can include mannerisms of speech, posture, and facial expressions as well as the more traditional ways of representing group belief.” (p. 61)

“In totalistic cults, the ideology is internalized as ‘the truth,’ the only ‘map’ of reality….Usually, the doctrine is absolutist, dividing everything into ‘black versus white,’ ‘us versus them.’  All that is good is embodied in the leader and the group.  All that is bad is on the outside.” (p. 61)

“A member need not think for himself because the doctrine does the thinking for him.” (p. 61)

“If information transmitted to a cult member is perceived as an attack on either the leader, the doctrine, or the group, a hostile wall goes up.  Members are trained to disbelieve any criticism.  Critical words have been explained away in advance as ‘the lies about us that Satan puts in peoples’ minds’ or ‘the lies that the World Conspiracy prints in the news media to discredit us, because they know we’re onto them.’ ” (p. 62)

“Guilt and fear are necessary tools to keep people under control.  Guilt is probably the single most important emotional lever for producing conformity and compliance.” (p. 63)

“Fear is used to bind the group members together in two ways.  The first is the creation of an outside enemy who is persecuting you….The second is the terror of discovery and punishment by the leaders.” (p. 63)

“Loyalty and devotion are the most highly respected emotions of all.  Members are not allowed to feel or express negative emotions, except toward outsiders.  Members are taught never to feel for themselves or their own needs but always to think of the group and never to complain.  They are never to criticize a leader….” (p. 64)

“Confession of past sins or wrong attitudes is a powerful device for emotional control….” (p. 64)

“The most powerful technique for emotional control is phobia indoctrination….[Members] are told that if they leave they will be lost and defenseless in the face of dark horrors: they’ll go insane, be killed, become drug addicts, or commit suicide.  Actual tales of such cases are constantly told, both in lectures and in hushed tones through informal gossip.  It is nearly impossible for an indoctrinated cult member to feel he can have any security outside the group.” (p. 65)

“People are not allowed to talk to each other about anything critical of the leader, doctrine, or organization.  Members must spy on each other and report improper activities or comments to leaders.” (p. 65)

“Most importantly, people are told to avoid contact with ex-members or critics.  Those who could provide the most information are the ones to be especially shunned.” (p. 65)

“Destructive organizations also control information by having many levels of ‘truth.’  Cult ideologies have ‘outsider’ doctrines and ‘insider’ doctrines.  The outsider material is relatively bland stuff for the general public or fresh converts.  The inner doctrines are unveiled only gradually as a person gets in deeper….If [the cult member] works hard he’ll earn the right to learn the higher levels of truth.” (p. 66)

“….some groups change people’s names in order to hasten the formation of the new ‘cult’ identity.” (p. 66)

“[New members] are told how bad the world is and that the unenlightened have no idea how to fix it.  This is because ordinary people lack the new ‘understanding’ that has been brought by the leader.” (p. 69)

“Behaviors [of potential converts] are shaped subtly at first, then more forcefully.  The material…is doled out gradually, piece by piece, only as fast as the person is deemed ready to assimilate it.  The rule of thumb is ‘Tell him only what he can accept’ …. To rationalize our manipulations we would use this analogy: ‘You wouldn’t feed a baby thick pieces of steak, would you?  You have to feed it something it can digest, like formula.  Well, these people (potential converts) are spiritual babies.  Don’t tell them more than they can handle, or they will die.’ ” (p. 69)

“A common technique among religious cults is to instruct people to ask God what He wants them to do.  Members are exhorted to study and pray in order to know God’s will for them.  It is always implied that joining the group is God’s will and leaving the group is betraying it.” (p. 70)

“[The changing process] includes numerous ’sharing’ sessions with other ordinary members, where past evils are confessed, present success stories are told, and a sense of community is fostered.  These group sessions are very effective in teaching conformity, because the group vigorously reinforces certain behaviors by effusive praise and acknowledgement, while punishing non-group ideas and behaviors with icy silence.” (p. 71)

“…members often learn to speak a distinctive jargon or loaded language of the group.” (p. 72)

“The doctrine must be…symmetrical enough to appear consistent.  Its power comes from its assertion that it is the one and only truth: that it encompasses everything.” (p. 79)

“Since [the doctrine] is the TRUTH, perfect and absolute, any flaw in it is viewed as only a reflection of the believer’s own imperfection.  He is taught that he must follow the prescribed formula even if he doesn’t really understand it.  At the same time he is told that he should try to work harder and have more faith so he will come to understand the truth more clearly.” (p. 79)

“Even the most complex cult doctrines ultimately reduce reality into two basic poles: black versus white; good versus evil; spiritual world versus physical world; us versus them.” (p. 79)

“There is no room for pluralism.  The doctrine allows no outside group to be recognized as valid (good, godly, real) because that would threaten the cult’s monopoly on truth.  There is also no room for interpretation or deviation.  If the doctrine doesn’t provide an answer directly, then the member must ask a leader.” (p. 79)

“Some groups cultivate a psychic paranoia, telling members that spirit beings are constantly observing them….” (p. 79)

“Members are made to feel part of an elite corps of mankind.  This feeling of being special, of participating in the most important acts in human history with a vanguard of committed believers, is strong emotional glue to keep people sacrificing and working hard.” (p. 80)

“As a community, they feel they have been chosen (by God, history, or some other supernatural force) to lead mankind out of darkness into a new age of enlightenment.  Cult members have a great sense not only of mission but of their special place in history — they will be recognized for their greatness for generations to come.” (p. 80)

“In the end, of course, the real power elite stays small.  Most members do not become leaders but stay among the rank and file.” (p. 80)

“Nevertheless, [cult members] consider themselves better, more knowledgeable, and more powerful than anyone else in the world.  As a result, cult members often feel more responsible than they have ever felt in their lives.  They walk around feeling as though the world sits on their shoulders.” (p. 80)

“Absolute obedience to superiors is one of the most universal themes in cults.  Individuality is bad.  Conformity is good.” (p. 80)

“A cultist’s entire sense of reality becomes externally referenced: he learns to ignore his inner self and trust the external authority figure.  He learns to look to others for direction and meaning….In this state of extreme dependency, members need someone to tell them what to think, feel, and do.” (p. 81)

“In every destructive cult I have encountered, fear is a major motivator.  Each group has its devil lurking around the corner waiting for members to tempt and seduce, to kill or to drive insane.” (p. 82)

“Many groups teach that the apocalypse is just around the corner.” (p. 83)

“In most groups the leader claims to control, or at least to have unique knowledge of, the future.  He knows how to paint visions of future heaven and hell to move members this way or that.”  (p. 83)

“Members are thoroughly indoctrinated with the belief that if they ever do leave, terrible consequences will befall them, their family, and/or mankind.” (p. 84)

“…in the eyes of a destructive cult, there is no ‘legitimate’ reason for a person to ever leave the group.” (p. 104)

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So, there you have it.  I can’t really imagine a member of the Church reading through this list and not being struck by the presence of several parallels.  I know that when I finished the book, I was quite taken aback.

Does the Church really employ mind control techniques?  I’m not sure how someone can reasonably ignore all of this evidence.  If these techniques are employed, is it done consciously by the leaders, or is it just a natural development of the doctrine and teachings of the Church?  To my mind, neither choice is satisfactory.  Mr. Hassan poses the question: “Does the God I believe in need to use deception and mind control?  Do the ends truly justify the means?” (p. 54)

So, what do you think about all this?  Are you sure that what you’re thinking is what you’re thinking?