TOUKANALIA

'To thine own self be true'

Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'

To read a sequel Blog, please visit https://notincharacter.blogspot.com

Current Blogs are now summarised at www.mindcluk.uk

We've put up more Blogs at:

https://endishtimes.blogspot.com

https://mindcluk.blogspot.com

Anyone interested in biological/technical methods of control, please go to revised Blog https://doubledstandards.blogspot.com and scroll to Invasive Technology.

Do you think vaccines could change someone's personality or behaviour? Might people exaggerate anything that seems unusual, blaming it on vaccination? See Blog at https://characterslide.blogspot.com

For our latest Update, December 2021, just go straight to

https://shieldingtips.blogspot.com

Can we shield ourselves, our living or working space, from outside influences whether that's people, EMF, 5G, activities by a person or group with specialist knowledge or dubious practices? Or? Are any of these similar? 

Most pages have a selection of relevant books that you may not have come across, including on coronavirus, End Times, mind control - what we're calling Mindcluk, cuckooing of the mind. How ideas spread or become 'contagious' via memes, viruses, charisma, cults etc. Also see https://cultwise.blogspot.com

'When rules and law-making, over what people can and cannot do in the privacy of their homes or lives, sound like what comes out of a cult leader's mouth, we all need to worry!'

Social Engineering, or a sociological experiment?

Social Robotics

Human Beings to Become Pets to the Supernatural A.I.

Is this a religion? Social control? Transhumanism?

Joe Allen: joebot.xyz
Human Beings To Become Pets To The Supernatural Artificial Intelligence.
Bannons War Room - December 28, 2021.

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This Blog was largely put together in 2008 and some links have gone down. During 'weeding' we learn there may be problems with links that are not https. Apologies if that causes hassle -  please change the link. Hunt around for sources, or whatever comes to your mind as you search.

June 2021

A temporary lock was placed on my Twitter account for the very first time. I had to delete the following:

Could a #vaccine #combine with #5G? Or xyz? Do your own #research. "#Nerve #cell #proteins, #activated by heat + mechanical pressure can be #genetically #engineered to be sensitive to #radio #waves + #magnetic #fields by attaching to an #iron-storing #protein called #ferritin."

Search for 'ferritin' information going back to before the current vaccination situation. It may not have relevance, but can we not raise questions about any of this? As a delivery driver commented to me in a random conversation, 'This isn't over yet. We all have to look after ourselves.'

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Genetically engineered ‘Magneto’ protein remotely controls brain and behaviour

"Several earlier studies have shown that nerve cell proteins which are activated by heat and mechanical pressure can be genetically engineered so that they become sensitive to radio waves and magnetic fields, by attaching them to an iron-storing protein called ferritin, or to inorganic paramagnetic particles.

https://amp.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2016/mar/24/magneto-remotely-controls-brain-and-behaviour

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Biodigital Convergence, COVID Magnetogenetic Ferritin Vaccines & Big Spikes In Mass Vaccinated Areas

Video from TheLastAmericanVagabond TLAV (section starts about halfway through):

https://odysee.com/@TLAVagabond:5/TDWU-5-17-21:6

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I now have a Twitter ban for 7 days for trying to post this reply to a post:
⁣

A Russian hacker found a database that shows vaccinated people’s info (vital signs, exact GPS coordinates, whether they are sleeping or awake) being uploaded in real time. Ppl who have received the vaccine are being tracked in real time by this Artificial Intelligence 5g system.
⁣https://www.bitchute.com/video/qm2BoE53xjy5/

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5G ?

Certainly, people are getting clamped down on for trying to raise any concerns regarding vaccinations.

But, could it be that there's no particular significance in a combination of 5G and, say the Covid 'vaccine'?

Please watch Dr Katherine Horton:

https://youtu.be/yzBwoJK9GQg

5G as a mass DEW terra-

forming platform for AI 

artificial intelligence.

You thought people were making up scare stories about being targeted, or being paranoid?

Also see books and downloads from Richard Lighthouse.

What is DEW?

Or ERW?

Though It Seems Crazy Now, the Neutron Bomb Was Intended to Be Humane

https://gizmodo.com/though-it-seems-crazy-now-the-neutron-bomb-was-intende-1636604514

Satellites?

What might satellites be able to do? See A New Breed by Dr John Hall.

What can we do and who are these individuals who are trying to control the way the think, feel, act and what we do?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Breed-Satellite-Terrorism-America-ebook/dp/B00N70Z9DI/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Dr+John+hall&qid=1622364647&sr=8-1

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Much of this is heady stuff! Different aspects draw or repel people. See what you think of this interview:

HARALD KAUTZ-VELLA –“Black Goo=Gaia Blood, A.I. Mind Control, Aliens & Narcissism”

http://ageoftruth.tv/harald-kautz-vella-black-googaia-blood-a-i-mind-control-aliens-narcissism/

We think it explains puzzling things, including why 'they' need us to be a few feet apart...

📍        📍

We make no claim to get things right all-the-time. Sometimes we have doubts about a theme, then find reputable researchers backing them up. Or someone seems 'off' and other people feel the same, while to some the approach is helpful.

We have no 'angle', and if an avenue or platform gets blocked, it opens up others.

  📍        📍

AYRWAVE: Louise Ayr

@LouiseAyr

Is stalking a kind of scam, a cuckooing of one's life? Do Cults work by cuckooing the mind, the soul? Watch where you place your trust! Update at Groups, Minds & Beliefs: Protection & Boundaries https://groupsandminds.blogspot.com/2019/03/blog-post19.html

Like any normal day

It started off like any normal day’ is the gist of what someone was reported to say after going out with a rifle and shooting a courting couple in Wales (I believe). If anyone knows details of when, where and what was said, get in touch!

What was so different about that day? Do we all have moments that are totally ‘out of character’, changing our lives for ever with no explanation that fits the bill? Does a red mist descend, does a part of us kick in and take the reins, do we hear a voice or sense a compulsion? How do we rationalise it afterwards?

This is part of the basis of this Blog, and it’s showing on the front page so you see where it came from. And you can play a part in where it’s going if you want - just write a comment. If you don’t want it to appear for everyone to see you can make that clear.

This isn’t a lengthy academic exercise. Rather some ideas that are loosely strung together – maybe not even connected. My bookshelves overflow with books on serial killers and profiling and other stuff. The point here is that most of us tend to think of ourselves or others as ‘the sort of person who’ is likely or unlikely to do certain things. It’s a kind of shorthand or a comfort zone so we don’t have to countenance every possibility. We know what’s what, what we want, don’t want, or would never do …

There are books on Jung and ‘the shadow’, on the higher self and what can come out during hypnosis. I was looking for some rationale for what goes on in people’s lives, what goes wrong and why, and what can be done. This went round in a big cycle: from believing that, if something felt possible then it was likely, to rejecting great chunks, then back to the bookshelves for another re-think.

I looked at social systems, belief systems, religions, group behaviours including situations people refer to as Cults, at advertising, spin, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, stage magic, neuro-linguistic programming. I dipped into humanities courses, scouring booklists, visiting bookshops each time I went out, searched Amazon for anything that might answer my questions about ‘why people do what they do’. When I came across a book by John M. Doris ‘Lack of Character’ much of my thinking about profiling or likelihood of individual behaviour was thrown into disarray.

It seems we are creatures of circumstance more than we might think, having a wide repertoire of behaviours quite specific to the prevailing situation. Add or subtract a variable or rack up intensity and who knows what some of us might be capable of! I came to believe that extreme forms of behaviour – the ones we like to think we'd never do – are probably ‘do-able’ by a lot of us. It can be quite a small flip, turning on a pinhead, hanging on a thread, that makes for the next stage, almost as if inevitably. Catastrophe theory could be relevant here.

If something from another realm or reality layer is capable of affecting us, we may hypothesise and work something out. If I walk into a graveyard as my ‘normal self’ and come out full of doom & gloom, did something change me, a general sense of atmosphere, a specific haunting, what? When I write or speak, does it always come from just me? Am I inspired by art or nature or is some other realm or entity breaking through, sometimes helping, sometimes hindering?

Does it matter what hook we use as a belief system, so long as we behave ‘reasonably’ or within certain bounds? Or if we believe in something higher – or lower – than ourselves? Surely it could affect what we do, what we feel is appropriate or otherwise? What if people around us disagree totally with what we think and hold most dear? There would likely be a conflict of mind-sets on very sensitive issues. Maybe something will ‘blow’ and we act out.

Do actions simply continue on from natural events in our past, from family/work environment, or from wider society? Could we be affected by some ancestral influence, or rather something set in motion by people with intent - these days mostly called magick with a ‘k’, so that we too are saying ‘It started off like any normal day’? In other words, what if there is discontinuity, incongruity, dissociation, because we can’t trace a pattern or reason? Not knowing why, we may rationalise or confabulate, to reduce cognitive dissonance or save face.

Will we always parrot that ‘there is no evidence’ if we don’t wish to believe something? Or do we get too caught up in beliefs without regard to their validity? Human behaviour is so varied, how can we pin everything down neatly? What if something does not ‘fit’?

There’s a lot of interest these days in various aspects of shamanism, whether as practised in its natural environment or as brought over for what is loosely termed the West. People no longer shrug off as totally irrelevant all other realities that there could be. Here's a list of a few books, websites, blogs you might check out:

‘Blood Rites: the shocking expose of the ritual of human sacrifice – practiced today, and terrifying close to home’ by Jimmy Lee Shreeve
‘Multiple Man: explorations in possession and multiple personality’ by Adam Crabtree
‘Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board’ by J. Edward Cornelius
‘Not in His Image: Gnostic vision, sacred ecology and the future of belief’ by John Lamb Lash
‘The Unquiet Dead: a psychologist treats spirit possession’ by Dr Edith Fiore
‘Spirit Releasement Therapy: a technique manual’ by William J Baldwin
‘Programmed to Kill: the politics of serial murder’ by David McGowan
‘Serial Killers: death and life in America’s Wound Culture’ by Mark Seltzer
‘Lack of Character: personality, moral behaviour’ by John M Doris
‘Going Postal: rage, murder and rebellion in America’ by Mark Ames
‘The Sociopath Next Door: 1 in 25 ordinary Americans secretly has no conscience and can do anything at all without feeling guilty’ by Martha Stout
‘The Dark Gods: do they haunt us still?’ by Anthony Roberts & Geoff Gilbertson
‘The Dark Worship’ by Toyne Newton

'Cultwise' at http://cultwise.blogspot.com
http://rigint.blogspot.com - Plenty to read and ponder but we suggest 'The Deep Ones and the Madness of Crowds'

‘Scapegoating, Abuse & One-upmanship’ article at TANSAL

'Scapegoating, Dissing, Abuse' see http://www.tansal.org.uk/scapegoatingabuse.html
'Unseen Aspects of Behaviour' at http://unseenaspects.blogspot.com - Including tides of thought or belief and counter-reaction. Articles on 'Urban legend and ritual abuse', 'Shamanism', and 'Symbols, Realities, the Unseen'



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Project Middle Ground was started in America by Dr Paul Simpson, a therapist who wrote 'Second Thoughts: Understanding the false memory crisis and how it could affect you'. Various academics at UK universities have written papers about bridging what might seem an impossible divide. Sadly people tend to fight a particular corner, but Dr Simpson showed that it is possible to try for a middle ground, with some considerable effect.

http://www.youtube.com/user/middlegroundable




More information on Project Middle Ground - Reconciliation
is at http://middlegroundable.blogspot.com




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Fantasy role-playing by Drew

I was going to call this 'The Devil's Web' which is the title of a book written in 1990 by Pat Pulling and Kathy Cawthon about children who get involved in role-playing games or virtual realities. It is a long time since I read it, during which time some people have been critical of it, I believe along the lines of its exaggerating any risk involved.

Since then people are more aware of some of the issues around violent films that children watch, or sadistic games played on computers. There is general and governmental concern about increasing crime and violence among young people, and about spree killings occurring in colleges particularly in the United States.

What does seem to warrant attention, apart from anything else, is that fantasy enactments in violent role-playing games are along the lines that adults are trained in for combat - to desensitise them and reduce any qualms they may have about actually pulling the trigger on a gun with the aim, desire or compulsion to kill people.

I do not know the number of instances in the UK where there could be cause for concern, but recently read that the man responsible for the Hungerford murders had just prior to them been involved in a violent role-playing game and had seemed to be 'still in it'.

In the UK we used to be led to believe by researchers that there was no significant correlation between watching violence and engaging in it. Nowadays we like to listen to researchers or journalists saying that there are reasons why things occur in places like America and, by implication, reasons why they are hardly likely to occur in the UK.

There is a concept - dare I term it 'received wisdom'? - that people are only likely to be adversely affected by violent films or games if there is something a bit wrong with them already, with the oft repeated phrase about how many people are not affected and go on to 'live normal lives'.

Well, they may do, but those affected through no fault of their own, because they cannot overcome the conditioning or grooming process towards violence, or because they or a family member are a victim of such violence, do not go on to 'live normal lives'.
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Why do you do what you do?

Can YOU be manipulated?
Do you think you should be?
Do you always know if you are?
Can you manipulate others?
What do YOU think?

Why do you think you behave as you do? Is it always the same?

Perhaps it is because one of your parents behaved like that, or it was someone you admired, or even disliked!

Have you ever acted ‘out of character’? Or only when you’ve been to the pub?

Have you got home and wondered why you bought something, lost your temper and don’t know why, done something unusual or ridiculous – for you?

We all behave differently in different circumstances. The person who is hyper-serious at work may be a comic in private. They could be mean and miserable, yet a super-parent or spouse, or mean at home and jovial elsewhere.

Would you ever go to see a stage show of hypnosis? Would you go up on stage?

Would you go to a hypnotherapist if you had a problem, or a habit you wanted to break?

Do you feel you know more about yourself than anyone else does? Maybe your best mate knows you better than you know yourself.

Are there people you would trust with your life? Or let them persuade you to take a risk?

Could a stranger reach those hidden depths, by inspired guesswork or manipulation?

Do people get caught up in the heat of the moment, or in a group or crowd?

Would you join a cult or movement? What is one anyway?


In-Character/ Out-of-Character

Do you think politicians can put spin on things and make a difference?
Can you see the spin coming and deflect it?
Have you honestly never been influenced?

Do you think you can be manipulated?
Do you think you can manipulate others?
How do you think it works!

Can one ‘manipulate oneself’ to change behaviour etc?
How might that work?
Have you done it?

Make up a questionnaire for yourself or other people – you may be surprised at some of the answers

Are you an independent thinker?

Do you believe in character profiling?

Do you believe in astrological types?

Can you pigeonhole a person’s behaviour for all circumstances?
Does stress make a difference?

What effect might stereotyping or labelling have on you? Or on someone else?
Is it fair?

Can you copy someone’s behaviour?
Can you influence someone?
Do others colour your moods?

Do you believe in ghosts?
Do you believe in ESP?
Do you believe in past lives?

Are people responsible for all their actions?
Is there such a thing as ‘normal?

Any other questions?

Profiling - the company we keep?

Although there does seem validity in personality profiling or evaluation for some people, some actions, some situations, or just sometimes - sociological or environmental factors may overtake the individual approach or need consideration as playing a potentially significant part.

That's a sweeping statement which I'll draw in a little by mentioning a book 'Profiling the Criminal Mind: Behavioral Science & Criminal Investigative Analysis' by Dr Robert J Girod Sr. It is an introductory book outlining main themes and theories about profiling and investigation of crime from the author's experience, also mentioning the work of many others with wide-ranging views, experience and expertise.

Several chapters mention the kind of situation that people are in, such as groups they belong to where the 'group cause' could be a motivating factor in criminal or other activity. Some of the subtitles from the CONTENTS list are:

Gang motivated murder
Criminal competition homicide
Group cause homicide:
Cult murder
Extremist murder
Group excitement murder
Peer/group pressure
Group retaliation
Child/adolescent pornography
Historical child/adolescent sex rings
Multidimensional sex rings
Group cause sexual assault

The Nature of Cults:
Attributes
Attitudes
Characteristics
What are Cults

The list continues and some aspects clearly may also come under individual behaviour.

Another useful book is 'Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool' by Ronald M. Holmes & Stephen T. Holmes. There are many more, some quite expensive and some intended more for academics or for those working in the field.

My point (lest you think I wander or wonder aimlessly) is I am strongly inclined to think that sadistic, violent or extreme behaviours are probably things that most people are capable of, especially when under extreme stress or in extreme circumstances. That includes the company we keep, or are somehow inveigled into keeping.

In other words I suggest almost a continuum of behaviour, the extremity of which is shocking but where other factors can sometimes render the shock factor insufficient to prevent our involvement, willing or unwilling, witting or unwitting.



Those extreme behaviours could therefore be like an extension of 'normal people's normal behaviour'.

That is some sobering thought. Maybe I got it all wrong ...

But then I came across John Sweeney's book 'Purple Homicide: Fear and loathing on Knutsford Heath' where in the Epilogue he outlines some theories of cult behaviour and extremes such as suicide by members of a group or cult:

Page 260:
"Ashley Grossman is Professor of Neuro-endocrinology at Bart's Hospital in London. He saw a comparison between those who build and reinforce a system of lies and mass suicide cults. 'All of us from time to time tell lies. If the lie is outside the structure, then we can handle that. But if we construct a house around that lie, with eaves and guttering and drainpipes, then we are in trouble. There is a psychological theory that is called cognitive dissonance, which implies that everything must be reasonably congruent. So there comes a certain stage where you start living in that house because there isn't too much else outside. Then even the most reasonably balanced person will find it quite difficult to distinguish between truth and non-truth. They do literally live that lie and it becomes part of their self-structure. It will be hard then to say that someone is deliberately lying because, by that stage, the lie becomes self-reinforcing. The power of the lie is enhanced if there is a folie a deux, if two people are in on the lie together. At its most extreme, the lie can lead to a mass suicide, like the Heaven's Gate suicides..... Within the structure it was congruent, it made sense, they understood it, everybody said the same thing. It was the rest of the world that was living the lie.' "

. . . . .Does that explain why some couples or families have an elaborate system of reinforcing each other's statements and beliefs, in the face of just about everything going on around them? I've often wondered when keeping my ears open on trains & buses. No doubt I am no different when push comes to shove.

Returning to a book mentioned in another article here, 'More Scams from the Great Beyond: How to make even more money off of creationism, evolution, environmentalism, fringe politics, weird science, the occult and other strange beliefs' Peter Huston:

He comments on various hoaxers or what some people call 'true believers' and comes up with some interesting ideas about dynamics. In particular he writes of rather earnest campaigners that there can be in some fields - any field really. Maybe a lot of us are basically rebels seeking a cause or something 'meaningful' to work on with other people.

In Chapter 4 on the subject of 'Environmentalism' Huston takes the mick out of the seriousness with which some people take the issues, and I'm not saying that should be an object of fun. But there's many a true word spoken in jest, as the saying goes, and he illustrates it with this on p.86 under a title of 'Canvassing' he writes:

'Choose one particular issue and declare it your cause of the day... Next get a group of well-meaning, idealistic people together... one way is to run a newspaper classified ad... 'Save the Environment' etc... The key elements are an appeal to idealism, greed, and people with lack of experience.

'Collect these well-meaning, idealistic people. Keep them in one place together for a period of time. This serves several psychological purposes. First they will enjoy one another's company and form a group of some sort. Second they will reinforce each other's willingness to do the humiliating and morally questionable work that comes later.'
. . . . .

I was fortunate to attend a talk by an author on cults, hypnosis, brainwashing and so on, who was not afraid to mince words, many of which were above my head. But something stuck in my mind and was worth the visit. He used the term 'deployable agents' to describe what some people turn, or get turned, into. In his context of cults and influence (My note: I feel it could be a group or workplace situation) he suggested that the 'deal is done' when the individual can be relied on to act on the cult philosophy without now being watched or told what to do.

Some companies openly use the words 'company indoctrination' and there's an increasing trend towards teamwork, building a group-mind, de-individualising the individual, 'you can't do enough for a good firm', 'we need 100 per cent of you' and so on. Hang on, if they get 100 percent, what's left for the individual? We are naturally affected by people we are in contact with, and perhaps the influence is benign or most of it disappears over a period of time.

Perhaps it sometimes works in favour of individuals, a group-mind or team-spirit which can be nourishing too and which they can draw from. Some suggest that we need to mix with a variety of other people to stay sane and healthy. However I guess one man's meat is another's poison so one can't generalise.

So long as no-one is manipulating a group for their own purposes, perhaps there is no need to worry too much, and there could actually be benefits to others involved. I think unease about cults in general comes in when, to the person outside looking in, there seems an agenda which only a few at the top layer know of or can do anything about, and is detrimental to the members.

Somewhere I read that people like Charles Manson were like an orchestrator or conductor of the personalities of people in his group, so that they were effectively acting out the roles of his subpersonalities or dissociations like in a DID system.

More videos in this series at www.youtube.com/user/scillaholmes

Dr William Sargant wrote on the phenomenon of conversion to religion or way of thought, and suggested it occurred a lot easier if there was high excitation of an area in the brain. In a TV interview some years ago he joked that he would not wish to attend a particular ritual or event as he 'did not want to get converted'.

Does this have relevance for large crowds, rallies, congregations, pop concerts, or even some individual or small-group practices like meditation or ritual? Can we change our own psychological reality? Can reality really get changed, or does how we perceive things change? Can someone else change us against our inclination? How would they benefit? Would we! If about half of us have a 'religious gene' and half not, where does that leave half of us? any of us? all of us? 'in real terms'?

Will there always be some split in belief or perception which divides us humans into camps, as if somehow we have to seek differentiation? Maybe this is where the 'hissing & splitting' comes in. If someone goes in for meditation, or has a feverish illness and senses things differently, do they actually become different? If tragedy knocks harshly on your door, are you necessarily the same person afterwards? I feel we can get changed by things, sometimes so that there is no 'going back' completely. The speaker on cults and 'deployable agents' mentioned above, suggested a need to accept that people may not be able to go right back as they were before joining.

Before closing, a note about a public lecture that was held at the London School of Economics on 'Why is it Always 'Us' and 'Them': on the natural history of thinking through groups' by Professor Lawrence Hirschfeld. I couldn't make it to the lecture so looked his name up and with luck and a fair wind this Link will take you to some information on his work. The LSE holds free public lectures in term-time, see www.lse.ac.uk/events

Over to you - What do you think?

. . . . .

Cults, groups, indoctrination, exiting

Post by Kaytrin
During life we go through periods of being a part of some grouping, in a family, at work, in the neighbourhood. Sometimes it works well, sometimes not! But we gain knowledge about ourselves and others, and have a tendency to seek situations which offer us something meaningful. Perhaps that is a role we can play, or a general feeling of being accepted.

Without that, we can feel alone in the world, and some groups take advantage of that. They may home in on people, offering what they want to hear, that they will be liked or taken care of, that the group provides answers of a philosophical or religious nature. We won’t be just zizzing around without a clue or a base, because there’ll be someone to act as friend or family.

This can work to mutual advantage. I recently ordered a book written by someone who spent 20 years living in different communal settings, and await that with interest. However, books and advisory centres range in their attitude about particular groups, or on the phenomenon of cults as a general principle and how harmful they are likely to be.

I think it’s good to have an enquiring approach, but recently I came across a book in an Oxfam shop where the author had joined some groups or cults that he found strange, amusing, stupid, awful. He seemingly implied that neither he nor anyone else actually got hurt in the process. How can he know that? That is an interesting phenomenon in itself. It would be interesting to undertake research into how groups such as juries come to a consensus opinion - or not.

If we are on our own in the world, to some extent we can make up our own minds and not get swayed into something different by another person, or in a group setting of a natural or contrived kind. Once we are involved with other people, there has to be some give-and-take or negotiation, and there are likely to be subtle changes that can be built on or further altered, becoming quite profound. Some businesses work on this in terms of team-work, company ethos and so on. It always used to be like that up to a point, but I can’t help thinking it has become more deliberate and invasive. One may find oneself not fitting in – and not being able to do much about it!

Bullying in the workplace (and elsewhere besides) has become an issue to the extent that both the Samaritans and Joseph Rowntree Foundation have prepared information on it. Without harping on about ‘the old days’, perhaps we had more respect for each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and the boundaries surrounding another person’s job, and personal or working space. Perhaps the decrease in physical area around someone’s workstation plays a part in how things have changed. In many places there isn’t even a personal desk with a little drawer one can lock or that no-one would think of going through!

A couple of other observations and I will aim to wrap this up. Firstly, if you’re in a supermarket and there are say 20 other shoppers and trolleys, maybe you don’t cross paths too closely too often. Increase the number to 40 and maybe it’s a bit harder. Increase it to 60 and the shopping process doesn’t work so well. Walk around a small town during a weekday and you might not meet many people. You may recognise some faces and even greet a few. Walk around a large town or city when people are heading to work or leaving, or racing around in their lunch break, and people are much less likely to stand back and smile. It becomes a survival situation – they need their job or to catch a train, and pit their survival against anyone else’s.

So we tend to think we’d rather be in a group than on our own, in this maelstrom of humanity, because there’s safety in numbers plus we’d like some personal recognition. Personal recognition can indeed still come with a job situation, but perhaps less than years ago, and less when job security is so decreased. Perhaps this is why workplace bullying increases, but it seems to have spread wider through society and neighbourhoods. It’s not as cosy and supportive as ‘Coronation Street’, although there’s plenty of that around.

I caught a comment by a psychiatrist on a radio show some years ago. He was of the opinion that his work would be reduced by 80 per cent, if people had another person they could confide in. The fact that Samaritans and other organisations have helped so many people through difficult times in their lives seems to bear this out. Sometimes people ‘go it alone’ either because they need to or have to, but at other times they need contact. They may seek it in a close personal relationship or in more of a group setting.

One of the things about groups is that we like to identify with certain things about them, or some of the people in them, at the same time as needing to retain some of our individuality. Unless that can be negotiated there can be difficulties.

In a cult-type setting, people may find their days mapped out and may be told what to believe, how to behave with their partner – even if that is allowed, children may be cared for by others, and contact with the outside world is restricted. If someone tries to buck the system and do their own thing, pressures are brought to bear on them to conform. If they want to leave, some cults will allow this and some don’t. However one of the main problems is that, living in a situation which is isolating in some way, members may not see the invisible walls around them, and that they even could still access the outside world.

This is why it is important, if you can, to maintain some form of contact with someone you know who has joined a group or cult, so that a part of their reality is that there is someone who knows them and will talk to them. And if the person manages to leave, depending on how they have been affected, it can take several years for their thinking to gradually get back onto other tracks. That process may never completely ‘undo’ all the changes, so one does need to be realistic and do what one can.

Sometimes people have attempted to 'rescue' someone from a cult and forcibly change their attitude and beliefs back. This was called deprogramming and it fell into disrepute, sometimes involving legal battles for kidnap. The term now used is exiting a cult with perhaps the facility of some exit counselling. As is often the way of things though, this has also been called into disrepute by those who say it's just a euphemism for the deprogramming of the past that could be quite a violent process.

Find out what form the exit counselling will take and see what options there may be. It is tempting sometimes to want to extract someone from a group which seems harmful, but it may not be possible or advisable.

Something you could perhaps explore is the concept of what is termed intervention, and this approach sometimes gets used with an addiction or other problem. Family or friends arrange to meet in a neutral setting like a hotel room, and invite the individual to join them, along with a professional who takes control of the interaction. The dynamic seems to be that the individual with the problem is faced with an irrevocable choice: to give up their problematic behaviour, or never to see their family and friends again.

It can be highly emotional, but the tug of family and friends and their promise of continuing support can just swing the balance.

Intervention can also be taken more generally to describe anything which breaks, or might break, into a cycle, pattern, or mode of thought or behaviour. It may be a matter of waiting until the person starts to question for themselves.

Certainly battering your own reality up against theirs is unlikely to be productive, and they have rights about leading their lives as they feel they want. The problems are more that we have known the person when they were very different, or we believe what has happened to them is wrong. 'Someone else' has entered the scene and had a devastating effect so the individual does not seem in control - and may in fact not be in control because 'someone else' or some other 'reality of belief' is.

. . . . .
Posts by Kaytrin and others on similar subjects are now all located on 'Unseen Aspects of Behaviour' at http://unseenaspects.blogspot.com to make space for newer articles here.

Norman's article 'Profiling - the company we keep?' (about groups) is here on this Blog.
For more on Cults and groups in general click HERE
Also see 'Doc Matrix' - A fun site with a serious purpose in mind - YOU!

Problems are not all Your Fault! : Outline Questions on Help
Pressures Outside or Within : P-Y-O Personality Parts
Groups & Cults : Dissing, Dissonance, Splits & Divides
Doc’s X-Files or WHY? : Beliefs & Myths We Live By
Con-Tricks, Hustles, Scams, Deception - BookList