The Birth of Conversion/Brainwashing in Christian Revivalism
in 1735. The Pavlovian explanation of the three brain phases.
Born-again preachers: Step-by-Step, how they conduct a revival
and the expected physiological results. The "voice roll"
technique used by preachers, lawyers and hypnotists. New
trance-inducing churches. The 6 steps to conversion. The
decognition process. Thought-stopping techniques. The "sell it
by zealot" technique. True believers and mass movements.
Persuasion techniques: "Yes set," "Imbedded Commands," "Shock
and Confusion," and the "Interspersal Technique." Subliminals.
Vibrato and ELF waves. Inducing trance with vibrational sound.
Even professional observers will be "possessed" at charismatic
gatherings. The "only hope" technique to attend and not be
converted. Non-detectable Neurophone programming through the
skin. The medium for mass take-over.

I'm Dick Sutphen and this tape is a studio-recorded,
expanded version of a talk I delivered at the World Congress
of Professional Hypnotists Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Although the tape carries a copyright to protect it from
unlawful duplication for sale by other companies, in this
case, I invite individuals to make copies and give them to
friends or anyone in a position to communicate this
information.

Although I've been interviewed about the subject on many
local and regional radio and TV talk shows, large-scale mass
communication appears to be blocked, since it could result in
suspicion or investigation of the very media presenting it or
the sponsors that support the media. Some government agencies
do not want this information generally known. Nor do the
Born-Again Christian movement, cults, and many human-potential
trainings.

Everything I will relate only exposes the surface of the
problem. I don't know how the misuse of these techniques can
be stopped. I don't think it is possible to legislate against that
which often cannot be detected; and if those who
legislate are using these techniques, there is little hope of
affecting laws to govern usage. I do know that the first step
to initiate change is to generate interest. In this case, that
will probably only result from an underground effort.

In talking about this subject, I am talking about my own
business. I know it, and I know how effective it can be. I
produce hypnosis and subliminal tapes and, in some of my
seminars, I use conversion tactics to assist participants to
become independent and self-sufficient. But, anytime I use
these techniques, I point out that I am using them, and those
attending have a choice to participate or not. They also know
what the desired result of participation will be.

So, to begin, I want to state the most basic of all facts
about brainwashing: IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF MAN, NO ONE HAS
EVER BEEN BRAINWASHED AND REALIZED, OR BELIEVED, THAT HE HAD
BEEN BRAINWASHED. Those who have been brainwashed will
usually passionately defend their manipulators, claiming they
have simply been "shown the light" . . . or have been
transformed in miraculous ways.

The Birth of Conversion

CONVERSION is a "nice" word for BRAINWASHING . . . and any
study of brainwashing has to begin with a study of Christian
revivalism in eighteenth century America. Apparently, Jonathan
Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques during a
religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts.
By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the
tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings would
break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards
was doing was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate
clean so that the mind accepts new programming. The problem
was that the new input was negative. He would tell them,
"You're a sinner! You're destined for hell!"

As a result, one person committed suicide and another
attempted suicide. And the neighbors of the suicidal converts
related that they, too, were affected so deeply that, although
they had found "eternal salvation," they were obsessed with a
diabolical temptation to end their own lives.

Once a preacher, cult leader, manipulator or authority
figure creates the brain phase to wipe the brain-slate clean,
his subjects are wide open. New input, in the form of suggestion,
can be substituted for their previous ideas.
Because Edwards didn't turn his message positive until the end
of the revival, many accepted the negative suggestions and acted,
or desired to act, upon them.

Charles J. Finney was another Christian revivalist who
used the same techniques four years later in mass religious
conversions in New York. The techniques are still being used today
by Christian revivalists, cults, human-potential
trainings, some business rallies, and the United States Armed
Services . . . to name just a few.

Let me point out here that I don't think most revivalist
preachers realize or know they are using brainwashing
techniques. Edwards simply stumbled upon a technique that
really worked, and others copied it and have continued to copy
it for over two hundred years. And the more sophisticated our
knowledge and technology become, the more effective the
conversion. I feel strongly that this is one of the major
reasons for the increasing rise in Christian fundamentalism,
especially the televised variety, while most of the orthodox
religions are declining.

The Three Brain Phases

The Christians may have been the first to successfully
formulate brainwashing, but we have to look to Pavlov, the
Russian scientist, for a technical explanation. In the early
1900s, his work with animals opened the door to further
investigations with humans. After the revolution in Russia,
Lenin was quick to see the potential of applying Pavlov's
research to his own ends.

Three distinct and progressive states of transmarginal
inhibition were identified by Pavlov. The first is the
EQUIVALENT phase, in which the brain gives the same response
to both strong and weak stimuli. The second is the PARADOXICAL
phase, in which the brain responds more actively to weak
stimuli than to strong. And the third is the ULTRA- PARADOXICAL
phase, in which conditioned responses and behavior
patterns turn from positive to negative or from negative to
positive.

With the progression through each phase, the degree of
conversion becomes more effective and complete. The way to
achieve conversion are many and varied, but the usual first step
in religious or political brainwashing is to work on the
emotions of an individual or group until they reach an
abnormal level of anger, fear, excitement, or nervous tension.

The progressive result of this mental condition is to
impair judgement and increase suggestibility. The more this
condition can be maintained or intensified, the more it
compounds. Once catharsis, or the first brain phase, is
reached, the complete mental takeover becomes easier. Existing
mental programming can be replaced with new patterns of
thinking and behavior.

Other often-used physiological weapons to modify normal
brain functions are fasting, radical or high sugar diets,
physical discomforts, regulation of breathing, mantra chanting
in meditation, the disclosure of awesome mysteries, special
lighting and sound effects, programed response to incense, or
intoxicating drugs.

The same results can be obtained in contemporary
psychiatric treatment by electric shock treatments and even by
purposely lowering a person's blood sugar level with insulin injections.

Before I talk about exactly how some of the techniques are
applied, I want to point out that hypnosis and conversion
tactics are two distinctly different things--and that conversion
techniques are far more powerful. However, the two
are often mixed . . . with powerful results.

How Revivalist Preachers Work

If you'd like to see a revivalist preacher at work, there
are probably several in your city. Go to the church or tent
early and sit in the rear, about three-quarters of the way
back. Most likely repetitive music will be played while the
people come in for the service. A repetitive beat, ideally
ranging from 45 to 72 beats per minute (a rhythm close to the
beat of the human heart), is very hypnotic and can generate an
eyes-open altered state of consciousness in a very high
percentage of people. And, once you are in an alpha state, you
are at least 25 times as suggestible as you would be in full
beta consciousness. The music is probably the same for every
service, or incorporates the same beat, and many of the people
will go into an altered state almost immediately upon entering
the sanctuary. Subconsciously, they recall their state of
mind from previous services and respond according to the
post-hypnotic programming.

Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many
will exhibit external signs of trance--body relaxation and
slightly dilated eyes. Often, they begin swaying back and
forth with their hands in the air while sitting in their
chairs. Next, the assistant pastor will probably come out. He
usually speaks with a pretty good "voice roll."

Voice Roll Technique

A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by
hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many
lawyers, several of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when
they desire to entrench a point firmly in the minds of the
jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker were talking
to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were
emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The
words will usually be delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats
per minute, maximizing the hypnotic effect.

Now the assistant pastor begins the "build-up" process. He
induces an altered state of consciousness and/or begins to
generate the excitement and the expectations of the audience.
Next, a group of young women in "sweet and pure" chiffon
dresses might come out to sing a song. Gospel songs are great
for building excitement and INVOLVEMENT. In the middle of the
song, one of the girls might be "smitten by the spirit" and
fall down or react as if possessed by the Holy Spirit. This
very effectively increases the intensity in the room. At this
point, hypnosis and conversion tactics are being mixed. And
the result is the audience's attention span is now totally
focused upon the communication while the environment becomes
more exciting or tense.

Right about this time, when an eyes-open mass-induced
alpha mental state has been achieved, they will usually pass
the collection plate or basket. In the background, a 45-beat-per-minute voice roll from the assistant preacher
might exhort, "Give to God . . . Give to God . . . Give to
God . . ." And the audience does give. God may not get the money, but his already wealthy representative will.

Next, the fire-and-brimstone preacher will come out. He
induces fear and increases the tension by talking about "the
devil," "going to hell," or the forthcoming Armegeddon.

In the last such rally I attended, the preacher talked
about the blood that would soon be running out of every faucet
in the land. He was also obsessed with a "bloody axe of God,"
which everyone had seen hanging above the pulpit the previous
week. I have no doubt that everyone saw it--the power of
suggestion given to hundreds of people in hypnosis assures
that at least 10 to 25 percent would see whatever he suggested
they see.

In most revivalist gatherings, "testifying" or
"witnessing" usually follows the fear-based sermon. People
from the audience come up on stage and relate their stories.
"I was crippled and now I can walk!" "I had arthritis and now
it's gone!" It is a psychological manipulation that works.
After listening to numerous case histories of miraculous
healings, the average guy in the audience with a minor problem
is sure he can be healed. The room is charged with fear,
guilt, intense excitement, and expectations.

Now those who want to be healed are frequently lined up
around the edge of the room, or they are told to come down to
the front. The preacher might touch them on the head firmly
and scream, "Be healed!" This releases the psychic energy
and, for many, catharsis results. Catharsis is a purging of
repressed emotions. Individuals might cry, fall down or even
go into spasms. And if catharsis is effected, they stand a
chance of being healed. In catharsis (one of the three brain
phases mentioned earlier), the brain-slate is temporarily wiped clean and the new suggestion is accepted.

For some, the healing may be permanent. For many, it will
last four days to a week, which is, incidentally, how long a
hypnotic suggestion given to a somnambulistic subject will usually last. Even if the healing doesn't last, if they come
back every week, the power of suggestion may continually
override the problem . . . or sometimes, sadly, it can mask a physical problem which could prove to be very detrimental to
the individual in the long run.

I'm not saying that legitimate healings do not take place.
They do. Maybe the individual was ready to let go of the
negativity that caused the problem in the first place; maybe
it was the work of God. Yet I contend that it can be explained
with existing knowledge of brain/mind function.

The techniques and staging will vary from church to
church. Many use "speaking in tongues" to generate catharsis
in some while the spectacle creates intense excitement in the observers.

The use of hypnotic techniques by religions is
sophisticated, and professionals are assuring that they become
even more effective. A man in Los Angeles is designing,
building, and reworking a lot of churches around the country.
He tells ministers what they need and how to use it. This
man's track record indicates that the congregation and the
monetary income will double if the minister follows his
instructions. He admits that about 80 percent of his efforts
are in the sound system and lighting.

Powerful sound and the proper use of lighting are of
primary importance in inducing an altered state of
consciousness--I've been using them for years in my own
seminars. However, my participants are fully aware of the
process and what they can expect as a result of their
participation.

Six Conversion Techniques

Cults and human-potential organizations are always looking
for new converts. To attain them, they must also create a
brain-phase. And they often need to do it within a short space
of time--a weekend, or maybe even a day. The following are
the six primary techniques used to generate the conversion.
The meeting or training takes place in an area where
participants are cut off from the outside world. This may be
any place: a private home, a remote or rural setting, or even
a hotel ballroom where the participants are allowed only
limited bathroom usage. In human-potential trainings, the
controllers will give a lengthy talk about the importance of
"keeping agreements" in life. The participants are told that
if they don't keep agreements, their life will never work.
It's a good idea to keep agreements, but the controllers are
subverting a positive human value for selfish purposes. The
participants vow to themselves and their trainer that they
will keep their agreements. Anyone who does not will be
intimidated into agreement or forced to leave. The next step
is to agree to complete training, thus assuring a high
percentage of conversions for the organizations. They will
USUALLY have to agree not to take drugs, smoke, and sometimes
not to eat . . . or they are given such short meal breaks
that it creates tension. The real reason for the agreements is
to alter internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and
hopefully causes at least a slight malfunction of the nervous
system, which in turn increases the conversion potential.

Before the gathering is complete, the agreements will be
used to ensure that the new converts go out and find new
participants. They are intimidated into agreeing to do so
before they leave. Since the importance of keeping agreements
is so high on their priority list, the converts will twist the
arms of everyone they know, attempting to talk them into
attending a free introductory session offered at a future date
by the organization. The new converts are zealots. In fact,
the inside term for merchandising the largest and most successful
human- potential training is, "sell it by zealot!"

At least a million people are graduates and a good
percentage have been left with a mental activation button that
assures their future loyalty and assistance if the guru figure
or organization calls. Think about the potential political
implications of hundreds of thousands of zealots programed to
campaign for their guru.

Be wary of an organization of this type that offers
follow-up sessions after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might
be weekly meetings or inexpensive seminars given on a regular
basis which the organization will attempt to talk you into
taking--or any regularly scheduled event used to maintain
control. As the early Christian revivalists found, long-term control
is dependent upon a good follow-up system.

Alright. Now, let's look at the second tip-off that
indicates conversion tactics are being used. A schedule is
maintained that causes physical and mental fatigue. This is
primarily accomplished by long hours in which the participants
are given no opportunity for relaxation or reflection.

The third tip-off: techniques used to increase the tension
in the room or environment.

Number four: Uncertainty. I could spend hours relating
various techniques to increase tension and generate
uncertainty. Basically, the participants are concerned about
being "put on the spot" or encountered by the trainers, guilt
feelings are played upon, participants are tempted to verbally
relate their innermost secrets to the other participants or
forced to take part in activities that emphasize removing
their masks. One of the most successful human-potential
seminars forces the participants to stand on a stage in front
of the entire audience while being verbally attacked by the
trainers. A public opinion poll, conducted a few years ago,
showed that the number one most-fearful situation an
individual could encounter is to speak to an audience. It
ranked above window washing outside the 85th floor of an
office building. So you can imagine the fear and tension this
situation generates within the participants. Many faint, but
most cope with the stress by mentally going away. They
literally go into an alpha state, which automatically makes
them many times as suggestible as they normally are. And
another loop of the downward spiral into conversion is
successfully effected.

The fifth clue that conversion tactics are being used is
the introduction of jargon--new terms that have meaning only
to the "insiders" who participate. Vicious language is also
frequently used, purposely, to make participants uncomfortable.

The final tip-off is that there is no humor in the
communications . . . at least until the participants are
converted. Then, merry-making and humor are highly desirable
as symbols of the new joy the participants have supposedly
"found."

I'm not saying that good does not result from
participation in such gatherings. It can and does. But I
contend it is important for people to know what has happened
and to be aware that continual involvement may not be in their
best interest.

Over the years, I've conducted professional seminars to
teach people to be hypnotists, trainers, and counselors. I've
had many of those who conduct trainings and rallies come to me
and say, "I'm here because I know that what I'm doing works,
but I don't know why." After showing them how and why, many
have gotten out of the business or have decided to approach it
differently or in a much more loving and supportive manner.

Many of these trainers have become personal friends, and
it scares us all to have experienced the power of one person
with a microphone and a room full of people. Add a little
charisma and you can count on a high percentage of
conversions. The sad truth is that a high percentage of people
want to give away their power--they are true "believers"!

Cult gatherings or human-potential trainings are an ideal
environment to observe first-hand what is technically called
the "Stockholm Syndrome." This is a situation in which those
who are intimidated, controlled, or made to suffer, begin to
love, admire, and even sometimes sexually desire their
controllers or captors.

But let me inject a word of warning here: If you think you
can attend such gatherings and not be affected, you are
probably wrong. A perfect example is the case of a woman who
went to Haiti on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Haitian
Voodoo. In her report, she related how the music eventually
induced uncontrollable bodily movement and an altered state of
consciousness. Although she understood the process and thought
herself above it, when she began to feel herself become
vulnerable to the music, she attempted to fight it and turned
away. Anger or resistance almost always assures conversion. A
few moments later she was possessed by the music and began
dancing in a trance around the Voodoo meeting house. A brain
phase had been induced by the music and excitement, and she
awoke feeling reborn. The only hope of attending such
gatherings without being affected is to be a Buddha and allow
no positive or negative emotions to surface. Few people are
capable of such detachment.

Before I go on, let's go back to the six tip-offs to
conversion. I want to mention the United States Government and
military boot camp. The Marine Corps talks about breaking men
down before "rebuilding" them as new men--as marines! Well,
that is exactly what they do, the same way a cult breaks its
people down and rebuilds them as happy flower sellers on your
local street corner. Every one of the six conversion
techniques are used in boot camp. Considering the needs of the
military, I'm not making a judgement as to whether that is
good or bad. IT IS A FACT that the men are effectively
brainwashed. Those who won't submit must be discharged or
spend much of their time in the brig.

Decognition Process

Once the initial conversion is effected, cults, armed
services, and similar groups cannot have cynicism among their
members. Members must respond to commands and do as they are
told, otherwise they are dangerous to the organizational
control. This is normally accomplished in a three step
Decognition Process.

Step One is ALERTNESS REDUCTION: The controllers cause the
nervous system to malfunction, making it difficult to
distinguish between fantasy and reality. This can be accomplished
in several ways. POOR DIET is one; watch out for
Brownies and Koolaid. The sugar throws the nervous system off.
More subtle is the "SPIRITUAL DIET" used by many cults. They
eat only vegetables and fruits; without the grounding of
grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products, fish or meat, an
individual becomes mentally "spacey." INADEQUATE SLEEP is
another primary way to reduce alertness, especially when
combined with long hours of work or intense physical activity.
Also, being bombarded with intense and unique experiences
achieves the same result.

Step Two is PROGRAMED CONFUSION: You are mentally
assaulted while your alertness is being reduced as in Step
One. This is accomplished with a deluge of new information,
lectures, discussion groups, encounters or one-to-one
processing, which usually amounts to the controller bombarding
the individual with questions. During this phase of
decognition, reality and illusion often merge and perverted
logic is likely to be accepted.

Step Three is THOUGHT STOPPING: Techniques are used to
cause the mind to go "flat." These are
altered-state-of-consciousness techniques that initially
induce calmness by giving the mind something simple to deal
with and focusing awareness. The continued use brings on a
feeling of elation and eventually hallucination. The result is
the reduction of thought and eventually, if used long enough,
the cessation of all thought and withdrawal from everyone and
everything except that which the controllers direct. The
takeover is then complete. It is important to be aware that
when members or participants are instructed to use
"thought-stopping" techniques, they are told that they will
benefit by so doing: they will become "better soldiers" or
"find enlightenment."

There are three primary techniques used for thought
stopping. The first is MARCHING: the thump, thump, thump beat
literally generates self-hypnosis and thus great susceptibility to suggestion.

The second thought stopping technique is MEDITATION. If
you spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in meditation,
after a few weeks, there is a great probability that you will
not return to full beta consciousness. You will remain in a
fixed state of alpha for as long as you continue to meditate.
I'm not saying this is bad--if you do it yourself. It may be very
beneficial. But it is a fact that you are causing your
mind to go flat. I've worked with meditators on an EEG machine
and the results are conclusive: the more you meditate, the
flatter your mind becomes until, eventually and especially if
used to excess or in combination with decognition, all thought
ceases. Some spiritual groups see this as nirvana--which is
bullshit. It is simply a predictable physiological result. And
if heaven on earth is non- thinking and non-involvement, I
really question why we are here.

The third thought-stopping technique is CHANTING, and
often chanting in meditation. "Speaking in tongues" could also
be included in this category.

All three-stopping techniques produce an altered state of
consciousness. This may be very good if YOU are controlling
the process, for you also control the input. I personally use
at least one self-hypnosis programming session every day and I
know how beneficial it is for me. But you need to know if you
use these techniques to the degree of remaining continually in
alpha that, although you'll be very mellow, you'll also be
more suggestible.

True Believers & Mass Movements

Before ending this section on conversion, I want to talk
about the people who are most susceptible to it and about Mass
Movements. I am convinced that at least a third of the population is
what Eric Hoffer calls "true believers." They
are joiners and followers . . . people who want to give away
their power. They look for answers, meaning, and enlightenment outside themselves.

Hoffer, who wrote THE TRUE BELIEVER, a classic on mass
movements, says, "true believers are not intent on bolstering
and advancing a cherished self, but are those craving to be
rid of unwanted self. They are followers, not because of a
desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy their
passion for self-renunciation!" Hoffer also says that true
believers "are eternally incomplete and eternally insecure"!

I know this from my own experience. In my years of
communicating concepts and conducting trainings, I have run
into them again and again. All I can do is attempt to show
them that the only thing to seek is the True Self within.
Their personal answers are to be found there and there alone.
I communicate that the basics of spirituality are
self-responsibility and self-actualization. But most of the
true believers just tell me that I'm not spiritual and go
looking for someone who will give them the dogma and structure
they desire. Never underestimate the potential danger of
these people. They can easily be molded into fanatics who will
gladly work and die for their holy cause. It is a substitute
for their lost faith in themselves and offers them as a
substitute for individual hope. The Moral Majority is made up
of true believers. All cults are composed of true believers.
You'll find them in politics, churches, businesses, and social
cause groups. They are the fanatics in these organizations.

Mass Movements will usually have a charismatic leader. The
followers want to convert others to their way of living or
impose a new way of life--if necessary, by legislating laws
forcing others to their view, as evidenced by the activities
of the Moral Majority. This means enforcement by guns or
punishment, for that is the bottomline in law enforcement.

A common hatred, enemy, or devil is essential to the
success of a mass movement. The Born-Again Christians have
Satan himself, but that isn't enough--they've added the
occult, the New Age thinkers and, lately, all those who oppose
their integration of church and politics, as evidenced in
their political reelection campaigns against those who oppose
their views. In revolutions, the devil is usually the ruling
power or aristocracy. Some human-potential movements are far
too clever to ask their graduates to join anything, thus
labeling themselves as a cult--but, if you look closely,
you'll find that their devil is anyone and everyone who hasn't
taken their training. There are mass movements without devils
but they seldom attain major status. The True Believers are
mentally unbalanced or insecure people, or those without hope
or friends. People don't look for allies when they love, but
they do when they hate or become obsessed with a cause. And
those who desire a new life and a new order feel the old ways
must be eliminated before the new order can be built.

Persuasion Techniques

Persuasion isn't technically brainwashing but it is the
manipulation of the human mind by another individual, without
the manipulated party being aware what caused his opinion shift.
I only have time to very basically introduce you to a
few of the thousands of techniques in use today, but the basis
of persuasion is always to access your RIGHT BRAIN. The left
half of your brain is analytical and rational. The right side
is creative and imaginative. That is overly simplified but it
makes my point. So, the idea is to distract the left brain and
keep it busy. Ideally, the persuader generates an eyes-open
altered state of consciousness, causing you to shift from beta
awareness into alpha; this can be measured on an EEG machine.

First, let me give you an example of distracting the left
brain. Politicians use these powerful techniques all the
time; lawyers use many variations which, I've been told, they
call "tightening the noose."

Assume for a moment that you are watching a politician
give a speech. First, he might generate what is called a "YES
SET." These are statements that will cause listeners to agree;
they might even unknowingly nod their heads in agreement. Next
come the TRUISMS. These are usually facts that could be
debated but, once the politician has his audience agreeing,
the odds are in the politician's favor that the audience won't
stop to think for themselves, thus continuing to agree. Last
comes the SUGGESTION. This is what the politician wants you to
do and, since you have been agreeing all along, you could be
persuaded to accept the suggestion. Now, if you'll listen
closely to my political speech, you'll find that the first
three are the "yes set," the next three are truisms and the
last is the suggestion.

"Ladies and gentlemen: are you angry about high food
prices? Are you tired of astronomical gas prices? Are you sick
of out-of-control inflation? Well, you know the Other Party allowed
18 percent inflation last year; you know crime has
increased 50 percent nationwide in the last 12 months, and you
know your paycheck hardly covers your expenses any more. Well,
the answer to resolving these problems is to elect me, John
Jones, to the U.S. Senate."

And I think you've heard all that before. But you might
also watch for what are called Imbedded Commands. As an
example: On key words, the speaker would make a gesture with
his left hand, which research has shown is more apt to access
your right brain. Today's media-oriented politicians and
spellbinders are often carefully trained by a whole new breed
of specialist who are using every trick in the book--both old
and new--to manipulate you into accepting their candidate.

The concepts and techniques of Neuro-Linguistics are so
heavily protected that I found out the hard way that to even
talk about them publicly or in print results in threatened
legal action. Yet Neuro- Linguistic training is readily
available to anyone willing to devote the time and pay the
price. It is some of the most subtle and powerful manipulation
I have yet been exposed to. A good friend who recently
attended a two-week seminar on Neuro-Linguistics found that
many of those she talked to during the breaks were government people.

Another technique that I'm just learning about is
unbelievably slippery; it is called an INTERSPERSAL TECHNIQUE
and the idea is to say one thing with words but plant a subconscious
impression of something else in the minds of the
listeners and/or watchers.

Let me give you an example: Assume you are watching a
television commentator make the following statement: SENATOR
JOHNSON is assisting local authorities to clear up the stupid
mistakes of companies contributing to the nuclear waste
problems." It sounds like a statement of fact, but, if the
speaker emphasizes the right word, and especially if he makes
the proper hand gestures on the key words, you could be left
with the subconscious impression that Senator Johnson is
stupid. That was the subliminal goal of the statement and the
speaker cannot be called to account for anything.

Persuasion techniques are also frequently used on a much
smaller scale with just as much effectiveness. The insurance
salesman knows his pitch is likely to be much more effective
if he can get you to visualize something in your mind. This is
right-brain communication. For instance, he might pause in
his conversation, look slowly around your livingroom and say,
"Can you just imagine this beautiful home burning to the
ground?" Of course you can! It is one of your unconscious
fears and, when he forces you to visualize it, you are more
likely to be manipulated into signing his insurance policy.

The Hare Krishnas, operating in every airport, use what I
call SHOCK AND CONFUSION techniques to distract the left brain
and communicate directly with the right brain. While waiting
for a plane, I once watched one operate for over an hour. He
had a technique of almost jumping in front of someone.
Initially, his voice was loud then dropped as he made his
pitch to take a book and contribute money to the cause.
Usually, when people are shocked, they immediately withdraw.
In this case they were shocked by the strange appearance,
sudden materialization and loud voice of the Hare Krishna
devotee. In other words, the people went into an alpha state
for security because they didn't want to confront the reality
before them. In alpha, they were highly suggestible so they
responded to the suggestion of taking the book; the moment
they took the book, they felt guilty and responded to the
second suggestion: give money. We are all conditioned that if
someone gives us something, we have to give them something in
return-- in that case, it was money. While watching this
hustler, I was close enough to notice that many of the people
he stopped exhibited an outward sign of alpha--their eyes were
actually dilated.

Subliminal Programming

Subliminals are hidden suggestions that only your
subconscious perceives. They can be audio, hidden behind
music, or visual, airbrushed into a picture, flashed on a
screen so fast that you don't consciously see them, or
cleverly incorporated into a picture or design.

Most audio subliminal reprograming tapes offer verbal
suggestions recorded at a low volume. I question the efficacy
of this technique--if subliminals are not perceptible, they cannot
be effective, and subliminals recorded below the
audible threshold are therefore useless. The oldest audio
subliminal technique uses a voice that follows the volume of
the music so subliminals are impossible to detect without a
parametric equalizer. But this technique is patented and, when
I wanted to develop my own line of subliminal audiocassettes,
negotiations with the patent holder proved to be
unsatisfactory. My attorney obtained copies of the patents
which I gave to some talented Hollywood sound engineers,
asking them to create a new technique. They found a way to
psycho-acoustically modify and synthesize the suggestions so
that they are projected in the same chord and frequency as the
music, thus giving them the effect of being part of the music.
But we found that in using this technique, there is no way to
reduce various frequencies to detect the subliminals. In other
words, although the suggestions are being heard by the
subconscious mind, they cannot be monitored with even the most
sophisticated equipment.

If we were able to come up with this technique as easily
as we did, I can only imagine how sophisticated the technology
has become, with unlimited government or advertising funding.
And I shudder to think about the propaganda and commercial
manipulation that we are exposed to on a daily basis. There is
simply no way to know what is behind the music you hear. It
may even be possible to hide a second voice behind the voice
to which you are listening. The series by Wilson Bryan Key,
Ph.D., on subliminals in advertising and political campaigns
well documents the misuse in many areas, especially printed
advertising in newspapers, magazines, and posters.

The big question about subliminals is: do they work? And I
guarantee you they do. Not only from the response of those who
have used my tapes, but from the results of such programs as
the subliminals behind the music in department stores.
Supposedly, the only message is instructions to not steal: one
East Coast department store chain reported a 37 percent
reduction in thefts in the first nine months of testing.

A 1984 article in the technical newsletter, "Brain-Mind
Bulletin," states that as much as 99 percent of our cognitive
activity may be "non-conscious," according to the director of the
Laboratory for Cognitive Psychophysiology at the
University of Illinois. The lengthy report ends with the
statement, "these findings support the use of subliminal
approaches such as taped suggestions for weight loss and the
therapeutic use of hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming."

Mass Misuse

I could relate many stories that support subliminal
programming, but I'd rather use my time to make you aware of
even more subtle uses of such programming.

I have personally experienced sitting in a Los Angeles
auditorium with over ten thousand people who were gathered to
listen to a current charismatic figure. Twenty minutes after entering
the auditorium, I became aware that I was going in
and out of an altered state. Those accompanying me experienced
the same thing. Since it is our business, we were aware of
what was happening, but those around us were not. By careful
observation, what appeared to be spontaneous demonstrations
were, in fact, artful manipulations. The only way I could
figure that the eyes-open trance had been induced was that a
6- to 7-cycle-per- second vibration was being piped into the
room behind the air conditioner sound. That particular
vibration generates alpha, which would render the audience
highly susceptible. Ten to 25 percent of the population is
capable of a somnambulistic level of altered states of
consciousness; for these people, the suggestions of the
speaker, if non-threatening, could potentially be accepted as
"commands."

Vibrato

This leads to the mention of VIBRATO. Vibrato is the
tremulous effect imparted in some vocal or instrumental music,
and the cyle-per- second range causes people to go into an
altered state of consciousness. At one period of English
history, singers whose voices contained pronounced vibrato
were not allowed to perform publicly because listeners would
go into an altered state and have fantasies, often sexual in
nature.

People who attend opera or enjoy listening to singers like
Mario Lanza are familiar with this altered state induced by
the performers.

ELFs

Now, let's carry this awareness a little farther. There
are also inaudible ELFs (extra-low frequency waves). These are
electromagnetic in nature. One of the primary uses of ELFs is
to communicate with our submarines. Dr. Andrija Puharich, a
highly respected researcher, in an attempt to warn U.S.
officials about Russian use of ELFs, set up an experiment.
Volunteers were wired so their brain waves could be measured
on an EEG. They were sealed in a metal room that could not be
penetrated by a normal signal.

Puharich then beamed ELF waves at the volunteers. ELFs go
right through the earth and, of course, right through metal
walls. Those inside couldn't know if the signal was or was not
being sent. And Puharich watched the reactions on the
technical equipment: 30 percent of those inside the room were
taken over by the ELF signal in six to ten seconds.

When I say "taken over," I mean that their behavior
followed the changes anticipated at very precise frequencies.
Waves below 6 cycles per second caused the subjects to become
very emotionally upset, and even disrupted bodily functions.
At 8.2 cycles, they felt very high... an elevated feeling, as
though they had been in masterful meditation, learned over a
period of years. Eleven to 11.3 cycles induced waves of
depressed agitation leading to riotous behavior.

The Neurophone

Dr. Patrick Flanagan is a personal friend of mine. In the
early 1960s, as a teenager, Pat was listed as one of the top
scientists in the world by "Life" magazine. Among his many
inventions was a device he called the Neurophone--an
electronic instrument that can successfully program
suggestions directly through contact with the skin. When he
attempted to patent the device, the government demanded that
he prove it worked. When he did, the National Security Agency
confiscated the neurophone. It took Pat two years of legal battle to
get his invention back.

In using the device, you don't hear or see a thing; it is
applied to the skin, which Pat claims is the source of special
senses. The skin contains more sensors for heat, touch, pain,
vibration, and electrical fields than any other part of the
human anatomy.

In one of his recent tests, Pat conducted two identical
seminars for a military audience--one seminar one night and
one the next night, because the size of the room was not large
enough to accommodate all of them at one time. When the first
group proved to be very cool and unwilling to respond, Patrick
spent the next day making a special tape to play at the second
seminar. The tape instructed the audience to be extremely warm
and responsive and for their hands to become "tingly." The
tape was played through the neurophone, which was connected to
a wire he placed along the ceiling of the room. There were no
speakers, so no sound could be heard, yet the message was
successfully transmitted from that wire directly into the
brains of the audience. They were warm and receptive, their
hands tingled and they responded, according to programming, in
other ways that I cannot mention here.

The more we find out about how human beings work through
today's highly advanced technological research, the more we
learn to control human beings. And what probably scares me
the most is that the medium for takeover is already in place!
The television set in your livingroom and bedroom is doing a
lot more than just entertaining you.

Before I continue, let me point out something else about
an altered state of consciousness. When you go into an altered
state, you transfer into right brain, which results in the internal
release of the body's own opiates: enkephalins and
Beta-endorphins, chemically almost identical to opium. In
other words, it feels good . . . and you want to come back for
more.

Recent tests by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that,
while viewers were watching TV, right-brain activity
outnumbered left-brain activity by a ratio of two to one. Put
more simply, the viewers were in an altered state . . . in
trance more often than not. They were getting their
Beta-endorphin "fix."

To measure attention spans, psychophysiologist Thomas
Mulholland of the Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts,
attached young viewers to an EEG machine that was wired to
shut the TV set off whenever the children's brains produced a
majority of alpha waves. Although the children were told to
concentrate, only a few could keep the set on for more than 30
seconds!

Most viewers are already hypnotized. To deepen the trance
is easy. One simple way is to place a blank, black frame
every 32 frames in the film that is being projected. This creates a
45-beat-per-minute pulsation perceived only by the
subconscious mind--the ideal pace to generate deep hypnosis.

The commercials or suggestions presented following this
alpha- inducing broadcast are much more likely to be accepted
by the viewer. The high percentage of the viewing audience
that has somnambulistic- depth ability could very well accept
the suggestions as commands--as long as those commands did not
ask the viewer to do something contrary to his morals,
religion, or self-preservation.

The medium for takeover is here. By the age of 16,
children have spent 10,000 to 15,000 hours watching
television--that is more time than they spend in school! In
the average home, the TV set is on for six hours and 44
minutes per day--an increase of nine minutes from last year
and three times the average rate of increase during the 1970s.

It obviously isn't getting better . . . we are rapidly
moving into an alpha-level world--very possibly the Orwellian
world of "1984"-- placid, glassy-eyed, and responding
obediently to instructions.

A research project by Jacob Jacoby, a Purdue University
psychologist, found that of 2,700 people tested, 90 percent
misunderstood even such simple viewing fare as commercials and
"Barnaby Jones." Only minutes after watching, the typical
viewer missed 23 to 36 percent of the questions about what he
or she had seen. Of course they did--they were going in and
out of trance! If you go into a deep trance, you must be
instructed to remember--otherwise you automatically forget.

I have just touched the tip of the iceberg. When you start
to combine subliminal messages behind the music, subliminal
visuals projected on the screen, hypnotically produced visual
effects, sustained musical beats at a trance-inducing pace . .
. you have extremely effective brainwashing. Every hour that
you spend watching the TV set you become more conditioned.
And, in case you thought there was a law against any of these
things, guess again. There isn't! There are a lot of powerful
people who obviously prefer things exactly the way they are.
Maybe they have plans for us?