Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 26
ideological totalists do not pursue this approach solely for the purpose of
maintaining a sense of power over others. Rather they are impelled by a
special kind of mystique. Included in this mystique is a sense of ‗higher
purpose,‘ … Whatever [the group member‘s] response—whether he is cheerful
in the face of being manipulated, deeply resentful, or feels a combination of
both—he has been deprived of the opportunity to exercise his capacities for
self-expression and independent action. (pp. 422, 423)
The fundamental impact of psychological manipulation of members in cults is
dehumanization through the suppression of symbol formation, creativity, and imagination.
This occurs through coercive enforcement of what Lifton refers to as ―thought terminating
clichés‖ (p. 429). He states,
For an individual person, the effect of the language of ideological totalism can
be summed up in one word: constriction. He is, so to speak, linguistically
deprived and since language is so central to all human experience, his
capacities for thinking and feeling are immensely narrowed. (p. 430)
Hassan (1988) refers to the use of ―thought-stopping techniques‖ in cults. He states,
―Thought-stopping is the most direct way to short-circuit a person‘s ability to test reality,‖
and ―… when thought is controlled, feelings and behaviors are controlled as well‖ (p. 63). I
must note here that I have not found the term feeling stopping in the literature, although it
is inferred, as per Hassan‘s statement. I find ―feeling stopping‖ to be a convenient and
important extension of the term thought stopping, and one I have heard in dialogue,
although apparently not documented. Neuroscience supports psychodynamic thinking that
psychological trauma impairs the link between thought/emotion and symbol
formation/creativity and I suggest that thought and feeling stopping might contribute to
such impairment in cults. Building on this, I suggest that ―joy stopping‖ occurs when
members learn to avoid or shut down the joy that would, under nonoppressive
circumstances, accompany the optimal experience and flow of subjectively expressed
creativity. While symbols are vehicles to joyfully bridge disparate elements of thought and
feeling as a way to create subjective meaning, undue psychological stress is often
characterized by impairment to symbol formation, accompanied by black-and-white thinking
and often fear, dread, and isolation. Some joy stopping in cults is obvious, as when
communal house leaders use cult doctrine to induce in children spiritually based fear about
playing and enjoying themselves. To avoid beatings or harsh reprimands, the children, and
in fact individuals of all ages might utilize joy stopping to suppress individual desire to
symbolically express themselves through play, music, art or in any form that asserts
autonomy.
The role of fear comes up quite often, because if inclination to create is accompanied by
fear, cognitive dissonance arises and the need to resolve the dissonance ensues. Joy
stopping might be one way to solve the intolerable conflict.
6. Gap and Combinatory Processes in Symbolic Functioning
It is quite significant that all the major creativity-stage models include a stage that involves
the combining and recombining of elements. Wallas refers to this as the incubation stage,
NCRG/T as the generating-ideas stage, and the COCO models as the operations stage.
Postmodern thinking suggests that besides thinking and feeling, psychic space for sliding
thoughts and feelings—referred to as gap—is intrinsic to symbol formation as a combining
process that allows for the generation of meaning. Unfilled psychic space/gap is necessary
for the fluid combining and recombining of thoughts, feelings, and so on into symbolic
representations. Tolerance of uncertainty is necessary to avoid addictive solutions, such as
cult involvement, to the common human quest for absolute truth. Einstein states,
―combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought‖ (Hadamard,
ideological totalists do not pursue this approach solely for the purpose of
maintaining a sense of power over others. Rather they are impelled by a
special kind of mystique. Included in this mystique is a sense of ‗higher
purpose,‘ … Whatever [the group member‘s] response—whether he is cheerful
in the face of being manipulated, deeply resentful, or feels a combination of
both—he has been deprived of the opportunity to exercise his capacities for
self-expression and independent action. (pp. 422, 423)
The fundamental impact of psychological manipulation of members in cults is
dehumanization through the suppression of symbol formation, creativity, and imagination.
This occurs through coercive enforcement of what Lifton refers to as ―thought terminating
clichés‖ (p. 429). He states,
For an individual person, the effect of the language of ideological totalism can
be summed up in one word: constriction. He is, so to speak, linguistically
deprived and since language is so central to all human experience, his
capacities for thinking and feeling are immensely narrowed. (p. 430)
Hassan (1988) refers to the use of ―thought-stopping techniques‖ in cults. He states,
―Thought-stopping is the most direct way to short-circuit a person‘s ability to test reality,‖
and ―… when thought is controlled, feelings and behaviors are controlled as well‖ (p. 63). I
must note here that I have not found the term feeling stopping in the literature, although it
is inferred, as per Hassan‘s statement. I find ―feeling stopping‖ to be a convenient and
important extension of the term thought stopping, and one I have heard in dialogue,
although apparently not documented. Neuroscience supports psychodynamic thinking that
psychological trauma impairs the link between thought/emotion and symbol
formation/creativity and I suggest that thought and feeling stopping might contribute to
such impairment in cults. Building on this, I suggest that ―joy stopping‖ occurs when
members learn to avoid or shut down the joy that would, under nonoppressive
circumstances, accompany the optimal experience and flow of subjectively expressed
creativity. While symbols are vehicles to joyfully bridge disparate elements of thought and
feeling as a way to create subjective meaning, undue psychological stress is often
characterized by impairment to symbol formation, accompanied by black-and-white thinking
and often fear, dread, and isolation. Some joy stopping in cults is obvious, as when
communal house leaders use cult doctrine to induce in children spiritually based fear about
playing and enjoying themselves. To avoid beatings or harsh reprimands, the children, and
in fact individuals of all ages might utilize joy stopping to suppress individual desire to
symbolically express themselves through play, music, art or in any form that asserts
autonomy.
The role of fear comes up quite often, because if inclination to create is accompanied by
fear, cognitive dissonance arises and the need to resolve the dissonance ensues. Joy
stopping might be one way to solve the intolerable conflict.
6. Gap and Combinatory Processes in Symbolic Functioning
It is quite significant that all the major creativity-stage models include a stage that involves
the combining and recombining of elements. Wallas refers to this as the incubation stage,
NCRG/T as the generating-ideas stage, and the COCO models as the operations stage.
Postmodern thinking suggests that besides thinking and feeling, psychic space for sliding
thoughts and feelings—referred to as gap—is intrinsic to symbol formation as a combining
process that allows for the generation of meaning. Unfilled psychic space/gap is necessary
for the fluid combining and recombining of thoughts, feelings, and so on into symbolic
representations. Tolerance of uncertainty is necessary to avoid addictive solutions, such as
cult involvement, to the common human quest for absolute truth. Einstein states,
―combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought‖ (Hadamard,
