Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 38
pressure imposed upon victims by the skilled use of words and persuasion when a religious
organization‘s main branch believers solicit victims for donations.
Mind Control Theory
If you go into a cult-type religious organization and you meet and talk to believers who are
engaged in illegal activities, with the exception of selected persons in the organization‘s
main headquarters, you will find that they are sincere, serious, and kind people. A number
of members graduated from high-level universities. There are many who have advanced
science degrees. Many women, including nurses, childcare professionals and schoolteachers,
are members. There are also many women who formerly held high-paying positions in
banks and security firms. These women donated large sums of their savings to religious
organizations, left their homes to live with the organization and dedicated their lives to the
group.
It is difficult to imagine or understand why these people, for example, would produce Sarin
gas with the intention of killing people. Likewise, it is difficult to understand how people
were persuaded to purchase vases and ginseng extract at outlandish prices. Similarly,
members of another organization thoroughly believed that it was correct to collect money
for the organization by prostituting themselves and soliciting prospective customers. It is
shocking to see how intelligent individuals can perpetrate unlawful activities once they enter
such religious organizations. Journalists and other mass media individuals who have no
direct knowledge of what it is really like to be a member of such a cult cannot understand
why others have actually become members.
Often in society we hear such explanations as ―She had too much free time on her hands
and that‘s why she got so involved in such an organization,‖ ―People who join such groups
are a special type who are interested in religion and the spiritual world, and ―The families of
those persons who were involved in that group are the problem.‖
However, people whose relatives or friends join cult organizations do not think this way. In
fact, many of the people who join cults are those who had no previous interest in religion or
the spiritual world, those who worked busily everyday, and those who studied hard in
universities. A number of people who join cults are ambitious and have a strong sense of
justice. There are cult members who, until they joined, were successful in adequately
meeting the expectations of their parents and had been exemplary children. These people
seemingly changed completely and began to advocate the cult‘s teachings and contentions.
They left their homes, abandoned their professions, and went to live in the cult communes.
These facts are known from actual experiences of people who joined cults.
Mind Control is a convenient terminology for describing the process by which people change
when they join cults. Mind Control is the manipulation of a person‘s heart and mind. In line
with the cult leader‘s purposes and intentions, specific tactics are used to manipulate the
hearts and minds of individuals who formerly had absolutely no relationship with such
organizations and, in doing so, turn them into cult ―robots‖ (this term is used here
metaphorically as a short-hand way of denoting the extraordinarily high degree to which
members comply with leaders‘ demands). This explanation of mind control gains general
social understanding.
However, the problem is determining how and by what methods of mind control normally
competent individuals become cult robots. This is difficult to explain either by the religious
organization or by individuals who were already members of a cult. Mind control affects
people and is carried out in various ways. There is no uniform explanation of mind control,
and each cult member‘s experience of mind control is different.
Mind control cases are often typified in weekly magazines, newspapers, or in short television
programs. The media have shown that cult tactics for soliciting believers all derive from cult
pressure imposed upon victims by the skilled use of words and persuasion when a religious
organization‘s main branch believers solicit victims for donations.
Mind Control Theory
If you go into a cult-type religious organization and you meet and talk to believers who are
engaged in illegal activities, with the exception of selected persons in the organization‘s
main headquarters, you will find that they are sincere, serious, and kind people. A number
of members graduated from high-level universities. There are many who have advanced
science degrees. Many women, including nurses, childcare professionals and schoolteachers,
are members. There are also many women who formerly held high-paying positions in
banks and security firms. These women donated large sums of their savings to religious
organizations, left their homes to live with the organization and dedicated their lives to the
group.
It is difficult to imagine or understand why these people, for example, would produce Sarin
gas with the intention of killing people. Likewise, it is difficult to understand how people
were persuaded to purchase vases and ginseng extract at outlandish prices. Similarly,
members of another organization thoroughly believed that it was correct to collect money
for the organization by prostituting themselves and soliciting prospective customers. It is
shocking to see how intelligent individuals can perpetrate unlawful activities once they enter
such religious organizations. Journalists and other mass media individuals who have no
direct knowledge of what it is really like to be a member of such a cult cannot understand
why others have actually become members.
Often in society we hear such explanations as ―She had too much free time on her hands
and that‘s why she got so involved in such an organization,‖ ―People who join such groups
are a special type who are interested in religion and the spiritual world, and ―The families of
those persons who were involved in that group are the problem.‖
However, people whose relatives or friends join cult organizations do not think this way. In
fact, many of the people who join cults are those who had no previous interest in religion or
the spiritual world, those who worked busily everyday, and those who studied hard in
universities. A number of people who join cults are ambitious and have a strong sense of
justice. There are cult members who, until they joined, were successful in adequately
meeting the expectations of their parents and had been exemplary children. These people
seemingly changed completely and began to advocate the cult‘s teachings and contentions.
They left their homes, abandoned their professions, and went to live in the cult communes.
These facts are known from actual experiences of people who joined cults.
Mind Control is a convenient terminology for describing the process by which people change
when they join cults. Mind Control is the manipulation of a person‘s heart and mind. In line
with the cult leader‘s purposes and intentions, specific tactics are used to manipulate the
hearts and minds of individuals who formerly had absolutely no relationship with such
organizations and, in doing so, turn them into cult ―robots‖ (this term is used here
metaphorically as a short-hand way of denoting the extraordinarily high degree to which
members comply with leaders‘ demands). This explanation of mind control gains general
social understanding.
However, the problem is determining how and by what methods of mind control normally
competent individuals become cult robots. This is difficult to explain either by the religious
organization or by individuals who were already members of a cult. Mind control affects
people and is carried out in various ways. There is no uniform explanation of mind control,
and each cult member‘s experience of mind control is different.
Mind control cases are often typified in weekly magazines, newspapers, or in short television
programs. The media have shown that cult tactics for soliciting believers all derive from cult
