>I release my belief perception and judgment that I can't look to see the other side of issues.
  • I release my belief perception and judgment that I can't accept other people thinking differently than I do.
  • I release my belief perception and judgment that it is too much trouble to think for myself.
  • I release all fear that I'll suffer somehow if I accept different points of view.
  • I release all unwillingness to be open to a different way of looking at things.
  • I release all need or desire to automatically accept what someone else says is true.
  • I release all unwillingness to be open to more information before I make important decisions.
  • I release all need or desire to make judgments that satisfy a political or religious agenda.
  • I release my belief, perception and judgment that I can't think for myself.
  • I release all fear that I will be on the wrong or stupid side of an argument if I disagree with a leader or friend.
  • I release my belief, perception and judgment that I can't take the time to learn opposing points of view before I decide where I stand on issues.
  • I release all fear of listening to talk that contradicts one point of view.

    • Have a great, freeing day,
    Sharon and Clark Cameron

    The Cameron Group
    Helping People Create Attitudes That Work For Them
    "Attitude makes all the difference!"

    (Email) Cameron@CompuMind.com
    (Web) http://www.compumind.com/

    [Home]© Copyright 1998 The Cameron Group, All Rights Reserved. The Cameron Method Newsletter - Mind Control

    menu About us Site Map Order Links Books and Tapes Client Talk Releasing Stress Free Newsletter Software Life Improvement Home
    The Cameron Method - Newsletter Archive

    18 November, 1998 - Mind Control

    Twenty years ago November 18, the Jonestown tragedy played out its terrible ending. Over 900 people led by a charismatic religious leader whose mind had gone into full blown psychotic paranoia, were forced to commit suicide or were shot to death. They had to give poison to their own children.

    Some of his followers also shot and killed U.S. Representative Leo Ryan, and several others of his party who had gone there to investigate and were trying to help some people escape. Jones's henchmen came after them and shot them on the runway as they tried to board their plane. Jackie Spears, who was an aide to Ryan at the time, was shot in the back and several other places on her body and suffered 22 hours nearly dying before the little group was rescued.

    Listening to an interview of some of the survivors of the Jonestown massacre on National Public Radio, we were especially struck by one of the comments. One man, questioned about what he had learned from the experience, said that he now understood that you have to think for yourself--that if you aren't willing to use your own mind to make the judgments required, someone else will do your thinking for you. And if someone thinks for you, you're the slave and the other person is the master.

    Are you following another person's view of the world? Are you letting commentators on the radio or TV shape your view of life? Are you taking your perceptions from movies or celebrities? Are you even open to a religious or political leader telling you how to perceive the world? Remember, Jones was a charismatic (originally Baptist) religious leader

    I's still true that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." When you have huge influence, there is a tendency to start believing that you are a "channel" for your perception of God. To start thinking that whatever you say or do is "right." Jones had even started calling himself "God" and had his followers call him "Dad."

    It is good for leaders of any organization, including pundits in the media, to consider that they have a great responsibility, as do doctors, to "do no harm." Even so, we as individuals must accept ultimate responsibility for our thoughts and actions. It was Jones's paranoia that led to the tragedy, but each person who went with him followed him step by step into the Hell he created.

    The more recent group suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult was rather tame in comparison. Drawn to the symbol of the passing comet, these people played out the ultimate fantasy of escape from life's challenges. Convinced that they would be taking their bodies with them, they even bought new shoes. They video-taped themselves cheerily talking about the "journey" they were taking.

    They were totally under the belief system of their leader, who also had become mad by civilized standards. He didn't murder anyone, but led them into the suicide himself. There was no outward coercion, but there was complete absorption of his belief that the greatest opportunity life offered was to leave it. This was also symbolized in his having himself castrated... (like suicide, certainly a rejection of life.)

    Most of us (happily) don't live any lives so dramatic as these examples, but it is still true that we are influenced more broadly than we have any idea by radio, TV, movies and the print media.

    Who has the greatest influence on your thinking? The answer is the same one running your life. Are the shows you like full of conspiracies? In them are other people or certain groups projected as evil or threatening or even stupid? Do these shows give you a sense of belonging to some worthy greater group or a smug feeling of being right?

    Wanting to be part of something greater than ourselves is normally healthy. We join organizations for social interaction and acceptance and to feel that we are "in tune" with the larger group.

    But these days, we no longer have to join an organization in order to be influenced. We are influenced in our homes alone, in our cars, at our computers. The phenomenon of the power of the media has seeped into everything around us without our realizing it. They call it spin in politics, they call it advertising or promotion in commerce. Ministers call it preaching (at least their version of) God's word.

    It is also called "exposing the truth" by all sorts of attention-getting talk show hosts. And the successful ones are phenomenally influential. Millions of people tune in identify with a host. We can feel we are right there with them, and even start to mimic their speech, their catch phrases, as if we were members of a gang.

    Tribal instinct must not relieve us from the obligation to think for ourselves and from our own personal point of view. We must learn to become conscious of the mechanism of how we adopt our judgments. Then we can agree with or discard an opinion from a hopefully more objective point of view.

    In Orwell's book, 1984, we were presented with a (then) future society that controlled thinking. It showed a drab world completely controlled by a malevolent political leadership. No individual thinking or desire was permitted.

    Too bad the subtle influences in the complicated world we inhabit now aren't just as easy to see. We can become mentally enslaved without even noticing it.

    For instance, if politics is an issue for you, try listening to a show where there is some presentation of the opposing point of view. It may take your looking late at night for one, but they usually can be found, possibly on another station. You may stay with your original point of view, but it is useful to listen to the other so you can understand how others view something, as well as to give yourself broader choice.

    If you happen to feel your religious point of view represents the only "right" way, take a little time to look at the traditions of another one. See if you can find some ways in which your faiths are alike. Remember, many of the most bloody wars of this world have been committed because of people's different perceptions of God. In religion, look to find what is right for you, but judge not what others find is right for them... oops, sounding religious here!

    Use these Releasing Statements to help your mind sustain its openness to making real choices.

    Have a great, freeing day,
    Sharon and Clark Cameron

    The Cameron Group
    Helping People Create Attitudes That Work For Them
    "Attitude makes all the difference!"

    (Email) Cameron@CompuMind.com
    (Web) http://www.compumind.com/

    [Home]© Copyright 1998 The Cameron Group, All Rights Reserved.