There’s mind control and then there’s Mind control

Thought manipulation assumes we have shallow minds. And we do.

The subject of mind control is often dismissed as a topic restricted to horror films, kidnapping or science fiction. Yet, barely contained below the surface of our lives are the well-documented machinations of advertising, political movements, religions and social media.

There can be little doubt that our minds are manipulated, sometimes as transparently as telling us what to dream, as in “The American Dream” of home ownership, two kids, a car and a TV.

We may rail against apparent attempts at mind control, but we often exhibit all the appearances of being ignorant to how controlled we might truly be. Superstition and fear seem to surround the subject, so the mere mention of mind control sets off reactive alarm bells.

In the 1960s those alarms were ringing when Transcendental Meditation burst on the scene. Ministers railed against demon possession and the Devil’s deceptive influences. And people bought into it.

Even today, ministers superstitiously call up the faithful against storms, earthquakes, floods and terrorists - all because some group of humans they disagree with are seen by God as an abomination causing the disaster. The tragedies are their fault. And God hates them.

Superstition lies much closer to the surface then most of us admit. Over the years, I’ve seen hundreds of otherwise rational, mature adults readily capitulate to superstition. And in so doing, they setup conditioned behaviors in themselves that inevitably cause predictable knee-jerk reactions when they are confronted with things they can’t explain.

Rather then admit to global warming, we have large groups of people blaming the sinners of the world for catastrophes. And in a sense, they’re right.

It seems safe to say that in practical terms, we’ll normally only consider mind control that is framed within the context of the extreme. Perhaps it’s a cult we’ve read about two states over, or maybe it’s a frenzy of worry that arises because Satan worshippers have allegedly infiltrated our local school.

The unspeakable truth is that we call out things as Satanic because we fear things that are Godly.

We fear a deeper sense of self. We fear a greater definition of mind. We fear an expansive view of the universe, or a more unknowable, unrealizable form of existence. It’s fear and ignorance that causes our minds to be so pliable and manipulated. Because we live in the more shallow aspects of the greater ocean called Mind.

How can we exemplify our shallowness? Because many of us scoff at the notion that are minds are deeper or greater than what we already know.

In the little story told below, each numerical step is an example of communicating with someone. The steps successively represent a deeper and fuller experience of communication. The first example can be termed the most shallow.

1. One day, we come upon some words scratched in the dirt.

“Hi, how are you?”

We have no idea who put the words there, and we will only discover their source if we find a way to go deeper.

2. Months later, we come across a new invention called the telegraph. Because we can hear the staccato chatter of dots and dashes, our next experience of a typed “Hi, how are you?” feels more real.

3. The next town over, we chance upon a tape recorded message. We actually hear the voice of our stranger greeting us. The reality of our stranger becomes more substantial.

4. Within a week, we are on a phone call with the stranger, and conversation back and forth defines a new sense of relationship. We find ourselves quickly moving past the initial greetings.

5. The following day, we meet our mystery person in person, and a world of personal interaction opens up.

There can be no denying that each incident has been real in its own right. And each incident has been a true representation of our stranger. But by the last occurrence, our stranger is a stranger no longer, and the encounters have become successively more real and meaningful. Not that they were ever unreal or devoid of meaning.

Similarly, as the mystics have been saying for thousands of years, there’s more to our minds than we imagine. We can stay on the surface of dots and dashes, or we can set-out to overcome inertia and connect to a far deeper and more meaningful conversation. This is the rationale behind the practice called prayer.

And so, ignorant or not, our current definitions of ‘Mind’ are legitimate. And if anyone attempts to present them as truth, there is no denying the accuracy of their statement. But ‘truth’ is not the same as ‘Truth.’ Yet, to the untrained mind, they sound and seem the same.