The Independent Thinker

Secular Thinking

Who's Pulling Your Strings?

(Behavior in the Misinformation Age)

By John Cleverly

Foreword

The detrimental effects of certain aspects of religious suggestion is a subject too long ignored by both writers and publishers—largely because of a preconceived "no win" scenario. Religion is regarded as an unassailable rampart, a sacred and non-profitable ground. This book is written for no other reason than to break that silence—which is a tacit agreement to leave well alone—and prove damage, prove alienation from reality, and prove the seeding of hate that makes its victims vulnerable to mindless behavior. On the fiftieth anniversary of V.E. day, it is time we realized the truth, and stopped blaming the German people for acts that each and every one of us could have committed. It is time we became aware of the reasons why the human condition is fraught with continual strife and turmoil. It is time we became aware of what causes the killings.

The human mind is a bastion of bias and rejection, stimulated and fed by experience and the five senses. It reaches conclusions by association and cross-referencing of ideas. Our earliest childhood teachings, accepted unconditionally from the adult, form the foundation for all subsequent thinking, for—whether the message is spoken, written or given by example—it is the message we get that powers the mind and determines our future. We've read much about the power of suggestion, and yet we do not examine and purge our own programming of damaging nonsense. For instance, the prevailing doomsday perception of cancer is probably the insurmountable obstacle to a cure. Death becomes a self-activating prophesy. And a child taught the concept of a compassionate and all-seeing god, attributes future fortuitous happenings as the work of that god.

The mind develops as a network of ideas relying on the concepts of early instilled suggestions—that can be no more than extremely damaging opinions—upon which we build the foundation of our mind-set. An opinion inculcated as a truth becomes an integral part of our built-up psyche that henceforth rejects new and conflicting ideas as being unacceptable. Religion is a part of the social fabric of most countries around the world, but the argument that religions do more good than harm is no longer valid in an open arena of invasive communication, competition and violence. In a world of evolutionary change, the concept of an all powerful protective God has gone from a therapeutic idea within the confines of a tribe, through a period of tyrannical authority that burned disbelievers at the stake, to the present continual warring, and annihilating of whole societies.

We are all, without exception, behaviorally programmed. We are all, to a greater or lesser degree, behaviorally manipulated. And we are all, to some extent, mind-poisoned and controlled by early suggestion and example. But perhaps more revealing is the fact that we all, whether consciously or unconsciously, try to manipulate others to our way of thinking. Because behavioral programming can effectively imprint in a single moment or sentence, even a sibling cannot have comprehensive knowledge of the turning points in his brother's programming, though he himself may have played a major role in that programming. And yet, without such knowledge, society expects to understand the rationale behind a man's misanthropic behavior, and attributes incomprehensible behavior to insanity or criminality, rather than programming.

No two people consistently experience the same programming. The human brain has more than one hundred billion neurons, and with more than a thousand synapses per neuron, activity adds up to about one hundred trillion electro-chemical discharges within the brain. Even when we discount the fact that much of our sensory stimulation and response is identically duplicated, the possible permutation of ideas and experience that make up the range of programmed behavioral differences in people is truly astronomical.

In the following writing, the villains are mental viruses, ideas that make victims out of the unsuspecting. There is no blame, but only the tragedy of generations of programmed aberrant behavior. We'll reflect on human life as it has evolved, and aspire to objectivity in a realistic assessment of what we are, and where we are. We'll attempt to provide answers and explanations for those who seek purpose, hope and direction in their lives as they live it, rather than seeking salvation after death.

The omission of one comma or dash can frustrate access into an electronic computer. With impartiality, we can view these wonderful machines and say "garbage in, garbage out." In other words, we can acknowledge that computers are no more accurate than the data fed into them by the programmers. But because human minds are the biased products of programming within the biological computers called brains—programmed with manipulative propaganda, fears, hypocrisy, and mythological beliefs passed down from an early evolutionary period—we cannot recognize the garbage that we, in good faith, perpetuate in the development of our children and our children's children.

Furthermore, because our biological computers are confused by emotional and judgmental interpretation, perceiving other dimensions such as love and hate, sadness, joyousness, jealousy, good and evil, we cannot see ourselves as the walking, talking, confrontational aggressors that we really are. In truth more volatile, more dangerous, and less accurate than our more limited but unbiased electronic brainchildren.

We cannot survive without associating ideas, but even this essential process can have both positive and negative impact on our behavior. Mental association enhances perception and interpretation, but it can also program damaging generalization. For instance, a black man deeply wronged by a white man henceforth distrusts all white men. Of course, the reverse can also be true.

The strength and development of mankind is in the accumulated knowledge passed down from preceding generations, but our weaknesses—our violence, confusions, unfounded beliefs and fears—are derived from the same source. As a species, our degree of developed knowledge creates insecurity, for where imagination is as strong, and conflicts with truth, partial awareness is a pit of dreadful possibilities. We look for messages of hope, and, in the majority, embrace religions and unsubstantiated opinions. But only the messages of truth have been responsible for whatever progress we have made as a species.

There is a popular misconception, endorsed by every religious establishment, that in order to teach our children acceptable social behavior—honesty, kindness, forgiveness, law-abiding accord etc—we must give them the benefit of spiritual teaching. Religions around the world diplomatically and opportunistically embrace these indisputable values, but spiritual teaching (which is synonymous with the concept of a soul or a separate spirit capable of traveling after the death of its earthly host) is in no way related to acceptable social behavior. The concept of hell instills fear of a dreadful reckoning after life, and gives young children frightening nightmares. Other fears arise from parental accounts of devils and demanding gods. Children become paranoid and deeply confused because they are mentally incarcerated in a cage of viral ideas that constitute mental garbage, which needs to be sifted and purged from the truths that have raised us above the animals.

Propaganda isn't just the tool of dictators and fascist governments seeking to control human beliefs and behavior. Manipulative propaganda is hypocrisy magnified, and we are all programmed to use hypocrisy and manipulative behavior. Even a child's tantrum for a chocolate bar is learned manipulative behavior.

This book is more observational than speculative and as such cannot be called philosophical. It is about observed and researched causes and effects of human behavior. It attempts to present a capsulated account of the damaging effect of misinformation gleaned largely through mankind's evolutionary journey. For convenience sake, the generic term "man" is sometimes used to mean the human race, but in no way denigrates the female of the species.

Some publishers and even a prominent politician have already privately denounced this book as being unfit for publication, on the grounds that while perhaps being factually correct, it is politically unacceptable, especially on the American scene. This politician even suggested it should and would be banned. It is this type of programmed rejection that makes the publishing of this book an imperative. America takes an inordinate pride in having individual freedom; freedom of speech, freedom of movement, and freedom to choose one's occupation within the parameters of opportunity and qualification. It also takes pride in its religious freedom, but the individual seldom changes his birth religion. Religious freedom is really the legislated tolerance provided by the State for different sects and denominations to co-exist side by side, a legislated condition that sometimes prevents bloodshed, but never acrimony.

Few of us choose our religion. Most of us are programmed from birth to a particular religion, and in the programming we unwittingly lose a vital part of our mental freedom to accept uncompromising truth without first trying to reconcile it with previously programmed opinion.

This other "freedom in thought" is to this day a virtually unknown freedom in a world that has evolved under the yoke of fear, ignorance and superstition. Each succeeding generation has blindly embraced the religious doctrine of good versus evil; a doctrine built on the fear of the unknown. A doctrine that seeks answers in metaphysical teachings and through mythological beliefs is a legacy of a long redundant past.

Our children have never been taught, and are therefore unaware that the assimilation of a new and somewhat comforting but erroneous belief—when taught as truth—can deprive them of an area of free reasoning. Without awareness of this loss, they remain handicapped with an inability to think freely. It is not just freedom for thought without the obstacle of mental reconciliation, but freedom from being manipulated by a viral idea that entices its victims into a life-lasting cocoon of fantasy. This is a state of nirvana that conjures up an imaginary all-powerful savior to protect one from the vicissitudes of life, and to reward virtue with everlasting bliss. It is a mental crutch that in reality weakens self-reliance and worldly purpose.

The victims of this form of mental incarceration are legion. They are unaware of being deprived or handicapped, and continue to think themselves capable of self-determination, the masters and instigators of their own thoughts and direction. In truth, the human animal is so susceptible, so vulnerable to this insidious form of suggestion, that he often wastes a lifetime performing repetitively to a viral idea, like a mindless marionette.

Viral ideas that incarcerate the mind can induce radical changes in behavior. The behavioral profile of a conscientious conformist, desperately seeking to perform within the restrictive parameters of a mental cage, might be repetitive behavior that becomes ritualistic addiction, and a masochistic renunciation of all pleasurable pursuits. This is usually accompanied by an unconscious withdrawal from the threat of opposing ideas that could cause deviation from purpose. This in turn often leads to a form of voluntary physical incarceration. Without wishing to be unkind, monks and nuns exemplify these behavioral patterns. Before entering their isolated islands of dedicated worship there is still some hope for rehabilitation, but two months inside, surrounded by their peers of a similar affliction, and their chance of ever dying outside its "protective" walls is greatly reduced.

On the other hand, a person similarly programmed, but with later exposure to conflicting ideas that cause inner feelings of doubt and unresolved direction, could have quite a different behavioral profile. Depending on the strength and combination of programming, he might be crippled by indecision and frustrated with an inner fury. Alternately, he might direct his explosive denunciation toward others, whom he perceives as being negative factors in his problem, rather than being self-destructive and self condemning. He may seek the confirmation of others with similar programming, and even develop an eloquence of expression to support his revolving arguments. He may in fact be another Hitler, and succeed in bursting out of his programmed mode with the violence of an erupting volcano.

Those victims who have been so programmed are psychological prisoners, no less intelligent, no more and no less righteous, but never-the-less somewhat less responsible for their predictable and arbitrary rejection of conflicting the ideas, perhaps incorporated in this book. There are hundreds of associated ideas flowing through this book, all coming from a single source of programming and research, and all written from a single expertise of expression. Even the most liberal minded reader will not agree with every idea.

No two people have the same mind print or perspective. However, the religiously programmed reader will seize every excuse not to read on, without consciously recognizing the real reason. "The print is too small. The book is blasphemy. The cover is too frivolous. He’ll search for the smallest mistake, and perhaps even accuse the publisher of being a vanity press catering to the railings of an atheist. However, his real reason will be to avoid a perceived threat to his already established programmed base. Reading on for such a person would be tantamount to confrontation. However, this book is not about atheism, or the firm denial of a God. (meaning a supreme being). And for all readers who recognize that, and persevere, this book will heighten an awareness of their vulnerability, and provide a more analytical view of themselves.

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