How can you know if you're brainwashed

[Mikal]

You can know if your brainwashed if someone has taken your belief system hostage, if someone has supplanted fear to covertly control you and has shut down your ability to use the critical faculties of your own mind....

These are the three factors that determine the technique of brainwashing...


Mikal

[austintorn@aol.com]

I overcame mine in 5th grade in Catholic School, but I have to say that they really had me going for a while!

BrainWashing

The harm that I see in religions in general,
And the monotheistic religions in particular,
Is their need to have absolute truths
That are not to be challenged,
Or even questioned.

This effectively shields the believers
From any new knowledge
Or contrary evidence
That might challenge the faith.

The power of the hierarchy
Must be maintained at all costs.
The result is intellectual tyranny
And cultural regression.

Also to be considered is
That this kind of authoritarianism
Corrupts the cognitive processing of children.
This results in a stunted mind
Trapped in a kind of intellectual channel
That has neither depth nor breadth
And fails to recognize the necessity
Of making conclusions
On the evidence instead of archaic dogmas.

The open horizon of a child’s mind
Is suffocated by the darkness
Of a closed mind.
Children don’t deserve
To be treated that way,
And society cannot afford
This egregious intellectual error.

? 2010 Rodney Sheffer

[timeparticle]

In the forth grade, my teacher introduced us to the term "Propaganda". It was a good move at that young an age. Ever since, I noticed how the media, other teachers, and the like, influence. I started young. During my meditations, I practice letting go of the daily input and all of the information I received on that day. It takes practice. Ideas and beliefs can stick for a long time in our minds without much logic and reason to back them up.

I say, practice on our freedom to choose, everyday. A choice to believe or not to believe frees the mind of the stuck thoughts, and gives us certain power over our own decision making.