Thank you for sharing that article, Corboy and thanks for your insightful comments, Swissalyst.
I read Dr. Antonakis's findings with great interest, as I think they reflect my own experiences with Moo's cult. I believe I was hypnotized over the Internet by watching Moo's material. I know it sounds far-fetched. I found the Moo satsung videos very addictive and mind-altering. At first, they made me feel very, very relaxed and a little euphoric.
I suppose I thought I was having some kind of 'spiritual awakening.' Of course, for this to happen, I had to entertain the idea that a spiritual awakening was indeed possible - which at the time, I did. I was quite the spiritual seeker, in a way. I was very impressionable and interested in esoteric ideas.
The article says:
"When individuals feel more secure, they have less need for salvation, less need for a charismatic bond. But when they feel vulnerable, then there is a possibility of a charismatic attachment. This can be very dangerous in certain circumstances.”
I came across the con-artist Moo when I was at a vulnerable place in my life, when I had undergone a life-changing (unavoidable) event. I was vulnerable to undue influence. I have also noticed that Moo attracts a lot of vulnerable people - some who have mental illnesses or who lack family support.
From the article:
"When there is dissonance, the brain steps into make a correction. But when we are around people we believe to have special powers or abilities—when we have made an implicit decision that we can trust them—we seem to unconsciously down-regulate our analytical thinking."
It seems that the human brain can naturally down-play its own critical thinking faculties. Couple this with with Moo constantly insisting that we reject 'the mind' and you can get into all kinds of trouble. First, you have to make the decision to listen to Moo and to believe that he is speaking some kind of deep spiritual truth. That all seems innocent enough - because if it turns out that if Moo is not revealing some deep truths, then you can disregard what he is teaching and move on, right? Wrong!
Once you become invested, the hypnotic process seems to take its own course. It traps you in to further denying the validity of your own thoughts.
From the article:
"...under the right circumstances, charismatics—especially if that charisma stems from our perception of them as a “leader”—can induce a state akin to hypnotism."
"The researchers drew parallels to similar experiments done on subjects on hypnosis, noting that hypnotism, when it works, was usually preceded by the massive frontal deactivation—in effect, a “handing over” of executive function to the hypnotist."
Once we have handed over our critical thinking capacity to Moo, we struggle to challenge that process of surrender, as we have done it unconsciously to begin with. We are basically in the dark and have no rational understanding of the predicament we find ourselves in. This is what happened to me! I was confused and became concerned about myself. I knew instinctively that a spiritual awakening would not induce confusion - I'm sure plenty of spiritual 'experts' would argue with this, but I can tell you, it did not feel right to me.
I read Dr. Antonakis's findings with great interest, as I think they reflect my own experiences with Moo's cult. I believe I was hypnotized over the Internet by watching Moo's material. I know it sounds far-fetched. I found the Moo satsung videos very addictive and mind-altering. At first, they made me feel very, very relaxed and a little euphoric.
I suppose I thought I was having some kind of 'spiritual awakening.' Of course, for this to happen, I had to entertain the idea that a spiritual awakening was indeed possible - which at the time, I did. I was quite the spiritual seeker, in a way. I was very impressionable and interested in esoteric ideas.
The article says:
"When individuals feel more secure, they have less need for salvation, less need for a charismatic bond. But when they feel vulnerable, then there is a possibility of a charismatic attachment. This can be very dangerous in certain circumstances.”
I came across the con-artist Moo when I was at a vulnerable place in my life, when I had undergone a life-changing (unavoidable) event. I was vulnerable to undue influence. I have also noticed that Moo attracts a lot of vulnerable people - some who have mental illnesses or who lack family support.
From the article:
"When there is dissonance, the brain steps into make a correction. But when we are around people we believe to have special powers or abilities—when we have made an implicit decision that we can trust them—we seem to unconsciously down-regulate our analytical thinking."
It seems that the human brain can naturally down-play its own critical thinking faculties. Couple this with with Moo constantly insisting that we reject 'the mind' and you can get into all kinds of trouble. First, you have to make the decision to listen to Moo and to believe that he is speaking some kind of deep spiritual truth. That all seems innocent enough - because if it turns out that if Moo is not revealing some deep truths, then you can disregard what he is teaching and move on, right? Wrong!
Once you become invested, the hypnotic process seems to take its own course. It traps you in to further denying the validity of your own thoughts.
From the article:
"...under the right circumstances, charismatics—especially if that charisma stems from our perception of them as a “leader”—can induce a state akin to hypnotism."
"The researchers drew parallels to similar experiments done on subjects on hypnosis, noting that hypnotism, when it works, was usually preceded by the massive frontal deactivation—in effect, a “handing over” of executive function to the hypnotist."
Once we have handed over our critical thinking capacity to Moo, we struggle to challenge that process of surrender, as we have done it unconsciously to begin with. We are basically in the dark and have no rational understanding of the predicament we find ourselves in. This is what happened to me! I was confused and became concerned about myself. I knew instinctively that a spiritual awakening would not induce confusion - I'm sure plenty of spiritual 'experts' would argue with this, but I can tell you, it did not feel right to me.