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02-02-2025, 03:54 PM
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Master
Join Date: May 2016
Location: U.S. Southwest
Posts: 3,096
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HITESH SHAH, we also see quantity verses quality in commercial
advertising and marketing. T.V. ads frequently tell us that everybody is doing
it and we should do it also, millions of people liked this product, or it is the
most used product by people. I guess there is no other reference except to see
how others feel about a certain thing. But it is different when it comes to
spirituality, although there are people who will sample a number of paths.
FallingLeaves, I concur about Taylor Swift. There are celebrities out
there who push their agenda a great deal more. Love is a great persuader and
when you love someone or are just a fan the influence is there.
Native Spirit, I can relate to what you have said, and I do see pros and
cons in mentorship. I would almost say that youth often require a mentor or be
part of a group, hopefully a positive peer group. What I have noticed is that even
the most spiritual person has what may be considered faults. We don’t know much
about the personal life of Jesus Christ, but I believe that he had faults. He got angry
when a temple was used as a marketplace.
We usually only see the public face of celebrities, leaders, and others who put
themselves out there as an example to emulate. Their public persona is one thing,
and their private persona is often something much different. This discussion which
we are having here online in this forum would most likely be much different than if
it we were having it in each other's physical presence.
If someone comes to your home, stands at the front door and tells you about their
religion. I wonder how people here on this forum would react? I will personally tell
you that I have a small metal sign on my front door which says, “No Religion, No Sales,
No Soliciting,” and I still get people knocking on my door wanting to tell me about
their religion or sell me stuff.
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02-02-2025, 11:09 PM
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Knower
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 156
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starman
and some of those fans will do what that person says
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starman
I feel like youth, and also some older folks, are very impressionable.
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Since I started paying attention it’s been an eye opener how impressionable people and society are and how quickly society can start to unravel. I guess Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” I never would have taken that statement seriously, but after seeing it unfold in real time, I now understand that statement to be absolutely true.
There’s apparently always been a war on the mind, which refers to psychological and informational tactics used to influence, manipulate, or control people’s thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. This can take many forms, including propaganda, psychological warfare, mass media influence, social conditioning, and coercive techniques used by cults or authoritarian regimes.
A Course in Miracles is always talked about highly by teachers, but I have two old copies here that got passed down to me, and I have tried to read it multiple times over the years. I found it to be contrived and repetitive, like brainwashing. Upon researching ACIM, I found out it was apparently written by a psychological research team at Columbia University around the same time as MKUltra. MKUltra experiments were also conducted at Columbia University. Whether there is a connection is speculative. And the channeler of Jesus in ACIM’s identity remained mostly protected until her death. It reminds me of a documentary called “Three Identical Strangers”, where the identities of some of those involved in the experiment are protected until their passing.
Some of the modern neo-nondual teachings remind me of brainwashing and an ideological agenda being pushed, especially how it’s read from the same script. It’s always anti-religious. An agenda could be pushed to undermine a country’s religion, belief in God, and strip them of their identity, etc. Not saying that’s the case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Starman
T.V. ads frequently tell us that everybody is doing
it, and we should do it also.
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As far as media manipulation, I watched a video about Edward Bernays, who was called the father of public relations. He was a nephew of Sigmund Freud and applied Freudian psychology to mass media. In his 1928 book Propaganda, he said that public opinion could be engineered using media, advertising, and psychological techniques. He showed how to frame narratives, control language, and create artificial demand for ideas and products. By appealing to emotions, instincts, and unconscious desires, one could influence the masses without them realizing it.
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02-02-2025, 11:17 PM
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Master
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 7,669
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hexagon222
By appealing to emotions, instincts, and unconscious desires, one could influence the masses without them realizing it.
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the bible tells us that only goes so far... personally I think that the propaganda goes so far against the actual instincts people have (other than playing to the obvious one - fear) that eventually it has to fall apart the way everything else in this reality eventually falls apart. Because deep down people know they are hurting and eventually they get will tired of the pain and want to just collapse. Even in the face of abject fear...
When that happens everything falls apart.
As with the fall of all civilizations, it is just a matter of waiting it out...
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02-02-2025, 11:41 PM
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Master
Join Date: May 2016
Location: U.S. Southwest
Posts: 3,096
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Hi Hexagon222, your points are well taken and it is my belief
that just about everyone is susceptible to outside programming. I try to
keep society and what is happening in this world, at least, at arms length.
I feel like religious folks can be just as guilty as the Non-Duality
folks which you have mentioned.
Every society is dominated by its own religious views, philosophy,
and psychology. I learned this when I was doing work in Afghanistan,
and I see the same thing here in the U.S. only more covert than in
other countries. There are dozens of schools of psychological
thought, western Europe, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand
are dominated by Freudian Psychology, or Neo-Freudian
Psychology.
If you go to Asia or the Orient there is a different perspective, they
lean towards Existentialism, or theories on existence. I have been
fortunate to live in many different countries and realize that societies
in just about every country live in a bubble. There are very few
countries that advocate freedom of thought.
I might say that I live in a bubble also, a spiritual bubble which
surrounds and protects me from all of the outside noise; this allows
me to be less impressionable and less impacted by what is
taking place in this world. We all have that kind of a spiritual
shield if we but develop it.
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09-02-2025, 02:25 PM
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Knower
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 156
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starman
[b] This discussion which
we are having here online in this forum would most likely be much different than if
it we were having it in each other's physical presence.
If someone comes to your home, stands at the front door and tells you about their
religion. I wonder how people here on this forum would react? I will personally tell
you that I have a small metal sign on my front door which says, “No Religion, No Sales,
No Soliciting,” and I still get people knocking on my door wanting to tell me about
their religion or sell me stuff.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starman
I might say that I live in a bubble also, a spiritual bubble which surrounds and protects me from all of the outside noise; this allows
me to be less impressionable and less impacted by what is
taking place in this world. [
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It sounds like you started this thread clearly irritated with someone who said the largest religion is the correct one, and that you are upset by people trying to win the hearts and minds of others, saying it’s unacceptable.
Then you say you live in a spiritual bubble that protects you from all the outside noise, yet people coming to your door to talk about their religion or people on a spiritual forum discussing their beliefs has upset you. In other words, it appears that even the most minor noise has impacted you.
As for talking to people in person, or “physical presence” as you put it, or someone coming to your door to discuss their religion is entirely different from going to a spiritual forum, which was created for sharing personal beliefs, including religion. Just look at all the topics, Christianity, Islam, interfaith, non-duality, and so on.
I see this even with some of the biggest spiritual teachers. What they preach/teach sometimes does not match their reactions and actions. I remember one of my favorite teachers saying, “Never pick a side, as both sides will be wrong because they are ego-driven.” Fast forward years later, and the same teacher is now saying you cannot stand by and must choose a side. I’ve seen top teachers who are supposed to be enlightened get visibly irritated over very minor things. One teacher gets frustrated over technology, which is such a minor issue. Yet he charges people for his teachings and his books.
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13-02-2025, 11:09 AM
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Knower
Join Date: Feb 2024
Posts: 135
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As various agencies in power aim to dumb the population down, much depends on the propaganda source to which one subscribes and this will be influenced by many components of ones upbringing including schooling. It probably also ties in with a level of family wealth and assumed social status.
As world population grows it becomes important for governments to control their populace and the easiest way is to remove people's need to think for themselves so that what governments dictate become a received truth.
A good example is how Constantine twisted the teachings Jesus into an ideology through which he could better control the sprawling Roman empire.
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