Psychology - Why are we so easily Manipulated - Are you Brainwashed?

The human mind is a funny thing. We believe that everything we do is our own thoughts. For example, we get married, have children and go to work. Apart from these obvious collective human traits we take for granted, the rest of the time we are individuals.

These things that we do are paramount to our happiness and make sense. And everything we do, like that, we do ourselves because we want too. Most of us go through life never ever thinking any different.

But what happens if something comes along to lift that 'veil' that we wrap ourselves in so cosily, to make ourselves comfortable. If something suddenly makes you see the world clearly for the first time in your life, what would you do, or more importantly, think?

As we grow and reach our teenage years, the thoughts that make us individual tend to get pushed to the back of our minds. At this stage of our lives we tend to be collective. A bit like the Borg in Star Trek. We go to the pub or bar, follow our friends to the nightclub, or just stay at home, and watch the sport on TV. Looking back, we don't remember who's idea it was to do these things, we, just as any group around the world, do these things because that's what other teenagers do.

But when we get older, we presume that most of us will grow out of this collective idea, and start out on our life's journey. A singular person with our own minds.

But How Much of This Is Manipulation?

let's start at the most important day of your lives. Getting married. you meet, fall in love and then decide to take the plunge that will join you together with your partner for life. Or however long you decide that you can both work at the marriage, without actually killing each other! But that's beside the point. So, on the surface you are doing what you want to do. And are happy. But after a few years or even months, something subtle starts to happen. One of you becomes more dominant.

Manipulation is a very quiet, silent alteration of the brain. In other words the way that you think, may not actually be 'you' thinking. For example, you have always gone out with your friends at the weekend. One day your husband decides that actually he would prefer you to stay in that night. You do it willingly because you love him. But what happens the next week? Or the weeks after that? You start to feel uncomfortable and decide that you would be better off staying in because you don't want to cause any hurt feelings. After a while, you come to believe that it was your idea in the first place.

Have you ever seen a man or a woman start acting strangely after being married for a while? it's because jealousy starts to rear it's ugly head. The films you watch, the places you go to, are all decided subconsciously because you want to make sure that your husband or wife does not get into the situation where they may meet someone else, or find them attractive. After a few years their whole lifestyle is based on avoiding these particular points. But if you asked them why they didn't go to that club, or watch that TV show, they would both state that they didn't like it, or it was boring. Subconsciously they were doing the 'avoidance' dance.

Now we as people, are becoming someone else. The person that you started out as, is no longer there. But what about the World in general? How much subconscious thinking is actually manipulated by the world as a whole? Take religion for example.

Every country in the World has their own belief system. I will stay with Christianity as this was the religion that I was brought up in. If you take the Bible, as many of you will understand it, we all know what happened to Jesus. But have you ever thought outside of the box? If you go to Church, you are told that Jesus died on the Cross and was resurrected. I am not disputing that. I do believe it. But what about afterwards? We have been so indoctrinated into believing those words that say He then 'Ascended to Heaven' have you actually read for yourselves what it says?

According to the Bible, Jesus was still alive for at least a couple of months afterwards. But for some reason, we, as a collective mind, never seem to take this on board. And more importantly, we never question where he was buried! The Bible states that he ascended to Heaven, but of course that was his Spirit, so where is his burial chamber? Get the point?

As a collective mind, as in the case of religion, we are brainwashed into only 'seeing' those words that are told us, and we avoid the parts which are actually staring us straight in the face. Because we are told something over and over again, we then believe it. I will call it 'Skimming'. Our minds skip over the other parts because we are not told to read them. Or more importantly, not told to question.

We presume. Amazing statement. What does that mean? By presuming, we take on board the fact that others know more than we do. How can that be? They have read the same books as we have, why do they have more authority over the subject than us? They may have titles, Kings, Queens or Popes, but they are still people with the same mind as us.

There are many so called conspiracy theories that are always going around the World. From Aliens to Secret Societies. And for some reason we all get caught up in the excitement and mystery of it all. I have recently read the book The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. In a nutshell this is about the Masonic Secret Society, and the fact that they have a hidden treasure that the World must not know about. Passed down through the ages, it is so important that even the highest initiate must only be allowed to know it's whereabouts after many years of training. What's that got to do with it, you may ask? When reading the book, one thing occurred to me.

Everything in life is pure Psychology!

Take as an example this story.

I remember reading about a Priest who, after reading Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code, was so upset by the fact that maybe, just maybe he had been mistaken about the what happened at the time of Christ, actually jumped out of a building window and killed himself. How sad. Not only because he had his faith tested, but more importantly, he actually believed that one man, Dan Brown, was telling the truth!

There is one secret in life.

There is only one secret in life. And that is the fact that everything we see around us, everything that people do, say or try and make you believe is all Man Made! From the beginning of time, when Man first became aware of what was around him, he started to tell stories, manipulate the tribes, and later, the people of the World. But it all came from his mind. Everything comes from the brain. Nobody on this planet actually knows anything! I am not talking about anything Historical. Certain things in history are fact. We have proof, archaeological, the written word and many other ways.

These things are set in stone. Or are they? We have books that say one thing. Then another will be found that says something else. It is all guess work. In the case of Jesus, we can believe it because it has been written down by many people, and this is an eye witness account. So therefore it is physical proof. But anything else that is said, is just guess work. Therefore,

The whole world has been Psychologically made up by each generation!

The point that I am trying to make is, why do people become so cliche'd? An example is Dan Browns book again. Why do people spend years keeping something secret? Only this person can see it, blah blah. Why do we make up rituals? Surely if something like a Great Hidden Wonder really is out there, why not say, 'Okay folks, one at a time, come and see this great mystery'?

Why does man feel the need to manipulate, brainwash and make something out of nothing? Fair enough, if the object in question is dangerous, then keep it safe. Don't turn it into a secret society, where men stand on one leg, tie an apron around their waist and chant 'Oi Oi Oi while drinking wine from a skull! Childish!

Nobody can tell you when the world will end. Apart from scientists. And even then they don't know yet. If it can be proven then fine. Otherwise keep your opinion to yourself.

Don't be manipulated by one other person. Or by the collective. Think! Use your mind. Think outside the box.

Where we, as individuals, are concerned it is only when we become ourselves through freedom from others manipulation, can we actually know the real us. When I got divorced, and after all the hardship of it, I suddenly realised that actually I DO like watching this sort of film, and Yes I DO like that particular drinking hole. It was an amazing feeling.

In the same way, open your eyes. There is no one in this world that actually knows the truth about anything! No, I don't mean science, no I don't even mean religion. I am talking about much more subtle and psychological things than that. Always ask questions. And never ever be manipulated again. Think outside the box, you may just surprise yourself.

One last little story about manipulation. Thought you might like it. After sending off a cell phone to a recycling site, where they give you money for your old phones. I realised that the site was a con. Many people had left reviews saying that they had never recieved their money. After two weeks of hearing nothing, I got in contact with them. First they said it was already sent out, then they said it hadn't. It still never arrived.

After another few days, I got in touch with them again. I told them I worked for Google. I said that I was in the department that dealt with scams. I also mentioned the word panda. The girls voice changed to one of sheer panic. The next day I recieved my cheque, along with an extremely grovelling letter. I used pure manipulation.