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In order to prepare
new individuals for a radical change, it is first of all necessary to
give their reality a shake-up. Indoctrinators need to confuse them:
the reference system required to understand themselves and their environment
has to be distorted and destroyed. By devastating their vision of reality,
they deprive them of their natural defences. Once their personality
has been destroyed or destructurised, they are ready for the next phase.
The change consists of imposing on the victim a new identity, a new
pattern of behaviour, of thoughts and emotions which will fill in the
void left behind by the collapse of their old identity.
The process of change
requires much more than simple obedience to the cult leaders. There
are several “common” sessions during which past faults are confessed,
achievements are related and a sense of belonging is established. Once
the novices have “changed”, they are ready for the following phase:
restructuring.
After their identity
has been dismantled and they have been indoctrinated into believing
in a new ideological system, these individuals have to be reassembled
into a “new being”.
They need to be supplied
with a new existential purpose and inserted into activities suitable
for consolidating their identity.
The first and most important
duty of these “new” individuals will be to denigrate their old identity.
The worst thing new members can do is to act according to their own
identity, unless this is the brand new one imposed by the cult, which
will only be complete after several months. The memory of these people
is distorted, with a tendency to minimize the good things of the past
and to magnify the faults, the failures, the wounds and the guilty feelings.
In case of conflict with their commitment to the cause, these individuals
must leave everything behind: habits, interests, friends and relatives.
This will preferably
be done with dramatic public commitments. In order to help followers
interiorise the process, some cults change their novice' names. It is
typical for new members to be assigned to proselytism as soon as this
is possible. Nothing can consolidate people's creed as quickly as trying
to sell their convictions to others. And in this way the victim becomes
an oppressor.
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