Branched Trees In The Dark - Society

An advertisement for the first ever psychological training for personal growth, "Mind Dynamics", appeared in America in 1968. The enterprising Englishman Alexander Everett and his followers, having mixed in one explosive cocktail "Zen Buddhism, Blavatsky's Theosophy, Egyptology, Hinduism, Rosicrucians" and much more unexpected, colorfully promised everyone and everyone instant and rapid spiritual growth, and as the main "enticement »Immediate (after passing all stages of training) enrichment was performed. There were enough people who wanted to break out to the first roles then and now, and the general enthusiasm for short-term programs for personal growth has been flourishing for almost half a century. What is their attraction? Let's try to figure it out.

Statistics help to assess the scale of this phenomenon. In Russia, about 10% of the population underwent personal growth trainings once, and about 1.5%, three or more times, that is, millions of people have joined the "mysteries of practical psychology." Each training costs money (and usually a lot). This means that a powerful social order existed and still exists - and it is being actively fulfilled. When the "iron curtain fell," together with the traders of various consumer goods and religious sects, leading trainings for personal growth of the most diverse orientations were massively drawn to our country. Ours also did not lag behind and began to hastily rally and sculpt their own crafts, like "Synthon". Soon, the diversity was dazzling, and it was difficult to see the common in the representatives of the training industry. The resulting excitement was maintained artificially,but skillfully enough.

FOOL … GLAD?

Unfortunately, statistics are silent about how many people feel, after going through the "training that opens new horizons" ¹, let's say, a little deceived. All trainings are arranged so cunningly that the deceived person will never share his bad experience, but will praise the program, trying to make his neighbor buy the same coin. By the way, this principle has been known to fraudsters since ancient times.

True, in the case of psychological trainings, the argument against any dissatisfaction is put forward by an iron - the one who is dissatisfied simply did not complete the training with full dedication. This technology makes them related to totalitarian sects.

So, reader, now I will begin to scoff at the fact that, perhaps, you or your acquaintances cost a lot, and this is unpleasant. But the end in this case justifies the means, there is a great chance that you have not yet participated in such actions at all and God willing - you will not. And if you do (some at work are driven by force), then with a clear head and a clear awareness of the prospects.

According to technology, personal growth trainings are divided into two groups. The first is focused on (the terms may change) "awaken in a person his true self" - after all, it sleeps, of course, sleeps for everyone who does not pass the trainings. The second group includes trainings that promise to teach all participants something useful, the so-called skill trainings.

The second group is easier to deal with. To learn something means to acquire a stable skill for a specific activity. However, it doesn't matter what it is about - you can learn to sell mobile phones, negotiate successfully, or meet members of the opposite sex. Let's say you attended a training session where 20 people gathered. The training took place on Friday evening and two days on weekends. Spent about 20 hours or 25 if they worked hard. Summing up the hours allotted for the trainer's performances, introductory and “warm-up exercises” ², we get a sad result - pure time on trainings of this kind is spent on one participant in only half an hour. And now the question is: what kind of skill (at least one) can be mastered in half an hour? The answer is as simple as the truth itself: none.

The first type of training is more difficult, it is not so easy to notice inconsistencies. At first glance, the logic of the organizers (even the most inadequate ones) is ironclad. You're not entirely happy with your life, are you? This means that there is a certain ideal image that I would like to achieve: to whom to earn a million, to whom to open the third eye. The variety of offers on the market leads to the fact that you will come exactly where the ideal image that the organizers paint will at least slightly coincide with yours. Further - a matter of technology. First, it is necessary to create the impression that the leaders (coaches) with this ideal are "on a short leg" (millions of them have and the third eye is open). And those who have already completed the training may not be that close to it, but they are clearly closer than the beginners. What is needed for this? We return to the beginning and remember that the newcomer is dissatisfied with himself. If the ideal model isto be open and loving, it means that everyone around (volunteers, employees) must be open and loving. If she is in personal wealth, everyone should demonstrate that they are wealthy and successful.

The key word in this group is "demonstrate", in order to better understand its essence - let's go back to the basics. All trainings have grown from a single root, as I have already said. But this root was formed a little later, standing at the origins of the "Dynamics of Mind" Everett, who after all was not a businessman - let's think well of him - he really wanted to change the world for the better. But William Patrick, who immediately understood all the prospects of training as a business, was. Moreover, he was engaged in what is called "multilevel marketing" (MLM), that is, he was a professional pyramid designer. And it was he who, in 1970, bought the rights to the “Dynamics of Mind”, renamed it “The Dynamics of Leadership” and filled it with the technologies that are used in the pyramids. All the rest (both in the West and in Russia) were simply doing cosmetic repairs to the building created before them.

JOIN THE PYRAMID

It is easy to guess that the multilevel nature of any training has become an important innovation. Those who remember our conversation about Scientology are the same there ³. There are several advantages for the organizers. First, there is more money - each level is bought separately. Secondly, additional argumentation appears for the participants: the training does not work right away, you have to go through one more step … and several more. Starting from the second stage, the participant (as, of course, developmental tasks) is attracted to free plowing in the field of training. He must selflessly help newcomers, proving his closeness to the ideal model. Does it remind you of anything, reader? I hope that fate kept you, and you did not participate in financial pyramids.

It is easy to imagine how a novice, dissatisfied with himself, comes to a training center, and there everyone is so close to what he lacks … And after all, very soon he himself will become just as successful and open - no money is spared. And the fact that this is only an appearance will be explained to him later, when a justification is presented for why he himself should pretend ⁴.

But that's not all. The next thing Patrick took from MLM was the principle of exclusivity. According to the concept of any personal growth training, all people are clearly divided into two groups: dull losers who did not take the training, and future winners who did not. Now imagine, reader, how a beginner will think of himself if he has not received a result? Honestly, do not admit to yourself that you are a sucker and you are corny "thrown on the dough" … It's uncomfortable. In short, one of the few honest articles about the training industry was titled "Train and Conquer."

SUBSTITUTION OF CONCEPTS

It is worth clarifying here that, by and large, the participant will not immediately understand that what he came for, he did not receive. This means that you need to define the client's problem in such a way that he believes that it is no longer there. A person comes for a million or a happy marriage, he is clearly explained that the problem is not in a million, but in the fact that he is not allocating time correctly. It’s not that you are not interesting to anyone, but that you don’t want to leave your “comfort zone”.

In the years of my foggy youth, one of my acquaintances tried to drag me to training for personal growth (then they were still a novelty). I had no money, I did not want to borrow, so I refused and began to ask: did she get what she was looking for? She resisted for a long time, they say, signed "non-disclosure documents" ⁵, then gave up. The girl with low self-esteem and pimples all over her face was told that her problem was that she was … an insufficient bitch. And to all other participants too. They changed themselves, climbing onto chairs and shouting at the top of their voices: "I'm a bitch!" This is the substitution of concepts. The girl wanted one thing, but they explained to her for money that she wanted something completely different, and taught her to climb into a chair and shout that she was a bitch.

If we are talking about what can be checked (the third eye either opened or does not feel like a person), then they either explain to him that now it is too early and need to go through a dozen more steps, or indicate that all the technicians were working - this is he he himself did not try well.

These mechanisms of manipulation and "relatively honest money-taking" are built into any personal growth training. However, there is no less deception in what is called "business training". The author has worked ten years in one field and eight years in another - and he knows what he is talking about. He, of course, did not allow himself this and worked extremely honestly - millions were earned, third eyes were opened, marriages arose immediately and forever. Yeah.

…

^{1 A} quote from an advertising brochure of the training center with an esoteric bias.

² Do not believe how much attention is paid to such “warm-ups”. Go to the psychology department of any bookstore and count how many books have been written on this subject and how much space is given to them in trainer guides. Do you know why?

³ More about this: "How to become a PID", No. 1 (90), 2015.

⁴ One of the most common arguments is a false analogy with the connection “smile - good mood”: if a person feels good, he smiles; smile and it will be good; if you want to be closer to the ideal - pretend that you are already close to it.

⁵ Another MLM technology. From the point of view of the law, this is complete nonsense (read the Civil Code), but it helps people to feel their exclusiveness. I seem to be a loser - but I know something, but I won't tell you.