Allowing Oneself to be De-programmed

Lately I have been blogging on having one's mind/boxes blown in various ways. It is very difficult for individuals to understand that what makes up the underpinnings of what they use to think with, they have been Programmed and Indoctrinated to believe, and has very little to do with actual reality.

Back in the '60s and '70s parents were kidnapping their children out of what were called, "cults" and paying other people to, "de-program" them. One doesn't hear much about such "cults" anymore, other than the, "religious" ones created by adults, who bring along their families. Of course, people do not want to believe that they are even more Programmed than were those they kidnapped back in order to re-program them.

The Western military calls de-programming and re-programming of military personnel "Brain-washing."

In the '60s, major challenges to some of the "American/Western" Belief System boxes came about, because of a growing interest in the Far-eastern Countries' Cultures. A major outgrowth of this interest was the human potential movement. In addition, those interests led to the personal practice of meditation on the part of many, and the adoption of Acupuncture as a valid, alternative, form of healing, by a few practitioners of Medicine in this country.

Recently, I have written about, figuratively, having one's "Mind Blown." Those particular changes, which began in the '60s, were reasonably gentle as mind-blowing goes. They were, however, major challenges to the Western Religious and Scientific Belief Systems, even though the Religious and Scientific Establishments have chosen to absorb or ignore those challenges.

What, then, about having one's mind literally blown? To be confronted with something which requires that you dump everything you think you know about reality and start fresh? Only a relative few individuals are likely to have done this, or had experiences that caused it to happen; usually it comes about in stages. The most likely cause is to have personal experiences, as an adult, which one has been Programmed and Indoctrinated to believe are, "Impossible."

In previous blogs, I have suggested placing all of what you believe in an, "as-if-true" category, as a way to start fresh. What I am suggesting is not, "Critical Thinking."

A movement to teach, "Critical Thinking" began at Sonoma State University in California in the '70s; the movement is still trying to get it accepted by the educational system in this Country. The movement, while laudable, does not understand that the whole intent of the Western Education System is to Indoctrinate students, and educate workers.

The early schools in this Country were set up to educate workers, not teach them how to think more clearly. The current "higher-education" system has, again, with few exceptions, been reduced to nothing more than glorified vocational schools.

However, as I have previously pointed out, the originator of the Critical Thinking movement at Sonoma State had infused various Indoctrinated Beliefs into its structure. Whether current proponents are able to actually clear away their Programmed and Indoctrinated Beliefs is unknown to me, as I abandoned it long ago as being a valid way of learning to thinking clearly.

Even if it were the educational system's desire to teach how to think critically, they cannot, "get there from here." Evidence of this fact is the whole, "No-Child-Left-Behind" Government Program, and the result it has had on the early Educational System in this Country.

Only for some individuals, at this point-in-time, is it possible to completely de-program oneself, due to the fact that individuals are so identified with what they believe, and cannot comprehend that they are, actually, just beliefs. However, as I have written in recent past blogs, the shocks having been absorbed over the last ten years to Personal Belief Systems regarding National and International Events, as well as unprecedented, so-called, "natural" events, have caused many minds to have been blown to the point they have been willing to evaluate those things with much-more, "critical" thinking.

Unfortunately, many others have only shored-up their Programmed and Indoctrinated Beliefs with added mental-cement.

Only coming to terms with the idea that one has been Programmed and Indoctrinated one's whole life, can one begin to de-program oneself.

With those ruminations, I end today's blog.

Shirley Gallup