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From: dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Jones on Sargent on speaking in tongues
Message-ID: <528@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 14:37:48 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.528
Posted: Mon Dec  3 14:37:48 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Dec-84 05:32:56 EST
Organization: UW-Madison Primate Center
Lines: 22

> What is this all leading to, you might ask?  Basically, if you get
> someone in such a psychological state that he/she will believe anything
> you will tell them, you can get them to do the most marvelous
> things, like speaking in tongues.  The human mind can convince
> itself of all sorts of things on its own (check out Freud sometime,
> he wasn't all bad).  Especially a person with a great need to be
> accepted, or to believe in *something* to help assague his lagging
> faith in him/herself.  If you can catch someone whose brain is
> totally out to lunch, consumed with self-doubts and loathing, why
> you can get him or her to do or say just about anything.  If the
> need to belong is strong enough, or the need to feel better than the
> guy down the street is strong enough, well, if the ego bolstering
> comes with the psychological inducement, the victim will play right
> along  (now we're getting into operant conditioning.. go read some 
> Skinner).

Nice explanation, if you don't mind that it doesn't cover people
like me who speak in tongues, but never had any particular desire to.
Nor do I have any great need to be "accepted" (except by God, and I
already was).  Nor am I consumed with self-doubts and loathing.
-- 
Paul DuBois		{allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois