Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site uwmacc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!mhuxn!houxm!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hao!seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois 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