Accessing information from Walter Bowart’s Operation Mind Control, the program begins with experiments conducted by J.G. Watkins in the immediate aftermath of World War II. It has often been stated that hypnosis cannot be used to motivate someone to kill a person they otherwise would not harm.
This contention overlooks the technique of convincing a subject that the target of their actions is someone other than who they actually are.
Under hypnosis, soldiers were instructed to kill superior officers and associates, who were suggested to the hypnotized subject as being Japanese soldiers. It should be noted that attacking a superior officer is a major offense in the military.
The hypnotized soldiers then pressed rapid attacks on the superior officers and/or colleagues, despite the fact that this behavior was fundamentally in conflict with the values to which the subjects adhered. The relevant point is that hypnosis can be used to motivate someone to kill a person who has been misidentified under hypnosis.
Professional couriers were also hypnotized into divulging the contents of clandestine communications.
The program then sets forth the work of Navy officer Thomas Narut, using audio-visual desensitization to help train assassins. After their behavior had been shaped by Narut, they were stationed at U.S. embassies and other facilities where their skills might be deemed necessary.
The program concludes with the story of Luis Angel Castillo, an apparent mind-controlled assassin who had multiple personalities programmed into him. (more...)
Suppose a priest was "programmed" by the CIA to break the seal of confession on command by his controller. Suppose an assassin in the Vatican was "programmed" to poison the Pope if he looked too closely at the operations of the Vatican Bank? Suppose a Nuncio was hypnotically given a message to deliver to an agent in his host country? What are pastoral issues with this? What is the theological view? Has a mind-controlled subject been possessed by his or her programmer? How is this different from demon possession?
No comments:
Post a Comment