“Mind numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leaders”
In the Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (Dell Yearling, NY, © 1961) Milo, Tock and the Humbug get trapped into doing three mindless tasks: emptying a pool of water using only an eye dropper, moving a pile of sand with tiny tweezers, and digging a hole in a cliff using only a needle, respectively. They all worked on these mindless tasks until Milo remembered he had a special pencil that could calculate things so on impulse he calculated the time to complete each job and it came to just eight hundred and thirty-seven years to finish, that’s all. So when he told the man this was hardly worthwhile he responded:Of course he was the Terrible Trivium, the demon of petty tasks and worthless jobs, ogre of wasted effort and monster of habit. Sometimes we are victims of our own sinful trivium allegiance, but this is also a tool of our enemies who want control over us. We should note that the mediation we speak of is not about reflecting upon the rosary’s mysteries or resting in silent prayer before the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, but rather it is a stagnate, mind numbing practice that doesn’t move, grow or expand in depth with time. This includes the chanting Yeshua warned us never to do in Matt.6.7 because it creates that same static mind numbing state as does “tongues” that are fabricated, and not heavenly sent. Inclusive to those things are constant cyclic attacks on character or even repetitive work as Milo, Tock, and Humbug were doing in the story above. All like humiliation to weaken us and allow them to gain control over us.“Of course it’s unimportant,” he snarled angrily. “I wouldn’t have asked you to do it if I thought it was important.”
We would like to stop here for a moment to discuss another important point to all these “risks” above; and that is not all whom exhibit these techniques are cult leaders or have any intentions of becoming such. However, what they may not know is that when we scandalize our neighbor, control their behavior by not allowing them to question, doubt, or even disagree with our conclusions; or when we discourage/ punished them for seeing differently than we do, humiliate them in front of others, involve them in circular arguments and mind games, we actually expose them to the recruiters of these cults. In fact, years ago when we read up on this issue we were shocked to find that we ALL are potentially vulnerable to being recruited into a cult because sooner or later we crumble for a number of reasons. It could be a natural disaster, a series of sudden deaths, an abusive marriage, a devastating illness, etc…. Something weakens us and when down we give off an aura of depression and hopelessness that these folks often can pick up on, and then they seek opportunity. This is why we are called to communities so that we are never alone when they drop by! And this leads us to the next risk:
