Passage #1: What is Mind Control?

Who is doing the thinking?

Have you ever behaved in a way and in reflection thought, “wow, what was I doing? That did not seem like myself!”

You might not be in a cult. You might not have family members in a cult. But every day, we are immersed in messages, people, ideas, and advertising that shape our thinking unconsciously.

How do we know if the values we hold, the beliefs we argue for, or even the very lives we live, are truly our own?

Questions emerge on a Greek island

In 2021, as travel became somewhat possible again after so many months of controls and restrictions, negative Covid-test in hand, I traveled to a Greek island to attend what my friend told me was a spiritual self-development retreat.

Among the dry grass and olive trees, we gathered in the central hall at arrival. Over the course of the week, we moved through a series of group and individual processes designed to break us open—and then rebuild us. We stood in front of a group of strangers and they shared negative feedback about what they perceived in us (to “improve self-awareness”), and later we told the group what we were most ashamed of about ourselves.

There were tears, shaking bodies, people holding themselves for comfort, though we were told not to comfort one another, to “allow each person to have their own process.” I cried more that week than perhaps any other in my life. And yet, I also left with insights about myself that felt real and meaningful, and that still help me to this day.

This week-long process was developed inside an “ashram” in India several decades ago. I learned later that that ashram is very widely labelled as a cult—in that, it uses mind control processes to manipulate and mentally entrap those who attend.

Like me, people came to that ashram seeking growth or healing from the past. But for many, what they experienced was very different. Some ended up staying for decades in service of the guru. Women were sterilized before having children, framed as enlightened non-attachment. Relationships were discouraged. Money flowed upward. People eventually left disoriented, estranged from family and former friends, and forced to rebuild their lives from nearly zero.

So, was the week-long “retreat” I did in Greece in 2021 a form of mind control? Or a legitimate and helpful personal development program?

The power of the group

In January 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board. In the hours before liftoff, several NASA engineers had warned that unusually cold temperatures could cause critical rubber O-ring seals in the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters to fail, potentially leading to catastrophic leakage. Despite these warnings, the launch proceeded.

What was going on?

Where mind control shows up

To understand this, we need to look beyond individuals and examine the psychological conditions.

The conditions for mind control can emerge anywhere people organize around meaning, identity, or fear — and then the patterns of mind control can emerge, or be imposed — around that.

At its core, mind control is the psychological capture of identity, belief, and behavior for external aims, without the person’s awareness.

Sometimes the consequences are catastrophic, as in genocidal movements or terrorist organizations. Other times, mind control can appear in more socially acceptable forms—in political movements, corporate cultures, self-development spaces, families, or online communities built around a shared worldview.

This is why studying cults matters far beyond cults themselves. Cults offer a kind of psychological magnifying glass, making visible the psychological process and coercive techniques that are otherwise easy to miss when they appear in less obvious settings.

The goal is to learn how to tell the difference between environments and cognitive frameworks that genuinely support agency, integration, and growth, and those that undermine it.

Mind control and the false self

It’s completely natural for us to have multiple selves. We shift how we show up depending on context—one version with family, another at work, another in a book club, community group, or spiritual setting. Our neurobiology is designed this way.

Mind control exploits this flexibility. Over time, the true self is diminished, replaced by what is referred to as a “false self” or “second self.” Any parts of the original self that contradict this agenda are gradually suppressed.

In extreme cases, an entire identity can be captured, to the point of erasing itself. Jonestown ended in the largest mass murder–suicide in modern history, carried out by people convinced they were serving a righteous cause. Suicide bombers, too, believe they are saving the world, even as they destroy themselves and others.

And this all leads to what for me, given my passion for human potential and growth, is a very interesting corollary which might just be relevant for all of us:

Could understanding the false self, programmed in mind control, be a key component of the path to discovering and embodying our true self?

Forms, scales, and directions

Mind control appears along several key dimensions.

It can be directed from the top down by a leader or ideology, or arise spontaneously through group dynamics. Mind control can operate in one-to-one relationships, within small groups, or at the scale of mass movements and entire nation-states.

Some forms are temporary, flaring up in moments of collective emotion, while others endure for years or decades or even generations. Some are inward-facing, focused on controlling and isolating members, while others turn outward, seeking to influence or dominate those beyond the group.

I’ll return later to two terms I use to describe common modern forms of this dynamic: mindtraps and cognitive influencers.

Was it mind control?

Was the week-long process I did on that Greek island in 2021 mind control? Well, maybe. It certainly used many psychological techniques which form part of the mind control process, albeit ostensibly for personal development.

However, was there deception? Was the process telling me it was for my own personal growth, but in fact it was trying to lock me in for someone else’s benefit? This is the crucial question.

I wasn’t pressured to sell the course to others. There wasn’t another, and another, level to “complete.”

And yet those processes I described—getting feedback and sharing shameful parts of oneself are used in cults to reduce one’s sense of self, diminish self-confidence, and trigger emotional states. It’s a key stage in the mind control process to prime us for reprogramming.

Our vulnerable minds

Because of evolution, we are wired to need to fit in. When humans were evolving, not being part of a tribe would have meant certain death. So there is a legitimate reason for our minds to be vulnerable to outside influence.

In situations like being immersed in a group, experiencing strong emotions or semi-hypnotic states (such as meditation, dance, or chanting), our pre-frontal cortex can switch off. When this happens, the external world can imprint itself directly onto our neurons, without us being able to filter, or realize it’s happening.

Am I able to objectively validate whether that week of suffering, of crying and of pain, was ultimately beneficial or harmful for me? Once I was broken down, what messages was I rebuilt with? Do these messages still form part of my worldview, not my own, imprinted, and yet I believe they are my own?

It’s difficult to know. But what I can do is try to become aware of the beliefs I hold and the patterns I keep repeating. And, with that awareness, to consciously examine them, deciding for myself what I believe and even who I am, rather than simply accepting it as given.

A brief case study: marketing + public relations

Mind control relies on deception: the stated aim of the influence is not its true outcome. Marketing is different—we know we’re being sold toothpaste and choosing one brand over another has no real consequence. You don’t buy toothpaste for fresh breath and wake up ten years later enslaved to a guru.

This line blurs in public relations, which traces its roots to World War I propaganda and figures like Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud. The tobacco industry’s campaigns—funding misleading research, seeding doubt, and glamorizing smoking—weren’t mere persuasion; they were a coordinated effort to shape beliefs and behavior despite clear harm.

A single product rarely captures someone’s identity. But what happens when we’re immersed in a constant stream of messages—each shaping how we think, behave, and see ourselves?

So, what’s at stake?

Let’s go again to Greece for a moment (one of my favorite places in the world!). In Greece a millennia-old way of living survives, among ancient olive groves and fig trees, roaming goats, and the calm, nourishing Mediterranean.

But there’s more. In ancient Greece, in Athens, the birth of democracy created a rare space for cognitive freedom—a society in which questioning was permitted, dissent was visible, and individual thought could unfold.

In contrast, neighboring Sparta organized society around obedience, uniformity, and discipline, producing cohesion and strength at the cost of individual freedom and creative emergence. It was what I would call a “high mind control” society.

Athens was ultimately defeated by Sparta, but while it might have lost the battle, cognitive freedom won the war. The philosophy, science, art, and political ideals that were developed in Athens still underpin much of Western civilization.

Yes, one problem with mind control is that it prevents people from becoming their true selves, and from being productive members of society. It breeds hatred and violence that can destroy lives and even entire societies.

But if we zoom out, the ultimate problem of mind control is this:

Mind control collapses the range of human possibility in order to optimize for control, cohesion, and predictability. In doing so, it suppresses the deepest purpose of consciousness itself: to create, and to appreciate the creations of others.

A society that suppresses this generative freedom may function, even efficiently, but it cannot truly live, evolve, or compete with societies that promote human flourishing.

It is one of the great tragedies of humanity’s situation right now that more than two thirds of the world’s population lives under authoritarian or totalitarian regimes. And even in Western democracies, we are edging towards ever more control in the name of “security”.

Is this the type of world we really want to live in?

What’s up next?

In the next article, we’ll break down the psychological mechanics of mind control. Once you can see how mind control works, you can’t unsee it, and that’s where real freedom begins.

As always, I encourage you to comment or to reach out. Please let me know if you have a different perspective on anything in the article, or any questions. I would love to see debate and dialogue happen.

Until next time,

- Andi