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 | "Conditioning Conditions" |  |
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| Earlier in this chapter, I mentioned how a spring could be tempered to react to a pressure that rose above a predetermined level. Aside from loss of its tempering with wear and tear, the spring is fixed in a Go/No-go response mode. The threshold of the Limbic Brain's internal shortcut is of a more malleable nature. It's upper and lower trigger points are not set to a universal standard, nor are they permanently set at one predetermined level in each of us; although human behaviour could lead us to think otherwise. Part of the texts are aimed at showing how this threshold can be brought under conscious management. It is by learning how to vary the sensitivity of the threshold that we can set it to suit the occasion; it being inappropriate for it to remain fixed at all times. An unsuitable level of sensibility appears to allow a continual trickle of signals that keep one in a constant state of emotional readiness, priming one to leap into a full-blown emotional take-over at the slightest provocation. This is seen in those types of personality that are perpetually anxious or always on the verge of anger. Instead of their moods following a natural swing above and below an acceptable median as the day progresses, they are trapped in a loop. Any minor incident adds fuel to the fires; everything is seen by them as justification for the way that they feel. |
| Apart from the fact that such habits bring about a steady drain of energy resources, they greatly interfere with rational thinking; the person becoming fixated on feeling. The role of the neo-cortex is the assembly and processing of all facts pertinent to any given situation, blending them with a motivating degree of emotion to deliver a balanced output. This 'mixing chamber' is known as the working memory. It is when the mixture contains too high a percentage of emotion that we are unable to think clearly and become unreasonable. Through personal experience or watching movies, most of us are familiar with those phlegmatic souls who seem totally devoid of personal emotions or empathy with those around them. It is as if the rest of us were only cardboard cut-outs in their environment. We are all also aware of people who seem innately timid, jumping at their own shadow. In an exceedingly small percentage of cases this under- or over-reaction may be attributed to an actual physical fault in the requisite brain circuitry. In the great majority of people it is a behaviour pattern that has been personally learned at an early age; during the growth of the limbic system, yet prior to the neo-cortex being well enough developed to make rational judgements about was happening to them. In this context I use the term, learning, to include both a copy-cat adoption of the role model's personality, and adoption of a totally reversed behaviour. Just as many runaway children leave home to escape being smothered by maudlin affection, as do those whose motive is to escape from ill-treatment. |
| Until very recently it has been accepted as a truism that the brain's ability to learn new behaviour patterns flowers during childhood and progressively diminishes with each passing year thereafter. Like many 'truisms', this flies in the face of observable facts. In 18th. century Paris, Franz Anton Mesmer frequently demonstrated how hypnosis brought about changes that ran against the prevailing dogma, but, partly because of extravagant claims and partly due to his findings being seen as a threat to the medical establishment, both he and his practice were discredited. Instant conversion has been a by-word among fundamental religious revivalists for centuries, but such events were taken as being so far outside the 'normal' realm of happenings as to be below scientific consideration. This was despite the fact that the founders of the Wesleyan church had already formulated the first steps for a scientific methodology of brain-washing. |
| Official investigation of factors involved in reshaping the mind only took off as a result of the loss to the war effort of too many troops suffering from shell-shock or battle fatigue. W. E. Sargent was one of the humane figures to emerge from the ranks of those assigned to investigate emotionally damaged young men for signs of malingering. His seminal work, "The Battle for the Mind", threw a cat among the pigeons. His popularity was not increased by the chapters illustrating methods used by the British Police Force to obtain confessions from transmarginally inhibited prisoners. While senior members of the establishment may have disagreed with the validity of his research, it was soon reported that a number of psychology students were not averse to using such knowledge for their own benefit. Transmarginal inhibition is the name given to a non-permanent psychological state or condition during which activity of the higher, rational brain becomes suspended, and the limen - the threshold to the unconscious mind - becomes lowered. It can be brought about by a combination of boredom, anxiety, physical discomfort, reduced input of stimuli, repetition, tension and a general lack of anything for the mind to digest. It may happen after a prolonged period of gestation or within a very short time span. The condition is notable in that it can bring about a total suspension of the ability to make intellectual judgements, while producing a 'flat', unemotional state of mind. The earmarks of its inception are unmistakable to the trained eye. |
| The story concerning the psychology students runs along these lines. They were members of a campus situated in the southern United States, in an area that was on the circuit of a number of revivalist ministers. Open-air church meetings with 'hellfire and damnation' preachers were a regular event in the nearby foothills. One favoured site was a small valley that formed a natural amphitheatre, with a small river - ideal for adult baptisms - running through it. People from the surrounding countryside would arrive with everything for a day long picnic, to sit on the slopes and listen to the preaching. Apart from the midday meal break, when families would get together to gossip and renew acquaintances, it was taken for granted that the body of the day would be taken up in listening to the sermons. Fine for the forenoon but, as the afternoon wore on, the sun would beat down on a congregation that had lunched well and were now struggling to be attentive as small muscles began protesting against the strain of sitting still on a grassy slope. The scene was set. Previous observations having taught them what to expect, the students had already made certain preparations. Having picked a 'suitable' woman as his 'target', a student would move closer to her as rugs and blankets were spread out for lunch. Using the general milling about as his pretext, he would deliberately, but briefly, engage the attention of his unsuspecting victim by 'accidentally' bumping into her or flapping his blanket near her ankles. The incident would be passed over with a gentle apology during which he would make a point of smiling straight into her face. No further contact would be made at that stage and he would end up sitting to eat his lunch as close as propriety allowed. As the afternoon wore on he would surreptitiously observe her, looking for the tell-tale signs. Choosing a time when others were being distracted by a baptism, he would reach over to gently touch her, firmly whispering something along the lines of, "Follow me, and you will be saved." With that he would rise and walk off to such clump of thickets that people had designated the toilet area, reasonably sure that she would follow him. The rest of the story needs little imagination. This particular tale is possibly apocryphalic but, given the setting, quite possibly true. |