The Hidden Influence: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 

.  To be really convincing, of course, a hidden Influence should not only be hidden, but be, by its very nature, utterly impossible to perceive.  In that way the hypothesis that this thing is the cause of mankind’s’ difficulties could never be refuted: no one could ever come along and inconveniently announce that he’d perceived this thing and found it to be entirely innocuous.  The progress of science, endlessly bringing more and more from the unknown into the realm of the known, has also tended to drive the Hidden Influence more and more from the unknown into the unknowable.  Indeed, science itself has become a prime source of the ‘unknowable’ in its own right.  For example, science today claims that the basis of all personality (and therefore, presumably all difficulties) is to be found in sub-microscopic particles within the genes of the body - with the strong implication that even with a few billion dollars’ worth of research grants, it is very doubtful if we’ll ever be able to truly perceive these things at all.  Even if these sub-microscopic particles are one day perceived and discovered to be harmless after all, a new Hidden Influence will promptly be dreamed up to take their place.  And so, the game will continue.

*Baleful: Threatening harm; menacing: "Bill shot a baleful glance in her direction" · "the baleful light cast trembling shadows." 

While the things postulated as Hidden Influences are either imaginary or truly harmless, the game does little more than make people miserable; but when these things actually do exist then it’s an entirely different story.  For example, everyone has been born, but few can recall the event in detail.  So, there is a whole class of possible Hidden Influences to be found in the events everyone knows to have happened, but few can recall ever having happened to themselves.  This class also has the advantage of no one being able to claim it is imaginary, and so refute the hypothesis out of hand.  In other words, the concept is capable of convincing people of its truth - a prime necessity in the field of Hidden influences.  As this class of possible Hidden Influences is near infinite, it is very fertile soil for anyone who has, for whatever reason, an urge to create a convincing Hidden Influence.  A number of possibilities in this direction have already, if inadvertently, been explored.  Amongst them are: sex, pain, guilt, survival, unconsciousness.  Others are being continuously added to the list - as you will find, if you keep up to date with your psychological journals. 

Please understand that I am not suggesting that the originators of these theories were merely out to make a fast buck (though many fast bucks are there to be made by the unscrupulous who understand this mechanism), for many were dedicated researchers, and truly believed that their research had found the answer to at least some of mankind’s difficulties.  No, my whole purpose is merely to point out that the mechanism is not without its dangers. 

Let us take being born for example.  Now, to the best of my knowledge no researcher has ever seriously claimed that being born was the prime cause of man’s difficulties, though I would not be surprised if sooner or later one of them did!  For it does fulfill all the requirements of a good, convincing Hidden Influence.  Namely:

a)    It has happened to everybody.

b)  It is not easily recalled.

c)    It does contain a certain amount of upset in its own right, quite apart from what is said about it afterwards.

So, you go up to a person and say: “The origin of your difficulties, Mr. Jones, are to be found in your birth trauma.  This, as the very first thing that ever happened to you, must be the basis for all your later difficulties.”  He will immediately see that what you say could just have a germ of truth in it.  You then go on to add: “Once we lift your birth trauma, then the basis of all your psychological difficulties will be known to you, and all will promptly vanish.” 

It all sounds very plausible*, does it not?  But what happens when the person is convinced that you are right?  His birth trauma is now, in his own estimation, elevated from whatever it originally was, into a thing of vast importance.  It will immediately become much more solid and persistent.  It is entirely possible that any pains he experienced in his birth trauma will immediately impinge upon his body; and he will also experience the emotions, right then and there, that he experienced in birth.  This, of course, is taken as proof of the fact that the birth trauma was the basis of his difficulties.

*Plausible: of an argument or statement) seeming reasonable or probable: "a plausible explanation" · "it seems plausible that one of two things may happen"

 The prophecy becomes, in fact, self-fulfilling! 

Now, do you see the danger?  Whatever the effect, assuming it to be real and not entirely imaginary, which is considered as the prime cause of the difficulties, immediately becomes intensified in importance - and therefore in solidity and persistence (man, you just try to get rid of it now!) - by the mere act of considering it in such a manner.  This is a very real danger, not only to the patient but to the researcher himself.  He himself might not have been totally convinced by his hypothesis, but here is a person in front of his very eyes who is proving him right! 

So here is the danger:

 Whatever effect in the mind you choose as being causative over the beings’ behavior, immediately intensifies in solidity, persistence, and command power, and will tend to prove your hypothesis. 

But you might say, what about this therapy you are advocating, surely it? . . . No.  I never said it.  All I’m saying is that that which is considered important tends to become more solid and persistent, and to have a command power over the being. 

I have never specified the importance. 

Re-read the theory if you don’t believe me.  At no place in it am I pointing the finger and saying, “That is the basic importance.”  At no time am I postulating a specific Hidden Influence.  Oh yes, there are many things in your mind, which are currently hidden from you, which influence your behavior.  But only you know what they are.  And, what is more, only you are entirely capable of becoming aware of these things, and so vanishing the influence. 

You are, in fact, the greatest authority on your own mind.  You created it, and now maintain it with the same loving care that mothers reserve for their offspring. 

There are no Hidden influences that you are incapable of becoming aware of.  If it is influencing you, it is entirely possible for you to become aware of it and so remove the influence.  The concept of the Hidden Influence that, by its very nature, you are incapable of being aware of is something dreamed up by people who do not have your best interests at heart.  They wish to scare you, and so make you easier to control.  The game of the Hidden Influence is a very insidious one; but a game it is.  Its total purpose is to introvert your attention in search of the undiscoverable, and so make you that much easier to overwhelm. 

It is a law of life that a being is capable of sensing anything that can influence that being.  Otherwise, it could not influence him.  There are no “forces of darkness” that you cannot sense; no things that go boomp in the night that you cannot discover the nature of if you care to go and take a look. 

There are no absolute importances either.  There is no class of importances in the mind that you can point a finger at and say “That is the cause of all the trouble” without immediately escalating the importance of this thing, so granting command power over you that could well stick you with it forever. 

All importances are relative to all other importances; all are entirely a matter of conviction, and all can be evaluated one against the other.  As you do so your mind, as an entity, will progressively vanish, and your full native abilities will be restored to you. 

The game of the Hidden Influence is basically the game of ‘Must know’ versus ‘Mustn’t be Known.’

The Body 

There is a vast and yet largely unexplored application of this technology to the body itself.  Each part of the body has a specialized function, and is therefore in a specialized games condition.  What we call aging, leading finally to the death of the body, is each body part suffering a surfeit* of overwhelm in its specialized game during life until it can no long function properly in its’ own consideration.  Eventually body death occurs when one or other of the vital organs quits entirely.

*Surfeit: an excessive amount of something: "a surfeit of food and drink"

However, the being himself, once he isolates the specialized function (game) of a body part can, by his own creativity, return that body part to optimum functioning once more by removing the accumulated overwhelms.  Thus, it is theoretically possible for a being to make his own body immortal.  There is nothing life cannot do once it knows how to do it.

Ethics 

It’s relevant to ask at this stage, “Should a being’s native abilities be restored to him? Would he not immediately, alone or in association with others so freed, hold the rest of mankind in slavery for his own ends?”

The answer to this question lies in the difference between a being in a compulsive games condition, and a being who plays games by choice.  Mankind today is in a compulsive games condition.  By this I mean he has lost his power of choice in the matter.  He must play games; he must win these games; and he must do these things regardless of all else.  You see this frenetic activity around you every day.  It’s all become so deadly, deadly serious; a matter of life and death.  Why, even enjoying yourself has become a serious matter.  Only the children can still laugh in sheer uninhibited pleasure; but only then until they receive their education, and realize how serious it all really is.

As the game becomes more serious, more important, the player’s concern for the well-being of his adversary becomes less and less.  What are a million Jews slaughtered in the gas chamber when it’s for the glory of the Third Reich?  They’re only Jews, aren’t they?  What matter that the jackboots are steeped in blood and gore as long as the war is won?  They’re only the enemy, aren’t they?  What matter that a man be compelled to work long hours under atrocious conditions for miserly* pay so his employer can make more profit?  He’s only a worker, isn’t he?  What matter that workers band together and form unions, then dissipate the wealth of a nation in interminable strikes to improve their lot?  They’re only money-grabbing capitalists, aren’t they?

*Miserly: (of a quantity) pitiably small or inadequate: "last year's miserly growth in sales"

The compulsive games condition.  The more compulsive it becomes, the more partisan* the being becomes; the more partisan the being becomes the less real his opponent becomes to him, and so the easier it becomes to justify his inexcusable behavior towards him.  Yes, it would be folly indeed to give such a being true power, for abuse it he most certainly would at the first opportunity.  But while the being is in a compulsive games condition, he has no true power.  It’s only as the compulsion fades that the true power begins to emerge.  It’s only when he no longer has to play games, has to win, that he can do these things easily.  The harder he drives that ‘Must’ postulate the closer and closer he edges towards the ‘can’t,’ the greater the compulsion to succeed, the more difficult success becomes.  Only when the playing of games are light and airy things, when competence is a joy like poetry, and the need to win is a far, far junior consideration to the enjoyment of the game does true ability even begin to emerge.  And as he approaches this state, he more and more realizes that his own happiness is bound up with the happiness of others, for he cannot easily play games whilst alone.  He needs others to share the sensations; others as capable as himself, or his games will soon become unbearably dull.  To always win is no fun, and so he learns to cherish a good opponent and becomes very concerned about his welfare.

*Partisan: prejudiced in favor of a particular cause: "we will need people to put partisan politics aside and work with us for the good of the country" · "his account was highly partisan" 

Thus, as the being frees up from the trap his view of life changes: becomes broader and less parochial*.  He lives his life more and more from the viewpoint of the maximum amount of benefit for the maximum number of beings.  For only in this way is his life truly rich.  In short, he has become an ethical being. 

*Parochial: having a limited or narrow outlook or scope: "this worldview seems incredibly naive and parochial" 

A man from Nazareth some 2000 years ago who said ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’ possessed more than a glimmering of the true factors involved.  The route out is from the compulsive playing of games, through the voluntary playing of games, to the state of Nirvana - eternal bliss and oneness with all life. 

As the being walks this route, he soon perceives that there is a basic code of ethics that governs conduct, and that when he violates this code he suffers just as much as his victim.

1)  NEVER FORCE A PERSON TO KNOW A THING AGAINST THEIR CHOICE.

2)  NEVER PREVENT A PERSON FROM KNOWING.

3)  NEVER FORCE A PERSON TO MAKE A THING KNOWN.

4)  NEVER PREVENT A PERSON FROM MAKING A THING KNOWN.

This code is as easy to live by as the being is no longer in a compulsive games condition.  Evaluate yourself against it, for it will give you many insights into the nature of your current compulsive games conditions.  When a being is free from the compulsive playing of games he quite naturally lives by this code; he would no more dream of violating it than he would of cutting his own throat.  For he knows all too well the consequences. 

It’s entirely safe then to free a being, for what being could be considered dangerous who lives by such a code?

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