Mental Virus Alert

by Linda Decker

Okay, pop quiz: what do subliminal advertising, computer viruses, indoctrination, pickup lines and brainwashing have in common?

Hm, hm, hm...hm, hm. Ding! Give up? The common factor is that once you know how to recognize and handle them, subliminal advertising, computer viruses, indoctrination, pickup lines and brainwashing become completely ineffective. Their manipulative power to induce a response just fizzles the moment you realize what’s going on, right?

Remember in the late 1960s and early 70s when there was such an uproar about subliminal advertising, and the FCC moved to crack down on the practice? Everything from the 5-frame flashes of dancing popcorn boxes shown in movie theaters, to the images of death and sexuality imbedded in the ice cubes on liquor billboards. came under fire. “Look over here—can you see it? There’s a little skull and crossbones right near the bottom of the glass.”

If you have a virus detection program running on your PC, you have the means to locate and remove viruses before they do any harm to your hardware or software. And, if you’ve been educated in how to spot and handle indoctrination and brainwashing, you can stop them in their tracks, too. Another name for these mental viruses is transparent beliefs. You can behave and experience through these viruses without suspecting their existence or influence. Imagine the effects of living your life through one of these transparent beliefs:

• “I’m not smart/strong/spiritually enlightened enough to achieve that.”
• “Nothing good comes easy—you have to pay your dues.”
• “I never have been very good at giving presentations.”
• “The world is a dangerous place, and I am not safe.”
• “It’s nearly impossible to make a sales quota like mine.”
• “I don’t deserve to have a happy marriage/a nice car/inner peace.”
• “I can’t do anything about that!”

“The first impression you have of a transparent belief is that it is unquestionably true. That’s just the way life is. That’s the way I am. Here’s the proof! But then something funny happens: you discover that the proof for holding the belief is actually produced by the belief itself. A pattern begins to unfold.

“Transparent beliefs are discovered by tricking yourself into expressing them and then stepping back and looking at what you said. Transparent beliefs are often hidden under the desire to be right, so finding them requires a degree of vulnerability.”

—Harry Palmer in ReSurfacing

Imagine having the ability to spot mental viruses and delete them whenever you want. Then imagine the ability to install your own, self-generated program that will serve you. How about:

• “Every experience I have teaches me a valuable lesson.”
• “Things always seem to work out for me.”
• “I can learn anything I set out to master.”
• “Every time I give a presentation, my effectiveness improves.”
• “I feel vibrantly alive and filled with gratitude.”
• “I plan to exceed my quota by taking these steps.”
• “I am an enthusiastic and contented explorer.”

So when was the last time you fell for, “What is a nice-looking girl (guy) like you doing in a place like this?”

Now that you know there’s an alternative, why should, “Be realistic and work within your limitations” be any different?

Perhaps you’d like to spot some transparent beliefs for yourself. You can do it using the Transparent Belief Exercise from the ReSurfacing workbook.

Linda Decker, Dallas, TX

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