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Originally Posted by aron
But Witness Lee, in his campaign of human subjugation, taught his followers to "get out of your mind" - this was the center of the LC programme, as shown by the previous quote in post #3. The repetitive chanting and shouting, the arm-waving and so forth were all part of a scheme of sensory overload in which the mark becomes susceptible to manipulation & influence. It's all about control. Christ died to set us free, but the enemy wants to put us back in slavery again.
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Right. Performance is not merely self-abnegation, but socially-constructed self-abnegation such that one integrates within the group.
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In my mind, WL pulled one of the biggest cons possible. What did he do? He placed such great emphasis on the group and conformity, to the point that individuality was rejected outright. He equated excitement, zeal, and emphatic declarations as being indicators of a 'proper' environment and worship. At what expense? It required the rejection of individuality. Common sense and reason were given a back seat. Performance became key.
Here is a glimpse into the way in which WL attempted to manipulate people:
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Originally Posted by Witness Lee
None of the tourists who visit Disneyland in Anaheim are dumb. When they see all the sights that are there, they are bubbling. Once you get into Disneyland, how could you be dumb? Even the little children, who cannot speak well, will have utterance because they see so many things.
Why do the pew members in the Christian denominations sit dumbly in their pews during the Sunday eleven o'clock service? Because they are short of light and see nothing…
Life-Study of Hebrews, Msg. 2
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As is evident, WL places emphasis on some type of outward manifestation of emotion (as would be found in a group setting). Sitting ‘dumbly’ in a pew is suggested to be a complete waste of time. But really, all those sitting ‘dumbly’ in pews are doing something that LCers don’t do much of. They are (hopefully) listening and contemplating what they are hearing, and most importantly -
using their minds. What most people would feel to be a normal and functional environment exists in the absence of declarations, shouting, emotion, and zeal. But WL taught his followers to reject this outright. In its place he created a questionable and potentially dangerous environment which emphasized the group, conformity, and performance.