Description of the Behavioural Structure of the Training - Day 2

DAY TWO, EVENT SEVEN:

The last series of exercises is one 3 of 3 "behavior" subjects (100%) and 15 of 15 "experience" (100%) subjects remembered and talked about: "victim accountable." Participants are instructed to tell a story in which "they" did it to "you" (i.e., stories in which the story tellers perceive themselves to be the victim of the story). First partners try to top one another by telling victim stories in the big group. Then they break up into dyads and tell their story. Each partner must convince his or her partner that they were indeed victimized. Then they must tell the story again, as if they caused the result. It is especially important to tell the partner "what you were pretending not to know." Partners must continue telling the story and explaining until their partners are convinced that they really do believe they are "at cause."

Afterwards, they share in the large group. One "behavior" subject remembered a woman who learned from the exercise that she was not a rape "victim.." She got in touch with the fact that she had set up the whole thing, that she wanted it to turn out the way it did. She was eight years old at the time of the rape.

The trainer sometimes writes an the board some of the good things that come from the concept that individuals set up every occurrence in their lives. Three of 3 "behavior" subjects (100%) and 15 of 15 "experience" subjects (100%) remembered the trainer being very powerful and forceful about this viewpoint. He argued that when individuals come from being the "victim" they feel one down, but "why feel one down about something that's your own choice?" The trainer proclaims. "I set up everything!" including his "choice" of parents, his death, and so forth. "There are no accidents, and there are no miracles."

[COMMENT: The Vitality doctrine is becoming clearer by this point in the training. The pseudocognitivism (see Chapter I. section E: Theoretical Framework, p. 134) is here quite apparent. The outside world is seen almost as a hallucination: it is unimportant and actually has no effect on an individual's experience of life. This approach blames the victim and nullifies dissent. It is a convenient philosophy for a restrictive group.]