this now that you’ve said it,’ Abigail said. ‘If the other people in the elevator are all facing away from the door, then the person getting into the elevator will usually do the same.’
‘That’s it,’ Miriam nodded. ‘People think they have free will, but there is actually a strong tendency for individuals to behave in the same way as those around them.’
‘Like peer pressure at school,’ Lauren said.
Miriam nodded. ‘That’s a very good example, Lauren. If you’re at school and all your friends smoke cigarettes, the chances are that you’ll start smoking cigarettes too. I’ve been inside that gymnasium you were at last night. Do you remember the big banner along the back of the hall?’
‘Welcome to the Ocean of Love,’ James said.
‘That’s right, and I’m afraid you and Lauren accidentally dipped your toes into the ocean. I take it the Survivors asked you to call ahead and say you were coming?’
Abigail nodded. ‘Uh-huh.’
‘That’s so they can set up a welcoming committee. As soon as you arrive there’s a friendly face to greet every one of you. Then they take you inside, split you up and everyone starts acting warm and friendly. They asked you to play sport, because it tires you out physically. But the whole time you were being worn out physically, the compliments and touching built you up emotionally.’
‘We weren’t supposed to say anything negative when we were playing games,’ James said.
Miriam nodded. ‘That’s a technique called thought stopping. By encouraging you to think and say positive things, you inevitably start feeling good. And because you only hear positive things from other people, you start feeling guilty and shut out your own negative thoughts. The good vibe is reinforced with lots of touching, hugging and even the occasional kiss. Within a couple of hours, you two found yourselves exhausted, but happy and uninhibited. That’s exactly the state you want a person to be in if you’re trying to sell them something, whether it’s a second-hand car or a lifelong commitment to a religious cult.’
James and Lauren both nodded.
‘It makes sense now you say it,’ James said. ‘But at the time I didn’t feel like anything special was happening to me.’
‘You wouldn’t have,’ Miriam said. ‘When people hear phrases like brainwashing or mind control, they imagine that it involves being stuck in a room with a gun to your head, or being tied up and made to watch videos while your eyelids are propped open with matchsticks. In reality, harsh methods like that only create fear and resentment. The techniques used by groups like the Survivors are extremely subtle and all the more powerful because of it.’
Abigail looked stressed. ‘The thing is, can we safely send these kids undercover into that environment? They’d read about mind control in books and you’d spoken to us, but James and Lauren still came out of there like a couple of grinning zombies.’
Miriam furrowed her brow and looked thoughtful for a second. ‘Research has consistently shown that people who understand how mind control works are not susceptible to it.’
‘But we did understand it,’ James said anxiously.
‘No,’ Miriam said. ‘You read about it in books and you listened to me speak, but you didn’t respect what you’d learned. You went into the commune with your defences down and you let yourself get drawn in by a few pretty girls telling you what a great guy you are.’
James looked sheepishly at the bare concrete between his Nikes.
‘Sorry,’ Lauren said, ‘we didn’t mean to mess up.’
‘Don’t be daft, sweetheart,’ Miriam smiled. ‘Older and more experienced heads than yours have thought themselves too clever to fall into the lure of a cult. Hopefully, this has taught all of you an important lesson.
‘As long as you immerse yourselves in cult life slowly and consider the motivations behind the things people do and say at the commune, the danger of becoming brainwashed is virtually nil. If you come by my office on the university campus after school tomorrow, I’ll teach you a few basic concentration techniques that will prevent you from being hypnotised or ending up in a state where you’re easily manipulated.’
*
Elliot called Abigail on Monday evening and kept her talking about life and religion for over an hour. On Tuesday, Abigail phoned the commune to confirm that she was bringing the whole family the following night when she attended her first session with the single parents’ group.
They were greeted in the parking lot by Elliot, Mary, Eve and a younger girl called Natasha who had made