Irving Janis and Richard Rose on ‘Groupthink’

[I:http://cubeweek.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/AnlagePublishing2.jpg] A friend of mine spoke with me about how he escaped the “groupthink” earlier in his spiritual quest for enlightenment and he was interested in my first spiritual teacher Richard Rose. He fell into a sort of cult mentality with a fundamentalist group and it took many years before he could escape the frustrations he felt himself to be caught in. Dr. David Hawkins consciousness calibration method helps us to uncover these dangers in spiritual groups but Richard Rose is another spiritual teacher who spoke out against the idea of groupthink. Today we can make observation of the many statues and images that pervade the world in the form of spiritual avatars like Jesus and the Buddha. There is nothing terribly dangerous about this. Even Bill Wilson has become a noted “sage” amongst AA members today but the practice of unconditional love is likely to keep things functioning quite well in this fellowship. Still, it is a subject that needs attention if you are setting your goal higher in spiritual work.

Continuing this discussion, Richard Rose was a strong critic of the problem of “groupthink” which is a type of thought within a cohesive group. Dr. David Hawkins is the forerunner of the method of consciousness calibration and this is how we can identify groups that have fallen under this spell. In groupthink, the group members try to minimize conflict amongst each other by slowly giving into this kind of thinking and it goes un-noticed or is impossible to overcome as long as you remain in their company. The group members tend to reach consensus without critical testing, analyzing, or evaluating their ideas. Not only does enlightenment of individual members become impossible but reason itself is sacrificed to the motives of the group.

Ironically, the TAT group which formed around Richard Rose’s teachings, quickly fell into the very trap that their teacher warned them of many years ago. This was before Richard Rose died and spoke to me directly about the fact that the groups forming around him were more like social groups than seekers. This condition of “groupthink” is no longer a “threat” to TAT but a living reality and can be verified by the method of consciousness calibration. The problem first developed after Rose came down with Alzheimers’ Disease in the early 90′s and group members in TAT were left with no clear direction to turn. Within a few short years, members of TAT began claiming personal “enlightenment” amongst themselves, a primary example being Shawn Nevins who now critically attacks the work of Dr. David Hawkins as a threat to his personal claim to status.

As defined by Janis, groupthink is a mode of thinking where “people become deeply involved in a cohesive ‘in-group’ and the members strive for unanimity so as to override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.” When Mr. Richard Rose passed away several years ago, there was nobody who could aptly take his place as an enlightened teacher. By consciousness calibration, we also find that Rose’s teachings only calibrate at 350, even though the man himself calibrated at 650. This dilemma has resulted in the defense mechanism known as groupthink.

Of course, groupthink is especially relevant to the spiritual group known as the “TAT foundation” because they did experience a great crisis when they went through the death of their spiritual teacher, Richard Rose. Groupthink has therefore become an almost certain result of this crisis along with the false claims to enlightenment setting up the condition of “mind guards” like Shawn Nevins and Bob Cergol. Through consciousness calibration, we can determine that these two teachers calibrate at 360 and 365 respectively but imagine themselves to be “enlightened” or “Self-realized,” a category which actually calibrates above 600 on Dr. Hawkins’ scale.

A final thought on groupthink comes in relation to its opposite, “individuation.” Dr. Carl Jung argued in favor of individuation for spiritual advancement and cults have also been studied in relation to this idea. Through consciousness calibration, we can verify these problems in specific cults. I do not believe that the TAT foundation qualifies as a “cult” by sociologists’ definition but they are subject to groupthink and its “de-individuation” effects, especially as we can see in the case of Shawn Nevins who was still fairly young when Richard Rose passed away. “De-individuation” is defined as “the loss of self-awareness” where individuals who may have previously been making spiritual progress either came to a standstill or began falling backwards in their seeking. By keeping these ideas in mind, it is my wish that other groups will follow the warnings of Richard Rose, who was a truly enlightened man. Don’t let yourself fall under the spell of groupthink and keep your mind open about the teachings of Dr. David R. Hawkins.

To learn more about the topic of Groupthink and this rare, enlightened man by the name of Richard Rose, please visit Anlage Publishing.