Joost A.M. Meerloo Quotes: Profound Insights on Freedom of Thought and Delusion

"Delusion is a self-contained value system that leads to a loss of rationality because it blocks open and critical thinking. When delusion arises in a community, irrational beliefs are amplified in the communal experience, reaching a fever pitch in moments of ecstasy that give individuals a feeling of happiness and power. Mass delusion can have a neurotic and a psychotic component. Neurosis is the struggle between inner and outer reality. It is designed to win, otherwise it succumbs to panic. Psychosis is a closed value system in which the affected person feels completely secure. They are not in conflict with the reality of the outside world, but live in their own value system, which they perceive as real. A closed system defends its autonomy by developing a self-contained logic and deriving norms from it that must be accepted without question. People who find themselves in a closed system become blind to reality and, when their irrational forces are unleashed, easily slip into dangerous delusion." Hermann Broch

"The most effective way to close down the human mind and to manipulate its sense of self is to program into it some form of dogma. A dogma will always vehemently defend itself from other information and repel any alternative opinion which contradicts its narrow, solidified view. Dogmas become a person's sense of security and means of retaining power, and humanity tends to cling to both until its knuckles turn white. Dogmas take endless forms, and when you can persuade different people to hold opposing dogmas, the manipulation of conflict and control through "divide and rule" becomes easy." David Icke