Influence, control and abuse: The thin line between charismatic leadership and cult leadership.

I saw a brilliant show by Derren Brown on Saturday night. Without revealing any details, it was an excellent demonstration of how people can be made to think and do things using the power of subconscious influences. I was very impressed by the way he used his particular talents to help people feel better about their problems.

 But it also showed that whilst we think we make our own choices, there in fact there are a number of factors that we are unaware of affecting our decisions (I have also started reading the book thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahanaman which addresses the psychology behind this). More significantly, for me at least, it was also a demonstration of how particular individuals can use their personal charisma to exert an enormous influence over you, to the extent that your personality can become subsumed into theirs. That was quite a scary thought.

It also reminded me of something that I  often think about when listening to popular public religious speakers and from my own experiences with charismatic individuals. How much am I being influenced by the show behind the individual's speech? It is almost impossible to disassociate the person, the climate and the feel-good effect from what is actually being said.

 I remember vividly in sixth form coming home one shabbos to announce that I had heard the most incredible D'var Torah by a well known speaker in the community. 'What did he say' My Dad asked. Hmm I thought. Hard to really put into words. So I tried, and I realised that its content could be said in about ten seconds but I made sure to follow these words with 'You just had to be there, you don't understand'.

So what? You might say. Ostensibly, we are not simply drones who respond to content alone. Personality certainly becomes a part of any method of communication. But there is a more sinister element to all this. That is the question of control. Using Derren Brown-esque skills a spellbinding speaker or personality can make us do things that if we detached ourselves from the situation we would not consider. Unfortunately I can attest to personal experience in this regard.

They can make us think thoughts that, in many ways are not our own. And then we can easily lose sight of the difference between who we are and who the person who is our boss, teacher, rabbi, role model is. And in the hands of the wrong people this can lead to an extremely dangerous relationship.   

There was a sad story in the news the other week about the young Conservative party member who committed suicide, seemingly after encountering horrendous bullying from his peers. Clearly, to some, the pursuit of power is a singular one which can disregard the consequences of its actions, taking advantage of someone's willingness to obey your every instruction.

The fact of the matter is that it is often people with the potential for this sort of manipulation often find themselves in positions of leadership. If the organisation in question has a particular agenda it is very easy to create a climate under the complete control of this personality.

It is certainly something to think about when you enter a position of some sort of power particularly in areas which have deep emotional sway over people such as faith. People will see you differently. You might be able to have them under a spell of sorts. You may be able to make them do exactly as you want. And to be conscious of the extent of your standing is to also be aware of the fine line between positive influence, control and even abuse. 

To educate is to channel not to manipulate. This applies even if we are convinced about the rightness of our message, method or agenda; for if we don't respect the dignity of each human being and their ability to make up their own minds about things we run the risk of crushing them, scarily, without even meaning to.