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Confident Words
Teal Swan isn’t afraid of make outlandish claims.
She has stated that before she was born, she was designed by “an entire panel” of 6th dimensional ‘Arcturian’ beings who chose the way she would look in her life because “human beings like to pay attention to what’s attractive.”
She’s also said she is a “soul fork” which, according to her, means that she is a spirit being which has “projected forth” into an Arcturian being which has then incarnated as her – the twelve incarnation that being has incarnated as.
She actually made these claims within minutes of each other. But the question is, why do people believe her?
So, when it comes to outlandish claims, there’s an argument to be made for the desire to believe in something mystical, otherworldly. Whether it’s ghosts, gods or gurus, there’s lots of reasons people who believe do so. Most of these reasons have to do with the psychology of the believer in question or when and how the person is exposed to the ideas – what age and so on. In a lot of cases the ‘why’ is less to do with the claims being made and more to do with the one believing them.
The Lying Lead
But then there’s the less outlandish claims. There’s the ones that could be real. The ones that, if true, would reshape an entire persons view of themselves or view of the world. Ones that, if believed, would lead the believer to, incrementally, rely on the one making the claim more and more intensely. Ones that, if believed, would lead the believer to trust the world less and, incrementally, trust the one making the claim more when it comes to their big decisions in their life, and death.
In an account by Katherine Rose Breen, Teal is quoted saying, “What if I told you there’s a hell of a lot more [traumatic memories] you don’t remember?” This was said to a lady who later claimed to have been raped by 30 people and to have survived MK Ultra mind control and torture.
The trouble here is Teal’s question is a leading question.
The trouble here is Teal’s question is a leading question. It assumes that it is true that the one being asked it has traumatic memories they can’t recall. Of course, that’s intentional. Teal is claiming to know this lady’s mind more than this lady knows her own mind. That’s one of Teal’s gifts, you see.
So, here, when Teal says “what if I told you...” she’s implying she’s privy to knowledge the listener isn’t. She’s setting herself up as someone who possesses knowledge the listener doesn’t.
And the comment on not remembering, well that’s an appeal to the recovery of repressed memories, something which the evidence doesn’t support as being possible. In fact, the evidence more so supports the notion that things we have no recollection of, when ‘recovered’, are more likely to be false recollections. In other words, when we think we’re recovering a forgotten or repressed memory, what’s really happening is that we’re either knowingly or unknowingly constructing a new, false memory.
That aside, we need to consider why someone being asked a question like this might believe what Teal is implying. To make sense of this, we again need to consider that the people Teal and her team target as prospective followers are a certain kind of person. Depressed and suicidal people.
The Perfect Storm
Now, depression has been linked to low self-esteem and research shows that having low self-esteem puts you at a higher risk of depression. Also non-assertive behaviours, sometimes called passive behaviours, are linked to low self-esteem and depression too.
And guess which are two factors that make people more likely to act on the suggestions of others? Individual levels of self-esteem and assertiveness. On top of this, if a person is experiencing intense emotions then they’re likely to be more receptive to suggestions. Additionally, being in a group and identifying with the group has been shown to make a person more likely to conform to the expectations of the group.
So you have a person targetted by Teal and her inner-circle. Through the deliberate use of SEO and the meta-data on Teal’s Youtube videos, blog posts and so on, Teal’s content ends up in front of them. Let’s imagine they watch the video and get something from it – it sounds true to them, it brings them some kind of comfort. Now let’s say this person pays out to attend one of Teal’s workshops, anticipates it for months while agonising over this problem in their lives. And, after a long and exciting build-up, the day of the workshop comes.
They then find themselves on the stage at the workshop in front of Teal. They divulge their problems to her and emotions are high as they pour their heart out in front of a room full of other people, most of whom adore Teal for one reason or another.
The moment they’ve been waiting for is finally here. Teal is about to answer their problem. And then Teal, an authority figure with whom they identify, says something to the effect of, “What if I told you ‘x’?”
It’s the perfect storm of suggestibility.
It’s the perfect storm of suggestibility. They’ve been targetting, tenderised - the believing of the suggestion has been facilitated almost impeccably. It’s just a shame that the suggestion is a baseless one and the advice thereafter is just so. But, nonetheless, this person leaves the stage an answer. They leave with a sense of purpose, with their faith in Teal strengthened but with nothing that will help them – nothing of substance. Just a trail to greater pain blazed and ready to walk.
Thank you for reading.
If you have any personal stories regarding Teal Swan and want to have them heard, please get in contact with me via Twitter, we can speak confidentially and agree on the best way to get your story heard. Tweet at me at AndeyTheFellow.
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Sources
Teal’s outlandish claims: https://youtu.be/2rD3P6wboKM
Katherine’s post: http://www.celestialhealing.com/2016/07/an-open-letter-to-teal-tribe_24.html
Suggestibility on Psychology Wikia: https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Suggestibility#Autonomy_and_Suggestibility
Low Self-Esteem and Depression: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201302/is-low-self-esteem-making-you-vulnerable-depression
Low Self-Esteem Thoughts and Behaviour: https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellor-articles/identifying-low-self-esteem-thoughts-and-behaviours
Conformity on Psychology Wikia: https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Conformity
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