How cults rewire the brain | Diane Benscoter

翻译人员: Wang Qian 校对人员: Chaoran Yu

My journey to coming here today

我今天所要谈的

started in 1974.

是我从1974年开始即有的经验

That's me with the funny gloves.

那个戴着奇怪手套的人就是我

I was 17 and going on a peace walk.

那时我才17岁，我去参加和平示威游行

What I didn't know though, was most of those people, standing there

当时我并不知道，我身旁的这些人

with me, were Moonies.

大部份都是统一教的信徒

(Laughter)

（笑）

And within a week

不到一个礼拜

I had come to believe

他们就说服我

that the second coming of Christ had occurred,

耶稣已重返人间

that it was Sun Myung Moon,

而文鲜明就是神祗的化身

and that I had been specially chosen and prepared by God

我是上帝的选民

to be his disciple.

我注定要追随文鲜明

Now as cool as that sounds,

虽然听起来很酷

my family was not that thrilled with this.

我的家人知道后却对此不大感冒

(Laughter)

（笑）

And they tried everything they could to get me out of there.

他们想尽办法地使我脱离那个教派

There was an underground railroad of sorts

在那个年代有一个秘密组织

that was going on during those years. Maybe some of you remember it.

也许你们有些人还记得

They were called deprogrammers.

那个组织里的人被称为"反洗脑者"

And after about five long years

经过了漫长的五年

my family had me deprogrammed.

我的家人终于成功地为我"反洗脑"了

And I then became a deprogrammer.

而我自己也成为"反洗脑者"

I started going out on cases.

我开始帮助被洗脑的当事人

And after about five years of doing this,

在做了将近五年的反洗脑工作后

I was arrested for kidnapping.

我因绑架罪名被逮捕

Most of the cases I went out on

我辅导的大部份当事人

were called involuntary.

并非自愿接受反洗脑的

What happened was that the family

这些当事人的家人

had to get their loved ones some safe place somehow.

得先为当事人找到安全的藏身地

And so they took them to some safe place.

把他们安置在那里

And we would come in and talk to them, usually for about a week.

然后我们再去辅导，通常需持续一个礼拜左右

And so after this happened,

经过被警方逮捕的事件后

I decided it was a good time to turn my back on this work.

我决定不再从事这种工作

And about 20 years went by.

又过了大约 20年

There was a burning question though that would not leave me.

我脑中有个问题始终挥之不去

And that was, "How did this happen to me?"

那就是：“我到底怎么了？”

And in fact, what did happen to my brain?

或是说：“我的脑袋到底怎么了？”

Because something did.

因为我的脑中的确产生了变化

And so I decided to write a book, a memoir,

于是我决定要写一本回忆录

about this decade of my life.

记录我人生中被洗脑和反洗脑的那十年

And toward the end of writing that book

当我快把书写完的时候

there was a documentary that came out.

有一部纪录片上映了

It was on Jonestown.

是关于琼斯镇时间（70年代美国人民圣殿教集体自杀的发生地）

And it had a chilling effect on me.

我看了以后不禁毛骨悚然

These are the dead in Jonestown.

这些就是死于那次事件的人

About 900 people died that day,

当天大约有900个人丧生

most of them taking their own lives.

其中大部份都是自杀

Women gave poison to their babies,

妇女将毒药喂给自己的小孩

and watched foam come from their mouths as they died.

她们眼睁睁地看着儿童们口吐白沫而死

The top picture is a group of Moonies

上面的照片是文鲜明(统一教)的信徒

that have been blessed by their messiah.

他们受到了救世主文鲜明的祝福

Their mates were chosen for them.

配偶也都由文鲜明挑选好了

The bottom picture is Hitler youth.

下面的照片是信奉希特勒的青年军

This is the leg of a suicide bomber.

这是一个人肉炸弹客的断腿

The thing I had to admit to myself,

我很不愿意承认

with great repulsion,

但又不得不承认的是

was that I get it.

我了解这些人

I understand how this could happen.

我了解他们为什么会这样

I understand how someone's brain,

我懂他们的脑子

how someone's mind can come to the place

我懂他们为什么会有那些想法

where it makes sense --

而且我懂他们为什么会认为那些想法是对的

in fact it would be wrong, when your brain is working like that --

事实上，当你陷入那种思考模式以后

not to try to save the world through genocide.

你会认为大屠杀是为了拯救世人

And so what is this? How does this work?

这到底是什么样的心态？它是如何形成的？

And how I've come to view what happened to me

我又是如何看清一切

is a viral, memetic infection.

我明白那其实是一种脑部中毒的现象

For those of you who aren't familiar with memetics,

在座有些人可能不太清楚这概念

a meme has been defined as

脑部中毒指的就是

an idea that replicates in the human brain

一种想法在人脑中不断分裂复制

and moves from brain to brain like a virus,

它会像病毒一样散播到别人的脑中

much like a virus. The way a virus works is --

而就像病毒的运作方式一样

it can infect and do the most damage to someone

会传染给他人并造成莫大伤害

who has a compromised immune system.

抵抗力差的人更深受其害

In 1974, I was young, I was naive,

1974年的我年轻又天真

and I was pretty lost in my world.

我迷失在自己的世界里

I was really idealistic.

且抱着过于理想主义的态度

These easy ideas to complex questions are very appealing

统一教的思想直观，好似能解决人生之问，让人非常向往

when you are emotionally vulnerable.

尤其那时的心灵又容易受人影响

What happens is that

在这种状况下

circular logic takes over.

思考逻辑如鬼打墙般走不出来

"Moon is one with God.

我才会相信“文鲜明是上帝的化身”

God is going to fix all the problems in the world.

“上帝会解决世间所有问题”

All I have to do is humbly follow.

而我只要心悦诚服地追随他就好

Because God is going to stop war and hunger --

因为上帝会阻止战争和饥饿

all these things I wanted to do --

那也是我的理想

all I have to do is humbly follow.

我只要心悦诚服的追随他就好

Because after all, God is [working through] the messiah. He's going to fix all this."

他是上帝派来的救世主，有他便天下太平

It becomes impenetrable.

这种想法渐渐根深柢固

And the most dangerous part of this

而这种想法最可怕之处在于

is that is creates "us" and "them,"

它造成了"我们"和"他们"的对立

"right" and "wrong,"

"对"与"错"的对立

"good" and "evil."

"正"与"邪"的对立

And it makes anything possible,

这让人什么事都做得出来

makes anything rationalizable.

一切的行为都被合理化

And the thing is, though,

但是

if you looked at my brain

如果当时有办法一窥我的脑部

during those years in the Moonies --

在我信奉统一教的那几年里

neuroscience is expanding exponentially,

不像现在有快速发展的神经科学

as Ray Kurzweil said yesterday. Science is expanding.

正如雷·库兹韦尔昨天所说-科学正不断进步

We're beginning to look inside the brain.

现在我们开始窥探人脑是如何运作的

And so if you looked at my brain, or any brain that's infected with

所以如果当时有办法一窥我的脑部

a viral memetic infection like this,

或是将任何如这样思想中毒的脑子

and compared it to anyone in this room,

和在座任何人的脑子两相比较

or anyone who uses critical thinking on a regular basis,

或是和习惯批判性思考的人脑做比较的话

I am convinced it would look very, very different.

我相信两种脑子看起来一定非常不同

And that, strange as it may sound,

在座各位或许会觉得我这么说很奇怪

gives me hope.

但这件事给了我希望

And the reason that gives me hope

我有了希望是因为

is that the first thing is to admit

我们做到了解决问题的第一步

that we have a problem.

那就是：承认这个问题的确存在

But it's a human problem. It's a scientific problem, if you will.

但这是个人的问题，或者说是科学的问题

It happens in the human brain. There is no evil force out there to get us.

它存在于我们的脑中，并非是外来的邪恶力量要害我们

And so this is something that, through research and education,

所以透过研究和教育

I believe that we can solve.

我相信这个问题是可以解决的

And so the first step is to realize

而解决此问题的第一步

that we can do this together,

就是明白我们需要一起努力

and that there is no "us" and "them."

不分彼此，永不对立

Thank you very much. (Applause)

谢谢大家 (掌声)