Silva Mind Control – Introduction

By: Dr. John Ankerberg / Dr. John Weldon; ©2000

In an article taken from their Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, Drs. Ankerberg and Weldon explain the doctrinal beliefs and dangers of the Silva Mind Control Method.

 

Silva Mind Control

(from Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, Harvest House, 1999)</center>

INFO AT A GLANCE

Name: Silva Mind Control (SMC).

Purpose: SMC is a spiritistic, New Age, “self-help” seminar that claims to be able to insti­tute “the next phase of human evolution on this planet.”

Founder: Jose Silva (1914- )

Source of authority: Jose Silva; “controlled” esp.

Revealed teachings: Yes.

Claim: SCM claims that it is “the first and only fully guaranteed method known to be effec­tive in developing and controlling Effective Sensory Projection”^[1] (i.e., “mind projection” for psychic purposes).

Occult Dynamics: Psychic development, spiritism and other forms of occult activity.

Key literature: The Silva Mind Control Method; I Have a Hunch: The Autobiography of Jose Silva; Reflections; Mysteries to the Keys of the Kingdom; and other books by Jose Silva.

Attitude toward Christianity: Rejecting.

Quote: “Jesus’ purpose on earth was to train everyone to use their ‘right brain,’ to become clairvoyant. “ (Jose Silva, I Have a Hunch, Vol.1, appendix, p. 8A.)

Note: SMC has resulted in a number of “off-shoots” that have utilized SMC techniques, including Mind Dynamics and est/The Forum. According to Silva, both Alex Everett, founder of Mind Dynamics, and Werner Erhard, founder of est/The Forum, are SMG graduates.^[2] A number of popular books also utilize SMC principles. Jess Stearns’ bestselling The Miracle Power of Alpha Thinking is basically SMC.^[3]

DOCTRINAL SUMMARY

God: Unipersonal or pantheistic.

Jesus Christ: An enlightened man who used the principles of Silva Mind Control.

Salvation: Employing Silva Mind Control and the right brain hemisphere to achieve spiritual enlightenment and solve the problems of humanity.

Man: Potentially a god.

Sin: Ignorance or failing to think properly.

The Afterlife: Universalist; spiritual progression to higher planes of existence.

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY

In 1979 a group of people caused worldwide press coverage for their attempt to use “ESP” to affect the orbit of the then faltering Skylab, which later came crashing to earth. After their failure, the project founder logically concluded:

“Apparently the height of the orbit was not influenced by the mental projections from earth.”^[4] This vainglorious effort represented the brainchild of Silva Mind Control International (SMCI), a large occult “human potential” organization, which had earlier attempted to psy­chically influence astronauts while in space.^[5] Since Silva Mind Control claims it is designed to develop psychic powers in anyone within only four days, perhaps the SMC attempt at such stalwart projects is understandable.

Thousands of professionals have been through SMC and utilize some of its principles in their respective professions. Some executives at RCA use it, as do directors in the Mary Kay Corporation. Numerous physicians and psychiatrists use it as well as over nine million others in every American state and in 107 countries and 29 languages around the world.^[6] Founder Jose Silva hopes to see literally tens of thousands of ministers, physicians, psy­chologists, government leaders, law enforcement officials, engineers, archaeologists, me­teorologists, astronomers, industrialists, financiers, executives, pilots and others become psychic and change the world into a paradise.^[7] Allegedly, “His work signifies and has be­come one of the first steps taken toward the second phase of human evolution on this planet.”^[8] It is claimed that Jose Silva is “recognized as a genius in the fields of business, education, athletics, science, art and philosophy,” to name a few.^[9] Silva himself states un­abashedly, “Before we developed this method, there had been no such training since the time of Christ.”^[10] Jesus, naturally, was an expert in Silva Mind Control.

Today the organization is a large corporate structure. For example, there is the Institute of Psychorientology, which is defined by Jose Silva as “the study of orienting Mind in the subjective world of the [psychic] mind dimension.”^[11] It is the central organization and man­ages “research and development,” although most of its power has been turned over to Silva Mind Control International, Inc. Another branch, Silva Sensor Systems, coordinates parapsychologically oriented bookstores and provides continuing programs for graduates, tapes and SMC lecturers for the general public. As of 1999, SMC had been taught, often with academic credits available, in scores of colleges and high schools and even numerous elementary schools. SMC offers special lectures and courses for professionals.

PRACTICE AND TEACHINGS

Despite claims to uniqueness, the SMC method is merely a variation on numerous common forms of human potentialism and meditative psychic development, and it often has a “Christian” flavor.

According to SMC, “negative thinking,” using terms such as “can’t,” “won’t,” “hate” and so on, is forbidden. SMC even believes that employing certain “negative” cultural phrases (“He burns me up”) slowly programs people into sickness, pain and death. Hence, a central premise, as in the modern “Christian Faith” movement, is the tremendous power of words to impact the psyche (cf. our The Facts On the Faith Movement). Silva declares, “Words have special power at deep levels of mind,”^[12] and, “Words do not just reflect reality, they create reality.”^[13]

NOTES

1. ↑ Jose Silva, Silva Mind Control: Alpha Theta Brainwave Function (Laredo, TX: 1977), brochure, p. 1.
2. ↑ Personal conversation with Jose Silva, May 1986.
3. ↑ Jose Silva, I Have a Hunch: The Autobiography of Jose Silva, vol. 2 (Laredo, TX: Insti­tute of Psychorientology, 1985), p. 158.
4. ↑ Mind Control Newsletter, vol. 10, no. 9, p. 5.
5. ↑ Silva, I Have a Hunch, Vol. 1, pp. 258ff.
6. ↑ Personal conversation with Jose Silva, May 1986.
7. ↑ Silva, I Have a Hunch, Vol. 1, pp. 11A-24A; Jose Silva, The Mystery of the Keys to the Kingdom (Laredo, TX: Institute of Psychorientology, 1984), p. 11.
8. ↑ Jose Silva, Reflections (Laredo, TX: Institute of Psychorientology, 1982), pp. 5-6.
9. ↑ Silva, I Have a Hunch, Vol. 2, p. 1.
10. ↑ Ibid., p. 161.
11. ↑ Harry McKnight, Silva Mind Control: Key to Inner Kingdoms Through Psychorientology (Laredo, TX: Institute of Psychorientology, rev. 1975,1976), p. 82.
12. ↑ Jose Silva and Philip Miele, The Silva Mind Control Method (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977), p. 60.
13. ↑ Ibid., p. 56.