It’s a modern term with ancient roots planted in the Garden of Eden. It didn’t take long to sprout once it was sown, and it didn’t take many components to germinate: a direct command, a cunning serpent, an unsuspecting woman, and a complaisant man. Yahweh planted the seed; “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
And the serpent began to sprinkle in his psychological manipulation, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” The question seemed innocent and the answer obvious. “Yes, that’s what Yahweh said!” But, it was too simple; it couldn’t possibly be what the father of gaslighting was asking, could it? The woman’s distorted memory germinated; “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” True, right up to the moment when the confused woman yielded to the purposeful and premeditated perversion of reality. God never said they could not touch the fruit. And the cascade of sins began!
She ate of the forbidden fruit and gave some to her unassertive husband who stood by and nurtured the mutated harvest! Then Yahweh intervened; “Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” The self-deceived man molded the truth to propagate an alternate reality that served himself; “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” And the cascade of sins continued! Gaslighting begins with psychological manipulation that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, powers of reasoning, or perception of reality. It makes one question their own memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and creates a pathological dependency on the perpetrator. The practice is intended to grossly mislead someone, especially for one’s own advantage. Gaslighting can be a very effective tool used by the abuser to control an individual. It’s often instituted subtly, so the victim doesn’t realize they are being controlled and manipulated; “Has God really said…?”
The goal is to convince victims that others are lying, and that they are the only source for “true” information. More than simply lying or fraud, gaslighting is a deliberate conspiracy to mislead others; it involves a series of lies as part of a larger plan. “Speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, and reveling in their deceit while they feast with you; uttering great swelling words of emptiness, promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption.” And even today the cascade of sins continues!
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