The psychic infection of Heaven's Gate.

In trying to explain the thirty-nine suicides of Heaven's Gate members earlier this year, one could declare them a product of modern times, related to UFOs, comets, and the lack of spiritual meaning in our hightech society. But this would be untrue.The Heaven's Gate incident at Rancho Santa Fe in California is a prime example of psychic infection, or induced psychosis.

In what the French call folie a deux, there is a patterned situation whereby two individuals--one of whom is psychologically stronger--become so involved with one another that the stronger of the two greatly influences the other's belief system (often a delusion of some kind).While it is true that a perfect case is rare, the same cannot be said about Heaven's Gate. This latest case--what one might call a folie a trente-neuf--is a prime example of psychic influencing by an inducer. Not always deadly, such a phenomenon is indeed frequent and does occur within the plane of normalcy.

Here, although one person with an extremely strong personality structure is able to induce others to his or her way of thinking or beliefs, a true folie requires some kind of feedback to occur (the induced personalities must also respond) until a whirlpool of delusional communications is created that is so strong at times it is difficult to tell who is the original inducer and who is the inducee.

A variant of this is seen in some domestic violence cases. All men who commit domestic violence (the vast majority of cases involve men abusing women) have strong inducer proclivities but they are inducer failures, ineffective at verbal control of their significant other. Subjected to repeated beatings, the woman may defend the man's actions and beliefs, ascribing them to her own warped conviction of worth lessness that has been induced by him.

Think also of militant hate groups where the vector of death is directed at others (as argued in the Oklahoma City bombing case) instead of the self. We see psychic infection with other people who live in very close contact with each other, including married couples of long standing, brothers and sisters, and small religious groups in close proximity.

But this phenomenon is not new. We know it goes back several centuries by reading the logs of sailing vessels and about the mutinies of crews traveling the seven seas. Often,mutineers had one charismatic leader (other than the captain) with a strongly held belief, such as "the world is coming to an end." Long at sea, isolated, living under severe conditions and in cramped sleeping quarters, the leader would induce the crew to mutiny and "convince" the captain to change course.

L. Bouman, a Dutch psychiatrist, described such happenings on board the Noordwijk V, a fishing lugger out of the small port of Katwijk, Holland, in 1918. He had the good fortune to examine the primary inducer and quickly learned that this sailor,not the captain of the vessel, had the entire crew relating to him, as described above, in a highly suggestible manner.

Several different factors were at play. The First World War was ongoing, and great world questions oppressed the crew. Thoughts of the war and the possible end of civilization as they knew it were rampant. There was also the threat of mines at sea, which brought forth fears of imminent death. In addition, their fishing catch was meager. All these factors combined for a highly stressful state.

Just prior to sailing, the inducer had visited a family member who appeared obsessively concerned about her soul. During the voyage, he underwent a religious experience, a conversion. He claimed to have seen Jesus on the cross. And Jesus, with his head nodding, his spirit projecting, reportedly said,UIt is fulfilled!"

It was a wonder. The inducer told everyone on board about it. For him, this meant that life to the spirits of those on earth was at an end, that it was no longer of any use to remain alive in their present state. In no time at all, the other members of the crew "heard" and "saw" the exact same phenomenon.

One morning, at sunrise, the inducer, now called leader, saw that the sun exhibited strange colors and forms. It looked as if there were massive buildings and towers emanating from the strange light.The leader mistook this for a holy sign and declared that they must sail for Jerusalem. One man who disagreed with this interpretation (he saw only a sunrise with variegated colors) was told that he must dance on deck to overcome the guilt he incurred against the wrath of God. When this unbeliever began to dance, the rest of the crew became totally convinced of the power of their leader.

Unfortunately, the man who danced was declared to have the devil deep within him--a devil that must be destroyed--so he was put to death. Some days later, two more crew members were similarly killed for the same reasons. All that prevented more deaths was the fact that another ship chanced to sail close by. The leader felt it was his duty to tell those on board the second vessel, the Hoop (Dutch for hope), about the forthcoming end of the world, so he and four others ferried over it. Once on board, the leader insisted that they, too, should set course for Jerusalem. The captain of the Hoop immediately declared the leader to be insane and shipped him back to Holland.

Upon interrogation before a court magistrate, the crew members of the Noordwijk V who had killed three of their mates declared that they themselves had done nothing, that they were forced to kneel before the leader and subsequently carry out his orders.They disclaimed all responsibility, insisting the executions were performed not by them but by their spirits.

This tragedy evokes many parallels with the Heaven's Gate suicides. Substitute a ship for a house, a dominating crew member for Doe Applewhite, the ship Hoop for a UFO, the sun for a comet, a suggestible and easily influenced crew for the thirty-nine members of the cult, and there you have it: a very similar dynamic.

As to the question of media exposure--whether or not it is wise for the general public to become so immersed in this event and the psychology of Heaven's Gate, which included a special "charging up" as a preparation for a higher evolution of the soul--the answer may lie in mystical tradition that speaks of a tree of life and a tree of knowledge. While it is true that these two symbolisms are intertwined, they should never be confused as to which is which.To strive for truth, even spiritual truth, one must be receptive but not induced.After all, there can be life without knowledge, but there can be no knowledge without life.

Therefore, in the final analysis, it is always useful to delve deeply into questions for which the answers lie within the realm of reason and logic. Sometimes this realm is more difficult to pinpoint, as in the case of Heaven's Gate. But the greater understanding the public has of the phenomenon of psychic infection and cultism, the more apt it is to avoid such deadly and inhumane contacts.

Dr. Frederick E. Pope is a social psychiatrist, lecturer, columnist, and educator. He has just completed his fifth novel, The Chimp Affair, a science thriller on immortality.