Stalking (translated from English as “persecution”) is a term that began to be used widely in the late 90s of the twentieth century. This is a dangerous psychological and social phenomenon. In this article we will try to understand what stalking is.

Definition

Stalking is unwanted or intrusive attention from an individual or group towards another person. This concept is associated with harassment and intimidation. The term may also include surveillance of the victim. The meaning of the word "stalking" is used by various professionals in psychiatry and psychology, and is also used in legal practice as a term for a criminal offense. In simple terms, it is a type of harassment and stalking.

According to a 2002 report by the US National Center, almost any unwanted contact between two people that directly or indirectly conveys a threat or puts the victim in danger can be considered stalking, although in practice the legal standard is somewhat different.

The emergence of the concept of stalking

The difficulties associated with defining this concept are well documented. Do you need to figure out what it is? Stalking as a concept can be defined as the deliberate and repeated pursuit and surveillance of another person.

It is known that since the 16th century, stalkers were called tramps or poachers. The term "stalker" began to be used widely by the media in the 20th century to describe people who harass and bully others, initially with a specific reference to the stalking of celebrities by strangers. Previously, this concept was called obsession, but the media introduced a new concept of stalking (translated as persecution).

The use of the word was probably coined by the tabloid press in the United States. Since "stalking" has changed, it has come to also refer to people who are being stalked by their ex-partners.

Scientists describe stalking as “a type of behavior in which an individual makes repeated unwanted intrusions into the privacy of another person.” The concept of stalking is quite complex, and many scientists interpret it differently. However, unlike other crimes, which typically involve a single act, stalking is a series of acts that occur over a period of time.

Limits of legality of stalking

Although stalking is illegal in most countries of the world, some of the activities may be legal, such as collecting information, calling someone on the phone, sending gifts, sending emails. They become illegal when they violate the legal definition of stalking, for example, an action such as sending a message is not usually illegal, but will be illegal when it happens regularly and the person does not want to come into contact with the stalker.

For example, the law in the United Kingdom states that the incident must occur twice and the stalker must understand that his behavior is unacceptable, for example: two phone calls to a stranger, two gifts, etc.

The Violence Against Women Act of 2005 of the United States defines stalking as conduct directed at a specific individual that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety or the safety of others. Unfortunately, in Russia there is no article for stalking. However, if the stalker begins to directly threaten life or health, then there is an article for threats, which provides for serious liability.

Psychology of stalking

People characterized by psychologists as stalkers may falsely believe that another person loves them (erotomania) or that someone needs saving. Harassment can sometimes involve a series of actions that may themselves be legal, such as making phone calls, sending gifts, or sending emails.

Stalkers may use threats and violence to intimidate their victims. They can also commit aggressive acts and cause property damage. Sometimes it can go as far as physical attacks, which are mainly intended to intimidate. Sexual assault is less common.

For example, in the UK, most stalkers are ex-lovers or spouses. Statistics show that stalking of victims, as demonstrated in the media, occurs only in a small percentage of cases.

A study by British police officers found that the Protection from Stalking Act is used by the courts mainly to deal with a range of issues such as domestic and neighborhood stalking, and police rarely encounter cases that resemble thriller films.

Psychological impact on the victim

Discomfort in the daily lives of victims of stalking is necessary in order to break out of the vicious circle. Victims have to change jobs, places of residence and telephone numbers. All of this can have a negative impact on the victim's well-being and lead to feelings of isolation.

According to psychologist Lambert Rooyakkers, who has studied the problem of stalking, stalking is a form of psychological attack in which the offender repeatedly breaks into the life of a victim without her consent, with whom he has no relationship (or no longer exists).

In addition, we can say that the individual actions of a stalker in themselves do not cause damage to the mental health of the victim, but if they turn into a system, they cause colossal harm to the victim of stalking. Women are usually the victims of harassment.

Types of stalking

Working with stalking victims for eight years in Australia, Mullen and Pathé identified different types of stalking victims depending on their previous relationship with the stalker.

Previous Relationships: Victims who were in a previous intimate relationship with their stalker. In this article, Mullen and Pathé describe this as the largest category. The most common type of victim is women who have previously dated a male stalker. They are more likely to experience violence if they have had an intimate relationship with the stalker, especially if the offender has a criminal history. It has also been found that victims who have had a short-term relationship with the stalker are less likely to experience violence.

Casual acquaintances and friends: among the victims of this type of persecution, men are the majority. This category of victims also includes harassment by neighbors. This may lead to a change in the victim's place of residence.

Professional contacts: who were pursued by patients, clients or students with whom they had a professional relationship. Some professions, such as health care providers, teachers, and lawyers, are at higher risk of stalking.

Workplace Contacts: Harassers in this category typically visit victims in the workplace. The stalker can be an employer, employee or client. When a victim is stalked in the workplace, it poses a threat not only to their safety, but also to the safety of others.

Celebrities: Most of the victims in this category are people who are largely famous singers and actors who appear in the media. But politicians and athletes can become targets of stalking. For many years, Madonna, for example, was subjected to stalking by their crazy fans.

Stalking is also sometimes described as a form of intimate relationship between parties where two participants have opposing communication goals. One of the parties, often the woman, probably wants to end the relationship completely, but is unable to do so for some reason. The other participant, often but not always a man, wants to develop the relationship. This type of stalking is often considered an intimate relationship because the connection can be long-lasting and intense and can be quite similar to a full-fledged relationship.

Gender characteristics of stalking

According to a reputable study on stalking, women are more likely to stalk other women and less likely than men, and men tend to stalk women. A 2009 report from the United States Department of Justice reported that men are stalked by both women and men. 43% of male stalking victims said the stalker was female, and 41% said the perpetrator was male. Women who have been stalked say they were stalked by men (67%). The report contains voluminous data on the gender and nationality of stalkers and their victims, and the study also contained some data on their motivation in committing the crime. Although the pursuers themselves often claim that their actions are dictated by great feelings, love or jealousy. According to psychologists, the true motivation of stalkers is the desire to establish control over their victim.

The behavior of stalkers is traditionally cyclical and in this way is similar to domestic bullying: starting with attempts to “show your love” by sending letters, flowers or gifts to the victim, the stalker then moves on to insults and threats, which he may eventually carry out in reality.

According to scientists, gender plays a big role in the behavior of the stalker and the victim. It is argued that gender influences the type of emotional reactions experienced by victims of stalking, associated with the degree of fear and anxiety. Gender also influences how the police act in cases of stalking, how the victim copes with the situation, and how the stalker motivates his behavior. It is also important to note that in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, stalking by unknown people is perceived as more dangerous than stalking of the victim's ex-partners.

Types of Stalkers

Psychologists often classify stalkers into two categories: those with psychosis and those without any mental illness. Stalkers may have some type of mental disorder, such as delusional disorder, schizo-affective disorder, or schizophrenia. Most stalkers do not suffer from any mental disorder, but may have a psychological disorder or neurosis. These may include disorders such as depression or substance abuse, as well as various personality disorders (such as sociopathy, borderline disorder, various addictions, narcissism or paranoia).

Some of the symptoms of stalking may be characteristic of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. For mentally healthy stalkers, stalking victims can be caused by various psychological factors, such as anger, hostility, projection of guilt, obsession, addiction, denial and jealousy. And vice versa, as most often happens, the stalker does not have negative emotions towards the victim, but simply a desire to possess and control the object of desire, which cannot be fulfilled.

Protection from stalking

A person who is being stalked reasonably asks how to protect himself from stalking. First, the victim must directly tell the stalker that she has no desire to communicate with this person and does not want to see him. You should also avoid using soft, vague expressions (“we’ll see,” “maybe in the future”) in response to his request to meet or start communicating again. After the position has been clearly expressed, it is necessary to completely stop communication: avoid contacts on social networks, do not communicate by phone, do not agree to convey anything through friends. All this can later be interpreted by your friends and relatives, as well as by the stalker himself, as a desire to continue communication with the stalker. How to get rid of stalking that has already crossed all possible boundaries? If a person begins to threaten beating, murder, or rape, then you must immediately contact the police and file a report against the offender.

Castaneda's "stalking" theory

The word "stalking" also has a second meaning - this is one of the esoteric concepts developed by the American mystic and doctor of psychology Carlos Castaneda.

In his works, he mentions such a concept as “awareness,” and one of the technologies that Castaneda advises using to achieve it is stalking.

What is “Castaneda stalking”? It is a technique for tracking one's feelings and emotions, as well as observing the world around one, in order to increase control over one's personality and find more productive ways of interacting with reality and other people. The doctrine has certain postulates.

Castaneda's principles of stalking:

• Choose the battlefield - a warrior never goes into battle without knowing what surrounds him.
• Throw away everything unnecessary.
• Concentrate completely and decide whether to engage in battle or not, any battle is a battle for life. There's no need to complicate things. The goal should be simple.
• Relax, give up obsessive desires, not be afraid of anything, only then will the forces come that will open the way and help us.
• When faced with problems that cannot be solved, warriors step back for a moment, they allow their minds to relax, they occupy their time with something else.
• A warrior values ​​time, even moments count. A second is an eternity, an eternity that can decide the outcome. After all, the main goal is success.
• A warrior never puts himself in the foreground.

A warrior, in Castneda’s terminology, is a conscious person, a man of “knowledge”, a magician in his own way.

Applying Carlos Castaneda's rules of stalking in everyday life means putting little things in the foreground, as they lead to the main issues of life. The term "controlled stupidity" means applying the seven principles of stalking to everything an individual does - from the most trivial actions in life to the most important.

History of Castaneda's teachings

Carlos Castaneda claimed that he was lucky enough to meet an Indian from the Yak tribe, the magician Juan Matusa from Mexico, in the 60s, which completely changed his life. At first, Castaneda, as part of his activities at the University of California, wanted to explore botanical flora and it was for this purpose that he turned to don Juan, who was an expert on local plants. By luck, they were brought together by a mutual friend. According to Castaneda, later don Juan, who considered himself to belong to the tradition of magicians (Toltecs), chose him as a disciple based on a special trait that don Juan called the special structure of his energy field. It further turned out that Juan saw in him the head of a group of clairvoyants who would be able to continue the line of magicians that don Juan belonged to. Based on the books of Carlos Castaneda, the “magical power” of these esotericists was the ability to change their perception, which, according to the doctrine, allows them to radically expand and even change their ideas about life in general. All this is described in the book The Teachings of Don Juan, Yaqi Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda - translated into Russian - “The Teachings of Don Juan: The Way of Knowledge of the Yak Indians.”

In essence, Toltec magic is not clown tricks, but a technique for expanding perception beyond the boundaries of what is known to man. This is the answer to the question of what it is - Castaneda's stalking. Such magic does not have as its goal power over other individuals, interference in their destiny, health and relationships. The goal is the so-called combustion within the fire - the achievement of a different form of life in the energy body.

According to Castaneda, the Indian Juan showed his disciples a way of life that was different from the usual, and called it the Way of the Warrior, or the Way of Awareness. As the basis of the Way of the Warrior, don Juan saw the understanding that people (like other living beings) are those who perceive.

This concept had a broader meaning than the word “perceiver.” A person, according to his teaching, perceives, in fact, the ready-made reality of the world around him, and his perception constantly interprets the energy signals that the cosmos and the universe emit, creating in his head his own model of the world (which he considers to be the world itself). The whole world is pure energy from which perception creates its own concept of understanding the world.

It is believed that, no matter how complete a person's knowledge may be, it is limited. The area of ​​perception and awareness, traditionally known to human attention, is quite small and does not reflect all facets of the universe. The familiar world of any individual is only a small part of the incomprehensible universe. However, the ability to perceive, in Juan's concept, can be improved by applying the "Way of the Warrior" - a practical technique whose ultimate goal is to energetically change the personality and gain "full awareness." The ability to perceive energy waves is called vision, and an appropriate intention is considered a prerequisite for this.

Stalking mood

The four moods of stalking are the four stages of learning the concept of stalking for a person who has chosen the path of a warrior (in other words, the stages of learning the art of stalking).

These inseparable and closely related 4 moods that make up the essence of stalking are, in fact, provisions Based on the rules of the doctrine, so that no one can understand that the individual is masking, one should be:

1. Ruthless.

2. Skillful.

3. Patient.

4. Soft.

This basic idea of ​​stalking with its basal principles must be studied by the student gradually and thoroughly; in fact, this is the core of the concept. Ultimately, these moods should become a natural and integral part of the warrior’s equipment, who comes into contact with people in order to improve the spirit, the source of his personal strength. This is one way to achieve a state of mindfulness.

These 4 basic moods are naturally inherent in the female sex to a greater extent than in men, therefore, by contacting women, it is possible to increase these necessary abilities.

The teachings of Carlos Castaneda still excite the minds of readers of his works, as well as simply his fans. Of course, there are critics of his concept, but this does not detract from his contribution to anthropology, esotericism, and psychology.

The phenomenon of stalking (persecution) is most likely not new. But the ulcer of this asocial phenomenon was revealed thanks to the spread of the Internet. On the one hand, the Internet is a benefit for victims of stalking because information about stalking can be disseminated. On the other hand, the Internet also plays its negative role, reducing the boundaries of our personal space and making us vulnerable. After all, persecutors also use viral distribution technologies for their nonsense, and many people are still brought up in the style of the last century, when what is written must be trusted unconditionally.

And yet, thanks to a new technology for earthlings - communication through social networks and the availability of any information - specialists in psychiatry, jurisprudence and behavioral personality disorders paid attention to stalking, the online plague of the 21st century.

The first or one of the first specialists to write about stalking as a phenomenon was Paul Mullen and co-authors in their work “Studying Stalking” Paul E. Mullen, M.B.B.S., D.Sc., F.R.C.Psych., Michele Pathe, M.B.B.S., F.R.A.N.Z.C.P., Rosemary Purcell , B.A., M. Psych., and Geoffrey W. Stuart, B.A., B.Sc.(Hons.), Ph.D. "Study of Stalkers"
© American Psychiatric Association 1999. Reprinted by permission.

This was in 1998, and he then stated the existence of stalking in his article as follows:

Goals. This study was aimed at finding out the behavioral characteristics of stalkers, their motivation and existing psychopathological symptoms. Method. The study involved 145 stalkers who received treatment at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry.

results. The majority of stalkers are men (79%, N - 114), 39% of those studied are unemployed (N - 56); 52% (N - 75) have never had close relationships. The victims were ex-partners (30%, N - 44), professionals (23%, N - 34) or employees (11%, N - 16) and strangers (14%, N - 20). Five types of stalkers have been identified: outcasts, demanding close relationships, insolvents, vindictive and predators. Many stalkers had delusions (30%, N - 43), especially among those requiring close relationships, while personality disorders predominated among rejects.

The duration of persecution ranges from 4 weeks to 20 years (median - 12 months), longer among those who are rejected and require close relationships. Sixty-three percent of stalkers (N - 84) resorted to threats, and 36% (N - 52) were aggressive. Threats and property damage were more often reported by the vindictive, while outcasts and predators were more likely to commit attacks. Previous criminal records, substance use disorders, and past use of threats were predictive of assault.

Conclusions. Stalkers can have several motivations, from asserting their power over a partner who has rejected them to demanding a loving relationship. Most stalkers are lonely and socially inept, but they are capable of intimidating and causing suffering to their victims. Stopping stalking requires a combination of appropriate legal sanctions and therapeutic interventions.

Mental condition

62 stalkers were diagnosed with axis 1. 43 were diagnosed with delusional disorders, 20 of them with erotomania, 5 with pathological jealousy, 3 with persecutory delusions and 15 with pathological passion, classified as unspecified. Fourteen stalkers suffered from schizophrenia, five of them had delusional ideas of erotic content, two were diagnosed with bipolar disorder, two with major depressive disorder and one with anxiety disorder. For 74 men, the main diagnosis was personality disorders, most of them were classified as group B. 36 (25%) stalkers had co-occurring substance use disorders, and 59 had psychoses (delusional disorders, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder).

This was the first step of official science towards recognizing that the phenomenon exists, and it poses a danger to society. Damn, there are uncontrollable psychos among us, this is really unpleasant. And the Internet has become their favorite toy.

The research continued, and the five types of stalkers that were classified received a fairly detailed description:

Types of stalkers

Les Miserables- persecute former close friends either in the hope of reconciliation, or for the purpose of revenge, or a combination of both.

Seekers of intimate relationships- pursue a person whom they believe they love, and who, in their opinion, will reciprocate their feelings.

Failed fans- unlawfully impose themselves on a person, usually seeking a date or short sexual contact.

vindictive- pursue their victim in order to take revenge for some real or perceived injury.

Stalkers-predators- their behavior with a stalking component is part of a sexual offense.

Each type is discussed in detail in a further study by the same group of authors, forensic psychiatrists and behavioral psychologists:

Outcast stalkers

The rejected stalker is the most common type that we have encountered in our practice. In this group, patients begin to stalk their victims in the context of the breakdown of a close relationship, usually, but not necessarily, sexual. This type of stalker pursues the person who rejected him, in order to achieve reconciliation, to take revenge for rejection, or wavering between both. The behavior is usually maintained by the pleasure derived from either maintaining the appearance of a relationship through pursuit or by inflicting suffering.

Most rejected stalkers are angry, dependent men, either unable to believe that they have been rejected or unwilling to accept rejection. They usually have significant personality deficiencies, and psychotic illnesses are diagnosed only rarely in this group. Representatives of this group are usually able to calculate their own benefits, and therefore the threat of legal sanctions may be sufficient to stop harassment. The exceptions are those suffering from psychosis and those who have problems with access to the child and custody, as well as those who believe (perhaps reasonably) that this is their one and only chance for a relationship. When treating rejected stalkers, it is often necessary to focus on the process of “falling out of love” (Phillips & Judd, 1978). One should strive to shift them from feelings of bitterness caused by the past to sadness due to ordinary loss. In dependent individuals, much of the initial attention should be given to the idealization of anger and malice and the ways in which they maintain the fantasy of love even when reciprocity and any positive regard possible on the part of the victim have disappeared. An individual's ability to give up the desire to renew lost relationships depends largely on how confident he is that he can form new relationships. In this case, his assessment of his social desirability and communication skills is crucial. Sometimes a pessimistic assessment of these aspects can be quite justified, and sometimes it is more a perception than a reality. When creating or renewing relationships, social contacts and social roles are of great importance.

Seekers of intimate relationships

Relationship seekers begin to pursue to establish a relationship with the person who aroused their love, or with someone who they mistakenly believe already loves them. They are in love and endow the object of their pursuit with exclusively desirable qualities. They persist in their harassment despite, or without paying attention to, the victim's reactions. At the beginning of the persecution, seekers of intimate relationships almost invariably live alone, isolated, avoiding very close relationships. The relationship and pursuit that arises in fantasy serves as a false solution to this dilemma, which is what reinforces and maintains the behavior. For them, love without reciprocity is better than its absence; the appearance of a relationship, no matter how fantastic it may be, is better than no prospect for a close relationship. Representatives of this group of stalkers are often diagnosed with mental disorders with erotomania syndrome.

In contrast to rejected stalkers, relationship seekers are virtually unresponsive to legal sanctions, often boasting that “stalking” and imprisoning them is the price they pay for true love. The only effective role of the courts in stopping this type of persecution is to provide compulsory psychiatric treatment. When treating relationship seekers, one should focus on the underlying mental disorder and erotomania syndrome (see above). Treatment must be combined with measures aimed at overcoming social isolation and the lack of social competence that maintains it. Simple additions to the management and treatment of stalkers should not be ignored. Sometimes a beloved animal can take on a great desire to give as well as receive love.

Failed fans

Desperate admirers are stalkers who stalk people by showing interest in them in a manner that often leaves the target feeling uneasy and sometimes fearful. Usually their victims include strangers or random people they meet. The motive for their actions is not a strong feeling of love, but a great desire to establish contact, usually seeking a date. They often lack signs of basic courtship skills, and their approaches to the object of worship are awkward and inappropriate and often terrifying. Stalkers of this type often feel that they are destined for a relationship with the person who has aroused their interest, while in reality they demonstrate indifference to the preferences of the object of their harassment. The lack of communication skills may be a consequence of the vulnerability and sometimes intellectual limitations of the stalker’s personality. This type of pursuit usually stops after a relatively short period of time, presumably due to the virtual absence of rewards to maintain the behavior. Unfortunately, stalkers in this group quite often move from one victim to another, which takes the form of serial harassment. Although they can significantly increase the burden of persecution in the community because they are rarely pursued long enough to be prosecuted, some of them, as well as those with atypical behaviours, are referred to clinics. Stopping any episode of harassment in this group is relatively easy - you just need to tell them to stop it. Preventing relapse is much more challenging and often depends on convincing insensitive and overconfident men that they need to improve their communication skills.

Grudge stalkers

For vindictive stalkers, the motive for stalking is a great desire to intimidate and cause anxiety in their victims. Unlike most stalkers, they are well aware of the impact of their behavior on the victim. This type of stalking stems from a desire to punish a person (or organization) that the stalker believes has harmed or neglected them in some way. The behavior is maintained by satisfying the sense of power and control that arises from harassment. A vindictive stalker usually justifies his actions and often presents himself as a victim resisting a dominant force. Often, stalkers of this type consider themselves “little people” fighting for justice, when in reality they usually engage in merciless persecution, harassment, insults, and commit aggressive actions against a vulnerable victim. Vicious stalkers often make threats, but, interestingly, rarely resort to physical attacks (Mullen et al., 1999, 1999). Their purpose is to intimidate and terrorize; they are usually quite aware that if they were to attack the victim, the police would quickly put a stop to their actions. To avoid liability under the law, vindictive stalkers use indirect threats (for example, they place the victim’s name in the newspaper column “We Remember and Grieve” or send a message about her death to the owners of funeral homes).

In diagnostic terms, the behavior of vindictive stalkers usually falls on the spectrum of paranoid disorders with a predominance of paranoid personality disorder. This type of persecution sometimes occurs among individuals with delusional ideas of querulant content, when their complaints and statements are not allowed to proceed. Many such campaigns of harassment, harassment, abuse, sexual harassment often start in the workplace; sometimes this happens after a conflict between colleagues or with management; It also happens that an employee or specialist who does not meet the client’s expectations becomes the target of his persecution.

During the first examination, vindictive stalkers usually express indignation that it was they, and not the object of their indignation, who were put on trial and humiliated by being referred to a psychiatrist. Few of them receive mental health care unless the court orders compulsory treatment; when they do get treatment, it is very difficult to move beyond silence and a fixed and fierce look at the doctor from the far corner of the office. Some are diagnosed with paranoid disorder, which can be treated, at least in part, with antipsychotic drugs. In most cases, the doctor is left struggling to bind the patient to any obligations, while trying to avoid becoming the target of complaints and resentment. As with narcissistic personalities, success is often achieved by reference to the patients' own interests. This must be done very carefully, since these patients often believe that they are motivated by a desire for justice and convince themselves that their actions, although cruel, are altruistic. One aspect to focus on in treatment is intrusive thoughts in which the vindictive stalker relives the “experienced feelings of humiliation and injustice on the part of the victim.” Intrusive thoughts of this nature may occur daily over long periods and increase distress and anger. Focusing on a difficult past and compulsively reliving it may be a sign of a depressive disorder or may indicate the development of a mood disorder (affective disorder). We have had some success treating this group of patients with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. However, in general, vindictive stalkers are very difficult to manage and treat, and beneficial effects in this group of patients are achieved very slowly, if at all.

Stalkers-predators

Predatory stalkers are gradually preparing for a sexual crime. The initial incentive is to gather information about the potential victim. Stalking often goes far beyond information and is supported by pleasure derived from components such as voyeurism, fantasies of a planned attack, and a sense of power over the victim. Stalking occurs in secret so as not to alert or frighten the victim, although some predatory stalkers take pleasure in making the victim of their stalking anxious by acting to reveal that they are being followed without the stalker's identity and location being unknown. . Examples of such behavior include breaking into the victim's home, moving objects, knocking on windows at night, and shouting from hiding. Fortunately, such stalkers are rare, at least among those initially referred to a specialist for stalking behavior. However, the results of judicial investigations of sex offenders show that in a huge number of cases, episodes of stalking are a component of their deviant behavior.

Predatory stalkers should almost always be treated in a sex offender program. The primary focus should be on treating the paraphilia that is the driving force behind the stalking behavior.

Recently, notes have appeared about group persecution - gang stalking. By the way, respected psychiatrist authors, from the very beginning, while stating the fact of socio-behavioral deviations among stalkers, nevertheless indicate that they are capable of gathering into groups of their own kind. And this phenomenon is also surfacing online.
I suspect that most of them belong to the category of somewhat offended and vengeful stalkers, type 4 according to the above classification. They are difficult, if at all, to treat. The most ideological, apparently. And it is this type of stalker that haunts me online and offline.

Read about the stories of stalking victims, what stalkers write about themselves, and what measures are being taken all over the world to stop the spread of the plague.

What types of stalkers have you encountered? What did you do and what came of it?

The ultimate goal of which is constant and complete control over oneself. The main goal of stalking is to teach the subtle art of fixing the assemblage point in a changed position. It is almost impossible to scare or surprise a person who practices stalking if he does not want it. The main feelings that are the goals of such tracking: fear, pity, importance. In Castaneda's early books stalking appears as controlled stupidity. In English the word stalking(stalking) primarily refers to hunting and comes from the verb to stalk, which means “secretly pursue”, “track down, using various tricks.” From here stalking that is, "stalking". Respectively stalker(stalker) is a person engaged in such tracking, or a catcher, a hunter. Among Castaneda lovers one can sometimes come across a false and one-sided understanding stalking as a special kind of cunning pretense aimed at manipulating the behavior of others to achieve one’s own goals. Moving freely and independently of external influences in the emotional environment, the stalker gains the ability to control his energy body. This achieves three results:

1. Impeccability and invulnerability - a stalker, not subject to pity, resentment and fears, acts as efficiently as possible, always being in the right place at the right time, and is in complete control of the situation. If he wants to hide, no one will find him.
2. By controlling the movement of the assemblage point in reality, the stalker is able to shift it arbitrarily, thereby controlling his perception of the world.
3. By controlling the movement of the assemblage point in a dream, the stalker is able to arbitrarily change the content of the dream, thereby reducing the amount of time spent on developing the ability to control the perception of the world.

Principles

1. A warrior chooses his own place for battle; a warrior never enters a battle without knowing the surrounding situation.
2. Discard everything that is not necessary.
3. A warrior must want and be ready to stand to the end, here and now.
4. Relax, give up on yourself, don’t be afraid of anything.
5. Encountering the unexpected and incomprehensible, and not knowing what to do with it, the warrior retreats for a while, allowing his thoughts to wander aimlessly, the warrior does something else.
6. A warrior compresses time, even moments count; in the battle for his own life, a second is an eternity that can decide the outcome of the battle. A warrior is focused on success, so he saves time without wasting a moment.
7. A warrior never puts himself forward.

Practice results

1. The stalker learns to never take himself seriously, to be able to laugh at himself. If he is not afraid to look like a fool, he can fool someone else.
2. The stalker acquires endless patience. He never rushes and never worries.
3. Stalker endlessly expands his ability to improvise.

Improvement Techniques

• Find a petty tyrant for yourself, and learn to monitor and control your reactions to him.

Notes

Literature

• Carlos Castaneda, all books.

Links

• The art of strategy and stalking (articles and thematic forum)
• Criticism of stalking. (has the nature of a commercial offer)

Stalking is a method of working with attention, which is universal, as it is aimed at recording changes in any type of perception. This is a way of tracking your feelings and emotions and then gaining control over them. A method of shifting the assembly point and fixing it in a certain position. In this sense, stalking is a pillar of Toltec knowledge and can lead to unimaginable effects.

Masterfully managing awareness, stalking uses “clues” that go from indirect representations of mental processes to awareness as such. We perceive the world primarily visually, using vision, hearing, kinetics, and less commonly, smell and taste. Moreover, each person has his own perception of the world. Some people tend to experience something meaningful using images (visually), while others perceive it through hearing or touch. Thus, the traditional division of people into visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners has emerged. But this division is conditional, since a pronounced visual person has response fields where auditory or kinesthetic perception predominates. Thus, the role of stalker “clues”, thanks to which tracking and control is carried out, can be three, and sometimes five systems, taking into account smell and taste.

Stalking scenarios

The stalker's task is to learn to manipulate conventions and reflexes, constantly being aware of his non-involvement in them. That is, the goal is not to move from one system of glosses to another, but to discover the conventions of these systems and free ourselves from them. Stalking uses not so much glosses of perception as glosses of reaction. The task is to understand your “gloss system” and free yourself from it. In this case, stalking scenarios are used:

1. Tracking uniformity (“core” or “imprint”).

All our actions and reactions are constantly repeated. A person is subject to his individual response program. His reaction to a certain stimulus is sometimes repeated several times a day. The stalker tracks down the uniformity of the reaction and identifies its first and most important element - the “core”. Most often, the core is a small construction of symbols and reflexes, which is tied to a sign, word, situation, etc. For example, fear of using a computer because you suddenly decided that you cannot master the technology of using it. And how often our mood deteriorates at the mention of one name of a person with whom unpleasant experiences are associated. This person ruins our lives just by existing in our world.

Tracking the nucleus and recording exactly what reaction it generates is halfway to getting rid of programmed automatism. Stalking can transform reactions if you set this goal.

2. Algorithm tracking.

This scenario involves tracking sequences and their subsequent change, i.e., awareness of the very language in which your personal algorithm for perceiving the world is written. Like any algorithm, ours is subject to a certain logic. This logic grew out of the personal history of each person. If you automatically follow the proposed algorithm, then energy loss is inevitable. According to the logic of the algorithm, one emotion can develop into another and intensify it. Thus, resentment can develop into anger, envy into anger, resentment into pity, etc. But envy will never develop into joy, because this contradicts the logical law of the algorithm. This stalking script aims to hunt down certain sequences that lead to energy loss. Recognizing a specific sequence makes it possible to either pause or transform it. But interrupting such a sequence is as unnatural for a person as interrupting a speech mid-sentence. This scenario aims to conserve energy. This stalking is usually carried out during a powerful energy exchange associated with a person’s communication with the outside world. Then the field mobility that devastated us becomes a source of strength and energy.

3. Habit tracking.

The unambiguous relationship that has arisen between reaction and sensory perception (external) and between reaction and reaction (internal) is a habit. This scenario is aimed at tracking an anchor or reflex.

There are a number of habits that can be attributed more to biological than social. This includes the habit of crossing one's legs, slouching... As a rule, they are developed in childhood and do not cause large losses of energy if they are not associated with the destruction of the body. Such habits can be used as clues for training voluntary attention.

There are habits that can cause some inconvenience and even problems. These include left-handedness, handwriting, the manner of using words in speech that do not have meaning, etc. habit in itself does not support a description of the world, but may include processes that affect the position of the assemblage point. Tracking habits is an important stage in developing the skill of stopping. Some habits are directly related to a person’s psychological type. Such a habit as handwriting is a direct reflection of it. Therefore, changing handwriting changes a person's psychological type, which affects his motor skills and can facilitate further stalking.

4. Tracking motive and value.

This scenario creates a number of personal nuances in the description of the world. Using this stalking, we form an attitude that is fully realized during recapitulation.

When completing a specific situation with a subsequent reaction, you just need to step back and ask questions:

What caused this particular emotion? - Why was there such a reaction? - why is this important to me?

The main thing in this type of stalking is extreme vigilance and sincerity. We often find excuses for our actions and reactions. Admitting when you're wrong takes a certain amount of courage. If, as a result of soul-searching, you become depressed from the awareness of your own imperfection, this means that the stalking is not completed. You need to understand the cause of your disorder. The process of self-knowledge should continue until you experience dispassion and detachment in observing your shortcomings, flaws and imperfections.

When the volumes of space tracked within yourself are sufficiently expanded, you can begin to carry out two scenarios for which you previously did not have enough energy. This is camouflage and tracking of someone else's tonal. Beginning to execute these scenarios indicates that mastery is approaching. Because they require increased attention and energy expenditure. In the first case, you need to continuously maintain a state of vigilance and model socially adequate behavior. Tracking down someone else's tonal is a more difficult task, as it involves stalking oneself and observing the manifestation of another's description of the world.

Thus, stalking is an abstraction from the influences of society as such and its energetic influences.

Stalking Castaneda - What is it?

— What is called Stalking?

— What is called Stalking?
— Model of stalking according to the teachings of Carlos Castaneda
— Mood stalking
— Stalking art - the true meaning

Stalking is a technique described in the books of the esoteric thinker and mystic Carlos Castaneda and consists of tracking one’s feelings and emotions, the ultimate goal of which is constant and complete control over oneself.

The main goal of stalking is to teach the subtle art of fixing the assemblage point in a changed position. It is almost impossible to scare or surprise a person who practices stalking if he does not want it. The main feelings that are the goals of such tracking are fear, pity, importance.

Among Castaneda lovers one can sometimes come across a false and one-sided understanding of stalking as a special kind of cunning pretense aimed at manipulating the behavior of others in order to achieve one’s own goals. Moving freely and independently of external influences in the emotional environment, the stalker gains the ability to control his energy body. This achieves three results:

1) Impeccability and invulnerability - a stalker, not subject to pity, resentment and fears, acts as efficiently as possible, always being in the right place at the right time, and is in complete control of the situation. If he wants to hide, no one will find him.

2) By controlling the movement of the assemblage point in reality, the stalker is able to shift it arbitrarily, thereby controlling his perception of the world.

3) By controlling the movement of the assemblage point in a dream, the stalker is able to arbitrarily change the content of the dream, thereby reducing the amount of time spent on developing the ability to control the perception of the world.

— Model of stalking according to the teachings of Carlos Castaneda

What is “Castaneda stalking”? It is a technique for tracking one's feelings and emotions, as well as observing the world around one, in order to increase control over one's personality and find more productive ways of interacting with reality and other people.

The doctrine has certain postulates. Castaneda's principles of stalking:

1) Choose a battlefield - a warrior never goes into battle without knowing what surrounds him.
2) Throw away everything unnecessary.
3) Concentrate completely and decide whether to enter the battle or not, any battle is a battle for life. There's no need to complicate things. The goal should be simple.
4) Relax, give up obsessive desires, not be afraid of anything, only then will the forces come that will open the way and help us.
5) When faced with problems that cannot be solved, warriors step back for a moment, they allow their minds to relax, they occupy their time with something else.
6) A warrior values ​​time, even moments count. A second is an eternity, an eternity that can decide the outcome. After all, the main goal is success.
7) A warrior never puts himself in the forefront.

A warrior, in Castneda’s terminology, is a conscious person, a man of “knowledge”, a magician in his own way.

Applying Carlos Castaneda's rules of stalking in everyday life means putting the little things in the foreground, as they lead to the main issues of life. The term "controlled stupidity" means applying the seven principles of stalking to everything an individual does - from the most trivial actions in life to the most important.

— Mood stalking

The four moods of stalking are the four stages of learning the concept of stalking for a person who has chosen the path of a warrior (in other words, the stages of learning the art of stalking). These inseparable and closely related 4 moods that make up the essence of stalking are, in fact, the positions of the assemblage point.

Based on the rules of teaching, so that no one can understand that the individual is masking, one should be:

1) Ruthless.
2) Skillful.
3) Patient.
4) Soft.

This basic idea of ​​stalking with its basal principles must be studied by the student gradually and thoroughly; in fact, this is the core of the concept.

Ultimately, these moods should become a natural and integral part of the warrior’s equipment, who comes into contact with people in order to improve the spirit, the source of his personal strength. This is one way to achieve a state of mindfulness.

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— Stalking art - the true meaning

Stalking is the art of finding yourself. This is one of the cornerstone pillars of Don Juan’s teachings, underlying the Way of the Warrior, which was very eloquently conveyed to us in 10 books by his student and follower Carlos Castaneda. Only this time, the victims of manic persecution are various human qualities that limit the further development of the Warrior Spirit in a person - self-pity, resentment, a sense of self-importance, all kinds of fears and phobias, etc.

By monitoring all his weaknesses every minute, the practitioner gains the ability to consciously fix the assemblage point in various altered states of consciousness, which means a completely controlled state of the psyche and dream body while moving in lucid dreams and in other realities.

The assemblage point is a luminous energy clot located in the cocoon of a person’s etheric body the size of a fist. Usually it is fixed in a strictly specific place in the energy structure. Its luminosity is explained by the degree of awareness - the brighter and larger the area of ​​luminescence, the more vibrant and conscious a person leads a life. It is called an assemblage point because it tightly captures the emanations of the universe passing through it, which determine the physical reality of the subject. Simply put, it collects our familiar world (tonal).

Everything that is outside our etheric body is called the nagual (unknown and incomprehensible). He is always there, but we are not aware of him. When an ordinary person encounters manifestations of the nagual, his natural reaction will be to completely deny what he has encountered, due to his being squeezed on all sides by social restrictions and linear thinking, worldview (tonal). He will not be able to logically explain to himself any action that cannot be explained, such as when Castaneda talked with a coyote or saw Don Genaro floating, and he will refuse to believe in such an event.

Stalking allows you to master your energy body, which means complete control of your assemblage point and the ability to deliberately move it within your cocoon at any time. At the same time, learning new worlds and realities in reality, managing time, which is not available to an ordinary person during wakefulness, and for whom it is capable of involuntarily shifting only during sleep.

The stalker always acts in the best way, because... not subject to resentment, fears and pity for oneself and anyone. He doesn't take himself seriously, he knows how to laugh at himself. He can easily, being in the role of a fool, fool anyone. His patience is truly endless. Excitement and anxiety have long been forgotten by him. He is in no hurry and is always in a state of here and now. He always improvises and does not act according to a template, constantly expanding his abilities and skills.

The stalker practices his art in a social environment, perfectly understands the laws of society, not only for the purpose of his own development and development of communication skills, but above all with the goal of complete liberation from stereotypes and conventions of perception inherent in an ordinary member of a civilized community.

To achieve such impeccability and peace of mind, you need to work hard on yourself. A key role in this process is played by attention, which, in tandem with total control and practice, is constantly strengthening. This path is not suitable for everyone, or rather, not everyone will agree to voluntarily give up their usual carefree life and plunge headlong into their own transformation - into a being endowed with cosmic consciousness and limitless possibilities. After all, such a transformation takes the rest of your life. The art of stalking, the path of a warrior, is a huge amount of work on yourself. It's worth it.