A few examples of people causing damage by acting unprofessionally and out of character have been given in the past; the time has now come to go into this phenomenon in a little more detail.
The multi-level approach to finding explanations article mentions some of the influences that might cause people who are normally professional and efficient to behave uncharacteristically and make serious mistakes; this article revisits the issue, expands on these influences and includes some supporting material from previous articles.
The cases of interest here are those that occur at the third level down, the dimension where unseen influences such as energy vampires, people with witch-like personalities, psychic crime and psychological black magic operate.
There are questions to ask and possibilities to eliminate at each level before descending to the one below; there are also some points to be made before starting the exercise.
It is important to understand that examples of people doing something wrong are worth investigating only where two elements appear together i.e. when someone acts both unprofessionally and out of character. After all, some people will act unprofessionally because this is their usual mode of operation; not only that, a few of these incompetents might act out of character by doing a good, professional job for once! Neither of these groups is relevant here.
People are not machines; they sometimes have off days. Occasional errors will be made and should be allowed for, but an investigation into the cause is called for when so much damage has been done that the mistake cannot be overlooked, excused or explained away.
This is where the multi-level approach comes in.
On this, the top, level, it is best to work systematically through a list of the most obvious and likely explanations for a damaging, out of character action. The possibilities fall into two groups: one is of factors in the life of the person who made the mistake and the other of common and typical problems with the job.
The list of personal problems that could affect someone's ability to perform their work efficiently includes money troubles, a drink problem, health problems and family or other relationship problems. Someone may have made a big mistake because they were under great pressure or overwhelmed by worry and fear.
The job itself may involve working increasingly long hours; it may have become too much for one person. Managers with unrealistic expectations are everywhere. Factors such as disorganisation, never-ending restructuring and uncertainty about the company's future can have a bad effect on employees too.
The list of possible top-level reasons for an atypical loss of efficiency is long and will take time to work through. It is very likely that one or more of these causes will apply.
In these cases it is up to the person and/or the company to take appropriate action to deal with the problem.
If the top-level possibilities are found to be irrelevant, inadequate and insufficient to explain everything, the next step is to move down a level into the world of intentional actions.
A damaging action that appears to be a mistake may actually have been deliberate. Ulterior motives and a hidden agenda may be operating here.
The incentive to cause damage may be personal: for example, someone who has a grudge against the company may take revenge by deliberately doing something that will cause trouble for their employer.
Alternatively, the person who committed the crime may have done it under some sinister external influence or pressure. Blackmail, threats and intimidation, bribery and corruption, infiltration and sabotage are not unknown in the business world: the person who made the 'mistake' may have been approached and subverted.
These cases are examples of gross professional misconduct; they are a matter for disciplinary actions and/or the police.
If there is no evidence that the mistake was deliberate, the next step is to leave the world of rational explanations behind and go down another level into the murky underworld of metaphysical influences.
While many people will have had some experience of what can happen at the first two levels, few will be aware of the damaging effect that some unconscious people who try to use mind power rather than normal conversation and negotiation can have on others and the trouble that this can cause. Ignorance is bliss; people who know nothing of such unseen influences are the lucky ones!
Perhaps only people who are directly involved, i. e. victims, perpetrators, witnesses and investigators, need to try to understand what goes on at this level. One or two introductory examples may be helpful here.
An article that I produced just over ten years ago includes a detailed account of how a computer operator was dismissed for gross professional misconduct after he made a very big mistake.
This is a short extract from this article:
“He cost the company and its clients millions in lost income when he closed down everything on the computer system instead of just one or two processes. There were many software safeguards in place and confirmations required to ensure that this could not happen accidentally, but he just drove straight through them like someone ignoring a series of red traffic lights. He behaved like someone in a trance, or a man possessed. He was normally very competent and did not make mistakes. He had no explanation for the inexcusable actions he had taken.“
There is a key point in that last sentence. When someone seems confused and unable to provide an explanation for what they have done, it may well be a sign that malign unseen influences are at work. In this case, I eventually identified the guilty party as someone who was concentrating on the operator because she wanted something from him.
In another example, it was someone in the accounts department who acted unprofessionally and out of character:
“Many years ago, I got a horrible, jarring shock when a letter from my bank manager arrived out of the blue informing me that my account had gone overdrawn...I found that another department in this bank had paid my income tax bill ahead of time, without letting me know that they were going to do this. They had wiped me out and made me go overdrawn.
This was completely out of character: normally they would take around two weeks from the due date to pay the bill and would write to me first as a formality, saying that they hoped that this action would meet with my approval.”
I eventually realised that this incident happened soon after I had a difference of opinion with an energy vampire in my family.
Playing the psychic detective is a whole other story and much easier said than done. Establishing that a mistake was caused by unconscious pressure or ill-wishing is difficult enough; finding out who did this and why even more so. I have noticed elements that such saboteurs and their actions have in common, but only with hindsight.
Anyway, if and when someone can be shown to have been affected by malignant mind power but no unconscious perpetrator can be found, we descend to the level where such forces are used deliberately. These are very deep waters indeed.
Many people will be familiar with the idea that rituals can be used to affect people remotely – they may have come across such things in Dennis Wheatley's black magic books and films for example. Seeing these sinister occult activities in fiction and on screen is one thing; believing that they take place and can have an effect in real life is something else!
I have no personal experience of such rituals but have come across many examples in books; some of them have been mentioned on here.
A relevant point here is that while in some cases the goal may be to sabotage someone's life, which getting them dismissed for making a big mistake would certainly help to achieve, causing harm is not always the intention behind the ritual.
I remember reading about a circle of New Age practitioners who concentrated on someone remotely because they wanted this person to give them money to support their spiritual activities. It occurs to me that even where no harm is intended, such influences are likely to have damaging side effects and may reduce the efficiency of the targetted people.
It just remains to be said that where someone has acted unprofessionally and out of character, it is useful to think of possible causes in terms of an inverted pyramid with by far the greatest number occurring at the highest level and only a very small number at the lowest:
