by dido 44 Replies latest jw friends
It's part of the indoctrination process.
SilentWatcher, you nailed it!
The JWs are pros at appealing to the emotions and touching the heart. What else kept us there so long? Well, of course, there was that nagging fear of the impending Armageddon.
Sheesh, I'm glad I'm gone!
*hugs*
ESTEE
It was a feeling of belonging to something that was bigger than yourself. A warm, and deeply emotional sense of purpose.
Nothing better to top it all off with expect a nice tall glass of kool-aid.
I think that feeling is very similar is when you have to go to the bathroom while traveling and there are no bathrooms in sight....then suddenly a rest stop...that's how I felt after the assembly...anxiety then sudden bliss!
Pep talks to a bunch of Lemmings, hell yeah! Actually assemblies were ok for me, that was the only time I could meet people who did not know my family and thus I was not shunned, immeadeately!!!
Group thinking, group mentality, group emotion. It works in the negative too, with panic. People feed off one anothers energy.
but i dont wanna stay behind and clean the assembly hall mom! i need to go home and jack off after looking at all these sisters in their tight skirts and dresses. im soooo horny...
I can remember having such overwhelming anxiety during the assemblies, and the RELIEF that it was about over and we could get shoved through the crowd to the parking lot and start the long drive home (don't forget I had severe back seat car sickness) From the time we left on these oddessies until we turned on our alley days later, I was white knuckled and intestinally miserable. I never felt like that on vacations that didn't involve an assembly.
As for the spiritual afterglow thing, I have experienced that after some religious concerts and retreats. Kind of scary because your emotions are being deliberately manipulated. Part of me is analyzing whether it is 'safe' and whether is it God vs just a really good motivational speaker.
Think of the frenzy the crowd gets in with music concerts--screaming, mobbing the stage, biting off bird heads......
My favorite was a Billy Graham crusade on teen night. The music was upbeat and worshipful, and all the kids knew the songs and the guest musicians. In my opinion, Rev Graham is a calm, sincere, dedicated minister that moves people with his honest concern. Watching all those kids go foreward, having their big emotional experience, was fantastic. But I thought about how Marilyn Manson can whip up a crowd even easier...
I remember relief at the end of the last day of the SEVEN DAY assemblies/conventions!
The talks went from morning to evening, so in this case I think it actually was a feeling of relief from the fatique of attending!
There was one that was just ridiculous, it was held in San Francisco's Candlestick park, and it was so windy you couldn't hear a thing! It was a total waste of time!
--VM44
The only emotion that I felt at the conclusion of an assembly was relief that the bloody thing was over.
Of course, you were not allowed to say that -so had to keep up the fiction that:
- It was "upbuilding"
- You could "feel Jehovah's Spirit"
- You could "feel the love"
- It was "sad that it was over"
Or the classic - "There won't be many more before the end of the System!
Jack.
I remember feeling like this as well. Even though the assembly sucked and I was miserable the whole time that final talk got the emotions going. And usually they would close with that We Thank You Jehovah (OMG, the tune is now going to be stuck in my head!) song and people seemed to sing much louder and kind of sway to the "music". And then after the final (usually 20 minute) prayer, applause would break out. Everyone seemed to be on a high at that point...almost frenzied. I would feel a sense of relief but also kind of a let down at the same time.
