What are your beliefs based on and how has this been affected by your time as a witness?
Who believes in reincarnation and enlightenment??
by Aphrodite 25 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Warlock
I now believe in reintulip and endarkenment.
Warlock
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gaiagirl
I believe that every living thing has some measure of "soul", more or less depending on the complexity of the brain and nervous system, but of the same TYPE for all. This essence is also present elsewhere in the Universe, but the development of a brain/nervous system "captures" this essence in a single location, sort of like a radio which tunes to a station. The radio waves are present all around the radio, but the radio tunes to a frequency and locks onto a signal...So beings with well developed nervous systems are able to tune to the signal with greater fidelity, just as a nice stereo can reproduce a signal better than a simple "crystal" radio. When the body dies, nothing happens to the waves which the "body" was tuned to, they are still there, and can be tuned to and reproduced by another body at another time. Enlightenment is the opposite of ignorance, and can be viewed as another word for seeing the BIG picture. Many people have a sort of "tunnel vision" and can't see much except what is right in front of them (sometimes not even that much). Some people even appear to take pride in their lack of knowledge. I think a great many former JWs feel enlightened. Also, study from a broad range of subjects, or at least a broad range of perspectives can give a degree of enlightenment, instead of just one opinion which comes through just one source.
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The Dragon
I believe in truth and facts. Nothing less will do.
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Aphrodite
LMAO Really??? So whats that all about? Is endarkenment to do with tanning? (This was for Warlock)
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Satanus
I think that there is probably reincarnation, although i'm not sure how it all works. I'm 99% sure that the spirit that we are carries on after body death. I base that on seeing very clearly, my dead brother. He was shining/glowing golden light, and smiled at me w his beaming smile. Also, i sensed two of my grandmothers' spirits.
There probably is an enlightenment process. I have talked to some who claim to have experienced it. I have been successful in reaching the light and getting a good view of it, although i didn't enter all the way in. On my return, i saw the universe emerging from it.
Seeing these things was the same as experiencing them, ie, i almost instantly knew things about them. It was as if answers arose concurrently w questions. Further realisations about all of the above experiences came weeks or months afterwards.
S
Ps, didn't see no gods, no jehovah. Actually, the time i saw my brother, i was aiming for god. Sorry god/jehovah, ya missed your chance. But i don't blame you, since you don't exist, anyway.
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tetrapod.sapien
i am not sure that i "believe" in reincarnation. i don't really have any evidence i am aware of to support the idea.
from a subjective perspective, i do like the idea of it. i could believe in it if i could imagine a plausible structure or system that it was a part of. but i haven't been able to pull that off yet, though i have tried.
regarding enlightenment. i believe that when we are using this term, we are really not refering to anything other than the evolution of human consciousness. just as we made the transistion from animal-type consciousness to a type of self consciousness, i believe that evolution does not stop there. in addition, i believe that many humans have already experienced this evolved form of consciousness, and that eventually it will be as ubiquitous in the human race as our current type of consciousness is.
it hasn't really been affected by my time as a wit. it's been affected by the time as an ex-wit. just reading a lot, thinking a lot, meditating and enjoying my fair share of psychedelic drugs. these things have sort of made me aware that there is even such a concept. i did not understand it at all as a witness.
tetra.
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some-xjw-guy
Given certain circumstances, I can agree that certain concepts are decent descriptions of what is going on. I'm not interested in belief or a flat out rejection of beliefs, that would likely be behavior affected by the time spent as a JW - either the same old believing mind applied toward other ideas or a reaction to move toward its opposite. Now having said that, I supposed one way the idea of enlightenment is used and could be related to the JW experience is that it simply isn't cool to be ignorant, so one might strive toward the other end of the spectrum.
More important than what you believe or even why you believe is seeing the whole behavioral process of believing in an idea. If thats all that is going on, then it is like you're just collecting mental objects, even if you are informed about those objects. I am not so much interested in the different shapes of these objects, but rather what they are made of. I don't mean how they are made or tend to move either, but the raw material it is made from so to speak. If you understand that, you will understand the most fundamental level of the mind. Anything short of that is like a sophisticated game of billilards where ideas bump up against one another, and that is the level where our JW past may in fact influence our current thinking.
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moshe
One day around 1998 I picked a WWII magazine about the P-51 mustang fighter plane used by the Allies. As I opened the magazine a double-folded page opened up and it showed the unique tail markings of all the p-51 fighter plane units that fought against Germany. When my eyes saw all those unit markings on those fighter planes a wave of nausea swept through my body and my legs felt weak. It must have only lasted about 10 seconds , but it seemed like a lot longer.
What did this mean? Was I was scared of something? What do you think it meant? I will give my answer tomorrow.
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tetrapod.sapien
What did this mean? Was I was scared of something? What do you think it meant?
heh, i think i know where you are going with this moshe. you are somehow linked with a soldier who died in the war. you are 56, so you would not have been born until after the war.
i guess i will find out tomorrow! :)
tetra