Raised a JW from birth...

portcontrol7

I am now 31 and after leaving the "truth" in my teenage years I was plagued with anger towards the organization as well as Christianity in general. Has anyone come to read the teachings of the Buddha and found them a refreshing and eye opening insight into the nature of reality? Not long ago I picked up a book entitled "Awakening the Buddha Within", and have found spirituality in a way that I could never find in the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. It is like nothing I have ever experienced, deep profound and moving. And unlike Christianity completely non fear based!!! Now I realize why the watchtower organization must put down every other spiritual path, you may find that some may give you peace and inner happiness completely free from guilt and end of the world fear mentality. Has anyone else studied Buddhism and/or read this brilliant book?

momzcrazy

I haven't read it, I am getting interested in the wiccan religion. I just wanted to say welcome, if I haven't yet. So...

momzcrazy

serotonin_wraith

My brother considers himself a taoist. He doesn't believe in a god, although many Buddhist 'sects' (can you call them that?) now incorporate a god. *ugh*

I've looked through some of their teachings. A lot is good advice. I'd never follow every teaching of a particular belief system, I'd need to filter every one with my own judgement. Take out the good parts. But because I can do that with the Bible (and not call myself Christian) and with the Book of the Dead (and not believe in those gods) it has nothing to do with which deity or religion I believe. It's about being open to everything and judging myself what seems right.

VoidEater

Welcome, Port.

Has anyone come to read the teachings of the Buddha and found them a refreshing and eye opening insight into the nature of reality?

I have found Tibetan and Zen Buddhism have given me some interesting perspectives. I have studied with a couple people who use Zen practice as the basis for their practices. I have participated in indigenous rituals of American and Meso-American peoples and gained insight from their perspectives. I think in general these two sources of insight have helped me shed some degree of subjectivity, and helped heal a lot of damage that the WTS has caused.

And unlike Christianity completely non fear based!!!

To be fair, I think some Christians (as may be found on this board) have found a Christ-centric spirituality free from that fear - though in my experience that's still pretty new to me.

But your point about the WTS not wanting others to know that you can have a spirituality free from their autocratic threats of annhilation is well taken.

marmot

I think there's a lot to be said about the Buddha's teachings, they're very eloquent observations about life and human nature.

I personally don't care for the assorted mystical (read: bulls***) trappings of the numerous modern sects of Buddhism, but the core values are something that I try to adhere to.

On the flip side, I also adhere to the many practical teachings of Christ and the later writings of the apostles while dispensing with the theological crap. Christ (or his composite writers) had the right idea when they said that love, and not hide-bound obedience to ceremonies and laws, was the key to human happiness.

My own background is Mohawk and there are a lot of practical teachings to be found in the Kaianera'ko:wa (Great Law of Peace) that united the Iroquois and stopped their warring, in fact it was deemed so practical that it was cribbed for that other big law in North America: the United States Constitution.

So on a whole I believe humanity is capable of awesome humanistic achievements but their downfall comes when one group tries to tout the worthiness of one creed over another.

I'm an atheist, btw.

DublDipd

Welcome port...

Finding your own path is an exciting prospect. After being freed from the shackles of the WTBS you realize how many options you now have. Strangely enough...the one scripture that was shoved down our collective throats as Witnesses is that "we shall know the truth, and the truth will set us free". I never truly understood how true and beautiful that scripture is until I left the JWs. Enjoy find your own truth now! You deserve it.

Carmel

Welcome PORT! Yes, I've investigated Buddhism and other world religions. I began that journey while in college and was fascinated by what they all have in common, even though some of their social teachings differed, there core moral and ethical teachings were almost identical. Live well and prosper! carmel

changeling

Even though I am anti religion, I do find many Buddhist teachings make a lot of sense. They seem to center on being the best person you can be and respecting the earth and all creatures on it. Who could argue with that?

changeling

portcontrol7

Yes I have come to a greater appreciation of Jesus from my study of Buddhism. Maybe I'm alone here, but I always noticed that JW's tend to steer away from Jesus and concentrate more on Jehovah, which is strange considering Jesus was the human embodiment of what Jehovah represented. When you look back at the teachings of Jesus and compare it to the Watchtower society, they really start to look worlds apart. Jesus was about love and compassion, and was only angered once as I can remember, ironically when he went to church! To see the judgmental attitude of many witnesses is really an insult to the teachings of Jesus. "The kingdom of heaven is within you." What a empowering statement. And I do agree that many sects seem to lose the core meanings of any given faith, but when you look at the simple truth that can be gained from teachings of Jesus and Buddha, life can really have a deeper meaning than what we can acquire in our minds with worldly knowledge, and we can be freed from this search for a god and find him within ourselves!

momzcrazy

While reading the gospels I found that the way to salvation requires much less than the Society teaches, yet much MORE. It's all encompassing in a person. Is that kind of the same thing?

momz

Raised a JW from birth...

Share this