Inner Peace

by JH 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  changeling

  Today if I had to undergo an other similar operation, I'm not sure I'd have the same inner peace.

  I think that no matter what religion you practise, no matter if it's false or not as false, you develop this inner peace, that may only be an illusion.

  I'm not sure we have the same definition of inner peace.

  While yes, as a faithfull witness, I had the hope of a resurrection (albeit a false hope), I did not have inner peace.

  For me, inner peace is a sense of restfullness and calm that comes with freedom from fear.

  Being a witness is all about fear: Fear of displeasing god, fear of displeasing the elders, fear of "the world", fear of demons...

  I'm done with those fears, so I'm at peace.

  When I die, I die. It's all over, that's all she wrote.

  changeling
• 

  monophonic

  there's been some analogies to the Matrix film re: this.

  i think part of the 'inner peace' inside the jws is the social structure of being coddled by 100's or 1000's of jws for being in good standing. i couldn't walk through a district or circuit assembly without knowing tons of people and meeting with a 100 or so people on a weekly basis, in the jws, is kind of like a dysfunctional support group.

  and, i was reproved as a teen and remember practically being shunned and looked down upon until i got my priviledges back.

  obviously conditional love b/c of propaganda.

  its good to be on the other side and i'm personally still grappling with my inner peace....and when i was 'in' and was getting tapped on the shoulder and asked to the back room so much that i had a vague sense of dread going to every meeting with 'what are they going to try to pin on me now?'

  OT, some liberal do-gooder asked if i still supported big tobacco by smoking. i told her i didn't smoke, but if i did i would steal my cigarettes, and not from big chain stores like safeway and wal-mart, but from mom and pop stores b/c i support corporate america and the small business owner needs to be wiped out.

  i get sarcastic when people ask me stupid questions....but she was actually shocked i didn't smoke and i asked if i looked like a smoker and she said yeah. then i told her about someone saying they don't like smoking pot and said that they didn't want to judge my pot smoking though.....and i don't smoke pot....which also blew her away and the other person i was talking to.

  so, i guess i look a little menacing or something? in a smoking, druggie, when does your daughter turn 18 kind of way.

  btw, to clarify i have nothing against smokers, drug users (who can handle their sh*t) or people wanting to date 18 year olds.
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  monophonic

  "When I die, I die. It's all over, that's all she wrote."

  thanks challenging, i now have to listen to the 'if i die, i die' release from virgin prunes before going out tonite. :)
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  jaguarbass

  I had more inner peace when I was a JW. But the house of cards came crashing down.

  Now I have little inner peace, replaced by a I dont give a hoot attitude anymore.

  I dont give a hoot because nothing matters anymore. You live till you die. And were all going to die.

  I do aggree religion provides an inner peace. The clergy sell it and the flock buy it.

  But once your aware of the scam, its like going home. Once you leave you can never go back.
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  Ancient One

  While in at times I felt almost "drug-induced" kind of peace that was conditional of many factors e.g. if I perceived myself in line with many constraints put by The Society. It, whatever it was, was easily shaken as soon as my "focus" slipped away.

  Today I just feel peace, a calm presence of mind that is not conditional on anything happening on the outside. Just calm of being one with the nature and universe around me. If that makes any sense at all, I'm sorry English is not my first language.
• 

  fifi40

  JH

  The thing I find frustrating is that the JW teachings can still control our 'inner peace'.......they gave us false teachings which made us feel safe.....when we recognise those teachings to be false we lose our inner peace or safety net, yet many millions who are raised without those religious teachings conduct their lives apparently with peace or acceptance.....almost like they accept that life just is.

  The JWs instill fear with its teachings.....in or out.......its like a child losing its comforter.

  I think the answer is to look to those who have inner peace or acceptance without having being controlled by a religions teachings.......and discover what gives them their contentment.

  Fi
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  changeling

  In reading further comments I see that the term "inner peace" is not the same for everyone.

  Some of you relate inner peace to safety.

  I do not.

  changeling
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  Vivamus

  Good question. I think I have actually more inner peace. As a JW I was constantly aware of my flaws (ohh the guilt) and was constantly afraid not meeting the mark.

  Now, I know I do my best, an thats all I ask of myself . And if I die, there are enough people that will genuinly miss me, and remember me.
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  Maddie

  The inner peace I used to think I had as a JW wasn't real. To be always trying to do better but never doing enough as well as being fearful did not give me anything like inner peace.

  I am much more at peace now as I have the freedom to explore my own spirituality at my own pace, and I don't feel that God is going to destroy me because I am not doing what the WT tell me to do.

  Maddie
• 

  wednesday

  I have some peace from the writings of Jung, and the teachings of Buddha. I have some OshoZen tarot cards and the traditional tarot card for religious systems and all that is the" Hierophant" But in osho zen it is replaced with the Eastern name of 'no thingness' . the commentary on this says - " being "in the gap" can be disorienting and even scary. nothing to hold on to, no sense of direction, not even a hint of what choices and possibilities might lie ahead. But it was just this sate of pure potential that existed before the universe was created. All you have to do now is relax into this ' nothingness"... fall into this silence between the words, ... watch this gap between the outgoing and incoming breath. And treasure every empty moment of the experience.

  Nothingness to nothingness is the whole journey. I still believe in a Creator but it seems He is operating from afar so often. I still pray b/c i find it a form of meditation and it gives me peace.

  "Nothingness" -between the nothing is not just nothing, it is all. it is vibrant with all possibilities. It is potential , absolute potential. It is unmanliest yet, but it contains all. In the beginning is nature, in the end is nature, so why in the middle you make so much fuss? why in the middle, becoming so worried, so anxious, so ambitious,-why create such despair. ?

  I understand the scenario of going into surgery and knowing if you die you will be resurrected. I still have that peace myself. Whatever awaits me on the other side, I'm not fearful. It is eternal sleep, or living in the heavens as a spirit body.

  I find the teachings of Buddha to be so calming.

  ( quoted from Osho Zen)