Suffering...

by tall penguin 17 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  doofdaddy

  Since leaving the pipedream, I have meditated on and experienced suffering. Painful experience can be needed to jolt us (or me) to shift but as I mature, not in yrs but experience, I realise that I can expand through being present. The truth for me is to live in the NOW. Yes, suffering is a good teacher but it is often associated with the past and past experience. Live as christ said, like a child, where all is new and have the eyes of wonder like a child....
• 

  lisavegas420

  I remember the watchtower illustration of the bread pan with the dent in it and how we’re all dented loaves of bread because of the dent of sin we supposedly inherited from Adam. What kind of mindf**k is that? A dented loaf of bread? Why would I ever want to see myself as that? It’s like stamping a “damaged goods” label across one’s forehead. It is no wonder we have a hard time loving ourselves, seeing ourselves as the great and wonderful beings we all are.

  Several years ago, some sisters' were coming by to 'study' with me. (they had no idea I was an ex) when they used that illustration with me. I just stared at them for the longest time, then started laughing and said, "Are you seriously comparing me to a dented bread pan?" they laughed too.

  lisa
• 

  R.Crusoe

  TP - your entry is 'a bit gorgeous!'

  Who can imagine WT ego being the NOW reality during a painful existence?

  All they do is make it more detached, more painful and so more of the 'satan' they say delivered pain unto mankind.

  That is their collective essence like some corporate capitalist unpaid system feeding you carrots of invisible shares in an imaginary 'after human' life.
• 

  WTWizard

  I remember the dented loaf illustration, and I think it is a pxxx poor illustration. True, if the pan is dented, every loaf out of that pan is going to have the dent in it. However, loaves of bread are not generally used as molds for new pans, and hence will not pass down generations. Usually, that pan will become unusable and be thrown away eventually (or the dent can be removed).

  I wonder what would have happened if someone would have shown me the bad pan. Had I had nothing more than a hammer, I could pound out the dent and bring the pan back to its original shape (OK, so it would still have a little roughness, but for a loaf of bread, it would be effectively perfect). That would shove that illustration out the window.

  Whoever comes up with these wretched illustrations ought to be disfellowshipped for totally unacceptable illustrations. Certainly Jesus would never have approved of it.
• 

  jgnat

  Damaged goods. So true about the Watchtower illustrations. How about the illustration of the perfectly good sucker tossed in the dirt?

  I wonder sometimes at the great pressure put on children raised by the Witnesses, not to fail, to be as "perfect" as they can be. And yet they have this handy escape clause. They can be forgiven for "imperfection". So what is the child to do? Slave as hard as he can to live up to his parent's his religion's and his god's expectations. Then cut loose once in a while knowing he can blame it on his adamic nature. That's not a great formula for sane or balanced living.

  This view also leaves seniors with an impending sense of dread. They weren't supposed to get old or frail, or witness wrinkles or failing joints. They never anticipated old age or prepared for it. What in the heck do they have to look forward to in their senior years? Regular admonitions in the Watchtower to the younger folk to show them their due?

  I'm having so much fun in my middle age, now that I've reconciled, like you, that life is sweet and bitter all mixed together. It is the grand contrasts, of beauty and pain together, that make up the great tapestry of life.

  It reminds me of chinese food. Those ancient chefs knew a thing or two about livening all our senses. Coffee. Chocolate. Sweet and bitter together.

  It reminds me of great art, with it's contrasts in shade, and the flowing shapes that mean to draw your eye around and through. http://mendingshift.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/rembrandts-the-return-of-the-prodigal-son/

  What is art without contrast? A blank page. There is no interest in a blank page.

  That's how I see the Witness view of paradise. Blank. Bland. Lifeless.
• 

  Finally-Free

  My bread pan is ok, but I have a dent in my springform for cakes. Yes, all my cakes have dents in them, but they're easily covered up with icing. Also, my cakes don't kill each other, become cancerous, or produce nuclear arsenals. They have a normal shelf life and taste great. They don't pollute the environment either. The watchtower's illustration is idiotic.

  JWs used to tell me I was doing something to "grieve Jehovah's spirit and therefore not receiving his blessing" when I went through difficult times. Talk about adding insult to injury! Over time I learned that suffering is a normal part of life, and that my greatest hardships also taught me my most valuable lessons.

  W
• 

  real one

  I agree that suffering is in the world because of Adam's sin. Maybe if he had known that this one act would have caused so much suffering generation to generation he would not have done it. Before he sinned there was no suffering.
• 

  DJK

  we’re all dented loaves of bread because of the dent of sin we supposedly inherited from Adam.

  "They say when your brought into this world your born in sin. Well that's something they gave me I didn't have to steal or win". "Blaze of Glory" Bon Jovi

  So much of my youth was suffering. So many sacrifices growing up as a JW I felt grateful to have something even if it was bad.

  DJK