I can gaurantee you the Russell beards, would make a big comeback!
Is being a JW like being a drug addict?
by mkr32208 24 Replies latest jw friends
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Satanus
True. Back, when i was in contact w some addicts, i did a thread on this.
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Satanus
Journeyon said that they come away from the meeting on a high, and then gradually come down. I remember going through that, often. As well, it was the same w some church services that i went to. I got tired of that continually happening, after leaving the church sessions. Meditation doesn't give a high, and it can be a continual thing keeps a person on a more even keel. I would say thatthe high thencoming down effect indicates fakeness (not that EVERYTHING in the churches is fake), whereas meditation tends towards dealing w reality, ie, sorting out the real from the fabricated. Some observations...
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sass_my_frass
Without question. My life got a lot easier when I started thinking of them all as hopeless addicts. Trying to help an addict can destroy a person.
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aSphereisnotaCircle
People tend to replace one adiction with another.
People who stop using drugs or alcohol tend to become very religious and/or heavy smokers.
People who lose their religion tend to resort to drugs and/or alcohol.
I had a social worker tell me this years ago and from observation I have found it to be true.
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sammielee24
People who are addicts are basically abusive. They are incapable of a close, intimate relationship with other people, because their first priority is their addiction. The addiction is the first love - it will always come first until or unless the individual breaks the hold the drug of choice has on them.
I lived with an alcoholic for 30 years. Any person who puts a thing, whether it is booze, drugs or religion ahead of their relationship, abuses the trust, security and intimacy of a human to human relationship. You cannot ever achieve a deep, honest committment from anyone who priorities their addictions first. Religion included.
A JW puts a barrier between themselves and everyone else - that's what an addict does. That's why when a person is shunned, the JW can distance himself so easily - he has never really connected to the person, he's kept a barrier between them the whole time and its called the WTS. A person who is totally dependant on the WTS to live, is an addict and until you break the addiction, you will never be able to reason with them. Just my take ....sammieswife.
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parakeet
It's no accident Barbara Grizzuti Harrison named her book, "Visions of Glory." Those delicious visions about the future are what keep dubs hooked and oblivious to the joys of the present.
Without those glorious visions of hope, dubs would shrivel and die on the spot. They're unable to live in the present. Look at all the newbies who come here asking, "what do I do now?" "how do I start a new life?"
It's hard (but rewarding) to live. Dreaming blots out real life, just as drugs do.
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journey-on
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison named her book, "Visions of Glory."
An article in Ms. Magazine by BGH and the above book was what began my "awakening". It took many years to totally wake up, but she was the catalyst that helped me get started. -
parakeet
journey-on: It took many years to totally wake up, but she was the catalyst that helped me get started.
Me, too! I saw a review of her book in a magazine and wrote to the publishers to get a copy. It took me three years after I read it to finally break free. Without her book, it might have taken much longer.
You did a great thing for many of us, Barbara. Rest in peace.
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Satanus
Sphere said
'People tend to replace one adiction with another.'
Yes, true. Becoming a person truly free, not having ANY dependencies is a very tough job. Perhaps, the route that poppers and james thomas espouse leads in that direction. In the meantime, those getting free of the wt addiction go through many stages of varying degrees of dependencies; religions, jesus, food, ego trips, booze, drugs, collecting things etc, etc. The thing is, to not get stuck at one place for too long. A site like this is able to help those who dare to move further down the path.
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