Did You Ever Really Listen At The Meetings?

by minimus 26 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Mythbuster

  What?
• 

  brizzzy

  No. I read most of the publications, because I love to read, so research was at least somewhat interesting to me. But from the platform, they just droned on and on, re-drilling in everything I'd already read. It wasn't nearly as interesting and it made me sleepy.

  My parents would often test me and ask me what I liked about the talk or the assembly (I got in trouble if it became clear that I hadn't paid attention). So I got into the habit of deliberately listening to maybe 5-10 minutes' worth of material, or one experience, or one illustration, and then holding it in my brain to parrot back to them, so that they'd leave me alone. The rest of the time, I was off in my own little world daydreaming to keep myself from falling asleep.
• 

  confliction

  Not really- although, as undercover stated, I am starting to pay more attention (when I'm not tired).
  
  I usually will just end up drifting off on a scripture, reading it to get the context of it, and there have been many occasions where I have seen firsthand scriptures get taken out of context (by the CO!)...
  
  But yeah, when you grow up hearing the same verbal diarrhea, it almost seems like you zone out, like an automatic function.
• 

  LostGeneration

  Interesting question....I have to say for most of my years I was on "cruise control" sitting in the chair but not really paying attention. Seldom was a speaker good enough to really hold my attention. I always thought it was weird when someone would ask me what the public talk was about later in the day and I would have an absolute brain lock trying to remember the title, or even what the subject was. Talk about hypnotic trances!

  Once i became aware of the scam, I paid attention like never before. It was absolutely shocking to see how repetitive the material was! Same scriptures, same loaded language being used over and over! No wonder they have people under such mind control!
• 

  minimus

  so.....if you DO pay attention, there's a good chance you'll say bye-bye.
• 

  wenaolong

  UUUHHHMMMMMM......no. I never really paid attention. I was always daydreaming about some hot broad or other, usually sitting somewhere in the same meeting, or else wondering neurotically about something or other, or else thinking about some philosophical issues or issues involving the aesthetics of music or else the psychology of religion, or something else like that. I was probably wondering when I was going to have mad sex with some lonely housewife whilst preaching upon her the good news when her hubby wasn't home... Oh well, never had that pleasure.... But actually LISTENING to these people, even as a half-hearted believer? NO. I was always a believer of my own brand of reality anyway, and I am more faithful to it than any of they were to theirs.
• 

  Soldier77

  I did what brizzy did. Cherry picked points to remember when I got quizzed on the way home. Other than that, spaced out and daydreamed. Or dreamed of a cute girl in the hall. Anything but listen to the droning talks.
• 

  Mall Cop

  BYE BYE!
• 

  minimus

  Now, when I hear my mom tell me what was said at a meeting or brought out in a publication, I just think:
• 

  dandingus

  When I was young, no I did not often pay very good attention. But for a while before I was baptized, and ever since then I did pay attention most of the time.

  The exception would have been that when I had a part on the meeting (which was fairly often) I found it difficult to focus on the other talks before mine because I was mentally reviewing the material. Of course, everyone has days when you just can't seem to concentrate.

  I also thought it was harder to pay attention at the assemblies than the meetings at the local hall. This is probably just due to the length of the meeting (all day versus a few hours). The afternoon parts were always the killer. ...

  So, yeah, I usually did pay attention pretty well for the most part.