AussieOz:
Spot on! While I was in, I remember talking with a rancher who compared how stupid sheep are with how intelligent cattle are (sorry, no goats here). Some highlights I remember: All one has to do is show a steer how to get back to the pen once and it will do it on its own afterward, whereas the sheep has to be personally escorted back every time and never learns on its own how to do it. When attacked, a steer will run or fight back. A domesticated sheep will just stay there bleating and dying. At best it will take cover among the other sheep who will not fight back either.
At the time I was struggling with how nearly all Witnesses I knew had to be told anything from established authority. If I (or someone else) shared something true either from the scriptures or about life in general, I'd ususally get a puzzling look or at best, a 'That's interesting.' Then if a WTS publication later came out with the same thing, it was 'Oh, isn't that fascinating!' At first I was shocked, but then, like you, I thought of the scriptural concept of sheep knowing the voice of the shepherd and not that of the hired man, etc. As you have pointed out, it certainly fits overall. Your words about being anti-social are esp. good. With whom do literal sheep only associate? Other sheep and their beloved shepherds. Sound like anyone you know?
According to the psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs (see http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm -or- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs for good charts of this) at the bottom rungs are things like safety, security, law, limits, order, food, while higher needs such as achievement, responsibility, respect for and by others, and personal growth are at the top. It's pretty clear where traditional religious people fit in, why members who belong to this forum left the borg, and why they generally cannot 'reach' those still in.
I think of the spiritual perfection envisioned by most Witnesses in their new order as a place of massive ignorance in the sense of the emprical truth so valued by the intelligensia of today. Rather it would be a place full of very simple people who nevertheless love their God Jehovah and where their very basic needs of security mentioned above are constantly met without worry. They simply do not have other needs such as curiosity or fulfillment (at least not in any sophisticated sense) higher up on Maslow's chart. Thus there would be no need for meeting them in the new order.
The Hebrew concept of Adam and Eve's sin being to partake of the tree of knowledge is pertinent here. Sheep have a very limited desire for, even tolerance of, knowledge.
I appreciate your taking the time to initiate this thought-provoking thread! It will be interesting to see how others respond...
Cheers.
