I certainly drink more whisky, does that count ?
Since exiting the Witnesses have you Become More " Spiritual " ? - Not ........
by flipper 54 Replies latest jw friends
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tornapart
I have definitely become more spiritual and think much more towards the 'inner person' and how I relate to God and Christ and the world around me. I still go to meetings but they have become meaningless rituals (I go for show). I look far more deeply into the meaning of the Bible message particularly pertaining to Christ and what it means to me personally and prayer is more meaningful to me. The so called 'Sacred Service' as talked about in the WT study tomorrow is nothing more than getting in a hamster wheel and go round and round getting nowhere.
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tornapart
I have to say also that I feel far more connected to God lying in the grass in the sunshine listening to the birds sing or watching the stars on a clear night than any time I've ever spent sitting in a KH!!
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00DAD
Absolutely yes. After you wake up and realize what a scam the WTBTS is, it is easy to want to just throw it all out and become an angry atheist. I understand why many do that. The brutality of their mental mind-fuck causes so much extensive and long-lasting damage to a persons psyche; healing takes much time and effort.
But there remain too many things that suggest to me that there it much more to life than what simply appears on the surface. So I am not so willing to discount possibilities of there being more.
However, religion-any religion--is DEFINITELY off the table for me for the remainder of my life. That's a certainty. talesin's quote above nailed it for me:
Religion is for people who are afraid of hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there. ~ Running Hawk, Lakota Nation
Now it's a matter of trying to figure out what I believe, and correspondingly what I DON'T believe. It's really interesting. As Witnesses we were all so damn sure we had all the answers for everything, and yet it really wasn't as satisfying as it was advertised to be.
Now I have lots of questions and not so many answers, and ironically I am MORE at peace with that.
In the movie "The Mothman Prophecies," the main character played by Richard Gere has a conversation with an aged professor regarding the nature and identity of the large, winged creature called Mothman that were sighted in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, during 1966 and 1967. (The two characters are actually a composite portraying the experiences and interviews of the author, John Keel, of the book upon which the film was based.)
At any rate, Richard Gere asks the professor who or what he thinks the Mothmen are. The professor replies something to the effect, "We aren't meant to know."
That's kind of where I am now about a lot of things. We can wonder. We can ponder and speculate. We can use our telescopes and look to the skies and observe. We can use microscopes and look at the smallest details of living things and learn. There are many, many things that we can discover and many things that we can learn. But there are apparently also many things about which we simply aren't meant to know, at least not for now, maybe never.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - Hamlet Act 1, scene 5 -
EmptyInside
I'm finding my way. I kind of lost faith in everything for awhile. But,kind of getting back the true essence of who I really am,the person I had to suppress to be an approved Witness.
I never really fit in as a Witness. They kind of look down on someone who indulges their creative side. Plus,I love nature and animals. And I feel somehow spiritual in connecting with the world that way. If that makes any sense whatsoever.
But,I'm still struggling about God. I always believed in God,but,now,there are more questions than answers there.
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OUTLAW
Good morning Flipper!..
I`m agnostic..Am I spiritual?..
Could be..LOL!!..
I do know..
Sitting for hours in a KH listening to the same thing you heard 5 years ago isn`t spiritual..
Reading scripted answers to scripted questions isn`t spiritual..
Knocking on doors to tell people "your too busy to talk to them" when they raise a tough question isn`t spiritual..
Peddling WBT$ literature with an expiration date on WBT$ Truth isn`t spiritual..
Snubbing everyone in life who isn`t a JW,isn`t spiritual..
Policing your friends and family for the WBT$ isn`t spiritual..
WatchTower World is a very Unspiritual place..
Filled with messed up people and..
Multiple copies of unplaced WBT$ literature,JW`s have saved for decades..
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...OUTLAW -
sooner7nc
I remember a conversation I overheard between my wife and her uber-Dub sister a few years ago (as a matter of fact the night that the JW pedophile thing played on the news). They were talking about some porkchops or ribs they were cooking and the subject got around to Trichinosis. I recall my SIL stating how a Brother in her Spanish congregation had contracted Trichi. from some undercooked pork and had suffered the side effects for several months (compromised immune system or something like that had made him weak beforehand) and how he was not as "Spiritual" afterwards. I held my tongue but felt like pulling hers out with my bare hands.
OUTLAW hit the nail on the head. The WT is incredibly un-spiritual.
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flipper
Thanks for the great replies ! Appreciate it.
FINALLY AWAKE- I feel like you as well being more connected " to people, the community, and the earth. " It's a great feeling, isn't it ?
ON THE WAY OUT- Good point you make that " positive people doing good tend to attract positive people doing good back at them. " I agree. And I do think that as we improve our access to information about a variety of things or increase our intellect it has the added advantage of connecting us to the world more so. And very true- the WT society told us EVERYTHING connected with the world was bad- yet there are many great things as the holidays you mentioned that bring people closer together . We missed so much when we were Witnesses.
TOTH- Agreed. I find fault with the Bible as well- yet I'm much more spiritual than I was as a JW. Because I have nothing to do with religion- I feel it's helped me BE more spiritual. No expectations other than what I put on myself !
FLYING HIGH NOW- I'm glad to hear you are back to yourself having regained what the Witnesses took from you. I'm glad to hear you are happy with your spirituality !
ETNA- It is amazing isn't it how closed minded we all were as Jehovah's Witnesses because we were all told WHAT to think ! So once we escape that closed minded community - we open our prospects and minds up to lots of information we can use in a positive way. For some people that's the Bible, for others of us it's life in general and other interests such as psychology or music.
BLACK SHEEP- I hear you. Spirituality is a personal thing and if you are happy not pursuing it- then great ! That fits for you. More power to you.
EXWHYZEE- Good point you bring out about looking within ourselves and beyond the here and now into our consciousness. I feel similarly. I have found the answers lie within myself and how I perceive the universe- not how the universe perceives me. I have found that I am NOT deficoent like the Witnesses told me, and like yourself I have a lot more tolerance for opposing views of life now in others- as long as it doesn't include being inhumane or taking others rights away.
DOOFDADDY- Very good point you make about getting close to the natural world. I agree with doing that. I feel we can get a very good insight into our OWN self by watching birds, mammals, and forests, and nature survive. We learn a lot about survival. I get a sense of peace within myself even more so when I hike in nature and the forests.
WT WIZARD- I'm glad to hear that you've become more enlightened and spiritual in your own way after exiting the Witnesses. Like yourself, I looked at all the scams and failed prophecies inside the WT society and came to the same conclusion- they are so far from having spirituality they aren't even SNIFFING it !
DESIGNS- " Radical activist and community organizer ". I hear you. Pretty much somes up how I view myself at times. But being an activist is defintely a good thing if done for good ideals and done with pure motives !
MINIMUS - Well, you DO believe in something ! You believe that you don't believe in ANYTHING ! LOL ! But I se your point- I wouldn't bet my life on anything either - especially after what we went through in the Witness cult ! I agree
Gotta cook breakfast, will be back to answer pg. 2 responses in awhile ! Take care.
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FlyingHighNow
Religion is for people who are afraid of hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there. ~ Running Hawk, Lakota Nation
I must say, Running Hawk must not understand that not all religions teach a hell or damnation theology. And many religions are more about the spiritual and mysteries. Don't think that you can't be spiritual if you go to church or synagogue, etc.
I believe nature inspires most human beings spiritually.
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yadda yadda 2
Not really. I've always believed in God and a spirit realm, in the numinous. I'm a lot less judgmental though, thats the biggest change in me. And a lot more disillusioned in organised religin. I tried going to some new churches but they were all just Jesus worshippers. Hardly heard the Father mentioned once.
