Building our life around self-deceit means we simply choose to ignore the bad and see only the good.
We filter. We cover. We hide the tell-tale. We ignore. WE BLANK OUT.
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Funny thing about the human brain: you can TURN OFF aspects of consciousness! The self-awareness has an "on" and an "off".
If your "still-small-voice" inside is annoying you by warnings---you ignore it, argue with it and eventually SHUT IT DOWN!
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IT hurts to be lied to by anyone you trust; the cost is a wounded heart.
To feel stupid for trusting is a peculiar sort of pain.
To feel taken-advantage-of can only kindle a sense of being used. Anger is inevitable. Righteous indignation is as powerful as any emotion.
The only consolation to being deceived is to see yourself as big-hearted and naive; after all, there are worst things than trusting those you love, right?
But--what if you are lied to by your OWN SELF?
What do you call that pain? Who has used you and misled you? At whom do you direct that anger? How can you feel righteous then?
Can any of us say we have escaped the LIE we tell ourselves?
It begins with a bargain.
We feel.
The strong FEELING that we NEED and must not go without the thing we FEEL we NEED is intense!
So, we begin bargaining. With who?: The "voice in our head" we placed there to PROTECT US from harm!!
If you have ever loved a person who is completely "wrong" for you it usually begins with that amazingly strong EMOTION welling up inside.
The alarm bell goes off---as it is supposed to do. You see what you see and choose NOT to. You hear what you hear and choose NOT to.
By keeping a SECRET from YOURSELF....you leave only the desirable left to choose.
This is SELF-DECEIT.
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But, this topic is not really about being with the wrong "person".
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Now we get to the part we all know is coming....
We NOW know....from the pain.....from the loss......from the disruption of happiness....from the life (our life) that DID NOT WORK....that we loved the wrong god. We loved the wrong religion. We loved the wrong dysfunctional "family" of deceived believers. We built our life around a LIE and
WE VICTIMIZED OURSELVES.
How? How did we allow it to happen?
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SELF-DECEIT
1. The INFORMATION we were given with a smile sounded maybe too-good-to-be true.
A. But, we WANTED it to be TRUE
B. We chose to ignore what exposed it as false
2. The people who welcomed us with "love" offered us a family and a purpose
A. But, the conditions attached were draining us of our time and individuality
B. Instead of feeling better about ourselves we were feeling worse and worse
3. We could be absolutely confident only our group was right and everybody else was wrong
A. But, all the good people who weren't "us" seemed in so many ways to live a better life!
B. We had to look forward to everyone else on our planet having to die for us to be fulfilled.
4. Our daily existence was crammed with "meaning" and sacred duty
A. But, we were being drained of energy, happiness and contentment
B. Our fears and insecurities increased instead of decreased year by year
HOW? WHY?
We simply made the choice to NOT SEE THE FACTS.
Self-questioning is the strongest indication of human intelligence. We chose to make that a DISLOYALTY!
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IT is one thing for a single, solitary person to fool themselves. In fact, it is easily done.
But, a most troubling phenomena occurs when a large group of people enter into a CONSPIRACY of self-DECEIT.
WHAT IS A CONSPIRACY OF SELF-DECEIT?
1. Group members do not allow certain important doubts to ever be discussed.
2. Real problems are dismissed as non-existent and fake words are labeled onto symptoms (spiritually weak).
3. The remedy to every obstacle is MORE activity, dedication, prayer and submission.
4. Loyalty to group-think replaces deciding on the basis of fact.
5. Skeptical honesty is stamped out as insubordination and treason.
6. Curiousity is made to be seen as only healthy inside a narrow frame of reference.
7. Defense of the group outweighs clear demonstrations of malfeasance, duplicity and cover-up.
8. Actual crimes must go unreported to secular authority to "protect" the image of the group at the expense of victims.
9. The group IMAGE becomes idolatry and the leaders are seen as beyond critical appraisal.
10. Self-preservation is abandoned and replaced with willingness to welcome harm to one's own self or family on behalf of group policy.
11. The penalty for THOUGHT CRIMES outweighs the penalty for actual crimes committed on members.
12. Crtics are silenced, outside proofs, facts, scholarship, body of evidence are marginalized as de facto corrupt.
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Each of us who stands OUTSIDE the Kingdom Hall barred from re-entry have welcomed our own mind back as a loyal friend!
Conscious awareness is the only identity worth perserving.
By squandering our SELF by entering into a conspiracy of self-deceit we damaged our mind and our life.
The only escape is WILLINGNESS TO BE WRONG when the facts go against our most FERVENT BELIEFS.
The remedy to self-deceit is intellectual honesty.
Intellectual honesty is not group-think. It is hands-on and do-it-yourself-hardcore and rational.
THE ONLY SURRENDER is to what can be demonstrated to be true fact supported by evidence.
YOUR TRUTH must never exclude access by critics. Welcome critics. Welcome rebuttal--it is all that stands between you and self-deceit.
LOYALTY is a dangerous intoxicant. Avoid it when possible.
The mind is a dangerous thing to waste.