JW's Paradise and Determinist Philosophy

by mindfield 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  mindfield

  It occured to me, during a philosophy course, that the Deterministic philosophy strongly resembles the utopian paradise the JW's so strongly hope for.

  First off, what is the deterministic philosophy? According to some, human beings are conditioned, starting right from their birth, by factors such as their peers, their society, and most importantly, their culture. If they do something "good" (walking for the first time), they are applauded by their parents, giving them positive reinforcement. This therefore leads to the children walking more, among other things, and always getting positive reinforcement. Now the deterministic philosophy says that our culture, right now, isn't attuned properly for our society. According to them, the culture could be fixed so that, as an end result, everyone would obey the law and actually ENJOY obeying the law. Imagine... you're going down the highway, and you're staying under the speed limit, and you're enjoying it, getting a positive buzz out of the whole thing. It's perfectly possible, according to them.

  So what does this have to do with the JW paradise? Simple. Those who have read "A Brave New World" will easily understand. Those who are raised in the "truth" are conditioned to do certain actions, such as saying comments at the Kingdom Hall, going out in the preaching work, etc., and they get a positive reinforcement everytime they do it. The more you do what they tell you to do, the more positive reinforcement you get. Getting a JW paradise to work, in theory, would be a whole lot easier than some of us might think. Simply condition everyone, since birth, to do certain actions in a certain timeframe, and Bingo. You've got your utopia... your JW paradise. And it doesn't have to be a JW utopia either. Who knows what kind of society we'll have decades from now... in fact, this raises other questions as well...

  What is utopia? Is freedom really that important when you're happy and brainless? Does freedom really exist?
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  proplog2

  Freedom is tied to the options that are available to you. A lot of what is described as freedom depends on how much money you have. Freedom of thought is enhanced by education. You can't think about things you don't "know". Free will is another matter altogether. I don't believe in Free-will. That's why I don't believe in original sin OR capital punishment.
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  mindfield

  So you don't believe in freewill? That's interesting, although it removes any responsibility from all individuals. Heck, I could do anything I want, and still not be responsible for my actions, since I've been conditioned to act that way since birth. It's scary, in a way.
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  gsx1138

  I'm not much into philosophy although it has its merits. I think you will see that the JW religion started around the pioneering days of psychology. This is why you see behavioral patterning and subconscious conditioning in the WTS. I told a friend of mine that if you call something the "truth" enough times throughout your life that eventually it will become the truth. The word "truth" by its very nature carries the connotation of being correct.
  One thing that most doomsday cults rely on is that the "end" must occure within the initiates lifetime otherwise they cannot convey the sense of urgency needed to have the intiate commit. Thus the "end" will occure soon, the end will happen before you die, the end will come before this generation passes. Most religions need this philosophy to keep people within their organization. The WTS is pure genius when it comes to these methods, however they have gotten sloppy recently.
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  mindfield

  Gsx, that's exactly it! Repetition is the key. After getting drilled over and over and over in your head several times a week that going out in the preaching work brings joy, you'd better believe you'll be joyous in no time. That is, if you were attentive. The same thing applies to, as you said, the term "truth", as well as the importance of pioneering, making "comments" during the Watchtower study, preparing for the meetings, reading their literature, etc. All this is obviously a vigorous attempt to condition the flock.
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  proplog2

  Responsibility is independent of free-will. If you do things that are illegal - society will hold you responsible. My dog doesn't have free-will but if he starts biting people his freedom will be limited to the length of his chain.