Seduction, psychosis and radicalisation

by Half banana 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  StrongHaiku

  Half Banana - The JW delusion is a psychosis i.e. the holding on to a belief irrespective of sound evidence to the contrary...

  Good post. What you described can also be summed up as "faith" - i.e. strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on personal revelation rather than good/demonstrable evidence or evidence to the contrary...

  Half Banana - The big question is how can JWs or for that matter any other religious person be de-radicalised?

  Other posters said it better than I could... The one thing I would add is that we need to improve education and encourage critical thinking to inoculate people who haven't yet surrendered their life to "faith". There are a lot of people living in that bubble (my family included) that may not be salvageable. We should continue to help those still in but also try to proactively inoculate people from going in.
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  Half banana

  Strong Haiku I am in complete agreement that education and critical thinking should be promoted and who doesn’t? But those still in are not exposed to the need for these two vital components of modern living. It is an enormous incongruity in my mind that the new buildings of the WTS at Patterson include an “Education Centre”---they have no idea what education means!

  By chance my JW daughter was able to visit me at the weekend. She had not been for about four years although I have spoken with her many times. She has been affected adversely by the cult but struggles on in her own life quietly conforming to the paternalism of the GB who are her chosen substitute father.

  I adore my daughter, she is twenty seven, beautiful and intelligent but aimless in life. We had a good time together but always with an emotional restraint operating. I dared to talk about the JW org and planted a logical seed. Immediately I was rebuked for bringing the subject up and was told that is the reason she does not normally visit since I was told that I always speak out against the org. The last time I did broach the matter, I remember clearly it was nine years ago!

  Nevertheless like all JWs there is a constraint operating emotionally and logically which tends to render all of them (us once upon a time) distant and with a mental narrative running at odds with normal human life. I tried to work on it and talk of the deep motivations in life but the hypersensitisation kicks in and no progress is made. No awakening... only resistance and the taking of offence.

  This might now result in permanent shunning of me to please the evil masters of the cult.