by UnshackleTheChains 8 Replies latest jw experiences
Well, I finally got round to reading this book. Having read many positive reviews, I thought I would give it a blast. I am trying to deprogram myself from watchtower group think and avoid going back because of family and peer pressure.
Hopefully this book will give me the tools I need to do this. 🤔
I would like to read this
Shacky -Hopefully this book will give me the tools I need to do this.
I got to chapter 4 and the WBT$ was totally destroyed in my mind.
My experience of reading it definitely helped remove some aspects of the cult programming that I didn't even know were there to begin with. Having been born-in, there were some aspects of how people relate to each other that I just didn't know the cult wasn't normal. In the long-run, though, I've found it's definitely helpful to talk stuff through with a good friend or a therapist periodically - I may have an intellectual understanding of how I was controlled, but getting rid of those automatic responses takes continued effort.
It'll probably be different for everyone, but the hardest thing for me hasn't been understanding the way the cult indoctrinates and controls people and how not to allow it in my life anymore, but it's been unlearning all the defenses that I built up in the cult that are now purely impediments to me (even though they were a matter of survival when I was in the cult). One of the things I learned in the cult was that if something in your life is good, you don't share it with anyone or tell anyone about it lest it be taken away to make more time for cult activities. I'm still instinctively really guarded in conversation with people, especially if the conversation turns to something like my dating life or whatever. It takes a lot of reinforcement to shed those sorts of defenses.
Good luck to you on your journey! Keep making progress - as has been said many times: living well is the best revenge!
It proved to me that the WTS is the "poster child" for a cult. They do EVERYTHING that Hassan says is an identifying feature of Cults. That could not just be simple coincidence. They have a plan and it's proven to be very successful.
Doc
I am trying to deprogram myself from watchtower group think and avoid going back because of family and peer pressure.
Good read. Suggestion, keep an open mind, judges the material in the book by yourself.
This book is not only good for the dubs, but humanity in general. There are so many "cult-like" organizations, fraternities, associations, societies and various "groups" of people. From birth humanity is indoctrinated into "belief" systems: belief in the financial system, education system, big pharma and big medicine, military/industrial complex, government, etc and so on. Each element of our world is its own "cult-think". We are indoctrinated to believe "they" (the systems set up) are good and necessary and we could never live without them, right? But, what if, like the WTBTS they are just a tool to keep us from freedom also? Something to think about. Enjoy the book. I know you will learn a lot!
I thought it was a good book but didn’t offer enough help or strategies to get loved ones out.
