People are People (page 4)

Amazing

Hi Minimus: I agree that most people do retain some basic personality features ... but I also think we grow, and that is why we can change and make great strides, such as leaving the JWs ... but, thinking about it, I am still the same basic person I was before, during, and after Dub-dom. Good post. - Jim W.

minimus

Hey Jim, don't you ever get some sleep? I'll bet when you were a kid, you were always being told to get your rest.

Amazing

Yep Min ... I was always told to get to bed ... I am getting my energy back lately ... and I think that I need to disclose what may be helping me ... I am young again !!!

minimus

Be careful. The jury's not out on the little blue pill yet.

Lady Lee

Good to hear it Jim

I think you bring up a good point there. For those who joined the JW as adults or even as teens - they had a pretty well defined sense of self and their true self before they joined up (unless they experienced a childhood of abuse). They generally knew what they liked, acted true to themselves (even if they were confused or whatever). And most return to that after they leave the JWs

The children who grew up in this cult rarely had opportunities to discover and develop the true self. All those rules would bury it. I think they have a harder time because they don't have that base to fall back on. If they leave after a lifetime of being told they are "happy" when inside they were sad then they have a lot of work to do to discover who they really are.

Room 215

Minimus, re your comment on homosexuality; admittedly a far more complex phenomenon than JWs and fundies care to admit. Could you imagine if science were to ever establish a genetic component to an indivifual's gender identification? It would rock religion to its core. Thinking back over 40 years of listening to life experiences of JWs, I'm unable to recall one bona-fide example of a homosexual person converting permanently to live the rest of his/her years happilty as a hetero.

minimus

I know of a prominent Bethelite that within the last 15 years got married. I understand that because he was being used extensively at District Conventions and in teaching assignments, he was "worked with" as far as his speaking and mannerisms were concerned. They helped him to speak with a deeper voice and be conscious of mannerisms that might suggest that he was gay. They encouraged him to get married, too. As far as I'm concerned this man is who he is. Now, though, he's got more "respect" within his group.

unique1

I have completely changed and then changed back. During the ages of 23-25 I was a completely different person. I don' t know how my husband put up with me. But after seeing a therapist and leaving the board I am back to my old self and it feels GREAT!! Maybe we do always return to our true nature.

Room 215

Fascinating story Minimus... I suppose the operative word here is ``happily" .... only he knows whether he's living happily after his makeover, or simply allowed his ambition to rise through the ranks of dubdom to override any personal disappointments.

minimus

I would think that if he was fighting his apparent homosexual tendencies, that he would always feel inferior being a Jehovah's Witness, especially a high profile one. His "happiness" would probably be conditional, imo.

People are People

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