My mom is into "The Secret"

BlackWolf

Lately my mom's gotten into all kinds of weird "power of positive thinking" kind of stuff. She watches "The Secret" and Bob Proctor videos all the time, and now she's trying to get me into it. To me her being into this sort of thing seems kind of hypocritical. Is all about the subconscious mind and using magical thinking to get what you want, doesn't seem a whole lot different than witchcraft to me. Doesn't the Watchtower always say to avoid this type of self help thing and "worldly thinking"? I am awake and I don't have any issue with people who are into this, I am just angry at my mom's hypocrisy. If I watched that stuff before she was into it I'm sure she would of given me a talking to, telling me how spiritistic it is.

Anyways what do you guys think? Is the "law of attraction" approved by the watchtower? In my opinion the whole concept of it is bs and I hate that she is so controlled by her emotions that she will believe anything. She is always mad at me for listening to my "satanic" music yet she gets to do whatever she wants I guess.

dubstepped

Wow, I'm not surprised that a JW is into this, though I'm surprised on some level that it would be okay. In the end, isn't prayer and The Secret kind of the same thing? Think positive thoughts and Jehovah/the universe/fairies will bring it to you. There is some connection between thinking positively and being able to achieve things, which is obvious, but these things usually go much farther.

I'll be happy for you when you're able to get out and away from this stuff. Time is moving, hopefully you'll be able to as well. I know you love your parents and want what's best for them. I'm sorry that you have to witness their issues on display though. They clearly need help, both of them, real mental and emotional help, not woo designed to make them feel good, but real life changes that are grounded and make them feel good.

I doubt the WT has taken a hard stance on this particular program, though they may have alluded to it at some point. Someone with more research ability can find that. To me the bigger issue is that is shows how impressionable your mom is, and that just honestly makes me sad for her.............and you.

freddo

I remember my Aunt telling off her self righteous Elder (as in he was an Elder) son. (my cousin)

In the UK the longest running (since 1960) and one of the most popular TV "soaps" is "Coronation Street" a gossipy load of nonsense set about folk living in a terrace of houses in the North of England.

My Aunt was an avid watcher and follower of storylines despite being a devout JW.

Well in the 80's and 90's one of the pet peeves of the GB was "TV soaps" and occasionally we would get an assembly item or Watchtower study haranguing the faithful not to watch such "worldly" entertainment.

My cousin being a self righteous prig would wag his finger at her in a semi jocular fashion until she told him that A) He wasn't her spiritual head and B) when he stopped watching James Bond "with all its sex and violence" then he might have freeness of speech to come and speak to her."

Village Idiot

It seems that your mother is not happy with her life. She's not getting anything out of that 'spiritual food' so she turns to anything that she thinks will lessen her misery.

Think of yourself first and look forward to the day you'll be free.

Xanthippe

Anyways what do you guys think? Is the "law of attraction" approved by the watchtower? In my opinion the whole concept of it is bs and I hate that she is so controlled by her emotions that she will believe anything.

These concepts are always aimed at westerners. How can they be universal principles? How can the people starving in East Africa be deliberately attracting famine? Nonsense.

steve2

Like black and white thinkers and those into emotional reasoning, JWs are susceptible to woo of all sorts. I have a friend who is inactive but whose devout JW mother is into all sorts of alternative healing medicines and procedures - including a treatment that draws upon the concept of "the third eye". When my friend shared this with me, I exclaimed, "How is it possible for a JW in good standing to believe in this "third eye" stuff with all its pagan and Satanic overtones?" Her answer: Not only is her mother unbothered but so are other JWs who advocate the self-same treatment. In fact, a couple of JW women from neighboring congregations perform their treatment on many willing JWs - and they have never been questioned about it. If this were the 1980s, I simply would not believe it. Now, with so many duplicitous practices among even JWs in good standing, I humbly acknowledge this is likely a true account.

In any other context I would doubt this were even true. But given the way JWs continue to hunger for alternative remedies and treatments, I am not surprised they fall for this sort of woo stuff - they just don't publicize it to their local brothers and sisters.

scratchme1010

Anyways what do you guys think? Is the "law of attraction" approved by the watchtower? In my opinion the whole concept of it is bs and I hate that she is so controlled by her emotions that she will believe anything. She is always mad at me for listening to my "satanic" music yet she gets to do whatever she wants I guess.

I wouldn't be too harsh with her. I don't know her and don't know the entire situation, but based on people I know and my own personal experiences, my guess is that there's a very, very fine line that divides "positive thinking" and denial of the sad realities. A lot of JWs' brainwashing is masked with a false sense of security and certainty about the future. Being already conditioned that way, the I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that she may fall into denial, probably maybe realizing that the WT isn't giving her the certainty or sense of security it has.

Just a guess, and I may be way off. Either way, I hope that she awakes. Facing reality can be very, very painful. Pipe dreams glazed as "positive thinking" may be what a person needs at a given moment.

BlackWolf

I don't think she's awake by any means, I just think she believes anything that makes her feel good emotionally. I don't know if she is happy with her life or not, she is kind of a hard person to read but she does seem to genuinely enjoy being a jw and gets a kick out of judging others. I feel sorry for her sometimes though, I really hope she gets over this.

Rainbow_Troll

You should encourage her. Maybe she'll go from a JW to a New Ager and, no matter how you might feel about New Age philosophy, that has to be an improvement.

My own mom once had a client (she was a caregiver at the time) who's wife was a hip Zen Buddhist Jew from New York about the same age as her. As part of her caregiving service my mom often had to read to the guy and he always chose Buddhist stuff. Pretty soon my mom started remarking how similar the Buddha's teachings were to the Bible and she actually became friends with the guy's wife! She started saying things that were cool, but were totally out of character. She had me get books for her on eastern philosophy and I obliged. For a while, it looked like she was starting to wake up but then... CRASH! The gates of her mind came crashing down hard! She stopped seeing the Zen Jewess and redoubled her efforts to be a good JW. She was about 63 when this happened, so it was probably her last chance.

I don't know what scared her away but to this day I really regret not encouraging her exploration of Buddhism. I could already see the improvements in her character and on her happiness that slight flirtation caused and I'm sure that if she stuck with it, her entire life would have changed and she would have left the JWs. So please, don't be a wise ass and berate your mother for her hypocrisy. Use this golden opportunity to lure her away from the JWs BEFORE the elders catch on and slam the gates shut.

BTW The Secret is just watered down and warmed over New Thought. Try introducing her to authors like Ernest Holmes and Joel Goldsmith. Joel Goldsmith especially is a lot more Christian sounding and uses a lot of scriptures to back up his theology. Being a Bible thumper, your mom might respond to him more readily.

JRK

"The secret" is just sucking up to the successful. It is very selfish in practice.

JK

My mom is into "The Secret"

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