Spiritwalker: Thanks for a wonderful post. I think I understand what you are trying to say, in that the bottom line is, WE, our own personal SELF are the only ones who can fix something that has gotten messed up in our perception of life and belief structures. Once we figure out that we are on the wrong road, we need to get off that road and CHANGE ourselves. It is never too late to do this.
We can talk till we're blue in the face, we can search the internet, we can read, we can try to put the blame for our PRESENT state on someone or something else. But the truth is, there is no pill to take, there is no person who can heal us and we cannot continue to put the blame for OUR life course on another. As much as it might hurt, we have to get strong, accept help and solutions and apply remedies as necessary, without feeling that we have no control over our life. The only thing we can't control, is what someone else does or doesn't do. I share your frustration there, but then again, we have to get unstuck.
Young children and young adults are at the mercy of those guiding them as they grow up; but upon maturity, they do have the option to change their life--and they do it all the time. That is the struggle of man in his element.
Life isn't easy. We make decisions every day and we do so with the facts we have at hand. If we find we've been misled, then we change what we can about ourselves and our perceptions and move forward. We cannot change anyone else. We cannot change the religion who's teaching are now found to be untrue by our hearts, because they are granted the same freedoms that we have. It's true we are in a very modern age, but people still get killed and murdered and suffer great abuse because of their religious beliefs. Yet, no one has forced the believer to die for their faith--it is always their choice. Whether we have been coerced, brain-washed, or mentally abused, especially in the area of RELIGION, it would have to be a sect that also goes against the government and does not fit in with society in any way, before anyone would try to take them to task as a group.
If children are being physically and sexually abused and this is the nature of the religious teachings, then yes, someone is wrong; but even in the JW faith, they do not teach the physical or sexual abuse of the young. I know it to be true, that some are more fanatical than others and much more strict, but again, this is more the individual parent or family structure, and NOT a teaching. If there is legal remedy, it can and should be sought; otherwise, we need to move on and let them go.Whoever they might be--fathers, uncles, teachers, brothers of faith, or mothers, aunts, teachers, sisters of faith, they have no right to physically or sexual abuse anyone.
There are many, many loving and sincere people still sitting in Kingdom Halls all over the world. They are guided by very strict rules and dogma, but were it not that most all agree to follow these precepts, there is no reason for the ones making those rules to change anything. They continue to have a very strong following. For the most part, they are considered to be honest and trustworthy as a group. Most everyone will agree that it is sad that they are so "sincerely wrong". And so sad that they have caused divisions in families and loved ones over their belief system.
And yes, it is difficult when one makes a change and this change is regarded as apostate. This is their own fear showing through. We have to be true to our own mind and heart and sometimes if we are always thinking "what if" or "why me?" we willl never get over the past and never be as free as we could be, to move on, without the weights of religious doom and gloom. They have no power over us unless we allow them to have that power. And, who is to blame if we ourselves allow them this power? We would find ourselves at the mercy of anyone coming and going, with any type of deceptive invitation or suggestion.
And mind control....I'm sorry, but we do have choices. We aren't simply being led around like a bunch of zombies, or else this world would be in a much worse state than it is right now. We are lured and enticed, true, but the bottom line decision is ours, whether it be boozing, smoking or drugs, sex....whatever. If we cannot control ourselves, then someone else will see that and put us in a mental institution or hospital or jail for treatment or punnishment. That is not having control in my opinion. As much as we might hate to admit it, the disallusion, the fear, the guilt, are all things that we "accepted". That's where you get that monkey off your back!
Most of us have had some really bad and sad experiences within the walls of the borg, and that is very unfortunate. But, would we be where we are here and now, if it had not been for this experience? The domino affect seems ever present. But, how are we to get past all of this and live happier lives if we keep dwelling on things that cannot be changed and trying to blame others. If you have a problem with a certain individual, make an effort to go to them and get it resolved. If the problem has legal remedy, do what you have to do. Otherwise, we have to face that we are in a different place now, and we took a path that didn't lead us where we thought it would, so now we take a new path. We still might change to an even newer path. It's our own choice. If you perceive that you are unacceptable, than you will feel and act that way without any input from anyone else.
Facing myself and being accountable for my life has empowered me. I am no longer in that hopeless, hapless place.
