SPOT ON!

by Dansk 14 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Dansk

  This, especially, sums up the mentality of those in positions in Watchtower:

  We become a 'defender of the faith' to which we have subscribed and we may begin to experience criticism of it as a personal attack. We invest in the truth of the teachings. This can lead us to become dogmatic, defensive, and even aggressive to the point of suppressing or persecuting those who criticize us. At the back of our minds we perhaps sense that not everything we have taken on quite hangs together or makes sense, and this makes us still more rigid in our defence of it."
• 

  JamesThomas

  there are things I don't like which bother me right now, that I want to fix

  Dear Flowerpetal, The investigation into our being -- that I am referring to -- is not a psychological one, or intellectual one, or like a doctor going in to fix, or cut out, or attempt at making things better. It's more like a scientist observing a totally new life form of which nothing is known. She takes along no prejudices or preconceived ideas or judgments. She allows the subject to reveal it's truths and teach her. If she goes in with preconceptions she will be blinded by them and see what she wants to see and not necessarily what is here. Fear seems a barrier. But is it? When we sit still to look within, fear, is often the first thing to show itself. To see it as something negative or undesirable, is to make it an enemy, and now we are fighting a war, and not silently and nonjudgmentally observing. Funny, I know this scenario well, and it can happen in a millisecond. The thing to do is simply see how there is automatic reaction to certain bodily and emotional stimulus. Just silently and nonjudgmentally see it, and now there is no battle and we are back to pure observation. The goal is not to go in and fix what is broken, but rather to discover and see clearly what needs no fixing -- what is already whole and complete. So, next time you go within, look deeper into what ever presents itself. If it is fear, welcome it. It has come to be seen and met with. What is fear? What does it feel like? Notice what parts of the body tense up and how what we call "fear" has a center and radiates out from the belly. Don't think about fear, or dwell on ideas about fear. Don't use mental commentary to describe it. Just be with it and feel it. Go to the core of it. Let it, allow it, to teach you. Is fear really so ugly? Or is it kind of like a cat coming up to sit on your lap to be observed and held? Is it who you really are? Perhaps fear has so much power because we falsely identify with it. As we come and stay in the moment more and more, and are aware, we see that all these thoughts and their connected emotions are not what we truly are. What you really are, I can not say; but when seen you will know it for what it is; and the fragile broken individual who needs fixing will be seen as like a dream. j
• 

  xjw_b12

  Hello Ian. Notice the "newbies" coming out of the woodwork? Spring, or the crumbling of the WTBTS? One can only hope.

  Thank you for posting that exerpt from the book. Isn't it amazing when you read something like that. It just makes you say to yourself " that is so true". And it's application not just to JWism but all aspects of our belief system is very true.

  Words to remember

  Take care: David and Denise
• 

  Satanus

  We tend to take on the whole package: if this is true then that is probably true too.

  Christianity uses this exact mechanism, hell, jesus taught it, according to the gospels; miracles to follow the preaching of the gospel to prove that it was true. Most christians, if a 'miracle' happens, take it as proof that their church is good, their pastor is to be trusted, that christianity is the only way, that the bible is the word of god, that the rest of their beliefs are correct, etc. That's a big pill, and it ain't red.

  At the back of our minds we perhaps sense that not everything we have taken on quite hangs together or makes sense, and this makes us still more rigid in our defence of it."

  And this is where FAITH comes to play. It's use is to covered over, block out that niggling, scratchy feeling. FAITH, screams the preacher, you gotta have FAITH, or you're nothing. No, you don't, not if your belief can stand on it's own.

  SS
• 

  Dansk

  SS

  FAITH, screams the preacher, you gotta have FAITH, or you're nothing. No, you don't, not if your belief can stand on it's own.

  Absolutely!

  Ian