How to break the spell of cults/religions -- be like "Ella" in the movie

by Gopher 9 Replies latest social entertainment

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  Gopher

  I went with my older daughter to see "Ella Enchanted" this weekend. It's an updated version of the Cinderella story, and was very entertaining.
  

  Shortly after Ella's birth, her fairy godmother gives her the "gift" of obedience. The gift, of course, turns out to be a curse. Her stepsisters discover that they can get her to do anything they want, and she MUST obey. They say "bite your tongue" and she literally does so. Also the good prince's uncle orders Ella to do a dastardly deed which would put HIM in power rather than the good prince.

  As that's about to happen, Ella remembers her mother's dying statement -- that SHE is more powerful than any spell put on her. So she fights against the uncle's order, conquers the spell that is put on her, and the kingdom is saved. And she and her prince live happily ever after.

  After talking it over with my wife ... It got me thinking some more.. In cults or cultlike religions like Jehovah's Witnesses, the most important thing is OBEDIENCE to the leader. The primary doctrine of such movements is that the leader or leaders represent God and must be obeyed at any cost up to and including death.

  The members buy into this. They interrupt normal life to try to please the leadership of their religious movement, so as to gain whatever reward is promised. Little or nothing will stop their obedience, even if the request is nonsensical or even harmful.

  Only when people realize that THEY are more powerful than any such spell their religious leadership puts on them can they come to "live happily" and use the brain God gave them so as to chart their own life course rather than have it charted out for them by greedy and/or power-hungry charlatans who pose as men of God.

  Have you broken the spell? If so, how?
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  Dan-O

  Interesting perspective.

  My daughter saw the movie last weekend with one of her friends. She said she liked the book much better than the movie.

  I suppose that since you asked how I broke the spell ... hmmmm ... maybe it's best to say that I met my own serpent who guided me to the forbidden fruit. I tasted, I enjoyed, and I left the Garden. Once out, I figured out that the Garden wasn't even as attractive as I had once thought, let alone being as attractive as I was told.
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  Gopher

  For me to quit "obedience" to the JW leadership, I had to be forcibly pushed out of the organization by elders who cared more about their own reputation than about facts.

  Once outside the JW's, I started to think about what obedience to the JW's all those years had gotten me -- little or nothing! After that realization, I knew I couldn't go back to the JW's at any cost.

  Anyone who can break free of the JW's on their own (without being pushed) deserves credit for their gumption. It isn't easy. The social pressure to stay in is enormous, and the threats to our "everlasting life" may seem credible.

  But however we did it, whether it was on our own or through being pushed outside, once we realize that serving and obeying a group of men is futile, we become free and can never return to slavery.
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  itsallgoodnow

  That sounds like a pretty interesting movie, and a pretty good thing for young girls to see. I like the way you applied it to blind obedience toward the WTS.
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  gumby

  It got me thinking

  Interesting how many things we relate to dubdom once we leave. We always have a pocket full of red flags for many things in life. I think we learned alot.

  Nice comparison Gopher.
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  Gopher

  Dan-O,

  Glad you're enjoying the "fruits" of your discoveries!!

  I like the way you applied it to blind obedience toward the WTS.

  Thanks, goodnow! I learned "application of main points" from the Theocraptic Misery School.

  Interesting how many things we relate to dubdom once we leave.

  Thanks for the comment, you rubber lifelike action figure. I try not to be too obsessed about my former JW life, but sometimes some things jump out at you and you just HAVE to take notice!!
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  gumby

  but sometimes some things jump out at you and you just HAVE to take notice!!

  It pretty much happens to me on a daily basis.

  Gumby
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  heathen

  Let me guess here --- The movie is banned by the WTBTS because it's satanic .

  They claim to represent God but what they really want is obedience to man . When we say jump you say how high?
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  Undaunted Danny

  How to break the cult spell? The time will come..... Yes, that moment of truth.You will reel in convulsive horror. That sudden impact shocker,knowing that your life of dreams are dashed. The anguish and the agony of,having to renounce the life long convictions of your heart. Soul Rape, to know that all you believed in is a LIE. Prepare your family and yourself as you would for a disaster drill. Remember our survivalist creedo;"There is( a good) life after the cult". Help is only a mouse click away. Undaunted Danny,AKA Rollingthunderboywonder
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  AuSet

  Hi, Goph,

  Just saw the movie tonight, and really enjoyed it also. The scene where Ella and Char are in the hall of mirrors, and she drops the knife, hit with me for some reason, I just started crying.

  If only it were that easy, LOL.

  It took me a long time to break the spell, and I wasn't "pushed," I did it on my own and left my entire family/network of friends behind. Why? I guess ultimately I realized that I was too intune to myself and too aware to stay within the WT's clutches. I could not continue to just blindly accept everything they told us to be absolute fact. I distinctly remember a trip to bethel where a bethelite asked us what our goals were in the org., and the young people I was with were gushing with answers, ...pioneer/gilead/bethel/etc. It got to my turn and I said "huh, I don't really have any." It was kinda a magical moment for me, I guess you could say. I realized I would never fit in with the org., but still held all their beliefs. It took many years for me to slowly peel back all those ugly layers of lies. Feeling pretty good now, though!

  Hey, Goph. On a side note, guess what? I'm getting married this summer, LOL!!! Hows that for eating my own words?