by El blanko 9 Replies latest jw friends
I have realized lately that I am far less "preachy" than I used to be and as a result, I do not feel as far up my own backside as I used to.
I think my ego is finally, FINALLY, becoming easier to whip and control. I grew tired of hearing my own voice.
Do you feel this way?
I have realized lately that I am far less "preachy" than I used to be and as a result, I do not feel as far up my own backside as I used to.
Congratulations on your honesty...you are now normal and now free of the judgemental spirit the WTS (through its doctrines and high moral/spiritual demands) encourages.
It is great to be more tolerant of other people isnt it? I feel and have felt the same as you on this issue.
DB
Its not that I don't hold a firm set of beliefs in certain areas, it's just that I no longer feel the need to continually force them down others throats.
I think the moment I had the realization of 'complexity' when viewing life, my mind did a u-turn.
Quite liberating
same here. tired of fighting the same battle over and over again, without winning or losing. i sometimes, purely random, plant a seed here and there but i never try to lead a conversation into the direction of "the truth about the truth". i like to talk religion and history if the topic comes up, but i don't get into those heated debates anymore.
i like to talk religion and history if the topic comes up, but i don't get into those heated debates anymore.
I can relate to that. I have a group of friends who just love to have a big argument that personally leaves my nerves shattered. I decided a while ago to sit on the sidelines and all I noticed was a game taking place.
Mostly semantics in fact.
All that "point scoring" is exhausting
I never really did like preaching - even when I believed most of it. I felt it was unnatural in some way. Because I wasn't really sold on it all I guess this was part of the reason I didn't excel in the f.s. I also didn't like getting into debates when I met a real bible expert at the door!! But now I am glad to be free of this.
LHG
a turning point for me came when I realized the source of guilt.
after reading a book called Societies of the mind [marvin minsky MIT]
I saw that we model everyone we meet and these models are invested with varying emotional charges and they sort of sit
mostly invisibly in the back of the mind in their jury box watching everything I do and everything I think..
.and I was always justifying myself and my actions to them as if their opinions mattered more than my own. They were the largest part of the inner voices which I had to argue against and defend myself from.
.. but then I realized that all of them were no better nor worse than me and most were not nearly as well read or concerned with any remote attempt at trying to figure out the meaning of things and so what really was their opinion worth.... and to top it all off, I reailzed these models were not even accurate to the real people they supposedly represented and were of little predictive value.
I was instantly releived of a lot of unnecessary emotion.
Mr Zen Nudist:
I can see where you are coming from and that sounds like an interesting book of studies.
I have tried in recent times to strip myself of harsh judgement towards others and it has been a challenge. I have found it necessary to stay away from those who harshly judge others, themselves.
This has meant seperating myself from friends who really want to go back to the Kingdom Hall. Their mentality upsets me and borders upon being psychotic.
I never did have a desire to preach, despite being indoctrinated from birth. Like someone else already said- it didn't feel "natural". Deep down I always felt there was something useless about the whole thing, and in 17 years of my life I never once brought anyone to the "truth". After that time, I have been a member of about three different community churches (due to moving) and have had a part in several people becoming Christians. (But then, I don't take the credit! )
I didn't do this by knocking on their doors, but having a true enthusiasm for my worship. It's nice to feel comfortable in your own skin!
I have tried in recent times to strip myself of harsh judgement towards others and it has been a challenge. I have found it necessary to stay away from those who harshly judge others, themselves.
another thing I realized....in order to judge another, you must have some standard of judgement... but what standard is superior to reality itself? when we look at another and judge them as evil or good, we always do so with something besides what is really happening in mind, some ideal fantasy alternative which they are either supporting or harming...but where does this ideal come from and why do we value it more than the true unfolding of reality? because we were CONviNcED that the ideal should be followed as superior to reality because we were taught that reality was flawed, evil, corrupted, etc. but without realizing it we were lied to, because we cannot see reality as any of those things without accepting the ideal first...and the ideal is manifestly a rejection of reality, a lie which could not possibily come from any real god who should know what and why reality is exactly as we find it.
when people present their ideal fantasy as fact and as superior to reality itself, they will judge just about everything as falling short...and they will have a very very negative aura about them as they see no good in the world and are constantly seeking ways to destroy what is and remake it in the image of their false idols, their ideals.
