WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL HONESTY?

by Terry 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Terry
    Terry

    Freud said:

    "If it were really a matter of indifference what we belive, then we might just as well build our bridges of cardboard as of stone, or inject a tenth of a gram of morphine into a patient instead of a hundredth, or take teargas as a narcotic instead of Ether; but the intellectual anarchists themselves would strongly repudiate any such practical applications of their theory."

    Intellectual honesty requires a match between the real world; the practical world where things either WORK or do not work at all.....and the state of mind inside your head.

    If there is any mismatch at all the blurred line fuzzes out into failure to recognise what is real and what isn't.

    Jehovah's Witnesses replace the real world with an artificially constructed one. They build an illicit intellect for themselves with the help of the Watchtower and meeting attendance. They carry this intellectual destruction to households and practice it on their children.

    The ability to think clearly is gradually replaced by an induced blindness to clarity. A special-effects team goes to work in the brain and uses CGI to erect facades of phony "reality" replacing the accurate one inside.

    Soon, the actual human intellect has been dismantled. When a JW sees a neighbor they don't SEE the neighbor at all. They now see a worldly goat marked for destruction who must be avoided lest bad association taint them with polluted false worship of a satanic empire.

    We who have formerly been these meta-humans know this process well.

    Many of us have had to rebuild our intellect from the state of destruction into what we need to function in a hand's on real world of cause and effect.

    HOW SUCCESSFUL have you been? Are you yet intellectually honest? Or, do you carry some semblance of ___blank out__into your daily life from the habit you learned as a JW drone-clone?

    Do you often find yourself slipping into the ___alternate universe__of the world you "prefer" rather than the one that "is"?

    Do you accept your responsibility in building your own life with your own choices? Or, do you live in a kind of daydream expectation that "things will all work out somehow"?

    Do you cling to a belief system constructed for the purpose of "feeling good"? Or, do you face facts and acknowledge that there may be nothing at all real about any superstitious or mystical ideas peddled around the world by gurus, shaman, priests and holy men?

    Can you tolerate skepticism or do you seek solace in cherished mental constructs that grant you an invisible friend in the sky who is watching out for you?

    Do you find yourself saying "I HOPE SO" ?

    Do you rely on what you call "gut feeling" rather than rational data or demonstrable information in the form of evidence?

    When you explain your views do you find they are vague? Or, are they connected to actual definable definitions that can be written down and explained from premise to conclusion?

    Do you find conversation about facts and evidence to be irritating and does it make you uncomfortable to have to explain yourself?

    Can you be at ease with NOT knowing something? Or, do you always choose to "believe" what makes something ___seem___sensible?

    In short:

    ARE YOU INTELLECTUALLY HONEST?

  • tetrapod.sapien
    tetrapod.sapien

    me?

    i have come a long way. happily living in the world of facts, evidence and scientific method. but...

    HOW SUCCESSFUL have you been? Are you yet intellectually honest? Or, do you carry some semblance of ___blank out__into your daily life from the habit you learned as a JW drone-clone?
    i still have much left to do, if i am to be honest with myself. it's relatively easy to deconvert one's self from supernatural-magical thinking, once the power of scientific method and rational thinking is observed and used. but, it is much harder to deprogram one's self from the emotional crutches provided by our "loving father in the heavens". i'm what one would call a weak atheist, or a negative atheist. back to the default position. an honest position, indeed. so i have been successful. but, still have a long way to go. i mean, who am i kidding? i just came out of a cult a few months ago. i can only go so fast. killing the JW drone_clone, that likes all his answers lined up neatly in two columns of black and white, good and evil, us and them, is hard. but it's great.
  • luna2
    luna2

    I am finding this upsetting to contemplate. I have a horrible feeling that I've always lived in some sort of fantasy world more or less and the whole JW thing was just another, more comprehensive, fairytale.

    I don't know what I believe. I'm not liking the person that is being revealed as I strip away the layers of self-delusion. I'm beginning to doubt that intellectual honesty is something that I can attain.

    Ugh. I'm not having a good day. Maybe I should go out and wash the siding...at least I'll have accomplished something concrete today.

  • JamesThomas
    JamesThomas

    Terry, are you getting even better, or am I just appreciating your post even more?

    I, for one, am in total agreement with what you have said, but wonder, how deep does "Intellectual Honesty" go?

    Everything that the Witnesses teach -- and all beliefs for that matter -- are abstracts generated by the intellect. "Honesty", is equated with what is genuine, actual, true and real. However, an abstract, is abstruse and unreal. So, is anything the mind presents truly honest? I mean more than just a real and honest fake?

    Intellectual constructs are only facsimiles. My thoughts about some thing, are not that thing. Perhaps "Intellectual Honesty" is an oxymoron, and Jehovah's Witness beliefs are only a superbly blatant example of that.

    So, it may be that true honesty is met, reality met, when intellectualizing is quiescent; and consciousness is simply silently present and attentive with what IS.

    j

  • prophecor
    prophecor
    Do you cling to a belief system constructed for the purpose of "feeling good"? Or, peddled around the world by gurus, shaman, priests and holy men?

    It's not my desire to attatch myself to a religion or belief system that's designed to make me feel good, perse'. I don't believe that feeling good is to be the end to all when one invest their lifes energy in worship, whether that be from the tennets of Islam, Christianity, Buhddism or any host of other denominations. I seek a higher degree of worship that aligns my life with a higher calling.

    The world is a wonderful, beautiful place as it stands. There are a myriad of wonderful people here that can and have brought a lot of good into my life. My life, however, is to be more than just a feel good means to an end. There is pain that must be dealt with, in melding with those of my family members, friends and especially strangers. It's not supposed to always feel good.

    I seek a space of acceptance and contentment, as I walk throughout this world. I recognise that there are trials and failures that will always have to be experienced. It's a place of learning for me as I make my exit out of this physical body, and this physical world.

    ... do you face facts and acknowledge that there may be nothing at all real about any superstitious or mystical ideas...

    I will always believe in a creator, an Almighty Supernatural Being. This world Is over run by evidence that there is a Creator, whether that be Allah, Jehovah, Christ Jesus or any other number of Gods. I can not discount belief in the Almighty.

    We as humans, although mere animals on an entirely different level, are the only creatures on earth who have the ability to reason, to give wonder to the awesome powers of the universe. We have touched the heavens. The very face of God. We are mostly insignificant in this most illustrious journey through life. Yet and still, we matter, somehow. This little blue marble we live on, hurtling out in space, when contrasted with the rest of the universe would cause many to wonder whether we matter at all.

    Do I believe in the mystical ideas or the seeming superstitions of the belief systems of those in the various religions? I'm not as mystified by them, thats for sure. I'm not in dread as I once was with our God, or might I say the God we once believed in. I am respectful of the fact that God is real, I'm no longer willing to throw away all my cards, in the absolute belief that Jehovah's Witnesses got it right.

    The Creator is real, though I won't ever lend my life over to organized religion, of any kind. I also will not discount the beliefs of other religions either. There are many sides of the truth, other religions have a tap into truth as well, Islam is a beautiful religion, those who practice it in truth. Many aspects of religions of the east, (Oriental) we would do well to incorporate in our lives. There is more to truth than just Christianity. God is larger than any Kingdom Hall or specified belief system.

  • LongHairGal
    LongHairGal

    Terry:

    I am grateful I was such a bad witness and was on the fringes so I was more of a realist than the other dubs I knew.

    But in reading through your list I was surprised to find that some so-called worldly people I know indulge in such self-deception as well. More than you may imagine. They are not all realists. A lot of people live in their own little bubble.

    But in all honesty none are as bad as the dubs.

  • Quentin
    Quentin

    Just as Prophecor said: " I will always believe in a creator, an Almighty Supernatural." I too accept that. There need be no convulsion of religious doctrine in order to see God’s work. It’s there. It’s simple. For me that’s where God ends and I begin. He’s there. I’m here.

    I think of it as intellectual discernment as opposed to honesty. Either way, words, or phrases are subject to a wide range of interpretation. One comes to a point in their live where they decide what their worldview will be. Someone else telling them what it should be (JW’s) is not needed.

    I came out on the other side a hard core skeptic and deist. I examine everything, question everything, enjoy it too. Enjoy what other’s have to say as well. After all, how can you gain any knowledge if you don’t listen, observe and examine.

  • Terry
    Terry

    Prophecore,

    That was beautifully expressed.

    Have you done any serious writing? I think you have a gift of expression.

    Thanks,

    Terry

  • prophecor
    prophecor
    Prophecore,

    That was beautifully expressed.

    Have you done any serious writing? I think you have a gift of expression.

    Thanks, Terry

    Why thank you Terry. That means a lot coming from you. I've often been told I have a way with words, however, I've yet to accomplish any serious writting. Lately, however, I have thought about writing a book about my life, as a witness, as a survivor of the psychiatric systems and institutions. The only serious writing I've done have been a handful of songs, one of which a wonderful woman who worked in the VA hospital, a music therapist, helped me compose it out of my head. Poems and I used to keep my thoughts scatterd in journal writing. I've had my hand in several of them over the course of some years. Your questions, this morning, truly got me to think. It was not as if my response was something that I could just spill out. I actually had to dig this stuff out of me in order to respond. You have a way about expressing yourself that I truly admire as well, and a way that demands thought when reading your post. Thanks for the Kudos. Arthur

  • prophecor
    prophecor
    Do you accept your responsibility in building your own life with your own choices? Or, do you live in a kind of daydream expectation that "things will all work out somehow"?

    I now accept responsibility for the choices that I have made, as well the consequences that must be faced as a result of those same choices. I can no longer blame my mother or my father for the way they raised me. I am a sum result of my upbringing, or as they say a product of my envioronment, I however, had the chance to choose differently on many fronts that could have turned my world a different corner.

    There were those who tried to give me direction, who recognised that I had the potential to do some awesome things in my life. They tried to get me to develop my artistic talents. My father, several times tried to get me to invest a portion of my lifes energy in learning architectural drafting. My teachers, very early on in my teens reached out to me, tried to steer me away from the riff raff and get me to point my life in a direction that might lead me to prosper. Peer pressure and the growing pains of adolescense gave me the reason to choose unwisely. The arrogance of adolescense combined with a rebelious nature, altered the direction of my life the same way a bullet riccochets off a wall. My entire trajectory had changed.

    The religion of Jehovah's Witnesses seemed the perfect way of getting thru a world where a lonely, unsure teen could get the direction and discipline needed. I always wished for discipline. I knew I needed direction as my father was too aloof and passive to adminster the proper discipline and justice necessary to give me the best trajectory.

    With no one but myself wanting to serve Jehovah's Organisation, I allowed myself to fall early, just as Jesus described the one who is sown on the rocky places, accepting the word with joy but as soon as trouble comes........

    I will not live in a world of denial or magical thinking that everything's gonna' be alright. Things have the potential to go disasterously wrong in this life. Time and unforseen occurence, befall us all. This is a scriptural fact that would best be faced and dealt with. I hope things work themselves out. I would like to be able to have God's hand continue to guide me through the desert that this life can be. The only thing that would work itself out for me would be to reach a point in my life of having the un-questioning understanding that God is still with me.

    Actually, I look back and can often give witness to the fact that surely, God must have been with me. I know for a certainty, even being out of the truth for over 10 years now, that God must have been with me. I've been down some of the darkest roads and I should already have been dead, years ago. As for my accomplishments, I know I couldn't have come as far as I have without him.

    There, also, are things that I have been allowed to experience, that although many were wrong, the outworking of them seems to have had a larger fulfillment that had nothing to do with me, they brought benefit to other individuals.

    So now comes the aspect of grace. Grace has been a means of salvation in so many chapters in my life, that it often causes me to shake my head in awe of the fact that I came out alive or got thru a situation. Many would have bet the house that I would lost.

    There are seasons of drought in my life where I know I'm not going to make it. There are times that come when I'm in my head about how " this is it, this is the thing that's gonna kill you. " Then, somehow, grace gives me a peek into the possibility that maybe God will get me thru this. Maybe I'll be allowed to come thru this as well.

    Grace and history are the things that can give me hope that regardless for what I may go thru in life, that I can get thru them. I still put trust, hope and faith in things unseen, and the life force energy that is beyond human comprehension. There's someone out there, there's something sustaining us, there is an entity in the universe, that gives a damn.

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