ok i only have the concept right now, but wouldn't it be cool if we could have quotes that are like the moment of zen bit from the daily show with jon stewart?
what i'm thinking is quotes from this board, i mean look at how many posts we get there has bound to be some classic statements made from time to time, we just need to recognize it and save it!
just imagine it all in one thread, it would be great..
Oh this is much better than I could have asked for, now you guys can get a sense of what I mean. Like that character Banya(?) said in Seinfeld: "It's gold Jerry, GOLD!"
From Sparkplug:
I now have a nutless gay kitty named Tink and his brother Speedy who is not so happy with his missing kitty nuts either.
ok i only have the concept right now, but wouldn't it be cool if we could have quotes that are like the moment of zen bit from the daily show with jon stewart?
what i'm thinking is quotes from this board, i mean look at how many posts we get there has bound to be some classic statements made from time to time, we just need to recognize it and save it!
just imagine it all in one thread, it would be great..
Ok I only have the concept right now, but wouldn't it be cool if we could have quotes that are like the moment of zen bit from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart? What I'm thinking is quotes from this board, I mean look at how many posts we get there has bound to be some classic statements made from time to time, we just need to recognize it and save it! Just imagine it all in one thread, it would be great..
most of the time i just walk on by.
i just can't be bothered, and they are not going to believe what i say anyway.
besides, should i tell them i am disfellowshipped, which may scare them away?
Rod that was not what I meant. When I say it becomes about you, I only mean it is limited to your view of them and so on. So yes the lingo would be a part of it, I guess in essence what I'm trying to say is you're in the best position if you can see the big picture, and mainly from an intrapersonal perspective. After all we're talking about free minds right, being freed from certain thoughts is a rather limited aspect of a free mind.
i was thinking how the exit process as facilitated by people learning 'the truth about the truth' is rather like treatment of a disease, medicine can get rid of it but for example we know how chemotherapy can be hard on the body.
healing, then, would be something different and may be necessary after the 'harsh medicine.
' it's easy to resort to 'time heals all wounds', but when the wound is really deep obviously it helps to have something other than just sitting around waiting, because you're probably going to wait a really long time.
I wish I had more time to talk about what this would look like, and as it is I don't remember enough of what the JW stuff looks like anyway, but I want to make a quick point about the basic mechanics of it. In effect it is like the difference between negating, countering the JW message and neutralizing it, which is to say see it for what it is - nothing. While I agree that getting busy enjoying life and doing things is useful, I would say it is definitely worth looking at whether it is a matter of a polarization to all things non-JW, (which would probably be appropriate - for a time) or if the pattern is more of a matter of neutralization which amounts to transcending it. In terms of conversation it is helpful to question, but this would be an open ended question - and in terms of your own healing it involves questioning yourself, or the beliefs you have held.
Edited to add:
Does this distinction make sense?
i was thinking how the exit process as facilitated by people learning 'the truth about the truth' is rather like treatment of a disease, medicine can get rid of it but for example we know how chemotherapy can be hard on the body.
healing, then, would be something different and may be necessary after the 'harsh medicine.
' it's easy to resort to 'time heals all wounds', but when the wound is really deep obviously it helps to have something other than just sitting around waiting, because you're probably going to wait a really long time.
I was thinking how the exit process as facilitated by people learning 'the truth about the Truth' is rather like treatment of a disease, medicine can get rid of it but for example we know how chemotherapy can be hard on the body. Healing, then, would be something different and may be necessary after the 'harsh medicine.' It's easy to resort to 'time heals all wounds', but when the wound is really deep obviously it helps to have something other than just sitting around waiting, because you're probably going to wait a really long time. So given that we know how many are hurting from the whole experience after being out, what are some ways to help heal? For that matter what about looking at this healing factor in the beginning along side the 'medicine'?
most of the time i just walk on by.
i just can't be bothered, and they are not going to believe what i say anyway.
besides, should i tell them i am disfellowshipped, which may scare them away?
Do you folks see that there's a Catch-22 here (if you talk to them, that is.)
Actually that is only an issue if you try to approach it strictly through verbal reasoning of the topic at hand. There are ways to relax the mind without addressing any particular topic at all, but of course it helps that you are somewhat there yourself rather than just have a bunch of information and lines of reasoning. Because even if you have the facts, if your state of mind is still one that is essentially the same (if you still have JW related issues/hangups) then your efforts at "anti-witnessing" will convey nothing but information, and people do not change significantly through that kind of input alone.
First of all, we need to recognize that just because you know so much it doesn't mean you can get someone to totally change their mind after one conversation, baby steps. As an XJW you may be all excited that you got a JW that is talking to you and lose sight of where that person is at in your enthusiasm, and it becomes about you and what you want to say rather than what they can handle. Often it appears that XJWs are just as over zealous as JWs are, and frankly that is not always skillful.
And again, lets face it, if it was only a matter of information processing, then everyone hearing what you have to say (not unlike the JWs witnessing) would just automatically be totally free from it all or follow what is said, but we know that is not the case. That is why you need to address the psychological ramifications aside from the content of the programming alone, and in that regard it helps to know and look at yourself. In short, we can get more specific and have more of an impact if it is about people rather than the content they happen to have in their head. Sure the two are related and intertwined in the mind of a Witness, but if you only consider the belief system you are missing a lot of the nuances that keeps the person tied to it, perhaps even what you yourself is still tied up with as an XJW.
let's face it, most jw's believe that there is clear biblical evidence that shows that only 144k will go to heaven and rule as kings during the 1000 yr reign.
when examining this topic without the aid of anything but the bible itself, it paints quite a different picture.
you would need to make some blind assumptions to come to the wt conclusion regarding this topic.. jws take it for granted this scripture rev.
Am I the only one that's thinking 'bottles of beer on the wall'...?
'.. and if one of the annointed should fall, there will be 143,999 ...'
for years, i refused to think of the witnesses as a "cult".
too harsh and restrictive of a word for me......but there is no denying that we were all in a mind controlling cult.
are you embarrassed or uncomfortable knowing that you belonged to a cult just like the moonies and the branch davidians are/werw a cult?
Are you embarrassed or uncomfortable knowing that you belonged to a cult just like the Moonies and the Branch Davidians are/werw a cult??
No, because who I am now is not the same as the person that was a JW. It would be like getting worked up over things you were involved with or did when you were a kid, I understand people may remember those times and still feel a bit uncomfortable but even so we recognize it was a totally different stage in our life.
I will say this though, if the subject comes up I'm always willing to talk about it, but if it is just in passing I feel no need to get into the whole thing, especially to someone who hasn't been there. (and if they have I don't need to) I guess it's sort of like 'been there, done that - got the bible bound with the Reasoning book.'
i just want to say a big thanks to everyone here at jwd.
ive been posting for a few months now and i cannot express how much being here and reading everyones experiences has helped me.
its wonderful not to be alone anymore.
Glad you find it helpful Lilbit, and nice to have you too.
BTW it does get better. For me now it's like that scripture they use to describe the new system "the former things will not be called to mind" - except it's with the JWs.
most of the time i just walk on by.
i just can't be bothered, and they are not going to believe what i say anyway.
besides, should i tell them i am disfellowshipped, which may scare them away?
I basically don't say anything, to be honest I think a lot of them has forgotten me and I have forgotten them, atleast their names. To me it's like people you went to highschool with, they don't really have any bearing on your life now.
Of course if they want to speak to me I'll speak to them, and I'll judge on a case by case basis, but in general most JWs are not really in a state where they will have an open and candid conversation, most of the time. So I have kind of this "prime directive" thing where I don't disturb their development if they are clinging to where they are, I mean I'm not going to go around grabbing little kids and making it a point to tell them there is no Santa Claus either.
