I still say trick or treating as one of Jehovah's Witnesses would be great...
Markfromcali
JoinedPosts by Markfromcali
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16
Not having to celebrate holidays was actually pretty cool
by IronGland innow that i'm a non jw i'm expected to celebrate holidays by my gf, family etc.
there's way too many and it gets to be a pain.
valentines,easter,memorial day mothers day,fathers day, 4th of july, thanksgiving, halloween, christmas(bleh!
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Cat's Claw as anti-aging agent
by Markfromcali inhas anyone read about this?
i came across this in a book at work (i work for a supplement retailer) and they have an extract that is supposed to stimulate dna repair.
here is a link to a company that has a product in case anyone is interested.
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Markfromcali
Has anyone read about this? I came across this in a book at work (I work for a supplement retailer) and they have an extract that is supposed to stimulate DNA repair. Here is a link to a company that has a product in case anyone is interested. Oh yeah, of course actual discussion about it would be nice too.
(ooo and ahh... doesn't that site look all futuristic, reminds me of some scenes in Vanilla Sky..)
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5
The Good News
by Markfromcali in.
here's one those of you who are still in can use.. if you're still in the tms or just practice field service presentations or hey... even field service itself, imagine giving the introduction about being in the last days and this kind of stuff, and then: "but i do have good news: i just saved a bunch of money by switching my car insurance to geicko!".
ahh well, you know it's all in the delivery...
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Markfromcali
Here's one those of you who are still in can use.. If you're still in the TMS or just practice field service presentations or hey... even field service itself, imagine giving the introduction about being in the last days and this kind of stuff, and then: "But I do have good news: I just saved a bunch of money by switching my car insurance to Geicko!"
Ahh well, you know it's all in the delivery...
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54
Does the idea of a bodyless soul make sense? Could the 'soul' stay sane?
by IronGland inas i lay in my pod yesterday i began to think of the following.
in many religions-christianity, hinduism, and buddhism, as well as greek philosophy-attempts are made to mortify the body, to respond as little as often to it's carnal needs and what-not.
this is possible to be prepared for a new existence as just a disembodied soul, in some heavenly spirit realm or what-not.. .
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Markfromcali
Well Tetra, experience isn't the cat's meow if you ask me.. There's just being, more immediate.. You've experienced some of that.
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27
Should Men Moisturise?
by Englishman inso does rod stewart.
i like clarins the best.
it moisturises beautifully and leaves my skin as soft as a baby's bottom.
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Markfromcali
In the states there is a great product called Badger hand balm if you have really dry skin, pretty oily though but works well...
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Why the Jehovah's Witness religion will live on and on
by free2beme ini have read in here a few post, and would expect to see these kind of post.
where people hope the religion will end some day and perhaps then all that has happened as a former witness to us, will be stopped and the witnesses will see the error of their ways and life will be good again.
i never think they will end, and here are some reasons why i think this way.. third world countries thinking.
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Does the idea of a bodyless soul make sense? Could the 'soul' stay sane?
by IronGland inas i lay in my pod yesterday i began to think of the following.
in many religions-christianity, hinduism, and buddhism, as well as greek philosophy-attempts are made to mortify the body, to respond as little as often to it's carnal needs and what-not.
this is possible to be prepared for a new existence as just a disembodied soul, in some heavenly spirit realm or what-not.. .
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Markfromcali
The second question kind of comes from one's own experience doesn't it? For some no doubt bodily experiences (or just experiences, period) are all there is, so naturally it would make no sense. And I guess objectively you would need to be able to measure the non-physical, and there's a question of how far that can ultimately go even if you can to some extent.
There are people who are not identified with the body or the psyche, and yet is very engaged as a human being much of the time - just not stuck with it. Maybe people just don't tend to notice that or see that, (and I gotta say they seem to be relatively few in number) because if you are so identified with your perceptions you will have some projected interpretation of this phenomena. By the way, I'm sure many of you have observed that many people who are into astral travel or whatever are very much identified egoically, and they have a lot of drama. I suppose that doesn't necessarily say anything about whether there is a soul apart from the body, but it does show that they are under the impression that there is a separate someone apart from everything else.
I gotta say, it's getting harder for me to comment on this kind of stuff, because to me the mind is such a dynamic instrument that pinning down a particular way of thinking and then identifying with it as my belief and my view is not only a grossly inefficient use of it, but also terribly limiting and quite ridiculous. Even though I'm not an intellectual, when I see that it's just like "... what do you say to that?" Not in terms of content but the state of mind. I was on a Yahoo group where someone mentioned they were glad to meet so and so in person at this group, and then someone who has never been said 'is so and so an elder?' (yeah maybe JW, but could be Mormon, Quaker or whatever) Part of my reaction was like "what planet are you from??" Despite having been through the JW thing, posting here and knowing that she's never been to our group, which has no such thing or the organizational structure implied in her question, (this is satsang, for those of you who are familiar) it just sounded so alien to me
Well, I'm sure this isn't really intellectually stimulating or informative, so carry on.
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Read any good books lately?
by chrissy inso, i will be down and out for awhile after a little surgery this week and i am trying to get a few books to keep myself amused and i am looking for suggestions on something you may have read recently and enjoyed.
i prefer non-fiction, but will consider reading anything highly recommended, as long as it contains at least a spark of truth.
well, i will recommend a book to you alla few days ago, i finished reading into the wild by jon krakauera biographical story about a young man who, after graduating college, got rid of all of his belongings and hitch-hiked across the country in search of jack london-esque adventures.
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Markfromcali
Hey Chrissy, yes Ask the Awakened is a lot easier to read than Open Secret, which in comparison is a bit dry in a sense. Let me know how you like it if you check it out, I'd be interested to hear.
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26
Read any good books lately?
by chrissy inso, i will be down and out for awhile after a little surgery this week and i am trying to get a few books to keep myself amused and i am looking for suggestions on something you may have read recently and enjoyed.
i prefer non-fiction, but will consider reading anything highly recommended, as long as it contains at least a spark of truth.
well, i will recommend a book to you alla few days ago, i finished reading into the wild by jon krakauera biographical story about a young man who, after graduating college, got rid of all of his belongings and hitch-hiked across the country in search of jack london-esque adventures.
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Markfromcali
Okay, well along the lines of a more philosophical bent you may find Wei Wu Wei to be of interest. I'm not as into it as I was, mainly because it essentially talks about the same kind of non-dual perspective over and over, (don't worry, most people who like it don't find it repetitive) but I can see where this kind of presentation might be more intellectually stimulating. And he does explain the eastern stuff if you're at all interested in that. Two titles I have are Ask the Awakened and Open Secret. OS may be hard to find but AA has been republished I think..
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Question for agnostics and/or atheists
by sonnyboy ini've just recently declared my agnosticism to myself and to one other person in my life.
i don't necessarily consider myself an atheist because i believe there very well may be some higher power or non carbon based entities in existence with 'godlike' abilities.
my question is, do you still find yourself secretly believing in god?
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Markfromcali
That's basically the theme of this thread. The question is, how do you let the identification go (whether it be with God or the JWs)? TS gave some good avice, but I've been looking into this for a number of years and a part of me still wants to believe. If I could have the part of my brain removed which holds such nonsensical thoughts, I would.
Well it is not a function of a particular piece of information, it is about the tendency to identify with information - so no need to wear yourself out with overclocking that gray matter upstairs with massive data input.
I don't know if I was clear in this, but believing is not necessarily a problem if you don't identify with it. Evidently you are already kind of there to some extent, so my advice is actually not to be too concerned about the presence of that belief. If you try to fight it through some violent action it would just shift identity to something else, but the dynamic of identification itself will still be there, it would just take a different form. Although even in that kind of process you can see that those particular patterns are not really you, because if it continues to shift then none of them can be you, just patterns you've taken on. Once you see through that your attention naturally shifts to the tendency of identification itself, and at that point you will have already become very different from most people in the general population - but then that can be seen through too.
BTW the thought of wanting to be right is worth considering here, as that is a particularly prevalent pattern, perhaps more so amongst an exJW population than the mainstream considering our background. I would contrast this with being interested in what is true, which is different in that wanting to be right has the tendency to identify, which is a mental contraction, but the interest in what's true is just open. If you look closely you may notice the tendancy to want to contract upon some pattern of thinking that is more reasonable and plausible, what I would say is just acknowledge the clarity there but don't get hung up - continue to be open.