Posts by Terry

10

...AN ELEPHANT in my pajamas (an alternative way of seeing the world)

by Terry in

jw
friends

an elephant in my pajamas.

by the age of 2, i began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of logic.. in fact, groucho marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of logic and humor.

by the age of 2, i had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit all else.. that was a social bias.

...AN ELEPHANT in my pajamas (an alternative way of seeing the world)

by Terry in

jw
friends

an elephant in my pajamas.

by the age of 2, i began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of logic.. in fact, groucho marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of logic and humor.

by the age of 2, i had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit all else.. that was a social bias.

Terry

AN ELEPHANT IN MY PAJAMAS

By the age of 2, I began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of LOGIC.

In fact, Groucho Marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of LOGIC and HUMOR. It was a “subversion of context.”

By the age of 2, I had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit ALL ELSE.

That was a social bias.

Look at what Groucho Marx said following his first statement...

"Last night I SHOT AN ELEPHANT IN MY PAJAMAS (pause)

What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know."
Groucho subverted the rule of social bias.

Aha - a new paradigm for Terry! A whole new world opened up for me.
A private world with more possibilities lay ahead.

We have an emotional reaction to a violation of non-contradiction implied because Elephants do not wear pajamas.

Our natural bias is to understand Groucho to mean "Last night, I was wearing pajamas when I shot an elephant."

When Groucho contradicts that bias of understanding the LOGICAL truth about elephants we react emotionally to this violation by LAUGHTER.

By the time I was an adult I held a secret power. A well-trained student is c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y taught BIAS toward logical thinking.

My secret power gave me a certain edge.

I understood that humor came from pulling the rug out from under expectations.

GEOMETRY MATH and SCIENCE, of course, require the use of AXIOMS.

An axiom is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments.

Without a bias toward axioms, Western civilization could not have developed in advance of the rest of the world.

HUMOR violates axioms! Humor infuriates Authority. Humor is a great leveler.

Humor was my self-defense against bullies and a special way of determining

Intelligence in other people. If a person laughed at my wit - they were automatically a playmate!

Tyrants, Authoritarians, and Sociopaths have NO sense of humor and will never tolerate criticism or being made fun of.

Carried much further, humor challenges the bias inherent in everything else as well.

If carefully applied - a sense of humor is a wonderful TEST of people, institutions, and faulty premises!

SATIRE, for instance.

SATIRE challenges every form of bias using, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Satire tears away the curtain of bias exposing the "truer" truth inside.

A self-important person automatically thinks they understand what they know but

Jokes require a “different” understanding.

Here is an example of very dark humor which upsets a basic understanding of the phrase:

" I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather…""

A natural and logical understanding of this set-up puts us in the frame of mind that is about to be shattered with the punchline.

" I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather…

Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car."

YIPES!

This should make us mindful of the reason why a Judge in a courtroom setting requires a witness not only to:

"Tell the Truth..."

(But even more is required…)

The Whole Truth...

And Nothing but the truth."

We suddenly understand that grandfather was driving the car when he fell asleep and everybody died in a crash.

Like I said at the top …

When I was 2 years old I discovered absolutely EVERYTHING can be seen as a matter of bias, interpretation, and "possible" misunderstanding unless we have ALL the information and proper contexts.

Take Christianity, for instance.

The World Council of Churches tells us there are over 40 thousand “Christian denominations”!

Each one “thinks” they own the Truth exclusively! How is that possible?

It is possible when the members keep to themselves in a closed echo chamber

disallowing criticism, debate, or challenges to authority.

However -Jesus was constantly debating with the leaders of Judaism, critical of their teachings, and challenging their thinking - and even his apostles and disciples bickered about all sorts of matters. Paul had to challenge Peter at one point on a matter of doctrine even though Peter was given “the keys of the Kingdom.”

Is it any wonder there are 40 thousand differences of opinion calling themselves “Christian?”

And then - there are Puns!

PUNS require that you deliberately apply alternate (and absurd) meaning to ordinary words.

"I have a split personality", said Tom, being frank.

"Will glass coffins be successful?" Remains to be seen.

"I lost my job at the bank on my very first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over"

We can sum that up this way:

It's hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things ...literally

______

Finally, is it any surprise that when I was 12 years old I became involved with a religious organization that provided alternate explanations and interpretations to practically everything in mainstream religion and the Bible?

I think not!

Once you develop a secret power: (being open to alternative bias and seeing contradictory contexts) the world you live in is a MUCH MORE INTERESTING place.

We tend to think of bias and discrimination as BAD but both must be applied with experience, wisdom, and comprehensive awareness of other possible interpretations.

After all, all things consist of BEING what it is - as opposed to what it IS NOT.

And then…?

Some things can be viewed as automatically self-contradictory.

Happily married and Military Intelligence, for instance.

Let's end this with a laugh using famous people who violate the logic of sense-making bias...by making an alternative sense.

I am a deeply superficial person. - Andy Warhol

Of course, I can keep secrets. It’s the people I tell them to that can’t keep them. - Anthony Haden-Guest

I distinctly remember forgetting that. - Clara Barton

You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap. - Dolly Parton

The budget was unlimited, but I exceeded it. - Donald Trump

I have a terrible memory. I never forget a thing. - Edith Konecky

I hate people but I love gatherings. - Edna St. Vincent Millay

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history and that man can never learn anything from history. - George Bernard Shaw

Always be sincere, even when you don’t mean it. - Irene Peter

Live within your income, even if you have to borrow to do so. - Josh Billings

We must believe in free will. We have no choice. - Isaac B. Singer

I can resist everything but temptation. - Oscar Wilde

It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. - Mark Twain

I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible. -

Oscar Wilde

The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep. - W.C. Fields

I always avoid prophesying beforehand because it is much better to prophesy after the event has already taken place. -

Winston Churchill

I never said most of the things I said. - Yogi Berra

11

Memory and memorization

by Terry in

jw
friends

3.1415926535807932384626433i used to be able to go to a hundred from memory.

my son and daughter can do so.age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.what sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?i can recite the entire rime of the ancient mariner to this day, btw.there are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and i've read all or most of those books.the amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!

"why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iphone?sigh...i memorized the periodic table of elements one day at work.

Terry

Memorization of poems, math formulae, stories, vocabulary words, and all the above have certainly
proved useful to me throughout my life.
However - memorizing my public talks only limited me and it was pointed out to me by a friend of mine
that I was more effective when spontaneous. So, I stopped and began relying on key topics and transitions and it was like a whole new world of personal fulfillment. Spontaneity comes across so much better.
I tried this approach when I was cast in a play and it worked very well for me.

All the above said to make at least one point: Public schools seem to have abandoned required memory work and I think this cheats students for years to come.

11

Memory and memorization

by Terry in

jw
friends

3.1415926535807932384626433i used to be able to go to a hundred from memory.

my son and daughter can do so.age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.what sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?i can recite the entire rime of the ancient mariner to this day, btw.there are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and i've read all or most of those books.the amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!

"why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iphone?sigh...i memorized the periodic table of elements one day at work.

Terry

The LETTERS as NUMBERS and vice verse comes from Dr. Bruno Furst published as YOU CAN REMEMBER.
All subsequent books and courses more or less (cough cough) "borrow" his techniques.
The following podcast is very informative and historically thrilling.
https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/bruno-furst/

11

Memory and memorization

by Terry in

jw
friends

3.1415926535807932384626433i used to be able to go to a hundred from memory.

my son and daughter can do so.age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.what sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?i can recite the entire rime of the ancient mariner to this day, btw.there are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and i've read all or most of those books.the amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!

"why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iphone?sigh...i memorized the periodic table of elements one day at work.

Terry

3.1415926535807932384626433

I used to be able to go to a hundred from memory. My son and daughter can do so.
Age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.

What sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?

I can recite the entire Rime of the Ancient Mariner to this day, btw.

There are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and I've
read all or most of those books.
The amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!
"Why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iPhone?

Sigh...
I memorized the Periodic Table of Elements one day at work. I've never used that. :)
I memorized 825 Bible verses when I was a JW.
The more you do these sorts of things the stronger the impression sets into the cement.
If you do NOT use it - losses begin to occur. Hard drive space is conserved, I suppose.

I can recite Gilbert and Sullivan: I Am the very model of a Modern English Gentleman from
the Pirates of Penzance but people flee the room when I begin.

I can recite the alphabet backward in less than ten seconds.
Mind you - this has nothing to do with intelligence. Simply a capacity and skill.

I can do the Professor Harold Hill patter: TROUBLE from the Music Man and enjoy doing so
just as self-entertainment.

I love tongue twisters: THE SILENT SEA CEASETH AND THUS SUFFICETH US.
RUBBER BABY BUGGY BUMPER
BLACK BUG'S BLOOD
My favorite of all is the ANNOUNCER'S TEST which Jerry Lewis would do every year
on the March of Dimes telethon for M.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06D1F5-4Atc

One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alversos tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt
Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth
Ten lyrical, spherical diabolical denizens of the deep who hall stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time.
I added a few of my own:
Eleven silent, silver, Soviet submarines, stealthily surveying some sunken city near San Salvador.

4

INDOCTRINATION (lessons learned)

by Terry in

jw
friends

indoctrination.

i see things this way .... my very first personal contact with indoctrination was through my best friend; hellbent on converting me to his religion.

i resisted for four years and then jumped on board.. .

Terry

I'd venture to guess MOST conversions take place due to friendships rather than cold calls.
Being "born in" doesn't count as a conversion (although at age of consent - the fight begins).

NOTICE THE IMPRESSION from an OUTSIDER is not at all favorable in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhrMOHv06Uw

4

INDOCTRINATION (lessons learned)

by Terry in

jw
friends

indoctrination.

i see things this way .... my very first personal contact with indoctrination was through my best friend; hellbent on converting me to his religion.

i resisted for four years and then jumped on board.. .

Terry

INDOCTRINATION

I see things this way ...

My very first personal contact with indoctrination was through my best friend; hellbent on converting me to his religion. (I was 12.)

I resisted for four years and then jumped on board.

A lesson to be learned, I'd say!

Not the one you'd think, however.

Resistance is futile.

Here's why...

Think what happened when Hannibal challenged the might of Rome and its legions.

He defeated them time after time. Horrible one-sided victories they were.

But - take note of this! Each time the Roman Generals lost, they did a big RE-think ... and tried again.

And they'd lose. Again.

Rome was not a seafaring empire but they built a fleet of ships just so they could invade Carthage.

An unlucky storm at sea destroyed all those ships and sailors!

There was only one winning strategy that might work.

Rome stopped fighting and retired their remaining forces behind the walls and watched Hannibal and his armies circle and circle hurling challenges on deaf ears.

What kind of lesson to learn is that, Terry?

Hannibal was inadvertently forcing Rome's military and political intelligentsia to become smarter, wiser, and more cunning!

Hannibal, on the other hand, learned nothing by defeating the inferior strategies of Rome's best fighting forces.

(Eventually, Scipio attacked by land - not Hannibal, but Carthage which was Hannibal's native land! Using Hannibal's own key stratagem, Scipio stationed his army on the high ground.)

RESISTANCE is futile. You make your adversary stronger and smarter.

In my own situation, I showed all my weaknesses to my best friend and he simply switched his method of confrontation from Theology to Family.

The cult he was in offered me a close-knit group of welcoming Brothers and Sisters and Friends.

I needed that emotionally so badly I jumped on board at a cost of 20 years of my life.

When I jumped back out, I lost all those "friends" and the "family" wouldn't speak to me again.

WHO WON?

I can only say this one thing with all my heart. I got smarter, more skeptical, and more cunning when it came to INDOCTRINATION methods.

I take a neutral position between the extremes and I listen, watch, research, and keenly analyze what's said and done.

I stay walled up in the city while the armies outside rage and challenge me to join in or be vanquished.

Confrontation is not the End Game (as in chess) - no - it is simply THE END - of everything.

When you join forces with anybody or anything except your own mind and heart and intellect, you weaken yourself and stop learning and growing.

That's MY lesson. Your mileage may vary.

2

A Most Curious Tale of Archie Oliver Twist

by Terry in

jw
friends

a most curious tale of archie oliver twist.

11 years old, archie olivertwist passed into a coma on june 7, 1942. his neck was broken from a dive into a shallow riverbed at a family picnic.. archie was maintained in a vegetative state in a long-term care facility.

hoping against all hope, his maintenance costs were paid by his parents.. half a century later, in the mid-1990s, they specified in their will that his brother and sister were bound by honor toward archie's continued care, using a trust fund established for that purpose.. miraculously, he finally awoke on january 16, 2017, archie was now 85.. oh, one more thing …(brace your mind for this…).

Terry

It does me too!

21

Ministry in John 3:16

by JW Answers in

a lot of false teaching darkens our doors today, especially with watchtower teachings, calvinism and lordship salvation.. latest video below explores the verse john 3:16 and shows forth the truths which christ preached to nicodemus.

the jws also spread fear amongst their followers stating that if the leave the org, then jehovah will strike them down at armageddon.

this video covers this same fear.. feel free to watch below..

Terry

HERE IS SOMETHING TO CONSIDER AS AN ANALOGY to this TOPIC...

Thalidomide was once considered a wonder drug.

During early testing, researchers found it was virtually impossible to give test animals a lethal dose of the drug named THALIDOMIDE in the 1950s.
Thalidomide was soon used as a sedative or tranquilizer treating a wide range of other conditions, including colds, flu, nausea, and morning sickness in pregnant women.

Pharmaceutical companies boasted Thalidomide “can be given with complete safety to pregnant women and nursing mothers without adverse effect on mother or child.

49 countries widely prescribed Thalidomide under several alternate brand names.

It is estimated that over 10,000 babies were affected by the drug worldwide. Around half died within months of being born. The thalidomide babies who survived and their families live with the birth defects of the drug.

All the above has been stated - here comes the ANALOGY.

GOD permitted the distribution of birth defects (sin from Adam) as though He (YHWH) were ignorant of the damage in advance. As JWs teach: "God does not permit Himself to know certain things in advance." If we are to accept that deliberate ignorance, the results of transmission of the "sin of Adam" in subsequent offspring (Cain murders Abel) made it clear enough.

So - what point am I making?

The pharmaceutical company (in Germany) made reparations to victims as a result of a worldwide lawsuit.

Cash was paid and no single person was held responsible. I
guess you could say, Ignorance is bliss as long as cash is paid.

Jehovah paid reparations to mankind and His "cash" was Jesus. Those who accept the payout are compensated. Those who don't are left in the lurch.

Not a perfect analogy by any means but you may wish to comment.

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/thalidomide#:~:text=Thalidomide%20is%20a%20drug%20that,morning%20sickness%20in%20pregnant%20women.

2

A Most Curious Tale of Archie Oliver Twist

by Terry in

jw
friends

a most curious tale of archie oliver twist.

11 years old, archie olivertwist passed into a coma on june 7, 1942. his neck was broken from a dive into a shallow riverbed at a family picnic.. archie was maintained in a vegetative state in a long-term care facility.

hoping against all hope, his maintenance costs were paid by his parents.. half a century later, in the mid-1990s, they specified in their will that his brother and sister were bound by honor toward archie's continued care, using a trust fund established for that purpose.. miraculously, he finally awoke on january 16, 2017, archie was now 85.. oh, one more thing …(brace your mind for this…).

Terry

A Most Curious Tale of Archie Oliver Twist

11 years old, Archie OliverTwist passed into a coma on June 7, 1942. His neck was broken from a dive into a shallow riverbed at a family picnic.

Archie was maintained in a vegetative state in a long-term care facility. Hoping against all hope, his maintenance costs were paid by his parents.

Half a century later, in the mid-1990s, they specified in their will that his brother and sister were bound by honor toward Archie's continued care, using a trust fund established for that purpose.

Miraculously, he finally awoke on January 16, 2017, Archie was now 85.

Oh, one more thing …(brace your mind for this…)

He woke up as he was being delivered by an obstetrician in Mercy General Hospital in Northern Virginia. (I’ll pause while you re-read that last bit.)

Archibald Oliver Twist’s life was somehow being recycled. As an infant, Archie maintained full consciousness, very confused, alarmed, and unable to speak for the next two years.

It gets even weirder now. Are we ready?

His (new) parents, unaccountably, named him Archibald after his ‘father’s’ favorite writer, Archibald McLeish. They considered him an amazing genius not realizing that their child’s mind was nearing 90 years of age.

Poor Archie was possessed of the memories of an eleven-year-old child, many of which were associated with the second world war, and with comic book predictions of the future, as portrayed through characters like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

As Archibald emerged from his confusion and grew anew as a child once more, a speech pathologist helped him utter a few words. His limited vocabulary and hand gestures allowed a basic conversation to occur.

As is now reported in the Journals of Resuscitation and Extended Life Maintenance,

Archie was not as amazed by modern-day contrivances as one might expect.

Cell phones and television, for example, had their equivalents in his library of comic books. Likewise, a laptop computer, while interesting, was well within his comprehension.

He was more mystified by objects made of flimsy plastic tossed away after a single use such as his drinking cup and numerous plastic baggies which were quite alien, to him.

His appetite was quite good, but care had to be taken to make sure his gut flora was able to handle solid food consumed in the normal way.

Why? (This is important to understand - pay attention.)

His mind, although housed in a child’s brain, had been configured to accommodate a vegetative, aging body of an old man. The conflict caused many transformative complications. Try to imagine dropping a Model T Ford engine inside a Ferrari race car.

When he finally reached the age of 11, Archibald (now called “Archie”) revealed what he was able to piece together about himself to his shocked and disbelieving parents.
His persistence in self-investigation uncovered almost the whole story. So earnest and intense were the boy’s efforts, his family gradually began to make room for his weird story as something other than delusion. This wasn’t easy for them by any stretch of the imagination.

Then one day …

An astonishing breakthrough took place when his new mom phoned surviving family members of Archie’s previous incarnation, in hopes of resolving these improbable conflicts.

A reunion was staged immediately!

Archie was reassured by gestures of love and affection, expressed by his counselor and by young great nephews who had been flown in to be with him.

So as to bring him "up to speed" temporally, illustrated calendars had been prepared, including materials from the school he had attended, baseball cards of his era, old newspaper clippings and similar relics. His memory was good, so he was able to recall some of his prior birthdays, the family car, various outings, and the always-present reminders to conserve for the war effort.

Moving beyond these memories, to the days after the onset of his long nap, he was gradually given a "fam tour" of the years leading up to the present. Among his favorite pastimes was listening to recordings of the radio shows from his youth.

It was most difficult for him to comprehend the passing of his parents, who, in his last memories had been quite alive and vibrant. The concept of death, itself, was something with which he was not fully conversant. Archie was a Catholic, so Catholic spiritual counselors were brought in to answer his many questions. His church, St. Michael's, was still standing and had an active membership, from which he took some reassurance. A local Jesuit priest steeped in Buddhist philosophy counseled him. Archie was unable to absorb any of these things. Instead, he focused on making his present life as meaningful as possible.

Yet, some complications remained troubling.

Archie the very old man in a young man’s body was becoming aware of sensations in his genital area, with the rapid onset of puberty. This was difficult, for he found that he was most often aroused by youngsters in their early to mid-teens. The affiliation seemed natural enough, to him, but adjusting to age-appropriate contact was a great challenge. Nonetheless, he was possessed of an adult brain, even if the content was restricted to his youthful recollections and such new data as was being introduced. Somehow, Archie was an intrinsically elderly man in ways beyond his comprehension. The balance of his mind was disturbed ever more so.

Every road has a turning and one fine day Archie was introduced to Greta, a woman in her 60s who was pleasingly youthful in her appearance and with whom he was quite taken. The feelings were mutual, and a satisfying relationship blossomed.

Many adjustments continued throughout their peculiar relationship. Little by little, he opened up to this remarkable woman. Slowly he confessed what haunted his every waking moment--the loss of his family and friends in a way impossible to mourn or escape. She listened and pretended to believe and accept the unbelievable and unacceptable story as he shared it. Yet, Greta realized too late, she had fallen in love with someone who was completely unable to move on in life. Could anything be worse for her? Life has many trade-off, does it not?

After a few years, Archie was stricken with an infection from which no recovery was possible; his immune system, so long protected from modern-day pathogens, was simply unable to mount a life-saving defense.
Greta refused the responsibility of caregiving and ended their relationship, trying her best not to create ill will. Torn between her own sanity preservation and best interests on the one hand and an ethical commitment to Archie - her decision was made with tears of finality. When it is time to move on …well…to not do so is a kind of death in itself.

Naturally, Archie was distraught and he began drinking — his next longtime girlfriend had moved out and she called police when he threw her things into the front yard — but he held no hostages, brandished no weapons, and, so far as we have learned, posed no serious threat either to the police or to public order. (Archie did own guns, he apparently shared this news with police.)

What happened next is unclear due to several conflicting stories by officers called to the scene.

It was reported that Archie had been firing his weapon into the air and cursing at neighbors. Those neighbors watching from their windows gave contradictory testimony. There was only the sound of a single gunshot.

Wounded in the chest, Archie was left to bleed to death inside his doorway while police officers, remaining outside the house, did nothing for an hour. Five and a half hours after the shooting, his body remained sprawled on the floor where he died.

Incredibly, the authorities in Northern Virginia — including Fairfax County police and state and federal prosecutors — have refused to furnish any explanation for this stupefying sequence of events during the last hours of Aug. 29 in Springfield.

They stonewalled.

Local newspaper reporter Clive Beardsley refused to give up his source for a story he had written which his newspaper refused to publish in which County Medical Examiners discovered something unprecedented during the autopsy.

Subsequently, the body had been ordered cremated before any follow-up could produce corroboration.

In a later interview with Greta, Clive Beardsley asked if there had been any advance sign of mental illness in her significant other.

She is reported to have replied:

“He insisted I abort my pregnancy. He was worried something would happen to him on the day our baby was born--something ridiculous.”

When pressed for details, she only mumbled something about fear of reincarnation.

Oh, one more thing …

That same afternoon of the shooting...

Archie Oliver Twist woke up …

as he was being delivered by an obstetrician in Mercy General Hospital in Northern Virginia. His life was somehow recycled. He maintained full consciousness, confused, alarmed, and unable to speak for the next two years.

This was the beginning and end and beginning of what could possibly be seen as…

…the rarest of all stories.

One with a Twist Beginning.

________

An old Irish Song

There once was a man named Michael Finn-egan,

He grew whiskers on his chin-again,

The wind came up and blew them in-again,

Poor old Michael Finnegan.
Begin-again.