Posts by Cognitive

38

To all active JWs or double life JWs

by NowImFree in

one of the previous posts made me wonder how many active jws post on this site and how many of you are only in because not wanting to lose your family and you are leading a double life and also how many of you are still active but questioning.

please, all of you, i would like to hear your stories (of course not enough info to give away your identity) and why you are still in.

i think a lot of us that are out would be interested.. nowimfree.

Cognitive_Dissident

I've been fading now for about a year. The one and only reason reason that I'm not extremely vocal about my views is because I have family members who are still in, and I know that if I were to outspokenly criticize the Society, I know it would create lots of issues and difficulty for my family that is still in.

As far as leading a double life, I don't consider it that at all. I'm leading my own life now, which doesn't happen to be the one that they want me to. I don't consider withholding certain details from those people who would maliciously use them against my family and myself to be lying.

CD

45

144,000 A "theillogical" evaluation

by AuldSoul in

144,000 a "theillogical" evaluation

revelationits grand climax at hand!.

chap.

Cognitive_Dissident

Ah, how I love numerology. You can use it to "prove" anything and everything that you want. We should start coming up with numerological explanations for why the bible proves that 2006 is the year that all Witnesses should stop following the faithless and indiscreet slavedriver. Nice work Auld.

and Dave, I laughed really hard at the mention of Tanya Harding, I haven't thought of her in years.

CD

5

What is enlightenment?

by Cognitive_Dissident in

so i had to share a few passages from an essay that i just read, published in 1784 by immanuel kant, in response to the question "what is enlightenment?

" also, what would your own response be to the question?

the website for the full essay is here.

Cognitive_Dissident

So I had to share a few passages from an essay that I just read, published in 1784 by Immanuel Kant, in response to the question "What is enlightenment?" Also, what would your own response be to the question?

the website for the full essay is here.

Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! "Have courage to use your own reason!"- that is the motto of enlightenment.

...

After the guardians have first made their domestic cattle dumb and have made sure that these placid creatures will not dare take a single step without the harness of the cart to which they are tethered, the guardians then show them the danger which threatens if they try to go alone. Actually, however, this danger is not so great, for by falling a few times they would finally learn to walk alone. But an example of this failure makes them timid and ordinarily frightens them away from all further trials.

...

I have placed the main point of enlightenment - the escape of men from their self-incurred tutelage - chiefly in matters of religion because our rulers have no interest in playing guardian with respect to the arts and sciences and also because religious incompetence is not only the most harmful but also the most degrading of all.

The whole essay is fantastic, but these are the passages that really stood out to me with regards to the Witnesses specifically.

CD

60

got my stopwatch.............

by BlackSwan of Memphis in

let's say you have 20 seconds (give or take) to make an impression on a jw.

to say something that will stick in their head and make them really think.

because you know, that once they realize you are an apostate, they will shut down anything else that you have to say.. what do you say?.

Cognitive_Dissident

In response to question "How have you been?"(usually asked with sickening amount of mock concern and high-and-mightiness)

Me: I've been doing great! I'm really hopeful and looking forward to the future for the first time in quite a while.

CD

23

George Orwell's "1984" and the WTBTS

by NYCkid in

hey guys,.

i'm just finished reading george orwell's "1984.

" has anyone read it and did you also find eerie similarities to.

Cognitive_Dissident

NYC, you're absolutely right, 1984(and Animal Farm) is full of extremely disturbing similarities to the Witness world. I've read the book three times now. The first was when I was still a good little witness, and I thought it was an amazing book and had many modern day analogies, none of which focused on the Witnesses(I was a walking, talking poster-child of doublethink).

The second was during a time in my life when I wasn't going to meetings that regularly and a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance had started to set in, and I remember feeling kind of sick and edgy while reading it and after I finished it. After the second time I finished it I didn't really talk about it with anyone, even though I enjoyed it just as much and appreciated it more.

The third time was within the past year, right during the time I was going through a pretty complete mental breakdown, and I was completely, absolutely stunned that my mind had not made the conscious connection between what I had read twice before and what I had lived my entire life. A testament to the effectiveness of the mind-control tactics that the book describes and the Society employs, I suppose.

When I started coming to the sickening realization that there was no dignified way to leave, many times I thought of how Julia was able to maintain her good standing in the party - she excelled all others in screaming obscenities during the Two Minutes Hate. And although I stopped going to meetings and am now somewhat successfully fading, that principle was always fresh in my mind whenever I felt a pang of "conscience" at saying and acting like I believed when I knew in my heart that I didn't. Eventually I came to grips with the fact that I have absolutely no remorse or guilt about lying to elders or nosy gossipers in order to prevent my disfellowshipping.

"You could only rebel against it(the party) by secret disobedience" - chapter 5

Another quote that I like to that effect is from the book The Unbearable Lightness of Being
"In a society run by terror, no statements whatsoever can be taken seriously. They are all forced, and it is the duty of every honest man to ignore them."

CD

42

JW video about Katrina relief

by zagor in

i've just discovered google's video engine so i've treid it by finding something about jws

Cognitive_Dissident

Wow, that video left me feeling all sorts of shit. I agree with many who have already posted, the kingdom melodies nearly provoked an anxiety attack. It is so frustrating to watch a video like this and know that the Society DOES have the ability to organize large numbers of people and get things done quickly, but also know that they 99.9% of the time only lend their helping hand to "fellow believers". The constant flashing of how many pallets and how many gallons and how many crates was just blatant self-ejaculation. "Ooh, we're SOOOO humanitarian!"

I do think that on the part of each individual that took the time to volunteer and help, they did a great thing. But it makes me sick that someone made a propaganda film about it. When I was still a dub I helped with a flood disaster cleanup effort, and it felt very good to get out and actually do something to help. I, and the few others that I went with did not count time for any of it. I did it because I genuinely wanted to help, and it was the only feasible means that I felt I had at the time to do so. I'm sure that most who volunteered their for this relief effort time did so out of genuine compassion, but it is just disgusting how the Witness Machine vomits out numbers in an attempt to shamelessly promote their own "good deeds".

Kudos to the volunteers, but shame on the Society and whoever made that video for piggy-backing on a disaster in order to serve the selfish Witness agenda.

CD

11

HELP me if you can

by Pistoff in

i came upon this letter, and i think it could be posted in laundromats, doctors offices, etc if you feel it is worthy:.

who is knocking at your door?.

most people have either been visited by jehovahs witnesses at one time or another, or know of them.

Cognitive_Dissident

bttt

46

Finally got scans of the new blood card

by PoppyR in

.

ok folks, i have been nagged so have worked out how to scan and upload images and here they are for you, front and back of the card, and 3 pages of the instructions on how to fill them in.

bear in mind it's uk so possibly may be different where you are.. poppy xx

Cognitive_Dissident

Aargh! Sneaky f'ing bastards. I like how they present you with a false choice by giving you the apparent "option" of accepting certain types of blood transfusions or blood products. It's almost completely irrelevant since they provide absolutely no disseminated information about what's acceptable and what's not. You can bet that when they have the big blood card signing party at the kingdom hall or book study, 99% of Witnesses are going to initial the line that says they want none of any of them. They've created the belief for years that your level of faith is directly proportionate to how strongly you refuse certain things, blood being at the top of the list. I'm sure most will see the "options" on the card and think that by initialing that they will accept autologous blood transfusions or certain parts, especially with an elder looking on, that they're actually compromising some part of their faith. Sons of bitches. This way they can say "We gave our members the option, and they all chose to refuse blood completely, praise Jah!" Bastards.

At the very least many will think twice about it and wonder why all of the sudden they've got this option on the blood card and research the matter further.

CD

21

Thursday night meeting woes(self sufficiency and blood)

by FaithfulDoubter in

as yours trully is still attending meeting, i thought i might vent a little on what going on.

i got there late, so i missed the first part.

last part: the blood issue.

Cognitive_Dissident

Anyway, I don't know if I can take another 6 months worth of meetings. I'm pulling my hair out as it is. And even after 6 months, if I want to keep family peace, I gotta figure out a way to gracefully fade.... Oh what a tangled web we weave.

Oh man can I relate to you there. My last six months of going to meetings I actually started sitting away from all windows because all I could think about was putting a fist through a plate glass window and watching the blood flow(during which time I did not have a blood card in my wallet). I went to the doctor and got a prescription for anti-anxiety medication that I would only take before meetings just so I could sit there without having full blown anxiety attacks.

If I were you I would torch your blood card as soon as you can. I didn't carry one in my wallet for the last four years I was in. Even though I hadn't admitted to myself that I didn't believe any of it any more, every year when it came time to renew my blood vow, some little voice in my head always prevented me from getting it done. I think I actually carried a blank one for a while now that I think about it, that way if I opened my wallet witnesses would see the nifty little logo, but little did they know it was blank.

CD

23

Did God create good and evil?

by THE SHOOTIST in

isaiah 45:7 says he did.

gen. 3:16/17 says that he placed the tree of knowledge of good and bad in the middle of the garden.

didn't god say in gen 3:22 that after man ate of the fruit he has become like us (the gods)knowing good and evil.

Cognitive_Dissident

Deputy Dog
How do you deal with or "anaesthetize" evil, pain or "reality"?

I try not to anaesthetize reality at all. The whole concept of reality, what's actually real and what's not is a whole other discussion in and of itself. But for the most part I try to just feel the things that I experience without numbing myself to their intensity. Most of my memories and life experiences with the witnesses have a thick-skinned bubble around them. I felt very insulated from the effects of life, because I only let the parts which coincided with my very particular beliefs through the bubble.

Today if I feel pain, or joy, I try not to explain it away in terms of God's long-winded answer to Satan's challenge to his sovereignty. One of the effects of doing just that, for me, was not really being able to feel anything, and feeling like I either wasn't human, or that I was a dead human. Which is exactly where I was at when I left. So I try to experience the feelings that come along and just accept them for what they are, feelings. I was always so hellbent on only having the "right" feelings that I rejected any I didn't think were.

CD

Cognitive_Dissident

Posts by Cognitive_Dissident