Would have been 113 today Happy birthday!!!
darth frosty
JoinedPosts by darth frosty
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"Salvation" By Langston Hughes
by darth frosty in"salvation".
by langston hughes.
i was saved from sin when i was going on thirteen.
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Are You Raising An Introvert?
by darth frosty inits not easy being an introvert in an extrovert worldespecially when youre a kid.
it is even more difficult if none of the adults in the kids life recognize that the child is an introvert.
this doesnt happen only when the childs parents are extroverts, but also with introverted parents who have never understood their own introverted nature.. .
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darth frosty
What you should know before moving in with an introvert
Leave me alone sometimes or I turn into a crabby cow, says Wendy Squires. Photo: Stocksy
Looking back on my most enduring relationship, lasting nearly a decade, I see where I have been going wrong since.
My ex and I were young and in love, saving to scrape together our first piece of real estate, which ended up being a run-down cottage we adored. In between swooning about pressed metal ceilings (rusted, but that's another story) and the tiny established garden out back, I spied what was really the most attractive part of the home for me – a small spare room.
You see, I am an introvert. I like people, and most of the time I enjoy socialising. I just need time to recharge after being around others and that means being alone.
Wendy Squires: "I'm an introvert. I need time to recharge." Photo: Mike Baker
While extroverts re-energise in company, it can only happen for me in solitude. Without it, I tend to wilt. Okay, I turn into an unhinged harridan, similar to when woken mid-REM sleep by a dreaded, chirpy, morning person telling me I'm missing the so-called "best part of the day".
ADVERTISEMENTI need time alone, damn it, and if I don't get it, those closest to me, especially a beleaguered beloved, likely will. It's not as if I want to be a crabby cow, it's just that I've learnt through trial and error that if I become deprived of alone time I become devoid of patience. (Just as well I'm not a mother, I hear you rumble. Don't worry, I agree!)
The other thing I've realised is necessary for me to remain rational in relationships is to retain an element of mystery. When I have a clothing crisis and pull out dozens of outfits while crying that I have nothing to wear, I don't need anyone to witness my madness or ask me what was wrong with the first choice.
Just like when I sit back on a Sunday night in a mud face mask, enjoying the gross pleasure of scraping dry skin off my heels, I prefer to do so in private. So far, any man I've known who has witnessed this event readily agrees it's best kept to a one-hander. Hence, my passionate penchant for a room away from view. And for many years, that tiny room in that creaky old cottage, with its fold-out couch and funky desk I found in a council clean-up, was my sanctuary.
As much as I loved curling up in that safe, soft place where my man's arm met his shoulder, when he wanted to sleep and I wanted to read, potter, answer emails and/or toss and turn at will, that spare room was a godsend. Just as when that man of my dreams was snoring (why is the volume always louder when they've been at the pub?) and passing wind with the unmistakable odour of kebab, it was nice to pad off down the hall to the other room, one that didn't smell like old RSL carpet or sound like gravel in a blender.
Apart from saving fights, I also believe having personal space enhanced our romance. In all the years I lived with my partner, despite the spare room, we rarely slept apart. But if we did fall asleep away from each other, a quiet tap on the door asking can we snuggle was always warmly welcome - a choice rather than a given. And sex seemed spicier, away from the predictability of the same old bed.
Now, whenever my girlfriends tell me they're moving in with a man, the first thing I suggest is they commandeer a room to themselves if they can, or at least have a bolthole to hide and indulge in secret women's business. If there's somewhere you can be alone to just do whatever it is you need, I reckon your relationship, and peace of mind, will be a lot healthier for it.
You see, when we bought that house, it also had a backyard shed, which was immediately seized by my partner, also an introvert. There, he would hide and renew, ruminate, relax and write, allowing me to do the same.
We both understood the importance of privacy and space. And we both wanted our relationship to work, long-term. And for my longest while, it did.
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172
Are You Raising An Introvert?
by darth frosty inits not easy being an introvert in an extrovert worldespecially when youre a kid.
it is even more difficult if none of the adults in the kids life recognize that the child is an introvert.
this doesnt happen only when the childs parents are extroverts, but also with introverted parents who have never understood their own introverted nature.. .
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darth frosty
This was an interesting question/discussion posed on Quora:
e, Entrepreneur | Investor | Conn...IIt's like my hidden secret when I'm out and about.
No one knows that after 5 hours of meeting and greeting people I'm going to feel like a zombie for the next day. Or that it took me about 3 years of practice in order to learn how to begin and engage in an enjoyable conversational experience.
It makes me feel like I hacked the system because I also used to be in the same boat of socially awkward introverts.
In my high school days, I used to hate presentations for class. I remember dreading that feeling when all eyes are on you, watching every movement you make, and hoping that you don't do something stupid or have food stuck between your teeth.
I tried my best to avoid all unnecessary social interaction. Family gatherings were stressful; the formality of greeting aunties and uncles was something I'd happily do without.
Talking to strangers was a big no-no.
Asking for directions or even calling for a waiter made me anxious.
And talking to girls that I didn't already know was a psychological nightmare.
Getting over my insecurity was the first step (I share about my journey here), and then reading How to Win Friends and Influence People (free online copy) gave me a basic framework for social interaction and tools to use in conversation.
After about a year of trial and error, I concluded that the most effective approach was not a set/sequence of questions or lines, but a disposition ofcuriosity.
It's the same attitude you'd carry when you catch up with an old friend. None of the dialogue is scripted or prepared, but because you are curious about what has happened since the last time you've talked, you naturally ask questions and take the time to discover the story.
I'll talk to our janitor, the banker setting up my account, seatmates on an airplane, Uber drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, and shuttle drivers. The goal of most of my conversations with strangers is to discover:- How they ended up where they are -- Was it by choice? Is this an interim position? Did they stumble upon this? Is it all leading to something?
- Do they enjoy where they are at? If yes, what about it is enjoyable to them? If not, what would they rather be doing?
One time, I was on a plane from San Diego to San Jose and I spoke with an Indian man who was a father and engineer based in SD who was about to move to San Jose. He grew up in Ethiopia in a gated community and grew up at a private school. Most of his friends' parents were wealthy business owners and most of his friends ended up inheriting the business.
I asked him about child-raising and how there's a tendency for a family's wealth to be gone by the 3rd generation. He confirmed it with his frustration that his children and friends' children were all spoiled and don't have much interest in the family business. We talked the entire flight.
Another time, I was donating blood and I asked my phlebotomist if she planned to be a phlebotomist since day 1. She laughed and told me she needed a switch after being a drug abuse counselor in the Tenderloin for 10 years. I asked her, "Who are the most impressionable people you interacted with during that time?"
She told me about an 18-year-old prostitute who was HIV positive butgenuinely didn't know it was transmittable even through anal sex (she had slept with hundreds of men, most of whom were married).
She told me about an innocent-looking kindergarten teacher who was addicted to coke and heroin and had asked, "How long will this session take? I need to get back to teach."
She told me about a prostitute who had 5 children and charged $5 to her clients... for the whole 9-yards. And as a drug abuse counselor, her first goal was to build up this lady's self esteem so she could feel o-k about charging more.
The thing I've realized over the years is that people are very interesting. And if I take the time to discover peoples' stories, more often than not, my mind is blown by the depth of the human experience.
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How to Win Friends and Influence People, as mentioned above is the first resource I always recommend, but I would say The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane did a very good job of building on that foundation for me.
I did a short review of it here along with a link to pretty thorough summary of the book here: Brandon Lee's answer to What can I do within a month to become more charismatic?Chris Skuller, Forever in Awe of the UniverseThis describes me pretty well. Now-a-days, I'm very good at quickly making friends and people seem to enjoy my company, but I greatly prefer to spend time by myself.
It's not that I don't like people, I just prefer spending time with my thoughts. To me, it feels like it takes a considerable amount of my energy to stay in constant contact with people; even my good friends. Like I can't quite relax with others around. I have thought about why this is and here's what I came up with.
This feeling is tied to the systematic way I use to solve my problems.When I was a little kid, I wasn't great at talking to people because my interests always seemed to be different from most others around me. I felt like an alien and I didn't have many friends. This bothered me so I studied what people more popular than me did. I watched how they acted and tried to mimic their behavior, approaching this situation as a problem to be solved. This took considerable effort on my part. It felt like work.
Over time, as I gained more friends, I figured out how to adapt this learned behavior into something of my own, but I was left with certain remnant feelings: interacting with others takes work.
So I guess the answer to your question, it feels like using my social skills slowly but steadily expends my energy and after a while, I have to go back home to recharge.First of all, while more introverts may appear to be shy or socially awkward, introversion really has nothing to do with social aptitude. It's to do with how we process information and how we "re-energise". Introverts tend to process the world internally and require quiet time with minimal interaction to re-charge, while extroverts process the world externally (bouncing ideas and thoughts off others) and gain energy around other people.
As an introvert, I've always been quite good socially... I just need plenty of time to mentally prepare for, and recover from, social events. I also ensure I can come and leave on my own terms, and limit how many social engagements I attend over a short period of time (late Oct to New Year's is always a challenge with lots of parties and events on).
But once I've committed to an event, I can be incredibly chatty and engaging. I even have a reputation for throwing excellent parties (attention to detail and a few simple tricks make all the difference).
The only real downside is that people who don't know me very well assume I'm always like that, so when I decline invitations because I'm pacing myself, or don't have enough "prep" time (I like at least a week's notice) they don't get it, and sometimes take it personally (and don't believe me when I explain I'm an introvert... "You're not an introvert! You're too bubbly to be an introvert!") Even my dear husband - who is an extrovert - struggles to understand why sometimes I'd rather stay home with a book... NEED to stay home with a book.
I really enjoy socialising when I've made the decision to do so, and can be quite the social butterfly... but if I'm not in the right head space, it drains me really quickly and I end up wanting to leave very early, or falling asleep in a corner ;-)At a very young age I realized that exposing my social discomfort only doubled my mortification -- I felt awful AND others could tell -- so I taught myself to compensate.
The upside. Like most people who have good social skills, I greatly appreciate having the ability to schmooze, make small-talk, and generally engage others in the public sphere. I rarely feel awkward in groups or meeting new people; in fact, I'm good at drawing out other introverted, shy people.
The downside. Weirdly, the longer I know people casually, say from the office, the more difficult it is to reveal my nerdy, singular self. For instance, I detest the office birthday party, a ritual that (apparently) most people enjoy. Still, if some officious individual discovers my birthday and insists that the group "celebrate" it, I have to act like I don't mind. In order to prevent others from seeing my discomfort, I have to act like a phony.
In short, having social skills is tremendously important for getting on in life, but being a closet introvert makes it difficult to form real friendships.I tested on the severe side of introversion, but I have mad social skills. I'm a social media marketer.
Just because I can hold my own among the extroverts all around me, doesn't mean I prefer to. When possible, I like to be alone. :-)Exhausting. The thing about introversion (at least in an MBTI sense) is that you draw energy from yourself rather than others. I love interacting with people - it's when I learn the most about myself, others, and the world - but I find it very draining (especially in large groups) and often need to isolate myself afterwards to recharge.
However, it's also extremely gratifying. I've always been a sociable (if quiet) person and I love being around people, even just as an observer. As a child, my quietness would often be mistaken for standoffishness, but over the years, I've learned to push myself out of my comfort zone and communicate clearly that just because I'm being quiet does not mean I'm not interested - quite the contrary.
I think the problem with introversion is that we feel like we suffer through interactions that are inflicted upon us and out of our control - but that does not need to be the case. Like Brandon Lee, being naturally curious has helped me enormously because I'm genuinely interested in what people have to say. However, I wasn't always good at communicating that.
I'm still most comfortable when in my dark little corner filled with manga, films, and books, but I love being around people too much to stay there. So occasionally I poke my head out. And if it means stepping out of my comfort zone and taking risks (what if I say the wrong thing?!), then so be it. Don't get me wrong - it's been a gradual process, I'm still learning, and it still causes me a great deal of anxiety, but overall, I'm a much happier person for it.
Learning to be more outgoing (because it's not about social skills as such, it's about reaching out to others) has allowed me to connect with many amazing people including introverts who would have been too shy to reach out to me had I not reached out to them, and extroverts who would have otherwise thought I wasn't interested.It feels like people around me are fascinating masses of useful knowledge that can help me enrich my personality, experience and art. I have learnt how to behave so that conflict is avoided and comfortable situations are created, I know what works and what doesn't and I apply this knowledge so that I'm not distracted by hostility or miscommunication while I interact with people. All this useful "data" is stored to be used later when I'm finally alone with my projects. I don't consciously do this and I don't see people as tools to my advancement: I have respect and genuinely like learning more about people. But I realized everything, everything I do, deep inside, has that final goal: creating and improving. On my own.Those are the most exilarating feelings to me.
I don't look for interactions with people, but that happens, especially if you travel a lot. It used to stress me out, but I had to adapt: being forced to often move in and out of the city/country taught me how to develop a friendly, confident and welcoming attitude towards strangers. I've become good at small talk and making new people feel comfortable around me. I like people. I don't mind interacting; it feeds my ideas and and creativity, and these new "discoveries" can be applied later when I can go back to my sweet, personal artistic activities. Interacting helps me see new points of view and improve myself.
I honestly enjoy company and I'm not afraid of strangers, but I'm just not especially interested in them. Prolonged contact, unless it's with close friends (and even with them, I like relatively small doses), makes me long my alone time with my hobbies and interests and creative efforts.
My only big exception is my partner. We're both like that and after almost three years we can't seem to get enough of each other!It feels like learning a new skill and being amazed at how well you're doing it for the first or umpteenth time. Like seeing how long you can last in the lion's den at the same time being fully aware of the pride's reactions. It feels exhilarating and after it is all done, the looking back at the moment is very nice.Just like anything else: Practice, practice, practice.
I am an extreme introvert, and I used to shake in my shoes when giving presentations, despite giving them through a BA and an MS. However, I was asked to be the graduate assistant for a programming in psych class, where the professor taught the logic portion, and I taught the coding portion. I was scared to death, but after about week 3, I had gotten to know the students, and it was like talking with friends.
Later, I found a job in Student Services at a local technical college, where I was required to teach one class per quarter. I ended up with a speech class the first quarter, which was a joke, because once again, I was scared to death. Fortunately for me, I had a terrible cold, and my voice was shot. None of the students could tell how nervous I was.
Eventually, I started teaching full-time, and it got easier every quarter. I taught programming, medical transcription and psychology. I still get nervous on the first day of the quarter, which is why I make the students do most of the talking, telling me about themselves. That way, I feel like I know them well enough to not be so nervous.
The more I taught, the easier it became. I started deriving pleasure from those "light bulb" moments, when a student finally understands a difficult concept. I actually had several students *thank* me for a lecture in psychology!
I still need a lot of quiet time alone, and am lucky enough to have a roommate who understands.
A suggestion: Ask a friend to invite you to dinner with a small number of friends. Try to have a conversation with at least one of them. Ask these people about themselves; most people love it when you ask them to talk about themselves. Watch the other people in the group interact, and try to emulate them. If it doesn't help, it's okay, because you might never see any of them. If it goes well, you may have made good friends! You can also agree on some signal with your friend to intervene if you start feeling overwhelmed.
The more you socialize, the better you get at it. Ease yourself into it. If you still feel self-conscious, talk to a professional, who can guide you through the process of systematic desensitization, which is helpful for treating phobias. Medication is also an option for treating social phobias, or you could join a therapy or self-help group, where everyone else feels just as you do, so they will be gentler with you than most other people will.
But don't give up. Positive interactions will reinforce your ability to socialize.AnonymousI am an introvert. (The anonymity proves it, he he he)! I always wanted to have social skills. For example, every time I see something in videos, like, a person cleaning the waste of the road by himself, I wanted to do the same. But in real time, I will not do it because I feel to do it when no one is around and that doesn't happen. It is quite difficult to improve social skills. -
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10 reasons you should never have a religion
by darth frosty in10 reasons you should never have a religion.
by steven bancarzjanuary 4, 2015self discovery, spirituality.
written by steve pavlina on his site www.stevepavlina.com |.
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darth frosty
10 Reasons You Should Never Have A Religion
- See more at: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/10-reasons-you-should-never-have-a-religion/#sthash.4k8LqlbL.dpufWritten by Steve Pavlina on his site www.stevepavlina.com |
While consciously pursuing your spiritual development is commendable, joining an established religion such as Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism is one of the worst ways to go about it. In this article I’ll share 10 reasons why you must eventually abandon the baggage of organized religion if you wish to pursue conscious living in earnest.
1) Spirituality for dummies
If you have the awareness level of a snail, and your thinking is mired in shame and guilt (with perhaps a twist of drug abuse or suicidal thinking), then subscribing to a religion can help you climb to a higher level of awareness. Your mindset, however, still remains incredibly dysfunctional; you’ve merely swapped one form of erroneous thinking for another.
For reasonably intelligent people who aren’t suffering from major issues with low self-esteem, religion is ridiculously consciousness-lowering. While some religious beliefs can be empowering, on the whole the decision to formally participate in a religion will merely burden your mind with a hefty load of false notions.
When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute nebulous group-think for focused, independent thought. Instead of learning to discern truth on your own, you’re told what to believe. This doesn’t accelerate your spiritual growth; on the contrary it puts the brakes on your continued conscious development. Religion is the off-switch of the human mind.
Your own intellect is a better instrument of spiritual growth than any religious teachings.
2) Loss of spiritual depth perception
One of the worst mistakes you can make in life is to attach your identity to any particular religion or philosophy, such as by saying “I am a Christian” or “I am a Buddhist.” This forces your mind into a fixed perspective, robbing you of spiritual depth perception and savagely curtailing your ability to perceive reality accurately. If that sounds like a good idea to you, you’ll probably want to gouge out one of your eyeballs too. Surely you’ll be better off with a single, fixed perspective instead of having to consider two separate image streams… unless of course you’ve become attached to stereo vision.
Religious “truths” are inherently rooted in a fixed perspective, but real truth is perspective-independent. When you substitute religious teachings for truth, you mistake shadows for light sources. Consequently, you doom yourself to stumble around in the dark, utterly confused. Clarity remains forever elusive, and the best answer you get is that life is one giant mystery. Religious mysteries, however, arise not from what is truly unknowable; they arise from the limitations of trying to understand reality from a fixed frame of reference.
A more intelligent approach is to consider reality through a variety of different perspectives without trying to force your perceptions into an artificial religious framework. If you wish to learn more about this approach, read Spiritual Depth Perception.
3) Engineered obedience training
Religions are authoritarian hierarchies designed to dominate your free will. They’re power structures that aim to convince you to give away your power for the benefit of those who enjoy dominating people. When you subscribe to a religion, you enroll in a mindless minion training program. Religions don’t market themselves as such, but this is essentially how they operate.
Religions are very effective at turning human beings into sheep. They’re among the most powerful instruments of social conditioning. They operate by eroding your trust in your own intellect, gradually convincing you to put your trust into some external entity, such as a deity, prominent figure, or great book. Of course these instruments are usually controlled by those who administrate the minion training program, but they don’t have to be. Simply by convincing you to give your power away to something outside yourself, religion will condition you to be weaker, more docile, and easier to control. Religions actively promote this weakening process as if it were beneficial, commonly branding it with the word faith. What they’re actually promoting is submission.
Religions strive to fill your head with so much nonsense that your only recourse is to bow your head in submission, often quite literally. Get used to spending a lot of time on your knees because acts of submission such as bowing and kneeling are frequently incorporated into religious practice. Canine obedience training uses similar tactics. Now say, “Yes, Master.”
Have you ever wondered why religious teachings are invariably mysterious, confusing, and internally incongruent? This is no accident by the way — it’s quite intentional.
By putting forth confusing and internally conflicting information, your logical mind (i.e. your neocortex) is overwhelmed. You try in vain to integrate such contradictory beliefs, but it can’t be done. The net effect is that your logical mind disengages because it can’t find a pattern of core truth beneath all the nonsense, so without the help of your neocortex, you devolve to a more primitive (i.e. limbic) mode of thinking. You’re taught that this faith-based approach is a more spiritual and conscious way to live, but in reality it’s precisely the opposite. Getting you to distrust your own cerebral cortex actually makes you dumber and easier to manipulate and control. Karl Marx was right when he said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.”
For example, the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Bible frequently contradict each other with various rules of conduct, yet both are quoted during mass. You aren’t meant to ever make sense of them since that would defeat the whole purpose.
If you want to talk to God, then communicate directly instead of using third-party intermediaries. Surely God has no need of an interpreter. Don’t fall into the trap of becoming a mindless minion. It’s a mistake to think that turning off your neocortex and practicing mindless “faith” will bring you closer to God.
4) Toilet-bowl time management
If you devote serious time to the practice of religion, it’s safe to say you practice toilet-bowl time management, flushing much of your precious life down the drain with little or nothing to show for it.
First, you’ll waste a lot of time filling your head with useless nonsense. This includes reading some of the worst fiction ever written. Then there are various rules, laws, and practices to learn..
Next, you can expect to waste even more time on repetitive ritual and ceremony, such as attending mass, learning prayers, and practicing unproductive meditations.
If I add up the time I attended mass and Sunday school, studied religion in school as if it were a serious subject, and memorized various prayers, I count thousands of hours of my life I’d love to have back. I did, however, learn some important lessons, many of which are being shared in this article.
5) Waste of money
In addition to being a serious waste of time, religious practice can also be a huge waste of money.
For starters when you donate to a major religion, you support its expansion, which means you’re facilitating the enslavement of your fellow humans. If you feel the urge to donate money, give it to a real and honorable cause, not a fabricated one. Better yet, go outside and do something yourself that really helps people. If you can’t think of anything better, grab a can of paint and clean up some local graffiti.
Your religious donations fund freeloaders who mooch off society but who generally provide little or no value in return. Sure there are some religious people who perform valuable public services, but for the most part, that isn’t their bailiwick. These freeloaders typically operate tax-free, meaning they’re effectively subsidized by taxpayers. That’s a great racket if you’re on the receiving side… not so great if you’re funding it though.
Would you seriously consider this sort of structure a “good cause” worthy of your hard-earned cash?
6) Religions create separation
Religions frequently promote inbred social networks. You’re encouraged to spend more time with people who share the same belief system while disengaging from those with incompatible beliefs. Sometimes this is done subtly; other times it’s more obvious.
If you’re one of the saved, blessed, or otherwise enlightened individuals who stumbled upon the one true belief system, then supposedly everyone else remains in the dark. Certain religions are overtly intolerant of outsiders, but to one degree or another, all major religions cast non-subscribers in a negative light. This helps to discourage members from abandoning the religion while still enabling them to proselytize. The main idea is to maintain social structures that reward loyalty and punish freedom of thought.
This us-vs-them prejudice is totally incongruent with conscious living. It’s also downright moronic from a global perspective. But it remains a favored practice of those who pull the strings. When you’re taught to distrust other human beings, fear gets a foothold in your consciousness, and you become much easier to control.
When you join a religion, your fellow mind-slaves will help to keep you in line, socially rewarding your continued obedience while punishing your disloyalty. Why do they do this? It’s what they’ve been conditioned to do. Tell your religious friends that you’re abandoning their religion because you want to think for yourself for a while, and watch the sparks fly. Suddenly you’ve gone from best friend to evil demon. There’s no greater threat to religious people than to profess your desire to think for yourself.
There are better ways to enjoy a sense of community than joining a slavery club. Try making friends with conscious, free-thinking people for a change — people who are willing to connect with you regardless of how silly your beliefs are. You may find it intimidating at first, but it’s quite refreshing once you get used to it.
7) Idiocy or hypocrisy – pick one
When you subscribe to an established religion, you have only two options. You can become an idiot, or you can become a hypocrite. If you’ve already chosen the former, I’ll explain why, and I’ll use small words so that you’re sure to understand.
First, there’s the idiocy route. You can willingly swallow all of the contrived, man-made drivel that’s fed to you. Accept that the earth is only 10,000 years old. Learn about various deities and such. Put your trust in someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about.
You’ll be saved, enlightened, and greeted with tremendous fanfare when you die… unless of course all the stuff you were taught turns out not to be true. Nah… if the guy in the robe says it’s true, it must be true. Ya gotta have faith, right?
Next, we have the hypocrisy option. In this case your neocortex is strong enough to identify various bits of utter nonsense in the religious teachings that others are trying to ram down your throat. You have a working B.S. detector, but it’s slightly damaged. You’re smart enough to realize that earth is probably a lot older than 10,000 years and that pre-marital (or non-marital) sex is a lot of fun, but some B.S. still gets through. You know homosexuality should not be a criminal offense and that it occurs in nature all the time. You don’t swallow all the bull, but you still identify yourself as a follower of a particular religion, most likely because you were raised in it and never actually chose it to begin with.
To you it’s just a casual pursuit. You’re certainly not a die-hard fundamentalist, but you figure that if you drink the wine and chew the wafer now and then, it’s good enough to get you a free ride into a half-decent afterlife. You belong to the pro-God club.
In this case you become an apologist for your own religion. You don’t want to be identified with the extreme fanatics, nor do you want to be associated with the non-believers. You figure you can straddle both sides. On earth you’ll basically live as a non-practitioner (or a very sloppy and inconsistent practitioner), but when you eventually die, you’ve still got the membership card to show God.
Do you realize how deluded that is?
8) Inherited falsehood
What if you were born into a different culture? Would you have been conscious enough to find your way back to your current belief system? Or are your current beliefs merely a product of your environment and not the result of conscious choice?
Many religious teachers (i.e. priests, rabbis, ministers, etc.) are just brainwashed slaves themselves. They don’t have any real authority and aren’t even aware of the agenda being set by their superiors. This makes them better minions because they actually believe the B.S. they’re spouting and don’t know the truth behind it. A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar, but that’s as far as they get. They may interact with the bartender, but they never get to know the guy who owns the bar. They suffer from inherited falsehood just like everyone else.
Is your religion based on the inspired word of God? No more than this article. Just because someone says their text is divinely inspired doesn’t mean it is. Anyone can claim divine inspiration.
Even the central figures in major religions didn’t follow the religions that were spawned in their names. If they didn’t swallow the prevailing “wisdom” about gods and spiritual leaders and such, why should you? If you want to be more like the people you worship, then follow their lead by striking out on your own.
9) Compassion in chains
Religious rules and laws invariably hamper the development of conscience. This causes all sorts of problems like pointless violence and warfare. Those who preach nonviolence as a rule or law tend to be the most violent of all.
When you externalize compassion into a set of rules and laws, what you’re left with isn’t compassion at all. True compassion is a matter of conscious choice, and that requires the absence of force-backed rules and laws.
Historically speaking, religious people love to fight each other. Instead of unconditional love, they practice conditional loyalty. If you disagree with them, you’re a target… either for conversion or destruction (both of which are really the same thing).
If you value the ideal of unconditional love, you won’t find it in the practice of religion. Real compassion doesn’t arise from believing in God, from practicing various rituals, or from studying the concept of karma. Compassion can only result from conscious choice, and this requires the freedom to choose without the threat of punishment or the promise of reward. If you’re obedient to your faith, it’s a safe bet that compassion is absent from your life.
10) Faith is fear
Religion is the systematic marketing of fear.
That’s the kind of nonsense religion pushes on people. They train you to turn your back on courage, strength, and conscious living. This is stupidity, not divinity.
Religion will teach you to fear being different, to fear standing up for yourself, and to fear being an independent thinker. It will erode your self-trust by explaining why you’re unable to successfully manage life on your own terms: You are unworthy. You’re a sinner. You’re unclean. You belong to a lesser caste. You are not enlightened. Of course the solution is always the same — submit to the will of an external authority. Believe that you’re inadequate. Give away your power. Follow their rules and procedures. Live in fear for the rest of your life, and hope it will all turn out okay in the end.
When you practice faith instead of conscious living, you live under a cloak of fear. Eventually that cloak becomes so habitual you forget it’s even there. It’s very sad when you reach the point where you can’t even remember what it feels like to wield creative freedom over your own life, independent of what you’ve been conditioned to believe.
Stop trying to comfort yourself by swallowing religious rubbish. If you really need something to believe in, then believe in your own potential. Put your trust in your own intellect. Stop giving away your power.
Dump the safety-in-numbers silliness. Just because a lot of people believe stupid stuff doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid. It just means that stupidity is popular on this planet. When people are in a state of fear, they’ll swallow just about anything to comfort themselves.
Source: Written by Steve Pavlina on his site www.stevepavlina.com
What are your thoughts on this? Is all religion somewhat toxic to spiritual growth? Is there a middle ground?
“Religion is the belief in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is having your own experience.”
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urban legends
by chirac indear brothers ans sisters.
i just received this mail in french..(thank you google to have translates it)..this mail is from a still inside brother who encourage to come back.
do you think its a fact or an other urban legend.
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darth frosty
I remember a story like this when dubya was in office. Kinda goes along the lines of a rock band asking all JW's to leave cause they aren't wanted at their concert:confused: -
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Do you have someone you trust?
by myjourney inhi, i'm a newbie around here.
i've been reading the posts, but reluctant to step out of my safe zone.
i definitely see how coming to a safe place to ask questions, vent, etc.
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darth frosty
Give it time.
Personally I'm blessed because my best friend found JWD before I did (even tho I didn't know) we both pioneered together and served at bethel but it wasn't until 2005 when I left that I found out he was posting here as Blackman.
We laugh about it but it is a great support to have someone I went thru the trenches with who is out and we can support each other.
For OP just keep your head up and look into meet-up groups with folks who share similar interest with you.
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If Your JW Parent Died Would YOU Go To The Kingdom Hall For The Talk?
by minimus ini would like your thoughts, please..
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darth frosty
I would and I did (discussed here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/private/186961/1/My-mother-died-this-morning
Last post talks about how it was handled they did a great job.
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My problem with Original Sin
by leftbelow ini found this quote in a book i was reading and it struck me this is why original sin is a problem for me.. damnation is the start of your morality, destruction is its purpose, means and end.
your code begins by damning man as evil, then demands that he practice a good which it defines as impossible for him to practice.
it demands, as his first proof of virtue, that he accept his own depravity without proof.
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The Noah's ark : What a nonsense!
by coalize in1. a shitty start we don't have to wait more than 4 verses of genesis 6 to put our feet in a big stinky bullshit :.
consequently, jehovah saw that mans wickedness was great on the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time.
jehovah regretted that he had made men on the earth, and his heart was saddened.
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darth frosty
I have always said you cant get out of the book of genesis without major flaws and plot pitfalls
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how long are circuit assemblies and district assemblies now
by darth frosty inwife was wondering.
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darth frosty
$24K?!?!?!?!
