Posts by Merry Magdalene

as most of you will know, ian will be going back into hospital on monday for an allogeneic stem cell transplant and will be away from the forum for a good few weeks (hopefully he'll be back home within 4-6 weeks).

last time he was in hospital many of you sent messages to his ward and i know they cheered him up immensely.

Merry Magdalene

Best Wishes always to both of you....I'm so glad the hospital provide e-mail communication--and I hope Ian gets many hundreds!

~Merry

6

Chat conversation with an active Witness! (LONG, BUT A MUST-READ)

by deaconbluez in

jw
friends

today i had a chat on msn messenger with about the only friend that i still have in the organization.

they don't know that i'm not a witness anymore.

this conversation just goes to show how witnesses are completely incapable of having a conversation.

Merry Magdalene

nice try. This about sums things up for me, though, trying to reason with scared Jdubs:

The following message could not be delivered to all recipients: [whatever was said that indicated the Society might be wrong about more than minor details]

~Merry

56

Do you know how strong you all are?

by jgnat in

jw
friends

i'm thinking this morning at the enormous effort required to leave the witnesses.

that you all found your way here is amazing.

you are a select group of strong people, who will not allow life or any organization to knock you down.

Merry Magdalene

What a beautiful thing to say...and what a beautiful thing to see...

~Merry

63

Have you met others from JWD in person?

by R.F. in

jw
friends

i've had the privelege of meeting purplesofa.

we actually knew each other before knowing we both posted here on jwd of course, being part of the same congregation and living in the same city and all.

how about the rest of you?.

Merry Magdalene

Just one...and what a pleasure! It was great getting to meet Kudra and chat a bit over food. Smart, funny, sweet. Very cool. Thanks again, girl!

~Merry

126

I want to apologize to everyone, for everything.

by nvrgnbk in

jw
friends

i'm sorry.. we've all been through alot.. .

Merry Magdalene

I used to feel that way too...untiI I finally realized not everything was my fault. Now I know just whose fault it was all this time! Hope you feel the burden lifting since coming clean with us. No worries, right? Take care!

Merry

4

Cult or cult like?

by poppers in

i came across this site that has an entry by a psychotherapist who has an interesting take on cults and organizations that foster cult like behaviors.

it is from a site dedicated to people who have exited the transcendental meditation movement.

from one of his previous entries there is a link to his own website.

Merry Magdalene

Thanks for the links Poppers. I found his definition and focus in regard to "cultic relationships" quite interesting:

How do you define a "cult"?

To be honest, as a psychotherapist, I do not concern myself overly much with defining which groups are cultic. My concern is with my clients' understanding of their experiences. I tend to focus on "cultic relationships." I define a cultic relationship as a relationship between any group and an individual in which the individual experiences such high-intensity demands on their time and resources that they experience dysfunction in one or more core life areas: family, friendships, love relationships, career or school, finances, community, law, spirituality, recreation, physical well-being, emotional well-being, and mental well-being. (Using this definition, you could define a "cult" as any organization that knowingly or unknowingly encourages cultic relationships in its members in order to meet the goals of the cult leader(s) for power, sex, money, drugs, or whatever.)

I focus on the cultic relationship because in psychotherapy personal responsibility is a more important concept than blame. "Blame" is largely about the past: Who did what to whom when. "Responsibility" is largely about the future: Who will take the steps necessary for change in a positive direction. In psychotherapy, responsibility always lies with the client. Only the client can make meaningful change to improve his or her life. This is true in treating cult veterans as well. The cult may have encouraged dysfunctional behavior, but only the client can end that behavior and move on.

~Merry