anyone who has ever sat at home, healthy, well fed, surrounded by loved ones, and suffering from intense anxiety will readily agree that peace of mind is the necessary condition for happiness.
but how can we possibly learn to have peace of mind when the mind is by nature restless, projecting its wants and fears endlessly into the past and the future?.
think about your favorite activity for a moment.
Welcome back Nate and Happy New Year.
I find it hard to have a quiet mind and I often refer to it as my "washing machine head". I have trouble going to sleep sometimes because my mind wont stop working, but I too get a relief with music. Music seems to have the effect of shutting thoughts and worries out for me.
Maddie
it's new year's eve where i live and i want to wish all of you peace and happiness in 2008!
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changeling (((((((((((((((((jwd)))))))))))))))))
Happy New Year everyone and may it be a good one
Maddie
well it looks like this site is a real melting pot, a broad spectrum of views and beliefs.
for sure there are many disaffected ex jws.
so in as few words as possible, preferably not more than one sentence, how would you describe yourself spiritually?
A want to be Christian
as i understand it, drinking in the uk is not as stigmatized as it is in the us.
going to the pub after the sunday meeting is on a par with going to the all-you-can-eat chinese buffet over here in the us.. so, if a person has real problems with drinking, and asks for help, how do the elders handle this?
if they themselves tipple overmuch, how can they be unbiased in rendering judicial matters in this regard?.
From my own experience elders in England haven't got a clue about the nature of alcoholism or how to help someone with the problem. In my own case AA is the best place to help alcoholics, but JW elders dont seem to advocate it much and I think that is because its an embarrassment to the WT that AA (a "worldly organisation") can help people, when they ("Jehovahs Organisation") cant. Also they are afraid that they will lose JW's from the mind control if they go outside for help.
Maddie
i know ,at first glance it seems like an impossibility .
i really haven't lost my mind here folks.
hear me out on this one.
Thank you Mr. Flipper because you always make me believe there is a chance of freeing my son from the JW's with your recent posts on this subject. It has made me aware of the fact that there is a dual personality going on in my son. My sons aunt has commented how when he has been with non JW family for a while he seems to relax and more like he used to be. The problem is that it is very rare for him to mix with non JW's, but I do believe it is a sign that it would be possible to break the hold of the cult, which gives me some hope.
Maddie
my mil who is an active witness, just made each of her kids and spouses a huge tray of christmas cookies wrapped with red and green bows and delivered them christmas eve day.
what would the elders think of this?
i get so confused as to what's ok with them and what's not ok. it all seems very contradictory to me and they basically make excuses to do as they please, but criticize everyone else for say, letting their kid watch harry potter.
Very confusing and very sad that a lot of JW's try to pretend that they aren't celebrating something so call it something else instead.
Maddie
or, does your nature help determine the belief system that you choose?
if you lose your belief system, do you become worse, better, stay the same, happier, sadder?
is it better to have a system imposed on you in order to control you, or is it better to be yourself?
Having a belief system doesn't necessarily make a person nice. I know non-religious people who are more compassionate and caring than some religious fanatics. Genuine love comes from within.
Maddie
in post-jw life, it seems to me that acceptance of this basic fact of life, the reality that we will die, is a healthy thing to do.
yet, i believe that most jw's cling to a hope that armageddon will spare them death, even when they see death at the doors.
they have never prepared themselves for the reality, and when it becomes inevitable, the pain of that realization must be intense for some of them.
Most people have trouble in accepting death as the end of existence, so have various beliefs about an after-life. I know that I'm going to die so I accept my mortality, but I also have faith in the resurrection so does that mean I haven't accepted my mortality? Not sure I can answer that!
Maddie
like i said on a previous thread, this is my first cat.
this cat always follows me around and demands to be petted all of the time.
he wants to be carried all of the time.
He sounds like a normal cat to be as the things you describe are all cat traits. I have two cats and they have very different personalities. They are both affectionate but one is more independent and spends time on her own. The other one likes to be round me much more and tends to follow me about the house. Have you got any cat toys for your cat to play with cos that might help?
Maddie
i don't have to tell you how jw's use the line about how the world is just getting worse and it's a sign that we are in the end times.
what is your thought on the world?
is it really getting worse, or does every generation say that?
I just don't think the good ole days were really that great, we are living better, living longer, no world wars, not saying it is perfect but drop anyone of us back 100 years ago and see if we could survive a week
It is true that every generation (the elderly) tend to look back to the "good old days" and see the present society as having degenerated. I think that in many areas such as technology and medicine there is huge advancement. In other ways I think the world has got worse because of the starvation in Africa and the AIDS epidemic there.
Maddie
