Introspection

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Posts by Introspection

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  6

  Miserable Melodies

  by Big Tex in

  1. social
  2. humour

  http://www.miserablemelodies.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/miserabl/listall.cgi?arg=rating

  which is worse?

  william shatner talking "lucy in the sky with diamonds" or linda mccartney singing "hey jude" but singing it "hey dude"?

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  Introspection

  "Can you see, with your mind's eye, brain cells melting like cheddar..."
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  20

  My Way or the Highway

  by onacruse in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  honestly: i perceive a lot of jw-thinking in this forum, primarily from those of us who are exjw.. the us/them mentality.

  right/wrong, black/white, everything the wts said and did must be wrong.

  also, active jws that post here are typically characterized as idiots, or just plain ignored.. i've not come this far, just to fall back into the same judgmental attitudes in which i was raised.. don't take me wrong; i certainly believe in calling a spade a spade.

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  Introspection

  I'll take the highway, it's faster and not so much stop and go traffic.
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  26

  ex-JWs: Do you now say "Bless You!" when someone sneezes?

  by Yizuman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  most jws can't say "god bless you" or "bless you" when someone sneezes for fear of blessing someone with the wrong god.. now that you are out, do you have the nerve to say it?.

  yizuman.

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  Introspection

  Sure. The whole thing wasn't a big deal until you learned about the background right? Most people just take it as wishing someone well, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. It's just a kind of artifact. JWs are the ones making a big deal out of it, there's certainly no intention to supplicate the demons or whatever this was about.
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  21

  Are Christians religions all cults?

  by SpiceItUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was just reading something on a thread that tiggered this question.

  have you even been involved in a converstation with a christian fanatic?

  i have a few times and have been told a few times that i am going to go to hell because i don't believe in the bible and don't except god/jesus (at least their version) into my heart.. i know that having that fear as a basis for beliefs is a sign of cultish behavior.

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  Introspection

  Pete, similarly I am tired of those in the Church of Mentos who do not actually partake of the sacramint. While it may be true that they are Freshmakers in their own right, the fact that this freshness does not issue from Mentos really offends my freshness.

  "Doo doo doo doo, doo doo, doo wah...!"
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  108

  do you believe in karma?

  by SpiceItUp in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have all heard the cliche' "what goes around comes around" but do you really believe it?.

  i know this person that for many years has been unkind, devious and vengeful and then over more recent years has had bad luck everywhere they turned around.

  i mean one thing after another.

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  Introspection

  Do the people here that say they believe in karma truly believe this? If not, then they should stop calling their belief karma.

  It works both ways - what you are talking about is the common usage of the word. The religious teaching is not universal, many (who actually have an understanding of it in context of the beliefs of their religion) have the understanding that karma is simply cause and effect without any kind of implications of morality or justice, and the evidence seems to indicate that the word itself carries this meaning.

  If this is the original meaning of karma, why should these people stop calling it karma? Because a lot of people in the west and certain religious sects have a mistaken idea of what it means?

  Actually, if you want to put things in perspective any argument about karma being some kind of reward or punishment for doing bad things at a previous point in time is because you have a self centered perspective. I'm not saying this as a statement of judgement, it's a description - it's looking at any cause and effect in terms of what it means to an unchanging soul or self. If there is not a self in your perspective, as is the case for many Buddhists, then that simply does not apply. This is where the confusion comes from, even some Buddhists who believe that there is good or bad karma from a previous life is contradicting the no-self thing, because who is getting the better or worse life situation if there is not a self??

  So the meaning of the word itself would be the same in both cases, but depending on whether or not you believe in some kind of self or soul it would either be something you (self) experience or something that just is (no-self) - if there is no self then it is simply a bunch of interrelated cause and effect relationships. It's not a question of what the word karma means, but what it means in a larger context of your world view, whether it has separate selves or not. What has happend is two different ideas are being shoved into one word, and perhaps because those in the west are more familiar with the Judeo-Christian belief system in which there is an immortal soul, they tend to make that assumption unconsciously.
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  21

  Are Christians religions all cults?

  by SpiceItUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was just reading something on a thread that tiggered this question.

  have you even been involved in a converstation with a christian fanatic?

  i have a few times and have been told a few times that i am going to go to hell because i don't believe in the bible and don't except god/jesus (at least their version) into my heart.. i know that having that fear as a basis for beliefs is a sign of cultish behavior.

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  Introspection

  I have an online chat buddy who is an adult looking to become a Catholic, she is very well read and actually understands and agrees with ideas from say, Buddhism for example. The interesting thing here is she's not a poser about it either, usually the ideas come up before the source is mentioned, IF it is mentioned at all - so she's not one of those people that quotes stuff from a book to try to sound like they have a grasp on it, she actually does have a grasp on it. It depends on the individual's attitude.

  Now if you want to talk about the individual churches and so on, obviously you're going to have a broad spectrum on the scale. Of course, the cult thinkers are more likely to call the less cult-like ones false Christians because they can't see past what they themselves consider to be Christian. This attitude doesn't require any religion though, you can just have your own cult with one member if you have that attitude.
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  38

  I'll Pray for you. What's your feelings when someone says that to you?

  by El Kabong in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of us who left organized religion, how does it make you feel when a xtian says they will pray for you because you don't believe the same as they do?

  personally, in my opinion, that is a very obnoxious statement, especially if i don't ask or want someone to pray for me.

  to me, that's saying that i am wrong and they are right, and they are praying to god that i will see things their way.

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  Introspection

  Well, this is a bit off topic but one of the things that come to my mind is, for most forms of prayer atleast: Isn't it pretty much like telling God what to do? Even though it's a request, you gotta wonder when it's so specific if they even consider the possibility that their perception might not be all it's cracked up to be. Of course, you can always use "not my will but yours" disclaimer, but lots of people seem to know what they want God to do for them. If a prayer is full of statements without many questions, that would be very telling.

  But to get back on topic, I'm sure most of us have had that experience where someone says they'll be praying because it was their judgement that you are lost, and basically they are telling God "hey, do something about this schmuck, he's wicked and worldly and stuff" (but in a nice way with nice words, because it's God after all - assuming they actually pray) Of course, the irony here is that they are the most lost or at best equally lost as the ones they are speaking to - so my feeling tends to be one of sadness at the ignorance.

  As a few have already stated in the thread, it does ultimately depend on the person's intent, of course. For example you might have a little girl who excitedly tells you that she'll pray for you simply because she likes you and actually think you're a good person, and she wants you to be blessed, prayer is simply the most logical thing to in her world view. This can even happen in the same situation with an adult that is judgemental of you, but you'd be able to see the difference. In a situation like this I wouldn't be too concerned about what the little girl has been taught, because obviously the important thing for her is the love, not any kind of judgemental attitude. Even if you've got a more sophisticated world view, it doesn't mean you're less likely to be judgemental. The same goes for this caring attitude too - there are very intelligent people who has this kind of outlook on life. A person's attitude doesn't necessarily have to do with their intelligence, perhaps it just amplifies what was already there.
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  9

  Centering Prayer

  by Introspection in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it is a christian contemplative practice, i guess it's taught by a father thomas keating.

  in the blurb i read it mentions that phrase "clouds of unknowing" which was first used by an anonymous christian mystic, i always thought that's a good way of putting it.

  anyways i'm interested to know what it involves.

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  Introspection

  Craig, it's not an experience - experience is by nature temporary so obviously it is at best a secondary effect of something that is permanent. This is basically why you can't solve it through thought, because as I stated in another thread recently since thought is dualistic and relative in nature, you can't get to something absolute through it.

  I don't find it useful to use words like mystical, most people don't know what it means (including the ones who use it frequently) and here on a board like this you got reactions to spiritual words up the yin-yang, and then the same people starts voicing their opinions and why they have the beliefs they do, and pretty soon it's just a collective monologue with no real interest in any kind of understanding. I am Jack's personal beliefs/world views.

  I would recommend that you check out Advaita Vedanta, they've got a nice technique of inquiry that seems to go over well with intellectuals. Just remember that when you ask questions like "Who am I?" it is not meant to produce a nice answer, it's meant to point you toward the reality, so just look and see. (wow, and nobody else tells you what it is) It's more like an insight than an experience, but of course ultimately that breaks down too and fails to adequetly describe it.
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  108

  do you believe in karma?

  by SpiceItUp in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have all heard the cliche' "what goes around comes around" but do you really believe it?.

  i know this person that for many years has been unkind, devious and vengeful and then over more recent years has had bad luck everywhere they turned around.

  i mean one thing after another.

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  Introspection

  It's unfortunate that usage will twist the original meaning of a word, I suppose some people might have a problem with the word paradise too - just because it's a word that may carry some baggage for XJWs. Of course the way this question is phrased is really rather closed ended, as with anything else in the category of "do you believe in ---". If you think about it, giving a direct answer is pretty much "I believe/don't believe in what I believe karma (or whatever) is." It's kind of funny how we got two layers of belief going there isn't it? Nothing wrong with voicing your opinion of course, it's just not terribly informative as far as discussion goes.
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  9

  Centering Prayer

  by Introspection in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it is a christian contemplative practice, i guess it's taught by a father thomas keating.

  in the blurb i read it mentions that phrase "clouds of unknowing" which was first used by an anonymous christian mystic, i always thought that's a good way of putting it.

  anyways i'm interested to know what it involves.

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  Introspection

  Does anyone know about this? It is a Christian contemplative practice, I guess it's taught by a Father Thomas Keating. In the blurb I read it mentions that phrase "clouds of unknowing" which was first used by an anonymous Christian mystic, I always thought that's a good way of putting it. Anyways I'm interested to know what it involves.