Posts by Introspection

1

"Their Ears Are Truly Sealed"

by Seven in

now you can't hear me.

you're ears are truly sealed.-the who.

in early 1998, bin laden and al-zawahiri appeared together in afghanistan to announce a fatwa, a decree, calling for a jihad (holy war) against jews and "crusaders.

Does anyone here believe the Bible?

by sawthelight in

jw
friends

ive noticed many posts relating to evolution and i'm just wondering does anyone frequenting this board believe in the bible?

it seems that just because most have bad experiences with the wt that everyone here is an atheist.

i myself was something at least of an agnostic for quite some time after breaking free of the borg, but now i see things in a different light.

You might say I'm somewhere in between. One thing's for sure, I don't believe in anywhere near the same interpretation as the WTS teaches, though I think there are things of value in the bible. I would just point out that if you no longer believe in the bible as the WTS portrays it, (or typical fundie type of interpretations) that's fine. But if you say that their understanding and interpretation is the actual meaning of the bible, you are agreeing with them in that respect.

Might as well face it you're addicted to dubs...

15

Why JWs and ex JWs Return to Watchtower 3

by Victor_E in

jw
friends

this post is an attempt to explain the paradoxical return of ex-jws back to the watchtower.

my premise is that a persons unconscious mind has a positive intent in leading them back to the former environment and the intent is of intrinsic value within individuals.. developmental psychology tells us there are six primary developmental stages in a persons life.

if a person experiences developmental gaps or underdevelopment of a stage all the others that follow will not develop properly and these will be affected.

Introspection

Lets do a short answer exercise with this folks.. Which stage of development is Mymailmum at?

Might as well face it you're addicted to dubs...

15

Why JWs and ex JWs Return to Watchtower 3

by Victor_E in

jw
friends

this post is an attempt to explain the paradoxical return of ex-jws back to the watchtower.

my premise is that a persons unconscious mind has a positive intent in leading them back to the former environment and the intent is of intrinsic value within individuals.. developmental psychology tells us there are six primary developmental stages in a persons life.

if a person experiences developmental gaps or underdevelopment of a stage all the others that follow will not develop properly and these will be affected.

Introspection

Wait a minute girls, isn't this the exact same message that was posted in Logical's thread?

Might as well face it you're addicted to dubs...

151

Intro's quote-o-rama

by Introspection in

i guess i've been inspired by stephen's quote threads, so i'm going to start one myself.. not one particular author here, just whatever i can find:.

q: why do you think that people are so protective of their egos?

why is it so hard to let go of one's ego?.

Introspection

Hi Seven, thanks for visiting. :) Here is one I've posted in another thread before, and I still use it on my Yahoo profile, thought it's worth repeating:

"Love your neighbor as yourself means your neighbor is yourself, and that recognition of oneness is love." -Eckhart Tolle

2

Ciao For Now-I'll be back

by Ray Skyhorse in

jw
friends

i'm going to be busy moving to northern california (humboldt county)so i'm not going to be around for the next month or so.

i hope i don't miss too much interesting stuff while i'm away.

i hope i don't miss dateline.

Introspection

Ray there's a group of us from the SF bay area, that might be the closest bunch here.. Don't suppose you'd be able to make the picnic thing on October 7th?

46

I NEED ADVICE DESPERATELY!!!

by concerned fiance in

jw
friends

here is my situation: my fiance is now 27 years old.

he was raised as a jw from the age of 2 through 18. at that time, his whole family left the "truth" except for his older brother who had already married another woman from the faith.

for the past 9 years, he has been living his life to the fullest, but still loving god, praying often and he is a truly honest and moral person.

Introspection

Hi Free2B,

I don't see his gut reaction as a self-preservation thing. More like a genuine fear he is ignoring a prod from God.

I'm glad you pointed this out. I guess I should have distinguished more precisely when I wrote that, but I tend to view the self in terms of ego as well as physical preservation (or soul, but JWs believe the physical organism is the soul so..) as one issue. So, I saw this indoctrinated fear as a part of his self, who he is. Trying to go 'beyond the self' is actually probably not a good general course of action if you're just trying to focus on getting over the JWs, it could very well be that the ego needs to be bolstered in some way. Obviously, this shows my own bias in a way, but if someone is interested in pursuing some kind of spiritual path it just seems logical to me that you work with that. If you only focus on what is not true and what not to do, you leave the person with nothing. Now THAT is a very threatening thing to the ego isn't it? I guess my own view is that it can be an opportunity for mental and spiritual growth, but certainly you don't want to push it so that it becomes a breakdown rather than a breakthrough, as Ken Wilber puts it.. Anyways, I just hope this information is helpful to Concerned, she would know him best after all.

20

An Antidote To 'Screen Sickness'.

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

a post by you know, our local hero, that was basically filled with speculative nonsense and an eccentric interpretation of scripture has gone on, as of this moment, to generate almost 300 messages, and has been viewed over 5,400 times.

an alarming waste of time imho.. as a result of this our lawns have overgrown, our families have been neglected, the parrot is losing its feathers due to starvation and the real world has passed us by with an understandable glare in our direction.. yes, screen sickness; that desire to converse ad nasuem with digital acquaintances whose eyes ( or in yks case eye ) we have never seen, has spread greedily among us.

in his wonderful essay on painting as a pastime, winston churchill gave some excellent advise for those who find their concentration becoming obsessed or overwrought, he said:.

Introspection

Hi HS,

Now, granting the validity of this argument to the great man, what ¡¥change¡¦ or ¡¥hobby¡¦ would you recommend to someone who finds that the balance of their mind is perhaps becoming excessively wound up with WTS & XJW matters, an activity my long-suffering wife describes as the ¡¥Wimbledon without a winner¡¦.

Good question.. Well, frankly I am hopeful that there will be others who have an interest in comparative religion such as I do, but instead I find that I have to be careful what I talk about because there is the potential to turn a lot of people off because of a certain degree of sensitivity.. Other than that, there are also many who are not interested in religion, and that's fine. I only hope that both those who have an interest and those who don't realize a study of religion does not necessarily mean you are a religious person, so whether one wants to stick with the Judeo-Christian tradition or if you are an atheist, it can be approached purely as a matter of intellectual interest. I just figure it would be the natural step to take, but I guess the one thing we agree on is "the truth is not the truth" so we tend to stick with that.

But in terms of something practical, I think physical activities will help break the cycle for excessive time online in general - I'm about to get off my butt for a much needed break on the treadmill. But I do think some kind of comparative study would be beneficial because it simply puts things in a larger context, so that you're not caught up with "witness issues" all the time. I would recommend taking a comparative religion class to anyone (or simply pick up a book such as The World's Religions by Huston Smith, a widely used undergraduate text) for the simple reason that it is educational. What you do with the knowledge is up to you.

46

I NEED ADVICE DESPERATELY!!!

by concerned fiance in

jw
friends

here is my situation: my fiance is now 27 years old.

he was raised as a jw from the age of 2 through 18. at that time, his whole family left the "truth" except for his older brother who had already married another woman from the faith.

for the past 9 years, he has been living his life to the fullest, but still loving god, praying often and he is a truly honest and moral person.

Introspection

Concerned,

I hope to be able to participate more and give my own insight (if that is welcome, from somebody who never was a JW, but who has been doing some serious Bible studying lately, to show the inconsistencies in WT teachings.)

That is certainly welcome, you may be able to offer us something we have not considered before. I'd be very interested to see what you have found.

16

Military reponse? Or lets not cause more violence

by bboyneko in

jw
friends

what to do if you happen upon a peace rally by stupid naive hemp-shirt-wearing college idiots, to teach them why force is sometimes needed: .

1) approach dumb rich ignorant student talking about "peace" and saying there should be, "no retaliation.

2) engage in brief conversation, ask if military force is appropriate.

Introspection

Julien I don't think that's quite so. It isn't a matter of me hitting you and you hitting me, if someone is skilled enough they can throw you around and simply frustrate you, "make you" look bad and hurt your ego if nothing else. I certainly doubt anyone would actually try this physically, but that's kind of my point. First of all, talk is one thing and doing is another, and frankly responding and acting skillfully is not the same as "retaliation" as you guys are no doubt aware.