Introspection

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Posts by Introspection

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  16

  Have you had formal counselling/therapy?

  by starfish422 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences
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  Introspection

  I've had brief therapy twice, once when I was still a witness with a witness therapist, and the other time it was with a school therapist shortly after I left. I went into therapy for depression, it was somewhat helpful both times but in neither case was it a cure. I think therapy can be useful, but as I look back it is pretty clear that I wasn't just interested in having nice thought patterns in my head, I wanted something more. So I guess it kind of depends on what you're looking for, I think for a lot of people life does come to a point that it requires something like therapy to make it manageable.

  Don't think the therapist or therapy does anything for you though, like a lot of other things it's something you need to participate in. Whatever you do, be honest with yourself, that's probably more valuable than anything else.
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  31

  Is Relgious belief a trick of the mind?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  what is it about our brians that drives people to religious beliefs that are so obviously nopt founded in fact or reason?is it an inherant founction of our tiny brians or is it in fact our brians going wrong in trying to make sense of the world?

  maybe its the psychological equivelent of an optical illution were your brain in trying to make sense of what it sees constructs an impossible reality .like say when you draw a "3-d" box on a flat piece of paper and the brain tries to work out which face is on the front , but it can't, as none is, but the brain will put one in front whatever.maybe religion is what the brain makes to explain the world and uses it so the weiredness of reality makes more sense.

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  Introspection

  Both religious beliefs and the spiritual seeker are tricks of the mind. The extraordinary thing about the mind is not that it is capable of great feats of intellectual prowess, but that it can trick itself.

  If the spiritual quest is about our true nature, then what is there to seek? How can one's true nature be somewhere other than here, all the time?

  It would be a mistake to confuse the excitement felt in an intellectual analysis of spiritual ideas with realization. You don't have to know how to talk about it to realize it. In fact, even those that are articulate and capable of explaining it in a lucid manner are aware that what they say is really inadequet. Just the other night in satsang the teacher said as much about himself, and a bit later he said "The Tao Te Ching says 'he that knows does not speak, he that speaks does not know' - I'm not sure what that says about me" and chuckled. If you hang around in spiritual circles long enough it becomes obvious that a lot of people who talk a good game don't really know what they're talking about. It is clear that for those individuals, it is purely an intellectual exercise and they have not come to realize these things in life, which is to say any realization they may have had is quickly distorted by replacing it with a thought.

  You know, recently it occured to me that even among people who meditate, few of them will just sit, which is of course what meditation is. What I mean by that is just sitting quietly with other people or just yourself, without feeling the need to make conversation or do this or that. It's just a matter of being with things as they are, without trying to manipulate or change anything. It seems to me that's the real test, and not when someone is form-ally meditating in a lotus position or whatever. If someone is only capable of being still when formally sitting, it's kind of like going "Look ma! I can meditate!" Forms change, if we're interested in something that does not change then obviously it's not to be found there.
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  13

  A JW Belief I still hold on to

  by ApagaLaLuz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  all this talk of wwiii has really got to me to thinking.

  i still hold strong beliefs against world divisions.

  the belief that the jws teach of a world-wide unity is one that still apeals to me very much.

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  Introspection

  That sound nice Chevy. I would disagree on one point though, and that is it doesn't sound like it's a belief for you, certainly not just a belief. In fact, I'd say you don't need it in the form of belief because it is obviously a part of you, I doubt you have to even think about it because it's just how you are.
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  74

  Why Not Just Let It Go?

  by ikhandi in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am fairly new to this board, but have been lurking for awhile before i decided to become a registered member.

  i have read many posts old and new and can't help but wonder why many of you just don't let it go?

  some of you have expressed bitterness and disgust over what the wts has done to you.

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  Introspection

  I haven't read every message in this thread, but did scan pages 2-4 to get a sense of where it's gone.

  First of all, I think it's useful to acknowledge that this line of inquiry may very well imply a judgemental attitude, conscious or not - I'll let you each decide for yourself. Maybe a better question is when one would let it go. If someone has been in the organization for decades from the time of infancy and have not 'worked on' it in any way at all, it's a little unreasonable to expect them to let it all go in 5 minutes, don't you think? Of course, in any given moment we may be free from any thought created mental stress, but overall things like this does come back up.

  This leads into the difference between letting something go and repressing it. While the question of why you can't just let it go is a good one, if you're honest with yourself the first thing to see is that no, you can't let it go, not right now. If that is in fact the truth in this moment, no amount of influence from others and anything they'll say will make you let it go, you can't let something go if you keep pushing it away, because it never got as far as your sphere of control so that you can let it go - if it's unconscious it will just come back to haunt you.

  The bottom line is, this is something that is a challenge for most people, regardless of the form it takes. Someone may be offended that another person slandered their God's name - well why can't you let THAT go? It's irrelevant whether the issue is a religious one or not. Most people hang on to something, so if we're talking about letting go then just about everyone has something to work on. If you're really free and let it all go, you'll let this question go, too.
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  21

  Describe Your Spirituality

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  most witnesses believe that if you leave the "truth" as taught by jehovah's witnesses, you lose your spirituality.

  i know some here that do not believe in god.

  others are somewhat agnostic.

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  Introspection

  Perhaps we should pose the question: Is spirituality about beliefs? Now if you say yes, I guess that pretty much agrees with your answer. But if you say no, it may be worth examining whether that answer comes from a belief or not. If you don't have an answer, that may be the best answer. Consider this scenario: A parent who loves their child leaps out in front of a car to save their child - (hey, it helps to throw some drama in right) does that come from a belief? Don't be fooled, if we say it's because they love their child it may be a true statement, but that just becomes another idea to believe in. If anything, I'd think we can agree that spirituality is something that's alive, this would imply that religious beliefs are dead, regardless of what they are.

  Why would a belief system make someone spiritual? Can't you program a computer to do the same thing? So are we talking about having newer, better programming than when we were witnesses?
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  21

  Describe Your Spirituality

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  most witnesses believe that if you leave the "truth" as taught by jehovah's witnesses, you lose your spirituality.

  i know some here that do not believe in god.

  others are somewhat agnostic.

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  Introspection

  What is a non-spiritual person?
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  7

  Forgiveness... Why?

  by happysunshine in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  what's the use of forgiveness?

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  Introspection

  You reclaim a measure of mental/emotional energy when you let go of something that happend in the past. You can actually do this even while doing something that's related to it in the present, but it's all a matter of what kind of state you are in. So, even if you sue someone for wronging you, you can get something back before you even go to court, because that part of it is giving back to yourself, the internal peace and such.

  Actually, if you look at what really goes on in a person's mind when they don't forgive is that they are re-creating something that happend in the past. If you don't think about anything that causes you distress you can't help but be at peace. Of course when something is very traumatic it may linger for a long time, but the first step then is to recognize that it is just a thought, a memory. It's cliche but it is also very true that it's a matter of moving on.
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  65

  Cowboy's Mother passed away

  by Seven in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this at vincent's this morning.

  re: re: vincent-------goes underground 24-feb-03 07:06feb 24, 2003. .

  post 2234 of 2235. since 25-mar-00.

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  Introspection

  Dave, sorry to hear about your loss. I'm not going to be online much for a while, but you're always welcome to email me.

  Mark

  Here's part of the lyrics to a song I've been listening to, I don't know if it speaks to you but I have found it comforting:

  Home
  by Dishwalla

  come and take me home
  lead me to your door
  take me where you are
  lead me to your door
  and let me in
  just let me in
  and let me leave
  just let me leave this world
  come on now let me leave this world
  at least just for a while
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  2

  13 Conversations About One Thing

  by Introspection in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  has anyone else seen this?

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  Introspection

  Has anyone else seen this?
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  7

  The Three Hs

  by Defender in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in answering the question about why do jws continue to believe whatever the society prints and postulates we must start with an inward look at ourselves.

  every person had his or her own reason to become a jw.

  in fact, when we were jws the first question we used to ask of those we recently meet, say in the hall or at assemblies, was how did they become a jw?

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  Introspection

  Elsewhere, of course that is what happens when you actually practice that principle, but for a lot of JWs knowing that is about as good as having it written on a piece of paper and putting it in your pocket, never to be considered. This is why I don't think a lot of info is needed for someone to see the truth about the WTS, it's just a matter of being open. You know, I wonder if that even originated from the JWs, it may be they got the idea and thought it would be nice to throw it into a talk outline...