onesong, thanks for the post. Every now and then someone rises above the rhetoric and sees the JWs just as they are . Bloom is one of those exceptional people..
Thank you.
Siddhashunyata
JoinedPosts by Siddhashunyata
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9
"The American Religion"
by onesong ini posted this a while ago, thought i'd repost as some newbies might find it interesting.. .
"the american religion" by harold bloom.
he reviews and critiques american born religions and has a chapter on jw's.
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what does Jesus mean by I am the way?
by blueviceroy ini'm wondering what jesus means when he says the only way to the father is through me.
does he mean believe i existed?
does he mean believe what i teach?
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Siddhashunyata
We must perceive that which is through all and in all. Only one Mind can do this . Find that Mind within yourself and all the enigmatic words of Jesus will come to life because his words are that mind speaking to itself.
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When did we stop being customers and start being consumers?
by truthseeker ini really hate the word "consumer" - i see it all the time, in reports, business news, the markets.. consumers aren't consuming, they aren't spending.. a consumer sounds like some brainless automaton whose sole purpose is, well, to consume.
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in the old days we were customers who made purchases - now we just consume.. does anyone else feel the same way?.
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Siddhashunyata
Google the term "Consumerism" .
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Field Service Using Manila Folder
by Siddhashunyata injust saw dubs in the neighborhood.
they had magazines hidden in mainla file folders as they went door to door.
is this a new policy or just a local phenomena.
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Siddhashunyata
The finished mystery : There were District Assembly invitations in the folders. Two were put in my doors (front and back). "Follow The Christ " District Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses. The tract asks: "How can following the Christ help you to:
- improve family life
-deal with life's difficult problems?
- draw closer to God
- oppose the Devil?
- gain everlasting life?
They could have made the deal even sweeter by including :
- get cheaper gas
- cure asthma
- get on reality TV
- win a trip to West Hollywood
In the picture Jesus looks looks like a man that can be trusted to give you a good deal on whatever their selling.
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Field Service Using Manila Folder
by Siddhashunyata injust saw dubs in the neighborhood.
they had magazines hidden in mainla file folders as they went door to door.
is this a new policy or just a local phenomena.
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Siddhashunyata
Just saw dubs in the neighborhood. They had magazines hidden in mainla file folders as they went door to door. Is this a new policy or just a local phenomena. Ideas ?
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Count-Down 7: Self Awareness and the Soul
by Amazing inno one has ever been able to explain to me just how we, as products of evolution, can possibly have sentience and self awareness.
(i understand and accept that humans evolved.
how come i am aware that i am jim whitney, a middle aged male, instead of being a young female named sarah smith?
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Siddhashunyata
To add one thought to the comments of Narkissos and Poppers: The search for meaning is relentless because it is rooted in the 'self" , which is an accumulation of thoughts tagged "I". That search ends ( is resolved directly ) when the self is transcended as Poppers suggests. The peace that would come to the "self" by "knowing" the meaning of life, that peace is experienced in consort with a direct perception of objects undisturbed by the nagging "self". 'Meaning" is what a thing is and that can only be known by direct perception. Like drinking tea.
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The WatchtowerLogically Wrong But Emotionally Right?
by The wanderer in<!-- .style1 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style4 { font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; color: #330099; } .style5 { font-size: 16px; font-family: arial; color: #330099; } --> the watchtowerlogically wrong but emotionally right?months of battles between my best friend and i have fallen to the wayside .
and we can now calmly talk about the watchtower society without an ex-.
plosive confrontation.
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Siddhashunyata
"How would you reason with a man that logically knows the Watchtower is
deceptive but still emotionally “supports” it because of his experiences while
in the organization?"You seem to know the answer already. Reason will not shake him loose.
In the presence of truth weak character yields to emotional attachments.
Ask yourself," why do I place the facts above my emotions?" .
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One Minute After You Die?
by Outaservice inwe have various types of people on this board, some believers in god, others atheists, some agnostics, and others still jw's at heart.. in your opinion, what do you believe happens to a person one minute after they die?
how about if they are good or bad?.
outaservice ( inquiring minds want to know) .
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Siddhashunyata
Taken from" Moksha- Aldous Huxley's Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience"--Park Street Press 1999 paperback edition p. 257 -266 article by Laura Huxley:
" The Tibetan Book of the Dead gives the greatest importance to the state of consciousnes at the time of death. he guide always addresses the dying person with the salute " O Nobly Born!" and urges: "Let not thy mind be distracted." The guide keeps reminding the dying person not to become entangled in visions, heavenly or hellish, which are not real, but which are only illusionary projections of his thoughts and emotions, fears and desires. The dying are exhorted" to go on practicing the art of living even while they are dying. Knowing who in fact one is , being conscious of the universal and impersonal life that lives itself through each of us. That's the art of living , and that's what one can help the dying to go on practicing. To the very end." (quoted by Laura from her husband Aldous' book Island.
Laura goes on to note that her husband died on the same day as JFK and she states : " ... no imagination could be vivid enough to conceive two ways of dying as antipodal as these. .... I reported the actual events of that day.... These are the facts..... What happened is important because it is a conclusion , better, a continuation of his ( Aldous) own work.
She administered LSD to Aldous at his request and she recorded the last moments of his life. At 3:15 pm she asked "Do you hear me ? " and " He squeezed my hand; he was hearing me." She writes, "Now from two o'clock until he died , which was 5:20 pm, there was complete peace except for once. That must have been three- thirty or four, when I saw the beginning of struggle in his lower lip....as if it were going to struggle for air. .... The twitching of the lower lip lasted only a little bit , and it seemed to respond completely to what I was saying. Easy, easy, you are doing this willingly and consciously and beautifully- going forward and up, light and free, forward and up toward the light, into the light , into complete love. The twitching stopped, the breathing became slower and slower and there was absolutly not the slightest indication of contraction, of struggle. It was just that the breathing became slower-and slower -and slower ;the ceasing of life was not a drama at all, but like a piece of music just finishing so gently in a sempre piu' piano, dolcemente...and at five-twenty the breathing stopped."
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Aid book and Insight On The Scriptures
by desertflower inwould like to know if anyone has found differences in comparing the 2 books besides the article of older men that ray franz brought out.
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desertflower.
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Siddhashunyata
Aid book under "Adam" said he probably wrote scripture.. Same Aid book under " Writing" said Adam probably didn't write scripture. Don't know how the Insight book handled the issue .
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Truth
by darth frosty inthis may get a lil dizzying...do j.w.s love truth or are they merely satisfied that they have the truth?
as we know the witnesses describe their form of worship as the truth.
this implies that they are right and all others are wrong, with out them having to put it in those exact words.
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Siddhashunyata
Assertions about reality become dogma. Jehovah's Witnesses love dogma especially their dogma. They are like a person that sits down to eat a meal but mistakes the menu for the food. They eat it then offer it to you" Take a bite, tastes a little like paper but its good for you, very nourishing... don't you agree?" If they replaced the word "truth" with the word "dogma'.... are you in the "Dogma" , when did you first learn the "Dogma", the "Dogma" keeps getting brighter , if they used that term they would make more sense.
How spiritualy nourishing is dogma?
"Eat my body", "drink my blood"," waters of life", "leave self behind": these are metaphors describing the way into truth itself, into life itself as it is happening now. A new perceptiion. That perception is spiritually nourishing, unlike dogma which has no life giving properties.
What is truth? It is what is at every instant. In its largest sense it is a verb not a noun.