Late Eighties, they took the book study out of my home because I grew a beard.
Siddhashunyata
JoinedPosts by Siddhashunyata
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67
If God doesn't want brothers to have beards, why does it grow?
by JH in.
men have facial hair and women don't, and that's god who decided that.. so why can't brothers have beards or goatees.
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Seeker4 Facing DFing - Seeks advice!! Lawyer??
by Seeker4 insome of you may remember me, seeker4, from several hundred posts 3 to 6 years ago.
i recognize some of the names in today's forums, and maybe some of you remember me.
don't confuse me with seeker - i'm s4.
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Siddhashunyata
One more point. You have already taken action that would be considered "disassociating" yourself (public announcement) why are they coming to you at all? You'r right it may be harrasment" also if they take unusual action now (anouncement in the congregation after so long a period of your disassociation) , that may be construed legaly wrong because of the time element.
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Seeker4 Facing DFing - Seeks advice!! Lawyer??
by Seeker4 insome of you may remember me, seeker4, from several hundred posts 3 to 6 years ago.
i recognize some of the names in today's forums, and maybe some of you remember me.
don't confuse me with seeker - i'm s4.
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Siddhashunyata
I am not a lawyer. However, considering the length of time and their failure to act before now, there may be a case made for them meddling and aggravating a family situation. Presumably , you would be disfellowshipped for adultry. You might have to show that no action was taken under other circumstances (publishing ) that merited disfelowshipping action, why now, when the action will have such an emotional toll on you and other family members because of the shunning aspect. Is disfellowshipping an arbitrary tool to be used at any time during an exmembers life? If disassociation is an alternative then why does it carry the same penalty as disfellowshipping ie shunning? As I said, I'm no lawyer but you might want to explore suing the individual Elders personaly. There's nothing quite like fixing responsibility directly on the perpetrators especially if you have some evidence that they are acting outside of "official " WT policy. I'm sure other's here have some insight that may help.
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Insider info given to me by a very loyal, long time brother
by seeitallclearlynow inas mentioned in the topic title, a very active, very positive, "faithful" brother talked to me out of the blue at work last week.
it was a highly unusual opportunity - i happened to be in a secluded area, captive to my task, and i saw him passing so said hello.. he's a wonderful person with a well-known, fantastic sense of humor, known all over the circuit and district.
former pioneer, elder, fill-in c.o.
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Siddhashunyata
Considering the kind of personal qualities it takes to become and stay an Elder ( denial, intellectual dishonesty,ambition,compromise of values ) it is a self perpetuating dilemma. May the Governing Body and the WT Corporations live in interesting times.
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Personal "God" and self-representation
by Narkissos init is commonly assumed that monotheism, in its jewish, christian and moslem forms, resulted in (or was related to) a specific development of human self-representation.
before a unique creator and judge the individual had to stand as an indivisible unit (e.g.
the "soul" in the middle ages) which was either justified or condemned, either saved or lost.
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Siddhashunyata
frankiespeakin, no I'm speaking of a veryspecific state of "clarity"of the present instant. I used the term "altered state" to distinguish the thinking state from the "non-thinking state". I should have chosen better words.
Here we are dealing with the powerful individual intellect verses Intelligence itself. The distinction is between a "thinking mind" and its "intelligence" that does not perceive things directly and a nonthinking mind and Intelligence that perceives things directly. Speaking boldly, there is only one Intelligence in all men , its operation is made impotent by the domination of the cerbral cortex.
In trying to address the implications of your question, the next statements open up a subject for another time. Enlightenment. Apparently the altered states you mention, and there are many others, are part of the dynamic of the individual psyche . Attachment to any of them slows the development of awareness. Even attachment to direct perception slows that development. In other words direct perception is not the "endzone" although it is a wonderful state of mind in this body. The quest is to " wake up".
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Personal "God" and self-representation
by Narkissos init is commonly assumed that monotheism, in its jewish, christian and moslem forms, resulted in (or was related to) a specific development of human self-representation.
before a unique creator and judge the individual had to stand as an indivisible unit (e.g.
the "soul" in the middle ages) which was either justified or condemned, either saved or lost.
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Siddhashunyata
Something to consider is that in the "altered" state (perception without "thinking") many questions become irrelevant because the answers are self evident. For example is there another kind of intelligence other than the one I have been using ? This question is no longer relevant when, in that altered state, that intelligence is operating.. For that reason it is important for each to experience the thing for himself. Only then can there be real communications about the experience.
The practical side of all this is that in that state of mind we are alive and perceiving without our prejudices and conditioning. This translates into understanding, tolerance, acceptance and ultimatly compassion. In that state, a racial difference means very little other than the marvel of beauty being expressed differently. It is worth exploring.
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50
Personal "God" and self-representation
by Narkissos init is commonly assumed that monotheism, in its jewish, christian and moslem forms, resulted in (or was related to) a specific development of human self-representation.
before a unique creator and judge the individual had to stand as an indivisible unit (e.g.
the "soul" in the middle ages) which was either justified or condemned, either saved or lost.
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Siddhashunyata
Abadon, try some of the writings of J. Krishnamurti. He recommends watching your mind as thoughts arise (mindfulness?) This you can do on your own without any other practice. It will not be long before you notice that your mind is quite noisy. Keep doing this. Notice every thought but don't attach . Let it go. Another will rise. Let it go . This is not easy to do. Watch what's going on in there as you are reading this. Don't attach, don't judge. . Acknowledge the thoughts and then let them go. If you attach, the conceptualization process begins and you sail along until you come back to watching. If you keep watching ,awareness itself soon becomes your prioity. There is no better way to know yourself . I look forward to your insights.
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50
Personal "God" and self-representation
by Narkissos init is commonly assumed that monotheism, in its jewish, christian and moslem forms, resulted in (or was related to) a specific development of human self-representation.
before a unique creator and judge the individual had to stand as an indivisible unit (e.g.
the "soul" in the middle ages) which was either justified or condemned, either saved or lost.
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Siddhashunyata
"Semantic mine-field ahoy! Nakissos got there before me, but... how can a mind perceive without thinking? The senses inputs are not something one can disconnect. One can school ones mind to give a semblance of calm, but surely this is just the result of a sub-routine itself, i.e. a thought process. It's like saying you can only join a club if you can stand in a corner for half an hour and not think of polar bears".
There is a release or collapse of the thought process and things are perceived without symbols interfering. "Things" become language. Meaning is inherent in the thing itself and this becomes known directly without explanation . Intelligence is still operating but it is free of the conceptualizing of the prefrontal cortex. In this state, "understanding" is so dominant that one knows that the other state of mind is a form of illness or at best a state "gone wild" for the sake of biological survival. The first state of mind (conceptualizing) is a tool that is to be controlled from the vantage point of the second state, if you will.
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50
Personal "God" and self-representation
by Narkissos init is commonly assumed that monotheism, in its jewish, christian and moslem forms, resulted in (or was related to) a specific development of human self-representation.
before a unique creator and judge the individual had to stand as an indivisible unit (e.g.
the "soul" in the middle ages) which was either justified or condemned, either saved or lost.
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Siddhashunyata
Java, although James Thomas is able to answer for himself I would like to add that he is speaking about what happens when "thinking" stops and the mind simply perceives. It is possible to discuss that perception( and the inelligence that goes with it) and also to discuss its meaning however if one of the parties has not experienced that perception then communications is impaired. In my opinion we are experiencing that impairment here in this thread. It would be interesting to find out who has experienced the perception JT is speaking about but still questions the validity of his statements? In line with the theme of the thread we might ask when God died for you(whomever), did the death of transendentalism die for you and did that make you more tolerant or less tolerant of diversity?
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Personal "God" and self-representation
by Narkissos init is commonly assumed that monotheism, in its jewish, christian and moslem forms, resulted in (or was related to) a specific development of human self-representation.
before a unique creator and judge the individual had to stand as an indivisible unit (e.g.
the "soul" in the middle ages) which was either justified or condemned, either saved or lost.
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Siddhashunyata
OK here we go ! There seems to be tongue in cheek "tolerance" of the views of James Thomas by some posting on this thread. If I'm wrong I apologize but I'm not bringing this up in a judgemental way. If its so, I'm curious has the idea that God is dead effected your tolerance of testimony based on transendental experience ?