John Aquila: So why did I wake up?
This is a great question, and one that is not so easily answered.
It's obviously not about intellect alone or any other solitary personality trait.
It does however seem to be linked in all cases to these two traits:
- Self-awareness - In particular, it is the type of self-awareness that allows one to be honest and objective about oneself. It need not be complete, but it is most certainly different from the corresponding deficit among those that do not "wake-up" and leave a cult.
- Courage - This is the courage to do what is right when the cost is high. As those of us that have left this religion know, the losses are great: family, friends and other relationships. Many of us were often humiliated and abused by those that remained.
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It takes a certain kind of personal strength to leave a cult. This does not mean that we are "better" per se than those that remain. Indeed, we often come out scarred or even broken, but in the end we overcome and do get better, or at least we become better than who and what we once were.
It's not a competition. It's an opportunity for personal growth.
John Aquila: This is what makes it hard for me to believe that God is a good person.
If there is a God--that is some sort of superior being that was involved in creation--it most certainly isn't anything like the "god" of the bible. The creature is a messed-up reflection of human frailties and shortcomings in intellect, emotional maturity and just plain balance.
