JamesThomas

Joined

• started 53 topics
• posted 3,074 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by JamesThomas

• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  I'm not a religious person and I have no beliefs in a god. What that means is I have no preconceived ideas which limit the Divine to some other place and time.

  Rather than read a book like the Bible which subtracts significance and wholeness from the universe and places it in a deity, I have chosen to acutely delve into the reality of being and existing within the most intimate and immediate sense of aliveness here and now. I have seen that thoughts and beliefs can only reduce and circumscribe the Divine down to a thing or person. So I harbor no beliefs or thoughts about God, other than when I make my foolish and feeble attempts at explaining.

  I am not saying I am God. In fact I have said I of myself am truly, truly nothing. What the word G-O-D points to, however, is without beginning and without end, and so is the foundational reality of all existence.

  If you want to get pissy, why not yell at Christians for reducing God to a tiny thing? That's what I do.

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  Good analogy.

  In similar wording, what I am saying is that rather than wait on a god so tiny and limited as to be absent which our minds create, look deeper into our own immediate and intimate sense of being and existing for the Divine wholeness which is our true foundation.

  The life raft is here. What ya going to do with it?

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  Your argument with me would make sense if I took something and gave nothing.

  However, I have been attempting to point to the one realisation which heals all wounds, and that is our intrinsic wholeness. That which joins us all at a deeper and more significant level than our seeming separation, disunity and beliefs.

  You want to see that as taking away hope. Then that's how you see it.

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  MsMcDucket:

  I guess my point is "never take away a person's hope".

  Pointing to what unites us, what is pristinely whole and complete, rather than what seems broken and which divides us, is taking away a persons hope? Is this what you are saying? Or am I totally misunderstanding? Do you mean like, let's say: you're drowning, and I jump in the water and pull you to shore; so in a way I have taken away your hope for survival, because now you're safe and hope is unnecessary? Is that what you mean? Are we not coming to value the mental activity of hope over the reality that we are hoping for? Are we identifying so much with our seeming fragmentation and brokenness that the thought of innate wholeness is a threat to our survival?

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  MQ:

  I also understand that part of the journey to healing includes stages of healing. Anger, bargaining, guilt, grief, etc. are all a part of that journey to healing and to well-being. We cannot get to point Z without passing through points C through Y, as far as I know.

  Yes, I agree, this seems to be the common way of things.

  What I have seen is that the mind continually weaves a conceptual identity which it refers to as "self". Because of this, too often we come to identify with the "healing" process, and the perceived "brokenness" becomes the focus until the day we die. So, what I generally attempt to do is get directly to the point. The point being that there is, right now, right here, an underlying reality of Self, which is whole, unbroken, and complete. An untainted wholesomeness which is united with all existence. There is no reason to not clearly see and realize this now, other than perhaps the beliefs that we need to do some thing first. We don't need to earn, or travel to where and what we already truly are. It just needs to be seen.

  So, MQ, I don't disagree with you, I just attempt to point to the unifying wholeness which already IS, rather than the broken fragmentation and separation we believe to be. We generally have more than enough people in our lives who will support and reinforce the brokenness. I try not to be one of them.

  RAF, thank you.

  MsMcDucket: Yes, I can come across as a judgmental SOB sometimes. This subject, and the suffering I see around me, I take very seriously. Sometimes I just want to scream: Stop the madness, and rest in what unites us, rather than giving non-stop attention to what divides us. Honestly, I do not see myself as any better or higher than the lowliest and most vile of men. In fact, I of myself am absolutely nothing....except for perhaps -- a fool.

  It may help to observe the mind, and observe how it weaves a story about what you believe "me" to be. I am not that. Now watch as it weaves the story and identity of "you". What silently sees the story? Is it the story? Are you truly what you believe yourself to be?

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  I slip occasionally back into my "old way" of thinking and observing.

  Yes, we all do; and it is the heat of emotional pain and suffering which is a warning alarm that we are back in the old way of interpreting the world.

  I'm glad you understand and have the vision to see that there needs to be a radical shift of awareness out of the judgmental good and bad, me verses them thought patterns if there is going to be real healing.

  Losing our loved ones to the JWs is very tragic. Yet, it is such tragedy that can motivate us to look deeper and find that which is whole and unbroken.

  I wish you the very best on your journey.

  RAF, you're a dear. I'm think'n about taken the next bus to France.

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  Journey:

  So, what would you, James Thomas, do if the sister you grew up with, played with, shared a bed and room with, and loved deeply, did this to you?

  I have JW sisters too, and do not have to imagine what I would do.

  I suggest going to the very root of the problem. Your sisters acts of separation is a disease of humanity. The belief in our isolated and broken selves is known to all of us. But, is it true? Are we really the separate individual "selves" which, tiny and alone exist in a huge threatening universe of other? Or is there something that unites us all. Something that dissolves the walls, misunderstandings and fears of separation?

  Use the agony of your broken relationship with your sister to fuel a deep and earnest investigation into the dynamics of your own mind and beyond into the deeper and closer silent sense of being and existing. Discover first hand if you really are the separate and isolated individual that you believe "self" to be. Realize first hand the underlying and unending oneness which unites everything and everyone. See that within is not a loving person, but the actuality of Love itself. A love that loves because there is no separate other to not love.

  We can not change others; but we can change ourselves. We can truly look upon others and know no separation at all. Not in an egotistical way, but rather as if we have dissolved and there is just the wholeness of life and conscious existence.

  This is a radical way of course. It sounds crazy. But this is what I have done with the pain and agony. I have used is as a reason to look beyond the minds beliefs and interpritations and really see reality.

  This does not mean your sister will change her ways. it only means that her beliefs and acts of separation, will not affect the unity and oneness you live and know. The untouched purity of our true identity is not effected by life's turmoils and situations.

  Perhaps if i put it this way it will be easier to understand: What the word G-O-D points to, is not so small as to be separate or absent. It is the foundational reality of all existence, and is the underlying uniting principle of your true identity; and that of all existence. But, you have to see it for yourself.

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  In your analogy above, you didn't see that there's another way. Did you? Does that make you wrong or right? I know that you wanted Journey to see your way, but she/he is doing his/her way.

  I clearly see the other way; the way everyone else here is going; it's quite familiar; I've been there.

  I also understand that when I suggest a road far less traveled that people will likely not understand. Sometimes we do understand, perhaps someone not involved in this thread, and then there is an opportunity to see first hand the mind generated beliefs that create the vicious cycle of separation and suffering. Once seen, they lose their power to enslave us, and we are on our way to truly understanding the unifying nature of true-love. A love that loves effortlessly and naturally, because there is no other -- to hate.

  The only thing, the ONLY thing that separates journey and his sister is their beliefs. That's all that separates any of us.

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  Oh, by the way, I would be the first to agree: I'm an ass.

  j
• 
  95

  First & Last, One-time post

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for quite some time now on jwd.

  my story is pretty much just like everyone else's, "only the names have been changed".

  in reading your posts, i have both laughed and cried till tears ran down my cheeks.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas

  James Thomas...

  What the hell have you been drinking and smoking?

  Your comments have shown you to be a complete ass as to what jo was putting across.

  I think you are the one with relationship problems.

  HappyDad

  The reason journey is suffering from emotional pain, is because of the beliefs his sister harbors that her beliefs are better than his, and so she shuns him = she good, he bad. His letter, which I read very carefully, showed he felt his beliefs are better then hers and that god would see through her = he good, she bad. Journey, is still trapped in basically the same divisive beliefs that caused the problem in the first place. In attempts to actually do something constructive and significant that would end the suffering, I posted as I did and pointed to what is uniting rather than divisive. We can give the addict his heron and he will feel better; or we can take it away and he will hurt like hell, but genuine healing will ensue. I guess I'm the bad guy for refusing to supply him his drug. j