Functionally Insane:The JW Altered Reality

by BreakingAway 11 Replies latest jw friends

  • BreakingAway
    BreakingAway

    insane

    1.not sane; not of sound mind; mentally deranged.
    2.of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a person who is mentally deranged: insane actions; an insane asylum.
    3.utterly senseless: an insane plan.

    It's been said that the truly insane person believes that everyone else is crazy and that he is the only sane one.

    A friend and I were talking some time back and I brought up the name of a mutual friend.My friend said to me: "Did you know he told me his doctor said he was insane ?" I said: "What do you mean ? Was it a figure of speech or did he really mean insane ?" "Yeah, his doctor said he's actually insane ! " Obviously, I was taken back by this but I knew that my friend, a really good guy, did indeed have some issues.He had spent a number of years at Bethel and seemed quite disturbed by what he had experienced there.I immediately felt bad about this but didn't bring up the issue when I saw him briefly at a convention...but then he told me the same thing ! I told him that he seemed pretty normal me but I believe he just shrugged it off and said something to the effect that I didn't live with him and so I didn't get to see it.I could, however, sense an inner turmoil but dropped the subject.As I said, I think he's a good guy.Honest, nice, hardworking, tolerant, loyal,etc.But all of this got me to thinking once again about how many in the congregation have serious inner conflict, including mental and emotional problems.

    Many times I sat in the Kingdom Hall and looking around during the meeting I said to myself: "Who are these people ? ", "Do they really accept everything so readily ?" , "What am I doing here ?"

    That's when I really began to take a good look at why I was really there and if I had allowed my own reality to be altered by a group that seemed to think the rest of the world was "insane", and in darkness, and only THEY know what is REALLY going on ! They ALONE... ARE God's CHOSEN people, They ALONE... know about Christ's INVISIBLE presence, They ALONE... know about Satan's CASTING DOWN from heaven,They ALONE will LIVE through Armageddon, They ALONE...are God's SOLE CHANNEL on earth, They ALONE...have THE TRUTH,and so the list goes, on and on.

    A disconnection from reality.An impaired sense of what is true and right.A distorted view of what's real and how things really are.They really are in their own world, a world of their own making.What was once "truth", now is not.What was once God's way of doing things...has now changed.New light....is now old light.Old light...is once again...new light.What God once forbid He now allows....and what he once allowed is now forbidden.All of this is REVEALED by a mysterious "Faithful and Discreet Slave".A group so special that one is admonished to listen to them at all costs ! Even if one does not understand the reason for the Slave's decision one is encouraged(with possible penalties for not doing so) to listen anyway as their very LIFE may depend on it !

    deranged

    1. To disturb the order or arrangement of. 2. To upset the normal condition or functioning of. 3. To disturb mentally; make insane

    Most objective people would be willing to admit that the JW view of things is extremely distorted, the normal way of functioning has been upset, or altered, so much, that any suggestion to be like a "normal person in the world" is viewed with great hostility and a supposed disloyalty on the part of the one who wants to engage in normal activities.College, Career Goals, School Functions, Holidays, Birthdays,Accepted Medical Practices, even Normal Sexual Practices, are met with a highly distorted, or deranged view, of what is "right".So deranged, in fact, that a list of "do's and don'ts" has been created so that a group of men, following a handbook created by the "faithful and discreet slave, can administer punishment for whatever "offenses" have been committed.Just going to church or disagreeing with the accepted teaching of the FDS is enough to be shunned and entirely cut off by one's family and friends and every member in the congregation.Choosing not to go to a meeting, or spending less time in the "ministry" is enough for one to be viewed as a threat.Members are even encouraged to allow themselves to be fired from their job putting their families at risk of very possible financial ruin instead of missing even one day from an "assembly" or "convention" where the information dispensed is not any different from anything they've heard before, even at their local Kingdom Hall.

    FIVE meetings a week are designed to keep one immersed in the JW mindset.So much, in fact, that the statement has been made by many JW's that if they miss even a few meetings, "My thinking begins to change !" Instead, of being a good thing, it is viewed with fear and any missing from the meetings are put on a list to be visited to get back to the meetings as soon as possible.

    One might think that all of this is done by choice, "So what's the problem ?" But, as mentioned before, punishment or "discipline" is meted out to those who don't "comply".And many parents force their children to go to meetings, field service, no birthdays or holidays,no school activities, no friends outside of the kingdom hall,etc. Even a potentially life-saving treatment of blood is denied.The JW outlook on life in general has been distorted so outside the bounds of normalcy that it can rightly be described as "insane".Not of a "sound mind", "utterly senseless","deranged".Many who leave the JW organization find that it takes time,months or years, for their thinking to come "back to normal".They may even need to learn what normal is.And yet, they still function.Various CULTS and EXTREMIST groups around the world have taken the lives of others, and even themselves and their children, such as the Jim Jones Cult, The Peoples Temple.This temple, supposedly for the people, is the very thing that brought about their tragic death, leaving many noncult family members and friends, struggling to figure out how such a thing could have happened.Their reality had been altered.Their outlook severely distorted.Not all fully embraced the same belief as Jim Jones, yet tragically all but a few paid the same price.After such occurrences, many ask themselves: "Could it happen again ?".Sadly, the answer is , yes.For the Functionally Insane the line between real and not real has been blurred to the point that logic and reasoning itself has been altered, leading to dire consequences for those unable to be brought back to reality.

    As time goes on the JW leadership has taken an even more extreme view of things, causing them to severely discipline any who "disobey" their direction.Just in the past year we have seen changes many thought they'd never see....and it's quite evident even more changes are to take place.Many Witnesses even feel that this is evidence that the end really is "right around the corner".Some are leaving, and hopefully more will leave, but others are mentally giving themselves even more fully to The Society's orders.While they may never go to the extreme of ones like Jim Jones, it cannot be denied that the lives of many JW's has been forever changed, and the fallout for those who choose break away from such a controlling CULT is very real.

  • Jeremy C
    Jeremy C
    But all of this got me to thinking once again about the many I saw come out of Bethel that seemed to have some serious mental or emotional problems."But were they that way before they went to Bethel or was it a result of their experiences there ?" In looking at things more closely it seemed evident that it was their time spent there that brought on such an inner conflict.Many of them also seem to have drinking problems, as a way of coping I'd imagine.

    I was at Bethel, and I did not see any higher number of eccentric people than one would see in the local congregations. I don't see any correlation between Bethel service and mental problems. Of all of the former Bethelites I know (many of them spending several years there), the vast majority are very normal and well adjusted people. Bethel is indeed a representation of local congregations. There are the quiet serious achievers, and there are the comical slackers. There are the very meek and kind-hearted souls; and there are the radically judgemental, could-hearted pricks.

    There was however, an observation that many of us Bethelites made about unmarried brothes. Many of us noticed that the older brothers who had never been married (men from about the age of 50 on up) always displayed bizarre peculiarities. Just look at Fred Franz, for example. We noticed that most of them; although basically kind, showed a serious lack of social development, and irrational fetishes for redundant procedures. One friend of mine at Bethel once quipped that old unmarried Bethelites are so strange because all of the unused semen goes to the brain and causes damage. Perhaps someone here could apply for a federal grant to conduct a study. (sorry, examination gloves and talcum powder not included)

  • BreakingAway
    BreakingAway
    There was however, an observation that many of us Bethelites made about unmarried brothes. Many of us noticed that the older brothers who had never been married (men from about the age of 50 on up) always displayed bizarre peculiarities. Just look at Fred Franz, for example. We noticed that most of them; although basically kind, showed a serious lack of social development, and irrational fetishes for redundant procedures

    So, is that true, or is that "sarcasm" ? I'm sure that out of the vast number of those who attended Bethel there are a lot that don't have "issues" and I certainly do not want to stereotype or generalize, it just seems that the ones I know who were there seem to have such a problem.Mostly the older ones rather than the younger ones who went for only six months or so.It also seems as if they're trying to deal with what they thought God's org would be like...rather than what they personally saw and experienced, which would naturally cause confusion and inner conflict, a "crisis of conscience".But maybe it was when they were there and whatever particular "shake ups" occurred at the time....or maybe it has nothing to do with it all.Anyway, it was what got me to think about the issue and the information applies to JW's in general, rather than bethelites specifically.Maybe I should alter my comment on that...

  • Hope4Others
    Hope4Others

    Gee I say that now...

    Many times I sat in the Kingdom Hall and looking around during the meeting I said to myself: "Who are these people ? ", "Do they really accept everything so readily ?" , "What am I doing here ?"

    Except for the last part....lol

    h4o

  • Fadeout
    Fadeout

    Hmm... sort of a learned schizophrenia.

  • New light for you
    New light for you

    of course now we all have a story...

    We had this brilliant brother, got all kinds of scholarships for college, of course turned everything down to go to bethel. It was such an ordeal. it was like giving our best to Jehovah. Within a couple years , not sure how long at this point, maybe 2? they got a call that he had SEVERE problems. Came home bi-polar, but NOT in a usual sense. we're talking ... a completely different person, never able to work or really socialize again. just destroyed, still to this day. Supposedly in the time of dealing with this too his father decided he was anointed, which gave him some mental problems he admitted just the stress of being "called on" and how it would be viewed in the hall after all these years of not being anointed.

    Now, would all that have happened without bethel? maybe. But if someone had a pre-disposition to something, and then got thrown in this incredibly ridgid atmosphere, what could happen? i dont know personally, but it's worth a thought.

  • Awakened at Gilead
    Awakened at Gilead

    Many times I sat in the Kingdom Hall and looking around during the meeting I said to myself: "Who are these people ? ", "Do they really accept everything so readily ?" , "What am I doing here ?"

    That's when I really began to take a good look at why I was really there and if I had allowed my own reality to be altered by a group that seemed to think the rest of the world was "insane", and in darkness, and only THEY know what is REALLY going on ! They ALONE... ARE God's CHOSEN people, They ALONE... know about Christ's INVISIBLE presence, They ALONE... know about Satan's CASTING DOWN from heaven,They ALONE will LIVE through Armageddon, They ALONE...are God's SOLE CHANNEL on earth, They ALONE...have THE TRUTH,and so the list goes, on and on.

    I felt this way at my last few meetings... reason why I am ALONE (well at least I'm not hanging out with the JWs anymore).

  • treadnh2o
    treadnh2o

    For the last several years at every meeting I would scan every member of the audience and could divide the cult membership into 3 groups 1) Those that had mental issues 2)Those who had too much time invested to leave 3) Those with too many family members to leave There were only a few that I couldn't figure out. I wonder if they genuinely believed what they were hearing.

  • dwtnphotog
    dwtnphotog

    My grandmother asked me not to go to Bethel because, "Everyone that comes back from Bethel, comes back crazy!"

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    They are all under the delusion that anything that is even mildly pleasant is vile and wicked, and that they have to give it up in order to receive a reward in the future. Never mind that the reward has been promised since 1874, without showing up.

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