What is the meaning of true spirituality?

by ele_lux 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Markfromcali

  And of course that's in direct contrast with the treatment by this DO where he threw out various definitions of spirituality, as if that means he knows any of them or making a distinction "on paper" proves anything. Why even have another word called "spirit" when you treat the subject as a mental issue?

  For meditation practitioners it is also not just a matter of feeling good, although that is a popular trend. There are people with backgrounds of abuse there as well as you might imagine, but depending on how strongly the bad feelings are they are either instructed to sit with and observe it, or in the case of a retreat where a lot of stuff might be coming to the surface the instructors may even ask them to discontinue and go home if it's too overwhelming.

  And unlike the JWs, they are also familiar with the psychological territory. Some of the instructors may even be practicing therapists, and have integrated the knowledge with their practice.

  But as far as your original question, since meaning has to do with something mental the question ultimately does not make sense if spirituality is something subtler than a way of thinking. The teachings would not be something you adopt as beliefs, but simply as something to consider as you do your own work of self exploration. This also literally means that nobody can tell you what it is, you are to "find out" for yourself through experience, rather than any ideas about it.
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  Satanus

  It doesn't necesarily make you a better paerson. There are no short cuts.

  "depending on how strongly the bad feelings are they are either instructed to sit with and observe it, or in the case of a retreat where a lot of stuff might be coming to the surface the instructors may even ask them to discontinue and go home if it's too overwhelming."

  If you have suppressed pain, it is something that you have to deal w, go through, perhaps live in for a long time.

  S
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  ele_lux

  JW's believe meditation makes you vulnerable to demonic possession right? And if i were a believing witness and attended a meditation session where someone started acting strange, i would find confirmation to that belief, right? So how can someone know whether it's a demon or just supressed pain surfacing?
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  Markfromcali

  Umm, pain surfacing does not necessarily mean any kind of acting out. After all, if you are remembering something painful you're not necessarily doing anything that looks weird right? That's quite a leap.

  Put it this way, would you know if any feeling you have is just something from your past or if it's a demon? It would seem like you yourself would know your mind well enough to make that distinction, and if you don't the question seems to be what has gotten you to the point where you don't even trust your own mind, and are convinced that you don't even know yourself well enough that way?
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  Markfromcali

  Of course you're right in that JWs are likely to perceive it that way, but then again they are not likely to try meditation in the first place. If someone was still that deeply in mentally it would make no sense to recommend meditation as a formal practice. But anyone can and do spend some quiet time by themselves alone at least once in a while, and if someone was ready to take responsibility for their own mind then they will naturally be inclined to do that - rather than blame any negative experience on external forces.
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  Heaven

  I think Spirituality is going beyond self, extending oneself into places where one is needed, where one can help others, where one can use their skills and experience to come full circle to help makes things better, and where, ultimately, one receives back, connects, and grows from this giving of oneself.
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  cskyjw.sun

  spirituality means the arts and the music
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  WTWizard

  Spirituality is not about complying with orders in the name of God. That is the opposite: You are simply doing what someone else tells you to all the time. And that cannot possibly be very spiritual.

  In fact, you really need to be in touch with your life purpose. The spiritual person is actually in touch with their life purpose, without bias from any religion or Bible or Quran. For one person, this might mean going out into the middle of nowhere and meditating most of the time--their writings might later become important for society. Another person's life purpose could be in music--writing songs that everyone remembers 100 or more years later. Someone else's life purpose could be to become president of a country and fix the problems that country is facing--like George Washington. Others might cure diseases, develop communications systems, or do something that solves a problem facing mankind.

  Instead, we find most people (both in the world and in the Washtowel cancer) who are slaves to instruction. You do something to usurp value or to prevent others from generating wealth. This is most common in the government and religious leaders. The FDA alone has stopped many a cure for diseases, preventing many doctors from fulfilling their life purposes. The Fed and the Establishment has prevented people whose life purpose is to fix the country from getting installed as President or has killed presidents for trying. They did this to Jesus, whose life purpose was to free mankind from Jehovah's tyranny and that of religion. All of which suppresses spirituality. Often, especially in religions, people think they are spiritual because they obey their leaders and forgo material comforts.

  You find this problem among the Jehovah's Witlesses all the time. They measure spirituality based on how much field circus they do and how well they obey the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger. As this prevents them from finding their own life purpose, it actually kills off their spirituality while making them think they are spiritually strong. The witlesses are among the sickest people, spiritually speaking, on the planet--run by fear, shame, and guilt. Yet, they bash those in the world for being spiritually sick or dead--especially those who are busy trying to fulfill their life purposes. To me, only those who are actually trying to prevent others from finding their spiritual purpose, usually by threats and bans (like banning doctors from finding real cures by blocking Official Approval) or that are coercing people to obey their organization in the name of spirituality are really condemnable--these are equivalent to the Pharisees that Jesus bashed.
• 

  wobble

  "Having the Governing Body's view on matters, and acting accordingly"

  is what that D.O really meant, and because of the oh so effective mind control that the cult has used for decades, every DumbDub in the audience would have interpreted that statement of his that way in their mind, without realising what they were doing..

  I know when I was in, I used to think to myself that they really meant listen to the GB, but all my life I only listened to what the Bible actually said, so I would not look at what the D.O said as most Dubs would.

  I used to go along with certain crap, like dress and grooming (grooming to an extent, I did wear a full beard, think almost ZZ Top, from 1975 to 1988)

  but most of what they said went through my mental filter. In the end, this constant Cognitive Dissonance became too much.

  The sad thing is, I would say that the mind control would affect at least 99% of the audience, my good friend and I would be exceptions, and discuss afterwards what crap some of it was, the sad thing is, he is still in, and believes in some way it is God's Org, a great shame, if he left it would cause a greater stir than I did. So sad.
• 

  ele_lux

  Marcfromcali, I guess that makes sense. It's funny how easy it is for me to stop believeing in God because I just don't see that almighty loving person anywhere, but I'm still cautious regarding demons since THEY seem to make sense... it must be more of an subconscious fear I need to work out.

  Ding, I appreciate you commenting on the matter, but I don't believe in God anymore, or at least I find him very unlikely. And I think even atheists and agnostics can be spiritual people.

  WTWizard, that's a really interesting way to see things... I guess the problem with a lot of witnesses, especially those who were born in a JW family is that they are made to believe that their life purpose is to preach and read the Watchtower. Most likely that D.O. felt like that was his purpose in life. Thing is, they go trying to convince everyone that is THEIR life purpose too!

  It just came to my mind a stupid thing I said to a Bible student a while ago. He said he didn't think preaching a lot was his thing. And I said it was EVERYONE'S thing. And I swore that the moment he tried regular pioneering, he would realize there was nothing more spiritually fulfilling than that.

  Most ironically, I was not enjoying my own service that much, but I still believed it was my fault and everyone else must be enjoying it because the WT says you will and how can they be lying?

  Now that I know they were... I guess I'm off to find that which genuinely fulfills my spiritual need :)