by poohbear1962 22 Replies latest jw friends
OOOPPPSS!!! How could I forget?!?!?!? Add this to teh list:
Read Watchtower or Awake (whichever came that week) 2 hours
SO, that leaves us with 3.25 hours of spare time to relax!!! And, here I thought we were being asked to do something UNREASONABLE!!!!
Cheers!!
Pooh
Poohbear,
what you are referring to is "busy work" that Eric Hoffer says goes on with mass movements. His book True Believer shows how the rank and file are kept busy so that they don't have time to really think and question about their beliefs. Great book to read. Was written in the '50's.
Freedom sure is sweet. I don't miss that busy work at all.
j2bf
You're right Joy. I remember after an assembly coming home all fired up. I started doing my Bible reading, prayer, day text, personal book study, study for the meetings, reading the new releases, reading the magazines cover to cover when the arrived in the mail, field service, etc. I had a schedule for all of it and I was damn tired of it before long. I had no way of keeping up with it all, and when I started to fall behind, I felt guilty.
Years later I read the Steven Hassan book on Combatting Cult Mind Control and realized that this constant bombardment of literature and busy work is one of the signs of a cult!
Now I am 25 years older and wiser, and I don't put those kinds of pressures on myself in any aspect of my life. I am a lot happier and a lot less neurotic!
Tammy
poohbear said "waste elimination"
and joy said "mass movement".
is it just me or does anybody else smell a theme?!
the troof schtinketh!
lmao. this schedule thing is soooooo accurate i could pee myself laffing.
and ain't it great, that I don't have to schedule in the time to do so!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i do not know how i kept up. was i some kind of masochist or what?
hey poohbear, did you factor in the 15mins/day of daily bible reading on top of the weekly meeting preparation and what about the days text? or is that part of the breakfast schedule?
what about time spent "widening out" amongst congregation members?
we were constantly "encouraged" to do that. i guess this all comes from the 3.25hours left eh.
i find your schedule to be an excellent example and all too realistic illustration of how the borg sucks the bloody life out of ya only to turn around and say if you don't exhibit "joy" then you don't have god's "spirit".
even if you could keep up to this schedule, let us not forget the "encouragement" to "reach out" and to "pioneer" and that 10 hours was just the minimum, the average.
the level of guilt and politics involved should definitely warrant an allotment of time just for "feeling guilty".
poohbear, I THANK YOU, for this vivid reminder of the fact that leaving was soooo the right choice for me.
SPAZ
Edited by - SPAZnik on 14 September 2002 2:22:4
Well, there was one blessing for me. After being used to that schedule, going to college while working full time was not that tough, plus it was a lot more interesting.
How did we Ever do it all ...
You didn't ... that's where the Watchtower guilt trip kicks in.
Larc, I've just been accepted into a local college but I am working full time also ... any tips? Did your college have many evening classes?
I figure given the success rate of the Watchtower Corporations Armageddon 'suggestions' ... I should be able to get a degree, buy a more comfortable house in the country and have a leisurely but interesting retirement before the end of the world arrives any day now (TM).
Edited by - Flip on 14 September 2002 3:8:16
I don't think many people could do it all ... and something suffered - usually leisure time with the family.
It is much better being out.
Flip,
Here are a few suggestions off the top of my grey head. First, on the financial side, see if your company will pay tuition. If not, you may want to prepare your resume and find a company that does. Second, be real good at time management. Have your books with you at all times, so you can study at your lunch break and coffee breaks, standing in line at the grocery store, etc. Another time management trick is to tape lectures or your summary of the lectures and play them while driving. Third, expect to sacrifice some of your social activities and your hobbies. Something's gotta give. Fourth, study every day. Don't try staying up all night studying for an exam, the night before. Fifth, think about the lecture you just heard as you are leaving and going to the car to go home. When you get home tell someone else what you just learned. Talking about stuff, is one of the best ways to tranfer it from short term to long term memory. Sixth, read the assigned material before the lecture. It will help the lecture stick in your mind. Seventh, see if you can get involved with a study group on campus, so you can quiz each other before a test, and you can help each other with homework assignments. Eight, if you are taking evening classes, take two, not one and schedule them on the same evening, say Monday and Wednesday - why? It is too easy to blow off a class, but if you blow off two of them you know you will be in trouble, so you are less likely to do so? Why on the same night? Because it gives you a day in between to study for a test. Nineth, go to school all year long including the summer. If you take a break, you will loose your momentum.
Yep, I've been there, done that.
I hope my ideas were of help to you.
Flip, now I am thinking of some more ideas. When you first start, take subjects that interest you, and don't worry about the required courses right away. Once you are in the groove, and have your study habits back, then I would take one course that you don't like and may fine difficult, but balance it with a course that you think will be easy for you. Well, I think I am done for now.
One final thought - don't worry about how long it will take to get a degree. However long it takes, you will be that age, whether you go to college or not, so just go for it.
Brilliant!
Larc, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy life to respond in such a detailed fashion, it is very, very kind of you!
Flipper
