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.