GODsturBATION: How we experience the Born Again tingly tingly...

by Terry 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  Terry

  (When we speak we use language. If we talk ABOUT language we use meta-language. The word META, below, is used in that manner.)

  I think that once the category called "GOD" is opened in your head (usually at an early and impressionable age) you can't ever close the file. The connectivity has deep roots.

  It is unassailable.

  Why?

  Because only rational thoughts are accessible by rational arguments.
  
  Superstition is a map of a meta-world that connects to a landscape built in our head out of our deepest desires, fears and imagination. It can be thrilling, profound and awe-inspiring. But, it can't be rational.
  
  Here is what may sound like a non-sequitar. Ready?
  
  What happens during masturbation?
  
  You think thoughts in your head that connect to ideas which deeply motivate your feelings of heightened pleasure, right?
  
  Right.
  
  The "object" of desire isn't really present at all except as a mock-up and an ideal which serves an immediate purpose (arousal to satisfaction).
  
  All that is really required is the friction!
  
  Respectfully, this is God for all practical purposes. At least, the methodology is the same.
  You think the God thought and do the deed and the wonderful feeling wells up and satisfaction is achieved JUST AS THOUGH an actual contact with another person had taken place.
  
  We overlay our GOD concept with many experiences and learned ideas. But, beneath it all is that meta-contact with a meta-personage: GOD.
  
  No matter what we organize as fact in our frontal lobes, the limbic area is saturated with the God-category which brings satisfaction, pleasure, awe, security, emotional grandeur and the panacea of the moment.
  
  All we need do is find the proper setting for whacking off and "God" will do the rest.
  
  I said I meant all this respectfully and I do.
  
  I use to be in the art business. I talked to artists and represented them.
  There are certain artists whose work is preoccupied with erasing all traces of brushstrokes so that a super-realistic
  result can be achieved. It fools the eye into being photographic in appearance.
  The technique removes the hand of man from the result.
  Like removing the link you click on to launch a file.
  
  I think any of us can--through religious atmosphere (setting, church, conversation, prayer) click on a link in our mind and trigger the launching of the God program.
  
  But--here's the rub (yes, a masturbation metaphor:)....
  
  When we are DEVOUT we manage to erase the brushstrokes that got us the photographic meta-reality.
  
  We manage to FOOL ourselves about our agency in creating the pleasure.
  
  For what it is worth........I thought I'd share that with you.
  
  Each of us is of a certain intelligence, rationality, education level---what have you. Some people need more and some need less RATIONAL connection to our God-program to make it work. Faith is that clickable link.
  
  Church is sort of like pornography in pushing us over the hump (yes, another metaphor:) to launch the necessary triggers in our limbic and get us where we want to go emotionally (spiritually).

  Never UNDERESTIMATE the crazy-power of that non-rational connection in your mind!!

  Remember you can see things or you can "see" things.

  You can hear things or you can "hear" things.

  You can think things or you can meta-think things.

  Two different worlds exist:

  The REAL world and the meta-REAL world.

  Religion gives us a map of the meta-REAL. It gives us a changed vocabulary that no longer describes the REAL world.

  Once you lose your ability to accurately describe what is REAL the only experience POSSIBLE for your mind is the META-real: supernatural: i.e. Spiritual world of Faith and God and the Born-Again emotional orgasm.

  That's my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
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  Elsewhere

  This reminds me of an experiment done at a university.

  They would bring in a test subject and tell him/her that a small stone was a "magic" stone of some sort. The stone was described to have the ability to cause the following sensations when held: Vibrate, Feel Warm, tingle, hair stand on end, etc... (various other sensations)

  80% of the subjects reported one or more of the sensations while holding the stone.

  Oh, and the stone was just a piece of polished glass.
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  Elsewhere

  Another interesting thing:

  http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-06-12-cellphones_N.htm?csp=34

  Phantom Vibration Syndrome

  Some call it "phantom vibration syndrome." Others prefer "vibranxiety" — the feeling when you answer your vibrating cellphone, only to find it never vibrated at all.

  "It started happening about three years ago, when I first got a cellphone," says Canadian Steven Garrity, 28, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. "I'd be sitting on the couch and feel my phone start to vibrate, so I'd reach down and pull it out of my pocket. But the only thing ringing was my thigh."

  Though no known studies have analyzed what may cause spontaneous buzzing, anecdotes such as Garrity's ring true with the public.

  Spurred by curiosity, Garrity, a Web developer, described the recurring false alarms on his blog. The response was not imaginary: More than 30 cellphone users reported that they, too, experienced phantom vibrations.

  "I ended up hearing from a lot of people who said, 'Hey, the exact same thing happens to me,' " Garrity says. "And it was somewhat comforting, because it made me think I wasn't insane, after all."

  Some who experienced recurring phantom vibrations wondered whether the phenomenon had physical roots: Was it caused by nerve damage or muscle memory?

  But experts say the false alarms simply demonstrate how easily habits are developed.

  Psychologically, the key to deciphering phantom vibrations is "hypothesis-guided search," a theory that describes the selective monitoring of physical sensations, says Jeffrey Janata, director of the behavioral medicine program at University Hospitals in Cleveland. It suggests that when cellphone users are alert to vibrations, they are likely to experience sporadic false alarms, he says.

  "You come armed with this template that leads you to be attentive to sensations that represent a cellphone vibrating," Janata says. "And it leads you to over-incorporate non-vibratory sensations and attribute them to the idea that you're receiving a phone call."

  Alejandro Lleras, a sensation and perception professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, adds that learning to detect rings and vibrations is part of a perceptual learning process.

  "When we learn to respond to a cellphone, we're setting perceptual filters so that we can pick out that (ring or vibration), even under noisy conditions," Lleras says. "As the filter is created, it is imperfect, and false alarms will occur. Random noise is interpreted as a real signal, when in fact, it isn't."

  Phantom cellphone vibrations also can be explained by neuroplasticity — the brain's ability to form new connections in response to changes in the environment.

  When cellphone users regularly experience sensations, such as vibrating, their brains become wired to those sensations, Janata says.

  "Neurological connections that have been used or formed by the sensation of vibrating are easily activated," he says. "They're over-solidified, and similar sensations are incorporated into that template. They become a habit of the brain."

  Cellphone company spokesmen, meanwhile, say they are not aware of any consumer complaints about phantom vibrations. Cellphones cannot sporadically vibrate on their own, says Mark Siegel of AT&T, formerly Cingular Wireless.

  "Perhaps in the mind of the cellphone user only," he says.

  But Rob Whitehouse, vice president of communications at University Hospitals, insists the phantom vibrations he experiences each day are simply proof of how important constant communication is.

  "It's some psychological expression of my need to always be connected," he says. "It's like when e-mail first came out, and we constantly checked our inboxes, because getting a new message was so exciting.

  "I like that better than 'I'm crazy,' anyway."
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  Terry

  Hmmmm, velly velly interestink.
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  dgp

  Marked for later.
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  tall penguin

  Brilliant post, Terry.
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  Scully

  wow... Terry that was brilliant.

  I kind of wish I were in an apartment with non-sound-proofed walls. That was so amazing the neighbours would need a cigarette. (carrying on with the metaphor...)
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  WTWizard

  What my parents don't realize is that, by having zero tolerance for my natural exploration and trying to live freely, they have given me a bad taste of God. And, that has worked against the Catholic church (and the witlesses) in keeping me faithful. Result: If I do anything with religion involved, and it does not work, it is possible for God Himself to strike out and I will never again trust that Almighty Lowlife Scumbag.

  Which means that God should have been extremely careful to do nothing to interfere with my happiness during my formative years. This would have had one of two possible outcomes: No exposure to God with atheism in its purest form as the result, or knowing God as a Being that was kind and protective with loyalty to Him as its outcome. With bad experiences with God being dominant, I have trouble believing that He is anything more than an Almighty Tyrant and an Almighty Lowlife Scumbag.

  I wonder how many born-in witlesses will eventually leave because of the same issue.
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  thetrueone

  The word god and masturbation put together in one word, oh man Terry your going to burn in hell for that ( metaphorically speaking of course )

  Born again orgasm, so thats why those people have a glassy eyed grin on their faces.

  This might be worthy looking into
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  THE GLADIATOR

  So basicaly Terry, you are saying that religion is a wank!