When you missed several consecutive meetings or took a vacation did you feel "weird" when you returned?

by Tenacious 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Tenacious

  Every now and again I would miss meetings due to health, surgeries, work etc.

  When I would miss a meeting here and there I didn't particularly feel this "weirdness."

  It wasn't until I would miss 3 or more consecutive meetings that I felt this weirdness upon entering the KH.

  I can't really explain it but it feels like I was entering the KH for the first time. It's not like when you take a 2 week vacation and come back to work. No. It's a different kind of feeling. It's sorta like stepping out into the sunlight after being indoors for 2 weeks and not seeing the sun. Something like that.

  I theorize it's the hypnotic state I was subjected to that always felt good while I "was under." There's the spiritual aspect I also feel had a lot to do with it.
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  moreconfusedthanever

  I agree with you. It definitely feels strange going back after a few weeks. If you stay away long enough you start to wake up. That is why they have meetings so often. To keep everyone in the fog.
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  Finkelstein

  Weird in the way people were wondering where you were and what were you doing.

  " Your not showing much loyalty and faithful devotion to Jehovah "

  Fear, Guilt, Obligation
  
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  hoser

  They do treat you differently. It is almost like a mini shunning. It might be a manifestation of herd mentality.
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  LongHairGal

  TENACIOUS:

  I know the feeling you felt. This is why they have frequent meetings- they need to reinforce the unnaturalness of it all.

  As far as that ‘hypnotic state’ you mention, I felt that way at the Thursday night meeting..I’m just glad I walked away from the JW religion years ago and purged my mind of all the nonsense!

  FINKELSTEIN & HOSER:

  I remember that mini-shunning when you were away awhile and returned. I never thought much about it then but now that you mention it...This is all so ridiculous and I cannot believe I subjected myself to this garbage. Thankfully, it’s all in the past.
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  Xanthippe

  Getting away from the programming is the key to recovery from the mind control. I think if you felt weird if was because you'd gone cold turkey on the cult indoctrination techniques.
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  iwantoutnow

  Sometimes YES.

  Because you would of course be questioned at some level as to where you were and why you missed meetings.
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  blondie

  No, there were elders in my last congregation that took a month off and went to FL, did not attend any meetings, just had an informal study of the WT, they said. Their children said they did not have a study, just a convenient lie. So, I would point that out to the elders on my case, they shut up and walked away.
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  Solzhenitsyn

  Yep, especially as an elder.

  If smack about an elder was going to be talked about, 9 out of 10 times it came up at the elders meeting where he was on vacation or away giving a talk.

  Over my tenure as an elder, 2 brothers came back from vacation to face having their "qualifications reviewed."

  Needless to say, when I came back from vacation i always felt weird until I confirmed fellow elders exuded a business as usual attitude.
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  Lost in the fog

  I remember one elder who criticised an MS during an elders meeting because he'd taken time out to be with his family. He wasn't best pleased when I reminded him that he had asked off all public talks for a year while he was studying for exams his employer made managers do for their continual improvement.

  Years later as I drifted I made constant reference to Timothy who must have missed lots of meetings because of his FREQUENT bouts of illness (possibly a dysentery-like illness because of impure water quality). On the whole it was accepted as a reasonable excuse until I slipped away completely.