by Ruby456 20 Replies latest members adult
thanks sparrowdawn - I agree
fairlane - exactly what i mean but I call it culture shock. the person leaving is like a refugee hero - he has to start again and no longer has access to his past life. realizing one now has 'free will' is what I would call taking responsibility for oneself cos this is the way the secular world operates. we now have a different set of responsibilities and like a refugee/hero we have to act fast to get control of our lives.
I'm interested in how we retrain our imagination - going away from the exhoration method of curbing it and training - ideas anyone.
It's mandatory to believe that we have free will.
I agree stillin but this free will is most important in an internal to ourselves sense and it is important for our imaginations too imo. externally though there are huge restrictions placed on the exercise of free will and it is these that I am calling responsibilities (sorry if I'm coming across as negative as that is not my intention)
btw I think exhoration is coercive but I don't think it is criminal. Harrassment on the other hand can be argued to be criminal.
I'm speaking tongue-in-cheek, Ruby. But the fact is that maybe "manipulative" is a better word for what you are thinking. And the Witnesses do their best to do that. "You MUST live by the Bible. Here's the part I'm wanting you to do better with..." They can say it's God doing the talking, but it's really them cherry-picking scriptures.
Hey stillin, nicely played! C. Hitchens says "we have no choice but to have free will"
Ruby... you retrain your thinking skills by thinking for yourself. Read, listen and KEEP QUESTIONING!!
Mental manipulation is very difficult to police. I for one do not know anyone that I would want to police my mental freedom. The tricky thing with freedom of thought is that people have the freedom to believe and worse, teach their children some fucked up things. As a society we can draw a line at things like physical abuse and neglect but its much more difficult with mental manipulation.
The information age is assisting in destroying mental manipulation in many people. Like the enlightment you are still going to have people and groups kicking and screaming to stay in the dark.
Human progress is slow.
pbrow
yes stillin - manipulation is part of exhortation. but how does the secular world teach what is good and what is right and what is bad - i'm putting i badly - but what are better ways to learn than from exhortation?
The Witnesses would have you believe that atheists choose to be so in order to excuse themselves from any accountability for their actions. Most atheists I know would consider that a huge insult. Like, you're saying that they are vile, immoral people. But most atheists I know, the ones who have bothered to think about it, feel that virtue is its' own reward. They haven't been exhorted to do good things. They just enjoy doing it!
thanks stillin. how did you get to that conclusion - that virtue is its own reward?
as has been said here on jwn if we really take a deep look at nature - there are beautiful things that inspire virtue and there are awful things that make you think that the physically strong hold sway no matter what.
I guess we decide what we want to focus on. I think this is reflected in the way we are taught nowadays. At scool teachers approach teaching by allowing children to develop and keep whatever illusions they may have and hold to knowing that such figments expand the imagination and build character. Talking here about fairy tales and such like
