What Is the Real World?

by Satanus 17 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Satanus

  The wt has it's own definition of 'the world', which they claim to not be a part of. Yet, in following trends, such as fear trends, ultraconservative fashion trends, allowing it's members to take in various media, such as popular music, movies, sports, the jws are part of the world. Yet, by wt definition, they are not.

  Sitting, thinking yesterday about my life, my social contacts, work, play etc. Compare that to other people's. It seems to me that 'the world' is different for everybody, as everyone has contact w their small bits of it.

  S
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  Markfromcali

  I think that idea makes more sense when it is put as being in the world but not of it. Obviously you are in the world regardless of your views on the afterlife or whatever, but being not of the world can hardly just mean you have a different way of thinking - as that would just mean you are of your mind and other people are of theirs, that's really not all that different. If anything we could say it is being free from the world in spite of living in it, so atleast on one level it is not living in the simple mode of stimulus response - which one might argue is not living at all, atleast no living consciously.

  The WT/JWs are always in fear in an effort to try to be 'no part of the world' - which makes them very much a part of the world in this sense.
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  Satanus

  Well, maybe we can choose the parts of the world that we choose for our stimulous/response system. Doesn't everyone do this? Maybe some people don't, in that they let others (parents, peers, etc) choose it for them.

  S
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  Markfromcali

  Yes, if there is real freedom there is real choice, but as you said it may be from outside sources, even if one believes it is a free choice. The thing is there may not even be free choice from that source, one might be caught up in a big unconscious cycle of reactionary movement. So in that case it can't even be said that your parents or whoever chose for you, as it was not a conscious choice on their part in the first place - they are just part of that whole movement.

  In the end this implies the individual steps out of the whole cycle, which may involve breaking free from some codependency and emotional 'stickiness' on the interpersonal level. It has nothing to do with whether you care or not, but it just means you are not going to be a part of that insanity. People who are still stuck in that cycle may have thoughts to the effect of "oh, are you too good for us" or something, but the fact is that is not good for anybody, one would think human life involves a little more than this kind of mindless existence.
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  peacefulpete

  The "world" is an ethereal evil that threatens, and hungers for, the hearts of JWs. It is everything "outside" and "wicked". It lies and tempts. It woes and destroys. It is anything that is not of the cult.
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  Satanus

  The wt had attempted to militate a communal 'world', the 'new world' for it's dupes. Some people who are close to each other have worlds that intersect. Each one of us basically has our own world, don't we?

  S
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  talesin

  I agree, SS. However, most of us do not purposely exclude 99.9% of humanity from our world as do the witless. Hopefully, we are open to sharing a glimpse into other world views, even the views of those with whom we disagree.

  The longer I am out of the 'lie', the more my world view is expanding.

  Unfortunately, it seems to me that many folks in this culture (north american) are becoming increasingly close-minded since 9/11. This is alarming and saddening to me, and I hope it turns around soon.

  t
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  Country_Woman

  What Is the Real World?

  I don't know, a copple of weeks ago I read in a book that all of us only excist in the mind of one super brain. Once that brain don't longer is interested in us - we all fade away.

  Hopes he forget all about war and terrorisme - but then Earth maybe a boring place and that could be the end of all.
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  M.J.

  The WTS gets to pick and choose what being in "the world" actually means, and it isn't very consistent to any sort of rational thought process. Basically this is another instance of turning a biblical phrase into a buzz word to demonize all non-compliance with the org.
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  zen nudist

  according to the book the USER ILLUSION, we are only conscious of 40 bits on average for every 11,000,000 received... which means that there are roughly 275,000 possible worlds which are made of just the bits that no one else is conscious of, plus millions more with various combinations of the ones that are shared..

  I live in a world where I was too young to go to veit nam, too old for any of the others more recently and have never seen a single person die in front of me. My god daughter grew up with gangs and drug dealers and has not only seen people die but has even shot some in self defense and watched them die... our lives have intersected yet mine is still calm and hers relatively rocky to this day... how many other lives go on in parallel which are nothing like mine or hers?

  as what is MY real world, it is the world of my own personal experiences, they are the only facts I know and my beliefs about them which I have come to understand are simply my feeble attempts to understand them but without means of objective verifications...so I have learned to gamble on what seems true and accept the consequences of all my gambles.