Posts by mentalclarity

34

Waking up to TTATT: Blessing or Curse?

by Jules Saturn in

if you take the red pill, you'll have knowledge, you'll be awakened, aware of reality, you'll have freedom.. if you take the blue pill, you stay in your bubble, wearing rose colored glasses, and feel security in an illusion.. taking the red pill isn't something that's easy to do.

to accept that everything around you is an illusion built up on lies or half truths.

but hey, it might feel good to be aware and break free from this illusion.

mentalclarity

Yeah I can relate to that wanting to be ignorant bliss at times as a born-in. I have to say that I always felt like something was "off" but couldn't quite put my finger on it as I grew up. But even so I miss the community and I had alot of great times with fellow jws in outings and social events.

I'm not sure if it was here or somewhere else where I read about the fish in an aquarium story- where the fish gets put into the bathtub and keeps swimming in the same circle the size of the fishbowl over and over...I think it takes time to embrace "the world". We were conditioned for so long to not be a part of it, that it just takes some time to get used to the fact that you participate and enjoy all of it - guilt free. New friends/new activities/new adventures/new goals...there is no glass ceiling to stop you. Do things that keep you moving forward- not looking back and make you feel good and expose you to new people and experiences. You have to replace the things from JWism that made you feel good (sense of belonging/purpose/etc) with something new so that you don't have that empty void. That's what has helped me.

And whenever I'm with my jw family I feel really sad because I just see complete lack of consciousness in their minds and I would never want to be that person again.

36

Why the vitriolic hate?

by stuckinarut2 in

i am sure we have all thought of this before, but it struck me again today:.

why does the society promote such vitriolic hate toward, and about those who have left "the truth" ?.

surely it is obvious that such critical attitudes towards ones like us who have left, only serves to proove that they do not have "the truth"?.

mentalclarity

The more they hate what is "bad" (especially apostates) the more they prove themselves to be "good". JW's must always be proving themselves righteous and better than others.

I think it's completely self serving.

Personally, I never hated apostates, but I was scared of them. I probably already had a strong intuition that we weren't that different and it wasn't going to take much to take me to the "dark side".

33

What Simple Pleasures Do You Enjoy Since Leaving Watchtower?

by pale.emperor in

what simple pleasures do you enjoy since leaving watchtower?

here's some of mine, in no particular order:.

a cigar: i dont smoke cigarettes at all, but i do enjoy a good cigar from time to time.

mentalclarity

I love Christmas traditions and all of the holidays really. I like the apple cinnamon smell and decorating the tree- putting lights on the house/yard and the Christmas eve dinner. The whole 9 yards! Halloween comes a close second as far as holidays go. The fact that I do all these things with people I Iove and cherish makes me even happier.

14

Pale Emperor Seems To Have Developed A Fetish

by pale.emperor in

dont worry, this is safe for work... :).

remember when we were jws and we were told not to "model ourselves after the world"?

meaning no tattoos, no non-approved hairstyles, clothing to be not too tight, not too short etc etc etc?

mentalclarity

Saying "passed away" instead of died.

Eating fortune cookies...because, ya know, demons....

meditation - anything where your mind would be blank would be another opportunity for spirit possession.

Reading your horoscope -

14

Pale Emperor Seems To Have Developed A Fetish

by pale.emperor in

dont worry, this is safe for work... :).

remember when we were jws and we were told not to "model ourselves after the world"?

meaning no tattoos, no non-approved hairstyles, clothing to be not too tight, not too short etc etc etc?

mentalclarity

I used to be attracted to the whole tattoo, piercing, anti-establishment thing- not so much anymore. I find myself attracted to personal integrity- in whatever form its packaged in. I personally found alot of people trying so hard to be different were actually just parroting someone else's trendy views - not so attractive.

I can see it's appeal though- it's kind of the forbidden fruit in JWism. The cool thing is that you can decide for yourself what you like so enjoy the ride.....

54

JW Kids Bullying My Daughter

by pale.emperor in

trying not to type swearwords as i write this so bare with me.. my little 3yo attends meetings with her jw mum (who doesn't believe watchtower anymore but is stuck in because she relies on her family for help).

my mum (the one who tells people im dead) had a party for her grandchildren.

that's my 4 nieces and 1 nephew aged from 3yo-11yo.

mentalclarity

I wonder if this will push your ex over the edge....let it fester...there might be a silver lining in this horrible incident.

So sad your daughter had to endure that type of behavior- but hopefully it will also be etched in her brain so that she NEVER ever becomes a witness.

This is what I tell my family whenever they snub me - "Keep showing yourselves to be the loveless crew you are so that my children never want to become witnesses. Your behavior will help much more than my words ever could. They LOVE that! hahaha and then I tell them they'll have blood on their hands because of it- just an ex jw using jw mind games.

Can't even imagine your rage - It's one thing to treat an adult like that, but just a small child??? That's terrible.

34

BBC News "The ex-Jehovah's Witnesses shunned by their families"

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

bbc news website has this linked on front page.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40704990.

mentalclarity

Wow- so happy they did the interviews. That's amazing. I thought it was just the article.

5

Our new yearly "regional convention"

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

so unstuck and myself have decided to attend a different kind of yearly convention!.

it should be fun!.

just think, anything that helps us using our "powers of reason" (romans 12:1) is approved by the bible isn't it??

mentalclarity

Looks interesting! Enjoy!

180

Languages, Dialects, Accents

by LoveUniHateExams in

jw
friends

just though i'd start a thread devoted to languages, dialects/sociolects and accents, with the idea being that posters can comment on any language, or dialect or accent of any language, on this thread.. any phrases, expressions or idioms that you find interesting are also welcome.

first, the subject of english accents came up on another thread.. the british isles have many different types of accent (although many of the dialects may be dying out), and if i start to take a closer look, i can't help but see 'patterns' .... in received pronunciation of standard english, the letter r is pronounced initially, between vowels, and after consonants, e.g.

red, arrow, break.

mentalclarity

In the US there are regional and social English variations - it's pretty fascinating.

A lot of the regional variations came about because of the immigrants who colonized a specific area and spoke Dutch/German/French/etc.

If you're interested in sociolinguistics/ english variation you should read William Labov's studies. He is the pioneer of English variation studies in the US.

70

What made you stay "in" even when you knew it wasn't the "truth"?

by mentalclarity in

so i've been thinking a lot about why i stayed a jw for so long even though i had always had doubts about the doctrines.

i was born into the religion, left and came back as an adult for another decade.

some of the things that come to mind (besides the threat of shunning-and this isn't to minimize that very real threat) was:.

mentalclarity

@Ding - all good points. Especially about it being Satan try to mislead you. It's like a weird jedi-mind trick.

@tepidpoultry Agreed. Placing the blame on yourself for not researching enough. My family still thinks I never studied enough to "convince" myself of the "truth" and have it reach my heart.