Is it possible to accurately critique your own belief system without unplugging from it? In other words, can a fish see water for what it really is while it's experience has been immersed in it?
Have you ever tried to unplug from a belief system? How did it turn out?
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Well, either no one has any experience or no one cares. I have a hunch someone does though.
The first time we "unplugged" we were members in a 12-step group for many years. We were active in leadership and our whole lives revolved around it. Meetings, friends, dances, speaking at hospitals and institutions; the whole bit.
I began to feel and uneasiness at one point. I couldn't my finger on it. I just knew that there was something more. There had to be something more than dooming myself to a life addiction every time I said my name. There had to be more to me than that, and I had to find it (so the rabbit-hole started).
I can look back now and see what that fellowship was, how it helped, how it hurt etc. I simply could not do that when i was in the middle of it. Some of those principles still guide my life, I'm sure, but it is a small part that fits into a much larger picture.
hi roger. not on my bloggy blog much anymore...but perhaps with my new transition i will be returning. i just dont know anymore.
yes. unplugging.
learning and being equipped to live my life by being involved with groups of people...and then...getting that unsettled.."there's more to your journey" feeling that i used to get all worked up over and lose sleep and mourn and make a big emotional mess out of things. Now...the potential for emotions are there...but the desire to go fully into them is not. i can simply chose to depart from that group and move forward knowing that God has the next step as I seek Him.
in some ways...i think its like raising kids. teenagers dont really know how well they have it (or how bad they have it) until they leave home...and then as life hands them difficulties and lessons...they realize that they were being equipped for that moment, now, if they only had paid attention while they were there.
this rabbit hole keeps getting deeper...but strangely, i am no longer afraid of delving deeper into it. perhaps i should be.
If you aren't a little nervous of the next step, it probably isn't worth taking. The journey from a smaller belief system into full awareness is usually not pretty, but so worth it.
Hi Roger,
I left membership with jehovah's witnesses (yes that's 'on purpose') about 13 years ago. It's given me a freedom I never knew since I joined the group at 17 years old and stayed for 26 years. Going to college (BS and then, Master of Social Work) really broadened my horizons, in many areas. The most difficult part, for me, is now, at 56 years old, beginning to build a social life for myself. The witnesses practice shunning and so all social connections were gone when I took a stand. I no longer believed the teachings, thus I was 'worse than' a murderer, etc. (sometimes they 'repent', 'apostates' never do.)
Your comments on 12 step involvement is interesting. I believe that being a jw during the earlier years of my life probably saved me from some even more negative choices, and I think 12 step is quite useful, however, moving beyond an imposed belief system is challenging as well as rewarding.
Cathy
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