Happy Freedom Day!

[tracilicious]

Thanks you guys.

I think I would probably need pages to detail the reflections I've made. In a nutshell, my family's rejection allowed the fresh opening and subsequent healing of old emotional wounds, I gained a much greater sense of empowerment by choosing my own, very different from my then culture, path, I've learned to choose support that is authentic and has no alterior motive, and well, I'm pretty much a different person. Or, rather, I'm so much closer to the real me then the religion ever allowed me to be. There have been times that I would say that it was the worst year of my life, but in actuallity, I think it was the best.

The JW's strongly encourage that you associate only within the faith, so in the beginning we felt very isolated. But now that we've built a strong network of local friends we are feeling more a part of mainstream culture. Coming up on our second round of holidays...at least we know what stockings are for this time.

My current round of reflection is focused on cult psychology, and how people can believe so strongly in circular logic and never go looking for proof outside of the authorities. I find it to be a very interesting topic. I think it exists to a point in all religions, but the JW's indoctrinate so effectively and so thoroughly that they can change their mind about anything and nobody blinks twice. They are so loyal to their organization that family, friends, even spouses are easily dropped if they turn away. It's a bit creepy.