2004-4-4 17:10:00
JWK writes:
Several days ago I read JJ's post over and over about the power of the thought form affecting Mormons. I tried every way possible to develop a deeper understanding of this phenomena. I've been trying to do the same with the Christian Fundamentalist mind set.
JJ:
This is probably interesting to contemplate if you have never been caught up in a religious thought form. You are to be commended for contemplating with an open mind for most seekers, especially new agers, just immediately dismiss religious followers with which they disagree as unstable emotional zealots. They feel that they could have not gotten caught up in such a belief system in a million years.
Such a thought is often based in illusion itself.
Where is the illusion?
The missing piece is a lack of understanding of the power of a group thoughtform and where it gets its power.
When a person studies the life of Christ he will often receive either a reflection or a touch of real soul contact verifying that certain elements perceived are true. Because the emotionally polarized person's discriminative faculty operates in a black and white mode he will usually accept that the whole Bible is literally true.
The beastly authority who then interprets the Bible for him will then determine his fixed mindset that will be extremely difficult to change.
The religious zealot usually does not discriminate enough to even see or understand illusion but is caught up in the glamour that his Lord is master of the universe and he is one of the few to understand the mind of God through his revealed word.
The Mormons are largely caught in the same trap but on the average are more mental and use more discrimination than the standard Christian. Some of the LDS intelligencia are evolved enough to be more controlled by illusion than they are glamour - similar to Christian Scientists.
Mormons, for instance, believe the Bible as currently written does have mistakes in it, but they believe it was infallible as originally written.
They are effected by the same pull as the Orthodox Christian in that they often receive soul confirmation on parts of the Bible, but in addition they receive additional soul contact on parts of the Book of Mormon and teachings of Joseph Smith.
The effect of this is that it causes them to assume that, since the LDS authorities are the caretakers of these teachings, then God also supports all they do and say as Gods word that is not to be challenged.
Now if you think that this illusion only applies to supposedly backward religions take a look at metaphysical groups. They do the same thing. Members of the Theosophical Society (just one of many possible examples) usually reject the teachings of Alice A. Bailey because their leaders which are the caretakers of the teachings of H. P. Blavatsky do not accept them.
When I was 13 I studied the teachings of the LDS church and was impressed by many of them and received verification that certain things were true.
I never fell into the trap that the LDS authorities were infallible. In fact I almost got in trouble in my teens for stating that we would go to the moon when a Mormon apostle said we would not. I bluntly stated that he was wrong. I also was criticized as a teenager for using hypnosis and handwriting analysis which the authorities told us we should not do. I ignored them and continued.
After I had a serious accident at the age of thirteen when a homemade rocket blew up in my hand numerous leaders of the church visited me in the hospital and authoritatively stated.
"I'll bet you learned your lesson. I'll bet you're not going to make any more rockets."
I smiled back and said, "Not until I get out of the hospital. I'm just going to be more careful next time."
I got a bang out of watching the expression on their faces when I gave this reply. They were so dumbstruck they didn't know what to say.
And I wasn't just bluffing. After I got out of the hospital I went right back to working on rockets. I did take the step of buying pre-made engines which were much safer than making them yourself.
I would often invite a group of kids over to my house after church to watch me launch my new masterpiece to the consternation of my local Bishop.
Even though I was not enamored with the intelligence of the authorities I was very impressed with the scriptures and concluded that the church was part of a divine plan and we should support it the best we could despite the mediocrity of the leadership. I felt at the time that there would eventually be some type of transformation of the church in the future and that a time of great revelation and learning was yet to come.
I personally fulfilled this expectation in that I experienced revelation and learning, but had to leave the church behind to do so.
The bottom line is this. The illusion and though forms of the great institutions of the planet have deceitfully captivated many intelligent people. Even many who see through the illusion continue to stay in the organizations for various reasons.
When we see others captivated in some illusion that we see through the thought should not be one of superiority, but "there, but for the grace of God go I - and I may yet be following a similar illusion not recognized by myself."
Fame is only good for one thing -- they will cash your check in a small town.
-- Truman Capote: (1924-1984)
Copyright 2004 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved