Mind Control & Thinking For Yourself

A reader named Janet commented on my last blog post.

She wrote the following in the comments:

... The WTS micromanages it's members. They aren't allowed to think because they shouldn't rely on their own understanding.


But one thing I feel about them is that there are people who seem to be happy being micromanaged. They have fear and the religion they chose soothed the fear for them. 

She's right. I've never been one to handle being told what to do. I need guidance on things, to be sure, my Asperger's Syndrome makes it difficult for me to deal with some things and my ADHD .... ppffft! Oh, look, a butterfly! LOL But I don't need or want to be micromanaged and told what to do and told I can't think for myself. My brain works just fine on it's own, thank you very much.

Proverbs 3:5 states: Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. (New World Translation)

The Watchtower Society takes this to an extreme, making sure they drive this home over and over again. They say that people can't trust themselves to make good decisions, that they need to rely on god for that. Ok, if you believe in god, then that's not entirely outside the realm of normal for you. But it's not just about relying on god. They use words and phrases designed to make you think that you absolutely can not make a decision for yourself. From something so mundane as whether this is the right toothpaste for your family to more major decisions like, "Is this the best neighborhood?" I'm not even kidding. My mother prays over shit like that. She'll make a decision, then hem & haw and vacillate on the subject, changing her mind half a dozen times, and finally settling on something only AFTER she's prayed about it. And even then she will be indecisive.

When you hear something over and over again, you begin to believe it. If you're told you're fat, eventually you start to think, "Gee, maybe I am fat. I should change something." If a kid hears, "What are you? Stupid?!" constantly as they grow, they will grow into an adult that doubts their mental capabilities. (I speak from experience on that one.)

The same holds true for this scripture and it's interpretation. As long as you're told you're too stupid to think for yourself, you will eventually believe that.

As long as you allow someone else to make your decisions for you, the harder it is for you to make up your own damn mind over even the menial things.

Janet also noted that some people seem to enjoy being micromanaged. My mother is one of those. She seems to need someone else to think for her and this religion/cult fits the bill. She has always sought out situations where she does't have to think for herself. She married my father, an abusive, controlling, manipulative individual. Then she joined the JWs, an abusive, manipulating, controlling cult. So she had 2 aspects of her life controlling her and making her decisions for her. She left my father in mid 2011 and now claims she can serve Jehovah whole-heartedly.

Ok. Or she can allow only one controlling aspect of her life to keep fucking her up in the head. Whatever....

Personally, I choose not to live my life by someone else's standards. I have my own brain and it works just fine in the thinking & decision making department.