I remember a time in my life when I could follow conversations and put things together out of the data I'd collected. somehow I lost that skill in twi and at the abusive hands of my ex-husband. I was afraid to think or speak except in the confines of my own mind. I want to be the person I was before the life got sucked out of me. my memory recall isn't even that great anymore, I worked so hard at being able to forget things so that I could survive.
I think it does, Potato – just as you spoke of it being a skill. And I tend to think these skills come back with a holy vengeance when you’ve been burned as much as some of us have by TWI’s run amuck dictators. I really think there’s a therapeutic and strengthening process experienced at GSC. After someone is injured they must do physical therapy to gain their strength back. A healthy person must do physical exercise to maintain their strength. I see GSC being like that for everyone’s thinking process.
there is hope, Polar Bear. write us a freedom song and post it for us to listen to
I painted some pictures earlier this year. I felt something come back to life while I was painting. little steps. there's more stirring around in the box of my soul waiting for me to lift the lid so it can escape.
My place has my paintings and drawings from 93-95ish. I haven't made much art since. A little, but not much. I have been trying to figure out a way to get all this twi stuff into my art to help get past it or something. I think I may have found a way, but it has taken me a while to figure it out and I now the getting past the hump of starting is the problem.
I'll share it here if you don't mind. Not like you have much say in this. Maybe someone will get it, maybe not.
Actually, some background. I have several drawings on my walls and in my portfolio from college (that 93-95 stint). They are self portraits of me with part of all of my head being cropped off the page. At the time I had my reasons for doing this but looking back I think, "that was totally me at that point in twi....not using my head."
Anyway, around the same time we had a project in sculpture class to make a vessel for a body part. I know, strange, but I liked it and it stuck with me. I tried to make a spine box which didnt' really turn out and was later either thrown out or lost.
So years later, out of twi, back in school, I decided to take on this same project again and do it right. For me it is using canopic jars as a metaphor. Canopic jars being what some ancient cultures used to store certain organs. These organs were thought to be the source of certian qualities in a person. We use the similar metaphors today, such as having a heart....it is where love and compasion come from. The spine is used in relation to one's conviction and sincerity and courage, etc.
So I went ahead with the spine box and it came out real cool. So now think I am going to continue with this and see how far it goes. I am working on which body part to go with next and what the "canopic jar" will be like and so on. For me this is like the next life. These respectable qualities that we identify with body parts or organs were boxed up and unused in my twi days, but now the "jars" empty and I am learning to use them again.
Perhaps for me, in this case, I was not in a straight jacket, but wrapped up like a mummy with all my better qualities in jars waiting for me to wake up.
"Literal According to Usage" epitomizes exactly what you're talking about, T-Bone.
Mark, after I thought about your post for awhile…maybe TWI got the processes mixed up. Leadership applied critical thinking skills in their analysis of the arts, and applied creative thinking skills to come up with novel interpretations of Scripture.
Mark, after I thought about your post for awhile…maybe TWI got the processes mixed up. Leadership applied critical thinking skills in their analysis of the arts, and applied creative thinking skills to come up with novel interpretations of Scripture.
So could we then say that they liberally interpreted according to misusage?
Lol, wasn`t that something we were supposed to have learned (according to the rumors) in twi??
Damn, I want my money back ...lol
Seriously though, I am adept at fire arms safety, but in our state if you want a carry permit, you have to go through a state certified program....shrug
I am going to keep my buddy company really, she didn`t want to go alone.
On a humorous (or would it be mortifying) side note...I quit carrying almost 15 yrs ago when my 3 yr old son spotted my pistol in it`s secret safety compartment in my purse when I was digging into my secret stash for money for the offering at church. He shouted out in the quiet,*MOM...theres a GUN IN YOUR PURSE*!!!!!
OMG if you couldn`t hear a pin drop before, you sure could after...I couldn`t shut the kid up ...but MOM....MoOMMOOOM why you got a gun in your purse???? Moooom......in the bellow only an excited 3 yr old can manage.
I kept clapping my hand over his mouth, but NOTHING was going to deter his interest or shut him up....lol
Needless to say, I hustled all of the kids out as quickly as I could at the end of services. No doubt there were some fervent prayers in the sanctuary that day, as we were very new to the neighborhood and church...hee hee
I remember that I stick pretty much to knitting or crochet if I did any kind of needlework for those seven years--counted cross stitch meant that I was in constant "danger" of someone criticizing the theme of the the cross stitch I was doing--know how many cross stitch patterns there are out there that EXACTLY portray TWI slanted dogma????????????
As for critical examination of Scripture--that is why I was Always in trouble--
The Leadership of the class would say
"And this is what this verse actually means"--
And I, with my history background who finds KJV English not in the least daunting, would say" no it doesn't"
...On a humorous (or would it be mortifying) side note...I quit carrying almost 15 yrs ago when my 3 yr old son spotted my pistol in it`s secret safety compartment in my purse when I was digging into my secret stash for money for the offering at church. He shouted out in the quiet,*MOM...theres a GUN IN YOUR PURSE*!!!!!
OMG if you couldn`t hear a pin drop before, you sure could after...I couldn`t shut the kid up ...but MOM....MoOMMOOOM why you got a gun in your purse???? Moooom......in the bellow only an excited 3 yr old can manage.
I kept clapping my hand over his mouth, but NOTHING was going to deter his interest or shut him up....lol
Needless to say, I hustled all of the kids out as quickly as I could at the end of services. No doubt there were some fervent prayers in the sanctuary that day, as we were very new to the neighborhood and church...hee hee
Love it, Rascal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's one of the funniest incidents I've ever heard. Thanks for sharing that. ...Guess as parents we could really use a straitjacket for the kids sometimes- - or a muzzle...
Great topic T-Bone and great thread all of you who have posted.
Lindy... I loved your sculpture idea... i can see how that would help you come out of that mummy wrapping that TWI so conveniently made for us.
I too had been so very stiffled being I got into TWI at 15...the stiffling was so egrained that I wasn't even aware of it. you just think this is YOU.
and like rascal said, after you start coming out of yourself you are so thankful more thankful it seems than those who haven't had the mummification done to them.
i recently started to dabble in photography...something I have always loved but never did. I now have them for sale in 2 local gift shops and we shall see what happens.
I must say, inside I really don't care if i ever sell a picture.. but it's the fact that i did it... and i saw my work come to be. that was the true inspiration for me.
Now you all have my curiosity up! Really would love to see the fruits of everyone’s creativity. Especially Lindyhopper’s spine box…I think creativity can be so therapeutic…I wonder sometimes how the critical and creative thinking processes overlap or influence each other…I know sometimes I’m messing around on the bass, drawing, playing with Photoshop or working on one of my silly posts and I’m aware of another “program” that my brain is running in the background.
Maybe it’s a project at work, some repair project at home or something I’ve read in a book – but my brain doodles around with this “problem” or tries to understand something better while I’m doing this other “artistic” thing. I find it weird and funny. One of those mysteries of being human – like how some people can chew gum and walk at the same time .
…It’s sort of like a working vacation. Maybe it’s telling ourselves “Relax, kick back, you’re not at work now, you’re playing…It’s okay to think about that project if you want to…but have fun…no pressure…no rules…play around with it…”
I think problem-solving draws on both critical and creative skills. Our critical/analytical side dissects the problem to identify the essential details of a problem – and our creative side plots a solution. We might figure out what it will take to fix the problem but lack some of those essential items we identified as necessary to fix it. That’s where we have to tap our creative side…I loved the part in Apollo 13 where one of the mission control guys puts on a table duplicate parts and supplies that are on board the Apollo 13. Then he points to an air filter that the astronauts don’t have but need and says “we have to figure out how they can make one of these out of this stuff they have on board.”
It seems the general theme that comes up whenever "Way Productions" comes up is leadership intruding where they shouldn't. I can understand them not liking someone doing a Black Sabbath song onstage but songs were rewritten that shouldn't have been. Instead of listening to God you had to listen to people who thought they were God !
I was run through the gauntlet for questioning some decisions. You can't do that in twi. Yea, Way Prod. did a few of my songs. They were changed so much I didn't recognize the songs. Besides that they botched the words so that nothing rhymed anymore, and I got reproved because witnessing wasn't in the songs enough. Talk about putting you in a straitjacket. I'm starting to write again, and I don't have to put witnessing in anywhere-wahoooooooooo.
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markomalley
"Literal According to Usage" epitomizes exactly what you're talking about, T-Bone.
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GrouchoMarxJr
Excellant thread...
...I recall quite vividly watching many people having their critical and creative thinking squelched...including my own.
Leaving the confines of twi's mental prison was one of the most exhilerating feelings of my life...
I recall shouting out the words "free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I'm free at last"...that was in 1987.
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potato
does it come back?
I remember a time in my life when I could follow conversations and put things together out of the data I'd collected. somehow I lost that skill in twi and at the abusive hands of my ex-husband. I was afraid to think or speak except in the confines of my own mind. I want to be the person I was before the life got sucked out of me. my memory recall isn't even that great anymore, I worked so hard at being able to forget things so that I could survive.
I want my mind back.
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T-Bone
I think it does, Potato – just as you spoke of it being a skill. And I tend to think these skills come back with a holy vengeance when you’ve been burned as much as some of us have by TWI’s run amuck dictators. I really think there’s a therapeutic and strengthening process experienced at GSC. After someone is injured they must do physical therapy to gain their strength back. A healthy person must do physical exercise to maintain their strength. I see GSC being like that for everyone’s thinking process.
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polar bear
TBone-great post. I had the life sucked out of me too. I used to love to write music. During my stint in twi
my desire and inspiraton dwindled to nothing. Now I'm starting to write again. Maybe there's still hope for my poor soul.
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potato
there is hope, Polar Bear. write us a freedom song and post it for us to listen to
I painted some pictures earlier this year. I felt something come back to life while I was painting. little steps. there's more stirring around in the box of my soul waiting for me to lift the lid so it can escape.
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rascal
It comes back guys, the neat thing is we honestly savor and enjoy our activities all the more so because of the years of denial and lack.
We relish each accomplishment much more than the average person who has never suffered privation.
I have immersed myself in so many fun activities in search of my true self...I was so young when I entered twi, I didn`t have a real identity.
Theatre, bowling leagues, trail riding, karate, whatever strikes my fancy.
Everything seems to contribute pieces of the person that I am developing into.
Next weekend it is gun safety, in Jan/feb it will be stained glass classes.
In April karate tournaments.
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waterbuffalo
(((((POTATO)))))
I'd love to see one of your paintings!
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lindyhopper
I hear ya, TBone and company.
My place has my paintings and drawings from 93-95ish. I haven't made much art since. A little, but not much. I have been trying to figure out a way to get all this twi stuff into my art to help get past it or something. I think I may have found a way, but it has taken me a while to figure it out and I now the getting past the hump of starting is the problem.
I'll share it here if you don't mind. Not like you have much say in this.
Maybe someone will get it, maybe not.
Actually, some background. I have several drawings on my walls and in my portfolio from college (that 93-95 stint). They are self portraits of me with part of all of my head being cropped off the page. At the time I had my reasons for doing this but looking back I think, "that was totally me at that point in twi....not using my head."
Anyway, around the same time we had a project in sculpture class to make a vessel for a body part. I know, strange, but I liked it and it stuck with me. I tried to make a spine box which didnt' really turn out and was later either thrown out or lost.
So years later, out of twi, back in school, I decided to take on this same project again and do it right. For me it is using canopic jars as a metaphor. Canopic jars being what some ancient cultures used to store certain organs. These organs were thought to be the source of certian qualities in a person. We use the similar metaphors today, such as having a heart....it is where love and compasion come from. The spine is used in relation to one's conviction and sincerity and courage, etc.
So I went ahead with the spine box and it came out real cool. So now think I am going to continue with this and see how far it goes. I am working on which body part to go with next and what the "canopic jar" will be like and so on. For me this is like the next life. These respectable qualities that we identify with body parts or organs were boxed up and unused in my twi days, but now the "jars" empty and I am learning to use them again.
Perhaps for me, in this case, I was not in a straight jacket, but wrapped up like a mummy with all my better qualities in jars waiting for me to wake up.
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T-Bone
Great posts everyone!!!!!!!!!!
Mark, after I thought about your post for awhile…maybe TWI got the processes mixed up. Leadership applied critical thinking skills in their analysis of the arts, and applied creative thinking skills to come up with novel interpretations of Scripture.
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markomalley
So could we then say that they liberally interpreted according to misusage?
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T-Bone
Why yes! The toxic fruit from their liberal arts program.
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johniam
quote: Next weekend it is gun safety,
Gun safety!! You must be a para-military cult!! Just kidding.
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rascal
Lol, wasn`t that something we were supposed to have learned (according to the rumors) in twi??
Damn, I want my money back ...lol
Seriously though, I am adept at fire arms safety, but in our state if you want a carry permit, you have to go through a state certified program....shrug
I am going to keep my buddy company really, she didn`t want to go alone.
On a humorous (or would it be mortifying) side note...I quit carrying almost 15 yrs ago when my 3 yr old son spotted my pistol in it`s secret safety compartment in my purse when I was digging into my secret stash for money for the offering at church. He shouted out in the quiet,*MOM...theres a GUN IN YOUR PURSE*!!!!!
OMG if you couldn`t hear a pin drop before, you sure could after...I couldn`t shut the kid up ...but MOM....MoOMMOOOM why you got a gun in your purse???? Moooom......in the bellow only an excited 3 yr old can manage.
I kept clapping my hand over his mouth, but NOTHING was going to deter his interest or shut him up....lol
Needless to say, I hustled all of the kids out as quickly as I could at the end of services. No doubt there were some fervent prayers in the sanctuary that day, as we were very new to the neighborhood and church...hee hee
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templelady
I remember that I stick pretty much to knitting or crochet if I did any kind of needlework for those seven years--counted cross stitch meant that I was in constant "danger" of someone criticizing the theme of the the cross stitch I was doing--know how many cross stitch patterns there are out there that EXACTLY portray TWI slanted dogma????????????
As for critical examination of Scripture--that is why I was Always in trouble--
The Leadership of the class would say
"And this is what this verse actually means"--
And I, with my history background who finds KJV English not in the least daunting, would say" no it doesn't"
SIGHHHHH
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T-Bone
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lindyhopper
Hmmmm
Straitjacket for the kids, eh?
Eggcellent.
Muwahahahaha.
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johniam
Rascal: TWI did teach gun safety to the corps at one time. Wonder what would've happened if you put the gun in the collection plate.
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A la prochaine
Great topic T-Bone and great thread all of you who have posted.
Lindy... I loved your sculpture idea... i can see how that would help you come out of that mummy wrapping that TWI so conveniently made for us.
I too had been so very stiffled being I got into TWI at 15...the stiffling was so egrained that I wasn't even aware of it. you just think this is YOU.
and like rascal said, after you start coming out of yourself you are so thankful more thankful it seems than those who haven't had the mummification done to them.
i recently started to dabble in photography...something I have always loved but never did. I now have them for sale in 2 local gift shops and we shall see what happens.
I must say, inside I really don't care if i ever sell a picture.. but it's the fact that i did it... and i saw my work come to be. that was the true inspiration for me.
Creative and critical thinking... what a freedom.
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T-Bone
Now you all have my curiosity up! Really would love to see the fruits of everyone’s creativity. Especially Lindyhopper’s spine box…I think creativity can be so therapeutic…I wonder sometimes how the critical and creative thinking processes overlap or influence each other…I know sometimes I’m messing around on the bass, drawing, playing with Photoshop or working on one of my silly posts and I’m aware of another “program” that my brain is running in the background.
Maybe it’s a project at work, some repair project at home or something I’ve read in a book – but my brain doodles around with this “problem” or tries to understand something better while I’m doing this other “artistic” thing. I find it weird and funny. One of those mysteries of being human – like how some people can chew gum and walk at the same time
.
…It’s sort of like a working vacation. Maybe it’s telling ourselves “Relax, kick back, you’re not at work now, you’re playing…It’s okay to think about that project if you want to…but have fun…no pressure…no rules…play around with it…”
I think problem-solving draws on both critical and creative skills. Our critical/analytical side dissects the problem to identify the essential details of a problem – and our creative side plots a solution. We might figure out what it will take to fix the problem but lack some of those essential items we identified as necessary to fix it. That’s where we have to tap our creative side…I loved the part in Apollo 13 where one of the mission control guys puts on a table duplicate parts and supplies that are on board the Apollo 13. Then he points to an air filter that the astronauts don’t have but need and says “we have to figure out how they can make one of these out of this stuff they have on board.”
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TOMMYZ
It seems the general theme that comes up whenever "Way Productions" comes up is leadership intruding where they shouldn't. I can understand them not liking someone doing a Black Sabbath song onstage but songs were rewritten that shouldn't have been. Instead of listening to God you had to listen to people who thought they were God !
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polar bear
I was run through the gauntlet for questioning some decisions. You can't do that in twi. Yea, Way Prod. did a few of my songs. They were changed so much I didn't recognize the songs. Besides that they botched the words so that nothing rhymed anymore, and I got reproved because witnessing wasn't in the songs enough. Talk about putting you in a straitjacket. I'm starting to write again, and I don't have to put witnessing in anywhere-wahoooooooooo.
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