So it's obvious a lot of us feel we came out of this losing something we can't get back. That is a fact no one could dispute. I lost a lot to drugs and alcohol and still fight some demons,"figure of speech"<-----I hope anyway. :lol: This was even before I took the TWI bait, and I'm 53 now.
Anyway, are you satisfied or peaceful in your life now?
Yeah Jim, I am. I've carved out a life for myself that includes quality relationships, a peaceful cabin in the woods, my dogs and a job that I enjoy and pays the bills...I am thankful for all that I have and all that I am...
...and in the meantime, I will continue to warn people about the dangers of getting involved with a cult called twi...
Remember one time before I took the class back somewhere abouts '75. Some follower I knew took me to this way home for a dinner, on the way there I stopped and got a six pack of beer. After dinner we were sitting around and this guy says to me, "Hey, are those beers available?". I say, "what do you mean?". Even though I knew what the word "available" meant, I just never heard it in that context before!
Or the word "manifestation", nice word and one I use often.
Yeah Jim, I am. I've carved out a life for myself that includes quality relationships, a peaceful cabin in the woods, my dogs and a job that I enjoy and pays the bills...I am thankful for all that I have and all that I am...
...and in the meantime, I will continue to warn people about the dangers of getting involved with a cult called twi...
GrouchoMarxJr,
Sounds darn nice, what else could you ask for?
Haven't run into a wafer in I don't know how many years, but you never know when and where, but I will warn them if it happens.
The film begins with a clip from a video interview with the real-life Traudl Junge (Hitler's personal secretary), who wonders why she decided to work for Adolf Hitler and states her anger at her younger self for not realizing what kind of a monster she was dealing with.
Good question, I would have stayed an Atheist instead of being guilt tripped into thinking I started my Mother on a spiritual journey to find God. I wouldn't have become involved with people of questionable motives and erroneous dogmatic ideas about the origins and purpose of life. I would have had much more solid sanity in my life and been much less spooky for 15 years or so of it.
I wouldn't know anything about mind control and high demand abusive groups or be able to identify one and the type of people in them. I wouldn't be able to help my friends who are being approached by cults now, by providing sane and logical information about why the group recruiting them is high demand and abusive.
I wouldn't have the company of you wonderful people who are all at various stages of emotional growth, some growing away from the cult mind set others wallowing in it and still others promoting it.
So for better or worse I wouldn't change a thing, accept to have the guts to kick some ballz before I left.
I probably would have ended up as a very wealthy, man on mystery, with multiple families around the world. I would have spent my teen years as a pro skateboarder, experimenting with drugs and sex as I traveled the world signing autographs and racking up frequent flier miles. In my twenties I would have still skated but the multiple broken bones over the years would inhibit me from doing so professionally. Instead, my money and connections would have allowed me to pursue my other interests... in a semi-successful indie rock band... started my own chain of restaurants, infusing different tastes from cultures of the globe... the occasional cameo in obscure films... finished my education at Yale... and at my low point, sponsored a late night infomercial for the latest greatest piece of exercise equipment.
Later in life my polygamy would be realized and I would be publicly humiliated. I would then loose my fortune in court and blacklisted among all my former colleagues except Hollywood. After turning away many movie offers I wold write a little known book of memoirs and died cold and alone in a mountain cabin somewhere in the Wind River Range.
But you know, that's just guessing off the top of my head.
I probably would have ended up as a very wealthy, man on mystery, with multiple families around the world. I would have spent my teen years as a pro skateboarder, experimenting with drugs and sex as I traveled the world signing autographs and racking up frequent flier miles. In my twenties I would have still skated but the multiple broken bones over the years would inhibit me from doing so professionally. Instead, my money and connections would have allowed me to pursue my other interests... in a semi-successful indie rock band... started my own chain of restaurants, infusing different tastes from cultures of the globe... the occasional cameo in obscure films... finished my education at Yale... and at my low point, sponsored a late night infomercial for the latest greatest piece of exercise equipment.
Later in life my polygamy would be realized and I would be publicly humiliated. I would then loose my fortune in court and blacklisted among all my former colleagues except Hollywood. After turning away many movie offers I wold write a little known book of memoirs and died cold and alone in a mountain cabin somewhere in the Wind River Range.
But you know, that's just guessing off the top of my head.
Hey, don't give up your dreams just because a little time has been passed, there's always tomorrow! LOL!
I heard someone say once "Our children make it impossible to regret our lives." I do wish I had done a lot of things differently. But having my children has convinced me I'm where I should be now.
I'm with finallyunderstand on this one.
"coulda woulda shoulda pal" is constant irritant and poses a great temptation to agree wholeheartedly with Geo, but I wouldn't trade husband I wouldn't have otherwise or the son born in twi for the world on a silver platter.
I'm 60+ going back to college. I am so glad I don't have Alzheimer's -- I hope. Some may question that last sentence.
Overall I am just so glad I got out. That's for sure. That was a miracle of love and grace :)
I probably would have ended up as a very wealthy, man on mystery, with multiple families around the world. I would have spent my teen years as a pro skateboarder, experimenting with drugs and sex as I traveled the world signing autographs and racking up frequent flier miles. In my twenties I would have still skated but the multiple broken bones over the years would inhibit me from doing so professionally. Instead, my money and connections would have allowed me to pursue my other interests... in a semi-successful indie rock band... started my own chain of restaurants, infusing different tastes from cultures of the globe... the occasional cameo in obscure films... finished my education at Yale... and at my low point, sponsored a late night infomercial for the latest greatest piece of exercise equipment.
Later in life my polygamy would be realized and I would be publicly humiliated. I would then loose my fortune in court and blacklisted among all my former colleagues except Hollywood. After turning away many movie offers I wold write a little known book of memoirs and died cold and alone in a mountain cabin somewhere in the Wind River Range.
But you know, that's just guessing off the top of my head.
"coulda woulda shoulda pal" is constant irritant and poses a great temptation to agree wholeheartedly with Geo, but I wouldn't trade husband I wouldn't have otherwise or the son born in twi for the world on a silver platter.
I'm 60+ going back to college. I am so glad I don't have Alzheimer's -- I hope. Some may question that last sentence.
Overall I am just so glad I got out. That's for sure. That was a miracle of love and grace :)
that's magnificent :)
Good for you for going back to college. I'm wrapping up 3 of the best years so far this decade having done the same thing (a bit younger, tho).
I met my husband in TWI. I'm extremely grateful for that and the 2 children we had. I'm also grateful that I didn't buy into the whole thing lock, stock, and barrel. I was a misfit among misfits and I didn't care. I don't have any regrets about TWI. It was, for me at the time, the best thing out there. The escalation of the "requirements" under LCM, and the various shrill rants on tape and in written correspondence made it increasingly difficult to justify staying in, so we left. We hooked up with a splinter for a while then left that. We did our own thing in home fellowship, but found it too was lacking in terms of what we could do for the kids, and it was emotionally draining due to the constant rehashing of all the "wrongs" committed by TWI and the splinter, so we joined our kids at the local church.
Once I was able to move beyond the belief that "like-mindedness" and absolute truth was imperative, it was easy to assimilate into larger body and back into society.
Good for you going back to college, Kit! I am going back, too(50+)--but i figure I'll be working for many years so why not improve my employment opportunities.
I would not have met my husband if not for him being sent wow to my small Montana hometown for six months and then to my Montana college town for another six months. I can't imagine how else we would have ever met.
I do wonder how life would have been different if we had left in the late 80s like most of our Way friends. Instead we stayed and ran a tiny twig in a small town...and went through the nineties in a large midwestern city with many LCM wannabees. I'm still trying to see the value of those years, because they all seem like a stupid waste...other than the learning.
Of course there's no way to know how things really would have turned out, but during the rough times (when I was fed up with any and all aspects of my life), I used to tell myself it would have all been much better if only I hadn't gotten into twi. I've told myself that I would have discovered some fabulous artistic talent of mine lurking just below the surface...I would have been thinner and witty and would have been swept off my feet by Jam es Tay1or or Jack$on Bro wne or some other successful singer-songwriter...I would have had perfect children who never made mistakes...
Meanwhile, back in real life...before I got in twi I was hungry for change...looking for meaning and purpose to my life, looking for a way to get closer to God, looking for true love, looking for my life's dream.
I was fed up with my church and the hypocracy I saw there.
I didn't have a burning desire to have an education or career (plus I couldn't have afforded to finish college on my own).
I was lonely and drifting.
I was ripe for the picking.
I had good and bad things happen as a direct result of being in twi. Only God knows where my life would have gone without it...it might have been better, but it could have been much worse...
You know, after we left twi in the late 80's we struggled on so many levels for quite a few years, but I've been amazed in the past few years at the restoration in our lives...sorta Job-like, in a way.
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Bramble
Knitting? Cake decorating? Water Ballet? What is your new obsession, Exxie?
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WhiteDove
With 17,911 posts You need to ask?????
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GrouchoMarxJr
Yeah Jim, I am. I've carved out a life for myself that includes quality relationships, a peaceful cabin in the woods, my dogs and a job that I enjoy and pays the bills...I am thankful for all that I have and all that I am...
...and in the meantime, I will continue to warn people about the dangers of getting involved with a cult called twi...
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Tzaia
Probably not using the word "available".
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Jim Wood
LMAO Tzaia!
Remember one time before I took the class back somewhere abouts '75. Some follower I knew took me to this way home for a dinner, on the way there I stopped and got a six pack of beer. After dinner we were sitting around and this guy says to me, "Hey, are those beers available?". I say, "what do you mean?".
Even though I knew what the word "available" meant, I just never heard it in that context before!
Or the word "manifestation", nice word and one I use often.
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Jim Wood
GrouchoMarxJr,
Sounds darn nice, what else could you ask for?
Haven't run into a wafer in I don't know how many years, but you never know when and where, but I will warn them if it happens.
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Tzaia
From the movie "Downfall"
The film begins with a clip from a video interview with the real-life Traudl Junge (Hitler's personal secretary), who wonders why she decided to work for Adolf Hitler and states her anger at her younger self for not realizing what kind of a monster she was dealing with.
Young = inexperienced
Older = deluded or delusions of grandeur
Now = Learn from it.
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Seth R.
Hi Jim,
Good question, I would have stayed an Atheist instead of being guilt tripped into thinking I started my Mother on a spiritual journey to find God. I wouldn't have become involved with people of questionable motives and erroneous dogmatic ideas about the origins and purpose of life. I would have had much more solid sanity in my life and been much less spooky for 15 years or so of it.
I wouldn't know anything about mind control and high demand abusive groups or be able to identify one and the type of people in them. I wouldn't be able to help my friends who are being approached by cults now, by providing sane and logical information about why the group recruiting them is high demand and abusive.
I wouldn't have the company of you wonderful people who are all at various stages of emotional growth, some growing away from the cult mind set others wallowing in it and still others promoting it.
So for better or worse I wouldn't change a thing, accept to have the guts to kick some ballz before I left.
Seth
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lindyhopper
I probably would have ended up as a very wealthy, man on mystery, with multiple families around the world. I would have spent my teen years as a pro skateboarder, experimenting with drugs and sex as I traveled the world signing autographs and racking up frequent flier miles. In my twenties I would have still skated but the multiple broken bones over the years would inhibit me from doing so professionally. Instead, my money and connections would have allowed me to pursue my other interests... in a semi-successful indie rock band... started my own chain of restaurants, infusing different tastes from cultures of the globe... the occasional cameo in obscure films... finished my education at Yale... and at my low point, sponsored a late night infomercial for the latest greatest piece of exercise equipment.
Later in life my polygamy would be realized and I would be publicly humiliated. I would then loose my fortune in court and blacklisted among all my former colleagues except Hollywood. After turning away many movie offers I wold write a little known book of memoirs and died cold and alone in a mountain cabin somewhere in the Wind River Range.
But you know, that's just guessing off the top of my head.
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Jim Wood
Hey, don't give up your dreams just because a little time has been passed, there's always tomorrow! LOL!
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Kit Sober
"coulda woulda shoulda pal" is constant irritant and poses a great temptation to agree wholeheartedly with Geo, but I wouldn't trade husband I wouldn't have otherwise or the son born in twi for the world on a silver platter.
I'm 60+ going back to college. I am so glad I don't have Alzheimer's -- I hope. Some may question that last sentence.
Overall I am just so glad I got out. That's for sure. That was a miracle of love and grace :)
that's magnificent :)Link to comment
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Tzaia
Good for you for going back to college. I'm wrapping up 3 of the best years so far this decade having done the same thing (a bit younger, tho).
I met my husband in TWI. I'm extremely grateful for that and the 2 children we had. I'm also grateful that I didn't buy into the whole thing lock, stock, and barrel. I was a misfit among misfits and I didn't care. I don't have any regrets about TWI. It was, for me at the time, the best thing out there. The escalation of the "requirements" under LCM, and the various shrill rants on tape and in written correspondence made it increasingly difficult to justify staying in, so we left. We hooked up with a splinter for a while then left that. We did our own thing in home fellowship, but found it too was lacking in terms of what we could do for the kids, and it was emotionally draining due to the constant rehashing of all the "wrongs" committed by TWI and the splinter, so we joined our kids at the local church.
Once I was able to move beyond the belief that "like-mindedness" and absolute truth was imperative, it was easy to assimilate into larger body and back into society.
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Bramble
Good for you going back to college, Kit! I am going back, too(50+)--but i figure I'll be working for many years so why not improve my employment opportunities.
I would not have met my husband if not for him being sent wow to my small Montana hometown for six months and then to my Montana college town for another six months. I can't imagine how else we would have ever met.
I do wonder how life would have been different if we had left in the late 80s like most of our Way friends. Instead we stayed and ran a tiny twig in a small town...and went through the nineties in a large midwestern city with many LCM wannabees. I'm still trying to see the value of those years, because they all seem like a stupid waste...other than the learning.
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tonto
Of course there's no way to know how things really would have turned out, but during the rough times (when I was fed up with any and all aspects of my life), I used to tell myself it would have all been much better if only I hadn't gotten into twi. I've told myself that I would have discovered some fabulous artistic talent of mine lurking just below the surface...I would have been thinner and witty and would have been swept off my feet by Jam es Tay1or or Jack$on Bro wne or some other successful singer-songwriter...I would have had perfect children who never made mistakes...
Meanwhile, back in real life...before I got in twi I was hungry for change...looking for meaning and purpose to my life, looking for a way to get closer to God, looking for true love, looking for my life's dream.
I was fed up with my church and the hypocracy I saw there.
I didn't have a burning desire to have an education or career (plus I couldn't have afforded to finish college on my own).
I was lonely and drifting.
I was ripe for the picking.
I had good and bad things happen as a direct result of being in twi. Only God knows where my life would have gone without it...it might have been better, but it could have been much worse...
You know, after we left twi in the late 80's we struggled on so many levels for quite a few years, but I've been amazed in the past few years at the restoration in our lives...sorta Job-like, in a way.
Enough r-a-m-b-l-i-n for now.
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