Wanderer

Anything Spiritual ain't for sale...anything for sale ain't Spiritual. Just sayin'.

The only reason I got involved at all was a woman! I met her while she was working in a Radio Shack store, & I was in there to buy parts. I heard her talking about God to the customer at the counter while I shopped, and somehow I was attracted to her. We met later, and we went to Twig, I took PFAL, an we fell in love. Three years later...I'd had enough and left the area. That was 1982, and we're still in touch a few times a year, and...Wait for it...She is still in a splinter group! Glad I left, but there is still a place for her in my heart.

In Syracuse NY, (early 80s) Steve Zolezzi had some leadership ability, but the rest of those clowns...brick is a bit too kind. In Albuquerque NM, (Mid 80s) those people had some serious issues. I'd paint them as just plain mean, once I saw their true colors,I had little to do with them. Wanderer

A roll of toilet paper? Oh wait... that's not alive!

I can forgive the man, but that does not require me to forget the facts. There is still a spector in many of the splinters "Teaching" and using many of the same control techniques. It must end.

VP was a sexual predator, who should have spent time behind bars. He took a position of authority and used it to satisfy his carnal wants. A sick, sick man, and I'm sad to have had anything to do with him or his ministry.

Excellent comment T-bone! As I left TWI, I went back to school, where I was forced to think on my own, and as it was a technical disipline, also to troubleshoot...to examine a system (Actually any system) and determine the faulty part. Applying these skills to the TWI machine was just short of frightening. So many broken parts. where to start?

I took the advanced class...against my better judgement, as I was quickly distancing myself from TWI at that time. I remember one leader thinking he, "Caught me" faking. In front of a class of maybe 20 folks, he had me SIT w/interpretation, again and again and again, maybe five times in a row before God told him it was me genuine! I WAS MAKING IT UP, due to peer pressure. I love to talk, I could have gone on and on if he wanted, but that wouldn't make it any more or any less genuine. I agree the post above comparing it to hypnosis, or meditation. Although I've attended churches that encourage meditation (Unity, and "Science of Mind"), people have confided to me that they fake meditation too!

They have you "Put it in the lock box"

In the old Greasespot, or perhaps Waydale, there were threads with estimates of the shrinking cult, but whats the population these days?

I think peoples attempt at unconditional love is what attracted me to TWI. Looking back it was the rank & file believers, not the leadership that exhibited this. Some leadership seemed to practice a sly tricky version that seemed kinda' underhanded & slimy. I honor those who really tried.

I remember my first private reproof session. As the LC was just warming up, I was thinking "What the F$%k is this?" Of course, I'd been in the military and yelled at by real professionals, for things even less significant, so I was easily able to maintain my composure and my identity of self. I'm sure he thought he really gave it to me good, but it was just water off a ducks back. That was the first time I heard the term "Greasespot", it also marked the day I KNEW TWI was a farse. In the end he complimented me for being "Meek", but if he'd been talking to God at all, he would have known I was planning my exit strategy right then and there.

How about a showing with audience participation like "Rocky Horror Picture Show", we could all yell "A$$hole" every time LCM shows his face?

Foot_On_A_Rock, I think the reason I recall those days is that they paralelled the time with my first serious relationship. It was the time of spititual awakening within me...It was a tender time and unfortunately wrapped up in the malestrom that TWI is. I share my heart on line to attempt to help myself and others, not to nitpick anothers journey through life. I wish for nothing but happiness in where ever you choose to fellowship, but for myself TWI is not the way. Don't think for a minute that my life has been hollow, wounded, or devoid of spiritual experience. Quite the reverse. I've had a very fine life, raised a nice family, and had the opportunity to live in some very fine places. I have seen God move, and place his hand upon my life, I believe I am often "In the right place at the right time", to help Him help us. If my life passed away this very day, I would say I had a full satisfying life.

Foot_on_a_rock, actually I wanted badly to really believe, but there were too many inconsistancies, too much fluff and not enough substance for me to take it, "Hook, line & sinker". I tried, I really did, but when I questioned teachings, nicely, with scolarly work , and was rebuked, I realised they knew it was wrong and chose to keep the wrong teaching. At first I was welcomed, & encouraged, used as a positive example. Once I questioned I was cast aside and whispered about. It was then I first heard the term "Greasespot". With TWI you are either "On the bus or "Off the bus", there is little room for thoughtful people, and eventually that is made clear.

"I shoot an arrow into the air...and where it goes I do not care!" A silly rhyme we used to use as young children, yet that seems to be what happened here! My involvement with TWI, was as a young 21 year old man. I saw serious error in their teaching, questioned it with inteligence, and scolarship as I thought I was tought, and awakened an angry giant. I peeked unfer the covers and saw early on just how rigid TWI could be. It took another year, but I got out. My original post, was intended to show the power of error...the strength of wrong teaching. My mind knows that TWI took a gem and worked it to their own design, not to empower me. Their path was to have me empower them. I guess I just miss the company of seekers. There was a core of folks who were truly searching for spiritual meaning in their lives, and to this day I look for signs of that in those I meet. I have been fortuanate to find this for fleeting moments in the oddest circumstances. I have sometimes found this comfort in the Native American sweat lodge ceremony, Sufi dancing, or sitting around a fire with a group of strangers, on a long backpacking trip. God sets the stage, I just wander in, do my time and wander off. Perhaps some day I'll find my place, perhaps the journey is the place. It's funny I started posting years ago on Waydale, as "Bif", a name my old TWI friends might recognise. I come and go here too, and have watched and partaken in its evolution. Lowly Lolypoppy, Excath, Kitsober, I remember you guys from a long while back. I guess it's comforting to see folks shake it loose and get on with their lives. I know my journey has been most interesting and enlightening, and NEVER would have happened if I'd stayed in TWI. I know it's your choice, FOOT_ON_A_ROCK, but knowing what I know now I could never go back.

Yup...that's one of those wise sounding teachings that goes flat once you apply a little thought. If that was true, there would be no new inventions, no creativity. What a boring world this would be!

If they are the Illuminati..I think we're all pretty safe. Fat chance of them ruling the world, they couldn't even handle me!

T-Bone that looks so delicious! Stop teasing me, I'm a contractor on a very small island in the Marshall Islands...nothing like that to be had for thousands of miles. I think I'll print that pic, hang it on my wall and daydream! Next time I hit the mainland LOOKOUT! I'm gonna be a caffinated wreck.

All of my TWI time was spent with a rather wonderful woman, named Kathy. She had, and still does have a tremendous faith in God, and she is always willing to share it with others...almost to a fault. She somehow met a guy who had an injury which left him a quadropelegic (Sp?) anyway his name was David and we spent quite a bit of time together. One time I'll never forget he looked at me and said, "I like hanging out with you, because when I'm with you I forget that I'm injured...I feel whole." I damn near drove off the road, isn't that what it's all about? Connecting with others, to a point that they forget their pain, if only for a moment? Another time he looked me in the eye and said "This injury is the best thing that ever happened to me, before I got hurt, I was a real ....". That is just sobering, and has stayed with me for a good 25 years.

It's been a long time. I was in in 1979 and out, by '83. There were no serious incidents, yet my time there occasionally pops up...little beliefs linger. I think the real problem with me is that there were a lot of half truths. Things that they taught that work, followed by a whopper that was outrageously pure BS. That shouldn't outweigh the truth, but it warps it in some strange way. Sorry, I'm never "Blessed", but I'm often thankful of the hand of God in my life. I don't think I get revelation, however I see divine inspiration often in my life. It's not a simply terminology thing...what happens to me seems almost natural, not forced as in the TWI days, yet there is a nagging doubt. "Did I abandon God and his household?" The fruit in my life would indicate otherwise, yet the doubt remains. These days I'm accepting of almost anyone, and many are lost. I do my best to connect with the confounded and place them on a suitable path, one that seems to point to their indended destination. Kind of a very gentle undersheparding...without the pretense, without the greencard, no judgement. There are times when I don't even understand my oun path, yet I trudge on, over the next hill, grateful for the next sunrise.

I was in from 79-82...probably one of the better times. I really liked the folks involved, (Which is why I hang out here), but I always had issues with some of the odd teachingsand the strong insistance that it was correct. I quickly found out that keeping these thoughts to myself was best, but dep doun I wondered if everyone felt this way, but feared yelling "The king has no clothing!" In all honesty...I'm a bit flabbergasted at the number of true believers. I kinda' figured I was pretty regular.

Dulos- Someone who will do absolutely anything to keep his/her nose firmly planted in the a$$ of leadership.

Why I joined? Because the truth would set me free! Why I stayed? My first serious relationship was with another believer. Why I quit? Because the truth set me free! I was in from 79-81, before it got really bad, but I could feel the control setting in. I also sensed that they just wanted me to go along with the program, not question what was taught. In their minds a "devils advocate" is posessed.

Almose every, "Secret" I've been shown is not a secret at all. That's the secret!