TheHighWay

Mr. Ham, That's pretty much the way I remember it, too...

I'm with you, Belle... I'd much rather be without one than be with the wrong one.

Puss and Boots?

Oh my gosh!!! Look at the age of those choir folks!!! Just confirms the lack of new blood pouring in... Yes, they have become my Grandma's church...

I think that's the point, though... Bob's kid isn't going around apologizing, he's strategizing on how to become the next MOG... kinda puts a different perspective on things for me.

So.... this guy is still a part of twi? or not? (either way, he is clearly trying to put something out there to refute all the anti-way stuff out there... kinda like David and Goliath, no?)

Congratulations!! I have several "fur-kids" myself. They drive me crazy sometimes but I'm sure I drive them crazy, too. I think you were smart to get two kittens at once... they will keep each other entertained, and hopefully won't hate each other later (like some of my critters who arrived years apart and loathe each other) THW

Dooj... hope you don't mind but you've inspired me: I don't know about this way-food I'm half-starved and so I eat I don't question frozen fruit soup I don't question Bennie's Wheat But there's one food I must question It just gives me so much pain I go running for the bathroom Cuz it's made from all raw grains Many things about Familia, I don't seem to understand... But I know that when I eat it I'll go running for the can! On Wednesday Nights we pack a sack lunch And it's always just the same Sesame Bars, Yogurts, Apples, And of course, our PBJ's But the best thing 'bout sack suppers Is the trading that ensues Out on the steps and down the sidewalk As we collect our favorite foods I don't know about this way-food I don't seem to understand But I know who trades for yogurt, And I know just where to stand.... (edited for typos)

Oh, Ham... that's the best!!!

There is a fountain outside the office building where I work. As a prank someone dumped in a bottle of soap. It looked pretty cool, like a big foamy bubble bath. But, the next day we all got a memo stating that such a prank was considered destruction of property since they had to take the fountain down and hose it all out to get the bubbles out of the system. They said they had re-directed some of the exterior cameras to pick up the fountain area and if it happened again the persons involved would lose their jobs. Maybe someone might have thought about such a prank at HQ before my time, but certainly not during the Martindale years!! Remember, this is the era where you couldn't even add "splash" into the happy birthday song (a reference to the old tradition of throwing the birthday person into the pond). The era where fun, sponteneity and silliness were not allowed !!

Oh my... that is so cool!! Glad you are reunited and your little feline is in okay shape! THW

A very happy birthday to you, Patriot!!!

Un-huh... by telling you not to go to college, not to use your time to become better at your earthly job... by telling you to send all your 'abundance' to HQ... by encouraging people to forsake long-range health concerns, health insurance, and basic health maintenance. (gawd, was I stupid!!!)

Well, I know this was addressed to Rascal but I'm going to jump in here with a response: Yes, it definately does. Yes, that's very true. But don't you ever need help getting where you want to go? Don't you ever need encouragement? I think you are incredibly fortunate to have a spouse who was right there with you through it all, who stayed like-minded with you when you left twi. A lot of folks don't have that... yet. Twi separated them from their wordly support systems (non-twi friends and family.) Don't you think this place is often a buffer between leaving twi and finding yourself in the real world? How many different threads have been started along the lines of: what now? how do I figure out what to do with myself now? The regulars didn't start those threads. Newbies started those threads. And if the regulars have already traveled down that path and can give suggestions or encouraging stories about what worked for them, isn't that helping people "go where they want to go"? This is a valid question. Would someone who felt they benefitted from their time in twi be able to be convinced by a website that it was really all a waste? That hasn't been my experience here. Folks who feel they benefitted from what they learned or experienced in twi usually leave or stay to defend that position. But let's think about it: what if someone happens across this site and reads a bit, just out of general curiousity. I can't help but think that if what they read here throws them to any degree it would either be because they believed what twi taught and that it was of benefit to their lives and they didn't know anything about all the junk, and are therefore hurt to find out that others were not so benefitted. Or, because they still have unresolved issues about twi. They may think they've moved on but then something hits that hot button and they react. Either way, is being shaken up a bad thing? It forces us to further evaluate what we already perceive, and to make a decision. That's growth. That's life. It can be very hard sometimes. But I don't think that makes it a bad thing. And I consider myself one of those who have successfully gone on in life after the way. I have a successful family life, work life, academic life, spiritual life... I am basically a happy person. But it took some time to get there. And the wonderful folks who post on these forums were a big part of how I got there. If they hadn't been here, I would have found another way. But I'm glad that I didn't have to... And I still like to come here and discuss things. Way things. Non-way things. Whatever. I like it here.

Just my two cents here, but this does not describe a healthy relationship. I am glad you are now trying to work it out, and seeing a counselor, and that you didn't have to leave feeling like you lied to your g/f. All I can say is, don't settle. Don't settle for less than you want or less than you need. Ultimately you will not be happy, and therefore she will not be happy either. Try very hard to look at her with new eyes and see clearly if she loves you and is willing to make a genuine effort to make things right between you. If she isn't, you cannot make up the difference. It definately takes two to make it all work.

Did it ever occur to you that this is why it elicited a negative response from some people. Some here are still quite hyper-sensative to anything coming at them in "the same old Way Brain fashion" they used to know. You could tell them God is Love in the wrong way and some here will find it upsetting. Your lack of concern for other peoples' feelings is what I mean when I say you like to stir the pot. Monsieur Bumpy... just what bs am I supposed to have been slinging here? You didn't know me then, and you certainly don't know me now. Your own personal anger and hatred for the way corps is well-known to anyone who reads these forums. You say you have nothing to get over but I think you betray yourself in how much you, yourself, lash out and point fingers. No you don't... that's just the point. You have made plenty of judgments about people here. But you don't "hear" the venom coming out of your own mouth, and when people question you or get angry back at you, you say you did nothing. You say, I only asked an innocent little question. That is classic manipulation, and a lot of us here have no tolerance for it. Well, this one statement explains so much!! Is that really what you consider important in life? Wow. Oooh... aren't you special? Don't you just make all the sacrifices, though? (Oh, the arrogance.) Did you hurt your hand patting yourself on the back, there, Bumps? I am not less than you, nor is anyone who posts on these boards! Perhaps I was wrong: you don't need to "get over it." Apparently what you really need to get over is yourself.

Bumpy just likes to stir things up. Whether it is because of differences in cultures, lack of empathy, or certain troll-like characteristics in his personality, we may never know. All you have to know is that he likes to ask controversial questions, and then sit back and let the stew bubble. ------------------------------------------- Bumpy... your question has been answered already, in a way. Those of us that were around for WayDale had a chance to "start over" with the closing of that website and the opening of this one. The site and the forums are just a blank template in the beginning. What we post here is what shapes the place. And GreaseSpot turned out almost exactly the same as WayDale. Those of us who are here like it here. The threads and posts here are a result of what we are thinking and feeling at the moment, and if we haven't "moved on" yet, if we are still healing and this place helps, then you can shut it down over and over again, and we will restart it over and over again. Those of us who have moved on or left in a huff, well, that is their choice. This isn't a cult. This isn't a mandate. This is our free choice. Get over it.

I was on campus in the college program when I got engaged. We asked one of the Rev's that visited the location on a regular basis if he would marry us. He agreed but we had to meet with him maybe four different times for counseling. First, he gave us a long questionniare to fill out (I probably do still have a copy but I'll have to dig through some files to find it). We each filled it out separately, then got together and discussed our answers. And then we discussed what we had discussed with him. On the surface, that sounds good. The thing covered everything... finances, kids, short-term goals, long-term goals, etc. However, since I knew what answers were expected of a good way-wife, that's how I answered. Because that was what I was aspiring toward. Nevermind that it didn't fit my personality very well, or that people change over time, or that my eventual spouse was completely fabricating his answers as well. Worst of all, we did bring up some subjects that were problems between us -- things that had us at each other's throats -- and our chosen Rev just passed it all off as typical stuff that all married couples have to work out. Gave us the ol' line of "any two believers can make it work if they put the word first" and we swallowed it hook-line-and-sinker. Looking back, the truth was we had completely different ways of approaching just about everything in life, and I believe a competant counselor would have picked up on that in short order and questioned whether we were a good match. It still amazes me how twi leadership so often broke up really good relationships and worked so hard to salvage the really bad ones!!??!!?? Competent to counsel... NOT.

Ditto, DogLover... There is a part of me that would love just one more 'confrontation' with certain people. They would find things quite different now!!

Has anyone ever spoken to this man about the Vicster, and why they split? I wonder what he thought/saw way back when...

And now that I think about it... hats off to Ed H0rn*y and H@yw@rd Ch@pp*ll... I cannot remember ever seeing them melt someone's face... I saw them get steamed about things, but never just go completely bizerk about it. That is an amazing thing to say (if my memory isn't faulty on this)... that they were leadership, corps coordinators, at HQ, under Craig, in the late 80's, (I left HQ in 1990) and didn't routinely act like big bully jerks. Can anyone verify this?

Agreed. I never saw anything so funny in my life as the expression on my local BC's face when he tried to face-melt me the very last time. He was a much bigger person than me so he came up into my personal space and leaned over into my face expecting me to look down or step back. But I had already made up my mind I was done with twi, so I just looked up at him calmly with a "are you done yet?" look on my face and said nothing. He was SO SHOCKED. His bullying tactics had always worked on me before!! But twi had lost its authority in my life, and therefore, he lost his control. It was glorious!!

Sorry, Hammie, but those 'twarnt nothing compared to his personal, in one person's face, face-meltings. Corps training under his reign gave me a few opportunities to watch several that happened spontaniously and receive one myself... I'm afraid I cannot give you many details here because it would make me immediately identifiable to the wrong people, but I'll just say it was an experience that stuck in my craw where I KNEW that Craig was WRONG. Flat out wrong. I had warped my brain around other situations to convince myself I had just "missed it" or "wasn't spiritual enough to see" or whatever, but on this one, unh-uh. He was dead wrong. Period. And that knowledge never did leave me. I stuck it way back in the dark recesses of my thinking for many, many years and tried hard to forget it but it never went away. I guess I shoulda thanked him for that. It was one of the things that helped me leave when I was finally ready.

Rascal, that is about the best summary of it I've ever heard. From now on that will always be in the back of my head when I ride. Thanks!!

I agree with Jim on this one... if they ever decided to downsize, I think they would sell Gunnison and downsize HQ. EOB, BRC, Founder's Home... They would find some way to convince the remaining followers that it was God's will to go back to their roots.