"laying on of hands"...what is it really?
Date: September 20, 2004 12:09AM
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Hello Jojo Laughing Willow,
Who was it? It was YOU - and the minister, and God.
I’m sorry to hear that you lost $20,000 to that ‘church’. I hope that eventually you will come to consider it a good, but painful investment in your spiritual education, even though at the time you ‘gave’ it to them you were in an altered state of consciousness (psychotic mania). You could try to sue them and get it back, but it might cost a lot in time and money to do that.
However, I’m glad that you now know what sleep deprivation can do to your mind. It took me years to understand the consequences of that disgusting (but traditional) technique for creating altered states of consciousness. I am still learning more about it.
About the ‘laying on of hands’ faith healing process, I believe that, A: It could really be a transfer of healing energy coming from God, throught the other person, combining with YOUR energy, or B: It was just what the other person SAID or DID (which was verbal or visual hypnosis/Neuro-linguistic-programming - NLP techniques) that can trigger an altered state of mind (and therefore body) in you, or C: It was ALL of the above.
However, I do believe that ‘God’ would be in a place like that, protecting you from the bozo (minister/healer) who may not know what he/she is doing, and the negative consequences (psychosis) they are helping to create with a person. After all, didn’t Jesus hang out with the ‘sinners’ frequently, not the allegedly ‘good’ people? He was hanging out with the people whose behavior needed ‘a change’, not the ones who already believed that they were ‘holier than thou’. I know that it didn’t SEEM like ‘God’ was there, but ‘God’ doesn’t protect us from all negative experiences all of the time (judging from the results so far here on Earth) If ‘God’ did protect us all of the time there would really be no negative experiences to protect us from! That would be a blissful but ‘boring’ experience, wouldn’t it? How would we ‘learn’ anything that way? We need some negativity for positivity to exist here on Earth.
You may not have perceived that ‘God’ was there, but I suspect that he/she/it was. Yes, you got one of the ‘how to become psychotic lessons’ there, but you seem pretty clear about what happened. Now you can spread the word and help people understand the ‘dangers’ of religious experiences like ‘faith healing’, sleep deprivation, fasting, etc. They ALL can create potentially dangerous psychological effects in people. This applies to ANY spiritual practices of any religious/spiritual belief system.
About the ‘you are going to hell’ tactic that people use on you, you can tell them that the word ‘hell’ is related to the word ‘helios’, meaning light, or the Sun, and that yes, you probably will ‘go to the Light’! (I looked that up again this morning.) You can tell them to study up on some Greek and Latin, or read the Bible in Hebrew and see what it really says. Or, buy them a ‘New World Dictionary of The American Language’ which will show them the real meanings of the words they use. You can tell them that you love them but that the ‘fear tactics’ just aren’t going to fly with you anymore. You know, your family, and everyone else really, just need to feel ‘safe’, and they want you to be safe. When you contradict their current beliefs you make them feel unsafe, so they will attack you in one way or another. Fear breeds anger. Anger breeds aggression. If you alleviate their feelings of fear, they won’t worry about you as much, or transfer their fears to you.
Always ‘question’ any authority figures in your life. They may have a lot of good qualities and behaviors, but they will also have some ‘funky’ beliefs too. They are all human, not divine. We must learn more DISCERNment when relating to others.
The point/lesson is to become more aware and protect yourself in the future, and ask for help from others, including ‘God’ when you really need it. That way you can be independent, and interdependent, and have healthier, clearer, more loving relationships with other people. This includes getting rid of the ‘good guy/bad guy’ dualistic concepts which create ‘judgment’. We all have our sins/destructive behaviors, and we have to apologize/make amends for them when we can. When we can’t make amends/apologize for our ‘bad’ behaviors without causing more damage, that’s when it’s time to ‘call God, or our Higher Power’ for back-up. He/she/it will be there, even if we are ‘unconscious’ mentally or physically to make the call.
As for me, I have been studying up for a while on the scriptures that were taken OUT of the Bible as we know it these days, by the guys at the Council of Nicea. Getting back to the basics of any scriptures (writings), and finding out what ‘the author-ities’ edited out of the teachings is very helpful. I started this studying ten years ago, after I became psychotic, with my Dictionary.
Peace chick! (Hand up showing the old hippie Peace Sign)
Sylvia