I have long seen the LDS church as a echo chamber that exists within a bubble. What goes on inside the bubble is very important to the people who exist within it but not to the people who exist outside of it. I guess if you were going to sum up why I left the bubble was I never felt comfortable inside of it. It’s just another echo chamber in a world full of echo chambers and bubbles. I prefer to exist outside of all of them.

It's a cult. A big cult, but it's still a cult. Calling it a church doesn't make it so.

I like your analogy, Rubicon. This is a good way to put the cult into perspective.

It's based on lies and mental delusion. It's not real.

Yet, how is it possible that the cult damage is real? I have loved ones who are lost to me, who are buried deep in the echo chamber, and who haven't seen or spoken to me in years. Is the "damage" from that only in my reality, and not in their bubble-reality? They don't give a damn about me.

Can I make the pain go away, by going on living a good life outside the bubble? I would have to just let go of all of it, the memories, the lost loves, lost self-esteem, the wasted sacrifices for nothing, right?

You illustrate how far out of reach these former loved ones are.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2020 03:02PM by forestpal.

You just have to embrace the suck and move on. Fortunately there are great new people to meet outside of the bubble. Some who have experienced what you have.

Hello...hello...hello...hello..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKkLV1zE8M0

Five years later Elder Cunningham left the church and started a microbrewery.

The Church can be an echo chamber fueled by peer pressure. Nobody has a testimony of anything and everything that happens in an LDS ward. But nobody dares discuss "doubts."

A ward I attended it was tradition for the elder's quorum president to be the final speaker concluding every quorum lesson. He was expected to testify to whatever was taught. I said I wouldn't be doing that if I were called as quorum president. Kept me free of that calling.