Posted by:
Pariah
(
)
Date: December 26, 2016 05:14PM
The "feelings" in the temple are pretty accurately mirrored in any Mormon sacrament meeting. Go to one of those, but imagine silence, and no babies crying. The smell is the same in all Mormon buildings. Stay there for 3 hours, being bored.
During the movie, the audience is frequently asked to untie their aprons and take off their robes and switch the robe from one shoulder to the other, and retie the robe and apron, etc. At one point, the women--only the women must cover their faces. The "veil" material is thicker than a real veil, and more like a dishtowel. It is hard to breathe, and women often feel faint or ill. I got intestinal flu-like symptoms, and had to leave the ritual twice. The matrons were very angry at me, when I got out of my seat. I asked if I could sit in the back by the aisle, so I could get to the bathroom, and they got mad and said "NO". We had to sit in the order in which we filed in there. They make sure every newbie has a temple worker or an assigned companion sitting next to them. I know I would have bolted, if my mother hadn't been sitting on one side of me, and my sister-in-law on the other side.
The men and the women are separated the whole time! The women sit together on one side of the room, and the men on the other side.
There is a lot of rustling around and shuffling, with each change of clothing. There's also the sound of snoring! Yes! You will recognize the dialog of the narrator, from the King James Old Testament. I had the Bible practically memorized, and I was very disappointed to hear all of the same words, word-for- word. Plagiarism.
I was promised I would learn something new in the temple--but it was the same old, same old.
The officiators and matrons are crabby. They frown at you. I've been to many different temples, in different countries, and they are all the same. I have never spent more than 30 seconds in any celestial room. The first time, I sat down with my mother, and we wanted to talk, and the second our bottoms touch the shiny white Liberace-type couch, a matron literally RAN over to us and told us that there was no time for us to sit down, and that a new group was coming through. We stood outside the celestial room for quite a while, and no group ever came through!
The atmosphere stinks of B.O. and the cafeteria. The feeling is of being rushed, of being nameless. It is depressing to vow everything you have to a cult. It is also very, very, very creepy. The people are unhappy, and snarky. The temple is more "institutional" than a hotel. It's more like a hospital waiting room with chandeliers and stiff, shiny white upholstery--is it tightly-woven polyester?
The temple is not relaxing. It can be boring to wait for everyone to single-file through the veil. Another nice touch is that the person whispering to you at the veil usually has bad breath.
Oh--NO TALKING! We were afraid to even whisper.
Question: Could Canary 21 go to a Free Mason ceremony? Are they open to everyone, or are those exclusive and secret, like the Mormon ceremony?
My friend played the piano for the Masonic temple ceremonies (was paid), and she converted to Mormonism, with her husband. After a year, they were allowed to go through the Mormon temple. She told me that it was identical to the Masonic ceremony, and she and her husband both quit Mormonism.