I work for a fortune 500 company and I was wondering to myself yesterday what it would be like to be on the board and be making real decisions and being "in on it". You know, in on the secret workings, knowing what's really been going on and what direction the company is heading in.
And that made me think about school. Don't most people want to be in the "in" crowd and be on the teams and in the student councils and make the important decisions and feel like they "get it?"
And then I thought about the world in general. There are very few people (if any) who actually have their fingers on the pulse of what's going on. Most people delude themselves into thinking that consuming media propaganda somehow equals understanding, but that's just silly.
But they do it because they want to feel like they're "in on it", like they have some clue as to what's going on and that their decisions actually matter.
But in reality the world is a big, complicated, mysterious place. Even moreso is the universe.
Which brings us to kolobianism. Maybe the reason kolobians ignore DNA evidence, obvious frauds like the book of abraham, logical conclusions about the plan of salvation, and the general cultiness of it all is because they are so fucking high on the illusion that they get it.
They really believe that they (the .002% of the world) are in on the big secret, and that no matter how mysterious and scary the world is they can just pat themselves on the back for knowing that all that stuff is just babylonian politics that doesn't matter because jesus is coming soon and boy will those people be sorry they attended the book of mormon musical.
These people are high. They are stoned off their asses. And not in a good way.
Mormons as the "in crowd'! Now I'm awake--and I haven't even had my coffee.
I love what you say. I know so many people that think because they read something that it is automatically true. That is so ridiculous, especially now-a-days, with the press kissing ass like nobody's business.
And for Mormons, just change "reading" to "listening to the prophet" and you have the same thing.
Most of us here were Mormons once, believing to some degree or another. I can remember thinking how cool it was that I knew it all, when all these other people (the other 99.98%) didn't have a clue. I felt special.
I like the way you articulated it, but I'm not sure I fell into that trap. I certainly know people who gave me that impression; it wasn't so much an arrogance, as an idea that they knew something the other people didn't.
When I finally broke from mormonism, I realized (and still realize on a daily basis) that I had to accept that I was now on the other side of a gulf (Lehi's dream style) from so many of my friends, family, and the ideas that had been programmed into my brain for years.
I was (and am) naked and alone, when I knew I could jump back in with that group and be clothed and comforted by the numbers around me.
I won't say it takes courage, but it certainly takes energy.
The only difference in my life is now my arrogance makes me lonely, before my arrogance made me part of the crowd.
I agree that the euphoria of getting it is a big reason that many don't really explore their beliefs. Others don't explore because of the fear that they might be wrong.
because I had been born into a Mormon family. They also told me that I was going to get some really big super special inside information in the super exclusive clubhouse they called the temple. I waited for years to be old enough and worthy enough to go to the temple.
I went and they showed me some dorky handshakes, some scary Tom Sawyer-esque bloody oaths of secrecy and had me play with my underwear, along with a green apron, a sash, a floppy hat and an all-white Mr. Rourke outfit from Fantasy Island.
That's when I knew I wasn't an insider and I wasn't on the inside track to anything. I was just being played for a fool.
I wasn't one of those. I definitely came from a whole different viewpoint of mormonism. I wanted safety and security. I thought they offered it. I can't relate to this because I've never lived my life that way.
My daughter is now TBM and my feelings are not "now I'm the one who knows"--I very much fear for what mormonism will do to her, just like it did to me. It scares the hell out of me.
I lived mrmonism because I thought I had to--I never felt "special"--
The take charge types like to think they are in the know and running things. In reality they don't know much. They just think they do.
The ones who are not in charge are happy thinking someone is in charge. They happily refer to their all knowing leaders who have the answers. They don't question or notice that the ones in charge are actually clueless.
When it comes to the universe and what life is about, everyone is clueless. There are only a very few who admit it. :-)
When I ask my family if they really think they are that special, (Saturday's Warriors and all), part of that 0.002%, they say "yes."
JW's have the same "we have the truth and everybody else is wrong" attitude.
It's all childhood playground antics -- being in the cool group. So, they live the delusion, and ignore the facts because they don't want to be ordinary.