I came across this phenomenon on a YouTube channel that I have as a suggested resource for ex-Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) [in the footer of this blog], and then expanded my research on the topic on various sites on the Internet.
The video was done by Gordon Smith-Duran a few years ago and it may help as an introduction to this topic.
When we were all JWs, we were strictly banned from engaging in any sort of hypnosis techniques and were banned from watching any type of hypnosis session whether it was something performed on a talk show on television or as a game in a nightclub setting, and obviously were further prohibited from performing any sort of self-hypnosis or meditation and yoga on our own. Why is that do you think? The JWs say it has origins in the occult, that you will let some sort of genuine demonic being enter your body and you will be haunted and driven insane. Okay, stop and think why the JW leadership would put these types of fears into its membership, especially since birth. I have clear memories of being terrified of demons, I suffered from night terrors, and nightmares of the time of the end that is talked about ad nauseam at their public meetings and in their literature.
So why fear hypnosis? Why fear meditation and introspection unless you are chanting some verse about Jehovah God or staring at a paragraph out of Watch Tower literature and meditating on the words or in passages of their own Bible translation? Because you will see how easily the human mind is influenced and you will start repeating rhetoric in your day to day life that was placed there by a third-party. They are no longer your own true thoughts or beliefs. If the Watch Tower corporation allows you to engage in hypnosis sessions with a therapist, you will be influenced in a positive direction, an independent direction away from the mind-numbing influences of the Watch Tower corporation. Now I say this with the intention that therapists are well-meaning persons, having your best interests at heart and want you to become an independent self-reliant individual and deal with whatever problems that are holding you back from that goal of achieving your life's purpose.
Watch Tower will tell you that your life's purpose is to serve only them and to have a job to pay your own expenses, yet give a monthly stipend to your local congregation, plus an amount that goes straight to Watch Tower headquarters to keep their "worldwide" work going of amassing real estate and employing unpaid labor to do their bidding. Yes, their permanent residents at their headquarters in New York and other locations around the world at Branch Offices, they do get a monthly stipend, but it is only to cover immediate expenses. When you either decide to leave on your own or are no longer of use and evicted, then you are at ground zero in your life and have to figure out how to support yourself, maybe a spouse, and most just move back home with their parents since they have no other options. We are talking about grown adults moving back home with mom and dad, one man I knew personally was evicted from the Watch Tower headquarters in New York since they were eliminating his job [as well as others] and consolidating. This man was about 35 years old at the time and had zero college since he went straight to work at "Bethel" as the JWs call it, the headquarters in New York, and only worked for them. He was unprepared for the real world and just lives with his mom trying to figure out what to do with his live inside those walls of the Watch Tower.
So what is waking hypnosis? It's what happens at every meeting of the JWs. They lead you down a path. For example:
Speaker: I remember when I was a boy, I used to play outside and my mother never worried about me. Our neighborhood was safe. Television had fun cartoons and good movies were available that supported a strong family unit. Nowadays, you see how everything has changed, even in your own life, right?
Audience nods their heads in agreement. The room is silent save for the humming of the sound equipment, glaring overhead fluorescent lights make you blink a bit more often than usual.
Speaker: Now think about what you see on television news reports. Violence in your own neighborhood. You could never go out as a child now and play on your own, you may be kidnapped, you may suffer being hit by a drunk driver, violence is now a part of our regular life and it frightens us.
Audience nods their heads in agreement.
The speaker eventually leads you to a path that only the JWs can save you from this dilemma. Our world is so violent, we are in danger every day of our lives. We start to feel anxious and confused. The speaker offers you the solution of the Watch Tower as the only way out. Read, study, and speak only of Jehovah God, read only the JW literature, be fearful of reading any other material that may lead you away from the JWs beliefs.
The speaker will then throw in the fear of Satan the Devil. Oh, he is out to get you personally. Do not open yourself up to any type of therapy, instruction, or counseling outside of the JW literature or talking with your Elders in your congregation. You are slowly becoming aware of waking hypnosis.
In contrast, in most cases you've got to agree with your boss if he/she is a domineering person and one-sided and you've got to hang onto your job. So your boss would say, "ordering updated computers is a really bad idea, RIGHT??" And you would say, right! I agree. That is not waking hypnosis. You are making a conscience decision to agree with your boss since you are in survival mode to keep your job.
Waking hypnosis is when you are led down a path, you hear a long story you can relate to, then the speaker convinces you they have the only one solution. Don't go thinking on your own or searching for answers for yourself, no, stick with Watch Tower, that is your only path to salvation.
Now obviously, if you identify as a Christian, you may need to switch up your thinking that the Bible is the path to your salvation, not any group or organization. Research many different Bible versions and start discovering what is right for yourself in this life. If you are non-Christian, then the JWs are not an issue with you, since you would be rejecting all organizations that use the Bible in their teachings.
Waking hypnosis is what the JWs practice on each other when they learn their new language and jargon. When you are studying with someone to become a JW, you immediately start picking up on their terms, "worldly people", "out in the world", "fear the demons, they want you to turn away from Jehovah", all fear tactics and the JWs start to implant thoughts in your head that never existed and you would not entertain on your own.
Start thinking about your true self. Why were you put on this earth? What do you personally like to do? Becoming introspective is not a bad thing. It will start to clear the fog inside of your brain put there by years of indoctrination as a JW. Fear is a huge factor you have to deal with. Are you afraid of meditating on anything not coming from the Watch Tower corporation? Why? How about listening to calm music and lay down or sit still for 15 minutes and think about what you are afraid of. Who put those fears inside of you?
When JWs start to wake up from their self-hypnotic state, it can be frightening. Like, waking up a child who is sleep walking and you startle them and they run and hide. Why do you think so many ex-JWs on YouTube are posting videos of their protesting against the JWs? It's a break in their programming and we all react differently when we are waking up to our hypnotic state of mind, a state we have been living in for many years.
I am not against any active protesting of the JWs at their conventions or Kingdom Halls since the persons doing the protesting have little control over how they will react to the waking up process. Some prefer to just walk away from the JWs, and that is perfectly fine, you never have to do anything. Don't think you have to jump in front of a YouTube camera and start pouring out your heart to strangers online, trying to get their approval for leaving the Watch Tower corporation.
You need to heal yourself first, and then take small steps to clear your mind of the thoughts and impressions placed there by the Watch Tower leadership. Again, I have suggested books and websites on this blog site to get you started. I do not suggest you access any sites that specifically target the Watch Tower corporation or obsess over their monthly podcasts. That will not clear your mind of the JWs mindset or beliefs. It will keep you trapped and stagnate. You want to move away from the Watch Tower corporation and seek out ways to improve your own situation right now, and plan a good solid foundation for a future away from all the programming that was placed inside of you by the Watch Tower corporation.
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