In Reply to: Cognitive Dissonance, a definition (take 2) posted by Anna on November 17, 2004 at 23:29:35:
Not all sold out members necessarily accept everything and fringe members don't necessarily recognize and accept what is happening. I was not a fringe member. I joined because I believed in the message. I was totally sold out and became a hard liner. But I also conserved my humanity and didn't allow the harsh disciplinarian rules coming down the toilet make me skip mercy.
Take note that for most of the Berg's directives he also wrote or had written contradictions. His letters were full of contradictions that he would then use to advance whatever interest of the day he was pursuing. I had the advantage to know those letters and could also pull up that trick. That is what got me out of so many hot spots.
But I kept my eyes open, and even as sold out I was until a couple of days before I left, I was also aware that the whole dream had gone to pot. I never felt as a victim because I had my eyes open and for that same reason I take part of the responsibility that befalls on me. By the same token, I realized that part of my behavior was a result of peer pressure and indoctrination. But those two are sides of the same coin.
As a hardliner I was willing to overlook certain things that I didn't see being enforced but when I saw leadership forgetting God's mercy and many of the other Christian tennets, like sending PGs out all night long until they got a quota, I protested. And I used MO quotes and Bible verses for that.
I said below that our perspectives have something to say in how we resolve our issues but also our own personalities and specially our environment. Our environment has changed over the years for all of us, there fore we have also changed. Thank God.
I appreciate your insight on this becauseit made me realize that there is no one resolution that we can all share. I think that it is important in the long run and for society that we end up having something that will make us better persons but in the end it is more important to make peace with ourselves - and God, if we still believe in One.