Thursday, January 17, 2013

Escaping the lies

The reason people believe the second lie seems obvious. It allows them to seek what they want. It is also what makes escaping the second lie so hard.

As for the first lie, there are several variations. "God can't love me because I was abused" is often the theme that afflicts some people who have been sexually assaulted and who blame themselves for someone else's act of violence. The same is true of people who blame themselves for mental illness issues that they have no control over or who feel that some other status renders them to be someone who God can not love.

The second group of people to believe the first lie are those who basically are denying the power of repentance. The "God can love you, but he will never love me because of my abortion" meme is a well established one. The call to believe in God's love and the power of repentance is the most common answer that seems to work for escaping that lie.

The third group of people to believe the first lie are a combination of those two groups, such as alcoholics. There is a large volume of literature in twelve step programs basically dealing with the fact that a power higher than yourself can help you even if you have been afflicted by an addition and even if you have done some terrible things while under its influence.

The entire "you did not cause it, you can't control it, it is not your fault and God can help you like he helped me" approach of twelve step programs seems to be the answer for the third group (obviously) as well as the first group.

As for the second lie, I'm not sure of a good way to help people escape from it. Maybe someone can give me suggestions in the comments?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What lies?

Sarebear said...

With my mania, I do end up in, as my psychiatrist says, an altered mental state. The very filters one needs to manage one's behavior and/or to realize that your behavior or urges are not what you would choose, are the very filters that can and do get turned off, by mania.

Sometimes I have a sense that something's off, but I can't put my finger on it because the filter that "Hey, ranting and raving in a store, somewhat loudly, isn't anything I'd ever choose cause hell my anxiety disorders have me NE?VER wanting to draw excess attention to myself", is one of the very filter(s) that is missing.

I would never have chosen to behave that way. I did NOt choose it. However, I always take responsibility for myself, WHEN I return to a state of mind where I can do so.

I leave that latter part out when talking to my bishop, though. I don't want to give the impression I'm trying to dodge responsibility (even though I DID say that mania was a large factor, because it was; I don't want to do those things when I'm not manic. That particular truth is one of the only things that helps me live with myself.)

Mania-influenced or caused behavior, that puts one squarely in the crosshairs of the Church disciplinary process . . . . is a tangled mess.

I did, after being diagnosed bipolar, wrestle with some notions that I had an illness that could quite likely make me much more prone to sin than if I didn't have it. Could actually cause things. I had a really, really hard time with that, although for much of the issue I came to a conclusion It's still never settled, though.

Above I talk about the removal of filters; there is also generally a strong push, of undesirable (if expressed w/no filters) moods, behaviors, wants, needs (feels like needs but when in regular state of mind again, definitely is NOT). These combined with the removal of filters (sometimes it's lesser degrees of camoflauged or weakened filters, that I have to hunt for, work much harder at holding on to all whilst having the strong, manic pushes . ..

Sorting out this stuff, makes these lies you talk about, alot less clearcut, at least from my point of view.

Sarebear said...

With my mania, I do end up in, as my psychiatrist says, an altered mental state. The very filters one needs to manage one's behavior and/or to realize that your behavior or urges are not what you would choose, are the very filters that can and do get turned off, by mania.

Sometimes I have a sense that something's off, but I can't put my finger on it because the filter that "Hey, ranting and raving in a store, somewhat loudly, isn't anything I'd ever choose cause hell my anxiety disorders have me NE?VER wanting to draw excess attention to myself", is one of the very filter(s) that is missing.

I would never have chosen to behave that way. I did NOt choose it. However, I always take responsibility for myself, WHEN I return to a state of mind where I can do so.

I leave that latter part out when talking to my bishop, though. I don't want to give the impression I'm trying to dodge responsibility (even though I DID say that mania was a large factor, because it was; I don't want to do those things when I'm not manic. That particular truth is one of the only things that helps me live with myself.)

Mania-influenced or caused behavior, that puts one squarely in the crosshairs of the Church disciplinary process . . . . is a tangled mess.

I did, after being diagnosed bipolar, wrestle with some notions that I had an illness that could quite likely make me much more prone to sin than if I didn't have it. Could actually cause things. I had a really, really hard time with that, although for much of the issue I came to a conclusion It's still never settled, though.

Above I talk about the removal of filters; there is also generally a strong push, of undesirable (if expressed w/no filters) moods, behaviors, wants, needs (feels like needs but when in regular state of mind again, definitely is NOT). These combined with the removal of filters (sometimes it's lesser degrees of camoflauged or weakened filters, that I have to hunt for, work much harder at holding on to all whilst having the strong, manic pushes . ..

Sorting out this stuff, makes these lies you talk about, alot less clearcut, at least from my point of view.

Anonymous said...

What lies are you referring to?

Stephen said...

The lies discussed in:

http://ethesis.blogspot.com/2013/01/lies-that-separate-us-from-god.html