Woodsy Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 As a former Roman Catholic/fundamentalist xian, I tended to be in, what I now believe, a fantasy world. Praying to "saints" and imaginary deities, "standing on the Word" and praying scriptures, and reading all kinds of religious books,have rooted me in an imaginary, fantasy world. My mind goes back and forth from reality to projecting unreality in my imagination. This is causing me great anxiety lately and I'm trying my best to deal with it. I always remind everyone of my age...ugh...66, so that you can see where I am coming from. Has anyone else had these issues or can give this old girl some advice on how to cope. Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 How long ago did you quit believing in Christianity? It can take the mind a while to change its working model of reality. You believed the world had miraculous events controlled by saints and god and so you constructed a model of reality to support this view. It is very difficult to change your mind's model of reality after it has been well established for years. Could you maybe give an example of the imaginary "unreality" you are experiencing? Presence of god feeling? Thinking that supernatural events are happening around you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsy Posted December 18, 2014 Author Share Posted December 18, 2014 How long ago did you quit believing in Christianity? It can take the mind a while to change its working model of reality. You believed the world had miraculous events controlled by saints and god and so you constructed a model of reality to support this view. It is very difficult to change your mind's model of reality after it has been well established for years. Could you maybe give an example of the imaginary "unreality" you are experiencing? Presence of god feeling? Thinking that supernatural events are happening around you? Hi, Lucy. It will be 2 years this spring since I left christianity. And it has been very difficult to change my way of thinking. I have no problem with leaving my religion. I know it's all a lie and have dealt with that. I've gone through all the stages of deconversion. It just seems that there's something residual that keeps hanging on. Maybe I'll never be free of all that was once my very life. I guess my imaginary "unreality" is just like a never-ending story of wanting that happy ending. (I have read way too many books with happy endings). I know now that I just want to live in my reality and have some peace. I have no feeling of the presence of god. Nor of anything supernatural happening. Hell, I didn't have that when I was a christian. Thanks for responding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsy Posted December 18, 2014 Author Share Posted December 18, 2014 I have a saying, reality is normality not succumbing to delusion's. Once you have delusions you no longer function normally. You will feel more normal the more you resist the religious delusions you have been effected by. I guess I just have to keep resisting those old delusions. It's just hard sometimes. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Woodsy - I'm not at all sure what you are saying. Is it that you keep imagining a Christianity-compatible reality, or have you something else in mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsy Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 Woodsy - I'm not at all sure what you are saying. Is it that you keep imagining a Christianity-compatible reality, or have you something else in mind? I was having one of those bad days. I guess I didn't explain myself too well. Here goes: I've come to realize how much of a fantasy world Christianity was for me growing up. I find myself occasionally living in a fantasy world of my own making. Seems like I may never shake all that brain washing. Was just wondering if anyone else has had to deal with that. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Woodsy - I'm not at all sure what you are saying. Is it that you keep imagining a Christianity-compatible reality, or have you something else in mind? I was having one of those bad days. I guess I didn't explain myself too well. Here goes: I've come to realize how much of a fantasy world Christianity was for me growing up. I find myself occasionally living in a fantasy world of my own making. Seems like I may never shake all that brain washing. Was just wondering if anyone else has had to deal with that. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I makes perfect sense - or at least, does so if I understand your meaning correctly. I thought we all did it... My "mental environment" is full of daydreams that have no relationship to day to day life. It's never bothered me. Mind, they're not Christian related either. To my mind, as long as I can differentiate between this material reality and what goes on in my head, it's not an issue - just a matter of "enjoy the dreams". If the nature of your fantasies disturb you - try manipulating them into something more acceptable. Mind, that process may require playing them out at first. I would counsel against trying to choke them off altogether - your imagination is a part of you as much as your logical mind, and is unlikely to take kindly to being repressed. Or am I still barking up the wrong proverbial tree? Apologies if I've misunderstood... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey101 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Woodsy - I'm not at all sure what you are saying. Is it that you keep imagining a Christianity-compatible reality, or have you something else in mind? I was having one of those bad days. I guess I didn't explain myself too well. Here goes: I've come to realize how much of a fantasy world Christianity was for me growing up. I find myself occasionally living in a fantasy world of my own making. Seems like I may never shake all that brain washing. Was just wondering if anyone else has had to deal with that. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. It's difficult because the beliefs are so ingrained into our minds imo. It takes time to learn to trust ourselves because we've been dependent on others for how to think for so long. We doubt ourselves, and think maybe 'they' are right. But we have to remain true to our hearts, and we will because we can't do otherwise once we've started down the path of listening to ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsy Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Woodsy - I'm not at all sure what you are saying. Is it that you keep imagining a Christianity-compatible reality, or have you something else in mind? I was having one of those bad days. I guess I didn't explain myself too well. Here goes: I've come to realize how much of a fantasy world Christianity was for me growing up. I find myself occasionally living in a fantasy world of my own making. Seems like I may never shake all that brain washing. Was just wondering if anyone else has had to deal with that. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I makes perfect sense - or at least, does so if I understand your meaning correctly. I thought we all did it... My "mental environment" is full of daydreams that have no relationship to day to day life. It's never bothered me. Mind, they're not Christian related either. To my mind, as long as I can differentiate between this material reality and what goes on in my head, it's not an issue - just a matter of "enjoy the dreams". If the nature of your fantasies disturb you - try manipulating them into something more acceptable. Mind, that process may require playing them out at first. I would counsel against trying to choke them off altogether - your imagination is a part of you as much as your logical mind, and is unlikely to take kindly to being repressed. Or am I still barking up the wrong proverbial tree? Apologies if I've misunderstood... I think you got the right tree, Ellinas, I just fell out of it....on my head! Sorry for the poor joke. I think I'm just prone to alot of anxiety lately and tend to mentally project future scenarios in my head. Let's call it a day on this one. Thanks for your help, it makes sense what you have said here. And I appreciate your responses and concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 No problem - hope you can get this sorted out in your own mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 The bible should start with the words....a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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