Recovery from Mormonism

[_Buffalo]

I am free at last!!

No one is ever totally free. Freedom is just an allusion of a state of being that just doesn't exist. We can never escape from cultural socialization rooted in former beliefs.

By the way, what exactly is there to recover from when someone no longer believes in an organization or religion? I would think that freedom is instant in that case.

You were never a Mormon. You wouldn't understand.

[_Buffalo]

I suppose that this can be said for the stock market too. There are many people in recovery after losing some money. But I think that disappointment is a better term than recovery which signals some aspect of the pyschological.

However, if I lost my testimony in the LDS church, I would say that I would experience no recovery. Lost of tesimony should be a freedom starter for sure and there would be no recovery necessary.

In Mormonism, people come and go all the time, and most that leave do not have recovery in their vocabulary.

Since you were never a Mormon, you don't understand how Mormonism encroaches on every area of your life while you are in it. For real Mormons, losing faith is like becoming an expatriate. The experience is similar to cult deprogramming, too.

[Guest]

Great comments all. Thanks for participating.

Are you still on the records?

I've been an unbeliever for about 15 years as well, but I didn't feel "free at last" until I had my name taken off the records about a year ago. It was amazing how final and relieving that felt. And it put an end to the annoying phone calls and visits from the ward.

Yes, I am still on the records. Personally I would like my name off the rolls, but it isn't a big deal for me. All my neighbors are LDS and treat me with respect. If I didn't live in Utah with LDS neighbors I would definitely cut the ties formally. I think I like being part of the group officially and having my name removed might alienate me from my community. At least that is my perception, right or wrong.


Why me wrote:

No one is ever totally free. Freedom is just an allusion of a state of being that just doesn't exist. We can never escape from cultural socialization rooted in former beliefs.

By the way, what exactly is there to recover from when someone no longer believes in an organization or religion? I would think that freedom is instant in that case.

My "recovery" from Mormonism, at least in shedding certain beliefs and religious concepts learned from my LDS upbringing is a life long evolution, and I expect it to continue. I don't feel guilt for the stupid stuff anymore (and that is most everything) and that is a big deal for me. I do not expect to ever fully divorce myself from LDS beliefs. I like who I am and I am appreciative of everything Mormonism provided me experientially.

My "recovery" isn't about shedding the structural Mormon DNA still within, but in letting go of the anger and preoccupation with my being right, and the LDS church being wrong. I no longer see it on those binary terms. I am no longer angry at the church structure, doctrines or beliefs. I am no longer in judgement of Joseph Smith, his motives and whether he was "right" or "wrong".

I am at peace now, and that feels damn good.

[_RayAgostini]

My "recovery" from Mormonism, at least in shedding certain beliefs and religious concepts learned from my LDS upbringing is a life long evolution, and I expect it to continue. I don't feel guilt for the stupid stuff anymore (and that is most everything) and that is a big deal for me. I do not expect to ever fully divorce myself from LDS beliefs. I like who I am and I am appreciative of everything Mormonism provided me experientially.

My "recovery" isn't about shedding the structural Mormon DNA still within, but in letting go of the anger and preoccupation with my being right, and the LDS church being wrong. I no longer see it on those binary terms. I am no longer angry at the church structure, doctrines or beliefs. I am no longer in judgement of Joseph Smith, his motives and whether he was "right" or "wrong".

I am at peace now, and that feels damn good.

To that I can say a hearty Amen. Our journey has been very similar.

[_stemelbow]

Congrats to you tchild.

I don't know what it would take for me to find peace if I left. But its good to see and try and understand theperspective of others who are in a different place than me.

I wish you well.

[_daheshism]

If a person ever was a TBM (True Believing Mormon), then to discover the Truth about Mormonism is QUITE devastating!!!! It is like discovering you are adopted, your parents never loved you, your father was a murderer and your mother a whore, and that EVERYTHING you once believed and held sacred is a ___LIE____!!!

And yes, you need to "RECOVER" from the devastation, and that usually takes many years, sometimes decades. The more "committed" you were to Mormonism (the belief system...not the social/cultural system), the more DEVASTATED and DEPRESSED you are, and the longer it takes you to recover.

Certainly, there are hundreds of thousands of "Mormons" in Utah who go to Church every Sunday, but they are NOT "TBMs". They are converted to the "culture" of Mormonism, but not the belief-system. For them, leaving the culture is not that painful. But, for TBMs.......to discover the TRUTH About Mormonism, is quite, quite DEVASTATING!!!

I was a TBM, and I went through DECADES of massive depression, because I discovered the TRUTH about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, Mormon leaders, Mormon women, Mormon bishops, etc. The dominoes fell one by one over about a decade. Even AFTER I left Mormonism, I was still in a state of depression and devastation.

Now, I am FREE AT LAST. Its a process:

*Denial (deny the things Anti-MOrmons write are true)

*Anger (discover Joseph Smith was a fraud, Mormon leaders lie, Mormon women are NOT the sinless and discerning beings you were told they were but they were for the most part very and selfish immoral ****suckers of the worst kind, Mormon bishops are self-righteous and UNinspired and UNdiscerning clowns and baffoons, the Book of Abraham is a fraud, the Kinderhook Plates are a fraud, the Nephites never existed, etc., and get ANGRY that you have been FOOLED for so long)

*Depression (realize you've been fooled, duped, and its all a lie, and get DEPRESSED.....ALL IS DARKNESS!!!!)

*Acceptance (finally ACCEPT that you were fooled, but that's ok because you are no longer a DUPE, and go on with your life......you feel GREAT!!!!)

[_DrW]

If a person ever was a TBM (True Believing Mormon), then to discover the Truth about Mormonism is QUITE devastating!!!! It is like discovering you are adopted, your parents never loved you, your father was a murderer and your mother a whore, and that EVERYTHING you once believed and held sacred is a ___LIE____!!!

Never thought about it in these terms, but you do have a point. It is sort of like that.

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

I suppose that this can be said for the stock market too. There are many people in recovery after losing some money. But I think that disappointment is a better term than recovery which signals some aspect of the pyschological.

However, if I lost my testimony in the LDS church, I would say that I would experience no recovery. Lost of tesimony should be a freedom starter for sure and there would be no recovery necessary.

In Mormonism, people come and go all the time, and most that leave do not have recovery in their vocabulary.

Since you were never a Mormon, you don't understand how Mormonism encroaches on every area of your life while you are in it. For real Mormons, losing faith is like becoming an expatriate. The experience is similar to cult deprogramming, too.

What Beastie said.

And what Buffalo said.

Why me is spectacularly unreflective. And he never really was a Mormon, he simply feels a strange (and strong) compulsion to defend it because he once chose it. No wonder he has such an affinity with the witnesses. Some folks just can't ever admit they were wrong.

[_msnobody]

Please don't group every person who has never been LDS into a group who "doesn't understand because they have never been Mormon." Some who have never been LDS do understand and understand very well.

[_ludwigm]

Please don't group every person who has never been LDS into a group who "doesn't understand because they have never been Mormon." Some who have never been LDS do understand and understand very well.

I am one of that type.
I know the scriptures better than most of the members of the ward of my wife. They have the Holy Ghost instead. Anyway, they can find their car keys.