Speaking the Truth Even Though It Hurts: mini-Stockholm Syndrome with John and Ellie

 


What went on at the Lake Worth Quaker Center for me was not as bad a Stockholm Syndrome. Let us be clear that neither John or Ellie are abusers and the Lake Worth Quaker Center is not (quite) a cult: sure they stroke each other's ego and let things slide. But there is no evil or destructive intent behind their unskillful actions. They just dont have an accountability buddy since my ousting.

But let's get back to the topic of this post.

I became emotionally connected to Ellie during the Women's World Cup 2023. She was grateful that I showed her a way to watch a 5-minute highlight reel instead of 90 minutes of the whole game. And we had some good discussions about the games as she would walk into meeting.

So when I pointed out the attempt to let programmed worship creep into our unprogrammed meeting without group consent. IT HURT. And it hurt in realtime. She was right there in the room when I started outing her behavior. It did not feel good. But I did it anyway.

I would say I was really liking John Palozzi too. We had tons of valuable experiences together. At a non-verbal level, there was a bit of a spiritual disconnect. John pretty much is only focused on transcendant spirituality such as ACIM and I'm fairly certain he has no sexual practices or drive. Compare that with me who is just the opposite. Actually there was less pain at the time of the conflict with John and it is more afterwards. 

I would say I was forming good friends there, naturally and organically.

But I guess we can conclude that "friend" means fairweather friend.


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