Jailhouse Mystics

[Spiderman]

I've noticed myself and many other inmates get all spiritual or Jesuseey in jail.

Then they get out and lose the mysticism and faith they had aquired behind bars.

Ever had this experience in jail?

I just can't explain the enormous amount of faith I had in the 11 months i spent locked up about 3 years ago.

Some of it was clearly delusion, but faith nonetheless.

I thought I'd get out and be a prophet, a healer, and miracle-worker, but now I remember Marlin Brando "I could have been a contender, now I'm just a bum".

(I've been to jail more than 15 times and as long as I'm sober don't have to worry about it.)

But damn do i miss that childlike faith that a person can have in jail.

I also miss how jail is like a communist utopia.

Nobody owns anything, everyone wears the same jumpsuit, everyone is equal, no one has a car, no one has a hot babe, no one has possessions or anything to envy but a little extra food from the vending machine because some kind soul put money on their books.

Everything belongs to the community, nobody owns anything, and officers in uniforms control the masses with pepper spray, handcuffs, and taser guns. It's total communism!

Maximilian Kolbe died in a Nazi concentration camp. He volunteered gladly to take another inmates death sentence, and blissfully went to the starvation bunker, singing to God and the virgin Mary the whole time, as he became skin and bones.

Eventually the guards entered his cell with a syringe of lethal carbolic acid, and he happily extended his arm, ready to meet his maker. (At least that was the testimony of guards and inmate witnesses.)

How could someone be happy in a Nazi death camp, or volunteer to take the place of an inmate sentenced to the starvation bunker?

I'm not entirely sure, but have experienced stolkholm syndrome, and know what it's like to find a greater joy behind bars, that I didn't have in real life.

I'm not sure what all the reasons are for this blissful zen-like experience, but have seen it in other inmates.

I guess when you hit rock bottom and become powerless, your hope shifts to faith in God or some sort of supernatural entities, because it's harder to find hope or joy in anything else.

Also, a person can truly be somebody in jail, and then in the real world, feel like nobody.

Whatever the reasons, jailhouse Mysticism is a thing that i kinda miss!

Any thoughts as to why people can find greater faith, peace, and joy behind bars than the outs?

 

[oldbadger]

I
Whatever the reasons, jailhouse Mysticism is a thing that i kinda miss!

I really enjoyed reading your OP. All of it. Every word counted.

I've not been in a prison but as a child I was sent to a very tough boarding school where I found that religion helped me, somehow, day by day.

Religion was a friend to me, and if I am ever imprisoned it might return to help me again. One reason which I figured out years later, was that when I was attending services that was the safest time of any day. I could relax a little.

And the strangest conditions have remained with me from those days... the senior boys always took all the milk for their cereals and tea and we juniors would have less that a desert spoonful for everything, and today 60 odd years on, I prefer to eat cereal with a tiny amount of milk and drink almost black tea.

When youngsters we slaved for older boys, the title is a banned word here, and since then I have never minded carrying out the most basic jobs, and never felt that anything was beneath me.

Now you try and keep clear of prisons, but by all means remember everything that kept you going through those times.

 

[Jumi]

I wouldn't call them mystics. Unless they have reached the level of experience that's indicative of being a mystic, it's still just religious activity. The more idle and restricted they are, the more religious they get in jails and other institutions like that. It's something to keep the mind busy. It would be interesting to see how things turn out in the Oslo jail in Norway where they can play guitar and things like that.

 

[Earthling]

I think the people in jail are lost souls who have that spiritual inclination on the outside, but it is buried in hassles of everyday life. I've been to jail three times, and to me it was like a vacation. I wasn't any more spiritually inclined than on the outside, but I had plenty of time to study. The jail I was in, though, was a small county jail where pretty much everyone knew everyone else and most people were in there for drinking and driving or petty drug charges. There was very little violence, no raping and murdering. The last time I was in jail for 4 1/2 months and it was the best time of my life. I was in a small cell block with a bunch of interesting people and we had a blast. I never laughed so much in my life.

I also had the time to study and take notes on a comparison of 5 different Bible translations.

 

[Spiderman]

I wouldn't call them mystics. Unless they have reached the level of experience that's indicative of being a mystic, it's still just religious activity. The more idle and restricted they are, the more religious they get in jails and other institutions like that. It's something to keep the mind busy. It would be interesting to see how things turn out in the Oslo jail in Norway where they can play guitar and things like that.

mys·tic
ˈmistik/
noun

1. 1.
   a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or who believes in the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect.

By the definition, I was a mystic and it appears others were as well!

 

[Deidre]

I’d venture a guess because there’s not much else to do so for some, it leads them to religion. Islam is the fastest growing religion among US inmates. But that religion tends to stick moreso than other religions, I’ve read.

I think that faith can only go so far. A person has to want to change and if he/she gets out of prison and returns to the same bad surroundings then chances are, they will end up back in jail. God won’t force Himself on people.

 

[Spiderman]

I’d venture a guess because there’s not much else to do so for some, it leads them to religion. Islam is the fastest growing religion among US inmates. But that religion tends to stick moreso than other religions, I’ve read.

I think that faith can only go so far. A person has to want to change and if he/she gets out of prison and returns to the same bad surroundings then chances are, they will end up back in jail. God won’t force Himself on people.

I've been sober since February 14, have an AA sponsor, go to meetings, and plan to sober the rest of my life.

This will undoubtedly keep me out of jail, cos I don't break laws when sober.

But people around me try to sell me drugs.

I have to avoid communication with drug users for sure and avoid social settings that make me want to drink or use.

 

[Spiderman]

I really enjoyed reading your OP. All of it. Every word counted.

I really appreciate it whenever someone gets something positive from a post of mine.

Glad the seeds i try planting don't only grow weeds or fall on bad soil!

I got a lot from what you said as well.

May the Heavens bless you, thoughtful soul!

 

[Spiderman]

I Islam is the fastest growing religion among US inmates. .

I've been to jail and prison.

That's a Religion i tried to practice in prison with a Qur'an that had Arabic next to the English.

Honestly, it was the Arabic writing that drew me to Islam at the time, rather than what it said in English, silly as that sounds lol

The second time I read the Koran was in jail, and it filled me with darkness, and some disgusting calls to violence, torture, and mutilation of non-muslims.

The first time I read it, i was a sociopath, with no compassion for others, which explains why I had no objection to it!

My experience in jail and prison, is that Islam wasn't spreading, and Christianity was.

I was more a Shaman praying to many spirits, but inmates would hold Bible studies and preach to other inmates. This wasn't seen with Muslims.

The Muslims were usually Samolian immigrants, or foreigners who didn't speak good English, so I never saw a Muslim evangelize anyone.

But I listened to the Muslims that shared their faith with me, and of course, I asked the tough questions that make veins bulge.

I was threatened with a broken jaw for saying true statements about Islam, but no violence for it.

I found many Muslims to be truly likeable people, but I object to any calls to violence, hate, torture, mutilation, or inhumane treatment of others in the book they cherish.

You can always love the person while despising some of what they adhere to.

 

[Spiderman]

That said, sociopathic tendancies, narrow-mindedness, violence, ignorance, and bigotry runs rampant in jails and prisons, so it would not surprise me if Islam is the fastest growing Religion in such places on average.

There is a lot of "it's them against us", "we're the good guys, they are the bad guys, my gang against your gang" mentality, and that mentality, bullying, and violence is promoted or glorified repeatedly in the Qur'an.

So, that, combined with a hatred for western authority figures, a need to bully people who disagree, and a rebellious attitude, could easily make jails and prisons the perfect place to recruit Islamic extremists.

 

[Jumi]

By the definition, I was a mystic and it appears others were as well!

I would disagree. It could be would-be mystics. But have you experienced unity or nothingness, God?

 

[Spiderman]

I would disagree. It could be would-be mystics. But have you experienced unity or nothingness, God?

It didn't last...but certainly felt like it at times.

 

[Jumi]

It didn't last...but certainly felt like it at times.

Perhaps I'm being a bit strict, being a mystic myself, but I wouldn't call anyone a mystic if they haven't stepped in the river and have been "baptised" by it. It's quite lasting and makes external display and faith rather pointless, imo.