Scientology

[JustOneFix]

Figured this might make for a good topic considering we have the Mormon thread, and both are cults.

The whole idea of your body being inhabited by the spirits of dead aliens is laughable, but this is what Scientologists believe.

A ''religion'' cooked up by a Sci-Fi writer- L. Ron Hubbard in order to seperate you from your cash.

$cientology logo on one of  their buildings- which was actually derived/stolen from an Alestair Crowley Tarot Card deck....


The core principle of $cientology- auditing. This is the E-meter used during auditing. The more auditing you pay for the more you go on "The Bridge to Total Freedom" What a crock of shit.

[BobGrau]

I predict a sharp rise in lurkers, for some reason.

Hi Tom! 

[Avi]

Can anyone really upstage South Park? Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet...I'm gonna get my gun, ooo-wooo...So, sue us! Yeah, sue us!

[JustOneFix]

I predict a sharp rise in lurkers, for some reason.

Hi Tom! 

If some of the lurkers are Scienos and not OT3 yet, let's work them up a bit. This should make them downstat for reading this and lurking amongst SP's (Suppressive Persons= anyone who is not a Scientologist and does not share positive views of same.)

Welcome to the Golden Age of Xenu!

[Bounder]

The double-triangle sigil is perhaps not what critics mean when they accuse L. Ron Hubbard of stealing imagery from Aleister Crowley.  More likely they mean Scientology's eight-pointed cross,



every point of which symbolizes the "Eight Dynamics" of existence:

http://learn.scientology.org/wis4_12.htm

Which are, on inspection, some of the less controversial notions within the religion.

Aleister's "rosy cross" is itself borrowed wholesale from the Rosicrucian Order, where it has diverse meanings and imputed significance.  His rather beautiful version looked like this:



Regarding the first symbol you invoked: the interlocked triangles represent two of Scientology's most important concepts: ARC and KRC.  "Affinity, Reality, Communication," and "Knowledge, Responsibility, Control."  The first is a formula for improved social happiness -- raising affinity, reality, or communication with another will lead (it is hoped by Scientology) to better understanding.  KRC is a formula for competence in any subject or endeavor.  By "knowledge" is meant true, complete and conceptual understanding.  Mastering knowledge increases responsibility which in turn enables finer control.

Most of Scientology is like this: tools for a better life.  It's only at the higher "spiritual" levels that the Space Opera creation myths take on greater importance.

The "e-meter" only measures resistance in an electrical flow.  Its use is based on the theory that mind, separate from brain, has an electromagnetic mass.  Thoughts cause resistance that can be read on the dial.  The content of the thought cannot be displayed -- only its type.  One can imagine the usefulness of this in a religion which places cardinal importance on the force of memory and the mind's influence -- conscious and especially unconscious -- on daily life. 

Such understanding, too, makes obvious the thinking behind Scientology's revulsion toward mainstream psychiatry.  Pretenses aside, a religion cannot acknowledge an alternative path.

Thus, the history of "civilization."

[BobGrau]

I'm all for the freaky Flash Gordon shit, it's just the 'using psychological parlour tricks to exploit the vulnerable' bit I'm not too fond of.

[Eddie Coyle]

   I'm more of a Process Church of the Final Judgement guy..."call me crazy,call me a pervert" as Floyd Gondoli once said.

[Bounder]

I'm for veracity.  Regretfully much out there, about Scientology, is bloviated fiction.

[onan]

I have never understood the disdain for psychiatry from those that follow xenu. No one seems to be upset if a liver, kidney, lung, or other organ has some dysfunction. But once the brain doesn't function properly it must be something otherworldly rather than a much more pragmatic cause. As for the mind/brain argument, I look at it like this, without one you really don't have the other. Which is more important is like asking whether breathing in or breathing out is more important.

As to the religious part of the church of lrh, I find it no more irrational than I do the other religions. Are there some tenets that suggest we all get along? sure. All religions play on the weak minded. And they also for whatever reason bring peace of mind, comfort, and happiness to many. If someone feels better with an e-meter, I suppose it isn't much different than a rosary.

[Avi]

I have never understood the disdain for psychiatry from those that follow xenu.

Funny, but I just read a book that deals with these subjects (scientology and psychiatry) in depth. It's Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry. Well worth your time for amusement value alone.

[Bounder]

Scientology has a word for those not yet freed by Scientology techniques: "preclears."  An early, desired state is called Clear. 

The reason Scientology excoriates psychiatry is because Scientology doctrine makes anyone who has taken psychiatric medication an, "illegal preclear," ineligible for Scientological services.  In this way psychiatry represents a direct threat against Scientology's survival and "expansion," as it is called within the church. 

I can recall one promotional poster that read,

"We want to make one thing perfectly clear.  Earth."

[JustOneFix]

Scientology has a word for those not yet freed by Scientology techniques: "preclears."  An early, desired state is called Clear. 

The reason Scientology excoriates psychiatry is because Scientology doctrine makes anyone who has taken psychiatric medication an, "illegal preclear," ineligible for Scientological services.  In this way psychiatry represents a direct threat against Scientology's survival and "expansion," as it is called within the church. 

I can recall one promotional poster that read,

"We want to make one thing perfectly clear.  Earth."

I think it was L. Con Hubbard in one of his many letters that stated Psychiatrists were "PTS" (Potential Trouble Source).

What I find interesting is in the case of Lisa McPherson they administered both Valium and Chloral Hydrate which are Psych drugs during the course of McPherson's "Introspection Rundown". A bit of hypocrisy?

[Bounder]

PTS and "PTSness" is a subject unto itself.  There's a course devoted to it and SPs:



A simplified definition from Ex-Scientology Kids:

PTS: "Someone who is connected to a Suppressive Person (SP). According to Scientology a PTS will often be sick (in fact, they believe that PTSness is the only reason anyone gets sick), have emotional ups and downs, and not be able to get very far in life."

A Suppressive Person is one who suppresses or attempts to suppress the activities of others, especially creative or self-improvement activities.  Example: a person decides they want to go to college.  "You're too old for that," is the type of remark expected from an SP.  The traits that define a true SP are the same as what the non-Scientology calls an "evil person."  That being the case, it is not surprising that the founder regarded psychiatrists -- the historic "nemesis" of Scientology according to its own mythology -- as PTS.

[JustOneFix]

Good info!  I live near a large contingent of Scientologists & can usually find Scientology course materials in local thrift stores, my last find being some OT4 materials.

My next goal is to find an E-Meter in a thrift store, preferably a Mark VII..... haha.

What amazes me is how empty Sea Org members look compared to public Scienos. Is it from being in the RPF or living on a diet of rice & beans, or.....?

[BobGrau]

Funny, but I just read a book that deals with these subjects (scientology and psychiatry) in depth. It's Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry. Well worth your time for amusement value alone.

this is an excellent book.

while I'm on the subject, L Ron's Mission Earth series is hugely entertaining and thought-provoking. I'm not much of a fan of the man and his legacy, but he knew how to spin a good yarn.

[Bounder]

It's a tragedy, isn't it? 

There was good work at the beginning of Dianetics and Scientology.  In keeping the dream alive, weirdness overwhelmed it.

I even remember enjoying his book Battlefield Earth, before the movie got made.

The Sea Org members are severely overworked and underpaid -- which is perhaps why they seem a little hollowed out. 

This is a superb book on life within the S.O. -- and it ends on an uplifting note:

http://counterfeitdreams.blogspot.com/

[Frys Girl]

There must be something amazing about this religion. It was enough to break up both J.Lo's marriage and Nicole Kidman's. I have a feeling it's just a tax shelter or something.

[JustOneFix]

Bounder,
Thanks for the link to the Counterfeit Dreams book, I will have to pick that up. For the record I'm not a Scientologist, but have studied them over the years due to the fact that I'm surrounded by them & their "Flag Land Base".

Williams S. Burroughs of Naked Lunch fame, was one of the people to reach "Clear" early on. He did not stick with Scientology, but he said that some of the things Scientology taught him did help him to a certain extent as far as thought processes etc.

I'll go as far to say not all Scientology is bad, and I do think some of the 'tech' could be good in certain situations, but it's the greedy money hungry attitude coupled with the whole spirits of dead aliens inhabiting us that I find not up to par.

But items such as the Purification & Introspection Rundowns are dangerous IMO.