Kudos to you if you got the Achewood reference there.
Now this is a new experience for me, I'm not really into writing in a serious manner for an extended length. I sometimes write about serious topics for a short length. Take the #Tagurday article and some parts of Code Club for example. But, on the whole, I genuinely feel most comfortable punctuating things with stupid jokes and crude wordplay. Future editions of Leftfield will certainly make the crude wordplay point apparent, but the release of Going Clear piqued my interest and tempted me to try my hand at a serious piece.
Now this is a new experience for me, I'm not really into writing in a serious manner for an extended length. I sometimes write about serious topics for a short length. Take the #Tagurday article and some parts of Code Club for example. But, on the whole, I genuinely feel most comfortable punctuating things with stupid jokes and crude wordplay. Future editions of Leftfield will certainly make the crude wordplay point apparent, but the release of Going Clear piqued my interest and tempted me to try my hand at a serious piece.
What Scientology Says Its Beliefs Are
It would be very easy for me to just do a hatchet job and rip Scientology to pieces, like thousands before me have done far better than I ever could. While I am not and never will be a believer, I'm not going to set out to be aggressive towards Scientology in what I write here. My intention is purely one of discovery.
So, Scientologists: Are they really as bad as people make out and are there any positive stories out there from ex-scientologists? I don't want positives from the church; I know what they will say and it doesn't add anything of real objective value. I want to find out what people from both sides of the coin say. My opinion will be largely on show in relation to whatever I find out. Anyone bitching about that can quite frankly fuck off. So, before we get on with finding out about Scientoligists, let's have a quick run down of Scientology.
So, Scientologists: Are they really as bad as people make out and are there any positive stories out there from ex-scientologists? I don't want positives from the church; I know what they will say and it doesn't add anything of real objective value. I want to find out what people from both sides of the coin say. My opinion will be largely on show in relation to whatever I find out. Anyone bitching about that can quite frankly fuck off. So, before we get on with finding out about Scientoligists, let's have a quick run down of Scientology.
- Scientology, according to their website, means “knowing how to know”.
Now if you take that at face value, it's a pretty good mantra to live your life by. The only real criticism I can level at it is that it's a bit cryptic. So, that being said, what does it really mean? - Scientology , again according to their website, “...addresses the spirit—not the body or mind—and believes that Man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes.”
Here is where things fall apart a little to me. Everyone is a product of their environment and genes, the argument that psychologists continuously debate is nature vs nurture. I'm aware that Scientology classes itself as a religion, so there are obviously going to be spiritual elements in there, but the 'science' part of its name kind of tries to trick you into thinking it is based on fact, at least a little. If that wasn't enough of a trick to make you believe, then this is the absolutely the opposite of subtle. - "Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to accept anything on faith alone. On the contrary, one discovers for oneself that the principles of Scientology are true by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results.”
Red flag time. Anything that claims results and facts for “spiritual” things, has got on thing on their minds. Indoctrination.
Image Credit: telegraph.co.uk
That there is the basics of the Scientology belief system. It's based on learning, it's based on improving a persons life by way of healing their spirit and it's based on facts. But what are the basis of these facts? Where do they come from? Well, oddly enough, I have spent a lot of time trying to find these facts. Time that I could have spent doing something more worthwhile like grating my penis, because there is fucking zip by way of scientific evidence out there. What I did manage to find however was anecdotal evidence of how Scientologists convince new recruits to join their religion.
'Prove That It Works'
To congeal his mental model into a hard belief, Hubbard primes you to expect a feeling of 'release' after the bad incident has been 'erased'. Oddly enough, you may well feel fantastic after a two-hour session of repetitive badgering. At some point in the repetitive tedium of a Dianetics session, you'll more than likely get a tangible sense of euphoria, which is enough to prove that the method works. Some experience this as a full-on mental blow-out; their hair stands on end, they go bright red and they can feel euphoric for up to two days. I felt this incredible euphoria early on in Scientology, and I could surely pinpoint that moment as the point of no return for me. It's the event horizon of the cult. This was proof, and magnetic proof at that.
I believe this phenomenon to be hypnotic euphoria. It is possibly the same as the feeling of being 'born again' while listening to David Koresh for five hours, or the feeling of achieving enlightenment after the mind-numbingly repetitive 'intensive' meditation of the Rajneesh cult: doing nothing except asking yourself "Who am I?" for upwards of two days will probably have psychological effects! It appears to me that when your mind does odd things, odd things happen to it. Many cults or new age scam merchants exploit this mental property to prove their scam works. It´s even the 'bodhi' of the Buddhist.
I believe this phenomenon to be hypnotic euphoria. It is possibly the same as the feeling of being 'born again' while listening to David Koresh for five hours, or the feeling of achieving enlightenment after the mind-numbingly repetitive 'intensive' meditation of the Rajneesh cult: doing nothing except asking yourself "Who am I?" for upwards of two days will probably have psychological effects! It appears to me that when your mind does odd things, odd things happen to it. Many cults or new age scam merchants exploit this mental property to prove their scam works. It´s even the 'bodhi' of the Buddhist.
Image Credit: wikimedia.org
In reality, it seems to be just something the brain does. Interestingly, you can even reproduce this euphoria in some people by getting them to stare at a wall for two hours. Perhaps the brain craves stimulus and eventually blows out.
When you get blown out, your critical faculties take a back seat - after all, Hubbard is right to the tune of making you feel like you just freebased a whole gram! He said you'd get released and feel amazing, and now you do. The product has been delivered in no uncertain terms. Why disbelieve now? (Needless to say, it's more expensive than freebasing)”.
By this point, I'm finding it difficult to remain objective, I genuinely want to be open minded and not judgmental. Let's take the next step, finding out what ex-Scientologists have to say.
When you get blown out, your critical faculties take a back seat - after all, Hubbard is right to the tune of making you feel like you just freebased a whole gram! He said you'd get released and feel amazing, and now you do. The product has been delivered in no uncertain terms. Why disbelieve now? (Needless to say, it's more expensive than freebasing)”.
By this point, I'm finding it difficult to remain objective, I genuinely want to be open minded and not judgmental. Let's take the next step, finding out what ex-Scientologists have to say.
Positive Stories From Scientologists
My next step is to try and find positive stories from ex-Scientologists. I'm aware that if they are former members they're obviously not going to be on good terms, but my thinking is if I can find a story where they say “Yeah, they treated me well, but I just didn't feel it anymore so we left on good terms, kind of like breaking up with your first missus when you go to uni” or something similar, then it gives a good balance to the multitude of stories like this, this and this.
It took me a very long time, there is a lot of anti-Scientology stuff out there and very little positive stuff that doesn't come from the church themselves, but I did it. It's not all positive though; this guy Bernie is also a critic of the church.
In his words, he is against the cult like tendencies of the church, but also on the flip side, he is against the anti-cult groups who demonise the church. Now, this site is incredibly interesting to me. This is a man who left the church, has some negative things to say, but also has some positive things to say as well. His story is the interesting part; if you read his site it will go into more detail, but I will paraphrase slightly. He joined in 1975, decided in 1980 that it was a cult and he wanted to leave, they tried to persuade him to stay but he was adamant he wanted to leave, so off he went.
It took me a very long time, there is a lot of anti-Scientology stuff out there and very little positive stuff that doesn't come from the church themselves, but I did it. It's not all positive though; this guy Bernie is also a critic of the church.
In his words, he is against the cult like tendencies of the church, but also on the flip side, he is against the anti-cult groups who demonise the church. Now, this site is incredibly interesting to me. This is a man who left the church, has some negative things to say, but also has some positive things to say as well. His story is the interesting part; if you read his site it will go into more detail, but I will paraphrase slightly. He joined in 1975, decided in 1980 that it was a cult and he wanted to leave, they tried to persuade him to stay but he was adamant he wanted to leave, so off he went.
Image Credit: reelclub.wordpress.com
From reading his site there are a few things I would like to address. Now remember as I said, this is an opinion piece and what follows are opinions and questions. Anyway, for starters he left by 1980. While Scientologists were definitely up to no good at this point. There has been 35 years since he was involved in Scientology, a lot of things could have changed. So while he states that the myth about the RPF being a concentration camp of sorts may well have been completely true in 1980, that may not be the case anymore. He also was only a member of the European branch of Scientology; who's to say that they were not more clean cut than the US branch? I could be completely wrong and he is exactly right, but a lot changes in 35 years and across the ocean.
It's very strange to read a positive account of Scientology. I'm so used to seeing nothing but negative words that I am almost don't want to believe the positive things. Maybe as Bernie says on his site, the anti-cult movement is as guilty of indoctrination as the Church of Scientology are themselves? I don't know. What I do know is that I can't take Bernie's words as absolute fact for two main reasons.
It's very strange to read a positive account of Scientology. I'm so used to seeing nothing but negative words that I am almost don't want to believe the positive things. Maybe as Bernie says on his site, the anti-cult movement is as guilty of indoctrination as the Church of Scientology are themselves? I don't know. What I do know is that I can't take Bernie's words as absolute fact for two main reasons.
- His last experience with Scientology, first hand, was 35 years ago.
- He is the only ex-Scientologist I have been able to find with anything positive to say at all.
Image Credit: wikimedia.org
By the same token, I cannot take what anti-scientologists have to say, because often bitterness leads to being less than stringent with the truth. I am more inclined to believe them because there are so many of them all saying the same things. However, unless I experience what Scientology has to offer first hand, I will never know in 100% certainty. From what evidence I can find and the heavy handed way that Scientology go about trying to prove how innocent they are, I am definitely 99% sure that the Scientology is the cult that the general consensus makes it out to be.
What I have definitely found out from writing this is that it is incredibly difficult to maintain complete objectivity when writing. Your pre-conceived thoughts will always come to the fore, and you will be unable to ignore them. So while I am certainly not an advocate of Scientology (It is still something that on a personal level I think is wrong), I will say that every time I see a documentary on it from now on, I'll always wonder one thing; is it the whole truth?
What I have definitely found out from writing this is that it is incredibly difficult to maintain complete objectivity when writing. Your pre-conceived thoughts will always come to the fore, and you will be unable to ignore them. So while I am certainly not an advocate of Scientology (It is still something that on a personal level I think is wrong), I will say that every time I see a documentary on it from now on, I'll always wonder one thing; is it the whole truth?
By The Cunt
Email The Cunt
A hidden face of the crew, The Cunt is main coder for Foul Entertainment games. He is currently documenting the progress of our game, Foul Fantasy, in his dev blogs.
Email The Cunt
A hidden face of the crew, The Cunt is main coder for Foul Entertainment games. He is currently documenting the progress of our game, Foul Fantasy, in his dev blogs.