When you hear of a church called Scientology you might mistakenly think it has something to do with science right? Most of us have heard of it, mainly in connection with movie stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta but we probably assumed it was just another religion. Once I took the time to look at it about it, I was shocked and surprised that members would not only believe anything so insane but that they were not locked up in a padded cell somewhere.
Keep in mind that this is a particularly secretive religion and it is not until the member has spent an enormous amount of time and money to rise to a certain level, that the complete details are learned. I am not aware of any other religion who charges a fee to its members for its teachings and doctrine. Oh I know many churches tithe their members or ask for donation but even if you don’t pay, you get to hear the doctrine. Imagine joining a Christian denomination and not being told anything about Jesus until you had been a member for years and had forked over massive funds. I am sure this is well planned because most sane individuals would run away laughing hysterically after their first meeting if the complete story were told to them. Unfortunately, many who join are either feeling lost or looking for something to belong to. Their indoctrination and brain washing starts slow and builds up gradually until they are a full blown nutcase.
So, lets look at the actual belief system of this cult which makes even the other religions, seem almost sane, almost.
To begin with, Scientology is the theory and discovery of L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who wrote the book Battlefield Earth. Yes, you read it correctly, a science fiction writer. At this point, any person with a little intelligence at all would dismiss this as the ramblings of a madman. But, for some reason I can’t begin to fathom, some people fall for this hook line and sinker.
In a nutshell, and I do mean NUTshell, Mr. Hubbard claims that 75 million years ago a galactic warlord named Xenu was in charge of 76 planets which were overpopulated. He brought trillions of these beings to Earth or Teegeeack and placed them into volcanoes. He then blew them up with hydrogen bombs and scattered their souls called thetans. Someone or something rounded up the thetans in electronic traps and implanted false ideas into them. These bad thetans attach to people and cause them to abuse drug and alcohol. The bad thetans are also responsible for other psychological problems that only Scientology auditing and classes can cure. For additional information and to see a copy of the original handwritten copy of Hubbards mania visit http://tinyurl.com/2x55d
Now, keep in mind that this imaginative tale of fantasy and insanity is only learned after you have become a member for quite awhile, paid an enormous amount of money and reached Thetan Level III.
According to Scientology, each person or thetan, is a spirit that inhabits a human body and is the core of the personality. Scientology teaches that the spirit or thetan lives on after death and is born over and over again into different physical bodies. Traumatic events can trap a thetan in a body and cause depression and mental illness. ( remember the Tom and Katies silent birth brouhaha) Hubbard developed a process called auditing. With with the use of a device called an E-Meter to find and eliminate these traumas. While most traumatic events are individual, the key incident common to all humans is the so called event 75 million years ago in the thetan/Xenu/volcano/bomb incident. Scientology warns that exposing someone to the details of this event BEFORE they have completed the all of the necessary levels will cause them to become ill or die.
(Please don’t be concerned because you have read this information. There have been no reported illnesses or deaths because people learned about the incident) without the proper auditing but most true Scientologists will not look at it until they have gone through the necessary steps and levels)
Members progress through these levels of auditing so that they can reach the status of operating Thetan or Operating Thetan Level III. At this level one is free of the attachments of the corrupt Thetan and can possess god-like powers and abilities. For most individual members, progressing though the levels takes years and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Remember too that this idiocy is actually considered a religion by the government and pays no taxes.
Now when I read this I wondered how on Earth with all of the knowledge we have today, could people be sucked into something so alarming, weird, and fantastic? Well, there are many famous people who have been sucked in all the way to their eyeballs: Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes, John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston, Jason Lee, Anne Archer, Kristie Alley, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, the late Isaac Hayes and Sonny Bono, Linda Blair, and Karen Black, and these are just a few.
But really, whether it is a galactic warlord called Xenu and his thetans, a virgin birth of a god-man come to save the world, a young boy being led to a book of gold plates by the ghost of an ancient warrior, or the ramblings of a illiterate man in a cave taking dictation by the angel Gabriel, its all fantasy and tales of the supernatural and its all weird.
Interesting read, confirming an old story I’d heard about Hubbard being overheard saying he wanted to get out of writing and start his own religion because “that’s where the real money’s at!” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/06/AR2005070601351_4.html Ultimately anyone who has ever read any of Hubbard’s fiction would likely agree that his finding another line of work was a great idea for both his economic vitality and for literature in general. The credo of scientology reads exactly like his bombastic pulp fiction sf “style” (or lack thereof).
i was about to mention that it was Hubbard who said something along the lines of the best way to get rich was to start a religion, haha.