I was just briefly skimming over the basic principles of Scientology and of L. Ron Hubbard's life to really see what this shit is all about, and I just can't understand how this "religion" has survived as long as it has. From what I've briefly read he physically abused his second wife on multiple occasions, whom he had stole from a close friend and Thelemite, lied numerous times about his war history in order to manipulate people (women in particular), had affairs with numerous women, threatened to kill his own child, and was known to have severe mental health issues. He was also a science fiction/fantasy author, why the fuck does anyone take anything this man says seriously? I saw some video of some guy trying to defend Hubbard(albeit with no evidence, just deflection) and I can't understand why these people would choose to follow under someone who clearly just manipulated people to make money/fuck whomever they wanted and had experience in crafting unrealistic stories. The Smithsonian magazine apparently ranked him among the top 100 most significant Americans, am I missing something here?
L. Ron Hubbard/Scientology Discussion Thread
This is pretty interesting, thanks for the reference. I'll read through it. I just hope this guy isn't full of shit himself.
Significant because he's the writer with the most books
He created a decent pseudo-tradition. Lots of his meditation tech works albeit with smudged metaphysics.
If you're interested, I suggest reading some freezoneearth sites (scientologists who quit before it became a cult and were more scientific-shamans of his tradition than mere brainwashed sheep)
Some examples:
>pagan freezone
viking-z.org
>buddhist freezone
freezoneearth.org
>occult freezone
censorthis.com
All techniques were decent at controlling my schizophrenia but I am glad to be medicated now even if I am no longer quite so shamanically gifted with otherworldly perspective...
Think of Scientology before internet was popular. It was viable to hide and/or discredit that info for the followers. Now it isn't so much that's why scientology is failing, there are much less members today than there were 20-30 years ago.
is it time for the fortnightly Scientology promotion thread? where three shills pretend to talk earnestly about the benefits of a religion based on really bad pulp science fiction, and the rest of us asked "who killed Lisa McPherson? why did Jett Travolta have to die?"
They had turbine-generated cars that went about 275 miles an hour. They ran with a high whine. I notice they've just now invented the motor again. And they had tracks that were booby-trapped with atom bombs, and they had side bypasses. The tracks were mined, and the grandstands were leaded-paned.
- Hubbard, lecture of 3 January 1960
he was a barely-functioning Asperger's Syndrome victim, on a par with Trump.
hubbard: i was a hero in the navy! i was captain of my own ship!
historical record: no, you took over for five minutes and torpedoed an island in hawaii.
L Ron Hubbard is a fat disgusting fraud and scientology is a dangerous cult that should be outlawed.
The question is though is why has it not been already?
Give me a run down on Lisa McPherson and Jett Travolta.
lisa mcpherson. didn't follow someone's precise order to clean a toilet with a toothbrush and was locked in the basement generator room for a week with no food or water. when someone remembered her she was comatose and by the time they got her to a competent hospital (see below) she was dead.
jett travolta. needed medication to control seizures. Hubbard had a life-long hatred for psychiatrists, possibly because they kept saying he was crazy; they cut back on his medication until he went into a full-on clonic seizure, and his father bravely flew the boy in his own jet... to... the scientology-approved hospital in Clearwater, Florida. where the boy died from a lack of competent medical attention.
there's dozens more, but those are the two who spring to mind at the moment. you can check the veracity of these with a few web searches.
I take courses at my local scientology mission, and honestly there's nothing really 'religious' about it, its completely cold, objective, self-help type stuff. The image in the media and what you hear about around message boards is completely disconnected from the reality I've experienced.
>I take courses at my local scientology mission
A rare scienjew appears
As far as I know, there's nothing overtly strange about it, I could talk about some of it if you want, it actually isn't very strange at all. You'd find equivalent material in the self-help sections of your local bookstore, it just so happens that they have this huge library of self-improvement books on loads of topics that are all centralized in their method so that its very easy to improve yourself in many areas very quickly with less confusion, because they all overlap in the fundamentals. There are some things I disagree with at times, but honestly I just take the good for as much as I can and am just respectful of others, I'm not there to change anyone's beliefs, I'm there just to deal with my stressful job and stressful life better, I've no interest in anything beyond that
What do you think of ?
My thoughts are...lol what the heck does any of that have to do with scientology? I'm not reading all that to mine for the one obscure thing that may or may not resemble something in scientology
how many thetans do you have
That literally isn't a thing in the way you are using it, thetan is basically scientology's version of a soul, its got some other ideas attached that make it different enough to need its own name
idk the terminology
how many whatever those e-meters measure do you have
That isn't a thing either, the e-meter is pretty flimsy I agree, but the basic idea behind it is that you perform involuntary muscle movements when you are stressed or anxious, your proctor then has you hold onto these 2 metal cups that detect movements within your body and then they just ask you about things in your life, and when the needle jumps around you have a better idea of what makes you anxious or feel fear, and those are things you know you can work on. I didn't do mine until after my first course, and once I did I was able to narrow down some of the areas in my life where I really needed to apply my course lessons, its one thing to know generally what I need to do to relieve myself of some of my ongoing problems, but as petty as it sounds, being able to walk out knowing EXACTLY what needed to change, I was able to make some changes within a couple of days, and having that clarity really helped
>you hold onto these 2 metal cups that detect movements within your body and then they just ask you about things in your life, and when the needle jumps around
So, does it or does it not measure galvanic skin response?
Yeah. At the end, you have power. You feed on narrative because you are human, a human addicted to narrative explanations. You need a social group, a tribe, you need ritual to maintain a constant self within the tribe. You need to see how you can move up through the tribe. You move up and up until you figure out the scam and then you try to escape but it's a bad idea because they'll ruin you, so you play along, and then you continue going up and up until you realise you can make it to the top, you can have power like the others. So you do that, because it's pretty nice. You think about how you should have just got into politics but where too stupid then, you didn't realise that it was probably this easy, then you start making up some crazy shit about you past lives for people who'll believe you cause you want them to see you differently. You think this is pretty cool. You wish it was true, but still, it's pretty cool how power works. Still wish I were a politician, but this will do for now.
>Hey, isn't that guy from the FBI?
>What's up, friend?
>Just killing time. You?
>Yeah, same.
>Want to take over the government?
>Maybe...I don't know. Like today.
>Naw. We got time. For now.
>Ha!
I dunno what galvanic skin response is yo, all I know is that when I thought of shit that stressed me out, like really specific stuff like my sister and the dogs and my job and money problems and school, the needle would jump. When I thought of shit that made me happy, a certain song, my coworkers, my apartment, my hobbies, it didn't jump. I specifically went out of my way to get it to prove that it did what they told me it was going to do, and it did just that. It also jumped when I took a really deep breath or moved my hands at all, so that's a thing
How much money have you spent on courses? You're playing the role of cattle and being farmed. They target the LSE and otherwise troubled and turn them into pastured livestock to be regularly milked and shorn with course fees. Soon you'll have no disposable income left and will get a job with the "Church" to earn a meager wage that you pay back to them to fund the next course, and the course after that.
Look at the employment situation of the Church employees your interact with and ask how they came to be, what wage they earn, and where that income goes. They're de facto indentured servents, underpaid and trapped in wage-coursefee cycles.
Your talking to a shill dumpass
I'm curious about this myself OP. I went on a Scientology kick recently watching and reading up on the subject and came out the other end with more questions. There are otherwise 'smart' people that are members - Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson is involved - Someone directly involved in a show that mocks cults and whatnot. Some say it's just a tax dodge/ego related etc but this does not explain why they haven't simply chosen another cult. I put it down to 90% mental illness/instability and 10% something I can't figure out. Also, people "giving themselves" to the concept early on, giving away something super secretive about themselves and not being able to leave as they use that dirt on you to control you...and the whole creepiness of Hollywood/celebrities
I ordered Dianetics through Amazon used for a penny. Read as much as I could. The first part is pretty common pop psychology that could be helpful and then the rest of the book is about becoming an Auditor and other organizational crap. Still get handwritten from the Portland, OR church asking if I have any questions. They must have been the used seller.
Scientology became big business. The recent head is a power hungry manlet.
>Scientology became big business
This is what I really don't get, there is bigger money in other ventures. Why settle for this nonsense? Dwindling numbers is a threat to continual cashflow. Their Messiah passed away 30+ years ago, they buy up and build property...How? When will their bubble burst. Must be insanely propped up by the successes for the mega-wealthy members
I've spent like $50 per book, then that lasts me usually about 1 month, I take a break usually of a few weeks before I start another, as far as I know the mission isn't meant to be a serious business and only 1 person works at it
>bought a book on amazon for a quarter
>paid 4.99 in shipping
>there is bigger money in other ventures.
There might be bigger numbers but there's no free labor. Thats the beauty of cults, they don't even need money to get shit done
no taxes on earnings or real estate tax
don't even have to report what you earn
Does nobody remember project chanology?