My weird and scary encounter with Scientology

reply to post by 2manyquestions


When one hears or sees anything associated with scientology the one thing to do is ...


BOLT!

reply to post by 2manyquestions


Good God! I don't know what I would have done if I were in the same position.
*EEEEEEK*
I'm glad I read your thread so I can steer clear of these establishments.
One, I can't afford it and, two, I don't like organizations like that.

reply to post by AnimusInvictus


I had NO idea how frightening Scientology really was until I went in. I've seen episodes of South Park making fun of them, I've seen Tom Cruise behave like a crazy person, but I didn't know how much of it was true. After all, the media likes to poke fun at many things, sometimes without justification. I figured that maybe they were taking this whole Scientology thing too far. After my experience and after having researched the experiences of others on this subject, I can state with absolute confidence that Scientology is nothing more than a well-organized, wealthy, religious cult. Their goal is to suck you dry of all your funds so that they can live and continue to spread across the globe. They may have helped some people, there may be happy Scientologists out there, but the prospect of what could happen to an individual within this cult is just too frightening. My recommendation is to stay as far from them as humanly possible.

This is super scary stuff.
I can't help but compare it to Landmark Forum meetings, super scary :/
Im so glad you got out of there and away from it.

reply to post by 2manyquestions


I tried to watch the video on youtube but the CoC had it banned. It's funny that a so called "church" would require you to pay to join. Scientology isn't a faith it is a club and from what i hear its based on some garbage that humans were an intersteller species that came to earth in space ships. Celebrities would rather join a cult than get their lives right and ask Christ to forgive them and save them. Scientology makes you feel better about doing drugs and living an excessive lifestyle and drowning in alcoholism. It promotes sin which is why these people go to it, it makes them feel better for giving into their sinful appetites.

Clearly many of them have a hole in their soul they are trying to fill with other things than God and it will never be enough. When you don't make God the center of your life you can try to fill the hole with everything in the world and it will never be enough and you will never be happy and you can never accumulate enough wealth and posessions (i know i tried). Some people live their whole lives and never realize that simple truth till the very end. It's plainly obvious that they are trying to find the light of God but are trying to circumvent Christ in order to gain it and it will not work. It is written that in the end, "every knee shall bend and every mouth confess, that Yeshua (Jesus) Christ is Lord" and this will happen willingly and lovingly of your own free will or it will happen against your will but it will happen.

I've had a long and colourful life-experience as what could be termed a 'field-researcher' out on the fringe of mainstream culture(s). Familiarizing myself not only with the theory, but also of the practises of the various groups I've joined for a while for participating-observer study purposes.

In both the more traditional (established religions etc) and the modern new-age groups there are usually three main-motives present in the leaders of whatever it is.

Money/power.

Safety in numbers (if I'm not alone in this, there must be something about it).

Blind faith or just having a mental fuse or two blown.

A good 'product' promotes itself, so (practically always) it's inversely a good rule to run the other way, when aggressive selling techniques and fishy motives (such as above) are used.

But maybe many individuals need to learn NOT to approach existence from exclusive black/white perspectives..."am I saved or lost?".....before even being able to handle ideological 'commercialism'.

And 'guru'ology' ought to have been an officially recognized part of social psychology by now. A major part of the 'gurus' are more existentially bonkers than the sheeple, they seduce.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


You wrote:

["Scientology isn't a faith it is a club and from what i hear its based on some garbage that humans were an intersteller species that came to earth in space ships. Celebrities would rather join a cult than get their lives right and ask Christ to forgive them and save them."]

ANY chance for delievering a sermon, eh?

But as the 'ancient astronaut' (or similar) actually IS a part of scientology, it may nor be completely off the mark to consider it amongst the rational candidates on the history of this planet (though the scientology-version isn't that convincing).

Quote: ["Scientology makes you feel better about doing drugs and living an excessive lifestyle and drowning in alcoholism. It promotes sin which is why these people go to it, it makes them feel better for giving into their sinful appetites."]

Full promotional steam ahead for the 'repenting sinner' crusade. I sincerely doubt, that your sweeping generalization of scientologists has any foundation except your in propaganda fantasies.

Quote: [" Clearly many of them have a hole in their soul they are trying to fill with other things than God and it will never be enough."]

Just as 'clearly' as any other blind-faith fanatic have 'holes'.

Quote: [" When you don't make God the center of your life you can try to fill the hole with everything in the world and it will never be enough and you will never be happy and you can never accumulate enough wealth and posessions (i know i tried)."]

This 'god'-based psychological model originating from theists have never been demonstrated, probably never will and is most likely just propaganda.

Quote: [" Some people live their whole lives and never realize that simple truth till the very end. It's plainly obvious that they are trying to find the light of God but are trying to circumvent Christ in order to gain it and it will not work."]

Such 'some people' apparantly not only include scientologists, but everybody not sharing whatever message is pushed in this post.

Quote: ["It is written that in the end, "every knee shall bend and every mouth confess, that Yeshua (Jesus) Christ is Lord" and this will happen willingly and lovingly of your own free will or it will happen against your will but it will happen"]

And 'what's written' has practically NOTHING to do with scientology, except that scientology is a competitor on the ideology-market and thus to be defamed.

There are rational arguments against scientology, use them instead of preaching another competing message.

My mom has been a part of the church my whole life, until just recently, and me and my dad just got a refund from them (still working on it, actually). We are ex-communicated and considered "enemies of the Church of Scientology and every affiliation thereof" (not exact quotes, but close enough. This was written on the contract we had to sign to get our money back). A lot of what was said is quite true. Being someone that has gone in and out their organizations on and off for 22 years. I know how these people work for the most part. The Pyramid Scheme part is true on a certain level, but they do not set up people to look like they are enjoying themselves. People really do get help, or think, they get help from courses and auditing (therapy). If you are feeble minded, than yes, they will suck you in by destroying any sense of self by making you feel like they really care, and they think they do.

The staff members really do care and want to help. It is the Upper Management (they are really called that) that are doing all of the intentional brainwashing. The Upper Management, being the OSA (Office of Special Affairs) and RTC (Religious Technology Center), among others (only a guess), are the big guns. From FLAG downward, I am pretty sure, have no clue what is going on behind the curtains. They are so faithful to the church that it can do no wrong. The big thing in Scientology is the constant renewing of Tech (Scientology courses and auditing). I have books from the 70's and 80's (before ANY editing not done by L. Ron Hubbard himself) that are quite different from the Basics (the first 18 books all new members have to study) and other works done by the modern church. There are whole paragraphs missing, paragraphs jumbled around, pages, up to the hundreds, added and I'm sure quite a bit more. What was once considered Standard Tech has been "squirreled" (messed around with) by their own Upper Management. The sad thing is the good people of Scientology who really do want to help are only harming. The smart ones will come out of it, or die trying (maybe that's pushing it, but I've heard some wacky things!).

The whole thing of falling into sin, they do not agree with the taking of drugs of any kind and sex should only be done in a safe and loving relationship. The Aims of Scientology, the Code of Honor and the Auditor's Code (the first two can be found on the official website I think) should be read if you want to see what Scientology was supposed to be about. As far as I can tell, these principles are the original. You will notice they do not follow by these. That right there is a breach of Scientology doctrine. If LRH wrote it, if you are a Scientologist that is, it is true and MUST be followed by. The reason why the changing of the Tech is so important to the management is the most important principle of Scientology, something I that was pounded into my head, NO VERBAL DATA, meaning, if it is not written in the doctrine written by LRH it is not to be believed, followed, studied, or anything of the sort. Great rule, huh?

Although I do agree with much of what L. Ron Hubbard studied (not discovered, as most of his stuff was just old wisdom written with a new twist, or just simply reworded. You will find everything from Buddhism, the Ethics of Spinoza, exercises from the occult- staring into each others eyes in a trance like state, called TR's [training routines]- among many, MANY other sources I am sure people will discover) he was still a man. In my personal opinion, LRH himself was not a conman just rich and egotistical enough start his own religion, thinking he really has found the truth of Man and Spiritual Freedom. After all, he did study with Aleister Crowley, and they may have even been close friends. And Crowley is known as the Drug Fiend. Contact with extraterrestrials and manipulation of superhuman powers (which I do believe in) are quite common place when on intense drugs, especially when used in a ritual setting; candles, incense, chanting and ecstatic movement... hmm.

And yes, it is true that if a member of your immediate family is a Scientologist and one of their family memebrs quits the church, the Scientologist is considered a Level 1 PTS (potential trouble source) and the ex-member is considered and SP (suppressive person), but the ex-member is only declared an SP if they leave with an attitude. But for the member, they are still a Level 1 PTS.

If you are interested in Scientology, check out the Free Zone Scientologists. I never met any, but they seem grounded. Some follow pure LRH Tech, some just take what they like and discard the rest, and they have nothing to do with the church itself. One of them is currently helping my mom get totally out of the church and hasn't hassled her one bit.

Sorry to talk your ear off, but I thought I would give you all an insider's scoop.

reply to post by JollyFist


Thanks for sharing your story! I appreciated the length and detail. It's always nice to hear it from someone who's been on the inside. I only experienced it for (give or take) a couple of hours, but it was enough to make me realize that it wasn't for me.

It has changed a lot over the years. They have always been pushy salesmen (if you check out neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP, you will see the similarities in business tactics), but they have gotten worse. They seemed nicer when I was younger, but maybe that's why. They do treat their members pretty good. I take that back, they used to be a little bit more civil and really tried to help. Now they want to eat your soul and rape your bank account and turn you against any body that isn't in or for Scientology. They told me if I wanted to progress I had to tell everyone I was a Scientologist and if they disagreed I had to 'handle' them, pretty much set them straight or leave in the dust. It goes for family too. They believe if you have ANY people feeling or expressing negativity towards the church it would harm your progress in auditing and in life. I can understand that to an extent, but to the point of converting or, basically disowning them, is absurd.

The higher ups, the OT's (Operating Thetan, the elite, pretty much) have to go back to the main FLAG base in Florida every couple of months to get Sec Check (security check) and Cramming (more auditing to make sure they are being 'ethical,' a funny word when you think about how they treat people). It was never like that before. They force more auditing on higher members than ever before. By the way, auditing is where they hook you up to the E-Meter, which sends about 21/2 volts of electricity through you to 'blow charge' (getting rid of painful pictures and memories). The E-Meters have been updated time and time again, so now the E-Meter could be sending more volts into you. You get a tingling sensation after a while holding the cans, and when you blow charge on bigger problems (engrams) most people report seeing a flash of light and/or an uplifting feeling (it feels pretty awesome! but it does not last), and that is the catcher for the feeble minded.

...Uplifting feeling... flash of light...sounds like minor electric shock to me! Imagine 5-25 years of that every 6 months or more! To go Clear (Scientology enlightenment, just before OT) it takes anywhere from 6 months to a year of constant auditing, about 6 hours 3-7 days a week. The average session is 6 hours, from pre-clear to the highest OT level. That's A LOT of electricity! Not to mention the implants of only being able to study Scientology and not anything else spiritual or philosophical while doing a course or getting auditing. Major Cycles as they call it. Oh yeah, if you know people that are thinking about joining yet have another path, you are not allowed to practice it, even though the principles say you can. At least, they didn't let me. Which means no meditation, tai chi, qi gong, yoga or ritual magic. Maybe if the person has been a part of their religion for a very long time, they may let it slide, but if they are seeker (I like that word) then it is Scientology and only Scientology.

The E-Meter and electricity thing is true, as they may have explained, but the amounts I think they may putting into higher ups is just theory.

reply to post by JollyFist


Wow, I had no idea they do so many audits on the higher ups. I saw an interview with a former Scientology auditor who claimed they had thousands of files on people who were being audited. Basically they learn all your inner secrets, jot them down or record the session, and they have blackmail they can use if someone gets "out of hand". The church denies having any such files, but this person who was an auditor for many years for the church of Scientology, audited a few celebrities and claims that's exactly what they do. Getting electrocuted for hours on end can't possibly be good for anyone. Seems to me that they do a pretty good job brainwashing people. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge on the subject. If you have more, I'm sure it would be appreciated by more people than just myself.

reply to post by CherryV


Landmark Forum! That's funny! Been there done that got the t-shirt. I know NOTHING, and whatever I "think" I know is just a "racket" i'm running in order to dupe you into thinking that I'm being authentic, but it's really just a technique to either dominate, or avoid domination. Oh dear. We'll have to make a thread on Landmark now as well!

reply to post by 2manyquestions


I'm glad you enjoy the replies, and as a side note, I'm not trying to bash Scientology, I just want to alert an unsuspecting public of the dangers and pitfalls of this 'religion,' so other people don't find out the hard way, like you and your sister, and the other poster his girlfriend. I always tell people that are interested in Scientology to buy the books, or better yet, read them at the library for free. Especially the books written before 1992, that's when David Miscavage (current head of RTC, being the leader of Scientology as a whole) started editing the original material pretty hardcore. The original Tech has been edited three or more times since then. What was once the work of L. Ron Hubbard the man is now the work of L. Ron Hubbard the corporation. As said before, Free Zone America is good to check out to, mainly because some of the sites have all the books for free in either PDF or HTML format, but I prefer more traditional methods of spiritual and psychological realization and awakening.

The funny thing about auditing is that all the notes they take during a session are never to be seen by the pre-clear. I asked my first auditor why that is and she said because it could dramatize (make real again) an engram (full sensory past affliction). They do keep all of your files from what I know. There is also no privacy of information. I went in thinking that whatever I told them would be confidential to my auditor and Case Supervisor (CS, the person who makes sure the auditor is doing everything standard and correcting any mistakes if any). I learned this is not so. When I was having problems in my auditing and doubtful of the practicality of Scientology, LRH gospel, not to mention questioning all the contradictions, my Case Folder (your Case is your reactive mind, the bad mind, storing your engrams and other problems, so the Case Folder is made of all the notes from auditing) was first sent to a higher up, better trained CS in the org (Steven's Creek San Jose). When they couldn't fix my problems they sent it to an even higher CS, supposedly the best in Northern California. Still no progress. I think it went through three to five different Case Supervisors all around the major orgs in California when me and my dad finally said, THAT'S IT! Give us our money back! We're still waiting for some of the checks, which has been over two years, when in the Green Management Volumes it clearly says all refunds should be handled in a quick manner. If they do not want to be part of the church, let them go and break all connections as quickly as possible. They definitely have not followed that protocol. One last thing on the auditing... the notes are written in code that only auditors and Case Supervisors are able to read. It's gibberish otherwise.

I was actually interested in Scientology as I got older because I started learning about practical magic, Tibetan masters, yogis and Taoist Immortals that could do extraordinary things like raise their body heat from near freezing to being able to make a wet sheet steam when placed on their bodies, and fighting monks of Wudang and Shaolin who can lie on a bed of nails and break slabs of concrete placed on their chest and abdomen by having a fellow monk smash them with a sledgehammer. Not to mention being aware of past lives, knowing the future, telepathy, ESP, telekinesis, influence of others and self at will (the only ability Scientolgists seem to have) and being able to leave the body or expand sensory awareness at will. These abilities are supposedly developed in the OT levels, especially after OT 3 (Wall of Fire, awareness of past lives). Each level, or Grade, has a certain ability. I have met many an OT, even up to OT 8 (the highest so far). They are not impressive, just as snappy and mind numbing as the rest. Being somebody who grew up watching Dragonball Z, X Men, Spider Man and reading all sorts of superhero comics, Scientology actually sounded cool!

I used to really be against Scientology as a kid and expressed it to my mom who never really listened until me and my former girlfriend and her family took her to meet Amma, the Hugging Saint. My mom never felt anything like it before, not in the 22 years she was a Scientologist. As time went on my mom realized how robotic and insincere her 'friends' at the church were. You can't walk into a church just to say hi even if you've known the persn your whole life without them trying to get you to something in or for the church. I told her about the Free Zone last year. She had a total spiritual break down. She was more snappy then usual. When she calmed down after studying up on the Free Zone more and contemplating life she told me it was like going through withdrawal. Being someone who used to take a lot of drugs, she knows the feeling well. It was as much physical as it was spiritual for her.

reply to post by 2manyquestions


2manyquestions,
WOW! What an experience..That is crazy. I almost feel they were frustrated that you and your sister would not subdue to anything they said! Their selling tactics are very odd, like they are not used to being told no! Any place that is offering 'help' shouldnt repeatedly burden you for your money!!
I do hate that the clip from the video was taken off Youtube by The Church of Scientology International is what it just told me when I clicked on it..Dang it!
I want to thank you for sharing this so I can learn from your experience and not take my curious self in there! Sounds like nothing good, scamming on people in bad places in their lives!
P.s. Tom Cruise is already wacky..but the South Park episode also leans towards it being a cult type experience.
Thanks again 2manyquestions! I enjoy reading your experiences!

Originally posted by Katharos62191
reply to post by 2manyquestions

 

2manyquestions,
WOW! What an experience..That is crazy. I almost feel they were frustrated that you and your sister would not subdue to anything they said! Their selling tactics are very odd, like they are not used to being told no! Any place that is offering 'help' shouldnt repeatedly burden you for your money!!
I do hate that the clip from the video was taken off Youtube by The Church of Scientology International is what it just told me when I clicked on it..Dang it!
I want to thank you for sharing this so I can learn from your experience and not take my curious self in there! Sounds like nothing good, scamming on people in bad places in their lives!
P.s. Tom Cruise is already wacky..but the South Park episode also leans towards it being a cult type experience.
Thanks again 2manyquestions! I enjoy reading your experiences!

No problem! I'm glad you found my experience with this place helpful. It's definitely not a good place to be if you're in a bad life situation, although it seems to me that even if you're a stronger individual they will wear you down eventually. You can probably do a Youtube search of the title of the video, and you'll find something to watch. There are hundreds of people who speak out against The Church of Scientology, and many of them have stories far worse than you can imagine.