Going Clear on HBO is a must watch.

[rufuspaul]

[gigantes]

i'm watching it right now. about 25 minutes in.

i'd already known the fundamentals of scientology, but it's great learning about the actual mechanisms and how the indoctrination process works.

i've been interested in religion, behavior and how the brain works for a while, but i have a feeling i'm going to learn a lot more from this film.

[gigantes]

Other religions aren't one bit like Scientology.

edit: Anyone have an online streaming link?

other religions absolutely have some things in common with scientology. that's part of what made it so successful!

hubbard latched on to some of the key mechanisms of what makes religion work and blended it in to his own unique brand of self-serving bullshit.

for example, when you look at their mission statement of peace, prosperity, goodwill etc, that's very eastern, i think. not just buddhism but probably taoism, maybe shinto, etc.

another one is the e-meter expression of repressed memories. that's right in common with psychiatry, fringe-psychiatry, and probably some more esoteric religions like shakers and maybe sufi, kaballah, etc.


anyway, here's the stream i'm watching:
http://www.promptfile.com/l/F61265447F-03C17BA771

[rufuspaul]

I love the progression or "bridge" that people follow to rise in the church. At first it's like a guided self help seminar that seeks to clear one of bad memories. Despite the ridiculousness of the "meter" I can see how people would feel empowered and more confident about themselves, just like in traditional psychotherapy.

As they progress these people get empowered to be "auditors" themselves, and so on. Still makes sense as to how that would be appealing. A person looking for direction not only gets guidance but is now trusted to provide guidance to others.

Then they get the sacred text, handwritten by Hubbard himself. That's when you'd think even the most ardent follower would go "what the f[COLOR="Black"]u[/COLOR]ck is this?!!?" Some absolutely bizarre shit.

[~primetime~]

Have not seen this yet...

Have only briefly read up on this stuff...Hubbard believes we all have spirits that reincarnate correct? (that part isn't crazy at all actually) But the actually 'crazy' part is that he thinks our spirits have interacted with aliens or something like that?

I know Hubbard wrote the "Bible" of this thing...but my question is where did Hubbard gain the knowledge for these writings? Or where does he claim he got this spiritual insight? Was that even covered in this documentary?

[~primetime~]

Believing in reincarnation isn't abnormal...and people claim to get knowledge of that through meditation, NDEs, astral plane, etc etc...

It's the alien stuff (that I don't know much about) that is abnormal...




I'm just wondering how Hubbard came to 'know' about his claims, and why people believe him?...there must be some convincing story behind it. Does he claim to have been abducted or something? What happened to him exactly to give him his insight on our spirits?

[rufuspaul]

Believing in reincarnation isn't abnormal...and people claim to get knowledge of that through meditation, NDEs, astral plane, etc etc...

It's the alien stuff (that I don't know much about) that is abnormal...

Um, yeah.

In the OT levels, Hubbard explains how to reverse the effects of past-life trauma patterns that supposedly extend millions of years into the past.[139] Among these advanced teachings is the story of Xenu (sometimes Xemu), introduced as the tyrant ruler of the "Galactic Confederacy". According to this story, 75 million years ago Xenu brought billions of people to Earth in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes and detonated hydrogen bombs in the volcanoes. The thetans then clustered together, stuck to the bodies of the living, and continue to do this today. Scientologists at advanced levels place considerable emphasis on isolating body thetans and neutralizing their ill effects.

[DCL]

is it as whack as worshipping jesus?

[~primetime~]

So how did Hubbard find out about Xenu?

I don't get why anyone would buy into that? it's just a Sci-Fi novel...a cheezy one even.

I mean Tom Cruise (and others in Hollywood) aren't THAT out there...something compelling had to make them believers

[gigantes]

...but my question is where did Hubbard gain the knowledge for these writings? Or where does he claim he got this spiritual insight? Was that even covered in this documentary?

from the documentary and my previous knowledge:

- fairly gifted fiction writer, particularly in amount of output
- tremendous bullshit artist and con man
- mentally unstable with a deep need to feel better somehow
- strong urge to create order and systems
- claimed to have studied dozens of early civilisations, cultures and religions
- big time drug-user and likely pedophile



history is probably full of such people, but he was clearly one of the more successful ones.

[LJJ]

So how did Hubbard find out about Xenu?

Well you can say that about any prophet and any religion tho.

[~primetime~]

I'm not saying believing in it is abnormal

I'm saying it's fvking crazy

Not like you're crazy if you believe it, like holy shit what the fvk crazy

Yeah I gotcha

it IS crazy...but really the universe in general is crazy

[gigantes]

it IS crazy...but really the universe in general is crazy

you forgot to mention that climate is cyclical, therefore we have no impact on it.

[~primetime~]

Well you can say that about any prophet and any religion tho.

I'm just trying to figure out his source...I can figure out how the Christian Bible came to be and where those writing originated...or at least how we think they came to be.


Hubbard has some kind of technique to look into our past lives I guess? And that is how he knows about Xenu and blowing up volcanoes and all that, okay...so my next question is what makes it so convincing? Are other people also using this technique and seeing Xenu as well?

Tom Cruise might be kooky, but I know he is clinically SANE...as well as many others that buy into this thing.

[Hotlantadude81]

They deserve what they get for entering this stupid religion in the first place.