Why Scientology Wasn't For Me - Part 3/3

Why Scientology Wasn't For Me

Part 3: Alienation and misinformation

"When I first encountered Scientology, everything seemed to be about free will. At first, Scientologists told me about their creed but never forced me to believe anything. When I disagreed with certain ideas and argued with some members about them, it all seemed to be just an exchange of opinions and arguments.
Communication is key in Scientology. The first course is all about getting your message across and creating understanding. I still think it's great, as it gives you tools of great practical value. There are, however, further steps on the so-called "Bridge to Total Freedom", that can lead you astray and are, ironically, quite the opposite of free and clear communication.
Scientology has its own jargon. Founder L. Ron Hubbard invented thousands of new terms and redefined lots of common words. Every book contains a glossary of words that a student really needs to grasp to know what Hubbard is saying. The result is alienation. You don't realize it when you look up the first misunderstood word, but that's where it leads to. Scientologists tend to speak in a language that resembles normal English, but it isn't. The further you go, the harder it gets to speak to non-Scientologists. A good example of this is in the leaked video of Tom Cruise on youtube. Without some knowledge of the jargon, Cruise seems to be babbling.
In addition to the isolation that comes with the jargon is the isolation within the church itself. Members, particularly those who are staff, are working almost 24/7. Many of them live together or are married and don't see much of the outside world.
When I visited the church, I was bombarded with information. People wanted to show me films, suggested books to read and courses to take. The overwhelming amount of Scientology stuff made me dizzy, as if I was on another planet. Everybody was saying how great it was and how much it worked. At an event in honor of L. Ron Hubbard, the crowd went crazy when they showed images of their leader. "LRH", they cheered. LRH, for he was such a genius. LRH, L. Ron Hubbard abbreviated, was worshipped like he was God. LRH, it was a red flag moment for me. I was appalled by the zombie-like devotion. Did I really want to be cheering along next time?
If Scientology was all about understanding, then I had to check all sides. Some family members who were concerned about my sudden change in personality gave me some critical article clippings from the library. What I read was awful. Scientology was said to be a dangerous cult, a criminal organization that destroys people's lives. Okay, that was one side. I still gave Scientology the benefit of the doubt. I had to see for myself what was true about it.
I wanted to hear the staff members' opinion on the allegations. I wanted to hear why the articles were wrong. I was still taking courses, still more on Scientology's side than the side of their opponents. Yet it was the beginning of the end.
The information I got from the PR manager was not easy to verify and consisted mainly of insinuations regarding critics. According to Scientology, all critics were criminals, psychopaths, drug addicts, thieves or child abusers. Could this be true?
I remember going to a big café in the city, just to check out a new phenomenon called Internet. On this Internet system, some people had posted information that Scientology didn't want them to post. Oh, was I feeling like a spy! It took me an hour to download a single page and print it out. This was very interesting information indeed!
At the church, they repeated the same story over and over again. I began to see that I was being lied to. I began to see the fabrication. I also experienced their "Bull bait" technique, where a guy started attacking me out of the blue. He insulted me, called me names, said I was worthless, possibly a criminal, all this in a very aggressive way.
Was this all about freedom and communication? According to L. Ron Hubbard, there's false and real certainty. The difference is in how it is attained. If it's out of force, it's false. If it's out of free will, it's real. Thanks to the journalists and publicists who dared to question and research, I could find out for myself what I wanted, by seeing both sides.
I wanted out of Scientology. When I announced this, I was forced again. Forced to submit to an e-meter, which performs some sort of lie detector test, and forced to stay. Was I really so conceited that I thought there wasn't anything to improve anymore? Was I sure that I wasn't my own worst enemy?
I was certain of one thing: that I wanted to quit Scientology. Before my free will would be taken from me, I had to choose the best for me."

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• scientology
• church
• cult
• fraud
• concepts
• ideas
• abuse
• freedom
• internet
• scifag
• l.
• ron
• hubbard
• lrh
• cruise
• anonymous

[arj1981]

The video doesn't play all the way through.

[BurtBenz]

@arj1981 I hope that was temporary. It seems to work fine for me now..

[silentfades]

hey Burt thank you so very much for the series you have done

really appreciate your delivery and expirience you share so freely

Marc

[BurtBenz]

@silentfades Thank you, Marc! :-)

[Livkenbash]

I also like how you presented your case. I wish people from other "religions" could express themselves in this way. I think it would help a lot of people.

[BurtBenz]

Thanks for your comments! :-)

[up4itgal]

This is an excellent doc by you, thanks for being so brave.

[depresli]

good vid,thanks for the vid and the detail text

[Vesna333]

he sound like some one who is forced to speak like that...real victim feel real harm of cult activity ...much harder than this young man said.

[Vesna333]

video is ok border cult religion is not clear. CULt is different sort of social phenomena than is religion..some of tuday biggest religon are born in form of cult. Christianity was cult in Rome empire as evr ebody know.Modern cults are basiclly resulat of deprivated social life of many people and in not so rare situations when individual lose identity in his or her wish to got that necessary feeling that he&she belong somwhere.

.All best to all victims of brain woshing...that is thir method.

[bigrobnz]

I mean every day I"m getting stronger and they"re getting weaker and losing support fast. Soon they"ll be history and good riddance to them!

[jdtrickster4]

Thanks. :)

What do u mean by "It gets better all the time!?"  Care to elucidate?

[bigrobnz]

good on yer! I"ve been out for over 20 yrs!! It gets better all the time!

[appledore2]

Very well thought out and communicated in a way that can allow someone who has ever thought of joining, both sides and points of view. Light clears up the room.

well done.