28 thoughts on “Scientology is a Trap”

  1. Wise words, and well done you.

    That post on Back In Com is a bit of a worry. On the surface, it seems to credit magical thinking.  The author suggests that his having left the cult and then enduring a loss of income is due solely to Solo NOTS Scientologists practising “black dianetics”.  In essence, Dr Mac appears to believe that Scientology has the power to directly interfere with ex-Scientologists’ personal financial situations using Auditing only.  A more experienced “spectator”, I suggest, will recognise the post for what it really is: a threat.  Basically, Dr Mac is attempting to tell the audience that unless a person gets back on the cans after leaving Scientology, they are at risk of having their “case” interfered with by people who are intent on hurting them.  

    It gives me the shivers when I see this sort of exploitative manipulation being played out in the ex-cult community. Those still thinking with Scientology are, alas, succulent pickings for this sort of chicanery.

  3. It is hard to get out of the trap of thinking with scn, just the other day I encountered someone who was speaking very quietly, my first thought – “they could do with some TR’s” – Arrggh! I think the point is that the reason we got into scn in the first place was to get answers, we still need help and answers to life’s problems but scn is just another false hope, what little it can offer is not worth the world of trouble it brings with it.

    • Gimpy wrote:

      …”what little it can offer is not worth the world of trouble it brings with it.”

      Very good point.

      TRs were good for me, especially TR2 and TR 2.5. They taught me to listen and really try to understand what a person was attempting to tell me. It took years, but the TRs finally got through to me and they improved my life immensely.

      I don’t think anyone will ever really understand what improvements Scientology made in my life – especially someone who has never done Scientology or anything like it. I have friends who have never ever done anything spiritual at all trying to tell me how stupid I was for ever getting myself involved in Scientology, and for still even mentioning it today. As an ex still trying to get myself out of Scientology, I used to agree with them.

      Then I began looking at the people who I was agreeing with about how stupid and bad Scientology was, and how stupid and brainwashed I was for ever doing anything in it at all: We disagree on just about everything spiritual.

      So now I find myself where I was when I first got started in Scientology – fleeing material reductionism in search of a spiritual aesthetic in my life.

      This time a little wiser, but I am finding that I am still the same guy after Scientology as I was before it.

      Believe it or not, that’s progress.

      Alanzo

  4. Crepuscule and Gimpy are wise

    Since I started browsing around the scio blogs I see many like the them and that makes me feel good.

    Imo scio delivered as scio in any form is worthless. Impossible to deliver it without indoctrination and programming. Any truth within is separate from the subject as a whole.

    The fast track to ultimate truth-hood remains to be revealed. (see Alonzo, I remember your quips)

    Alonzo – I was flippant about recovery in some earlier comments. My only excuse is that being out of scio for 30 years I didn’t realize how vicious the beast had become.

  5. Alonzo

    What the hell is “material reductionism”? Never heard that one in college.

    Anyhow, since I don’t know how to clip and paste yet, referring to “So now I find myself ……in search of a spiritual aesthetic in life.” I may be reading too much into it, but I hope you you were just being modest and really meant “searching for and finding spiritual aesthetics in my life.” or some such. You certainly deserve that bro. I can’t tell from your bio when you stood up and were counted but you are here now with your blog helping myself and others.

    Along that line, you were surprised about anybody reading your stuff on Marty’s blog. I landed on his blog first simply because of the hbo doc. There was plenty enough there to stayed buried there for a couple weeks as time allowed. To you and your peers its old stuff now, but to me as a “newbie” taking
    a look at my scio experience it was fascinating and thought provoking.

    I am experiencing an increased sense of my own humanity now and for that I am grateful.

    It’s getting late so I’ll shut up before I start babbling. lol Thanks again Alonzo

    • “Material reductionism” is a term I made up. Don’t you like it?

      It means reducing everything down to its material components, with nothing spiritual anywhere. I’m thinking of going out on the road with it. Like a big tent revival or something. I’ll bet I make more money at “Material Reductionism” than I ever did on staff trying to sell Scientology.

      And yes, I do seek and find spiritual aesthetics daily. I just like to make things more dramatic. They never let me dramatize the way I always wanted to in Scientology, so now I am splurging on it.

      Thanks for all your communication, “Clear?#?” (If that’s your real name). I don’t always have enough time to answer every one of them, but I do read and appreciate all of them. AlanzosBlog doesn’t get the commenting like a Mike Rinder or a Tony Ortega blog (thank god), but we do get a large portion of the lurking community. (You know who you are)

      Alanzo

  6. Alonzo

    With your way of thinking I’m surprised you didn’t get comm eved out the first month. I’ll bet half of your f/n s were because you were thinking of something else.

    My parents used to call me Richard until I went nuts in scio and they stopped talking to me. Big arc x for me so I started anew by picking a new name. “Clear” because somebody told me I was a “Dianetic Clear” and Clear had nice ring to it. The ? because I still don’t understand what that means (must need more word clearing) and the #? because I just can’t recall it even though they told me it was important. I hope it was something really cool like 8008. I wanted to shorten my name here to just “Clear?” like a nickname but the web site wouldn’t let me do it. Oh well. I’m persistent and I’ll try again sometime. I’m better than some old website.

    I have a pretty big back yard so when you get to New Jersey you’re welcome to set your tent up here, but I do want a cut of the money.

    Best,

    Clear? aka Richard

     

  7. Alonzo

    I understand that you are much busier than I. Just respond to any of my annoyance you see fit at your leisure.

    I am starting to enjoy blogging. I’ll get a “how to” book and get up to speed on the terminology and procedures. If you have a good reference please let me know.

    You mentioned something about a “lurking community”? Well . . .

    “Hello. My name is Richard and I’m a Recovered Scientologist.”

    “HELLO RICHARD”

    • LOL!

      See, when you don’t get as much internet comments as the other guys, you can always claim to have more lurkers. So it’s good to always “play to the lurker crowd” rhetorically and stylistically.

      Like the 10 million Scientologists figure, it sounds incredibly impressive.

      So Alanzo is The Lurker’s Blogger and AlanzosBlog is the LurkersBlog.

      Alanzo

  8.  

    Huh?? “The Lurker’s Blogger”? I’m quite proficient at scientologese, alonzoese still rudimentary. I’ll get back to it later.

    I’m learning more about you from browsing your blog. I’m working on a short bio of myself which I’ll send to you soon. It will certainly raise your level of truth-hood.  🙂

  9. OK

    You had me stuck here for a while. Now I note the caps. So “blogger” refers to anyone who frequents blogs, and thus . . . .   Now I get it (I think, maybe). I’ve never claimed to be smarter than you anyhow.

  10. Let’s see if I have this right. You have created a lurker’s blog so that you yourself may lurk on it?

    Well LOL back at you! Your unrelenting wit continues to amaze me.

  11. Hi Alonzo

    Here is bit of my scio history. Before I begin I want to thank you for acknowledging some of my comments you thought were worthwhile. I was quite full of myself for awhile , but I believe I’ve returned to normal size. Also thanks for allowing me to poop out some stupidities. I find it very therapeutic. I hope there are no lingering odors.

    I graduated from college in ’69 and moved to NYC where I read a pamphlet about scio which I found interesting. A year later with long hair I started hitching toward California because I wanted to learn how to surf. I got as far as Salt Lake City. Parts of SLC were pretty hip back then. You could sit on the porch smoking pot and people just thought you smoking a cigarette. SLC is a beautiful city and sits at the edge of the Rocky Mountains which were a great place to get stoned.

    I got into scio at the SLC mission about two years later. I was feeling intellectually stagnant since I hadn’t read a book in two years.  Scio= “a study of the human mind” Wow. I’m in. After doing some training and auditing there I moved to LA for more training at the LA org.

    Over the next several years I alternated between mission work and outside work as a painting contractor. As I recall, there were no hard and fast contracts with the missions and the one org I worked at back then. I could come and go with the understanding that I would throw all the money I made in the shitter for more training, which I did.

    I type slow and think slower so I’m taking a break.

    • I think this is important history for people to know.

      Hubbard’s fanatical and paramilitary wing of Scientology, the Sea Organization, was only a few years old then, and so Hubbard had not been able to get it in CONTROL of any orgs except the Apollo.

      Do please keep telling your story. Smoking pot in Salt Lake City at the foot of the Rockies sounds awesome!

      My mind is, like, totally expanding. 🙂

      Alanzo

  12. Lol- Ultimate truth-hood in sight

    I returned to the LA org at some time and was co-auditing on the grades when the dianetic drug rundown came out. It was prioritized and I was pulled off the grades to do it. The purif was optional so I didn’t have to go through that nonsense. I “went dianetic clear” and shortly thereafter the second round of price increases began and I blew with scads of others in LA. I guess that’s now referred to as the David Mayo era or the first Indie Movement or some such.

    I believe my feeling about it was that I would really like to do the ot levels but these people are nuts with their price increases. So much for clearing a planet.

    I lost a few friends by disconnection. I was surprised but not emotionally damaged. Being single I lost no family and just as many friends and aquaintences had also blown. Myself and some others joined a “blown scios” (lol) discussion group. A lot of those were springing up. We discussed other practices and were listening to channeling tapes which became popular with (I believe) with some other groups. I recall listening to a channeling tape where a “DR. PEEBLES” entity was being grilled by some blown scios to find out if he thought ot3 was real or not! He hedged and wouldn’t commit. lol

    My doggie wants attention and dinner time is near so I’ll get back later.

     

  13. Back to the above for a minute

    I found Dr. Peebles to be a pretty cool dude. Of all the channeling entities we listened to I liked him the best. He had a lot of insight and was trying to help people simmer down and relax a bit.

    I said he hedged, but what he actually said was “Well that is one of several possibilities and . . . .”. When I look at it now that was the right approach.

    Thinking back I remember the frustration in the voices of some of the scns talking to him. They just wanted to know “IS IT REAL OR NOT.”

  14. Our group actually worked on a practice for a few weeks until the leaders of the group, a woman and her husband, decided “It didn’t work”. We all pretty much agreed, and soon after the group disbanded which was sad since we were having fun.

    The ot stuff was still considered too dangerous to reveal at that time, although whispers were getting out. Of course at that time there was nowhere to look for it. If someone had shown it to me back then I probably would have been afraid to look!

    So that was the end of my scn experience and I went off to living life. And now, god-bless-me, here I am in Scientology Recovery! Can’t wait to get my 30 day chip.

    Any questions, please ask.

    Clear? aka Richard

     

  15. A clarification note to the above

    The Dr. Peebles tape was edited, so I assume it was a group of OTs in the room with him and they edited out the OT material specifics.

  16. Jeez A Christo

    I took a quick look at the BackinCommBlog. August 2015 and some people are still trying to make GOOD OLD LRH TECH work! Stephen King sells a lot of books because people LOVE fantasy.

    Crepuscule looks at the post at backincomm as a bit serious, but halloween is coming up and ghosts and goblins are fun.

  18. P.S. Alonzo

    You have been addressing the Scientology Problem for years while I’m here for a month! Please forgive me if I’m stating the obvious here and there. This shit is all brand new to me and I gotta watch out for data overload!

  19. I realize I was judgmental above. The backincomm folks have every right to have their opinions and beliefs respected. I do still reserve the right to note human folly where I see fit!

    I revisited the backincomm blog. I skimmed over the comments but didn’t want to get into the “debates” in depth.

    Theta Clear has said things elsewhere on your blog which impacted me greatly. At the backincomm blog he respected everyone’s opinions and his (permanent) departure from the blog site statement at the end was kind and wonderful.

    I now view the current scn scene as having three camps. You’re IN (cos) You’re OUT (it doesn’t work) You’re IN BETWEEN (uncommitted or practicing scn, as such, in some form)

    I know where I stand. If anyone thinks they can rework scn into anything useful, I would simply suggest they go read Theta Clear at the above mentioned website.

  20. OK – That was serious. Now back to humor.

    Someone at the backincomm blog made the “mistake” of asking Theta Clear what “processes” etc. he had tried. He kindly responded with about 10 PAGES of every Scientology “process” and Scientology approach known to god and man!!

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