What made you join Scientology?

[clearcat]

Just wondering - if it has not been put up here yet - What made you join Scientology?

For myself, I can say that I was looking for answers to understand, why people behave the way they do. I wanted to understand why my father was denying me, why he left and why he refused to communicate with me - his own child. And he wasn't even a Scientologist or declared SP...

I also wanted to understand why I felt what I felt when standing on a dear friends grave and still being connected to a dead person. Why people could have a feast after having a person covered underneath.

It took me years to discover Scientology, I stayed with it for over 11 years just to be disappointed in the end. But I got some answers, too. I learned how to cope with emotional distress, and also saw that I could not change the whole world which I would have loved to.

I learned that the schemes are the same, inside or outside Scientology. The least powerful are punished, and the most powerful live a life beyond a normal person's world at their cost...

What was your reason to join?

[thetanic]

I didn't actually care about the spiritual stuff. I was in it because I was shy, and I was afraid of doing poorly in college.

Then I got Life Repair, and it really really did help.

The f/ns were amazing. Nowadays, I know they're just endorphin rushes, but at the time they were magical.

What I didn't know for many years after I left Scn was that I had endorphin issues, so I'd naturally bond to endorphin highs.

Edited to add: "really did help" -- my life in general, but not college. Due to the time I was spending at the org, I flunked out.

[The Anabaptist Jacques]

The Aims of Scientology, specifically, a civilization without war. The Vietnam War was raging at the time. I thought the world was crazy. Scientology looked like a solution. It turned out to be more of the same.

The Anabaptist Jacques

[Free to shine]

I didn't have much choice, being second generation. That also made it difficult to leave, as it involved facing disconnection.

[clearcat]

The Aims of Scientology, specifically, a civilization without war. The Vietnam War was raging at the time. I thought the world was crazy. Scientology looked like a solution. It turned out to be more of the same.

The Anabaptist Jacques

Well it is on their flags to have "a world without war" isn't it? I thought so too, being the peace-loving person that I am, and then like many of us I learned it is not really what they aim for...

[clearcat]

I didn't have much choice, being second generation. That also made it difficult to leave, as it involved facing disconnection.

I totally understand that, and until you experience it you hardly believe it. I was not second generation but made the choice to join and hoping I would find my freedom (which I did not while being within...).

[EP - Ethics Particle]

I didn't have much choice, being second generation. That also made it difficult to leave, as it involved facing disconnection.

I'm quoting FTS here, because it is the complete antithesis of my story. Just as a random choice at a book kiosk I picked up DMSMH as only something to dispell boredom. Knew nothing about Hubbard, Dianetics or Scientology at that time. I was in my late 40's, stable and well educated. I have a lot of thoughts on this subject, but it will take many posts to get it all said; and, if you guys bear with me, over time, I'd sure like to hear what you think.:nervous: :yes:

EP

[Good twin]

It was 1975. I wanted to join a cult.:yes:
I was really pissed off when we started to go "mainstream".

[thetanic]

It was 1975. I wanted to join a cult.:yes:

Why did you want to join a cult?

That seems so bizarre.

(We joined moderately close in time, btw.)

[Good twin]

Why did you want to join a cult?

That seems so bizarre.

(We joined moderately close in time, btw.)

I was a sort of hippie dippie druggie chick. Wanted to join a cult and live in a commune. It almost worked.:yes:

[thetanic]

I was a sort of hippie dippie druggie chick. Wanted to join a cult and live in a commune. It almost worked.:yes:

My senior had been like that early on in his Scn days. He was out-qual for the SO because that was back in the days when you could drop acid and then go into session later the same day.

[EP - Ethics Particle]

My senior had been like that early on in his Scn days. He was out-qual for the SO because that was back in the days when you could drop acid and then go into session later the same day.

God! Stop it! Now I'm gettin' all nostalgic and griefy 'cause I did'n get sucked in till '90 +/-...:bigcry: I MISSED all the good parts...:nervous:

BTW - when did all that crap about masturbation start really rearing its ugly head? I didn't hear squat abot that "button" 'till after 2000 and it seemed to be "buttered all over the universe" then. Did I just luck out and overlook that venal sin :omg: ? :confused2:

Roy

[uncle sam]

As a catholic - I wanted as Jesus did to change water into wine-couldn't do it. As an OT-I wanted to be fully exterior with full perceptions and fly around the universe chasing evil-doers and make things go right for those in need-can't do it.

[nozeno]

.....it just fit perfectly where I was at the time. We were in the bottom of the seventh inning of the hippy era. I'd already done all the drugs I wanted to, done the commune thing, gave away all of my possessions and moved to the woods (don't try this kids, it's not all it's cracked up to be) attended many of the anti-war protests, did some things to avoid being sent to a war that I just didn't get.

Here was a group that claimed to have the answers to some spiritual questions I was wrestling with and they were paranoid, that is they thought "everyone" was against them, the US Guvmint in particular. So what more could a guy or a gal ask for?

When those crazy dudes from Villanova came a knockin' I said sign me up.

I've since recanted most of my radical views. I'm not nearly as radical as Zinj.

[GreyLensman]

It was 1975. I wanted to join a cult.:yes:
I was really pissed off when we started to go "mainstream".

Excellent. I was so looking forward to the tennis shoes and the koolaid...

[GreyLensman]

Excellent. I was so looking forward to the tennis shoes and the koolaid...

Or was it black boiler suits and bug juice? Now I'm confused...

[The Anabaptist Jacques]

When those crazy dudes from Villanova came a knockin' I said sign me up.

I've since recanted most of my radical views. I'm not nearly as radical as Zinj.

Three-fourths of those Wildcats are still in, right?

The Anabaptist Jacques

[uncle sam]

Three-fourths of those Wildcats are still in, right?

The Anabaptist Jacques

I think "Anabaptist" that you are correct about those Villanovans. It blows my mind to think of those still in - especially "Greg Wilhere"-he's in his late 50's- his parents were blue collar- not much of an inheritance - if any at all. He was a philosophy major-I can only guess that he found his answer "perennial penance". lol

[nozeno]

Three-fourths of those Wildcats are still in, right?

The Anabaptist Jacques

It's actually 3/5. But who am I to quibble over fractions?

One, you may not have known, had the audacity to leave quickly and follow a more traditional path by becoming a medical doctor.

[alex]

I had exteriorized with full perceptions doing zen meditation, and was curious and searching for ways to be able to live that way constantly.

(I now understand the reasons for having a body and living in the material, but still want the choice).

[Tanstaafl]

I had exteriorized with full perceptions doing zen meditation, and was curious and searching for ways to be able to live that way constantly.

(I now understand the reasons for having a body and living in the material, but still want the choice).

:ohmy:
Er, would you be so kind to pass on that wisdom to those of us less enlightened? :)

[alex]

:ohmy:
Er, would you be so kind to pass on that wisdom to those of us less enlightened? :)

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=4741

Targ gives "skills" in coping, Monroe gives reasons to....

It was quite something to have read these two books in close succession and in the receptive frame of mind.

I still feel that scientology has a place on the path, somewhere before the journey Monroe envisions.

alex

[Tanstaafl]

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=4741

Targ gives "skills" in coping, Monroe gives reasons to....

It was quite something to have read these two books in close succession and in the receptive frame of mind.

I still feel that scientology has a place on the path, somewhere before the journey Monroe envisions.

alex

Thanks Alex.
I read that book. I can't remember a damn thing about it other than it just didn't indicate to me. Each to his own. :)

If anyone mentions MUs, expect to cop some verbal abuse. :grouch:
Whether you're right or not has nothing to do with it.

[gomorrhan]

Well, I was going to write up a whole cramming order, but I guess I won't.

[Tanstaafl]

Well, I was going to write up a whole cramming order, but I guess I won't.

Good. Then I won't need to cram that cramming order.............(you see where I'm going with this). :D

[GreyLensman]

The happy, shiny people.

Really. There was a core of caring that worked for me. Once I had joined (mission) staff I found that caring still present.

Gone completely 19 years later.

[paradox]

Summer 1975. On summer break from my 2nd year at SIU (Southern Illinois U). Was taking an interim painting class in my small home town. The instructor sold me a copy of DMSMH on the last day of class (out of the trunk of his car where he had a stash). Turned out he was an FSM. He called me 1 or 2 days later and conned, I mean, talked me into taking a trip to the STL org where I did a personality test and signed up for the comm course. Never looked back, tho' should have been looking over my shoulder. Joined staff straight off the comm course. SO a month or two later. DMSMH did it for me. I was young (25), directionless, purposeless, and confused about life. Gullible, naive, and little life experience. And had loved Star Trek in high school, and Outer Limits and Twilight Zone before that. No need to say more.

[nexus100]

Summer 1975. On summer break from my 2nd year at SIU (Southern Illinois U). Was taking an interim painting class in my small home town. The instructor sold me a copy of DMSMH on the last day of class (out of the trunk of his car where he had a stash). Turned out he was an FSM. He called me 1 or 2 days later and conned, I mean, talked me into taking a trip to the STL org where I did a personality test and signed up for the comm course. Never looked back, tho' should have been looking over my shoulder. Joined staff straight off the comm course. SO a month or two later. DMSMH did it for me. I was young (25), directionless, purposeless, and confused about life. Gullible, naive, and little life experience. And had loved Star Trek in high school, and Outer Limits and Twilight Zone before that. No need to say more.

Except for a few details that was me.

[GreyLensman]

Except for a few details that was me.

Not too far off for me either. I got chills on my neck.

[Good twin]

Yep 1975 was a good year for Scientology. :yes:

[GreyLensman]

Yep 1975 was a good year for Scientology. :yes:

so was 1977...

[alex]

Thanks Alex.
I read that book. I can't remember a damn thing about it other than it just didn't indicate to me. Each to his own. :)

If anyone mentions MUs, expect to cop some verbal abuse. :grouch:
Whether you're right or not has nothing to do with it.

Monroe accidentally came to be able to exteriorize, found that he could communicate with others also out, and in the end realized that life was a learning experience or a experience collecting effort so as to have something to bring back to the more collective experience of beings as pieces of god, reuniting.

His institute trains people to exteriorize and explore and if they wish help others in the out of body state. He is reputed to "hang out" in several of the levels of consciousness available with his training.

Interesting model, his.

alex (who read dianetics and cogged in 1975...)

[nozeno]

I had exteriorized with full perceptions doing zen meditation, and was curious and searching for ways to be able to live that way constantly.

(I now understand the reasons for having a body and living in the material, but still want the choice).

I did that once while getting laid. I have since determined that it was my brain responding to chemicals introduced earlier in the day. She wasn't nearly as attractive from a viewpoint 8 feet above the bed. * see edit

It was kind of neat though. It was like one of those rides at Disney. :thumbsup:

[ThisIsIt]

Yep 1975 was a good year for Scientology. :yes:

:wow:

That was my year too. Needed something at that time, and it fit.

:yes:

[Good twin]

:wow:

That was my year too. Needed something at that time, and it fit.

:yes:

I hear "Twilight Zone" music........:unsure:

[paradox]

... and my television seems to be acting up. Can't control the vertical. Can't control the horizontal. And was' up with that Indian pattern!?

[Good twin]

... and my television seems to be acting up. Can't control the vertical. Can't control the horizontal. And was' up with that Indian pattern!?

Kinda like your avatar Paradox.:eyeroll:

[paradox]

Kinda like your avatar Paradox.:eyeroll:

Touché. And I'm sober, too. :wink2:

[Zinjifar]

The happy, shiny people.

Really. There was a core of caring that worked for me. Once I had joined (mission) staff I found that caring still present.

Gone completely 19 years later.

And, I think the reason for that is that the core of caring was never actually part of Scientology, and, in fact, was anathema to the core precepts and doctines as created by Ron.

It was however, what the *people* brought in to Scientology with them, and, it's what could survive, because, at the beginning and, up through the 60s, the Scientology 'movement' was more about the people attracted to it and the values they brought to it than about the totalitarian and selfish core of Scientology.

By the 70s the 'organization' had managed to wrest 'control' of the movement from the overwhelmingly well-intentioned body and now, as the human skin sloughs off, what remains is what Scientology actually is; no longer disguised by the 'wog' values that the membership brought to it.

Zinj

[thetanic]

Zinj, I think it depends on where you were staff, too. I heard about a few horrors while I was in, but the people I saw cared. That said, they were too busy to show it as much as they might have liked to.

Also, I think the further one was away from int, the less extreme the badness was. In all the time I was in, the worst things I've seen were, at most, 1% of what Jeff Hawkins mentioned.

I also think one of the differences was auditing. When you've been audited by someone, or you've audited them, there's a deep trust and caring bond that's there.

If you're just PCs in a waiting room together, or you're working on the phone lines in Div 6, there's not the same level of trust.

So the switch away from the emphasis on co-auditing to that of buying your bridge also changed things. Maybe that's part of what you were referring to, though.

[paradox]

And, I think the reason for that is that the core of caring was never actually part of Scientology, and, in fact, was anathema to the core precepts and doctines as created by Ron.

It was however, what the *people* brought in to Scientology with them, and, it's what could survive, because, at the beginning and, up through the 60s, the Scientology 'movement' was more about the people attracted to it and the values they brought to it than about the totalitarian and selfish core of Scientology.

By the 70s the 'organization' had managed to wrest 'control' of the movement from the overwhelmingly well-intentioned body and now, as the human skin sloughs off, what remains is what Scientology actually is; no longer disguised by the 'wog' values that the membership brought to it.

Zinj



This is why $cn and any similar cookie-cutter type, idealized and organized philosophy will always be an utter real world failure. Which I think also accounts for much of the apparent cognitive dissonance I read and hear from those ex-cof$ $cn's such as certain freezerzoners remaining loyal to the idealism of the philosophy and cookie-cutter type (but individualized!) one-size-fits-all technology, as if it could really bring about the organized utopia envisioned.

[Tanstaafl]

Monroe accidentally came to be able to exteriorize, found that he could communicate with others also out, and in the end realized that life was a learning experience or a experience collecting effort so as to have something to bring back to the more collective experience of beings as pieces of god, reuniting.

His institute trains people to exteriorize and explore and if they wish help others in the out of body state. He is reputed to "hang out" in several of the levels of consciousness available with his training.

Interesting model, his.

alex (who read dianetics and cogged in 1975...)

Thanks for that Alex.

An "experience-collecting effort"...:hmm:...interesting.
I've had a couple of very brief personal experiences when it seemed I was tapping into something like that - or the awareness of it. It felt more like an experiment than anything else.

I strongly believe that we operate at a number of levels of awareness simultaneously - different viewpoints which are all extended from a static.
The nearer the coal-face one is the less fun life can be, the less direction from above can be given (because other-determinism factors like "case" interfere), the more fixed the viewpoint, etc. The trick is to be aware of all these levels simultaneously.

Since we're on the subject, I'd like to take this opportunity to send a message to my higher-self - pull your bloody finger out you bastard! :grouch:
It's alright for you up there, invulnerable, watching all in a state of serene curiousity. Try living in my shoes for a day you bastard! Now give me some fucking help, or else!!! :angry: :eyeroll:

You just can't get the staff these days. :melodramatic:

[Iknowtoomuch]

I was pretty much born into it....:confused2:

[Tanstaafl]

I was pretty much born into it....:confused2:

That's tough, but at least you've got an excuse! :eyeroll: :)

[Iknowtoomuch]

That's tough, but at least you've got an excuse! :eyeroll: :)



According to Scientology, I picked that family. :duh:





:D

[Zinjifar]

According to Scientology, I picked that family. :duh:





:D

But, you 'pulled in' getting out.

congratulations

Zinj

[Iknowtoomuch]

But, you 'pulled in' getting out.

congratulations

Zinj



:laugh: Zing!!
Good one.

But yes.:clap:

[Free to shine]

:laugh: Zing!!
Good one.

But yes.:clap:

Isn't Zinj clever? :clap:
I'm in much the same boat IKTM, I know it has unique problems. Glad you are here.

[Iknowtoomuch]

Isn't Zinj clever? :clap:
I'm in much the same boat IKTM, I know it has unique problems. Glad you are here.


Thanks.
Glad to be here.
Yes it's an interesting angle to have been born into it all isn't it!

[Tanstaafl]

According to Scientology, I picked that family. :duh:





:D

Ain't bad karma a bitch?! :D

Pat yourself on the back for getting out.

[Pixie]

What was your reason to join?

I wanted to get off drugs. I had read Dianetics and wanted to handle my childhood traumas.

[EP - Ethics Particle]

I wanted to get off drugs. I had read Dianetics and wanted to handle my childhood traumas.

Just wonderin' Pix...

Dianetics was the entry portal for me too. I'm curious whether the copy you had contained a bunch of glowing testimonials reportedly from "fighter pilots" yada yada...? That type of propaganda, now as I think back on it, had a pretty big effect on me! :omg: I was "buying in" even then - before I even knew any "orgs" existed at all!? :omg: :duh:

EP

[Pixie]

Just wonderin' Pix...

Dianetics was the entry portal for me too. I'm curious whether the copy you had contained a bunch of glowing testimonials reportedly from "fighter pilots" yada yada...? That type of propaganda, now as I think back on it, had a pretty big effect on me! :omg: I was "buying in" even then - before I even knew any "orgs" existed at all!? :omg: :duh:

EP

No, I don't care about testimonials, anyone can put one of those in a book or on a website. It was when he talked about the unborn child hearing what was said before he or she was born. I had suffered nightmares my whole life about being trapped in a lift and someone on the outside putting needles in.. I'll not get into it here it's a bit sickening, but that was part of it yes, at the time, I thought Dianetics was one of the best books I'd ever read. It was where I was at at the time.

[Boldgirl]

I was impressed by the admin tech after being attracted to a simple seminar to help me with my business. (unknown to me it was a front group)

Of course, people there were so interested in talking to me, so nice to me, and having just entered a new scary phase of life now in business without a 'group/employer' to bounce things off of....they became my new best friends.

After enjoying some courses and seeing that I learned so much that I agreed with....when they discussed auditing with me....they had me at 'hello'.

All the while even with the admin courses and the life repair I still didn't think I was doing 'scn', I had no connection that I was 'being a scn' for quite some time. In my mind I was just taking classes and learning about myself in auditing.

It was all so insidious ! (operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect). I love this word 'insidious' to describe scn-the meaning fits the whole scheme to a 't'.

So, I don't ever really feel that I 'joined' scn ....it just sort of sucked me in slowly. Then they would start referring to me as a scientologist and hearing that enough times I thought--'ok well yeah-I must be if I am using the admin tech'.

After using the admin tech over and over and seeing so many holes and areas that did NOT work as it said it should, I stopped using most of it only after having pissed some people off, hurt the business and the morale. I started thinking on my own to debug when things weren't going so well, and then the business did great! Wow, scn admin tech doesnt work but my own mind does!!! whew.

So by auditing 'gains-I mean endorphin' releases and admin tech not working --well it made me wake up slowly and it made me push myself to think for myself again.

SCN has this uncanny ability to give you just enough of a perception of 'gains' to keep going, yet it all turned out to be short lived and temporary......for me at least.

The 'crash' from not auditing has been harder to overcome than I thought as it had become an addiction-I now believe a 'physical addiction'. I do wonder seriously if being depressed today is a byproduct of not just the damaging effects of the processes but also withdrawal from the endorphin highs.

[FinallyMe]

While I was having lunch at a restaurant shortly after arriving in LA, couple of guys approached me and a friend and told us to go to Celebrity Center if we wanted to see movie stars. Went to the grody CC on 8th Street where Hector Carmine found my ruin -- he really did -- I needed to find out how to become the person that my husband would not beat up, and how to become the person he and his friends would like. The answer was the Comm Course. I felt I found people who accepted me and a place where I belonged. Three days after starting, I told my husband I wanted a divorce. Side note -- the friend that I was having lunch with and who started the Comm Course with me was Megan McDonough - a WONDERFUL singer who is still performing - I think they call themselves Bitchin Babes or something like that. She couldn't take Robert F. Lyons and Nancy (Locke, I think) as our supervisors -- too robotic, so she quit the course. At least it got me out of a very abusive marriage, and gave me some instant friends, which I did not have when we moved here.

[Wisened One]

I joined $cn because I was into being a powerful OT, more than just a mere human being.....

Then I joined Staff...because not only was I told it was a way to work for your Bridge (and that you'd go all the way up it and potentially faster)...but I sincerely loved to help people....especially in such a deep way.....

Then I woke up to find it all a sham.....:no:

[Aliceinwonderland]

I joined cuz someone told me that if I took this course (the Comm Course) that my husband and I would get along better. We fought everyday.

Scn sure helped me!! Within 3 months, I met someone else and left him. :D

L

[Mojo]

Just wondering - if it has not been put up here yet - What made you join Scientology?



What was your reason to join?

An unconscious/subconscious desire to become an ex-scientologist. Literally.

How else could I have made such strides in fulfilling Rons stated aims?

Mojo

[Boldgirl]

I joined scientology because I forgot to forget it didnt work last lifetime either.

[GreyLensman]

I joined scientology because I forgot to forget it didnt work last lifetime either.

I joined because I did remember.

[Boldgirl]

I joined because I did remember.

aahhh.....yes.......good point...........I forgot.