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Here are some things I spent time on after leaving Scientology

Lynn Fountain Campbell

Silver Meritorious Patron
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Assuming you have a way to make a living, work will fill up a major portion of your time. If you don’t – if, say, because of leaving Scientology, you lost your job because you were working for a Scientologist, that’s a different story – which we’ll go into another time.

It’s hard to replace the vital sense of purpose you have, when you’re convinced you’re saving the world, as you are when you’re in Scientology. At the beginning of every Scientology course is a policy you have to read, called “Keeping Scientology Working.” It tells you that Scientology is mankind’s only hope. And it delivers that message over and over, every time you take another course.

They just keep repeating it until you believe it. As a consequence, many people – once they get out – feel a sense of loss, when they no longer have something to do that’s as important as saving the world. They’ve lost their purpose in life.

Losing one’s religion can be a serious thing....

(read more)
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
yoga-class-750x420.jpg


Assuming you have a way to make a living, work will fill up a major portion of your time. If you don’t – if, say, because of leaving Scientology, you lost your job because you were working for a Scientologist, that’s a different story – which we’ll go into another time.

It’s hard to replace the vital sense of purpose you have, when you’re convinced you’re saving the world, as you are when you’re in Scientology. At the beginning of every Scientology course is a policy you have to read, called “Keeping Scientology Working.” It tells you that Scientology is mankind’s only hope. And it delivers that message over and over, every time you take another course.

They just keep repeating it until you believe it. As a consequence, many people – once they get out – feel a sense of loss, when they no longer have something to do that’s as important as saving the world. They’ve lost their purpose in life.

Losing one’s religion can be a serious thing....

(read more)
What you say doesn't only apply to scientology I found. When I had to move into a smaller flat there was a lot of stuff I had to part company with including an Atari 1040 STe and hi-res monitor which went into the skip and is now worth loads of money, but the hardest thing of all to part company with were my wing-collar shirts, bow ties and tuxedos that I'd worn all through my career in the gaming industry. My whole identity was wrapped up in those garments and I was astonished at how much of a wrench it was to have to throw them away; it was like painfully shedding old skin like a snake.

Thankfully I went to college and assumed a new identity as a computer programmer, but it raises a interesting questions about who we are and how we define ourselves. Oh dear, my head's hurting - far too early in the morning for all that, I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee yet. :biggrin:
 

Lynn Fountain Campbell

Silver Meritorious Patron
What you say doesn't only apply to scientology I found. When I had to move into a smaller flat there was a lot of stuff I had to part company with including an Atari 1040 STe and hi-res monitor which went into the skip and is now worth loads of money, but the hardest thing of all to part company with were my wing-collar shirts, bow ties and tuxedos that I'd worn all through my career in the gaming industry. My whole identity was wrapped up in those garments and I was astonished at how much of a wrench it was to have to throw them away; it was like painfully shedding old skin like a snake.

Thankfully I went to college and assumed a new identity as a computer programmer, but it raises a interesting questions about who we are and how we define ourselves. Oh dear, my head's hurting - far too early in the morning for all that, I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee yet. :biggrin:
Starting over is hard, any way you look at it. I admire anyone resilient enough to reinvent themselves. :rose:
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
Starting over is hard, any way you look at it. I admire anyone resilient enough to reinvent themselves. :rose:
I've had to do it several times in my life (reinvent myself) as I'm sure many here have. In my case it was usually when my back has been against the wall in a sink or swim situation, and since I never liked the idea of sinking I found the wherewithal to make a new start. A friend once described me as resourceful, but really it was fear that drove me.
 

Wilbur

Patron Meritorious
What you say doesn't only apply to scientology I found. When I had to move into a smaller flat there was a lot of stuff I had to part company with including an Atari 1040 STe and hi-res monitor which went into the skip and is now worth loads of money, but the hardest thing of all to part company with were my wing-collar shirts, bow ties and tuxedos that I'd worn all through my career in the gaming industry. My whole identity was wrapped up in those garments and I was astonished at how much of a wrench it was to have to throw them away; it was like painfully shedding old skin like a snake.

Thankfully I went to college and assumed a new identity as a computer programmer, but it raises a interesting questions about who we are and how we define ourselves. Oh dear, my head's hurting - far too early in the morning for all that, I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee yet. :biggrin:
Yeah, that's one thing I've learned also - that it's important to be able to slip into new identities and discard old ones. Funnily enough, I think Hubbard was right when he said that your ABILITY was far more important than wealth or current income or whatever. There are so many little nuggets of wisdom like that in Scientology. I think that's why people get stuck to it. They look at the way Scientology is ACTUALLY operated and then they think "yeah, but there's so much wisdom in the books". And indeed there is. I was never in the Sea Org, but I did work alongside them for a time, and I found that the attitude of "make it go right" and the willingness to get a job done, even if it means staying up into the small hours now and then, were useful life lessons that I have profited from using. And yet, if you stay in the church, it does anything BUT profit you.

I think those who try to say that there's nothing of value in Scientology put themselves in a situation in which they cannot explain the grip that it has on people. In my view, people don't get hooked on Scientology because they have been hypnotised. They get hooked on it because there is a sufficient amount of truth in it to attract a person's attention, and then charm them. I tried and then discarded several other 'ologies' before Scientology. They employed essentially the same methods as Scientology to get people in (if, perhaps, less aggressively). The difference was that it didn't take long to realise that the subjects were hollow.

Scientology is not hollow. That's what makes it so pernicious when the organisation doesn't take responsibility for what it is doing to people.
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
Yeah, that's one thing I've learned also - that it's important to be able to slip into new identities and discard old ones. Funnily enough, I think Hubbard was right when he said that your ABILITY was far more important than wealth or current income or whatever. There are so many little nuggets of wisdom like that in Scientology. I think that's why people get stuck to it. They look at the way Scientology is ACTUALLY operated and then they think "yeah, but there's so much wisdom in the books". And indeed there is. I was never in the Sea Org, but I did work alongside them for a time, and I found that the attitude of "make it go right" and the willingness to get a job done, even if it means staying up into the small hours now and then, were useful life lessons that I have profited from using. And yet, if you stay in the church, it does anything BUT profit you.

I think those who try to say that there's nothing of value in Scientology put themselves in a situation in which they cannot explain the grip that it has on people. In my view, people don't get hooked on Scientology because they have been hypnotised. They get hooked on it because there is a sufficient amount of truth in it to attract a person's attention, and then charm them. I tried and then discarded several other 'ologies' before Scientology. They employed essentially the same methods as Scientology to get people in (if, perhaps, less aggressively). The difference was that it didn't take long to realise that the subjects were hollow.

Scientology is not hollow. That's what makes it so pernicious when the organisation doesn't take responsibility for what it is doing to people.
That's a very interesting take on the RPF! I've read all sorts of horror stories about it here on esmb and it has obviously morphed into something completely different from the RPF I was on at Saint Hill back in the early seventies. I don't know whether it was that we thought we had something to prove, but we certainly got things done alright and earned a reputation for being effective and 'upstat' (ugh - that horrible scn term) as opposed to being regarded as a bunch of DB's and stat-crashers.

I rather enjoyed my spell on the RPF. It lasted for about eight months and it was a blessing in disguise to get away from the relentless pressure of being a regular Sea Org member. I especially liked being RPF bosun since I could indulge my lust for power (lol). I got the most comfortable bed to sleep in, had first pickings of whatever food there was around and generally enjoyed ruling the roost.

I was so well rehabilitated that as soon as I 'graduated' I left the Sea Org and scientology for good. :biggrin:
 

Gib

Crusader
"I was so well rehabilitated that as soon as I 'graduated' I left the Sea Org and scientology for good. :biggrin:

You sound like Andy:

 

Gib

Crusader
once somebody falls for hubbard's words of wisdom, they can become institutionalized. Andy's escape.
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
"I was so well rehabilitated that as soon as I 'graduated' I left the Sea Org and scientology for good. :biggrin:

You sound like Andy:
Well, I was simply being my sarcastic self.

I wasn't in a position of any great importance in the SO, but I can get very indignant if I feel people are taking the piss, and that's what I felt due to the way I was treated, especially keeping me and my lovely new wife apart, so at the first opportunity, I walked (or rather drove). I don't know if I realised at the time that it was final and I would never go back. As most of us know, it isn't that easy purging your mind of the indoctrination you are subjected to when you are in, but that's how it turned out.
 

Gib

Crusader
Well, I was simply being my sarcastic self.

I wasn't in a position of any great importance in the SO, but I can get very indignant if I feel people are taking the piss, and that's what I felt due to the way I was treated, especially keeping me and my lovely new wife apart, so at the first opportunity, I walked (or rather drove). I don't know if I realised at the time that it was final and I would never go back. As most of us know, it isn't that easy purging your mind of the indoctrination you are subjected to when you are in, but that's how it turned out.
yah, I know. Don't know if you seen the movie, Andy didn't want to be institutionalized so he finally escaped.
 

Gib

Crusader
If it's all just rhetoric then the e-meter pinch test would not ever work.

(BTW, I am not saying that I agree with DMSMH.)
the pinch test is convincing that there is something true, but the use of the e-meter has never produced a clear or OT.
 
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