xseaorguk
Patron Meritorious
While in the cult I remember looking at Amway products and once even went to one of their big meetings where people received awards etc.
I found it somehow similar to the cult of $cientology, as I was also surrounded by smiling people telling me how wonderful it all was.
I realize now what the similarites are.
They are both pyramid schemes concentrating on getting people to become salesmen (in Scn its staff), then you are convinced how great the products are and how its gonna change your life, and that there are NO other better products in the whole wide world etc. (its like that with the books in Scn.)
At the meetings in Amway people are 'lovebombed' with success stories and how people are changing their lives for the better.
They hold speeches at theh front of the event.(as in Scn)
I found the events at Amway a wonderful hype, but I experienced the same effect at Scn. events.
People clapping and a standing ovation at the end too.
But when I got home from the Amway event I realized it still meant I had to contact friends and family to convince them how brilliant this certain type of washing powder or bathroom cleaner was, and of course better than anything else.
That it was about 10 times as expensive was another matter.
For sure it was going to change your life.
So, what do you do?
You end up buying tons of different products from your advisor above you on the ladder in Amway, then you have a small room in your house/Apptmnt full of such 'wonderful' products.
Its seems funny that most people end up with the all of products they started out with even years later.
So, they didnt get far, maybe sold a few items to friends and relatives, who couldnt hear the word Amway any more after several months.
This for me is where it is similar to Scn.
You are told in the beginning people are given tools in the form of courses for bettering their lives, their work conditions etc.
OK, so you start out on a few inexpensive courses.
Learn some practical things about life.
The usual step after that is that you will be asked about maybe joining staff, either under the pretense of then getting your 'Studying' FREE, and maybe of also going up the bridge FREE.......
Most people I know who had anything to do with Scn. have had this experience.
You are also given a guilty conscience for NOT being on staff or in the Sea Org, as it is of course in their eyes the most wonderful thing to do with your life, and how could you have wins and NOT want to join staff??
But this is how the pyramid scheme works.
In Amway you are trying to get people to sell products too, so you can sponsor them and get more points yourself.
You're not concentrating so much on actually selling the stuff, as its more profitable to get new people in.
Thats how $cientology does it too.
While I got conned into joinnig the Sea Org years ago and elderly lady of about 62-65 yrs, who had successfully worked as an FSM and sold more books than anybody before in the UK was also conned in to joining the Sea Org. She was very hard of hearing and was generally pretty hard work, I know as she was on the EPF with me at the time.
Her life is the sea Org was mundane and harsh, I could see she wasn't happy, and the Sea Org doesnt really cater for old people anyway.
I remember thinking of what b#stards these guys were for getting her to give up her life and join the Sea Org, where she was probably earning quite well selling the books and probably spreading the word for Scn.
What more could the 'church' want?
Here is where you see that they just don't look any further than the end of their noses, and how incompassionate they are about people's lives.
I saw people sell their homes to join the Sea Org.
They were told they were going to be class 12 auditors and Flag trained.(ha..ha)
I remember feeling the disgust when they naiively told me of their plans in the Sea Org. Of course these plans were quickly forgotten once in, as there were more 'imporatant' things to be done.
It later occurred to me, after having left the Sea Org, that I actaully didn't know any $cientologists who were applying this great 'tech' and having such wonderful lives from doing so.
I only knew ex-staff members and people with debts.
The only OT I knew was a woman called Erika B., who I very much admired at the time. In fact she was partly responsible for me joining the Sea Org.
She was a great jewish business woman and seemed to fit all my ideas of being OT.
I always did wonder though why these wonderful OT's werent helping to 'clear the planet' themselves by being on staff.
I think I've gone off my original idea to explain why I think that Amway and Scientology are pyramid schemes, but I may have given you an idea.
Maybe somebody else can contribute with their experiences.
I found it somehow similar to the cult of $cientology, as I was also surrounded by smiling people telling me how wonderful it all was.
I realize now what the similarites are.
They are both pyramid schemes concentrating on getting people to become salesmen (in Scn its staff), then you are convinced how great the products are and how its gonna change your life, and that there are NO other better products in the whole wide world etc. (its like that with the books in Scn.)
At the meetings in Amway people are 'lovebombed' with success stories and how people are changing their lives for the better.
They hold speeches at theh front of the event.(as in Scn)
I found the events at Amway a wonderful hype, but I experienced the same effect at Scn. events.
People clapping and a standing ovation at the end too.
But when I got home from the Amway event I realized it still meant I had to contact friends and family to convince them how brilliant this certain type of washing powder or bathroom cleaner was, and of course better than anything else.
That it was about 10 times as expensive was another matter.
For sure it was going to change your life.
So, what do you do?
You end up buying tons of different products from your advisor above you on the ladder in Amway, then you have a small room in your house/Apptmnt full of such 'wonderful' products.
Its seems funny that most people end up with the all of products they started out with even years later.
So, they didnt get far, maybe sold a few items to friends and relatives, who couldnt hear the word Amway any more after several months.
This for me is where it is similar to Scn.
You are told in the beginning people are given tools in the form of courses for bettering their lives, their work conditions etc.
OK, so you start out on a few inexpensive courses.
Learn some practical things about life.
The usual step after that is that you will be asked about maybe joining staff, either under the pretense of then getting your 'Studying' FREE, and maybe of also going up the bridge FREE.......
Most people I know who had anything to do with Scn. have had this experience.
You are also given a guilty conscience for NOT being on staff or in the Sea Org, as it is of course in their eyes the most wonderful thing to do with your life, and how could you have wins and NOT want to join staff??
But this is how the pyramid scheme works.
In Amway you are trying to get people to sell products too, so you can sponsor them and get more points yourself.
You're not concentrating so much on actually selling the stuff, as its more profitable to get new people in.
Thats how $cientology does it too.
While I got conned into joinnig the Sea Org years ago and elderly lady of about 62-65 yrs, who had successfully worked as an FSM and sold more books than anybody before in the UK was also conned in to joining the Sea Org. She was very hard of hearing and was generally pretty hard work, I know as she was on the EPF with me at the time.
Her life is the sea Org was mundane and harsh, I could see she wasn't happy, and the Sea Org doesnt really cater for old people anyway.
I remember thinking of what b#stards these guys were for getting her to give up her life and join the Sea Org, where she was probably earning quite well selling the books and probably spreading the word for Scn.
What more could the 'church' want?
Here is where you see that they just don't look any further than the end of their noses, and how incompassionate they are about people's lives.
I saw people sell their homes to join the Sea Org.
They were told they were going to be class 12 auditors and Flag trained.(ha..ha)
I remember feeling the disgust when they naiively told me of their plans in the Sea Org. Of course these plans were quickly forgotten once in, as there were more 'imporatant' things to be done.
It later occurred to me, after having left the Sea Org, that I actaully didn't know any $cientologists who were applying this great 'tech' and having such wonderful lives from doing so.
I only knew ex-staff members and people with debts.
The only OT I knew was a woman called Erika B., who I very much admired at the time. In fact she was partly responsible for me joining the Sea Org.
She was a great jewish business woman and seemed to fit all my ideas of being OT.
I always did wonder though why these wonderful OT's werent helping to 'clear the planet' themselves by being on staff.
I think I've gone off my original idea to explain why I think that Amway and Scientology are pyramid schemes, but I may have given you an idea.
Maybe somebody else can contribute with their experiences.