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Scientology: Why You Joined, Why You Left -- Correlation?

Gib

Crusader
Don't mean to be flippant but. . .
Why I joined: Pleasure.

Why I left: Pain

Hubbard talked incessantly about Pleasure/Pain in the beginning books so I assumed he knew what he was talking about. Hey, what does a kid in high school know? LOL. I didn't actually know at that point in my life that adults who wrote books could just lie.

Good one, Ron. Ya got me--for a little while always.

OMG, tell me about it.

The thought of holding the cans for a few hours in an auditing session,

is, well, painful. LOL

(pc thinks to himself, was that a body read, a bullshit read, a I can't see the e-meter so I don't know but I'm trained in auditing. LOL)

And these poor dupes that have to redo objectives or the Survival Rundown touching walls forever, like forever,

is painful. It's utter stupidity.
 

DoneDeal

Patron Meritorious
Lol, great thread.

I was already a fucked up kid who thought the world needed changing.

yeah yeah, I'm also a lying ass..............

It was the boobs.

I sold my soul for tits!


man, maybe I should do the bridge thingy.

Oily table might be the item. Is it a co-audit? Can I bring my own twin?

See? I'm honest too.

scn sucks :)
 

Lurker5

Gold Meritorious Patron
My kid joined Sea Org in Clearwater Florida right after high school, she was recruited in Los Angeles. I don't think my kid had a full knowledge of what she was signing for, since her recruiters used deception and intimidation technique. Being trapped and cut off form family there my kid has no freedom or rights.
I'm not going to go into a full description of the nightmare of what she is going through, most of you are familiar with Sea Org.

I'm not in Scientology and I never belong to the cult. It's been a long time since I seen my kid, but I try to keep communication open and send her letters and photos of our family.

I call my kid a few times a months, I can't say want I'm really think about Sea Org because they monitoring phone calls and open my letters, my kid also can't be honest about anything, my kid will get in trouble for it. I guess the question I was asking myself for a while is why my kid is still there? Then I realized that every cult uses mind control, abuse, isolation, and manipulation to keep their members in line, the big issue of all is phobia that indoctrinated in people's minds. I'm trying to help my kid to think for themself and hopefully get out of Sea Org, but the process is very slow and difficult.


So anyone with helpful information please reply.
Hello Pink :wave: and :welcome2: Glad you are here. Keep reading. So sorry about your kid . . . . Keep reading.
 

HappyGirl

Gold Meritorious Patron
My kid joined Sea Org in Clearwater Florida right after high school, she was recruited in Los Angeles. I don't think my kid had a full knowledge of what she was signing for, since her recruiters used deception and intimidation technique. Being trapped and cut off form family there my kid has no freedom or rights.
I'm not going to go into a full description of the nightmare of what she is going through, most of you are familiar with Sea Org.

I'm not in Scientology and I never belong to the cult. It's been a long time since I seen my kid, but I try to keep communication open and send her letters and photos of our family.

I call my kid a few times a months, I can't say want I'm really think about Sea Org because they monitoring phone calls and open my letters, my kid also can't be honest about anything, my kid will get in trouble for it. I guess the question I was asking myself for a while is why my kid is still there? Then I realized that every cult uses mind control, abuse, isolation, and manipulation to keep their members in line, the big issue of all is phobia that indoctrinated in people's minds. I'm trying to help my kid to think for themself and hopefully get out of Sea Org, but the process is very slow and difficult.


So anyone with helpful information please reply.

Welcome pink amythest!! I'm sorry to hear this. I hope you find some answers and comfort here.

As for the opening post, I had never thought about there being a correlation before. Very interesting! I probably joined because it was just plain fun. I left when fun was cancelled and it became torture. Yep, there is a correlation there. :biggrin:
 

Good twin

Floater
I joined in 1975 and I was happily rebellious. I didn't want to be part of the materialistic society I thought was destroying our creativity. I was all full of peace love and flower power.

I felt like the cult was barve enough and the Clears and OTs were smart enough to create a better world. Looking back this was part of the "looking the other way" whenever anyone said anything bad. And Religious cloaking just seemed brilliant, not devious.

So what attracted me was the fact that it was a criminal conspiracy and that IS exactly what made me leave.

Cool OP, JB.
 

Dean Blair

Silver Meritorious Patron
My mother got me in. I was in high school and my mom discovered Scientology at the Detroit Org. She got the whole family involved except for dad whom she divorced cuz he was low toned and wasn't buying into it.

I was on staff in Detroit, Cincinnati, and finally the Sea Arghh at AOLA. I routed off staff there after having spent twelve years auditing and C/Sing NOTs.

What got me out of the "Cherch" was reading reports and watching videos produced by the Tampa Bay Times about a whole bunch of disaffected staff members who left the Int Base. Reading stories here and at other sites changed my viewpoint entirely. Four years ago I learned that Scientology was a fraud and that Hubbard was among other things a lying con man. I learned that it isn't just David Miscavige who is the villain but that the old man was a villain as well and was bat shit crazy.

My mother and father have since passed away and neither had learned what I had learned nor did they ever know that I had left the cult for good. My sisters and brother on the other hand do know that I am no longer a Scientologist and have all disconnected from me. The strange thing about that is that none of them have gone up the bridge. None of them have reached the OT levels or been trained as auditors. They are just carrying on the tradition that our mother instilled in them so many years ago.

I will be very happy when Scientology no longer exists and David Miscavige is incarcerated for his criminal activities and fraud.
 

Wants2Talk

Silver Meritorious Patron
This why I got in
[video=youtube;UN2VNFpiGWo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN2VNFpiGWo[/video]
oh- and to stick it to the man of course!
To spread freedom.
[video=youtube;MnGzl-OEyGE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnGzl-OEyGE[/video]
 

ThetanExterior

Gold Meritorious Patron
I got in when I heard about the state of Clear and the Bridge. I wanted to improve myself and this seemed to be the best way forward.

Many years later I was refusing to follow their bullshit disconnection policy so they told me I couldn't go any further up the Bridge. Okay, so that was game over for me. Goodbye.

Definite correlation.
 

scooter

Gold Meritorious Patron
I got in because my life was going down fast and I needed help. When it worked for me, I wanted to help others with it as well as myself.

I got out because a good friend called me and told me he'd left and why. And I couldn't fault his logic at all, not matter how hard I tried. I was already being hounded about non-existent "crimes" and "high crimes" while at NarCONon and, at the same time, had a bunch of folk trying to recruit me back onto org staff !!!!

I got in because it seemed to help.

I left because I saw the criminality, insanity and (undeclared) war against humanity that this cult carries out. The exact opposite of what the Fat Fraud promised in His first book on the "subject."
 
What I joined for:
1st priority, improve my communication.
After that, to get rid of hidden patterns of thought, emotions, that make life difficult etc. AFAICS, people DO have them. I was told that Dianetics could get rid of ALL of that. That part = not true.
I think the early courses (comm course and HQS) made me feel like I could be in control of things that I felt I wasn't much in control of before.
I joined staff because I didn't have the money to pay for courses or auditing. The fact that it was "helping Mankind" was a huge plus and that part probably helped keep me in.
For some reason, as a staff member in our org I got LOTS of auditing for free. Many staff didn't. Getting all that free auditing helped in keeping me there.
I had a sort of spiritual goal which i had not properly defined. It was where I thought scientology would take me, but it was not strictly how LRH and many scientologists saw the goal of scientology. Some others on ESMB seem to have had a similar thing.
Why I left: Noticing that there were contradictions between scientology stated outcomes and the people who were supposed to have achieved them. "Why did so-and-so say "X"
if he is clear?" "And why did all the "Clears" and the "OT"s on staff just stand there with their mouths shut?" Also, nutty orders coming from uplines SO. I could see from afar that something was rotten right at the top- management-wise. Then I got "handled" by the GO about gay issues. Nothing rough...quite subtle, but threatening. Fuck them! Plus making irrational demands about 'replacing' myself so I could leave after my contract was up. I stood my ground. I left, intending to go and somehow earn money to do OT levels.
I don't think I can distill that into finding the reason for my departure within my reason for joining up in the first place. It had different aspects.
After I left I gradually drifted away and found "Bare Faced Messiah" in the library.

Actually, the opinions, ideas, utterances of OTs were always important even though this was not shown overtly. We wanted to be OT. That's were we where headed. Way above "clear". When "OTs" were noticed to be having trouble, such as getting cancer, or known to have been stalled for years, or if an "OT" hinted that they didn't get what they wanted, it was noticed. :yes: Even after being out for a few years, it was important when (ex) "OT"s said that it was all crap, etc, because they had bought the whole nine yards. So IMO what "OT"s say is very important. They can tell us what the "Bridge" looks like AFTER you have done it all or almost all of it. Many would leave earlier, or at least start looking if they heard a few OT 8s telling them not to hang around wanting for the big prize at the "top". Not to minimise the sterling critic-work of people who haven't done it all. For sensible people that is all that is needed. But some koolaid drinkers are not sensible.
 

Enthetan

Master of Disaster
For me, entering Scn and entering the SO was a desire for purpose and adventure in a world I was bored with. As far as the SO, the daily grind and lack of interesting adventures turned me off. As far as Scn, it was a bunch of factors, mainly a realization that I didn't really see it working.
 

Leland

Crusader
This is the first I've heard of that. Can you please give more detail?

I know you aren't asking me, but it is rather funny. I suppose Elron was worried about those space aliens on the dark side of the moon, and their bases there...?? :unsure:

Or perhaps, now that I think about the lyrics.....maybe the competition from Pink Floyd.....and their space travels...? :yes:
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
This is the first I've heard of that. Can you please give more detail?
Well, hard documentary evidence, right now, no. I've got a lousy memory, but one of the things that sticks in my mind is that that was the case. As staff members at HSOL we were not allowed to listen to that record. Did I see it in writing? I might have done but I don't remember doing so, but that's definitely what I understood.
 

La La Lou Lou

Crusader
I know you aren't asking me, but it is rather funny. I suppose Elron was worried about those space aliens on the dark side of the moon, and their bases there...?? :unsure:

Or perhaps, now that I think about the lyrics.....maybe the competition from Pink Floyd.....and their space travels...? :yes:

We also couldn't watch Star Wars, we'd be restimulated too much.
 

ethercat

Cat in flight
Thanks for all of thus responses thus far -- and very well-articulated, too!

I'm trying to put an informal list together of the most popularly reported reasons - by category - that people join Co$...and, of course, the corresponding list of the most popularly reported reasons, by category, that people left Co$.

Take a look at Through the Door, and you'll have over 300 more responses. Both of those questions are on the "interview" there.
 

Gib

Crusader
I went in because "I didn't Know":no:

I left because "I know":yes:

There ya go - the "know to mystery scale"..in reverse. LOLOL:wink2:

I'm with Knows.

I didn't know shit about religion nor philosophy when I got involved. I was a "clean" blank to write upon since my upbringing involved no religion nor philosophy, I guess one calls that education, or lack thereof,

and I was persuaded (sold) by hubbard's writings and lectures since I had nothing to compare to nor discuss. And I bought into his sublime writing about the state of man and awareness.

And I left because I got to compare notes on the internet and verify some things that I thought were wrong with dianetics and scientology, things that were logically weird,

and I began to research other religions and philosophies, and thus got to choose. So I came to knowing. LOL

It's funny, cuz now I would consider myself as a "scientologist" and meaning "knowing how to know" more so than when I was a "scientologist". For when I was a "scientologist" I only knew how to know Hubbard, or Hubbardology.

But now I know how to know. :yes:
 

JBWriter

Happy Sapien
We also couldn't watch Star Wars, we'd be restimulated too much.

I'll wager you weren't told that you ceded the right to choose for yourself which film to watch as a condition of membership in Co$.

One constant, among all of the personal narratives shared here @ ESMB, is this: no one reports having been asked to cede their rights - basic legal rights + basic human rights - as a mandatory condition of membership in Co$.

The Co$ body router fails to mention that, over time, one by one, nearly all of a person's rights are surrendered.

Multiple written contracts, double-drenched in legalese + sci-speak, are presented for signature & full compliance to each member of Co$ frequently during the individual's membership tenure -- enough to shock the conscience of a reasonable person -- and each contract unilaterally retains & reserves ALL rights to and for Co$ alone. The rights that aren't surrendered via written contracts are surrendered via the enforced policies and practices as employed by Co$.

The right to sue another Co$ member in the event of harm - gone.
The right of Free Speech - gone.
The right of Free Association - gone.
The right to have / not have a baby - gone.
The right to question Co$ authority, to freely research topics of interest from any and all non-Co$ sources, to think for oneself, to love friends/family unconditionally, and on and on.

It's one thing to cede individual rights when informed consent is freely given. Co$, however, completely & intentionally fails to inform potential members of the breadth + depth of the wholesale surrender of so many rights. Even more egregiously, imho, Co$ denies to the public-at-large that this mandatory surrender of rights by its individual members exists.

Sit in a recruiter's office, read a US military enlistment contract that surrenders ALL of your individual rights - even your own body will become the legal property of the US government - and you are encouraged to take that contract to an attorney for review prior to signing it. Once signed, the contractual obligations for all concerned parties - with a start date and an end date - take effect. Informed consent by the person signing an enlistment contract is crucially important precisely because no one should ever sign away even a single right without a thorough understanding of what the loss of that right means.


:scnsucks:

JB
 
I got in because I always had a religious/spiritual side to me (prior to Scientology I participated in Christianity in various forms). Also, it seemed to me that people are capable of magic-like abilities, so Clear and OT appealed to me.

Most all the long-term Scientologists I knew had altruistic motives; they were good people who wanted a better world for everyone. Unfortunately, we were all fooling ourselves that Scientology could create such a Utopia.

In all candor, what I was looking for something that's impossible to achieve. It was a juvenile dream and nothing more. There are no Clears or OTs, nor is there any superior way to live life through Scientology. The life we have is what we create by our hard work and diligent pursuit of realistic goals.

I left Scientology for 2 reasons: 1) Scientology and Dianetics don't work and, 2) As I matured I realized that most of my non-Scientologist friends were much happier in their lives, families, and work than I was at OT VII. I needed to adopt an adult attitude about life, not a immature, child-like dream.

hey specs!

cooooooooooooooooool...

another "brother in christ" on the board...

jesus. it seems like those who aren't well able to make use of the materials are the ones who go all the way to OTVII. i only went as far as ARC straightrazor release but i guess i got the goods because i did straightrazor release instead of straightwire release...

some of the primary documents are pretty good. especially The Creed and The Auditor's Code (the code needs to be tweaked a little in it's letter but the spirit of it is primo) but The Aims of Scn never did set my toes to tappin'. yes. it is utopian. but i then and now question whether those goals are attainable or even desirable. one of the pillars of twentieth century thought is the antiutopian trilogy produced by zamyatin with "We" in 1924, huxley's "brave gnu world" in '38 and orwell's "1984" in '48. and if you look at how CoS is playing out it's utopian goals it is very clearly producing thye exact sort of dystopia described so brilliantly by these three authors

but...

this does NOT! make the work meaningless or worthless...
 
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