This is my response to humorless Panda Termint -- I feel your pain, mate, you cannot take simple jokes. The Scientology must have fried your brain.
I said before and I say it again -- I ask those questions to show how ridiculous the Scientology teachings are. Expect more questions from me.
Now, about my Scientology story -- I already posted it in the biography section (I did it couple of minutes ago). For your convenience I'm posting it here, too. I do not care about my security and I'm hiding from the Church. Soon I will post my real name. For now you can call me Wally.
My encounter with Scientology.
It was my last semester in college (I got MS in Mechanical Engineering with concentration in Control Systems Theory) when I bought the infamous book Dianetics. I like it. Next week I went to Scientology Center of New York and took introductory course in Dianetics. I liked it, too, and was thinking about going up the Bridge. But, as a college student, I did not have much of a money, so it was an unpleasant situation for me. Then I read the words of wisdom by Hubbard -- anyone can pick any of my books and start auditing by himself, which is exactly what I did. I read Dianetics Volume I and II and begun auditing. There were plenty of Scientology customers who did not want to pay exuberant fees to become Clear, so they resorted to my auditing. Of course, I did auditing free of charge just for the love of it. I audited a friend of mine who had MS (multiple sclerosis). His ability to walk did not improve, but his speech did. That happened because he used to talk a lot during the sessions. But I ascribed it all to Hubbard’s genius (didn’t we all?) After graduation from college I signed 1 billion year contract and went to Los Angeles where I joined ASHO Foundation. I moved my ass through the EPA in 2 weeks and begun my work at ASHO. They promised they’ll allow me to audit, which was the main reason why I became a Sea Org member. But that was a lie, like anything else -- they said that I have to get my ass on the Bridge to become an auditor.
My first hint of disappointment with Hubbard came when I read the first book of his Management Series. I took an elective in Management during my undergraduate studies. Hubbard’s book was so obtuse that I did not know what to think. But then I said to myself, “He was the Founder of the most advanced religion, not an economist”, and put my doubts to rest.
I found it quite strange that my engrams did not re-stimulate during the auditing sessions back in New York City -- I was not a Clear (they checked me if I’m a natural-born Clear and told me that I’m not). But that was a small quirk of Dianetics and I did not pay much attention to it (I should have)
Sea Org looked like a boot camp to me, and I hated it. Plus, I was not allowed to audit while being on staff. After 4 months of slaving for ASHO I decided to quit. My Sec Check procedure went fast and in 3 days I was out of Sea Org.
I got engineering job in Los Angeles and begun auditing again. I did not feel it was necessary for me to get on the Bridge, so I was attending Scientology seminars only. I did not receive any auditing.
After 18 more months of auditing I came across Hubbard’s book, Have You Lived Before?, or something like that -- I do not remember the exact title. “This is either extreme stupidity of Hubbard or one of his famous jokes that I heard about”, I thought (I joined the cult after LRH’s death). Somehow I convinced myself that this was a cosmic joke. Then I read another book of his whose title I completely forgot -- its about thetans stealing mental pictures from one another. That was more than I could take -- this shit shows that Hubbard either went insane or was a conman. I got a hold of OT data, which was easy and came to conclusion that Scientology is a sham. I left the cult.
Certain events took place after my departure from the cult -- I gave interview criticizing the cult to Los Angeles Times. That interview resulted in my scuffle with CoS. I will write more about that some day (maybe soon). I was not alone; Los Angeles Times correspondents interviewed several ex-Scientologist. I never met those people and do not know what happened to them afterwards.