Thanks Aegerprimo, I appreciate this too.
This may be a stretch, but I think one of the reasons that some of us on the outside are so fascinated with Scientology (and I should be clear, I actually don't really give much of a shit about Hubbard as a person, or his ideas, except as they pertain to brainwashing, which I think he had a talent for) because it resonates on deeper soul levels.
I'm interested in the church as a bully, the way people can be be taught to throw away reason in certain situations and do that which is counterintuitive to their soul, (like watching a pregnant woman in a boiler suit running around on the RPF scrubbing toilets and thinking that is good for her eternity or she's done something to deserve that.)
For me, Scientology - the story as it plays out in the public eye - is kind of like a modern day morality play. I don't mean to trivialize people's personal experience - but the people I mentioned before, Tori, Emma, Mark Headley, Arnie, and others become folk heroes in a constantly unfolding drama of good people being sucked into something nefarious and standing up to a what I honestly believe is one of the most malevolent forces we now have on the planet. If the "Scientology Story" were a comic book, it would be filled with villains, traitors, spies, heroes, and, like any great drama, one can put oneself in it psychologically and ask questions like, "If I had been in the church, who would I be? If I left, would I accept a payout? Would I be an activist? What would I have done in the RPF?"
My point is that, for lack of a better comparison, the Scientology experience feels archetypically to me like the difference between perfume and toilet water for what a lot of us go through. Many of us have committed our crimes (as a American, I'm not thrilled that my tax dollars helped fund two wars), and we know what it is like to be a part of a tribe (families, work, relationships) where we are bullied, feel coerced to do what someone else wants of us, make compromises, sell ourselves out, or believed in something or something that ultimately failed us (Enron).
Scientology is a society, just like any other society, with a set of rules, and I believe when you are completely engaged in that world, reality takes on a completely different meaning. Human beings psychologically adjust very quickly to their surroundings in order to survive.
One last example: movie popcorn. (Bare with me...I know this sounds crazy.) I visited my friend in a large city, we went to the movies and I bought a large coke and a large popcorn for 13.00. Yes, 13.00. Now, we all know that popcorn and coke are some of the cheapest products to make. What we ate was probably about .30 worth of product. But we all agree, like we agree at concerts, ballgames, airports and movie theaters that a hotdog that would cost you about 30 cents if you made it at home, can be 5 bucks at a football game. Or, a 75 dollar bottle of imported vodka with table service in the VIP section of a club, can cost 700.00, Insane. But you're in a club, so you pay, and you justify it because you want the experience.
I think a lot of the evil done in Scientology is done with the idea that yes, this may feel wrong, but you are doing it for a bigger purpose, a purpose that will become clearer to you as you go along. I hope this doesn't seem like an apology for wrong doing in the church, and I feel I'm rambling a bit here - my point is that I've learned a lot studying Scientology the experience because it has helped me understand concentration camps, gas chambers, and how any of us, under the right persuasive argument, could do something we never thought we'd be capable of. This is also why the resistance to Scientology, the people who chose to fight back, is also so exhilarating, and why I come back here to read and learn more. It also one of the great human dramas of the planet. I'd much rather watch Tori Magoo kicking ass in an interview and calling David Miscavige a limped dick (man) who probably can't get it up. (Her latest interview on Media Mayhem) than watch the X-Men.
The Scientology and Anti-Scientology movements are playing out psychologically what most of us are experiencing in our hearts, but only to a lesser degree with (what we think) are lesser stakes.
it's a paradox: being in a cult is a very particular thing and I don't want to minimize that reality. At the same time, I think all of us have feel we are in a "cult" and want to be liberated. The cult of human experience.
