Critical Q&A #134

The weekly show where I answer questions from viewers left on my Critical Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week, the questions I answer are:

(1) What was your day to day life like as a Scientologist? Not just when you were in the Sea Org, but before that. How often throughout the day would your beliefs impact how you related to a situation, or the choices you made (even down to which films you watched), and how did you feel when you interacted with people not in the church? Was it always in the front of your mind what would happen to them because they weren’t? And even if you weren’t thinking of these things consciously do you think subconsciously they had an impact? Can you feel a difference now you are out?

(2) In a recent podcast you denigrated the subject of spirituality as being unquantifiable and not open to the scientific method. Please consider the following analysis: Epistemology is the study of knowledge, how it is acquired and validated. Implicit in the concept is a consciousness that is doing the knowing. It is logical to observe that the subject of knowledge—the “things” about which the consciousness knows–is different from the consciousness itself. Thus, there are two distinct concepts: subject and object.

Science is the orderly and logical methodology that pursues understanding of objects: specifically, the subject’s understanding. Spirituality deals with the recognition of the distinction between subjects and objects, and the subject’s understanding of itself. There could be no expectation that a single method would be applicable to both, except at a highly theoretical level. Non-contradiction of hypotheses, and agreement with observable phenomena would seem to apply, although observation implies objects. The realm of spirituality is fundamentally subjective, so the epistemological criteria would have to embrace that factor within its logical framework. LRH’s definition of theta as having no mass, no wavelength, no position in space, etc., might be validatable when seen according to the above considerations. Your thoughts?

(3) I really do love your work that you have done on Scientology and am somewhat heart broken that you grew up in the cult… I do have a question though… Q: I know you think critically about religion and cults all the time. I personally think all religions are man made and do nothing but harm and cause division among nations. But, do you think critically about some of the science theories that have been put forward by scientists which have established themselves as fact, even though they are still just theories, like gravity, evolution/biology, string theory and others as examples?

(4) Scientology recruits people claiming to be ministers, rabbis, Sikh religious leaders etc. to make videos and issue statements on how wonderful Scientology is. Are these supposed non-Scientologist clergymen paid?

(5) I have just read an article on the Guardian website that the Church of Scientology in Saint Hill Green in the UK has just felled some trees in a designated area of outstanding beauty, angering local people, as they didn’t even seek the local authority’s consent (a legal requirement). My question is therefore, do the church of Scientology people not care about what neighbors think, even if this could further tarnish their already dubious reputation? Or is it cultural misunderstanding (perhaps the decision to cut these trees came from someone who is not local to the area or knowledgeable of UK laws). Could the order come from somebody in Florida or California? If so, why? Interestingly, in the article it was stated that according to the 2011 census there are 2418 people in England and Wales who declare themselves to be Scientologists, fewer than those who claim that their religion is “heavy metal”. It seems to me that keeping a stately home in England is not worth the effort for so few people, any reason why they do this?

(6) So, in light of this historically contextual analysis of the OT 3 level, I have a question: Is it beneficial and/or effective to use the Xenu myth as a tool to assist those inside the cult to awaken? Alternately, is the use of the Xenu myth helpful as a prophylactic for those who might otherwise seriously consider a commitment to the cult (wogs)?
I ask this two part question, because you have the experience to clarify my understanding of how the Xenu myth might impact these two groups of people. I take it that those who are already “Clear” may simply tune out and shut down at the mention of this mythology; but for the neophytes or the prospective victims… The question may be distilled thus: To Xenu, or not to Xenu? That is the question.

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