This week, it’s answers about how Scientologists find comfort during hard times, a logical fallacy we all commit every day and which is key to understanding cults, cleaning in the Sea Org and a lot more. Enjoy!
(1) My question has to do with what Scientologists do when they become emotionally distressed, angry, down, hopeless, etc. in the face of everyday, normal human challenges of life. For example, in the monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, practitioners will pray to a higher power for guidance, support, etc, or consult with a pastor/priest. What is the usual Scientologist response? Do they immediately contact their auditor and go to their local org? Read LRH? Are there more immediate interventions they employ? I don’t believe they are totally incapable of emotions, despite their attempts to bury their humanity with TRs, auditing, and other processes.
(2) In reference to the recent events at the Capitol, it seems like the broader Trump base was attracted to him for his self-confidence, broad statements, and his image of being high energy (in part probably projected by his repeating redundant words instead of pausing to think). Of the people who showed up to his rallies recently, they were probably among those who most clung to him as a saviour rather than as a regular politician.
Something was already unhealthy with the thinking of the people who showed up. Somehow they weren’t treating politics as a complicated series of long and short term calculations and negotiations. Somehow they reduced it to individual personalities. That is a perspective that seems rather strange to some observers.
You had previously mentioned that LRH had presented all politics as being controlled by less than 12 men. There seems to be some weird habit of treating the massive scale and complexity of society as if it was merely the will of an individual instead of a diffuse network where a handful of people serve as connecting nodes for information streams. Could you comment on this?
(3) In one of your recent Q&As, you mentioned how strictly Sea Org members are taught how to clean. As I was cleaning my home, I thought of how triggering it might be for an ex-Sea Org member to do things as banal as cleaning. Was that the case for you? Or were there any other “everyday life” things that were actually hard for you to do or even triggering you after you left?
(4) Some high control groups turn you into a “project” so to speak to bring you back into the fold once you leave. I realize declared people are completely cut off from other Scientologists but aside from that are there other situations in which people who are still active Scientologists would contact you if you suddenly decided to become less active than you once were?
(5) Do you know much about secret cameras in ideal orgs? I was thinking of going to visit an org in the UK during my next trip to England but I hear they have cameras all over the place and they have a huge database of SPs and can do facial recognition?
(6) Does the CoS have a way for current members who are on the OT levels a method to avoid implant stations when they drop their body? Otherwise wouldn’t they have to start totally over once again? Did you witness any credible evidence of OT spiritual abilities while you were a practicing Scientologist? It’s an easy thing to claim but a difficult phenomena to prove.
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