This week, it’s answers about staff actually living in Scientology churches, whether the Amish are a destructive cult, the whole deal with “silent birth” in Dianetics and a lot more. Enjoy!
(1) Why don’t the orgs let staff live on property? It would solve the rent problem since they don’t get paid, although as a never-in I can see that drawing homeless to them.
(2) I was wondering if you consider the Amish or Mennonites a destructive cult?
(3) LRH says that children are simply thetans in little bodies and they’ve lived trillions of lifetimes, so why the “silent birth?” Why shield the baby from noise? We’re all capable thetans that have fought wars, bombed volcanos & who knows what else!! And if a labor & delivery room is where thetans pick a meat body, why does gestational time matter?
(4) The question about using TV/Movies as therapy triggered a different take. In the situation of Sea Org, I remember you talking about coming out and not knowing the references people would make to old TV shows and other things that were not available to you in the Sea Org. Do you think it would have been helpful to have someone loan you a season of Friends or some of the other popular series from the time they were in SO? There are a lot of societal things that come and go in real life and on trendy shows of the time. Maybe call it Culture Catch-up.
(5) In the Tom Cruise Medal of Valor ceremony, there was narration at the end which stated that Tom had introduced 1.5 billion people on earth to Scientology technology. This is absurd but do you care to comment on the audaciousness of this? And what would it be like if this were actually true?
(6) In a lecture on Factors of Clearing (1958) LRH talks a lot of word salad, as usual, but there were a few terms I’m not familiar with. He mentions “arbitraries” and “demon circuits” which seems to have something to do with valences, and then he also mentioned an “individuated thetan”. What do these mean in Scientologese?