The weekly show where I answer your questions based on what you’ve left for me in the comments section of my Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week the questions I take up are:
(1) Why in the world does the CofS interact with the Nation of Islam (NOI)? Their philosophies and purposes are so divergent. All indications (from agencies and groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, etc.) are that the NOI (the American “Black Muslims” group) are a racial solidarity group; anti-white, anti-Jewish, misogynistic, and their core beliefs hold that white people and NOI members should not intermingle (let alone inter-marry, etc) – in short they are a racial-hate group (and so classified as such by most agencies) so why is there now an alliance between the CofS and the NOI? It’s unfathomable to me. I know that the NOI has a “creation philosophy” as strange as Scientology’s Xenu story. The NOI holds that an evil scientist named Yakub bred all the good out of people, along with the pigment of their skin, so that white people are inherently evil. This story is so unbelievable as to make the Xenu story seem reasonable in comparison. It seems so strange that Scn/NOI have any interaction. Can you shed any light on this?
(2) In the Sea Org, is there any privacy in the bunk-bed-filled rooms? If there’s no privacy in those crammed rooms and nobody is allowed to masturbate…what is everybody doing in the shower? I’m very frustrated that ex-Scientologists rarely complain about privacy and having 50 people share 1 toilet.
(3) Please tell us more about the thetan. I understand that early on Scientologists are taught that each one of us is a thetan with billions of years of life, going from one body to another, having a memory (engrams) of everything traumatic that happened (did I get it right?). Since Scientologists know nothing about what’s in the OT levels for a long time, they believe that they are dealing with this one thetan in their body. What is the goal of all the courses they take before the OT levels – to unburden the thetan from engrams and make him operate the body in a more capable way? It is not to expel him, right? What happens when the body dies – how does the thetan move to another body and when? Any grace period? Since all adults have a thetan in them (or do they?), does that mean that a thetan has to move to a newborn? Is there a fight between thetans over a baby’s body? And if I had achieved the state of Clear, is my thetan going to a new body in a state of Clear, thus that next person is spared all of the problems of a pre-clear? Is this the way to “clear” the planet? If I am a thetan, it should not be a big deal for me if the body I occupy seizes to exist – I will move to another body, maybe a better one. So why the emphasis on making this body less sick or with better vision? Can a thetan simply leave the body on his own volition or does the body have to die for him to leave? Does he have a sex or can he move from male to female bodies? When I listen to people “recalling” past lives, they are always the same sex. Anyhow, you get the gyst -trying to get the skinny on thetans according to the cult (did they think it through?). And my question does not cover OT levels body thetans.
(4) I really love your videos and this little community you’re part of. I grew up in Los Angeles and my parents were keen on telling me to never get involved with Scientology and signs that you might be interacting with a front group. All three of us have seen Going Clear multiple times.
Do you still feel a certain type of way about psychiatry? Sometimes I wonder if this bias is the major unifying factor among Scientologists, even if they one day leave the Church.
Thank you!
(5) Question: Did you know or hear of anyone in the Sea Org who were there for nefarious or disingenuous reasons, but were able to pass the rigorous e-meter testing? How long could someone fake their interest before they were rooted out by the organization?
(6) In your own personal opinion, what would you make of the mindset and rationality and well, to put it frankly, sanity of ANYONE who has reached the high levels of OT 7 and OT 8? I know you’re not a doctor (nor do you play one on TV) but in all seriousness would a Scientologist who reaches those levels be deemed in your opinion mentally (if not also morally) really screwed up and clinically (insert your adjective here) by a medical professional, a.k.a. psychiatrist/psychologist?
(7) Did you “blow out” or “route out” of Scientology? Are those who route out not expected to pay back money to the organization and are they spared the humiliation of having their auditing secrets shared? Or is that done to everyone who leaves Scientology regardless of how they leave, including public Scientologists who no longer wish to continue with the courses?
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Hey Chris.
You mentioned that you were on the RPF. What were you sent there for and how did you finally break free from both the gulag and from Scientology itself. Did you blow or did you route out? What were the ramifications of doing so? It must have been real mind-f*** to finally see the outside world without the veil of scientology all around you. Also, did you have any personal experience with David Miscavige?
P.S. I’m so glad you got out . The world is a lot better with you out here and not stuck in scientology’s “prison of belief”1
My brother has been in Scientology since 1971 as a worker bee for the organization in exchange for auditing and other “church” services. He is married and living in a Scientology-owned apartment with another couple. My question is, does Scientology provide retirement benefits, housing, health care, end-of-life palliative care, etc., for its work staff? Or are they even allowed to “retire”?