TBF: Scientology

"Crazy"
By Patsy Cline

Crazy,
I'm crazy for feeling so lonely.
I'm crazy,
Crazy for feeling so blue.
I knew, you'd love me as long as you wanted,
And someday, you'd leave me for somebody new.

Worry,
Why do I let myself worry,
Wondering,
What in the world should I do,
Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you.

I'm crazy for trying, crazy for trying, and I'm crazy
for loving you.
I'm crazy for trying, crazy for trying, and I'm crazy
for loving you....


A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY....

Now, if you think that I'm finally going to help decide which space based phenomenon is better: STAR WARS or STAR TREK, well you are unfortunately dead wrong. I know when there are battles beyond even MY abilities of reasoning and believe me that is one of them. Though I admit I would love to see who would win that all too cool of a battle between Starfleet and the Jedi... Ah to dream.

Actually I know of another grand galactic legend, one where a ruthless dictator enslaved a galaxy and transported them thousands of light years to a distant planet called Earth... There they were imprisoned inside all the volcanoes across the land until massive explosions destroyed all the alien bodies and their spirits roamed across the skies until they learned to inhabit the local beings also known as cavemen, so skip ahead a couple million years and they now formed a church to celebrate this legend... surprisingly many people believe this, but what is it really? the beginning of a new faith or a really good scam?

We'll find out as we tackle this week on The Brian Factor: Scientology

Scientology. Obviously thanks to some of it's members, many of us have a pretty good impression of how they operate. But instead of judging the entire church because of a couple of idiots who don't help their image. I decided to really see what they are and learn more about them... then judge them....

There are two versions on how it all began; one version goes back a few million years ago and the other goes back about 55 years ago.

The older version officially goes like this:

75 million years ago, an alien ruler named Xenu who ruled the "Galactic Confederacy", brought billions of people to Earth in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, he then stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living. The alien souls continue to do this today, causing a variety of physical ill-effects in modern-day humans. These clustered spirits or "Body Thetans" are, in essence, responsible for all the bad in the world. So through the church you learn to isolate them and neutralize their ill effects.

While we know of this legend, a wide belief is that this is a core teachings in the church. In reality, it's not really their "Genesis" as much as it's really just one of the other chapters like a "Luke" or "John". The overall message is to "audit" oneself to remove traumatic events, your burdens, your mistakes; basically your faults. Since according to them, we are all old souls who have existed since the dawn of time and our souls are weighed down by all the events of our past lives, so it is necessary for us to cleanse ourselves in order for us to move up to an enlightened state of consciousness.

In fact, these are the central tenets of Scientology:

- A person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a "thetan") who possesses a mind and a body.

- The thetan has lived through many past lives and will continue to live beyond the death of the body.

- Through the Scientology process of "auditing", one can free oneself of "engrams" and "implants" to reach the state of "Clear", and after that, the state of "Operating Thetan". Each state is said to represent recovering the native spiritual abilities of the individual, and to confer dramatic mental and physical benefits.

- A person is basically good, but becomes "aberrant" by moments of pain and unconsciousness in his or her life.

- What is true for you is what you have observed yourself. No beliefs should be forced as "true" on anyone. Thus, the tenets of Scientology are expected to be tested and seen to either be true or not by Scientology practitioners.

- Psychiatry and psychology are evil and abusive practices.

Scientology claims to offer "exact" methods of spiritual counseling to help people achieve awareness of their spiritual existence, while enhancing their effectiveness in the physical world. The exact nature of all of existence is said to be stated in Hubbard's Scientology and Dianetics Axioms.

According to the Church, the ultimate goal is to get the soul (thetan) back to its native state of total freedom, thus gaining control over matter, energy, space, time, thoughts, form, and life. This freed state is called Operating Thetan, or OT for short.

Like pretty much anything, controversy has become somewhat synonymous with the church. Many of these ongoing controversies involving the Church and its critics include:

- Repeated claims of brainwashing and mind control.

- Scientology's disconnection policy, in which members are encouraged to cut off all contact with friends or family members critical of the Church.

- The unexplained death of Scientologists.

- The use of high-pressure sales tactics to obtain money from members.

- Multiple criminal activities by Scientologists, both those committed for personal benefit (Reed Slatkin, Gabriel Williams, and others) and those committed on behalf of the Church and directed by Church officials (Operation Snow White, Operation Freakout, Fair Game, and others).

- Numerous differing, and sometimes conflicting, accounts of L. Ron Hubbard's life, in particular accounts of Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion for profit, and of his service in the military.

- Scientology's harassment and litigious actions against its critics and enemies.

- Some critics charge Scientology with being a cult of personality, with much emphasis placed on the alleged accomplishments of its founder.

- Lobbying search engines such as Google and Yahoo to omit any webpages that are critical of Scientology from their search engines (and in Google's case, AdSense), or at least the first few search pages (now, however, a search for Scientology on Google and Yahoo brings up the Wikipedia page, with both critical and official Scientology websites).

MY TWO CENTS

So according to them, I'm as old as time or at least 75 million years old, and I still haven't broken a hip...WOO HOO!!! As for how I feel about them, well I still think they're a bunch of dicks and definitely the most integrated group of exceptional idiots I've ever met, but what do you expect, I'm stubborn in my old age...

Though that still shouldn't excuse me trying to bat them away with my cane at the mall or yell out at the kiosk "HAIL XENU!!!" and believe me I've done it. If Marie were here she'd tell you about the last time we were at the mall. Seriously though, It's easy to make fun of a set of beliefs when it sounds like nothing else you've ever heard of before. Hell, a thousand years ago, people laughed at the concept of Christianity and I'm not comparing the two, just using the old reliable "lack of age = scrutiny" comparison.

I mean let's face it, when God called upon Noah, He got an Ark, and then eventually Bagels... When L. Ron called upon John Travolta, He got "Battlefield Earth", and that movie sucked balls....

I agree that Knowledge is something we should all aim for in life, cause when you really think about it, money can be spent, health can and will fade, but knowledge is essential to one's growth. My whole issue with religion in total stems from the fact that, yes, growth in yourself helps to create a better, stronger you, but instead of complete growth which we should aim for, most religions only want growth within their borders and ideals which really only creates stunted growth.

Here it's no different; you have to show unwavering commitment- both spiritually and FINANCIALLY- and that's the only way to truly move on up within the church.

The pursuit of something greater and an understanding of existence is a life long journey that'll bring about many life changing experiences, the rewards are priceless and so should be the journey. I honestly believe that Scientology takes a person's thirst for understanding and twists it for gain.

There is no definite on who's right and wrong in religion, cause really it's all the same. We want to know that our lives matter and that our existence is justified by some divine plan. I don't believe that my life will impact the universe, hell, I don't even
believe that my life will impact this planet, but that doesn't mean that my life doesn't matter; it matters to me, it matters to my friends and family and that's all that should matter....