Scientology and Emotion

I recorded a video and posted it to my YouTube account recently talking about some of the things Scientologists like to avoid discussing. One of the many things is that Scientologists tend to do awful things in the name of Scientology.

A common question that non-Scientologists ask and I am sure many ex-Scientologists ask themselves is: how could someone do such horrible things?

Scientology is built on a culture of fear. You spend your days in fear of being snitched on or caught doing something human. In the Sea Org this is especially true, because you are surrounded by other hardcore Scientologists. If you are caught saying or doing anything out of line you are immediately reported to the thought police.

Typically, after being caught masturbating or in the restroom too long, you are immediately humiliated by having your "sin" exposed to the entire group. You then have to "make up the damage" you did--by touching yourself or pooping--through various "amends" projects. Followed by a survey asking for your re-admittance to the group. You have to not only share your mastubatory habits with hundreds of people, but you also have to ask for their forgiveness.

For Sea Org members, who work 100 hours a week, this must be done after working hours. Meaning that in order to "make amends" most Sea Org members will spend 48-72 hours with less than a couple hours of sleep. The reason is because payday is every Friday. If you are not done with your amends program by payday, your meager $30/wk salary is cut down to $15.

The amends process applies to Scientologists who do not work for the church as well. Typically spend hundreds of hours of the fake counseling (called "auditing") that they pay for confessing things such as--but not limited to:

• Oral sex
• Anal sex
• Gay tendencies
• Gay thoughts
• Not sleeping enough
• Not eating enough
• Smoking pot
• Doing other drugs
• Taking prescription drugs
• Masturbation
• Watching porn
• As well as many other activities which are also considered crimes in the "regular" world. [However, on this note--let it be known that it is also considered a crime in Scientology to report a Scientologist to the "real world" authorities without first reporting it to a Scientology employee. I have heard of Scientologists getting away with murder (literally) or child abuse because of this rule, though I have never experienced it myself. It is also considered a crime in Scientology to sue another Scientologist in civil court--which even applies to divorces. The church is used to settle domestic and financial disputes through tribunals. The outcomes of which inevitably lean in favor of the person who has donated more money to Scientology--and donation status is the only thing taken into account.]

Featured above: Expensive fake counseling

Unfortunately, spending most of your life in flight-flight mode has a terrible side effect: It numbs your emotions. In addition to that, Scientology "Training Routines" teach you to suppress emotion. Scientologists will tell you that they are a technique to enhance communication abilities. However, the end result of TRs is that you are able to "feel nothing".

Scientology essentially allows a human being to separate emotions from action. It turns you into a sociopath by taking away your ability to empathize. You are expected to sit there, while interrogating someone and feel nothing. Regardless of what they are confessing or what emotion they are expressing.

When working in a Scientology organization you are taught that "case on post" is not allowed. The word "case" in this context meaning "emotions". Another thing that Hubbard called "Human Emotion & Reaction", or "HE&R" for short, became a derogatory term for feeling or acting upon emotions. This is applied to non-staff Scientologists.

The end result of all of this is cessation of emotion. That is why Scientologists have that plastic grin and thousand-yard stare all the time. It's a common trait among cult members. One of the hardest things about recovering from a cult is regaining the ability to feel emotion again. You spend so long being taught that it's a bad thing: it seems like it's almost unnatural.

Hubbard also labeled certain emotional reactions as "misemotion". This means that you are not applying the appropriate "emotion" to a given situation. Ignoring the fact that most people do not express emotions the same way. Some people do not cry when they are sad. Some people cry when they are happy.

There is also the "tone scale" which asserts that you cannot feel more than one emotion at any given time. Most people know this is demonstrably false. Many of us can feel happy and sad, or afraid and angry at the same time.

Being "low toned" in Scientology is considered a negative reaction. It can even be enough to accuse you of having committed a crime against Scientology and result in endless interrogations. Examples of "low tones" are sadness, anger, frustration and boredom. You are considered a bad person if you are in any of these tones. Most Scientologists quickly learn to fake being happy all the time, lest they be accused of committing a "sin".

This is the "Tone Scale" used in Scientology. Everything below 2.4 on that list is considered "bad".

All in all, you lose your ability to be human and you become a drone that serves Scientology's group purpose. Emotions are some of the strongest and most powerful resources that us humans have. They drive us to accomplish some of the most amazing feats. They also are sometimes the only thing we have that lets us know whether or not something is good or bad. It's no surprise that Scientology would not want people to feel emotions, because if they did, I doubt anyone would be left.

Anyone who has ever been a Scientologist has committed a callous act towards another Scientologist. Whether it was reporting a person or disconnecting from them.

My own confession is that I turned my back on my Aunt Brenda at a time when she desperately needed help. It is a guilt that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. She died just as I was starting to stray from the cult of Scientology. I was planning on moving in with her, and every time I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes. The callous manner in which my family treated her death was the last straw for me. I started to prepare myself for the inevitable. That my family turned their backs on me is something I accept as my karma (if you believe in that sort of thing).