A Possible Attraction of Scientology

We all know about the craziness that surrounds the Church of Scientology. We've all seen the South Park about the aliens and the volcanoes. We have heard countless tales of registrars and the tactics they use on the members of the church in order to make their quotas and how they use celebrities in order to recruit aspiring actors and musicians. We've also heard many stories on why L. Ron Hubbard wanted to create a religion and the many other issues that surround the science fiction writer with his son etc.

So, it's safe to say that (by no means) am I promoting Scientology. What I'm saying is that if you dissect their practices and leave out 95% of the craziness, there is a tradition of this religion that has been available to us since the invention of language that is not often used outside the church setting, but that some find helpful. It's been a part of philosophy and psychology since their beginnings and all Hubbard did was steal these tools and add the E-meter. I'm not interested enough or knowledgeable enough on the subject of Scientology to know how the E-meters work or if these instruments are any true measure of our natural human stresses - but the idea of talking about your issues with another person to a point of where they have less meaning is something that sounds intriguing to me. This process is often referred to as confession sessions or auditing. 

This process of auditing is done with another church member that has been trained as an auditor. Some notes are taken during the process but there is promise that they will never be shared or used against the member. They also are trained not to show judgement or go off script during the process. Of course, this reminds us of confessing our sins to a priest in a confessional booth; but in the case of the booth we are "supposed" to be anonymous. The Bible tells us to confess our sins to one another, which probably started this tradition in the Catholic Church. You can also find protestant churches that practice this to some extent within small groups, but it's very hard to find a group of people who will let their guards down completely and take off the masks of being the good church member. So, once again, real issues usually don't come to the surface unless the church member is talking to the pastor one on one.

"If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed." - Marcus Aurelius

We all receive feedback in our day to day lives that change our behaviors for better or worse but when is the last time someone listened to you without judgement and asked you to tell them about a problem (over and over) until you've expelled the emotions that are attached to the issue? Sharing your problems is proven to give that problem less power, if only temporarily. This is one of the reasons why therapy and groups like alcoholics anonymous are so popular. It's less about the feedback and more about you finally letting it out. You, admitting you have a problem and saying it out loud has a very cathartic effect. Knowing you have a problem and going about your day telling everyone how great you're doing can also be very disheartening and isolating when you're in pain. Many of us are simply pretending to be happy. We should be able to talk honestly with each other knowing that we are all humans and we all have issues, but we don't.

"Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining - it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems." - Zig Ziglar

There's a fine line between talking about issues and simply complaining. If someone ask how we are doing do they really want to hear a list of complaints? No. It's just a question they asked for politeness sake. We do have to take responsibility for our mental state like Aurelius said - "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment." 

Of course there is a time and place for everything and you will know when it's safe to share - whether it's a family member, in a therapy session, an AA meeting, or a church setting that's arranged for this practice - but we all know that it would be unwise to bring up your porn addiction in a business meeting. This auditing being a safe place to share might be one of the draws to the Church of Scientology that hasn't been discussed and this might be one of the only reasons that the members they do have stay when we just can't understand why. Not only the sharing, but being asked questions in a private setting that bring problems to light without standing in front of a group and starting from the beginning on your own, picking and choosing what you are and aren't going to talk about.   

So is it possible to 'heal thyself'? Yes, I believe that this entirely possible. Although what I think about when I discuss solving problems on our own by facing them head on is more of the 'face your fears' variety and less the 'what happened to me to cause this?' question. There is a time and place for both sitting with your feelings and working them out in the real world - and being a part of a community that can help us. The community shows us we aren't all that different and gives us that release. 

Now, here's the big issue. How many confession sessions does it take? We all know people that have gone through AA and relapsed. So does that feeling of relief from finally getting "it" out there go away? Is it a temporary release like a valve letting off steam but the steam just builds back up? Could this be another trap of Scientology, the fact that you are never truly done? Maybe you can be done. Maybe that's what they mean by clear, but it just takes a very long time and once there you are so grateful you want to help others. Or, maybe you are never done and although you're labeled clear - you still have these underlying issues that keep coming up no matter how much auditing you do. After all, Tom Cruise hasn't had much success in marriage. Seems like someone devoid of life's mental hangups would eventually get one of the fundamentals right.  

So, when I say - 'a possible attraction of Scientology' - I do so with much trepidation. I definitely don't want anyone to fall into the traps discussed in the video below. What I'm talking about is something that can be attained without joining the Church of Scientology. When some people read about about how auditing works and members there use this tool and actually feel better you can see (in part) why the church does have some success. The Church of Scientology has taken a very old teaching of 'confess your sins to one another' and it has seen that there is therapeutic truth there. The problem is, they have used this as a drug dealer would use an addict.