Re: Any scientologists here?
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I think Scientologists can only have limited contact to the 'real' world.. which starts after they attain the 'clear' status.
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This is true for Scientologists, and cults in general.
It's also one of the dirty secrets we don't want to admit about established religions, too. Or even clubs in general. One of the ways they promote cohesion among members is by denigrating, at least implicitly, outsiders or non-members. And it's very often not merely implicit. There's more than mere welcome in inundating new initiates with activities and assigning them "study buddies," etc. It's not enough that the new adherent bring himself to the club or religion, no matter how fully; he must also exclude things other, which goes hand in hand with devaluing them.
That's one of the saddest things about everything from trying to hang with the popular crowd in school to joining a religion or even getting an advanced degree; so often doing so is not constructed as a way to add to yourself, but also as a way to subtract from yourself, in ways including the negative ones. New believers or the newly promoted often disdain or purport to disdain things and people they enjoy, in a way that makes their lives and souls lesser. Whether it's the daughter who rejects her family because they're not "clear" or the man whose degree turns him into a newly minted jackass, everyone is made the lesser, and healthy relations with others are damaged rather than augmented. Which is especially sadly ironic considering the supposed purpose of gaining knowledge, wisdom, or religious insight would seem to be the broadening of the person rather than his isolation and shutting down.
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Sounds like Amway/Quixstar, lol.
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