Chapter Fifteen - Scientologists

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Scientologists

IF YOU SAY you are a Scientologist, here’s what that means.

You believe humans are immortal spiritual beings called Thetans.
Timeless, powerful, and reincarnated across trillions of years.
Not thousands. Not millions.
Trillions.

You believe that Thetans created the material universe.
And then forgot who they were.
Now trapped in human bodies, suffering from spiritual amnesia and implanted trauma.

You believe the purpose of life is to go Clear.
To remove engrams: unconscious memories of pain and trauma stored in the reactive mind.
These engrams affect your behavior, health, choices, and emotions.

You remove them through auditing.
A process of guided memory recall using a device called an e-meter, which measures changes in electrical resistance as you speak.
You hold two metal cans.
The auditor asks questions.
You relive painful experiences.
You keep doing this until the meter shows that the charge is gone.

Once Clear, you begin the path to Operating Thetan levels.
A spiritual ladder that claims to restore your powers as an immortal being.
There are multiple levels.
Each more secretive.
Each requiring more money.

At OT III, you learn that 75 million years ago, a galactic overlord named Xenu brought billions of alien souls to Earth, then called Teegeeack, and killed them with hydrogen bombs.
Their disembodied spirits, called body Thetans, now cling to human beings, causing emotional distress.
You have to audit them off.

You believe psychiatry is evil.
You believe psychology is dangerous.
You believe mental illness is not real, only spiritual confusion caused by engrams and body Thetans.

You believe in L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology and author of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.
You believe he discovered the spiritual technology to free humanity.
You study his writings.
You take courses.
You move up The Bridge to Total Freedom.

You pay for everything.

You may sign a billion-year contract if you join the Sea Org, the religious order of Scientology.
You may disconnect from people who oppose the Church, including family.
You may undergo ethics review.
You may face internal discipline.
You may never see the full theology unless you’ve advanced and paid enough to earn it.

But if you say you are a Scientologist, this is not metaphor.
This is not fiction.
This is doctrine.