Alternatives To Scientology - 1

In leaving Scientology many ex Scientologists have lost everything they believed in. They start off confused, uncertain and feeling they lost their status and superior knowledge.

Learning all the ideas Hubbard put forth are bullshit is stunning. After Scientology I definitely needed to face a profoundly humbling reality - my false education in Scientology being laid bare as a fraud devoid of value or truth meant I am one of the least educated adults I know. Not only do I lack correct education - I actually have a deeply flawed one to overcome. That's an even bigger deficit than plain ignorance.

So, I know I need to look at where to even start and what to learn to try and catch up to other adults. It's a difficult and intimidating challenge.

I have started with many books on Scientology itself to understand what it did and try to recover from its influence. But aside from understanding Scientology there is a lot more to know.

I already have written about books on several topics through the lens of understanding Scientology, but at some point you graduate to trying to learn things for other reasons.

I previously wrote entire series on books like Age Of Propaganda, A Theory Of Cognitive Dissonance, Influence, Cults In Our Midst, Cults Inside Out, Recovery From Cults, Take Back Your Life and Traumatic Narcissism.

I also read books on the true history of Scientology like Bare Faced Messiah, L Ron Hubbard Messiah or Madman, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, Beyond Belief, A Queer and Pleasant Danger, and A Piece Of Blue Sky.

I ended up reading The Sociopath Next Door, The True Believer, The Crowd, Freedom Of Mind, The Brain (by David Eagleman), Hypnotism Comes Of Age, Social Psychology For Dummies and Trances People Live.

Entirely apart from anything related to Scientology I started to pursue books to understand politics and political affiliation like Lies Incorporated, The Fox Effect, Don't Think Of An Elephant !, Moral Politics, Our Political Nature, A Colony In A Nation, Listen Liberal, No Is Not Enough, Warnings, On Liberty  and The New Jim Crow.

To some ex Scientologists reading several dozen books to understand Scientology and try to catch up on their education seems insurmountable. I understand. Not only do I read these books, in many cases I write virtually the equivalent of a book on them.

But it's really the only way I know to take this on. I don't recommend for or against talk therapy, but I am extremely confident that therapy isn't going to result in the same knowledge reading books will. It may provide benefits reading won't but it can't provide education like reading does.

I don't think it's ever going to make up for twenty five years wasted in Scientology, but you won't get anywhere if you don't try.

I think an important point that can't be overstated is that Hubbard's ideas on the mind aren't a little off, they are generally entirely wrong. Not only that but his estimations of the development of other subjects including the understanding of the mind other sciences hold is woefully inadequate.

I have been initially skeptical about how well these subjects were developed and how scientific the research methods were. A serious examination of many of the methods used and effort involved has led me to reconsider and see that there's a valid and growing number of genuine scientific subjects related to the mind and related subjects.

The information in these subjects, particularly where well researched and supported by numerous studies and experiments, is both a vital awakening for ex Scientologists as to the preposterous, unscientific and frankly wrong ideas Hubbard presented and it's a partial antidote to his lies to see the lack of scientific research and method in Scientology. It helps to begin a real education on the ideas and not just settle for "Hubbard was wrong, I don't know what is right."

I can't predict where these sciences will go and to be really scientific any ideas that are accepted can be later disproven or falsified by later evidence. No sacred science here, to borrow a phrase from Robert Jay Lifton, and I ain't no guru or saint.

I just am going to look around, find what looks like it's a better or more true alternative to what Scientology provided and put it forward.

For some ex Scientologists this will be a great find, for others it hopefully will give them starting points to look at some subjects and see where there desires and needs lead them.

If someone reads a little of my stuff but finds subjects, authors and books that significantly help improve their lives that is better than if they faithfully read everything I write about and don't get improvement in their lives or if even worse they substituted dependence on Hubbard with dependence on me. I frankly would rather have people decide I am an uninformed idiot and reject me entirely than ever have the kind of relationship Hubbard did with his followers.

So, I am going to try to emphasize the origins of virtually everything I share is in ideas others wrote about and I just am sharing them. It's a lot easier to relay an idea than to come up with it.