Scientology Reflections (10) 10 Years After Leaving-Putting Together The Pieces
This is the tenth post in a series that I am publishing in 2024. The series is on the journey I have been on AFTER leaving Scientology and Dianetics and what my experiences were, and mistakes I made, and things that I learned, some shortly after leaving Scientology and others further along the way, even up to the present day. Some of this involves Scientology and Dianetics. Some involves the process of leaving a cult. Some is just knowledge that I could have benefited from knowing sooner, that may even be unrelated to the cultic topic entirely.
For anyone who is unaware, I was in Scientology for twenty five years, between 1989 and 2014. I left in 2014 and discovered that Scientology is a harmful fraud and jam packed with lies and further it is composed of techniques plagiarized from other practices and sources. Ronald Hubbard had the ability to take a practice, file off the serial numbers and repackage it as his own in first Dianetics and later Scientology.
A couple of things I wanted to highlight have been things that I found help myself and many people to understand cults, understand Scientology and recover from Scientology.
I am using a present tense for describing recovery because for me recovery is an ongoing process and not something that has ended.
Talking about the ideas and practices in Scientology is among them. It's been done by some people like Jon Atack on his YouTube channel and I have seen that for years.
Now I can say with the recent addition of perhaps thirty or so new YouTube channels devoted to Scientology I am finally seeing far, far more people looking at their own time in Scientology and the Sea Org and how they were treated.
People are in my opinion able to overcome to some degree from the dissociation that occurred in Scientology, often from abuse and trauma and often during periods of trance states (induced by Scientology practices including the auditing and indoctrination techniques).
The theory related to this is explained in the book Terror, Love and Brainwashing by Alexandra Stein. In brief there is an idea that one half of the human brain is associated with emotions and artistic creation and the other half is associated with logic and reason. During trauma and dissociation they may be knocked out of being coordinated together.
Often cult members exhibit memories of their experiences within the cult that don't match the appropriate emotions for such memories. This usually is unsettling for non-cult members to witness. The same is true for people who have traumatization from other sources such as veterans with PTSD, victims of sexual assault, victims of childhood abuse and abandonment and prisoners.
Professor Margaret Singer interviewed over four thousand ex cult members over decades and was a top cult expert. She described this phenomena and the concern of family members who witness the emotional flatness of ex cult members who come home. She recommended letting them talk to their family members and be listened to. She described how the process of being able to get their own feelings and thoughts out can help them to integrate their emotions and ideas and this is a part of a gradual recovery.
I tend to agree that this is helpful for some ex cult members, maybe the majority. I believe that it is helpful for the participants and it may even help to witness this for ex members. It can also help non members to see the effects of Scientology, the ideas and practices in Scientology, and finally the process of recovery from Scientology. This is my opinion can greatly demonstrate what Scientology is and does to non members.
So, I want to strongly encourage the people who are having these conversations on videos, in person, in groups or in any other format.
I think the vast, vast majority of people who spent long periods in Scientology with heavy indoctrination need help to recover. Obviously every person is an individual, so a generaliity may not be accurate for you or any particular individual. You can have a different experience due to a variety of factors.
That being said, if like myself a person spent hundreds or likely thousands of hours being indoctrinated in Scientology doctrine over twenty five years it is extremely unlikely that I or someone else in that situation would recover from Scientology with no effort.
The availability of therapy and reluctance by ex Scientologists to be vulnerable to therapy both make other options for recovery essential. Plainly, we are not all going to get therapy, so we need other options.
I am not recommending for or against therapy here. I am just pointing out that we are not all going to get therapy, so even if it is capable of helping people recover from Scientology 100% 100% of the time, it's still not enough for ex cult members.
"Truth emerges from the clash of adverse ideas." ~ John Stuart Mill
The other idea that I wanted to highlight here is that a great way to learn about cults is to look at the parts of cults such as the behavior of people who lead cults and their relationship with the followers described in the book Traumatic Narcissism by Daniel Shaw and again Terror, Love and Brainwashing by Alexandra Stein.
You can see this behavior again in abusive relationships and in human predators.
A very useful way to gain insight about cults in my opinion which continues to yield benefits over and over is to look at parallel groups.
You can have a person describe the real actions that they witnessed and carried out in a cult and see the fact that they have many common traits. You can find differences at times, but you can continue to learn by just listening to the history of these groups and the very specific things that people who were in the cults felt, thought, did and believed and experienced while in these groups.
A notable example: I saw an ex Neo Nazi explain how every day he woke up and he hated people who are not Neo Nazis all day, every day when he got far enough into the group.
It immediately reminded me of times that I had witnessed Sea Org members state that "wogs" (people who are not in Scientology) think like psychs! (psychs are psychologists and psychiatrists in Scientology, and seen as causing the ruin of the universe.)
In Scientology psychs are blamed for ruining the universe for billions of years and turning it into a trap and prison for spiritual beings that damns them to a fate of being blind, deaf, with amnesia and pain for eternity. Psychs are described as insane and evil and trying to destroy everyone and everything, forever.
This happened today. Ten years after leaving Scientology and many, many hundreds of hours into examining Scientology and other cults.
And I have had many, many other similar experiences of seeing common trends or patterns in the features and components of cults after looking at different ones and different stories about them.
You can have an "aha!" moment or an idea crystallized after any length of time, the penny can drop at any moment.
So, I wanted to emphasize that if you want to learn about cults and recover that in my opinion two methods may be useful.
Discussing the experiences that you have had if you were in the cult can bring relief. If you were never in witnessing this is often greatly useful for gaining insight.
Even writing about these experiences is often helpful for ex members.
Additionally, you can gain great understanding by looking at different cultic and abusive groups and seeing the similar traits they have. It just seems to grow and grow from looking at the different groups and the most accurate history of the members, especially if you see the inner thoughts and feelings of the members themselves.
I hope this is helpful.
The following posts are referenced or related to the post above.
Here's a link to my blog archive by topic:
This group of posts is on the book Terror, Love and Brainwashing by Alexandra Stein
The following is on the book Cults In Our Midst by Margaret Singer
Scientology Reflections (10) 10 Years After Leaving-Putting Together The Pieces
