Aquamarine — I got what you said. My adventure with scientology (and life, in general) kept me from making money. No matter what I did, I could never produce more income. Granted, low self esteem keeps one from having more than just the necessities. But I still have a firm belief in reincarnation. A past life brought a fortune my way and living life (this life) as more or less a pauper is a lesson I needed to learn.

In addition, scientology put me in a category that I could not escape: the Non-Interference Zone between Clear and OT3. The funny thing is I had never formally attested to Clear (although I had originated that I might have gone Clear). So there I sat, year-after-year, so I worked hard at many scientology front groups so as to help and contribute to “the cause.”

This actually worked out for me, in the long run, because I didn’t go up the Bridge. I never earned a “status” by donating to the dreaded “Ideal Org” campaigns.

After writing this I went to the comments/

After reading them, now I have to say that the REAL waste, the REAL crime, was and continues to be the WASTES of precious time and effort, the blood, sweat and tears and the loyalty and devotion exploited from Class V org staff and Sea Org members.

Wasted talent.

So now my blood is boiling again – not for wasted money,mine or anyone elses’, no, but for the waste of earnest efforts, of honorable, unselfish work poorly paid or not paid at all, and, last but not least, the exploitation honest, pure and sincere intentions to help.

I know just how you feel, Fred! What kills me is not the money itself. Honestly, what I threw down a rat hole was NOTHING compared to what many Exes have thrown away, although my donations did cause me considerable inconvenience and themselves incurred even more expense down the road. But No, what kills me is the waste. Because even the modest amount I donated overall could have been put to excellent usages albeit on a small scale.. That’s what continues to bother me. If what I had donated had at least helped some people (other than staff members who needed a stat by Thursday 2PM – if you can call that “help”) – if donating what I couldn’t afford at these time had done at least SOME lasting good, for SOME people, I wouldn’t regret my cult donations or resent them today, as I do.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And I am demonstrating this gratitude by “outflowing” !

NOT to an indefatigably greedy, grasping, lying cult which purports to help everyone and helps no one.

But instead to many organizations which actually DO help.

Organizations which help hungry people, sick and destitute people. Organizations which help animals, birds, fish, and the threatened environment.

Small checks – tiny, really! to each of these. And lots of them! Lots of tiny little donations.

That’s what I’m doing, to show my gratitude for having woken up so that good (if not big) money is not thrown down the rat hole that is Miscavige’s Potempkin Village Cherch.

Also I invested in a few more of Mike’s books to send to… certain people. Hven’t decided the recipients yet. Not sure to whom yet. Any suggestions are welcome!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Guy didn’t knew about internet and digitalisation of all mode of communication which would result in steep downfall of his ” Utopia”

Hello, Nermin Odkan. The word “exploited” is appropriate when talking about your/our history as a slave to scientology.

I didn’t know about the GAT scam until after I left that cult. After two decades of being very active in scientology, I started drifting away. I’d do just about anything to stop getting their mail, email and phone calls. Instead of buying new cult items from an authorized book store, I turned to eBay instead where I found a treasure trove of everything Hubbard for pennies on the dollar.

I’m so glad we’re out!

Les, Christmas is just a version of the winter solstice holiday, celebrated around the world from time immemorial to the present day as the point in the year when the days begin to get longer again, and seen symbolically as representing rebirth. That’s why when Christianity became centered in the Roman Empire, it was chosen to adopt as their celebration of Jesus’ birth (perhaps specifically to piggyback on the host culture’s Saturnalia celebration), even though the actual date of the nativity, not important to early Christians and so not recorded (and marked differently by various branches of the Christian Church to this day), had most likely been sometime in the spring.

Besides rebirth, I’m not aware of any common themes of celebration of the season. But in general such were times for communities where everyone was dependent on one another and on each others’ cooperation, to come together and celebrate as a connected group. Hubbard’s notion of ‘survival’ is an egotistical and modernist one that ignores our ultimate dependence on connection and concern for one another, which is why for example it so readily and callously breaks up people and families to serve the narrowly defined ends of a group that is failing to survive in the long run.

Think, sadly, of how many people and families aren’t gathering together and joyfully celebrating Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or whatever their winter solstice celebration is (or isn’t), because of Scientology. I’d say that reflects the real tradition of the season, that Hubbard the narcissist and psychopath missed.

Damn, here I go again:

So what is Christmas?

It’s commonly held to be the celebration of a birth.

But there’s something more to Christmas and it’s the idea that God would come to us as a person to speak to us as people. No priests as intermediaries or a light show miracle, just a conversation on a personal basis.

Some Christians don’t understand this.

Merry Christmas.