Lots of people in Independent SCN because they have no way to make it with the CO$.

That’s actually a relief to hear, i was expecting none.

BTW the actual gold content is probably higher than 1/5oz since the people who offer cash for gold jewelery typically offer substantially less than it’s actual value. They have to melt it down and recover the gold and make a profit after all.

The ‘value’ of Jewelry is largely in the artistic merit of the work or what it represents or both. The materials in its makeup are only part of its value. A diamond set in a gold ring will be worth more than the sum of the parts. I estimate that in your case, you paid at least $2000 for the ‘value’ of having a genuine Scientology OTVIII bracelet! Sorry! 😛

Aquamarine, I wouldn’t take ANYTHING from the cult. Especially someone who is pitching gold.

I think its disgusting and self-polluting. “Drugs opened up spiritual advancement…” I never believed that, even when it was fashionable. Of course, I didn’t have the courage to say so out loud back in the day because drugs were so IN back then and I didn’t want to appear “uncool”. I dressed the part and talked the talk but stayed away from all of it. I had to have friends! The peer pressure to smoke dope and drop acid was very high but I didn’t. I figured I was in enough trouble straight, and spaced out enough naturally; God help me if added drugs into the mix that I was then! I would have been a goner for sure.

I received a 14K yellow gold link bracelet 4 years ago. I really liked it, took for granted that it was 14K gold – I mean, it said it was on there so what the hell – and had no curiosity about its cost. Fast forward to 8 months ago when I received a flier in the mail from the company that made my bracelet. I went on line and browsed their catalogue. There it was – $500 retail. I don’t follow gold prices – have no idea when they’re up or down. Don’t know what he paid for it 4 years ago and don’t care. Because sometimes on this blog the subject of cult jewelry comes up I browsed the catalogue further to find an 18K gold bracelet but couldn’t find any 18K gold bling in this catalogue, only 14K. This concludes my research findings 🙂

Nailed it, Peggy. In Scientology, the “devil” that makes a person do bad things is his or her reactive mind. EVERYTHING a person does “bad” (a term opened to wide interpretation) is caused by the reactive mind.

In fact, by way of example, “Its his/her reactive mind” is how Scientologists rationalize and explain away the Anti-Semitism of NOI’s Tony Mohammed and Louis Farrakhan!

(Earth to Scientologists re the NOI and Anti-Semitism excused as “case”:

NO NO NO NO NO. The anti-semitism pouring from the mouths of these NOI leaders is NOT their reactive mind. It is their TRAINING. They have been TRAINED to believe this and they in turn are TRAINING others to believe it. That Jews are evil, etc. is NOI SCRIPTURE that is LEARNED. Get that, and get it good. Training, not case.

Quite likely drugs WERE ingested. That would be part of the bad boy schtick, of course. Drugs opened up spiritual advancement, of course, JUST like it was claimed in the trippy hippy days.

Nibs stated he was fed uppers then his hallucinations transcribed to create “What to Audit” aka “History of Man”, and the resulting booklet proves the clam … err .. claim.

I’ve read many comments from ex-Scientologists commending the lower bridge as having been beneficial to them and their OT levels not beneficial or actually harmful to them. So far, I’ve not read one glowing comment from an OT out of the cult praising his or her OT levels as having been of benefit. The only positive comments on the OT levels I’ve ever read have been from Scientologists who are still in. So that’s interesting because those who have left have had no back off on admitting that the lower bridge helped them. What I’m sharing is purely anecdotal on my part. I never did the OT levels and I’m not Clear. I did a part of the lower bridge and found it beneficial.

What a weirdo. Drugs, maybe?