Final Padlet by

Scientology

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 21:51:33 UTC

Research and Background

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 21:53:11 UTC

I always grew up hearing about Scientology. I never really understood what it was or who ran it but I just knew that it was a little out there. This year I watched the documentary on Netflix about it and learned some about it as the year went and really got to understand how insane and sad it really is. Scientology was founded by the one and only L.Ron Hubert with his self help technique called diabetics. And yes I understand a lot of people know about this religion/cult but I think that most people really don’t understand how insane this place is and how it is still alive. Dianetics proposes that everyone has two parts of their own minds in which one is perfect and the other is not. In the bad part of the mind there are bad life experiences called enegrams. The goal of Scientology is to have your mind fully cleared of all enegrams. Hubert beliefs were not found to be correct and he decided to go the religious route to allow for his organization to be protected by the government like many cults we learn about. You buy your way up the ladder, spending more and more money in the hope that you will be clear of all bad things in life. This organization is still alive and strong. I went to UCLA before coming to VT and I often would walk by a Scientology building and just have a feeling of disappointment for the people inside.

Characteristics Analysis

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 21:57:04 UTC

Leadership

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 21:58:26 UTC

The founder of Scientology was L Ron Hubert and he was the original leader of this movement. Hubert was very much out there in his personality and did not shy away from cameras. He was someone who liked the attention and often exhibited narcissistic actions. There have also been more leaders including there leader right now who is David Miscavige. He has had reports of physical abuse against his members and more.

Beliefs and Practice

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 21:59:46 UTC

The core understanding of the movement is not found until you pay a lot of money to really know what is going on. Supposedly the idea is that around seventy five million years ago the ruler of all worlds named Xenu caught beings called thetans and put them on earth. It’s a long story but eventually all these beings die and then there souls attach to human bodies and bring a negative auto to their life until Scientology treats it for you. One of there main treatments is called the E meter. There is a person asking you questions while you hold two devices which suppusoldy measure your answers in relation to you having enegrams or not. After you have been fully audited you will eventually be clear. This causes comtroversy because a lot of the time the people being audited give really detailed personal information that is often to much personal information in which Scientology uses against them.

Recruitment

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 22:01:25 UTC

When it comes to recruitment they focus on advertising big celebrities who are apart of the cult. When you join the cult you also become heavily isolated and often people once joining and never talked to or seen again. If they are seen they are not the same person anymore.

NRM

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 22:02:27 UTC

I think Scientology is both a world rejecting and a world affirming NRM. This is because it believes that humans can improve but it also does a lot of harm to people like isolation and abuse.

Historical Context

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 22:03:43 UTC

Scientology first arrived around the end of world war 2 which was a very enomic time. Hubert definitely saw this time as a perfect introduction into his healing process of dianetics. There was a lot of uncertainty during this time including the Cold War which really had people scared. During this time technology was being used more and more which also made it difficult for people to understand what is true and what is not. This made it difficult to understand if the E Meters was an actual thing. People were looking for something to believe in at this time which is where Scientology came in.

Social Context

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 22:06:19 UTC

People who joined this cult are mostly middle class to lower middle class. They are the types of people I feel that would join James Arthur Rays movement as well. But I feel less women join Scientology compared to women who joined Rays movement. Also people with a lot of money would join and I mean the top top 1 percent are sometimes associated with Scientology. If you joined this group you were supposedly above other people due to being in an elite group that was isolated from everyone else

Cultural Influences

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 22:07:46 UTC

I honestly think that if there was not such a big self held movement in the sixties that Scientology would not be around. But during this time self improvement was huge which was great but due to how little media and details we had on what was true and what wasn’t this made knowing what groups were true or not very difficult. With this Scientology blossomed into the group it is now

Bibliography

rocketmansam — 2025-08-13 22:08:33 UTC

Alex Gibney. Going Clear : Scientology and The Prison of Belief. Netflix. 2015.Netflixhttps://www.netflix .comWatch Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief
Doug Kiesewetter. What The Hell is Scientology. Soflete. What the Hell is Scientology?
Lili Bazargan. How Scientology Almost Destroyed Tom Cruises Career. IBHS News. 2024. How Scientology almost destroyed Tom Cruise’s career – Brush and Palette
Eamon Mcniff. Leah Remini on Her Break With the Church of Scientology: 'I Wanted to Be The One to Say It'. ABC News. 2015. Leah Remini on Her Break With the Church of Scientology: 'I Wanted to Be The One to Say It' - ABC News