Sunday, June 17, 2007

a small side show

My apologies for raising just one small concern, for what was an otherwise great event at Palm Bay this weekend.

A big part of any event, is the marketing, the stalls, hot dog stands etc. and strolling through the craft tent, I stumbled across one little stall, which amongst craft jewellery and that sort of thing, stood out for this reason it did not clearly state what it was about.

The stall in question offered a free ‘stress test’ but for some reason despite having large piles of books by L Ron Hubbard founder of the church of Scientology, failed to make clear if they were representatives of Scientology.

Curious just to confirm whether I was correct, so I asked if they were in fact from the same outfit as those recently subject to BBC’s Panorama programme. The answer was yes and although they hadn’t prepared a sign stating who they were, the gent I spoke to immediately handed me a DVD entitled “Panorama Exposed”(I’ll let you know if its any good).

As you may or may not be aware I’m no friend, to organised religion, cults or that sort of thing since the blood bath from many religious groups and factions is endless, and I question whether any group should be entitled to take space at this sort of event, particularly if they are not clear as to what their about.

Now all I’ve heard about this group is fairly negative but that’s not to say their right or wrong but I do worry about organisations that aren’t up front, I regard all religions as complete tosh, which is the safest view to have.

Finally, why would you hide your link with your church? I’ll go no further I understand some groups have rather ferocious lawyers.

Suggested reading Wikipedia entry

2 comments:

  1. Robert Kaufman wrote the first published disclosure of Scientology's "secret processes," Inside Scientology (Olympia Press, 1972).

    QUOTE FOLLOWS

    The guru dreams up something insidious, then promises to make it vanish -- usually at cost. Hubbard revealed his contempt for his followers most explicitly in his Brave New World bulletins and money-grubbing advertisements. He also gave it away in "jokes": "thetan," which sounds like "satan" with a swish; the planet "Arcelysus," in a confidential bulletin, pronounced "arse lickers." Sinister clues appear in the advanced stages. The big cognition on Power Processing is "I am (a) source." But Hubbard is "Source." Subsuming others in one's own personality is a black magic goal, and Hubbard's twist may have been inspired by the whimsical English black magician Alistair Crowley, a Hubbard role-model in the 1940s. The theme develops on the Clearing Course, where "the preclear spots the thetan." To the conditioned follower, steeped in "as-ising something away," spotting the thetan is self-erasure.

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  2. You're safe unless you call them a cult, Tony. Then watch the fireworks!

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