 | "Would you be Tom Cruise’s personal assistant for 40 cents an hour? What about for free?"- CHarlie S |
Would you be Tom Cruise’s personal assistant for 40 cents an hour? What about for free? The church of Scientology assigns its celebrity members with dedicated workers. These assistants are members of “Sea Org”, which is a group of people that work for Scientology. These “Sea Org” members sign a billion year contract to the service of Scientology and its values.
“Sea Org, Scientology’s equivalent of a monastic order, provides an army of virtual slave labor for its celebrity converts, getting 40 cents an hour to satisfy Cruise’s lightest whim…” wrote Eileen Jones in her piece on Scientology, from In These Times. Members of Sea Org do tasks from cleaning the churches, to investigating critic of the religion, to cooking, cleaning, and management. Members of Sea Org live together in a bunker like setting, and may only marry within the organization. According to Ex-Scientology Kids, the Sea Org are expected to fully devote their lives to Scientology, and to their celebrity poster-children, of which there are many. The long list includes John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Beck, Juliette Lewis, and more.
Sea Org members were recruited to do tasks like install Tom Cruise’s home audio/video system, trick out his car, and when Cruise had a fantasy of him and his (wife at the time), Nicole Kidman skipping through a lush meadow, the Sea org planted the meadow. When it wasn’t to Cruise’s liking, they pulled it up and planted new grass. Living under abusive, crowded conditions, the Sea Organization is basically a never ending resource of practical slave labor. Members of the Sea Org worship there superiors, and will do anything for them.
Celebrity worship and the glorification of celebrity lifestyle are themes in the class system of Scientology, mirroring how American society is captured by Hollywood and mass media. The messages and lifestyles of Hollywood are carried through advertisements, tabloids, TV, film, and word of mouth. The movies and shows Americans consume become a part of our regular vernacular, and cultural zeitgeist. Scientology can behave in a similar way, in how the Sea Org are tantalized with the lifestyle of their superiors. The Sea Org feeds on the American desire for fame and luxurious celebrity lifestyle.
The religion of Scientology gives a variety of courses on ‘Life Improvement’. These courses can range from how to better communication skills, how to deal with an ex-member of Scientology (alternatively know as a ‘Suppressive Person), to creating a successful marriage. These courses can carry a Scientologist through building personal values, establishing relationships, getting married, and raising children. The courses teach from beginning to end, the Scientologist lifestyle.
Along with these courses are the auditing sessions. Auditing is Scientology’s version of the Catholic Confession, except the information shared in the session is not always kept private. When John Travolta talked of leaving Scientology, a ‘Black PR File’ was gathered on him, using secrets Travolta shared in Auditing sessions. Travolta has not spoke of leaving since.
The consequences for leaving Scientology can be grim and manipulative for any member. Ex-members have been blackmailed, followed, and have been totally disconnected from friends and family. What’s worse, is that it all might be just a scam for money.
A Scientologist can spend thousands of dollars on such courses and auditing sessions. To quote L. Ron Hubbard in his own words, taken from an office policy letter, “MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MORE MONEY.”
The average Scientologist can spend almost 300,000 dollars to “go clear,” including courses and auditing sessions. Here’s an example of a receipt for how much it might cost to reach enlightenment, or to “Go Clear.”
“Sea Org, Scientology’s equivalent of a monastic order, provides an army of virtual slave labor for its celebrity converts, getting 40 cents an hour to satisfy Cruise’s lightest whim…” wrote Eileen Jones in her piece on Scientology, from In These Times. Members of Sea Org do tasks from cleaning the churches, to investigating critic of the religion, to cooking, cleaning, and management. Members of Sea Org live together in a bunker like setting, and may only marry within the organization. According to Ex-Scientology Kids, the Sea Org are expected to fully devote their lives to Scientology, and to their celebrity poster-children, of which there are many. The long list includes John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Beck, Juliette Lewis, and more.
Sea Org members were recruited to do tasks like install Tom Cruise’s home audio/video system, trick out his car, and when Cruise had a fantasy of him and his (wife at the time), Nicole Kidman skipping through a lush meadow, the Sea org planted the meadow. When it wasn’t to Cruise’s liking, they pulled it up and planted new grass. Living under abusive, crowded conditions, the Sea Organization is basically a never ending resource of practical slave labor. Members of the Sea Org worship there superiors, and will do anything for them.
Celebrity worship and the glorification of celebrity lifestyle are themes in the class system of Scientology, mirroring how American society is captured by Hollywood and mass media. The messages and lifestyles of Hollywood are carried through advertisements, tabloids, TV, film, and word of mouth. The movies and shows Americans consume become a part of our regular vernacular, and cultural zeitgeist. Scientology can behave in a similar way, in how the Sea Org are tantalized with the lifestyle of their superiors. The Sea Org feeds on the American desire for fame and luxurious celebrity lifestyle.
The religion of Scientology gives a variety of courses on ‘Life Improvement’. These courses can range from how to better communication skills, how to deal with an ex-member of Scientology (alternatively know as a ‘Suppressive Person), to creating a successful marriage. These courses can carry a Scientologist through building personal values, establishing relationships, getting married, and raising children. The courses teach from beginning to end, the Scientologist lifestyle.
Along with these courses are the auditing sessions. Auditing is Scientology’s version of the Catholic Confession, except the information shared in the session is not always kept private. When John Travolta talked of leaving Scientology, a ‘Black PR File’ was gathered on him, using secrets Travolta shared in Auditing sessions. Travolta has not spoke of leaving since.
The consequences for leaving Scientology can be grim and manipulative for any member. Ex-members have been blackmailed, followed, and have been totally disconnected from friends and family. What’s worse, is that it all might be just a scam for money.
A Scientologist can spend thousands of dollars on such courses and auditing sessions. To quote L. Ron Hubbard in his own words, taken from an office policy letter, “MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MORE MONEY.”
The average Scientologist can spend almost 300,000 dollars to “go clear,” including courses and auditing sessions. Here’s an example of a receipt for how much it might cost to reach enlightenment, or to “Go Clear.”
This price tag makes you wonder, how large does your yearly income have to be to earn personal salvation? What is enlightenment in the context of Scientology? According to Hubbard: "A ‘Clear’ is a being who no longer has his own reactive mind, and therefore suffers none of the ill effects the reactive mind can cause…” Getting rid of a reactive mind, gives a Scientologist control over their “mental energy”, allowing them to think clearly. Every Scientologists are working to achieve this superior lifestyle, and higher state of being.
To the average American, celebrity lifestyle can seem like an enlightened or higher state of being. A state of luxury, something post-human. If you do some Googling, you’ll find headlines like 15 Ways to Live like Gwyneth Paltrow, 11 Steps to Live Like a Celebrity (With Pictures), and many similar tutorials. We want shortcuts to celebrity elevation, forgetting that the life of a celebrity is the life of someone immensely privileged. Similarly, the price tag of
Scientology also shows that it is a religion for the privileged.
Western Society’s desperate effort to attain the glory of celebrity status mirrors how members of Scientology climb towards and throw money at the supposed enlightenment of “Going Clear.”, and how the Sea Org is at the beck and call of their superiors.
Fame and Scientology are both lifestyle cults reserved for the privileged, and advertised to the lower class as a ‘way out’. This concept in itself is a tool of control. Here’s a quote from Hubbard on the topic of control, pulled from a lecture of June 1952,“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTROL PEOPLE IS TO LIE TO THEM. You can write that down in your book in great big letters. The only way you can control anybody is to lie to them.”
What this quote conveys, is that the members of Sea Org are dedicating their lives to what is possibly nothing but a scam. And who could blame them when the consequences of leaving are so high? The thing is, these members believe in what they are working for, even if Ron L Hubbard didn’t. And maybe we are all victims of following a false dream, in smaller ways. Like believing a product from an infomercial will truly improve our lives, or that we can achieve the false glory of Gwyneth Paltrow in 15 simple steps. Maybe these little fantasies are our version of ‘Going Clear’. All we can hope, is that more and more members of Scientology see past the mirage of ‘enlightenment’ and escape the lifestyle cult of Scientology.
To the average American, celebrity lifestyle can seem like an enlightened or higher state of being. A state of luxury, something post-human. If you do some Googling, you’ll find headlines like 15 Ways to Live like Gwyneth Paltrow, 11 Steps to Live Like a Celebrity (With Pictures), and many similar tutorials. We want shortcuts to celebrity elevation, forgetting that the life of a celebrity is the life of someone immensely privileged. Similarly, the price tag of
Scientology also shows that it is a religion for the privileged.
Western Society’s desperate effort to attain the glory of celebrity status mirrors how members of Scientology climb towards and throw money at the supposed enlightenment of “Going Clear.”, and how the Sea Org is at the beck and call of their superiors.
Fame and Scientology are both lifestyle cults reserved for the privileged, and advertised to the lower class as a ‘way out’. This concept in itself is a tool of control. Here’s a quote from Hubbard on the topic of control, pulled from a lecture of June 1952,“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTROL PEOPLE IS TO LIE TO THEM. You can write that down in your book in great big letters. The only way you can control anybody is to lie to them.”
What this quote conveys, is that the members of Sea Org are dedicating their lives to what is possibly nothing but a scam. And who could blame them when the consequences of leaving are so high? The thing is, these members believe in what they are working for, even if Ron L Hubbard didn’t. And maybe we are all victims of following a false dream, in smaller ways. Like believing a product from an infomercial will truly improve our lives, or that we can achieve the false glory of Gwyneth Paltrow in 15 simple steps. Maybe these little fantasies are our version of ‘Going Clear’. All we can hope, is that more and more members of Scientology see past the mirage of ‘enlightenment’ and escape the lifestyle cult of Scientology.
