The idea of believing in Psychology and Psychiatry could be a thread all by itself. I guess if I went to a staff member of a church and said that I believed that man is basically an animal and there is no spiritual side to man then he would probably ask me what I was doing there. I don't see how I would be in a world of hurt though.
Frankly, from my perspective ("brainwashed" though it might be) forgetting that there is a spiritual side to life and only believing that man is an animal would be a "world of hurt" in and of itself.
To clarify: Reading a book on a subject doesn't mean I endorse it. I've read "Mad in America" but doesn't mean I endorse electric shock or lobotomy. If I supported those practices then I would rightly be tossed out of the church as we do disagree with that sort of thing.
Persons undergoing spiritual counseling called "auditing" have a number of rules they are to follow. Not taking psychiatric medications is one of them. Not drinking the night before is another.
When you say the church has labeled "all" practices of psycho-analysis as enemies of the church I have a hard time responding. First off I don't know what all the practices are so can't confirm or deny your statement. If its telling the person what is wrong with him then yes there is a rule in auditing to not tell the person what is wrong with him or tell him what he should think about himself.
Regarding "medical practices" like lobotomies and electric shock then yes we are strongly opposed to that. This is part of the code of a Scientologist. No big secret there.
I still don't know what you mean by "hard-line".
I don't tell people on the net what progress I have made in auditing so sorry, I won't be answering that question. For me personally, that is a private thing.
Nice spin boss. But you aren't speaking with a moron.
*takes a deep breath*
Edit incoming...
First of all, you "guess" nothing. You know damn well what would happen.
I challenge anyone to go to a Co$ and tell them the following...
1. "When I was a child, my parents sent me to a Psychiatrist. They gave me Ritalin. I took it for about a month and then decided to stop taking it, my parents didn't care that I stopped. They just wanted me to be happy"
2. "I have never taken any alcohol or drugs before or since that time."
3. "As an adult, I quickly became in touch with my spiritual side and wanted to find out more. I read the book 'What Is Scientology?' and decided to check it out."
4. "I heard this is a great place to do the 'Purification Rundown' (step-1 on the bridge). I have a couple grand to start. Where do I sign up?"
Don't give them a dollar no matter what they tell you and just watch the fireworks. You will not be allowed to do "the Purif". But that will not stop them from trying to take every dollar you have. If you have a couple of grand laying around in cash, I highly recommend you pull it out so they KNOW you have the money. Just don't hand it to them. They will try for AS LONG AS YOU LET THEM to get that money. Knowing what you told them, they will try a few things...
1. They may have you take some free written tests to determine what else to sell you. Do them. There's no harm in that. But the more they think you are up for it, the harder they will try to sell it.
2. They will have you watch the "Orientation" film. Go ahead and watch it. If nothing else than for the EXTREME lol's. At the end of the film, the guy says you have a choice to do scientology or not, but that you might as well kill yourself (yes those are the exact words) if you don't. Then as you exit, they will have your test results.
3. After going over what you "need" to do in scientology, they will try to sell you "courses" or scientology training. Which is something you CAN do, according to L Ron Hubbard. Basically you pay money to go to classes. You will not be able to get clearance to receive auditing (the point of scientology).
4. They may even try to get your money for the Purif and auditing and set it aside as "special income". In other words, they know you wont get clearance, but when they have your money, it makes it easier for them to sell you books, tapes and courses. But note that if you take a refund from the church, you will be blacklisted as my uncle was.
5. They will give you a free introductory membership to the "International Association of Scientologists" or IAS. It will last you 6 months. After that, you have to pay.
6. They will use "hard-sell" as instructed by their founder LRH. I'm sure rnaviaux knows what that means, as he was a staff member. It basically means the method of "do and say anything to get the sale", such as a used car salesmen, of which there are a few I know of working for the church. I've personally been apart of this process on the selling end. We'd team up on a person till they broke down and gave up the credit card.
I just want to interject something here for rnaviaux. Replace the word "sell" with "line" and you should be able to figure out what "hard-line" means. If that doesn't do it, well then I'm sorry for giving you an "MU" or "misunderstood word" (something frowned upon by the hard-line members).
Further edit incoming...
