I had some in-laws that got into this fairly deep. (We’re talking six figures, kid’s inheritance, type of deal.)
They usually go after people who are intelligent and professional (have money), but who are outside the mainstream in some way. Chiropractors are a big group for the ElRons, because of their continual battles with mainstream medicine. That’s what my ex-bro-in-law is.
I’m no expert, but from what I’ve read, it usually starts with a psychological test, which determines whether Scientology could be of help to you. Surprise, surprise! It always can be. (My guess is that the test is completely irrelevant, or gauges if you would be particularly susceptible.)
Scientology teaches that psychiatry is a terrible evil, and that their way of dealing with past problems is much better. It involves a little contraption they’ve invented called an e-meter, literally not much more than two cans connected by some string, with some additional fancy bells and whistles.
From what I gather, the person administering the e-meter on someone will have the recipient recount some traumatic past event. The reader will then say that there is some bad negative charge associated with the event, and they will keep going over it and over it, having the recipient recount it, until all of the negative charge is gone. (My terminology may be off here.)
Once freed from all of the ghosts of your “reactive mind,” a person is better able to live and be happy in their “active mind,” and they are deemed to be a “clear.” (Wouldn’t you think wanting to become something called “a clear” would scare people away, in and of itself? It brings to mind “The Stepford Wives.”)
Some legitimate psychological practices are actually similar to this e-meter process. Of course going over and over a traumatic event is going to lessen how upset it makes someone. The difference, however, is that while legitimate psychotherapy replaces the flushed-away trauma with skills that will help a person continue to cope, Scientology replaces it with junk that lures a person further and further into their web.
They set families against families, even spouses against spouses, if they don’t support or in any way question Scientology. They have pat answers for any criticism of Scientology that discourages independent thought. To a Scientologist, if you are not a fellow Scientologist, or at the VERY least neutral on it, you are the enemy, plain and simple.
The secrets of the ‘religion’ are revealed like layers of an onion, as a member is sucked deeper and deeper in, (and their wallet is sucked dryer and dryer). The highest levels of understanding (called “operating levels”) are almost certainly out of the reach of most. But these brainwashed little lab rats so desperately want to keep going with it, they will do almost anything to get more money to feed the ‘church.’
The fact that the ‘truths’ of Scientology at its highest levels are laughably ridiculous (check out some of the aforementioned web sites) is irrelevant, because by the time a person gets to the level where this crap is revealed, they’re pretty much cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs, anyway.
Scientology is extremely insidious. They go after their attackers pretty strenuously. They can make lives very miserable. And because of freedom of religion, it’s very hard to help a loved one who has been sucked into this.