My question about Scientology remains the same for years. What exactly do you do? What do Scientologists do to be a practicing member of that religion?
Write checks mostly.
Huh? Les Grossman was a parody/composite of tyrannical & abusive Hollywood producers. It took balls on his & Stiller’s part to put that character in the movie, but I wouldn’t say it took self reflection or humility. Playa.
I dunno–to co-create such a repulsive (but hilarious) character and then play it to the hilt shows a pretty good sense of humor at any rate, and certainly the self-respect to not need to play the pretty boy.
Ah, got it. When you said “self reflection & humility” I thought you meant he based Les on himself/other A list actors, mea culpa. I agree, it was very against type compared to his previous roles.
From what I can tell give money to the people in charge/above you. It reminds me a bit of amway.
It’s exactly like Amway, in that it helps you get clear in your bank accounts.
OK, so let’s say I, a middle class American, joins Scientology. With good faith genuine effort.
Are there services? Are there mission trips? Are there regular religious practices? Prayer groups? Bible study equivalent groups, but they study Hubbard’s crap…I mean writings.
I"m just wondering what a non-mega-wealthy person even does in that religion. I can picture Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Bahai, etc. They have practices I can process and understand.
What the heck do Scientologists do aside from the previouskly mentioned “pay for it”?
I’ve read that the group uses free labor provided by its members. So that’s one thing you as a non-wealthy person could do.
That and from what I’ve seen you have to spend money to proceed higher in knowledge and whatever it is you rise to.
I’m sure they have “programs” to “help” the less financially well off to become more “enlightened” and I’ll bet you can “work” for the rich folks to get to do more advanced classes or whatever they call them. I’ve read about it but don’t remember what they call they things they have to do. ETA: Auditing
Like any cult, it’s a money, time and soul extraction machine.
Whatever they can get out of you, they will string you along, by whatever means necessary.
If you go to their youtube channel you can see examples of some of the classes they sell to their believers. They do have mandatory meetings where Miscavige “preaches” to them (they would argue that word) over telescreens straight out of “1984” and exhorts them to give more money and free labor to the cause.
You get “audited”. Using their skin galvanometer (E-meter), you answer probing questions and your galvanic skin response shows you to be unworthy. It’s very expensive to do the auditing sessions. In order to work on the areas that the audit showed a reaction to, you must take very expensive classes/therapy sessions. Again and again and again and again. You will never be able to pay for all the sessions, so you become an indentured servant to them to try to work it off. Then you get stressed out because of having to beg your family for money, and you fail more E-meter sessions. It’s an endless cycle. You never really achieve anything, but you think you do because of your changing skin responses.
They tell you simple truisms that sound really smart, which makes you think that you are much more knowledgeable than ordinary plebes. One of the ones I remember is that when you bang your knee, if you press against it, it will stop the pain response - but only enlightened people know this. Or if your kid falls and cries, you should move him through the same falling motion several times until he isn’t afraid of his fall anymore. This means that you are wise and one with the universe. And if these simple ideas are true, then anything Hubbard writes must also be true.
Eventually you get advanced enough that to pay off some of your massive debt, you start auditing newbies and working for the organization. You spend a lot of time recruiting. The “religion” appeals to people who are sort of inherently smart, but not well educated. There’s a whole lot of Dunning Kruger going on.
He’s rich, famous, good-looking, well-dressed, well-groomed, well-spoken, and if he made a pass at my girlfriend, she would dump me in a heartbeat.
I sincerely hope he’s gay.
I suspect that, who knows, some of the sessions/therapy might actually be, or feel, therapeutic for some people, at least if they can ignore the creepy Hubbard stuff. Hard to get people hooked if it is too noxious.
The creepy Hubbard stuff seems like the only interesting bits.
Come on… who don’t love a good thetans in a volcano coming to possess your soul story?
It’s positively Lovecraftian.
I don’t care about his previous orthodontia…his teeth are ugly and off center. Bugs Bunny has a better bite.
That bright white looks fake too.
IMHO
Despite the name, technically you just need manic episodes to qualify for a bipolar diagnosis. It’s rare, but not unheard of, to have mania without depression.
Ninja’d.
But if he had episodes of mania you would think it would be a recurring theme on set. It’s possible he was just manic that day, for other reasons. I don’t know a lot about bipolar but with type II there are periods of hypomania which is a less pronounced/intense manic feeling, and not as likely to result in interpersonal problems.
I’ve always enjoyed his roles personally. I’m not convinced he’s a sociopath but it would be hard to get that famous without having some kind of ego. They can’t all be as apparently humble as Keanu Reeves.
Doesn’t that make you unipolar?