Currently 300 pages into this. It's stunning really; I had been feeling more idealistic lately but this book has reawakened my misanthropy. I think Hubbard's mythology ensnares people in a ingenious way, by giving the appearance of a secular spirituality and omitting an overt god figure, and preying on each individual's weaknesses.
Anyone else read it?
Thoughts on Scientology?
>inb4 it's retarded and unsettling.(obviously)
I prefer Zizek if you want to talk about "fake" beliefs desu
Its a great record of Scientology. Last third of the book was just piling so many terrible things upon terrible things that I couldn't finish.
I think what's interesting is how few Scientologists there probably actually are, which makes me less concerned.
>>8278435
I have no clue but Gold Base is a fucking horror story, the way they go after anyone who says a word against their religion is...... spooky
>>8278450
I think if I read it when I was younger I would have admired Hubbard's audacity, but I suspect he was a very haunted, angry person.
I don't feel sorry for the rubes but I don't hold Hubbard or other high muckuty mucks in the Church in any esteem. They all seem like testosterone junkies in a sociopathic competition of their own making.
What nobody gets is everyone's a victim.
There are no perpetrators here.
>>8278476
OP here. What I find so interesting is that Hubbard's belief system must actually help on a short term basis the people who choose to believe in it. However it seems a system designed to repress issues rather than resolve them, making the followers troubled and volatile yet utterly convinced of their sanity. It's terrifying to think of such people.
>>8278624
Of course it makes people feel "helped" otherwise there'd be no glue to stick to it.
It was made by a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic so not surprised of its problems.
