Notice: Fredric Rice may have removed segments of the replies given to questions if they contained copyrighted materials. After a very short while, Scientology "experts" refused to answer questions and started cut-and-pasting copyrighted cult propaganda. Additionally I removed URLs in some of the replies, and left them in others. And it's also important to note that eventually the unfortunate "Greg Churilov" cultist was ejected from askme.com for his typical Scientological behavior.

Anonymous asked this question on 5/9/2000:

I had asked an auditor/supervisor (somebody who supposedly knew) Why is it that the bridge exists? I read dianetics cover to cover and was fascinated by it. So, I went to the local Org and started asking questions. Of course they tried to get me into scientology, but I told them I wanted to just do dianetics. One of the questions I had was, why do you need scientology after you go clear? The answer I received was that without further 'training' you won't know how to deal with the world (or things you come in contact with. On a side note, one of the auditor/trainers whom I asked whether or not he was clear said something to the effect of "no, but after (10+) years, i've learned enough to deal with whatever life throws at me"

FINALLY HERE IS MY QUESTION, To scientology protagonists and antagonists: WHY DO YOU NEED SCIENTOLOGY AFTER YOU GO CLEAR.

And a second question: Does anyone really go clear.

desertphile gave this response on 5/9/2000:

Hello. Before I attempt one opinion on your query, I wish to say that I am saddened that the pro- Scientology experts here will probably not answer your question. Certainly they have every right to not answer questions; I would rather see "both sides / all sides" addressed and represented, and without the "pro-Scientology" experts answering questions, a large part of the "Q and A" process is absent.

I therefore plead with the pro-Scientology experts to please participate and answer this important question.

====

Now my observations on your question. You asked: "Why do you need Scientology after you go clear?" Your question is hinged upon the word "Need." Does one "need" Scientology, "clear" or otherwise?

Yes and no. Some people "need" Scientology just as others "need" astrologers, "psychics," spirit mediums, scryers, dowsers, tarot card readers, tea leaf readers, young earth creationism, geocentrism, catastrophism, iridology, and a vast assortment of other quick and simple answers to life's complex problems. That "need" comes from a sense of being over-whelmed by a world too big, fast, and complex. Humans like to be able to understand what is going on around them as well as what's going on in their heads. Reality demonstrates there is no simple answer to those complexities: one must work very, very hard to understand even a small portion of reality and the world (M.E.S.T.).

Along comes Scientology, with -EVERY- answer already packaged and marketed. Someone else has done a lot of the "work" for one already, and all one need do is understand how that work ("The Tech") is applied to understand and improve one's life.

This is sooooo attractive to the human mind! Imagine being told one may get rid of their unhappy memories; their phobias; their unwanted behaviors---- just by holding two tin cans and answering questions truthfully! How simple! Got a highly complex problem with a long list of reasons and causes for the problem existing? Look up the answer in a book! Wow! Is it any wonder that the response to the book _Dianetics_ was fairly good? I'm surprised it didn't do even better, regardles of its many absurdities.

I've never "needed" such "answers." Some do, some do not.

This, I hope, answers your "need" question concerning Scientology. It pretends to provide simple, easy, already available answers to life's problems, unfairnesses, and pains.

Now I'll turn my vast intellect on the process of "going clear." To Scientologist, the state of being "clear" is a continuum: a scale upon which a person who is "clear" resides. To achieve "clear," the person has "cognition" that one's problems have been "mocked up" by oneself due to one's "reactive mind." One's unhealthy and inappropreate -reaction- to that which one has "pulled in" causes conflict and anxiety.

This is close to the Stoic's philosophy of accepting that which one cannot change, only the Stoic's taught (correctly!) that a very large part of life's events are due to circumstances totally out of their control and thus there is no guilt or responsibility they need feel or address for those events.

Scientology's "pulled in" philosopthy is therefore, to me, utterly repellant. Abhorant. A victim is not a victim, but has done something, or failed to do something, that has either caused or instigated that victimization. Can anyone think of anything more revolting?!

Anyhow, "clear" is when one makes that "cognition." When one "goes clear," one often experences a dissasociated state. "Floating out of one's body" is one way of putting the feeling. People who have "gone clear" tell of how they walk down the street and experience an "other worldly" sense of awareness where every observation is amplified, enhanced, and "more real than real."

This is very similiar to the effects of peyote, by the way.

So to answer your question "Does anyone really go clear?" the answer is "Yes." Auditing will do it; some drugs will do it; pain will often do it; sleep deprivation will do it; the hypnopomic and hypnogogic penumbra of sleep will do it. However, the "state of clear" only lasts for a very limited time. A few minutes, a few hours, or a day or two. Most people are mentally healthy enough to "snap out of it."

Now to answer your first question fully: "Why [does one] need Scientology after you go clear?" My answer is: "To maintain their addiction to being 'clear.'" The dissassociated state is a pleasurable one. It is like being on vacation from life's pains and stresses. Some people take alcohol; some people take barbituates; some people take Scientology auditing. Same thing.

Final note: if any pro-Scientology expert does not agree with me (or any con-Scientology expert does not agree), please tell me so and correct my errors. I am very eager to learn from my mistakes.

Further facts about this criminal empire may be found at Operation Clambake and FACTNet.

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