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I'd like say I live in an Ivory Tower where only the media PR I'm actually interested in makes it to my brain. Unfortunately, that's not the case, so I've been forced to watch the odd exploits of Tom Cruise along with Rosie and everyone else. Tom seemed like such a nice guy, did love for a younger woman turn him into an asshole? It's the stuff tabloids lust after.
Tom has always been a member of the Cult of Ron, otherwise known as Scientology. Other media personalities will also admit following the teachings of the prolific scifi writer turned guru. I can't help but suspect there are others that are less public with their affiliation ( Ophra comes to mind ), but I have no proof and really don't care.
What does interest me is the seemingly sudden resurgence of dianetics. Now, mainstream media, if it can still be called such, seems to be talking seriously about the new "faith" of such personalities as "Tom C" and "John T". More and more, scientology seems to be tossed around with more naive curiosity than scorn. Hmm...
Someone called me recently, distraught and offended, that some self help show had brought out the engrams. While I didn't see the show in question, I strongly suspect the sighted meme was an enneagram and not one of Ron's methods. Which, while similarly flaky, is more an astrology-magic square fusion thing. I read about these years ago, they sprang from the mind of G. I. Gurdjieff, an amusing but not menacing fellow. I rather liked his writings.
While trying to remember what Ron meant by engram and how to spell Gurdjieff, I stumbled upon more history of Ron. I'd always assumed Scientology started in the sixties as a bar bet among SF writers. I knew that Ron was one of those special kinds of fruit loops who believes the crap he made up, but that's kind of fun as long as it's not hurting anyone. But, well, Ron's more messed up that I knew.
"An it harm no one, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," is the warm fuzzy from infamous Aleister Crowley ( quoted from memory, I scare myself sometimes). Of course, it's hard to practice what you preach. Crowley was an over the top practitioner of Black Magick ( as opposed to the mellow, laid back kind). He gave a new, Satanic face, to earlier Lodges like the Golden Dawn and the Freemasons in his group, the OTO. Ron, future founding member of far more successful cult, was a serious member of the OTO.
What does all this have to do with the Madness of Tom? Well, upon discovering the Ron - Aleister connection, I had one of those Eureka moments. It all suddenly made sense and I had to share.
All secret societies have their rituals. Freemasons are famous and practically public domain at this point. However, the more mystical groups have more heavy duty trails. The point of these exercises, beyond the basic frat house psychological bonding, is to induce different and higher states of consciousness. Such paths are not without their pot holes.
OTO is rife with various initiations intended to evoke various states of mind. Unfortunately, like LSD in the punch bowl, sometimes more damage is done than liberation achieved. Indeed, Crowley's followers accept the risk and call such failures things like "falling in." Sometime, such initiates never climb out.
It is known that there are many levels to Scientology, in the last of which you get to find out about Xenu ( don't ask ). I didn't think they would involve High Magick style initiations, but why not? I strongly believe that Tom, the Ron devotee, is showing all the classic signs of falling in.
Good luck Tom, hopefully you'll find yourself again before Xenu does.
Tom has always been a member of the Cult of Ron, otherwise known as Scientology. Other media personalities will also admit following the teachings of the prolific scifi writer turned guru. I can't help but suspect there are others that are less public with their affiliation ( Ophra comes to mind ), but I have no proof and really don't care.
What does interest me is the seemingly sudden resurgence of dianetics. Now, mainstream media, if it can still be called such, seems to be talking seriously about the new "faith" of such personalities as "Tom C" and "John T". More and more, scientology seems to be tossed around with more naive curiosity than scorn. Hmm...
Someone called me recently, distraught and offended, that some self help show had brought out the engrams. While I didn't see the show in question, I strongly suspect the sighted meme was an enneagram and not one of Ron's methods. Which, while similarly flaky, is more an astrology-magic square fusion thing. I read about these years ago, they sprang from the mind of G. I. Gurdjieff, an amusing but not menacing fellow. I rather liked his writings.
While trying to remember what Ron meant by engram and how to spell Gurdjieff, I stumbled upon more history of Ron. I'd always assumed Scientology started in the sixties as a bar bet among SF writers. I knew that Ron was one of those special kinds of fruit loops who believes the crap he made up, but that's kind of fun as long as it's not hurting anyone. But, well, Ron's more messed up that I knew.
"An it harm no one, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," is the warm fuzzy from infamous Aleister Crowley ( quoted from memory, I scare myself sometimes). Of course, it's hard to practice what you preach. Crowley was an over the top practitioner of Black Magick ( as opposed to the mellow, laid back kind). He gave a new, Satanic face, to earlier Lodges like the Golden Dawn and the Freemasons in his group, the OTO. Ron, future founding member of far more successful cult, was a serious member of the OTO.
What does all this have to do with the Madness of Tom? Well, upon discovering the Ron - Aleister connection, I had one of those Eureka moments. It all suddenly made sense and I had to share.
All secret societies have their rituals. Freemasons are famous and practically public domain at this point. However, the more mystical groups have more heavy duty trails. The point of these exercises, beyond the basic frat house psychological bonding, is to induce different and higher states of consciousness. Such paths are not without their pot holes.
OTO is rife with various initiations intended to evoke various states of mind. Unfortunately, like LSD in the punch bowl, sometimes more damage is done than liberation achieved. Indeed, Crowley's followers accept the risk and call such failures things like "falling in." Sometime, such initiates never climb out.
It is known that there are many levels to Scientology, in the last of which you get to find out about Xenu ( don't ask ). I didn't think they would involve High Magick style initiations, but why not? I strongly believe that Tom, the Ron devotee, is showing all the classic signs of falling in.
Good luck Tom, hopefully you'll find yourself again before Xenu does.