OT8 = Show Me The Money

Over at WWP, an anon leaked on of the recent email fliers he'd received. For the new OT8 level, it was a measly $20,750.⁰⁰, just for that level. Sure, it starts out with that free stress test, but from there, get out your credit card.

The purpose of Scientology is not to help people, and it never has been. To the core, it has a capitalist agenda, raw, brutal capitalist agenda topped with a very sophisticated belief system which tries to explain away the reasons why some people are excluded from the the aid of Scientology. Help those who are able to be helped, who can pay for services and are gullible enough to believe in Scientology tech, but leave those who cannot on the streets to fend for themselves. Yes, that is humanitarian aid indeed.

It is typical for any religious organization to ask its members for donations, and in many churches it's part of the regular weekly worship. Within the Church of Scientology, the term "donation" takes on a whole new meaning. Much of the structure of Scientology is based on advancing on what they call the "Bridge to Total Freedom." To continue making progress, the Scientologist must take classes and do "auditing" sessions, a practice likened to confession or therapy, in order to get control of one's Thetan (similar to soul). To participate in Scientology courses or receive auditing, the prospective Scientologist must pay a "fixed donation." No money, no services.

Dianetics auditing offers a series of therapeutic "courses" (with payment by contract in advance) on a path from "pre-release" to "release" to "pre-clear" to the rare but ultimate "clear" (of all engrams) to reach "total freedom." Each treatment course is really a succession of auditing sessions to rid the individual of unwanted attitudes, emotions and behaviors. Auditors themselves receive training through courses of their own. This works as a sort of pyramid scheme, with thousands of people auditing those at levels below them while being audited by others at levels above them. As in all pyramid schemes, most of the money ends up at the top.

And to sum up what Scientology is all about is Tom Cruise himself, from the movie Jerry Maguire. Yes, you too can be just like Tom. Have superhuman powers! The ability to leave your body! To shape space and time with your mind! To be impervious to disease and live forever! And all for only a mere $100,000 in cash, several years of your life, separation from your family and friends, and complete dedication to a dead pulp-fiction writer who dreamed up a religion starring disembodied alien souls being carried through the galaxy on spacecraft shaped like DC-8s! Join today!..or not.