March 30, 2022

Let’s talk about the Connection between Scientology, New Age Spirituality & Celebrity Culture.

*Editor’s Note: Elephant Journal articles represent the personal views of the authors, and can not possibly reflect Elephant Journal as a whole. Disagree with an Op-Ed or opinion? We’re happy to share your experience here.

Is there a connection between celebrities acting up, yoga teachers talking about healing wounds of ancestors, and Scientology?

Last night, I watched some TV to distract myself from work. I wanted to relax after writing, reading, and arguing about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.

But then I got pulled right back into it. What happened?

There was a movie with Tom Cruise on TV. Of course, I was also mindlessly scrolling Twitter while settling into the sofa. People started a sh*tstorm against the channel airing “Mission Impossible.”

Why? Because I live in Germany.

Scientology is not recognized as a religion in Germany. Not only that, our domestic intelligence service is monitoring them. Why? Because German law describes Scientology as an “abusive business masquerading as a religion and believes that it pursues political goals that conflict with the values enshrined in the German constitution.”

Back to our starting point that might have caused you to read this article.

What’s the connection between New Age cults, celebrity culture, and an organization that likes to operate behind the scenes?

Do you remember when Tom Cruise freaked out on Oprah? Did you ever hear about coaching methods that promised to clear all your blockades? Did you hear about the rumors that Will and Jada have a connection with Scientology?

To be honest, these are just a few observations that could be pure coincidence. I am also biased as someone from Germany who has a pretty clear stance on Scientology.

I remember bringing this up at a yoga workshop.

Someone spoke about healing our emotional body, and I asked if that’s somehow related to Scientology’s concept of Thetan, which is supposed to be our immortal soul according to their beliefs.

Nobody was able to answer my question. Nobody tried.

Back to the Oscars, Will Smith, and the slap.

As I wrote in this article, I don’t think that aggression should be used to make our case. Some say that Scientology has a different stance on this—it’s about superiority and intimidation. Please check out this thread:

 

We don’t know what motivated Smith to make a fool out of himself. But I have to say that using love as an excuse to do crazy things is something that Tom Cruise also did when he lost his mind on Oprah.

At the same time, I see a bunch of articles claiming that Smith is not connected to Scientology in any way. But there is someone who has a different opinion on this—Leah Remini.

I highly suggest watching her documentary “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.”

She used to be an active member of Scientology before leaving the organization. There are a lot of heavy accusations against Scientology in all three seasons of the show.

I would expect Scientology to take legal action against her, but apparently, they decided against that. Here’s Remini’s take on that:

 

I feel that the influence of Scientology on American culture is far bigger than most of us want to admit. I feel that they might be a cult that managed to infiltrate society with their ideology.

And that’s exactly why critics call them “a business-driven, psychologically manipulative, totalitarian ideology with world-dominating aspirations.”

But I don’t know; maybe I am too biased on Scientology because I am German.

What do you think?

If you are interested to find out more about this, please watch this documentary:

What do you think? Please let me know in the comments.

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