{"id":3523,"date":"2017-10-25T18:39:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T01:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/?p=3523"},"modified":"2017-10-25T18:39:50","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T01:39:50","slug":"scientology-responsibility-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2017\/10\/scientology-responsibility-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientology and Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Scientologist Rodger Clark writes about Scientology and the role responsibility plays in the religion\u2019s basic philosophy and practice.\u00a0 Published courtesy of STAND (Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Taking
Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Burundi take responsibility for children in refugee camps.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you have the impression that Scientologists never examine Scientology, you would be wrong. The simple practice of Scientology forces you to eventually\u00a0look into and evaluate everything<\/a>, including Scientology. In a society where you take a pill to avoid facing things you don\u2019t like and that crams a pill down the throat of people it finds inconvenient, Scientology goes completely against the grain. I\u2019m talking about\u00a0real<\/i>\u00a0Scientology here, not the orgy of idiocy that internet trolls, the \u201cproselytes of panic\u201d and the \u201cdevotees of drama\u201d so fervently\u00a0want<\/i>\u00a0to believe Scientology is, but the actual subject. (If Scientology were anything like what is portrayed in the media, I, and every Scientologist I know, would avoid it too.)<\/p>\n

Anything which brings about any true improvement in an individual requires some degree of work and sacrifice. Example: everyone out there who has gone to college, raise your hand if you enjoyed long hours of study and the pressure of passing tests. No one? Hmmm\u2026 Imagine that. In the same vein, studying and practicing Scientology takes a lot of work. It\u2019s just\u00a0worth<\/i>\u00a0it.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The people who think that Scientology is some \u201cI\u2019m OK\u2014You\u2019re OK\u201d 1970s pop-psychology fad, where everyone sits around being wonderful, receive a severe shock when they take their first\u00a0Scientology course<\/a>\u00a0or read their first book. They are introduced to a philosophy that insists, then proves, that everyone can do much better, that they don\u2019t have to roll over and \u201caccept who they are,\u201d that they can accomplish much more than they ever thought, and that does not seek to limit them. Then they find that they are expected to work at it. The ones who make that first \u201ccut,\u201d who are willing to work at improving, usually find themselves on a path that requires perseverance, self-discipline and the personal rewards that come with it, not only in Scientology but in life.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a philosophy where you gradually take on more responsibility and face up to and begin to change and control situations you don\u2019t like. But in\u00a0Scientology\u00a0you gain the tools to do it with.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s a philosophy where you gradually take on more responsibility and face up to and begin to change and control situations you don\u2019t like. But in Scientology, you gain the tools to do it with. Not \u201ctools\u201d as some drippy metaphor, but\u00a0real ones that actually work and that you gain greater mastery of as time goes on.<\/p>\n

After you begin to reap the rewards, you get the \u201cfun\u201d of dealing with media worshippers who want to check your head for antennae and your thermos for Kool-Aid. You also have to deal with family and friends who become upset by any evidence that it is they\u2014not you\u2014who have been duped into believing a false narrative (created to sell\u00a0advertising). You must continue to choose between what you have seen for yourself and the fictional creations of the media, and remember that a lot of people believing a lie has never made a lie true. From the belief that the earth was flat, to\u00a0medieval witch hunts<\/a>, to Nazi Germany, the \u201cmajority\u201d\u2014popular opinion\u2014was dead wrong (only it wasn\u2019t the majority who ended up dead). It\u2019s a helluva position to constantly be in. It takes personal courage to stand up to it.<\/p>\n

Scientology isn\u2019t for sissies. It requires work and guts. Kinda\u2019 like everything else that\u2019s worth doing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientologist Rodger Clark writes about Scientology and the role responsibility plays in the religion\u2019s basic philosophy and practice.\u00a0 Published courtesy of STAND (Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination) If you have the impression that Scientologists never examine Scientology, you would be wrong. The simple practice of Scientology forces you to eventually\u00a0look into and evaluate everything, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1320,1297,1308,1374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scientologists","category-scientology-beliefs","category-scientology-humanitarian-campaigns","category-stand"],"yoast_head":"\nScientology and Responsibility<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientologist Rodger Clark writes about Scientology and the role responsibility plays in the religion's basic philosophy and practice.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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