Keep in mind it's making a point about cientology but this little excerpt is wonderfully thought provoking.
Enjoy.
And leave your comments below.
"One of the most interesting comments was made not on the blog but in a private phone conversation with a friend. He pointed out that Scientology has to decide which model it is going to operate on, as a gnostic religion or as a business.
The word gnostic refers to inner spiritual knowledge. It's a different kind of knowledge than, for instance, "I know there's a Pizza Hut down on 82nd Street." A Scientologist who exteriorizes, or, for that matter, a native American shaman who "sends his spirit over the plains," or an Indian guru who "leaves his body and visits the spirit world" are all forms of inner spiritual knowledge, or gnosis. You can't prove it happened, you can't prove it didn't happen. You can believe them, you can disbelieve them, you can say they are crazy, deluded, inspired or whatever.
I mentioned in my first post some of my own somewhat supernatural experiences. I couldn't prove those things happened. But then I am not really trying to convince anyone of anything, so it really does not matter to me if people believe it or not - it is of no consequence to me. It's simply something I experienced.
Now if you move into the world of business, that's different. If the shaman says "pay me for this special training course or session and I will teach you how you can send your spirit soaring over the plains." That's a different thing entirely. In that case, caveat emptor applies. The prospective customer, before they plunk down their hard-earned cash, would be well within their rights to say "prove it. Fly over the prairie and tell me what's there and I'll go verify it, and if it's accurate, or even close, I'll take your course."
So when I hear the individual gnostic spiritual experiences of individual Scientologists (or anyone else for that matter), I say "good for you." (Or "far out, man" as we used to say in the '60s.)
When I read these things in Church literature or magazines or books or lectures, I say, "Where's the beef." Because they are selling something. They are selling a series of levels, with an "ability gained" at each level. Well then, whether or not they can actually observably produce these abilities becomes very, very pertinent."
