A must read,,,
On the morning that 29-year-old Jillian Schlesinger finally decided to leave the Church of Scientology, she awoke early and wondered whether she was losing her mind. Was she about to do something she’d always regret? A native Californian, she’d spent most of her life in the church. Her parents were Scientologists, as were her friends—basically everyone she knew. If she left, they’d disown her. On the other hand, if she stayed, her misery would continue. Either way, Schlesinger knew her escape attempt would change her life forever.
She was not just a member of the church, she was part of its elite, the Sea Organization, Scientology’s management body of members who sign contracts promising to serve the group for a billion years. She lived at Scientology’s big blue West Coast headquarters on Sunset Boulevard, known as the Pacific Area Command, or PAC Base. Every day, she went to work with hundreds of other Sea Org members, all dressed in starched uniforms—khakis and button-downs for men, skirts and neat blouses for women. The facility, once a hospital, is monitored by security cameras and armed guards. Everywhere she went, someone, somewhere, was watching her.
[,,,]
For most of her life, Jillian Schlesinger was a good Scientologist. Her parents, long divorced, raised her in Orange County, and she joined the Sea Org at the age of 19, though she’d been active in the church for seven years. “They pressure you a lot to join,” she says. “They’ll tell you how bad everything is in the world, and that they really need your help.”
Escape From Scientology | Vocativ
No comments:
Post a Comment