A video starring Tom Cruise recently made the rounds on YouTube. In the video, Cruise sheds light on his Scientology beliefs in relation to KSW, ethics and a few other topics as well. After a brief appearance on YouTube, the video was allegedly pulled. Many individuals are wondering why.
After all of the slander and speculation that’s been seen, heard and talked about involving Tom Cruise and his Scientology beliefs, I didn’t know what to believe because I never honestly took the time to learn about Scientology and why an individual might be interested in becoming a part of this religion. I watched the 9 minute video that consisted of Cruise responding to what I assume would be a series of questions regarding his beliefs (no interviewer was present or heard during the video). Cruise discussed several topics in relation to Scientology and KSW.
Scientology consists of beliefs and practices that were originally developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1952. Scientology was a successor of Dianetics, his earlier created self help system. Hubbard eventually characterized Scientology as an ‘applied religious philosophy’ that became the basis for a new religion. Scientology consists of philosophies and techniques for spiritual rehabilitation and also explores morals, ethics, detoxification, education and management. Scientology is both practiced and promoted through the Church of Scientology which was first founded in 1953.
As Cruise began the interview, he began by talking about how Scientology is something that you have to earn, you can’t be it, you have to achieve it. And once you’ve earned it, then you’ll be able to see things the way they really are, and by applying the teachings of Scientology, you’ll have the capabilities to create a new reality.
By applying KSW to everyday situations, Cruise believes that Scientology can help to make changes. KSW or “Keeping Scientology Working” is considered to be the most important part of Scientology. It is where any Scientologist is sternly cautioned to always control the use of Scientology and ensure that there is no wavering from Hubbard’s teachings. Scientologists believe that it is their responsibility to help others through Scientology teachings, and Cruise talks a lot about this during the video.
He states that Scientology is the authority on getting people off drugs, the authority on the mind, the authority on improving conditions, the authority on criminal rehabilitation, the authority on the way to happiness, the authority on peace and the authority on uniting cultures. He believes that by using these steps to help people he can create a new reality. He claims that since becoming a Scientologist, this is how he does things, this is how things should be done and if you are going to do things, you should do it the right way, the Scientologist way.
He says that he has no problem putting ethics into people; because he respects people who try to put their ethics into someone else therefore he sees no problem in doing that. He claims that ‘people are depending on us’, but who? Where? And for what? He states that he’d love nothing more than to live a normal life, to go on vacation and spend time with people he loves, but ‘knowing what he knows’ he can’t not do anything; he always has to be doing something to create a new reality.
Now I understand having beliefs in something and having spirituality; and I can understand when individuals believe that their religion is the ‘right’ religion, that it is better than all the others. But what I believe is that the religion you choose to practice is the best religion for you, it may not be the best for everyone. What I gathered from this video, and please feel free to agree or disagree, is that Cruise, in essence, is stating that Scientology is the authority on any and all improvements that need to be made in society, that only they have the power and the responsibility to make change happen, and that everyone else is too busy going on vacation to try and make a difference.
I believe that the reason this video was pulled is because while Scientologists have these beliefs, they don’t make it their life’s work to slander everyone who may not hold the same beliefs. They work hard to help people and to make a difference, and I’d only hope that they would help people even if they didn’t convert to Scientology. In this video, Cruise, to put it plainly, is acting far superior to anyone who is not a Scientologist, he preaches how its his responsibility to fix things, and that only Scientologists can understand the drive to want to make the world a better place. Personally I think its awful. No one person should ever think they are better than someone else based on gender, race, age, religion, etc. He makes the viewer believe that in order to help, you must become a Scientologist, and that’s wrong.
I feel this video is very unflattering for both Cruise and Scientologists and definitely discourages people from considering Scientology as an option for spiritual guidance. But hey, that’s just my take on it. Check out the video for yourself!
Sources:
“Scientology”, Wikipedia
The Video
