Going Clear is broken into three major sections: Scientology, which focuses on L. Ron Hubbard, the origins of the cult (some say “religion”), the farcical tales Scientology is predicated upon, as well as the original offenses of the church. The book then moves onto the courting of Hollywood – particularly focused on the “church’s putative savior”: Tom Cruise. This section goes into some very disturbing territory in terms of how entangled the church becomes in the PR of its highest profile members and the control it enforces on – for example – eliminating potential ‘Suppressive Persons’ or S.P.s from the lives of its most coveted members. The final section, the ‘Prison of Belief,’ details the abuses of the church in further detail and makes it clear just how brave an undertaking this book was.
This is an astounding piece of journalism – the depth of detail, the access that Wright manages to gain to obscure accounts of former church members, and the fully evidence-backed expose of the Church of Scientology is both exceptional and courageous.
After reading this, I went back to an article I remember reading in Vanity Fair shortly after the break-up of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Albeit quite long, this article rapidly covers much of the ground that Going Clear does in far more detail – especially the meddling involvement the church has had in Tom Cruise’s relationships.
Photo credit: Alo Ceballos/Filmmagic (Holmes); by Barnaby Hall/Getty Images (Man).
I managed to notate 25 bookmarks throughout my copy of Going Clear and as much as I would love to reiterate all. the. facts!, I’ll pick five favorites. Suffice it to say, this one is definitely worth reading.
1. Scientology purports that the planet Earth, formerly called Teegeeack was part of a confederation of planets under the leadership of a despotic ruler named Xenu. Those ruled by Xenu, the Loyal Officers, decided their leader was wicked and decided to try to remove him. Instead, Xenu’s troops destroyed the officers by shooting a needle into their lung and injecting a mixture of frozen alcohol and glycol. The bodies were frozen, packed away onto space planes and thus billions of ‘thetans’ (free floating souls) were transported to Teegeeack (Earth), dropped into volcanoes and blown up with hydrogen bombs. Xenu didn’t realize that thetans are immortal – the souls of people who have now been dead for 75 million years – and in present day they attach themselves to living people. “Auditing,” or the very expensive process of going clear aims to eliminate the body of these squatting thetans, who cramp the way for spiritual progression.
2. Because of the above, L. Ron Hubbard argues that everyone has past lives. An absurd example: he claims that in another life he was a contemporary of Machiavelli and that he stole his line, “The end justifies the means” for the Prince.
3. When L. Ron Hubbard was looking to evade the British, American and Soviet governments prying investigations, he decided to go to …. Rhodesia to try to take it over. He really identified with Cecil John Rhodes (his flamboyance and red hair, obviously) and even thought he might have been Rhodes in a previous life.
4. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a lobby group invented by the Church of Scientology, has managed to argue that psychiatry was responsible for the Holocaust, apartheid and 9/11 and that no mental diseases have ever been proven to exist.
5. The church ran a domestic espionage mission without compare called Operation Snow White, which I’ll leave you to read about in your own time. Enjoy!
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