Scientology Outside of the Church Podcast
Did you know Scientology the Subject and The Church of Scientology are two completely different things? Find out why and what the difference is and how it can help you. Topics range from Independent Scientology, solving life's problems, past lives, secret government, metaphysical, Para-Scientology, UFOS/UAPS, ghost hunting, spirituality, and a lot more! Come check us out!
Scientology Outside of the Church Podcast
SE11EP3 - Why I Became an Independent Scientologist
What happens when traditional medicine tells you there's no solution, and you're facing a lifetime of physical pain and limitation? Sam Kerlinger found himself in exactly this position after a neck injury left him increasingly debilitated, culminating in the devastating news that he would need to wear a neck brace for the rest of his life.
Sam's powerful story opens a window into the journey from hopelessness to healing through an unexpected path. When doctors, psychologists, and self-help books failed to provide relief, a late-night television commercial introduced him to Dianetics and eventually Scientology. What followed was nothing short of remarkable – through addressing deeply buried birth trauma during auditing sessions, Sam experienced a complete resolution of chronic neck problems that had plagued him for decades.
The conversation reveals the stark contrast between Sam's experiences within the corporate Church of Scientology and his current journey with Independent Scientology. He shares candid stories of high-pressure sales tactics within the Church, including an incident where staff physically blocked his exit during a hard-sell attempt. These revelations provide rare insights into why many seekers have chosen independent paths to pursue spiritual technology without organizational constraints.
Most compelling is Sam's passionate advocacy for trauma healing. He emphasizes that countless people – from sexual assault survivors to combat veterans with PTSD to athletes with career-ending injuries – needlessly carry their trauma for a lifetime when effective solutions exist. His own transformation stands as living proof that addressing the root causes of suffering, rather than merely treating symptoms, can lead to profound healing.
Whether you're curious about alternative healing approaches, interested in spiritual technology outside mainstream religions, or simply inspired by stories of personal transformation, Sam's journey offers hope that even the most entrenched problems can find resolution when approached from the right angle.
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Hi and welcome to another Scientology Outside of the Church podcast brought to you by the Advanced Org of the Great Plains and collegeofindependentscientologycom, our online social media platform. I'm here with Sam Kerlinger. Sam is an ex-church Scientologist and we're going to do an interview about his experience in why he chose independent Scientology. How are you, sam?
Speaker 2:Good, how are you?
Speaker 1:Very good, thanks for doing the podcast. I really appreciate it. You're welcome, so tell us what got you into the corporate church of Scientology and tell us your story and how you ended up doing independent Scientology.
Speaker 2:It's a long story. I'll cut it short because it's a long story, but it started. A problem started when I was a teenager. I hurt my neck and I hurt my back and as I got older the problem got worse and worse. I was, I started a rather stressful job and all of a sudden my neck just got much, much worse. I ended up going to an osteopath, which is, like you know, he's like a fucking chiropractor and a medical doctor at the same time. So I got worse.
Speaker 2:I got worse and I had headaches all the time. I had pinched nerves in my neck, pinched nerves in my back. I was a wreck Tension nerves in my back. I was a wreck. So I was going to this doctor and it got to the point where I was going two to three times a week because my neck kept going out. And I said to the doctor I said what's going on? Why is my neck so bad? All of a sudden, and he just looked at me for the longest time and then he says I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but you're going to have to wear a neck brace for the rest of your life and kind of crushed me Because I was.
Speaker 2:You know, I worked in manufacturing and I was quite active running around Right, and I said you know, if I lose this job, uh, you know who's gonna want to hire me, you know for?
Speaker 2:that kind of a job with a neck brace, you know. So I got. I got depressed. I got quite depressed and I was worried. I had a student loan at the time. I had just purchased a house. I was in debt and I was worried. I didn't know what was going to happen. I don't know quite how long I was depressed, but finally one day I said you know something, I'm going to do something about this. I don't know what, but I had a feeling that there was a solution out there someplace. So I started looking and I felt a little better because now I'm doing something Right. So, but unfortunately we didn't have the internet or podcasts, or so searching was rather difficult.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how old were you at the time?
Speaker 2:About 40, maybe 40 years old about 40, maybe 40 years old. So I started looking around and reading. I was doing transcendental meditation, which you know. It solved my problem but probably took some of the stress away problem, but probably took some of the stress away. Let's see what happened after that.
Speaker 1:Somebody introduced you to Dianetics or Scientology.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, oh yeah, I was at work one day and I got a panic attack which I had never gotten before and I said, wow, I just had to leave work. And I said, well, I got to do something drastic here. So I found a local clinic in the hospital and I went to see a psychologist. So I went to see the woman for a while and I got some emotion off. I started to feel a little bit better. But then she started to evaluate, which really annoyed me. Then she said you know, the psychiatrist would like to see if he's interested. So I said, well, go on, take a look, I'll see what's going on there. So I went to see him. I'll see what's going on there. So I went to see him and that didn't last very long, because maybe I saw him two or three times at most. He turned out to have more problems than I did, mm-hmm. So I didn't go back and I said what am I going to do now?
Speaker 2:So what I did is I started to buy self-help books and I would buy the book and I would read it and apply what they said. Give it some time, and then I would compare how I felt afterwards versus how I felt before and I said I didn't feel any better, I would take the book, throw it in the garbage and buy another one. So I had gone through like three books at this time and one night I couldn't sleep. I was so stressed. One night I couldn't sleep, I was so stressed, so I got up and I went down to the den and I either read or watch TV. This night I put the TV on and I needed to buy another book. It was Saturday, so I'm watching TV and this commercial comes on Dianetics Modern science of mental health. Yeah, with the volcano, yeah. And I said, oh, modern science of mental health, that sounds interesting. Maybe I should look into that.
Speaker 2:So Saturday comes and I go to the bookstore and I go to the self-help aisle and I see it's Dianetics. I grab it and I go to a cash register and the guy says to me oh, you don't want to read that book. So I said why not? I said why not? He said to me oh, that's a not. He said that's a cult. I said that's a cult really. So I went and I put the book back, but I was determined to buy another book. So I kept looking. But some of the things I read was that in Dianetics you get to the root cause of the problem. You don't just treat the problem, you get to the root cause and you eliminate it. And he also mentioned psychosomatic ills. So I said gee, that sounds interesting to me. Then I realized I got a cognition. I said why am I letting this guy tell me what to read?
Speaker 1:You know, I have to make my own decision.
Speaker 2:If I read, if I find out it I don't like it, I'll find another book, mm-hmm. So I picked it up, I went back and I paid for it and I started to read the book and I could hardly put it down. Really it was so interesting and I read the entire book and then I said I got to find maybe there's a place where I could get some they call it book one order and I found a local place. It was maybe 45 minutes away. So I went there and we discussed it and I said you know, I want to try this, this order thing. And they said to me do you have ups and downs in life? I said yes, absolutely Right. So they had a course. It was a quick course. They called it the Ups and Downs course and now I think now it's called the Ups and Downs course and now I think now it's called the PTSSB course. So I took that quick course and it was regarding suppression and I just had no idea how important that was at the time. But I learned about it and I found the person. That was the time. But I learned about it and I found the person that was suppressing me. We handled it. And then I got into the order thing. So I bought 25 hours of book one and I was going through it and I got going through it and uh, I, uh got towards the end and I and I said, you know, I went to them and I said, you know, I, I would like to run an incident that I had no memory of, you know. So probably it wasn't the right thing to do, but it turned out to be very, uh, the right thing to do, but it turned out to be the right thing.
Speaker 2:The next session, they, we went after the birth. So, and finally, you know it took a while to get into it, but then, as I kept running it over and over again, it got clearer and clearer. And something happened while I was running it, I started to roll my head twice, where I rolled it from the right to the left. I did it twice and I said to myself, why did I do that? The left I did it twice and I said to myself, why did I do that? And then I continued it and then, all of a sudden, I got this sharp pain in my neck and I jumped out of the chair. I said, what the heck is this? So then that was the end of the 25 hours. So I said thank you very much.
Speaker 2:I bought another book and I left and some time went by and I went to the doctor for something else and the doctor said to me why are we here? Why don't we adjust your neck? I said sure, you know another reason why I came here. So he tries to adjust my neck Now. Prior to that, when they adjusted my neck, you hear all of the vertebrae going back into place. You know, he tried to adjust my neck. Nothing happened, Okay, and he tried. And then he tried again and he just shrugged his shoulder and I left.
Speaker 2:I walked out of the office and I said what just happened? I said my neck is cured. What did I do, gordon? What did I do? I had completely forgotten about the ordering. I said I got to figure this out. So I said what did I do last month different? I couldn't find anything. I went back two months, three months, four months. Finally I went back six months. I said, jeez, six months, I'm not going to be able to figure this out. And I said I was going to yeah, I can't find it. Then I'm walking to my car and then I said you know, I've got to figure this out. So I said, okay, what did I do seven months ago?
Speaker 2:And I said oh yeah, I went to that Dianetics Center. Oh yeah, I was running birth and then all of a sudden it hit me. I said, oh my God, that's what it was. So I was interested. So I figured let me contact my mother, I'd find out what happened during my birth. So I was talking to my mother and she said to me I told her about rolling my head twice. She said oh yes, the umbilical cord was wrapped around your neck twice. The doctor had to unravel it.
Speaker 2:I said okay, that makes sense. I said okay, and I told her. I said I was running this and then, all of a sudden, I had this sharp pain in my neck. She said, oh yes, you were an instrument baby. I said, what? What an instrument? What's an instrument baby? At that time I was a big baby, by the way, and they used instruments. They would grab your neck with these instruments to help you know the birth. And I said, oh, that's how I hurt my neck. So that made sense.
Speaker 2:Then I went home and I compared how did I feel, you know, now, versus how I felt before? And I was able to write down 25 improvements in my life. I said, oh, I got to look into this further. I got to go back. And then I went back and I got some additional yeah, more intensives and I took some courses. I got more auditing. Then I took a course and I co-audited book one with somebody else. So I had quite a few hours of book one and finally I decided you know, I want to go up the bridge, I want to co-ordinate with somebody, but you know, using the meter and Scientology, which?
Speaker 2:is what I did and finally got to Clear.
Speaker 1:How long did it take you to train and co-audit and all that?
Speaker 2:The internship it took, I'm not sure, Maybe a couple of years.
Speaker 1:Part-time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, part-time. Sure, I had to work. In fact I didn't even go in that often. Well, I maybe was a couple times a week.
Speaker 1:Can you describe to me what happened as you were doing the co-audit and everything and you were getting trained. What did you get out of that?
Speaker 2:Oh, I learned everything Well.
Speaker 1:I mean it was a gradient.
Speaker 2:I had to take some courses, first Student hat, all of that. It was a few others. Then we started learning level zero or grade zero. We would go through the course and then we would audit.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, you train it, then you do it as a co-audit.
Speaker 2:Right and we went all the way up to, I guess, class five and during the time I had to well, I was on the internship, so we would audit other people and the tech was just unbelievable. There isn't anything that I learned that I found out was not true. It was all true and I used to test everything and I was a rather skeptical person.
Speaker 1:You're an engineer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would test everything. I found out that there wasn't anything that Ron said. That wasn't true and that's pretty much my story. But I was wondering. I was thinking now that there's a lot of people out there that are suffering with all kinds of emotional and physical problems and the answer is right there. The answer is right there. The Scientology ordering is much, much quicker, as you know, than book one. I mean, you get right into the session and you run the entire chain of incidences where in book one you may miss.
Speaker 1:You're not're not necessarily running.
Speaker 2:Right, it's a bit more random. Yeah, right, it's more random where it's scientology. You have a meter. You could actually see the mental mass building up as you run it and you run the entire chain. You get right to the end and the incident blows.
Speaker 1:Yeah, New Warrior Dynetics.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember one time I was auditing and the other person and the tone arm reads the amount of mental mass as a dial on the meter and it kept going up and up and I almost went off the scale to top and then all of a sudden the thing blew. I got to the last incident and the whole thing blew. It was a heck of a session and you know, it took a while with the internship. I ordered other people and I was ordering one guy who was an older gentleman and he couldn't do the Purok. The doctor wouldn't approve him to do the Purok, so I ordered him and he went back to the doctor and the doctor now he approved it. And one of the things you have to do on the internship is you have to like, like, create a miracle, almost, you know, like I'm almost like a miracle thing, like a cure and uh, you know, he was able to, uh, to do the pure of it to that.
Speaker 1:Pretty miraculous.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it wasn't even that long really.
Speaker 1:So what happened once you got through New Area Dianetics and you went clear? What happened then, when you went clear?
Speaker 2:for you what happened to me? Well then I eventually decided I wanted to go OT and I had known another OT8, and he would describe, you know, some of the things. So I started the solo course and I got through all of the reading and all the drills and then I got to the E-meter drills. Again, I had done this. I should say I had done this in order to co-wire. I had to get through all of the drills. Initially we had a very good course supervisor and the course supervisor got me through the first time. When I went back I was redoing it and it was a different course supervisor.
Speaker 2:I got to one point and I couldn't get past one of the drills. I tried and I was twinning up Neither one of us could get through.
Speaker 1:Is it the?
Speaker 2:E-meter drill 22 or 25. What was it?
Speaker 1:It was One of the date. Locate hidden date.
Speaker 2:Yes, date locate right yeah.
Speaker 1:A lot of people have trouble with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so fine. I couldn't get through so I just said you know, to heck with this.
Speaker 2:I was on it like a month, so I finally said this is no great, this is not going any place in there. Of course, supervisor really wasn't helping very much. So then I said I didn't want to stop, I wanted to continue doing something. Yeah, so I said, well, let me, maybe I'll do the uh, uh, false purpose rundown. That way at the time was one of the requirements. So I I spoke to uh, the OT8 and he said to me yeah, they do a folder study and they determine which lists to run on you. And okay, so I went in and I spoke to them about that and they said, oh, we have to review your folders. And I had to give them I think it was like 4,000 cells at the time and they wouldn't do anything unless they got the money and they did the folder study. And they said, oh, you have to do the pure folder unless they got the money. And they did the full study. And they said, oh, now you have to do the pure pharma right there. Yeah, so I did, I did the Puro. No, no, you have to do it over again. I wasn't too happy about that. And then they were all.
Speaker 2:They also had the new thing, survival rundown, which people were on for what I know like over a year some of them. And so I said, well, what about the survival rundown? Am I gonna have to do that? Well, we'll. They said well, discuss that after you finish your purif. So I said, well, I really need to know. And they wouldn't tell me. And I said, well, I'm not going to go back to step one, right? So I said, yeah, this is not going to work. And, besides that, the price, the cost had gotten extremely high and the OT8 was telling me what he had to go through.
Speaker 2:And the ordering he used to have to go down to Flag, which is the base down in Florida, every six months and it was very expensive. I said I can't afford this. This is out of my reach. So I I said, well, I guess I'm not. I'm not going to make a OTA, you know, I'm not going to make OT. And then I read a book about um what's his name? That was who was in charge of the church.
Speaker 1:David Miscavige.
Speaker 2:Yeah, david Miscavige. It was a book about David Miscavige, so I started reading that, and one thing led to another. I started to research more on the internet and I found independent Scientology.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:So I checked it out and it sounded just like exactly what I needed. So that's when I contacted you and we discussed it and I said this is what I need. This is exactly what I need. I thought my journey was over, but now I'm on my way. I'm moving up the bridge you know moving up the bridge.
Speaker 2:I mean my life. You can't believe where I am now versus where I was at the very beginning. My lowest point. At my lowest point, I was saying to myself you know, I'm going to become I may become disabled. I didn't want to live off the government, you know, because my head and neck had gotten so bad that I felt I wouldn't be able to work anymore. I was really at a deep, real bad depression. And, god, I changed my mind and I said I'm going to do something about this. I'm not just going to sit here and feel sorry about myself. So I started looking and that's my story.
Speaker 1:So how would you characterize your experience in the church in comparison to what you've experienced with independent Scientology and actually getting on the OT levels?
Speaker 2:It's like night and day Awesome. Yeah, they're quite pushy. I remember one time a couple of guys came into the org and they wanted to speak to me about buying the lifetime membership. So they got me in a room and they were giving me this hard sell and I said, yeah, that's a lot of money. Yeah, I can't afford that right now. And they said, oh, you're charging. I said I'm not going to's a lot of money. Yeah, I can't afford that right now. And they said, oh, you charge it. I said I'm not going to charge that amount of money.
Speaker 2:I was there for a while and then I said look, you know, I got to think about this, or I got to think about where I can get the money from. I said that's it, I'm leaving. One of the guys got up and he stood in front of the door and I said, oh, this is. I don't think this is going to go well. So I discussed it a little longer. Then I said you know, I'm done, that's it, I'm leaving. And the guy folded his arms in front of the. You know, folded his arms and he's like you're not leaving.
Speaker 1:And the guy folded his arms in front of the, you know, folded his arms and he's like you're not leaving.
Speaker 2:So I said listen, I'm going out that door soon. And he didn't move. Then I stood up and I said look, I'm going out that door either the easy way or the hard way, but one thing's for sure I'm going out that door. And he moved aside when I said to him good decision. And I mean this is the kind of thing that you know. And I mean this is the kind of thing that you know, this is not the way I. I wasn't in agreement with that kind of pressure right, that wasn't Scientology no so so, now that you're on the OT levels, how's it been?
Speaker 2:oh, amazing really. It's well, I'm on OT 2 right now and it's it's just. It's hard to describe.
Speaker 1:I'm getting so much charge off what have you noticed in your life in so doing?
Speaker 2:oh, I'm I keep. I mean I'm happy so doing. Oh, I keep. I mean I'm happy enjoying life, I'm moving forward. It's exactly what I wanted.
Speaker 1:It is easier for you as opposed to what you were experiencing before.
Speaker 2:Easier Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you don't have people standing in front of doors and things like that.
Speaker 2:Oh no, no, no, You're very, very easy to work with, Extremely easy to work with. I am so thankful that what you're doing, I am so thankful that what you're doing, you know, I mean I. The person I admire the most is Ron Hubbard. What he did is an unbelievable what he did. It's just incredible what he did. And a close second to him is you Wow, Thanks.
Speaker 1:Lewis, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:You're a close second because if it wasn't for you and starting the independent Scientology, I wouldn't be doing anything, I wouldn't be moving up.
Speaker 1:Oh good, I'm happy to hear that.
Speaker 2:It's so easy to work with. It's just a pleasure.
Speaker 1:So it's fun again.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, you're very, very helpful and understanding and you know pressure, you know pressure me very helpful and the understanding and you know, you know pressure, you know pressure me, and we just, you know, get along. And it's I really, it's, it's a blessing what you're doing, it really is.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you. Well, I appreciate you telling us your story and taking the time to do the podcast and give everybody your viewpoint on how you got started, what you went through the good, the bad, the ugly and that you found independent Scientology.
Speaker 2:I wanted to mention something. All these people are out there suffering with this past trauma and, like women that got raped, you know that affects them. They're carrying that trauma the rest of their lives and it's not necessary it's. You know, it's a simple you can address the problem and you can get rid of the trauma. I mean, there's so many people or women that maybe were abused by husbands or children that were sexually molested, soldiers coming home from war, you know, becoming homeless and committing suicide. This is all unnecessary. There's help out there and it's not difficult. I was even thinking about athletes too. You know athletes, they get injuries over. I was even thinking about athletes too. Athletes, they get injuries in their careers.
Speaker 2:Later on in life, these injuries become more and more serious, like mine did.
Speaker 1:Those kind of things. You could run that trauma out and get rid of the problem.
Speaker 2:I you know the answers are there. I always knew that. Somehow I knew that there was an answer.
Speaker 1:And thank God, I found it.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 1:You're very welcome and I appreciate you relating your experiences and telling your story and everything, and I really hope that people hear this and get a better understanding that there is a solution outside of the corporate church of Scientology, and it's a fun one and it's an affordable one. It's it's it's easy to do and all they have to do is, you know, get in touch with us and we can get them going.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, thanks for being here.
Speaker 2:You're very welcome.
Speaker 1:Talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, bye-bye, bye, thank you, thank you.