Gnosticism for dummies

This is a fascinating article about how Tom Cruise’s recent public antics (jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch, scolding Matt Lauer, etc.) may be attributable to his having reached (or being about to reach) the upper echelons of the Scientology hierarchy.

A current Scientologist who has reached the level OT-V, and who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that considering the amount of time Cruise has been in the church, an OT-VII status seems probable. And Stephen Kent, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta who has published articles on Scientology and Hollywood, also said that Cruise’s behavior strongly suggests OT-VII.

Cruise is acting as though he “feels he’s more in control over his environment and can convince more people to look into the organization,” Kent said. “In the high OT levels one supposedly gains the skills to master one’s universe. One is removing countless entities that have been holding people back. Cruise feels that he has freed himself from thousands of errant thetans, and he seems to be in a kind of euphoria he hasn’t experienced before.”

J. Gordon Melton, the author of “The Church of Scientology” and director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif., confirmed the details of the OT teachings. “It’s basically a variation of the Gnostic myth about souls falling into matter and the encumbrances that come with that,” Melton said. “In the OTs, you’re finding out that you’re a thetan, that you’ve come into bodies before. Part of what you’re trying to learn is exteriorization — how to get out of your body. You also learn that you carry a lot of encumbrances from past lives.”