Is it our idiocy, intellectual deficiency or psychological weakness, which compel us to kneel and bow our heads in supplication in front of self-proclaimed spiritual leaders and at their whims, or are prophets and spiritual leaders super-humans, who possess irresistible powers of persuasiveness to control our lives and destinies. And if these questions beg substantive answers, then it would be interesting and safe to extend the argument to sorcerers, charlatans, fraudsters – to name just a few in a long list of those, who possess mysterious abilities to control others. Likewise, weak areas in our psyche mislead us into identifying the piercing stare of a dictator as being a loveable and irresistible charismatic look. The more Jenna Miscavige Hill reveals of psychological and physical sufferings she experienced in the Church of Scientology, the more she discloses our human weaknesses, vulnerability and our inexplicable willingness to allow anyone, who claims superiority to steer our future. Being a niece of the organisation's leader David Miscavige, the diarist grew up in a community that screws the lid onto its activities as tightly as intelligence agencies would do to guarantee high confidentiality to theirs. Also like secret organisations, the Church of Scientology coined cryptic expressions for communication between its entrapped members and their superiors. In her Beyond Belief Jenna Miscavige Hill shames parents, who scandalously and unrepentantly abandon their children in an unknown, scary world, in which they would be robbed of their childhood, and their innocence would be contaminated – in the name of the new faith and for the sake of its founder. In her torturous diary, Jenna Miscavige Hill, recalls that thinking is an unpardonable sin; argument is a punishable crime. The church is like a torture camp for young captives. In many cases, wild animals are more caring and attentive to their youngsters. Unlike Jenna's mother, the injured lioness cornered in a mountainous area fights her hunters to the end only to protect her cubs. Jenna's mother always turned a cold shoulder on her young daughter's pitiful appeals for help to end her suffering. Loyalty and blind obedience are wrung out of members by draconian systems; hard labour exhausts them and muffles feeble voices of protest or rebellion. Whether young, adult or senior, members of this extraordinary church are cut off from the outside world behind high walls of secrecy, and 24-hour surveillance by secret cameras and uncompromising guards. It seems that the church's leaders and cohorts have real fears that rivals, who know better rules of the game, would easily approach and coax 'devout' members to defect. Jenna substantiates the immortal argument that the popularity of a certain faith, including the chief classic religions, is judged by the number of its VIP members. That is why celebrities and movie stars are recruited, against good rewards, to act as advertising stunts to draw attention to the extraordinary church. 'Beyond Belief' is published by HarperCollins.
