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Isn’t There More to Life Than Just “Living It Up,” a Scientologist Asks.
“Life is short—live it up.” This seems to be the mantra I hear more and more every day.
Now, I’m all about fun. I think things should be fun. I think everyone should have some, I really do. But, there’s more to life than that and I think this is something very valuable that has to be preserved no matter what. I’ll tell you what I mean.
Going to the beach is great, but the enjoyment of going to the beach doesn’t even compare to the feeling you get when you’ve truly helped another person improve their life. When you’ve released someone from the grip of an addiction or helped them to overcome their learning problems, you get a feeling like none other. And unlike the enjoyment of going to the beach, that feeling lasts a lifetime for both the person giving the help and the one receiving it.
The “live it up” crowd miss out on this. I truly feel that they have a huge gap in their lives that they don’t even know they have. This is one of the reasons I am truly passionate about protecting the religious rights of everyone, because it is the religions of the world that push the idea that there is more to life than just having a good time—that you are here to spread good in the world.
If you look around, you will find religious people doing a lot of that. They head up food banks. They open addiction centers. They start programs that get millions to look at the fact that maybe drinking every day isn’t the proper way to live. They do charity drives and set up places where the homeless might be able to get a decent night’s sleep when the weather is dangerously cold. Some of them do good things in their own neighborhood and some do it on a global scale.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, churches everywhere got on the ball and arrived within hours to put their shoulders to the wheel. The government lagged behind and never really did catch up. Even now, it is the religious “do-gooders” who are rebuilding New Orleans. The government’s attention has long since gone elsewhere.
You would think that everyone would be on board with at least not getting in the way of these folks. If you think that, you would be wrong. Every religion on the planet has been attacked, without exception. Some more than others.
No one in my religion, to my knowledge, has been killed because they were a Scientologist, but unfortunately that is rare in the overall history of our world. Many religions have had their members tortured and killed just because they believed in something beyond this existence. The Mormons were killed and burned out of their homes less than 200 years ago. Jews were exterminated by the millions in my father’s lifetime. How could this be? This is a question I ask often.
Well, this could be because there really are people out there who feel threatened by strong, capable people.
One of the precepts of The Way to Happiness (a nonreligious moral code) is “Do Not Harm a Person of Goodwill.” I think this is something we should all aspire to. The next time you hear someone belittle another’s religion, consider that they might actually be harming someone who could save your son from addiction or your daughter from human trafficking. This is just a small portion of what Scientologists do and I know it’s what other religions do as well. We are here to make a better world. If you’re not going to help, at least don’t get in the way of those of us who do.
