John Travolta, a nearly-forty-year follower of Scientology, was recently in Shangai and claims to have helped an injured man through Scientology “assists,” which I’m sure can be found on stat sheets of all Scientologists and their respective trading cars. If I were a recruiter for Scientology, I would want to focus on by rebounding stats – the ones I accumulate by preying on the recently widowed, depressed, or shunned.
Regardless, Travolta claims he was “recently at a work event and the Master of Ceremonies’ best friend had recently gotten into a car wreck. He had broken his ankle and was in constant pain … I asked him permission to do some Scientology assists and he said, ‘Okay sure’… People were standing around watching as I did them. You could actually see him confronting the pain and after a while he looked up at me and said ‘I feel better’ so I said ‘Okay end of assist.’” [Celebuzz]
While this is a wonderful testimony by the guy lauding and touting his own religion, is it at all possible that the Master of Ceremonies’ friend – who remains noticeably absent in this interview – wanted Travolta to stop assisting him, particularly since people were watching them? I’m not alluding here to any of the John Travolta-as-homosexual rumors here, but it would be a bit awkward for someone to tell Travolta, “Jeez, that really isn’t doing anything. Would you mind not touching me anymore? I think the Demerol will kick in shortly.”
And, what does Travolta mean by “confronting the pain”? How can we see this? A grunt? A grimace? Did the man grab a nearby cleaver and pretend to stab at a hallucinated pain monster?
Perhaps – if I’ve learned anything about Scientology from The Master – the assists are comprised solely of talk. Did the man just acknowledge the pain and begin focusing on something else, like the people standing around and watching?
Whatever Travolta did, it must have worked because the Master of Ceremonies’ friend “had gotten noticeably better and I was chomping at the bit for more.”
This is testimony we can certainly trust since it comes from the guy who has adamantly supported Scientology and the various decisions that have been made on its account.
