5. "Ideas Don't Matter -- People Only Care About What 'Works'" - Victor Ganata

"This particular course is Scientology's advice for what to do when work/life gets overwhelming. The advice is not, 'Perform the thetan-summoning ritual!' or 'Find your nearest psychiatrist and take a shit in his driveway!' Instead it suggests you should lock in on one task and focus on completing it quickly and correctly, to the exclusion of all others. So instead of thinking of all the work you have to get done, only think of the one, single task you have to get done right now. Then, once completed, you'll have the confidence to proceed to the next. This is great advice; every single successful person I know does this. And none of us knew that we were really doing Scientology all along!" - Victor Ganata

"'But wait,' you say. 'Scientology didn't invent that; they probably just pulled it off of some *10 Tips to Work Better* email forward. It's just common sense!' Right, and so is virtually everything on their course list. Their process for how to organize a group project is probably identical to one you're already using at the office, and it works great…." - Victor Ganata

"But here's the key: When a Scientologist (or Muslim, or Christian, or yoga enthusiast) says it works for them, this is what they're talking about. The mythology isn't important -- if these rituals have saved your life and later on a teacher says, 'Yeah, this technique works because of the ancient thetans that live in your asshole,' you're going to shrug and say, 'Sure, sounds good.'" - Victor Ganata

"Then if you, as a cool, rational person, butt in and say, 'Actually, yoga is just engaging the endonomic nervous system and reducing cortisol levels,' all they're going to hear is you replacing a very easy-to-understand explanation with a very complicated one that sounds like gibberish. If you smirk and roll your eyes at these gullible lemmings, then go grab a mirror and smirk at yourself, partner, because you do it too." - Victor Ganata

"You physically don't have room in your brain to keep track of how everything in your world works (shit, you don't even really know how your brain works) so you can feel all superior to a Christian who doesn't believe in evolution, but somewhere there's an engineer who feels superior to you for not knowing how your iPhone works (and you know 'endonomic nervous system' is just a nonsense phrase I made up, right?)." - Victor Ganata

"The reality is that you don't know how your iPhone works because knowing that wouldn't change your day-to-day use of it at all. Likewise, thinking the Earth is only 6,000 years old doesn't make it any harder to have, say, a career repairing air conditioners. But believing that self-discipline, patience, and hard work are sacred virtues from God definitely makes it easier." - Victor Ganata

3. "Friends Matter More Than Politics" - Victor Ganata

"My point isn't that everybody in the world is a moron and a hypocrite. My point is that we don't have room in our brains to keep track of all this shit, and our first priority is to fit in. It's just the way we're built; it's nobody's fault. But it also means you won't change their minds just by bombarding them with information." - Victor Ganata

Agree with most of it. But he's missing a crucial point: people are making a choice. They are making a choice to keep track and just fit in. They are taking the easier path. You don't have to. - Todd Hoff

Or you can fit in with the mentally tough, rugged individualist self-conception. Or both at the same time! - Micah

Sure, it's a choice, but I think the point the author is trying to make is that it's *always* a choice. There is *no* optimal correct universal setting. No one can hold the entire universe inside their skull, so you always have to cut corners somewhere. - Victor Ganata