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By Chris Shelton
Making sense of...everything!
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This Podcast is Ending (kin...
11.25.2023
This week I am talking about the fact I'm taking a break for December on a bunch of my work, including this podcast and that when it comes back in January it will have a new name and branding. Details ...
I apologize for the one-day delay in getting this audio podcast posted. We went live this week and had a great time discussing a number of issues, including whether Miscavige is being paid by the IAS, how Scientologists celebrate Thanksgiving, ...
This week I am joined by former Scientologist Mirriam Francis, whose story was featured on Scientology and the Aftermath, to discuss her experiences being raised in the Sea Org, escaping and what recovery has been like for her, including her ...
This week I am joined by Dr. Darrel Ray - psychologist, researcher, author and President of the Recovering from Religion Foundation - to discuss childhood religious trauma, why it exists and why it can be so life destroying. This is ...
We are posting a special bonus podcast episode this week as we didn't want to wait to get this interview out. Here we talk about the big protest staged by Apostate Alex with the help of Jeff Beaumont (PTS for ...
This week I am joined by Jon Atack to finally have that talk about psychedelics, cult recovery and the drugs which can help bring about extremely altered states of consciousness. This was another wide-ranging discussion where we go deep on ...
This week I am joined by Jeff Beaumont, known in the SP TV community as PTS for Life, who has quite a story to tell as a second generation Scientologist raised in a broken home and in and out of ...
This week I am joined by River Wood to discuss their upbringing in what is known as 2x2s but really is an extremist Christian cult with no official name and hiding in plain sight. We cover a lot of territory ...
This week I am joined by Jon Atack to discuss and debunk the conspiracy theories surrounding the Process Church, the Son of Sam and Scientology. And when we're done with that, we get into the real facts about Manson's involvement ...
This week I welcome Dr. Laura Anderson, psychotherapist and religious trauma expert, to discuss how trauma works, how it is treated and what this has to do with cult members and everyday folks in our day to day life. We ...
This week I am joined by former "tradcat" (Traditional Catholic) Anthony Spurgin to discuss his experiences and abuses growing up in a family practicing pre-Vatican II Catholicism. We cover what "tradcats" are, how sexual and child abuse is not dealt ...
This week I am joined by educator Melanie Trecek-King to discuss the real barriers and problems people have with engaging in critical thinking and we dived into cult thinking, belief and a bunch of other stuff. This was another fun ...
This week I am joined by Mark Vicente, NXIVM survivor and film maker who joins me to discuss our cult experiences and life beyond that, including his most recent project interviewing psychopaths and where that is going. This was a ...
You're currently a free subscriber. Upgrade your subscription to get access to the rest of this post and other paid-subscriber only content. Upgrade subscription The post Sensibly Speaking Podcast #403: Scientology Finances in the UK appeared first on The Sensibly ...
You're currently a free subscriber. Upgrade your subscription to get access to the rest of this post and other paid-subscriber only content. Upgrade subscription The post Sensibly Speaking Podcast #402: Fighting Scientology in Europe appeared first on The Sensibly Speaking ...
This week I am joined by channel friend Jon Atack to discuss Charles Manson, his definite connections with Scientology and how this relates to mind control, Helter Skelter and popular belief. We covered a lot of ground in this podcast. ...
For our 400th episode of the Sensibly Speaking Podcast, we went live to discuss and breakdown the new cult documentary on Netflix, How to Become a Cult Leader. We had quite a bit to say and got some great feedback ...
This week I am joined by Anthony Magnabasco to discuss street epistemology, a method for inquiring into deeply held beliefs and what this has to do with bridging divides, helping people in cults, therapy and a lot more. Enjoy! The ...
This week I am joined again by Scientology veteran and film maker Mitch Brisker to discuss something NO ONE has ever talked about before, at least not anywhere I could find: the confidential L. Ron Hubbard films on Scientology’s OT ...
Coercive control is not just isolated to cults. This week we go on a different tangent to explore coercive control in the adoption system and in unethical therapy – two areas that are hardly ever discussed but in which abuses ...
This week I have Mitch Brisker back to discuss more of his work for the Church of Scientology as a professional film director and creative. Today, we go deep into Church propaganda, psychiatry, working at Golden Era Productions and a ...
This week I am joined by pyschologist and author Dr. Robin Stern to discuss her specialty, gaslighting. We cover how this is done, how to spot it when it’s happening to you (even if it’s from someone you like and ...
This week I am joined by long-time friend and researcher Jon Atack to discuss cancel culture, controversies, cult nonsense and science – a broad mix of topics about which Jon and I have many opinions. We hope you like our ...
This week I am joined by Mitch Brisker, a professional film maker who went to work as a non-Sea Org member back in the 1980s and worked for decades directly under David Miscavige. He has some very interesting things to ...
This week I am joined by Kate Amber, MSc educator and fellow graduate of the Salford Master’s program on the psychology of coercive control, to discuss what she has been doing to work with medical and law enforcement officials on ...
This week I am joined by Dr. Janja Lalich, sociologist and long-time cult warrior who has a great deal to say about her model of “bounded choice,” cultic influence in society, recovery from these groups and a lot more. Enjoy! ...
This week I am joined by show favorite Jon Atack to discuss a model of human behavior I’ve been formulating which has everything to do with cultic behavior and our thoughts on things related to emotion, reason and morality. This ...
This week I am joined by Jason Horvatic, a second-generation and now ex-Scientologist turned academic who has taken on studying Scientology from an interesting perspective but who also has a horrifying story to tell about his treatment growing up in ...
This week I am joined by Barry Purcell, an Irish writer/blogger, and as you’ll see we had a pretty wide-ranging discussion from Irish politics and The Troubles to issues we have with atheism to a detailed look at Islam in ...
This week I am joined by David Bunds, a former member of the Branch Davidians prior to the disastrous tragedy of 1993. In this conversation, David helps us understand who David Koresh was and where he came from, and what ...
This week I am joined by show favorite Jon Atack to discuss the psychological aspects and criticisms of AI development, a conversation that no one in the computer industry seems to be having or taking seriously. As always, Jon has ...
This week I am joined by Liz LaPoint (“Godless Liz”), a fellow content creator and promoter of skepticism and critical thinking, to discuss tax exemption and whether churches/religions should have it. We offer some food for thought in arguments for ...
This week I am joined by old friend and fellow podcaster Dr. Clint Heacock, a former Evangelical pastor, to discuss some disturbing religious/political issues surrounding a man named Doug Wilson, an untrained and uncertified religious leader who appears to check ...
This week I am joined by Katherine Spallino, a member of the Sea Organization’s “lost generation,” children raised in the 1980s and 90s within the confines of the Church of Scientology and were neglected, abused and even assaulted. In this ...
This week I am joined by Kacey from The Cult Vault to discuss, in detail, the online predations of Liana Shanti, a so-called internet guru who has been extracting money from hapless victims and encouraging familial disconnection (shunning) as a ...
This week I am joined once again by Jon Atack for an almost satirically long podcast ranging over such things as post-cult behavior in our various communities, to thought reform and exact methods of hypnotism all around us every day. ...
This week I am joined once again by Alexander Barnes-Ross to discuss social media, Scientology rules and experiences and how this all relates to cultic thinking. Enjoy! Alex’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@apostatealex The post Sensibly Speaking Podcast #380: Social Media, Scientology ...
This week I welcome educator Melanie Trecek-King to discuss her methods and philosophy behind teaching critical thinking not just as a set of ideas or things to be memorized, but skills to be utilized for the rest of one’s life. ...
This week I am joined by Dodge Landesman, a TV news reporter who was fired from his job at an NBC affiliate in Arizona because he dared to report on Scientology and its connection with Lisa Marie Presley. We cover ...
This week I am joined by Susan Dones, a former member of NXIVM and one of the first people to whistleblow to the authorities about the shady practices of Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman. We go deep into her story ...
I am joined again this week by Dr. Alex Wills to discuss how emotions are a key tool of manipulation by cult leaders and “gurus” and why understanding your own emotional life and dealing with your emotions is the only ...
This week, I am again joined by Jon Atack so we can cut through all the nonsense out there about “brainwashing” and talk about how this really works, despite the claims of religious studies scholars and cult apologists that there’s ...
This week I had the opportunity to interview cult survivor Daniel Barban-Levin and director Zach Heinzerling about the new documentary they produced called Stolen Youth which just dropped on Hulu. This is the story of how eight college students from ...
This week I’m dropping the podcast a couple of days early, a special interview with journalist Tony Ortega about his bombshell conversations with Lisa Marie Presley. She was a fighter and she worked behind the scenes to help expose David ...
This week I’m offering something slightly different from usual in describing some valuable life lessons I’ve learned since leaving Scientology which I thought other people might appreciate as well. Enjoy! The post Sensibly Speaking Podcast #372: 10 Things I’ve Learned ...
This week I welcome Dr. Alex Wills, psychiatrist and author of the new book Give a F*ck Actually. We discuss emotional health, some science-based ideas on how one can deal with difficult emotions and delve into emotional manipulation as a ...
This week, Jon Atack and I do a follow-up discussion to our last podcast about L. Ron Hubbard and the occult origins of Dianetics and Scientology. This information sometimes makes ex-Scientologists uncomfortable because it’s basically so diabolical, no one wants ...
To kick off 2023, I’ve put together a no-nonsense podcast with my “collected wisdom” of the last 10 years on how to stay out of getting involved in a destructive cult or predatory relationship. Enjoy! The post Sensibly Speaking Podcast ...
This week I am breaking tradition with our usual “year in review” episode because this month marks the 10-year anniversary of my leaving the Sea Org and embarking on what would become my escape from the destructive cult of Scientology. ...
This week I welcome back John P. Capitalist to cover in some detail how authoritarian governments around the world solve the “dictator problem” by adopting cultic methods to control their population and thereby stay in power. We especially detail China’s ...
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