Vee hates Scientology, but What does he Love?

So today I wandered about London, snoozing by the lilacs in Regent's Park and wandering down Tottenham Court Road to Oxford Street East to Covent Garden. On Tottenham Court road there's a Scientology temple? store? I don't know... but today, Starbucks in hand, I got accosted by a couple hundred Vee-masked, scientology protesters with flyers, pamphlets, and stress tests...

The odd thing is that the Vee masks were creepy and I didn't like being talked to by strangers that I couldn't see any identifying features of. Also, Vee protested the acts of government, not religion. Now I did actually talk to one of these people and he said that they organised themselves on the internet, and I'm pretty sure you can get Vee-masks enmass fairly cheaply on the internet, but it did cause a bit of an issue for me.

A woman who lives in the area was complaining to one of them saying she was just trying to get to the market and people kept stopping her and it was very bothersome. Now while I agree that protesting probably shouldn't be convenient for people, it should be most inconvenient for the people you are protesting, not the innocent bystanders that COULD be on your side if only you would stop being annoying and creepy.

Now I don't know too much about Scientology, but as far as I'm concerned, they are a bunch of nutters. Xenu or Xebu or whoever... riiiight. Aliens... yeh sure... my innerchild was once a spacemonkey... I get it.

Still, if people are willing to pay and put their faith in Xenu and follow the rules and regulations of Scientology, then more power to them. People are always making up rules for themselves to follow like New Year's Resolutions, religious conversions, diets, self-help books, communication guides, work training... Western Culture is obsessed with examining how society works and creating formulas for behaviour that will make us cooler or more successful or more attractive or more healthy or less of a threat to the environment.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any of those things are wrong. It just seems to me that there has to be something bigger than just the guidelines we make for ourselves... since while we love creating guidelines for ourselves, it seems we have just as much keeping them or following them, or having a good attitude about following them. We've all heard of someone whose girlfriend was a vegetarian, so they became one, but at the end of the day, they wanted meat and cheated. Being vegetarian is fine, but it might be hard for some to live up to the guidelines. Still thousands are running from churches to escape the rigid guidelines or from the feeling of guilt they feel, because they feel like they have somehow failed at life by not following the rules correctly. Others, feeling they need moral guidance, convert to very strict religions like Islam or Hasidism to put structure into their lives. Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world because it has a very clearly established morality and a community that will keep you accountable in it.

I think more often then now, however, it isn't the rules or the guidelines that give our life meaning, it's the people that help us keep those guidelines. The people who are on our side, who agree that certain things are important or not important, etc. When you want to be with a certain girl, you will think it's important to be vegetarian, but if things don't work out, you probably won't stay that way. Islam and Hasidism place you in caring communities that will help you with everything from how to dress to what to eat to who to marry, etc. They're cheering for you to be successful all the way. They'll make you feel like family, like you're part of something important and those people, who you feel love you, will be the ones you laugh and cry with, the ones you go to when you have a fight with your spouse, when you lose a loved one, when your dog dies, etc.

I think then what we really desire isn't really guidelines, but community. We want to be loved and valued and we think that we can be loved and valued by joining a religion or a cause or a team of some kind. Our agenda has to be right or what we think (i.e. our identity) isn't important anymore... and even though not everyone may agree with us, our team will fight and struggle together, cause what we believe in is RIGHT and we have to be RIGHT to be validated.

And while I don't think any of this is wrong, I don't think it really gets to the point, which is: Why can't we just be loved for who we are, not based on agendas or rightness or the guidelines, but just on the fact that we're people? Why does everything have to be about what we've accomplished or how much status we have or who we know or where we live/went to school/what car we drive/what stores we shop at/what football team we support?

What would happen if we loved and valued people just because they were, and not because of some points system of value that society has created? What if we weren't always comparing ourselves, and thinking we were better or worse? How would life, economics, art, education, government change if we really lived like we believed everyone intrinsically held equal value?