I was fresh out of college in 1988 and on my way into a pool hall one evening when I was approached by a dude in the parking lot who started asking me questions about my life, my ambitions and my goals. He went on to tell me about this book that had changed his life and wanted to share it with me. He said that it only costs what I was able to pay for it. As I started walking away, he told me he would give it to me for free if I would seriously consider reading it. I took the book and threw it in my car. The next day, at work, it was break time. I grabbed my lunch box and the book from my car and met my fellow workers at the fire barrel where we congregated during breaks. I sat down and started reading "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard. The first few paragraphs and pages had me interested - had me thinking how great it would be to have all the qualities that were promised if you follow this course. Then, suddenly. Boom! Someone snatched the book out of my hands and threw it into the fire barrel. It was my coworker, Pete. He said, "You'll thank me for that later!" Thanks Pete!

The only thing crazier than Scientology is that I religiously watched this podcast for a decade and within a short time of it moving platforms I pretty much forgot about it. Damn you Spotify, damn you to hell

A completely open Tom Cruise on this pod would be the most fascinating episode of a podcast ever

Years ago I read a couple of the Hubbard books and visited the nearby church of Scientology a couple times. I interviewed the staff, they showed me a video, hooked me up to the dial, etc. I wanted to learn about it before jumping on the bandwagon of dismissing it. And I can say confidently: they're batshit crazy.

I wish I could afford to be a Scientologist. Not that I'd become one, I just wish I could afford it!

When I was around 17, and started struggling with some very serious and deep mental illness, engaging in self harm and eating disordered behaviors, my dad took me to the Scientology headquarters in Miami and had them audit me and do a personality test, claiming it would cure my anxiety and depression. Im lucky they didn't scoop me up back then.

I worked for a company in Clearwater FL who required us to take basic courses a certain amount of hours a week. I had already seen Going Clear but needed the income so I took the job anyways. Let me tell you, being required by company policy to take a “religious” course every week blew my mind. You can’t have it both ways Scientology. Pay your taxes for your BUSINESS.

Only thing weirder than Scientology is Joe hosting people inside a Toaster

The lady that crashed her car through the Scientology building is LEGEND 👍👌💯

“You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” ― L. Ron Hubbard

I grew up a Jehovah witness, when I watched Leah Remini scientology show I was like "wait a minute... All this is awfully familiar... Oh shit, I'm in a cult " Got out and rest is history, paid a high price tho, shunned by family and child hood friends that are still in, but the freedom I gained was worth it.

I was approached in Austin in the 90s by a Scientoligist. I went in the "church" to hear his speil. I was put in a dark, cold theater room alone and shown some propaganda movie about man being from mud and clearing yourself. It was all very creepy. They called me almost everyday for a month trying to get me to come back. My roommate finally screamed "Jesus has her eternal soul" at them over the phone and they quit calling. Bizarre experience.

This looks like two guys chatting in Hell's waiting room.

Haven't watched a podcast since Joe moved to Spotify.

Joe Rogan just gave the most accurate description of Hollywood I've ever heard. Thank God I don't live there anymore.

Looking at this guy’s face, seeing his demeanor, hearing his accent, if someone told me that he was Willie Nelson’s cousin, I’d believe it.

This guy looks like a younger, clean-cut Willie Nelson.

*"People have strong political beliefs, but it doesn't effect their behavior."* ....uhhhhhh what?

Funny true story about Scientology. Joe is pretty much spot on about their reps doing random talent searches all around the LA area and bringing them to show off their skills whether its acting, singing, dancing and entertainment supposed stuff people wished they'd be famous and have a stardom career. I was in Burbank for some reason I can't remember other than getting interviewed for a job idk. But two ordinary looking adults came up me to me and asked if I was interested in auditioning. They invited us to their "Celebrity Center" and it was a pretty normal looking amphitheater. And one by one we each auditioned. I thought I was a good singer but I read the room and I know I sucked ass! Still got a round of applause for it which was unusual. Sat us back down to watch the other auditioners and one by one I noticed each person was being led to somewhere else for a special interview. Nothing is barely mentioned about how great your performance was and went straight to asking really personal questions with each question getting more uncomfortable. They basically get to shrinking you at this point and you can't help feeling that as a young person without having done much in life and belonging to nowhere their cause seems interesting to you. Then they offered you go take stupid classes like "How To Get Motivated" because they concluded in their analysis that I have problems being motivated which was kinda true at the time but not really. It was the most broad amd generic thing they can diagnose someone but half way through that class answering dumb questions out of a workbook I left after thinking "I don't need a class to learn to be motivated!", and they tried persuading me to stay, but I'm a pretty impatient person with things like these so I bounced. Upon walking across the street to get to my car, I looked back to see the building and saw "Church of Scientology Celebrity Center". Didn't bother me at the time and couple years later when I became obsessed with finding out what Scientology was all about, I literally dodged a bullet there. I had almost became a cult member without even knowing it LOL

“People have strong political beliefs and it doesn’t affect their behavior at all.” Riiiigght.

I live in Clearwater and the scientology building is beautiful. Its covered in cameras, like a ridiculous amount of cameras👁. Park street terminal is ten steps from the building and if you sit there for a few minutes, chances are about a hundred people will come out like schools out. They all wear the same clothes like a white long sleeve shirt with a black tunic. Its weird to see a mainstream cult at the center of this city. The banks and stuff were restored and it's mostly owned by the scientology folks with placks that proclaim ownership. It's all got a strange feeling around it.

I forgot the podcast existed

Lawrence Wright listens to Joe Rogan lecture him about Scientology.

Thank God/L. Ron for Leah Remini being brave enough to speak out about the scams and intimidations going on within scientology(funny that Apple’s keyboard autocorrects scientology with a capital “S”, but doesn’t autocorrect the word “God”).

Scientology... still proving that there is a sucker born every minute.

I came to hear a crazy story about Tom Cruise & Scientology, but all I got was Joe figuring out how to talk about martial arts.

"If you go fishing once, are you a fisherman?" Perfect response🔥💪🏼

I read Dianetics cover-to-cover when I was 18 years old. It was intriguing at first. I kept reading, thinking I would eventually be introduced to the scientific experiments that led to Hubbard's conclusions, but that never happened. Instead, e-meter techniques were suddenly introduced, out of the blue and with no logically identifiable connection to anything that came before. The book just got weirder and weirder, and never really proved anything, so fortunately for me, I never pursued it further. I've since read "Going Clear" and several other books detailing peoples' actual experiences with Scientology. True eye openers.

I used to live on the Drag just up the road from that scientology church in Austin. I'll never forget waiting to get the bus one day towards downtown. The bus was delayed. A guy with a clipboard asked me if I wanted to take part in some research. I was studying in the university, had some free time because of the delayed bus, so was happy to help a friendly face out. The guy started asking really deep questions like "do you think people have the right to their own life?" I was really taken in, fascinated by the man's questions. I came up with the most thought out answers I could muster in the moment. Around 15 minutes later my bus arrives. I'm after having one of the deepest 15 minute conversations of my life. As I step onto the bus I ask him what school on campus he's conducting the research with. He replies it's just down the road. I ask him specifically where on campus it is. He quickly says it's with the church of scientology. I immediately burst out laughing thinking he was joking. His look says it all. He was absolutely serious. "Oh, sorry man I thought you were joking" I respond. The bus closes its doors, we exchange an awkward look, and I continue on my journey downtown!

I almost forgot joe had a podcast

I was involved with scientology years ago. Everything bad you've heard about it, is true.

When I look at that photo of Tom Cruise and the Scientology leader I imagine them saying “Look at these giant medals we just made up and gave ourselves!”

Jerry Seinfeld the Scientologist driving his Auditor nuts with stupid questions about Nothing, would make a perfect Seinfeld episode.

That was my first brush up against a Scientologist back in the 70's when I was 21. I actually bought Ron Hubbard's paperback book, Dianetics. I read it, but wasn't impressed by it, and saw it as a possible scam. Scientology "salesmen" came to my apartment several times after that. I always put them off.

My sister in law went to the Scientology Center and told me about the soup cans or E-meters. And she met one of the ladies who (in my sister in law’s words) was nice but, fake nice. So she goes through the whole explaining Scientology to my sister in law and asked if she had any questions. “Yeah, who do you people pray to?” She told me the lady turned from nice to ugly within a second and told her to get out.

I used to do contract work for a company which was a family concern. I was invited to dinner with them as a 'get to know you'. This was the creepiest evening. The senior male, father, was being waited on hand and foot by his daughters in a super flirty way. It was surreal. I was invited to join them for a 'reading'. No thank you. No more work from them. Ha!

I remember a time when you could watch the full episode on youtube.

Sometimes rich people just lose all concept of reality.

It’s been months but still can’t help feeling a sense of claustrophobia with this new studio.

Watching this today, in the midst of all the accusations against Rogan’s podcast re: vaccines…this clip is a PERFECT example of what Joe Rogan has to show us about open, curious dialogue. At one point he reflects on his process to becoming more informed of all kinds of ideas in his life. ❤️❤️

Just waiting for the “in my day I could watch the whole episode on UKposts”

"Going Clear" Writer Lawrence Wright listens to Joe Rogan talk about Scientology

Love your pod cast Joe and have always been a fan

Joe just gave an excellent analysis on Los Angeles. Here in the UK to me the whole Hollywood thing has always sounded really weird. Its created a lust for fame to the point that people are exploited and I can imagine many thousands of lives have been ruined by that desire to be famous.

Shelley says going clear is great! It gave her the power of invisibility!

Part of what makes JRE on UKposts so great is the comment section. I don't think Joe fully grasps that part of the Experience involves the voice of the community.

I would absolutely adore Joe Rogan if he infiltrated Scientology just to tell us all about it. He could probably move up the ranks pretty fast considering he's wealthy, famous, has a massive speaking platform, has huge audiences attend his comedy shows. They would push him to the top rapidly just to use him in every way possible. They wouldn't abuse joe since he would he a high value member

Joe nailed it. Acceptance into the Tribe, Scaffolding, Structure and Progress marked by graduating belt system. Bingo!

Joe is always so clear headed with his questions. "If you go fishing one time are you a fisherman?" And it's not to be rude or trying to strong arm... It's generally just to make the guest question their stand. Admirable.

It’s sad I was obsessed with this podcast now I’ve basically forgot about it since it went to Spotify 😩

Joe Rogan is really good and getting to the heart of the interview. none of that crap interviews in which the person knows what they are going to be asked. You can tell that the interviews are free-flowing.

Idk why but I haven’t listened to a single episode on Spotify

Please bring a comment section to Spotify! I miss all you degenerates:(

I remember that bald guy, I used to watch all his podcasts, I thought he must have retired or something.

Used to drive by Golden Era out in San Jacinto a few times a week. Those poor kids were utterly brainwashed....glazed eyes.

Joe is a truly gifted interviewer.. and also has a lot on his heart to share. Really appreciate his work

The interesting thing is that spotify thought we'd come along, but watching JRE never happened on porpuse, at least not for me! Now there's just one less channel on my feed 😔

Everyone is talking about how they haven't seen the podcast since the Spotify move happened, and here I am just to remind everyone that the new studio still sucks.

I wish someone would ask Tom Cruise - “Do you think our souls were released from volcanoes with nuclear weapons dropped from 747s around 75 Trillion years ago?” Put him on the spot

When he said "I was .... 21- 21, yeah" I felt that

Joe is continuing his transition to a tomato. He's almost ripe.

Daily reminder that Joe Rogan didn’t kill himself Spotify took care of that

I was visiting LA as a child, probably around 13 or 14 years of age. The tour guide on the bud said “that’s the church of Scientology. If you see anyone handing out pamphlets, run as fast as you can in the other direction”. Blew my mind as a kid, only in recent years do I understand what he meant.

Joe Rogan is actually a criminally underestimated interviewer and journalist. He is actually a very skillful interviewer. So much goes under the radar

I almost forgot he still had a podcast

Man this just reminds me of how long it’s been since I’ve watched a JRE podcast. I hope he brings shit back to this platform eventually

I remember getting accosted in the street by these guys, in the 90s, and took their little test. They said I would need extra work. So I was invited to a town 30 miles away to begin this "journey". It involved staying a few nights at their accommodation. It didn't take long to find out that it will cost money. I was poor at the time and decided to go home, without telling them. They rang me up later on asking why I left. After saying I couldn't afford it, they thought I was weird and tried to persuade me to continue. I declined. On hindsight, I'm glad that I dodged that bullet.

What I like about Rogan is, his interviews aren’t just about the guest, he is also interviewing himself. It dawned on me when I said to myself someone should interview Joe!

Oh yeah, Rogan still has a podcast. Almost forgot..

The JRE: Being a specialist in a thing and going to a podcast where Joe explains that thing to you.

I remember Joe's bit on this documentary in his Netflix act, really cool to see this convo.

“People can have very strong political opinions and it doesn’t affect their actions at all.” On what planet?

When he asked him if he had ever done martial arts, I legit though he was going to say DMT.

Celebrities are drawn to Scientology because it caters to their ego.

Right about the belts system in kickboxing. I was stationed in Virginia beach and studied under Craig Smith and he developed a belt system. Also he recognized belts from any discipline to their equivalent in his dojo.

again I am astonished how good Joe is at analyzing thought processes of other people.

Would be great to hear Lawrence Wright talk about the subject he wrote a book on.

Whose watched less since Spotify?

His studio just needs an American flag!

Just watched this and had to comment. We my friends, big teenagers at the time, early eighties something on night out got invited in to probably the first settlement in my country. Being a little tipsy we absolutely failed doing the test things and then was asked to watch a movie instead, we quickly got bored and smelled bullshit, so we decided to have some fun and trashed the tv and and some furniture. We do 😂 stupid teenage things thing growing up, but this episode I’m actually proud of and we turned out all right. Becoming Airline pilots, business owners. Still friends to this day and none of us are members of Scientology 🎉.

I know this sounds weird but this new set makes me feel claustrophobic. It's like they are stuck in an alien waiting room or something.

Now that JRE is on Spotify I almost forgot he existed lol

To anyone that's depressed out there, I just want you to know that time heals all things. That doesn't help in the moment, but you can look to the future for relief.

It was in mid 70’s I was working as a flight attendant and was in New York on a lay over staying in Statler Hilton hotel and in the street out, there were people selling book on Scientology and I bought one. I had no clue what was it all about. Now years later I read about it and wonder what I did with that book?

Moving this podcast to Spotify was a suicidal move ... it's going to almost disappear within a year ... really sad because it's one the best and with the most interesting guests :-(

Greetings all the real fans who refused to go to some damn spotify how y’all doing I miss y’all

Excellent interview for real

Going Clear. Positive Vibrations. MARANATHA

I had a relative who spent over $400,000 on being a member of the Church of Scientology in the 1970s/80s

No one's gonna tell Joe his skin is the same color as his background?

I love how Joe explained Scientology to the guy who wrote the book on Scientology. #splained

Just watched the doc last night!

I always wondered as a kid what this Dianetics book was about. The commercial made it look cool as hell.

Can't help but say, I miss JRE on UKposts. Just not the same experience on Spotify.

Joe broke it down for real about Hollywood and acceptance hit the nail on the head

I wish theyd post on utube and spotify because i miss so many on spotify terrible notifaction/podcast system

Shoutout to everyone who still hasn't listened to a single podcast on Spotify yet and doesn't ever intend to.

This look like it would've been a good episode. Too bad I'll never have Spotify..

Glad you did a redesign for your background on the podcast😂😂🥰🔥🔥

Thank you