Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:18 pm
Ah... the legendary Philip Gale, the youngest Delphi graduate who had graduated at age fourteen. I had heard of him even before his suicide. I didn't know Philip, but I was acquainted with his sister at Delphi, and I used to know his aunt pretty well.
It always annoys me when critics attribute Philip's suicide to his upbringing in Scientology.
I think being a genius must have a way of socially alienating you from the rest of the population, leading to depression. He was out of Scientology, had been out for some time, was practically in a Scientology free environment. He was never in the Sea Org. It looks to me like he was raised with a pretty decent family and had a decent upbringing. Doesn't look like he had any bad experiences in Scientology. According to this article, he even asked his girlfriend for Zoloft, which demonstrates that he wasn't totally against seeking psychiatric treatment to treat depression.
Sure, he committed suicide on Hubbard's birthday, but... it was ALSO Friday the 13th. I'm guessing if there's any significance to the date, he probably wanted to go out with a bang and spook everybody on Friday the 13th (which coincidentally happened to be Hubbard's birthday).
I think there are more important issues to criticize the Church over than the suicide of a genius, like Sea Org abuse, family disconnection, and people going bankrupt because they spend all their money on the Bridge.
I am saying this as a former Delphi student who did make a suicide attempt. When I made my suicide attempt, I was still in Scientology and I was disconnected from my mother, and I was in a group that the rest of my family had some resentment against. It doesn't look to me that Philip had any stress or conflicts going on due to involvement with Scientology, unlike me when I made my suicide attempt.
Of course... there WAS that critical interview about Scientology he gave before his suicide. Perhaps his mother had disconnected from him over that before he committed suicide? But the thing is... we don't have all the information.