That is simply a fact. Until a Scientologist confronts and acknowledges this, they will not be able to move on. Even if they believe that "Scientology works", they cannot deny that Scientology has failed.
It could be said with considerable truth that failure actually defines the history and evolution of Scientology.
Scientology came into being when Dianetics failed. Certainly, Dianetics appeared to have promise and some interesting results were reported, but Hubbard promised miracles and, beyond rare, anecdotal stories, none of his promised miracles ever appeared. Worse, from Hubbard's point of view, his promised, miraculous state of Clear never appeared. Dianetics was a failure.
Scientology arose from the ashes of Dianetics and promised even more miracles. Not only was Scientology going to produce "Releases" with abilities far beyond the human state, not only was Scientology going to finally produce "real Clears", but Scientology was ultimately going to produce a god-like state Hubbard called "Operating Thetan".
And Scientology failed.
Along came "the Grade Chart” to fix those failures. The problem was, Hubbard explained, “out gradients” and “missing actions”. The Grade Chart was going to fix all that ... and failed. Still none of the promised results appeared.
The lack of results, Hubbard justified, was still due to “out gradients”, and so tons of new processes were added to the “lower Bridge”. And sold. And still the promised results failed to appear.
The next excuse for failure was “illiteracy” which led to Hubbard’s “Study Technology”.
Another excuse for failure was “drugs” which ended up with the “Purification Rundown” and Narconon.
One continuing excuse for failure was “out ethics” which engendered a whole raft of new products and controls: Ethics, Security Checks, FPRD, Criminon and so much more.
And still Scientology failed and failed and failed. Even those “solutions” were failing. In real-world, independent tests, Hubbard’s “Study Technology” was a failure. Doctors confirmed that the Purification Rundown failed to “detoxify” anyone. Criminon and Narconon were exposed as ineffective frauds.
And still there are no Releases, no Clears and no OTs. To this day, Scientology continues to fail to provide any of the results promised.
Each of Scientology’s failures engendered more excuses, more "reasons why", more justifications -- and more “services” to sell to “solve” those failures. And so Scientology became the “Science of justifications for failure”.
What does a Scientologist do with all these failures when they cannot confront them?
- Ignore it. This is a Scientology Standard Tech method of dealing with it. Pretend you don’t notice the complete lack of results. Pretend that somewhere, someone is “winning”. Pretend that the temporary euphoria after a session means “real case gain”.
- “Fix” it. That’s what the history of Scientology is all about: One “solution” to failure after another -- with each “solution”, in turn, failing.
- Sell it. This is another Scientology “solution”. Ignore the failures and keep selling the promised results. In the real world, we call that “fraud”.
- Try harder. Believe it would work if only you could “do it right” and so, Scientologists keep trying the same “solutions” over and over in hopes that some day the promised results will magically appear.
- Give up. Accept the ultimate Scientology reason for all its failures: That all Scientology’s failures are your fault. You are too awful a being for Scientology to ever work on you.
- Reality. Recognize that Scientology has failed and cannot and will not ever deliver what Hubbard promised. Recognize that each “solution” just results in more failure. Take whatever bits you might have found useful and leave the rest. Step off the Bridge to Total Failure. Stop wasting your time, your money and your life on such consistent and continual failure. Start winning by deliberately not using Scientology.
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Posts
I liked your comment,
ReplyDelete"Accept the ultimate Scientology reason for all its failures: That all Scientology’s failures are your fault. You are too awful a being for Scientology to ever work on you."
You just don't know how close to reality that is for me. I went through so many years feeling that way and even more upset that I gave many years of my life to this. Life is good now. It didn't happen quickly, but it is. May others realize the reality of this post quicker than I did.
@lesj39
ReplyDeleteI think Hubbard's trick of blaming all of Scientology's failures on his victims is the cruellest fraud of all.
I am so glad to see you say "Life is good now." So many ex-Scientologists I have talked to have said that. Yes, it can take awhile, but life without Scientology's "solutions" can be so much better.
Congratulations on living a good life now.
Bill, I hate to disagree with you but I don’t think that Scientology has failed. It was highly successful in doing what it was created for–that is making money for Mr. Hubbard. That was the reason Hubbard created Dianetics and Scientology and its success and the enormous wealth he acquired probably astonished even him.
ReplyDelete"MAKE MONEY, MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MORE MONEY."
- L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 9 March 1972, MS OEC 384
@99
ReplyDeleteYou certainly could be right. From both Hubbard's and Miscavige's viewpoint, it has been a very, very lucrative con. But I'm not talking to Ron or David, I'm talking to and about Scientologists.
Neither Hubbard nor Miscavige would qualify as Scientologists -- and I doubt they considered themselves as such. Certainly, neither personally used Scientology with any success.
Those people who sell Scientology might make some money, as long as they don't start believing themselves. But I think those days are now past -- there just aren't enough people who get fooled any more.
A Song on Scientology's policy of "Make Money, Make More Money."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/2871041/scientology_make_money_make_more_money_cashonlive_com/
Hi Bill.
ReplyDeleteI am an OT IX.
OT IX is a tremendous state, far superior to OT VII or VIII. The wins I have had on OT IX are just out of this world.
I have a tremendous relationship with my family, I have a satisfying job, my communication lines with those around me are excellent. I have lots of friends and interests.
To all Scientologists on the lower grades I would highly recommend you make the leap to OT IX as soon as possible.
The EP of OT IX is "free from Scientology".
Other great things about OT IX:-
It's free.
It's not secret.
Thousands of people have tried it and to my knowledge all have found it superior to any position on The Bridge.
You can talk to who you like.
You can do what you like.
You can be OT IX too!
Just Bill, is it true that, near the end of his life, Hubbard audited himself furiously to avert death? It appears to me that he DID believe that he was genuine scientist on some level. It is like he functioned on two levels at once. He knew he was sort of making stuff up, but he also believed he can somehow make reality to conform to his power.
ReplyDeleteSonia Bianca disaster is another case in the point. He probably believed on some level that he produced true clear with perfect memory. Otherwise why create total embarrassment?
Mr Miscarriage is another thing altogether.
Python
@Python
ReplyDeleteIt is a mystery and an unknown but, yes, Hubbard was intensively auditing himself the last years of his life. Obviously, he believed his own fairy tales. Also, obviously, he knew he wasn't OT and desperately wanted to be so.
When did he start to believe his own lies? Can't say.
Miscavige, as you say, is different. He absolutely does not believe the guff he is selling. He hasn't audited for decades. He isn't fooled by Hubbard's stories -- he saw what happened to Hubbard and, therefore, knows none of it works.
Hi Bill;
ReplyDeleteNot being a Clear, I can't remember where I read this - (CaliWog's Blog?) but the statement was made that Miscavige is a true believer; that he is following LRH to the letter; he has levels up to 15 but per LRH's instructions will not release them until a certain point. The writer was definitely an ex - Sci and completely anti the thing in any form; sounded like a rational and knowledgeable person. Any thoughts on that?
Myself, I think Miscavige is no longer capable of rational thought. By the way, How did you know he doesn't audit, and how does he get away with it? Sort of like priest who won't take communion - very suspicious -
Keep the hits coming. Have been impatient to read your latest.
Best,
Sheepherder
@Sheepherder
ReplyDeleteRe: Miscavige
Absolutely not. Rubbish! David Miscavige is definitely not a believer. He hasn't had any auditing for decades. He hasn't had any training for decades. He isn't "following LRH" in any way.
He certainly knows there are no more OT Levels. He looked for them and would have sold them if he had them. He created "OT VIII" from scraps and random notes and that was a complete disaster. He knows not to try that again.
He is rewriting everything Hubbard wrote and editing everything Hubbard said because he wants to be Source so that he has ultimate control and power. He wants to keep the con going forever. He knows it's a con and he has never had any doubt about it.
"True Believer"? Not even slightly.
Awesome post. Thank you. I have been waiting with baited breath.
ReplyDeleteIn this video below, four OTVIIs discuss their experience of scientology. Peter Alexander (00:00 -02:30) claims that even scientology executives are now reluctantly acknowledging that the technology doesn’t work as advertized.
ReplyDeleteThis definitely supports your March 2011 “Redefinitions of Scientology” post.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7431374963334510996#
>>He created "OT VIII" from scraps and random notes and that was a complete disaster.<<
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean? I thought all OT levels where a disaster? Is DM's even worse or what?
Python
Re: OT VIII
ReplyDeleteIn the sense that none of the OT levels deliver "OT", then yes, they are all disasters. But OT VIII was extra-special disastery -- people almost universally got quite ill -- as well as not receiving any "OT".
@Just Bill
ReplyDeleteGreat article as always.
"He hasn't had any auditing for decades. He hasn't had any training for decades. He isn't "following LRH" in any way."
Uhm, how do you know this?
Re: Miscavige
ReplyDeleteThis is what those who have been there with Miscavige have all said. Miscavige has has zero training and zero processing since he took over Scientology in the 80s, and probably before that.
In comparison, Hubbard was desperately auditing himself right up until the end.
Hubbard was a believer. Miscavige is not.
Dear Bill:
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean DM is unwilling and unknowing misapplying Scientology ethics to himself?
Re: Scientology Ethics
ReplyDeleteLOL! The only use Miscavige makes of any Scientology "tech" is as a tool for capturing minds and extracting the maximum money.
Naturally, he would never apply any of it to himself. He fancies he isn't that stupid.
@Just Bill
ReplyDeleteAnd that is why DM will fail, because he is not producing new tech. After reading and listening to a couple of Hubbard's "holy scripts" I figured it out: Scientology does not have the answers, but it will sell you more and more POSSIBLE answers that turn out to be dead ends. There is no "perfected system", just a guy (L. Ron) shooting into the dark and hoping he hit the target by bare luck. We should have OT XVI by this point, but Hubbard crapped out around OT VI or OT VII....Scientology either grows (courses) or it dies, it can never reach stasis. So the "perfect Scientology" is one where the Bridge is dragged out to some unholy length (OT XX, "Super OTs", "Working Godhood", "Mastering Your Universe", etc.)....of course, existing courses would have to be far cheaper because the scale would be different. Miscavage cannot produce anything new because he lacks true imagination; he is more the cruel businessman than prophet of a new religion. Without the scandals, Anonymous, the defections, Micavage's own cruddy personality, the key to absolute destruction of Scientology is that this salesman's con is not coming up with new crap to sell, just variations on a pattern. The Ideal Orgs are the architectural version of this - have the existing Orgs move into/update/demolish and build new buildings because the old ones aren't fancy enough. The same people will be served (possibly fewer because of the strong-arming over the building funds); the tech will be the same. It makes no real sense to do it, but the boss wants it, so it is done.
As far as I can tell, Ron (at least the pre-1977 Ron) did not want the cult to have permanent ships, planes, buildings, custom-made furniture, fancy study areas; he wanted the tech taught as best as it could be taught, and the auditing to be "flawless." Money and making the cult complicated* were all that mattered. But you know people; most prefer solid things to abstract concepts, which is why Catholic Europe has cathedrals instead of simple churches.
_____________________
* In the absence of great physical trappings bureacracy makes things look professional and on "the up and up"; the jargon of Scientology also adds to the "solidity" of the organization. It's all hollow, of course, but Hubbard learned from the Navy "if it looks good, it is good."
The TIME Magazine 100 of 2011
ReplyDeleteMeet the most influential people in the world. They are artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution. Welcome to this year's TIME 100.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2066367,00.html
Where are all the homo novus Scientologists?
Good post thanks.
ReplyDeletePeople see what they believe not believe what they see.I definitively fall into the first category.Went up the bridge to OT 8.Since all the people in the group treated me as an "OT" and since I had paid so much to get there it was convenient for me to believe I was a truly elevated being well on my way to eternal immortality instead of the kinda regular hard working reasonably smart and reasonably stupid guy that I am.Believe it or not but it has taken me over 10 years to find my bearings again and reintegrate in society.I am relaxed now, much less frantic,reasonably happy,same as I was before Scientology just with one less ambition and a lot less cash.
I agree and disapprove of this slavery induced brainwashing program after reading Beyond Belief in which Dave's own niece left Scientology revealing those ever so precious 'secrets of yore'........I'm just one of billions of fellow Christians who can't believe how unbelievablely a joke this peanuts of a program is........Michael David Nelson
ReplyDeleteScientology does not and never has worked. If Scientology had worked there would be an entire sector of the population showing signs of extraordinary abilities learned at Scientology through dianetics. There is not one out of "millions" There is no one in Scientology past, present or future with any special ability that wouldn't be found in the general populace. Scientology is clearly a fraud. The fact that they still operate with impunity does not reflect well on the justice system or the Government. What fools they be.
ReplyDelete