It is obvious to an outside observer that the Church of Scientology does not act, or react, in a logical manner. To an outside observer, the actions of the church don't make a lot of sense.
Why did the church over-react to the leak of the infamous Tom Cruise video? Their reaction did far more damage to the church than the actual leak ever would have.
Why did the struggling church just spend $40 million dollars on a gaudy, and very expensive, renovation of their Fort Harrison Hotel?
Why was the SuperPower building even started?
Why does the church keep purchasing building after building, while their existing churches are empty and even closing?
Why does the Church of Scientology continue to claim 8 million members and continue to claim they are the "fastest growing religion in the world" when even they know it is a lie?
There is a reason. From David Miscavige's point of view, all this makes "perfect sense".
It's all about image.
When the church claims 8 million members and claims to be the "fastest growing religion in the world", they are trying to sell that image of the church. They know it's a lie. They know they don't have 8 million members, not nearly. They know they are shrinking. Really, they do know all that. What they are trying to do is create and sell the image that the Church of Scientology is huge, and expanding.
It's only about image.
They reacted so poorly to the Tom Cruise video, and continue to react so badly to the Anonymous protests, because they believe these things damage their image. When they believe their image is threatened, they will go all out to defend it. Understand that they are defending the image, not necessarily Scientology or Scientologists.
The new buildings are all about image. The purchase of a new building creates the image of expansion. They know they aren't expanding. One might even guess that they know sucking every last penny from their parishioners is destroying any hope of real expansion. They don't care as long as they can promote the image of "expansion".
And some newspapers seem to fall for it. A few newspapers and news agencies that don't bother to investigate, talk about the "expansion of the Church of Scientology" -- but all that is really happening is the church bought some big, empty buildings -- while closing churches!
The Super Power building was started, in a big rush and fanfare, during the Lisa McPherson trial, because the church knew that their image was being damaged. The Super Power building was started to sell the image of a popular, flourishing church. Something that was "good for the community".
They go after celebrities so urgently, and treat them so very, very well, because being the "church of celebrities" is an image they desperately want.
It's all about image.
But exactly why is image so very, very, very important to the Church of Scientology? Why does the image of expansion take priority over real expansion? Why is image of helping more important than the actual well-being and even the survival of Scientologists? Why does image appear to be the sole motivation for virtually all the Church of Scientology's actions?
Why? Because, when you get right down to it, that's all there is to the Church of Scientology. Image is all they've got!
They try to have the image of a successful, expanding, thriving church -- but they are shrinking, failing, collapsing.
Narconon attempts to create the image of tremendous success in helping people get over drug addiction with a "90% cure rate" -- but their actual results are pretty dismal, much lower than other programs.
The church's "Youth for Human Rights" front group is all about image. If the church has the image of being a "Human Rights supporter", who would expect them to be the biggest Human Rights violator? The church wants you to look at the image, not what the church is really doing!
The church tries to create the image that they have the solution to toxins in the body, the solutions to study problems, the solutions to world conflicts -- but their actual results are non-existent. They attempt to create these images without actually producing anything.
The Church of Scientology strives for the image of a group that has "all the answers" to everyone's problems, but they can't come up with one bit of evidence that their solutions actually help. There are no actual, proven, workable solutions -- just that false, and very tattered, image.
It must be said that they come by this honestly. L. Ron Hubbard's stories about himself and his "technology" were all about image. He wanted people to think very highly of him and so he lied. He claimed amazing things for his life, he claimed miraculous results from his "technology". None of it was real.
Today, Scientology's leader carries on that grand, illusive tradition. David Miscavige's fanciful event presentations are all about image. Scientologists leaving his events are often so impressed with "how well everything is going" -- but can't actually put their finger on any specific facts or anything actually done.
Today, now that the Church of Scientology's image is so badly damaged, now that Scientology is the punchline of so many jokes, now that the curtain of secrecy has been torn away and the lack of results is becoming obvious to all but a few True Believers, what is left?
The sorry image of failure, abuse and fraud.
When history judges the Church of Scientology, we can be pretty sure that that will be the church's ultimate image: Failure, abuse and fraud.
-
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Church of Scientology Cries "KKK!"
I don't think the Church of Scientology is ever going to learn. In the past, the church accused their critics of "being Nazis!" As I pointed out in The Church of Scientology Cries "Nazi!", this was incredibly stupid.
First, this kind of accusation is usually hauled out by the not-too-bright when they can't find any facts to support their position.
But worse (from the church's point of view), while their critics have nothing in common with Nazis, the Church of Scientology actually does have a lot in common with fascism. I pointed out that the church should be very careful in drawing attention to fascism in connection with the church.
Perhaps they listened, because such foolish accusations seem to have abated.
And then again, perhaps not.
Now the Church of Scientology's apologists are comparing the church's critics to "the KKK".
Dear Church of Scientology: Not smart.
Their "reasoning"? The KKK wore hoods and robes -- some of the church's critics wear masks. As long as you leave it at that, there is a very, very vague connection there. But don't look any deeper!
Well, let's look deeper, shall we?
Religious organization:
I am not going to say that the Church of Scientology is exactly like the KKK, that would be ridiculous. I am not going to say that the Church of Scientology is as evil as the KKK, that's not correct either.
However, when the Church of Scientology claims that Anonymous is "just like the KKK", any intelligent person will see that this is completely bogus -- but then they will look at the church's actions in that light.
And that isn't good for the Church of Scientology.
Here's a little clue for David Miscavige and his Church of Scientology: When you're busy trying to suppress free speech using intimidation, threats and harassment against your "enemies", you'd best not draw any attention to that other group that also tried so hard to suppress free speech. The difference between the Church of Scientology's tactics to suppress free speech and the tactics of the KKK are of degree, not intent. That's not good.
-
First, this kind of accusation is usually hauled out by the not-too-bright when they can't find any facts to support their position.
But worse (from the church's point of view), while their critics have nothing in common with Nazis, the Church of Scientology actually does have a lot in common with fascism. I pointed out that the church should be very careful in drawing attention to fascism in connection with the church.
Perhaps they listened, because such foolish accusations seem to have abated.
And then again, perhaps not.
Now the Church of Scientology's apologists are comparing the church's critics to "the KKK".
Dear Church of Scientology: Not smart.
Their "reasoning"? The KKK wore hoods and robes -- some of the church's critics wear masks. As long as you leave it at that, there is a very, very vague connection there. But don't look any deeper!
Well, let's look deeper, shall we?
Religious organization:
- The KKK considered itself a religious organization, a fraternal order, they even had a chaplain.
- Anonymous is not an organization, is not religious, is not an order.
- The Church of Scientology, however, considers itself a religious organization and claims their "Sea Org" is a fraternal order.
- The KKK used intimidation, threats, harassment and murder to attempt to silence those they deemed their "enemies". They would visit their enemies houses to intimidate them.
- Scientology critics and Anonymous stage peaceful protests at the church's places of business to protest what they feel are harmful, abusive and criminal activities. They never visit the private homes of Scientologists. Rather than silence, their usual intent is for dialog.
- The Church of Scientology uses intimidation, threats and harassment to attempt to silence those who oppose them. The church goes to critic's houses leaving fliers in their neighborhood and other, more personal, "messages" to try to intimidate their critics into silence.
- The KKK was, obviously, a hate group. They hated blacks, Jews, Catholics, gays, and much more.
- Anonymous and other Scientology critics contain members of all religions, all ethnic groups, all sexual persuasions. Anonymous attacks no religion but only seeks to expose the Church of Scientology's crimes, abuses, lies and fraud.
- The Church of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, spoke very disparagingly of all other religions. Hubbard was a racist and, in one lecture, spoke very highly of South Africa's apartheid. Hubbard hated gays, Scientology claims to be able to "cure" homosexuality.
- The KKK committed crimes. Members of the KKK were sworn to secrecy and were punished severely if they dared to object to or dared to report those crimes.
- Anonymous adheres to the law in their protests. If someone claiming to be a member of Anonymous breaks the law, they suffer the consequences like anyone else.
- The Church of Scientology commits crimes, abuses and fraud. Members of the church are sworn to secrecy and are severely punished if they object to or if they report those crimes.
I am not going to say that the Church of Scientology is exactly like the KKK, that would be ridiculous. I am not going to say that the Church of Scientology is as evil as the KKK, that's not correct either.
However, when the Church of Scientology claims that Anonymous is "just like the KKK", any intelligent person will see that this is completely bogus -- but then they will look at the church's actions in that light.
And that isn't good for the Church of Scientology.
Here's a little clue for David Miscavige and his Church of Scientology: When you're busy trying to suppress free speech using intimidation, threats and harassment against your "enemies", you'd best not draw any attention to that other group that also tried so hard to suppress free speech. The difference between the Church of Scientology's tactics to suppress free speech and the tactics of the KKK are of degree, not intent. That's not good.
-
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Scientology's Turning Point
Something has happened in the Church of Scientology that is quite significant. It has taken several years, but the change is now complete.
It hasn't been acknowledged, or even mentioned within Scientology, but the change is radical and comprehensive.
It first became obvious when David Miscavige created and released his so-called "Golden Age of Tech". With this release, Miscavige completely changed L. Ron Hubbard's training methods, courses and checksheets.
One very key element of this change was Miscavige's declaration that everyone's training had been "horribly flawed", even including those trained directly by L. Ron Hubbard.
This is very important. With this release, Miscavige was saying, in no uncertain terms, that Hubbard was wrong, Hubbard had goofed, and that he, Miscavige, had fixed Hubbard's mistakes.
Lest anyone think that Hubbard thought his training might need improvement, here is what Hubbard said about his training.
And only a very, very few Scientologists objected. Of course, any that did object were quickly expelled. They were supporting Hubbard, and that had now become a crime in Miscavige's new Church of Scientology.
Hubbard explicitly said in Keeping Scientology Working that his technology must never be altered by anyone. His instructions, in Keeping Scientology Working, are that every Scientologist must work hard to keep the technology exactly as it was written by Hubbard.
But Scientologists, in the main, didn't do that. The vast majority of Scientologists just let Miscavige make all his changes. They even applauded.
This event was the watershed event for Scientology.
The silence of all the remaining Scientologists gave David Miscavige a blank check to do anything he wanted to with the technology, the administration, with anything in Scientology.
And, believe me, that's exactly what he's done. From that moment on, he knew then that no one would object, no matter what he did.
With Miscavige's next major alteration, his so-called "Golden Age of Knowledge", Miscavige savagely edited Ron's lectures, cutting and splicing to "fix" them. He even had a voice actor who could imitate LRH's voice fill in the words "Hubbard should have said". It was open season on Hubbard's technology.
In all his announcements and releases, Miscavige keeps promoting this concept: Hubbard's training was flawed. Hubbard's lectures were wrong. Hubbard was stupid. Hubbard needs correction -- and Miscavige is the "Savior of Scientology" who is "fixing Hubbard's terrible mistakes".
And, with each step down this road, Scientologists applaud.
Not long ago, David Miscavige issued a commandment from his office: From now on, Miscavige's orders were senior to anything written by Hubbard. No one at International Management objected. This is now the law in Scientology. Most Scientologists don't know this, but if they did, would they object? Or would they applaud?
More recently, with the release of "The Basics" Miscavige has made his message clearer than ever. With "The Basics" Miscavige made significant alterations to Hubbard's books. With these alterations, Miscavige's message is unequivocal: Hubbard was too stupid to see these "major mistakes" in his own books, year after year, reprint after reprint, revision after revision, for over thirty years.
And when Scientologists burned their old LRH-written books, and bought the "new improved" Miscavige books, they were implicitly agreeing: Ron was stupid and Miscavige, the "Savior of Scientology", had "fixed" Ron's work.
Again, most Scientologists applauded. While Scientologists today might not explicitly say the words "Hubbard was stupid and careless", they are agreeing with Miscavige, they are abandoning Hubbard's tech and embracing Miscavige's tech. Hubbard was stupid and Miscavige is smart. Hubbard was flawed and Miscavige will fix everything.
Miscavige didn't get his authority to rewrite Scientology from his accomplishments, which are truly horrible, he got his authority simply because Scientologists didn't object. Scientologists let him do it. Scientologists applauded!
Miscavige has almost no tech training. He studied at Saint Hill but did not complete the Briefing Course. Miscavige has virtually no admin training, none. Miscavige can't audit -- he was stuck on OT VII for many, many years and simply gave up. He has no qualifications for doing anything with Scientology tech. Yet, he continues to make massive changes -- and Scientologists continue to applaud.
Step by step, change by change, Miscavige is erasing Hubbard from Scientology and is creating his own version of the church.
Now, one might argue that his extensive alterations to Scientology might be justified if things got better as a result, but that is definitely not the case. After Miscavige's training "improvements", the number of auditors, and the quality of auditing, deteriorated drastically. Under Miscavige's leadership, the Church of Scientology is collapsing. Under Miscavige's technical "guidance", most Scientologists' progress has slowed, stopped, or even gone backwards while they retread, retrain, and repeat endlessly. Under Miscavige's direction, the Church of Scientology has become a dark organization, full of threats, intense pressure, grinding guilt and frequent abuses.
With their silence, their applause, their purchases, Scientologists have agreed and supported Miscavige's elimination and defamation of Hubbard and Miscavige's extensive revision of Scientology.
The turning point has been passed. Scientologists let it happen. It would be cruel to say that they now have the church they deserve -- but it would be the unfortunate truth.
-
It hasn't been acknowledged, or even mentioned within Scientology, but the change is radical and comprehensive.
It first became obvious when David Miscavige created and released his so-called "Golden Age of Tech". With this release, Miscavige completely changed L. Ron Hubbard's training methods, courses and checksheets.
One very key element of this change was Miscavige's declaration that everyone's training had been "horribly flawed", even including those trained directly by L. Ron Hubbard.
This is very important. With this release, Miscavige was saying, in no uncertain terms, that Hubbard was wrong, Hubbard had goofed, and that he, Miscavige, had fixed Hubbard's mistakes.
Lest anyone think that Hubbard thought his training might need improvement, here is what Hubbard said about his training.
With what we know now, there is no student we enroll who cannot be properly trained.But what Miscavige says about Hubbard's training is quite different. It was flawed, it was wrong, it didn't work. People who had been trained using Hubbard's methods were improperly trained. And he, Miscavige, the "Savior of Scientology", fixed it.L. Ron Hubbard, Keeping Scientology Working Series 1
And only a very, very few Scientologists objected. Of course, any that did object were quickly expelled. They were supporting Hubbard, and that had now become a crime in Miscavige's new Church of Scientology.
Hubbard explicitly said in Keeping Scientology Working that his technology must never be altered by anyone. His instructions, in Keeping Scientology Working, are that every Scientologist must work hard to keep the technology exactly as it was written by Hubbard.
But Scientologists, in the main, didn't do that. The vast majority of Scientologists just let Miscavige make all his changes. They even applauded.
This event was the watershed event for Scientology.
The silence of all the remaining Scientologists gave David Miscavige a blank check to do anything he wanted to with the technology, the administration, with anything in Scientology.
And, believe me, that's exactly what he's done. From that moment on, he knew then that no one would object, no matter what he did.
With Miscavige's next major alteration, his so-called "Golden Age of Knowledge", Miscavige savagely edited Ron's lectures, cutting and splicing to "fix" them. He even had a voice actor who could imitate LRH's voice fill in the words "Hubbard should have said". It was open season on Hubbard's technology.
In all his announcements and releases, Miscavige keeps promoting this concept: Hubbard's training was flawed. Hubbard's lectures were wrong. Hubbard was stupid. Hubbard needs correction -- and Miscavige is the "Savior of Scientology" who is "fixing Hubbard's terrible mistakes".
And, with each step down this road, Scientologists applaud.
Not long ago, David Miscavige issued a commandment from his office: From now on, Miscavige's orders were senior to anything written by Hubbard. No one at International Management objected. This is now the law in Scientology. Most Scientologists don't know this, but if they did, would they object? Or would they applaud?
More recently, with the release of "The Basics" Miscavige has made his message clearer than ever. With "The Basics" Miscavige made significant alterations to Hubbard's books. With these alterations, Miscavige's message is unequivocal: Hubbard was too stupid to see these "major mistakes" in his own books, year after year, reprint after reprint, revision after revision, for over thirty years.
And when Scientologists burned their old LRH-written books, and bought the "new improved" Miscavige books, they were implicitly agreeing: Ron was stupid and Miscavige, the "Savior of Scientology", had "fixed" Ron's work.
Again, most Scientologists applauded. While Scientologists today might not explicitly say the words "Hubbard was stupid and careless", they are agreeing with Miscavige, they are abandoning Hubbard's tech and embracing Miscavige's tech. Hubbard was stupid and Miscavige is smart. Hubbard was flawed and Miscavige will fix everything.
Miscavige didn't get his authority to rewrite Scientology from his accomplishments, which are truly horrible, he got his authority simply because Scientologists didn't object. Scientologists let him do it. Scientologists applauded!
Miscavige has almost no tech training. He studied at Saint Hill but did not complete the Briefing Course. Miscavige has virtually no admin training, none. Miscavige can't audit -- he was stuck on OT VII for many, many years and simply gave up. He has no qualifications for doing anything with Scientology tech. Yet, he continues to make massive changes -- and Scientologists continue to applaud.
Step by step, change by change, Miscavige is erasing Hubbard from Scientology and is creating his own version of the church.
Now, one might argue that his extensive alterations to Scientology might be justified if things got better as a result, but that is definitely not the case. After Miscavige's training "improvements", the number of auditors, and the quality of auditing, deteriorated drastically. Under Miscavige's leadership, the Church of Scientology is collapsing. Under Miscavige's technical "guidance", most Scientologists' progress has slowed, stopped, or even gone backwards while they retread, retrain, and repeat endlessly. Under Miscavige's direction, the Church of Scientology has become a dark organization, full of threats, intense pressure, grinding guilt and frequent abuses.
With their silence, their applause, their purchases, Scientologists have agreed and supported Miscavige's elimination and defamation of Hubbard and Miscavige's extensive revision of Scientology.
The turning point has been passed. Scientologists let it happen. It would be cruel to say that they now have the church they deserve -- but it would be the unfortunate truth.
-
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Questions Scientology Should Answer, but Won't
In the same vein as Seven Questions Every Scientologist Has a Right to Ask here are some more, but different, questions.
Like the Seven Questions, these are not esoteric or philosophically unanswerable questions, these are just simple, obvious and important questions -- but the Church of Scientology will not be able to answer them.
These are questions that are on the minds of most Scientologists. These are the questions that should be answered by the church.
First question: When the Church of Scientology has made a mistake, why do the parishioners have to pay?
The biggest example is the so-called "Golden Age of Tech". David Miscavige announced that all previous training had been horribly flawed, so bad that every person trained under the previous system -- including those trained personally by L. Ron Hubbard -- were incompetent. Everyone was ordered to retrain from the very beginning at their own expense.
It was the church's error. It was the church's "horrible training". Why would the "victims" of the church's mistake be required to pay for the retraining?
The most common example is auditing. The Scientologist gets auditing, and the auditor, for whatever reason, goofs it all up. Now the Scientologist is in trouble, sick, failing. The church calls them in for "correction auditing" which they must pay full price for.
But that's not all. Then the church announces some technical change or some new requirement and the Scientologist is now required to re-do all their previous auditing all over again -- and pay for it all over again.
This never ends. The church announces major errors in auditing, training, books, lectures -- and requires all Scientologists to pay all over again for the church's mistakes.
Why does the Church of Scientology do this? Why does the Church of Scientology think this is OK?
Question: If "man is basically good" as L. Ron Hubbard said, why is so much of the Bridge based on the premise "Scientologists are evil"?
A Scientologist is, at almost every step of the Bridge, required to purchase, at great expense, a large block of auditing hours to prove that the Scientologist has done no evil, thought no evil, spoken no evil (as extensively defined by the Church of Scientology).
Then, at the very next step, the Scientologist is required to purchase yet another large block of auditing hours to, yet again, prove that the Scientologist is not evil.
And again. And again.
Sometimes the Scientologist can't actually get to the next proper step of The Bridge, because they are caught in this endless search for evil.
Are Scientologists that evil? Are Scientologists prone to suddenly become evil? Why is so much of The Bridge now spent on Scientologists attempting, endlessly, to prove they are not evil?
This is "inspection before the fact", a basic no-no of LRH's. Why doesn't Scientology management follow basic Scientology principles?
Why aren't Scientologists trusted at all by the Church of Scientology?
Participation in Scientology used to be voluntary. Participation in Scientology used to be fun. Scientology used to be what you did because you wanted to do it.
Now, everything is done by threat of punishment. Now, we are forced to buy things -- or else. Now we are forced to re-do levels and courses -- even when we don't think anything is wrong in the first place. Now we are forced to abandon the courses and levels we were on and take other courses -- we have no choice.
Now, we are required to go out to other Scientologist's houses to force them to buy things.
Now, we are hounded, day and night, to give money -- and more money -- until we are deeply in debt. Ron said to never, ever go into debt. This is one of his most important financial policies -- and yet the church demands that we go deeper and deeper into debt -- even to the point of losing our homes and bankruptcy.
Why are threats, force and punishment now the primary characteristics of the Church of Scientology? That isn't Scientology!
Question: Why are the current church programs so horrible?
Today, when every available penny is being squeezed from Scientologists to pay for new buildings, and the IAS, and library donations, and the archive project, and CCHR, and LRH homes, and-and-and -- there is very little money left for local Scientologists to take the courses or auditing they might have taken locally.
All these current Church of Scientology programs seem designed to suck every last penny from every Scientologist. This leaves every Scientologist dead broke, deeply in debt and struggling. How is this a good thing?
This means they don't have any money to take courses or buy auditing. This destroys the viability of all the local churches. The local churches were already having a real tough time, now they are facing a catastrophe.
Most of this money just disappears, leaving the local area entirely. The new building monies, at least, go to buying some new property -- but LRH would call that "having to have before you can do". Buying new property first is not the correct sequence. First you put the church there in its existing location (be), then you expand (do), then you use the additional money to buy things, like a new building (have). LRH knew this -- why doesn't Scientology management? This is completely backwards!
Why doesn't Scientology management know and use the basic principles of Scientology?
All these projects are killing the local churches. Why is this being done? Why isn't International Management supporting projects that help Scientologists and the local churches.
Why do these programs exist? Why are these programs pushed so hard? Why do such destructive programs even exist in Scientology?
Question: For the second time in a few years, David Miscavige has extensively rewritten L. Ron Hubbard's books. How is this justified?
Hubbard considered his books on Dianetics and Scientology to be the most important things he had ever done. He spent much time, over thirty years, making sure the books were up to date, in good shape and were available.
Over those thirty years, his attention was often on his books. They were, he said, vital.
Now, Miscavige claims that Hubbard missed some very major errors in the publication of his books. Miscavige claims that Hubbard completely missed these huge, significant errors for over thirty years!
That means Miscavige is saying that L. Ron Hubbard was very stupid -- missing so many "significant errors" in his most important works? That's really stupid!
So, was Hubbard really stupid, as Miscavige claims?
On the other hand, if Hubbard wasn't stupid, then he didn't miss anything in his books. But if that's the case, Miscavige drastically altered Hubbard's works without authorization and without reason. That means David Miscavige is a squirrel (altering LRH).
Which is it? Hubbard was really stupid -- or Miscavige is a squirrel? It is simply one or the other.
Question: Why have Scientologists who have attempted to uphold Keeping Scientology Working been expelled?
Why is that a crime in today's Church of Scientology?
Question: Why have so many important projects, like SuperPower, Saint Hill Size Orgs, Global Dissemination, been abandoned?
And where did the money go that we gave to all those projects?
Question: David Miscavige continues to make major changes to the books, the technology and administration of the church. What are his qualifications to do so?
And why is it OK, anyway?
Question: Why is asking such simple, obvious and important questions considered a crime by the Church of Scientology?
I could go on. There are so many more questions that bother, or should bother, Scientologists.
Scientologists asking such questions will be punished by the Church of Scientology, so these questions will not be asked, and they would not be answered.
And you know why.
-
Like the Seven Questions, these are not esoteric or philosophically unanswerable questions, these are just simple, obvious and important questions -- but the Church of Scientology will not be able to answer them.
These are questions that are on the minds of most Scientologists. These are the questions that should be answered by the church.
First question: When the Church of Scientology has made a mistake, why do the parishioners have to pay?
The biggest example is the so-called "Golden Age of Tech". David Miscavige announced that all previous training had been horribly flawed, so bad that every person trained under the previous system -- including those trained personally by L. Ron Hubbard -- were incompetent. Everyone was ordered to retrain from the very beginning at their own expense.
It was the church's error. It was the church's "horrible training". Why would the "victims" of the church's mistake be required to pay for the retraining?
The most common example is auditing. The Scientologist gets auditing, and the auditor, for whatever reason, goofs it all up. Now the Scientologist is in trouble, sick, failing. The church calls them in for "correction auditing" which they must pay full price for.
But that's not all. Then the church announces some technical change or some new requirement and the Scientologist is now required to re-do all their previous auditing all over again -- and pay for it all over again.
This never ends. The church announces major errors in auditing, training, books, lectures -- and requires all Scientologists to pay all over again for the church's mistakes.
Why does the Church of Scientology do this? Why does the Church of Scientology think this is OK?
Question: If "man is basically good" as L. Ron Hubbard said, why is so much of the Bridge based on the premise "Scientologists are evil"?
A Scientologist is, at almost every step of the Bridge, required to purchase, at great expense, a large block of auditing hours to prove that the Scientologist has done no evil, thought no evil, spoken no evil (as extensively defined by the Church of Scientology).
Then, at the very next step, the Scientologist is required to purchase yet another large block of auditing hours to, yet again, prove that the Scientologist is not evil.
And again. And again.
Sometimes the Scientologist can't actually get to the next proper step of The Bridge, because they are caught in this endless search for evil.
Are Scientologists that evil? Are Scientologists prone to suddenly become evil? Why is so much of The Bridge now spent on Scientologists attempting, endlessly, to prove they are not evil?
This is "inspection before the fact", a basic no-no of LRH's. Why doesn't Scientology management follow basic Scientology principles?
Why aren't Scientologists trusted at all by the Church of Scientology?
Question: Why is Scientology now all about threat and punishment?
Participation in Scientology used to be voluntary. Participation in Scientology used to be fun. Scientology used to be what you did because you wanted to do it.
Now, everything is done by threat of punishment. Now, we are forced to buy things -- or else. Now we are forced to re-do levels and courses -- even when we don't think anything is wrong in the first place. Now we are forced to abandon the courses and levels we were on and take other courses -- we have no choice.
Now, we are required to go out to other Scientologist's houses to force them to buy things.
Now, we are hounded, day and night, to give money -- and more money -- until we are deeply in debt. Ron said to never, ever go into debt. This is one of his most important financial policies -- and yet the church demands that we go deeper and deeper into debt -- even to the point of losing our homes and bankruptcy.
Why are threats, force and punishment now the primary characteristics of the Church of Scientology? That isn't Scientology!
Question: Why are the current church programs so horrible?
Today, when every available penny is being squeezed from Scientologists to pay for new buildings, and the IAS, and library donations, and the archive project, and CCHR, and LRH homes, and-and-and -- there is very little money left for local Scientologists to take the courses or auditing they might have taken locally.
All these current Church of Scientology programs seem designed to suck every last penny from every Scientologist. This leaves every Scientologist dead broke, deeply in debt and struggling. How is this a good thing?
This means they don't have any money to take courses or buy auditing. This destroys the viability of all the local churches. The local churches were already having a real tough time, now they are facing a catastrophe.
Most of this money just disappears, leaving the local area entirely. The new building monies, at least, go to buying some new property -- but LRH would call that "having to have before you can do". Buying new property first is not the correct sequence. First you put the church there in its existing location (be), then you expand (do), then you use the additional money to buy things, like a new building (have). LRH knew this -- why doesn't Scientology management? This is completely backwards!
Why doesn't Scientology management know and use the basic principles of Scientology?
All these projects are killing the local churches. Why is this being done? Why isn't International Management supporting projects that help Scientologists and the local churches.
Why do these programs exist? Why are these programs pushed so hard? Why do such destructive programs even exist in Scientology?
Question: For the second time in a few years, David Miscavige has extensively rewritten L. Ron Hubbard's books. How is this justified?
Hubbard considered his books on Dianetics and Scientology to be the most important things he had ever done. He spent much time, over thirty years, making sure the books were up to date, in good shape and were available.
Over those thirty years, his attention was often on his books. They were, he said, vital.
Now, Miscavige claims that Hubbard missed some very major errors in the publication of his books. Miscavige claims that Hubbard completely missed these huge, significant errors for over thirty years!
That means Miscavige is saying that L. Ron Hubbard was very stupid -- missing so many "significant errors" in his most important works? That's really stupid!
So, was Hubbard really stupid, as Miscavige claims?
On the other hand, if Hubbard wasn't stupid, then he didn't miss anything in his books. But if that's the case, Miscavige drastically altered Hubbard's works without authorization and without reason. That means David Miscavige is a squirrel (altering LRH).
Which is it? Hubbard was really stupid -- or Miscavige is a squirrel? It is simply one or the other.
Question: Why have Scientologists who have attempted to uphold Keeping Scientology Working been expelled?
Why is that a crime in today's Church of Scientology?
Question: Why have so many important projects, like SuperPower, Saint Hill Size Orgs, Global Dissemination, been abandoned?
And where did the money go that we gave to all those projects?
Question: David Miscavige continues to make major changes to the books, the technology and administration of the church. What are his qualifications to do so?
And why is it OK, anyway?
Question: Why is asking such simple, obvious and important questions considered a crime by the Church of Scientology?
I could go on. There are so many more questions that bother, or should bother, Scientologists.
Scientologists asking such questions will be punished by the Church of Scientology, so these questions will not be asked, and they would not be answered.
And you know why.
-
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Seven Questions Every Scientologist Has a Right to Ask
This article was sent to me some time ago from a Scientologist, before Ask the Scientologist even existed. It was published elsewhere, but I'm finally posting it here, to give it an official place to live.
It is odd to me that the answers to these questions, which are perfectly normal questions, are not available. Ask any Scientologist in the field these questions and they don't know. This is alarming, and strange.
This is the document I received:
Seven Questions Every Scientologist Has the Right to Ask
The following list was compiled after discussions with a number of Scientologists. There are questions we all have about current Scientology events, sometimes unstated, sometimes just nagging feelings. The list below is intended to get such questions out in the open where we can discuss them in a forthright manner, and, hopefully, find answers.
1. Who runs our Church?
This is not a minor point, yet, outside of half a dozen familiar faces that appear at events, Scientologists in general do not know who is in charge of the Church. LRH (L. Ron Hubbard) designed a system of Church management that involved managing committees and oversight groups who would act as a system of checks and balances within the Church.
So who are these people? Specifically, who, by name, are the executives of RTC (Religious Technology Center), the members of the Watchdog Committee, and the International Executives under ED Int?
Why is this information kept secret? Shouldn't we know who the people are on these posts, and their qualifications (such as training and auditing level)? And shouldn't we know when they are removed or demoted, and why?
2. What are the stats?
LRH stresses the importance of managing by statistics. Yet the average Scientologist has no idea of what the international statistics are. The stats shown at events are typically short-term. Yet, long term, what are the statistics of such things as Clears and OTs made, Auditors made, membership numbers, books sold and so on.
In other words, how are we doing? And specifically, what do the statistics look like long-term, from back when LRH was on the lines? How do today's stats compare to, say, the mid-1980's? Wouldn't you like to know?
3. Who owns the copyrights to LRH materials?
It is supposed to be CST - the Church of Spiritual Technology. But who is that? Who are the people on their Board of Directors, by name? Where is CST located? Shouldn't we know this?
4. What happened to broad dissemination?
There used to be big campaigns for Dianetics in the 1980's, with TV ads and so on. It seemed like Dianetics was everywhere. What happened? Why don't we have big campaigns like that anymore?
5. How did this practice of regging for pure donations get started?
We are regged for everything from IAS donations to the Superpower building to the local org's building fund.
Yet such donations without exchange for services were never done when LRH was on the lines. Donations were for services. With the forming of the IAS (International Association of Scientologists), this idea of just regging for pure donations got started, and now it seems like a major push from the Church.
Why? What is this based on? Why was it not done when LRH was on the lines but is done now?
6. Where does the money go?
Between donations and services, we give a lot to our Church. Shouldn't there be some sort of accounting for how it is spent, such as one might expect from any church or charity?
Certainly there are orgs to support, but the Church doesn't found or support hospitals, orphanages or charities like other Churches do. Entities like Applied Scholastics, Narconon and WISE all tithe to the Church. Local organizations send a portion of their income weekly to Management.
Flag sends the bulk of their income to Management. Money flows up the lines. How is it then spent? Don't we, as the ones donating, have the right to know?
7. Are the revisions to LRH materials on-Source?
Books have been and are being edited and recompiled. Tape lectures have been and are being edited. Compilation books are appearing "based on the works of LRH." Are these materials faithful to the original LRH works? Who is doing these revisions? Based on what?
How can an individual Scientologist know that the materials he is provided with are correct? How can we, as individuals, enforce "Keeping Scientology Working"?
You may personally have other questions. The point is, don't we have the right to ask such simple, obvious questions about our Church and expect answers?
If you agree that there should be more openness, more transparency and more accountability within the Church, pass these questions to your friends and discuss them. Take them up with your local Org or Mission. Write to International Management about them. Make your voice felt.
Beware of those who try to keep you from asking these questions, or any others you may have. There is nothing wrong with asking questions. You do have rights, and you do have a voice in your Church.
-
It is odd to me that the answers to these questions, which are perfectly normal questions, are not available. Ask any Scientologist in the field these questions and they don't know. This is alarming, and strange.
This is the document I received:
Seven Questions Every Scientologist Has the Right to Ask
The following list was compiled after discussions with a number of Scientologists. There are questions we all have about current Scientology events, sometimes unstated, sometimes just nagging feelings. The list below is intended to get such questions out in the open where we can discuss them in a forthright manner, and, hopefully, find answers.
1. Who runs our Church?
This is not a minor point, yet, outside of half a dozen familiar faces that appear at events, Scientologists in general do not know who is in charge of the Church. LRH (L. Ron Hubbard) designed a system of Church management that involved managing committees and oversight groups who would act as a system of checks and balances within the Church.
So who are these people? Specifically, who, by name, are the executives of RTC (Religious Technology Center), the members of the Watchdog Committee, and the International Executives under ED Int?
Why is this information kept secret? Shouldn't we know who the people are on these posts, and their qualifications (such as training and auditing level)? And shouldn't we know when they are removed or demoted, and why?
2. What are the stats?
LRH stresses the importance of managing by statistics. Yet the average Scientologist has no idea of what the international statistics are. The stats shown at events are typically short-term. Yet, long term, what are the statistics of such things as Clears and OTs made, Auditors made, membership numbers, books sold and so on.
In other words, how are we doing? And specifically, what do the statistics look like long-term, from back when LRH was on the lines? How do today's stats compare to, say, the mid-1980's? Wouldn't you like to know?
3. Who owns the copyrights to LRH materials?
It is supposed to be CST - the Church of Spiritual Technology. But who is that? Who are the people on their Board of Directors, by name? Where is CST located? Shouldn't we know this?
4. What happened to broad dissemination?
There used to be big campaigns for Dianetics in the 1980's, with TV ads and so on. It seemed like Dianetics was everywhere. What happened? Why don't we have big campaigns like that anymore?
5. How did this practice of regging for pure donations get started?
We are regged for everything from IAS donations to the Superpower building to the local org's building fund.
Yet such donations without exchange for services were never done when LRH was on the lines. Donations were for services. With the forming of the IAS (International Association of Scientologists), this idea of just regging for pure donations got started, and now it seems like a major push from the Church.
Why? What is this based on? Why was it not done when LRH was on the lines but is done now?
6. Where does the money go?
Between donations and services, we give a lot to our Church. Shouldn't there be some sort of accounting for how it is spent, such as one might expect from any church or charity?
Certainly there are orgs to support, but the Church doesn't found or support hospitals, orphanages or charities like other Churches do. Entities like Applied Scholastics, Narconon and WISE all tithe to the Church. Local organizations send a portion of their income weekly to Management.
Flag sends the bulk of their income to Management. Money flows up the lines. How is it then spent? Don't we, as the ones donating, have the right to know?
7. Are the revisions to LRH materials on-Source?
Books have been and are being edited and recompiled. Tape lectures have been and are being edited. Compilation books are appearing "based on the works of LRH." Are these materials faithful to the original LRH works? Who is doing these revisions? Based on what?
How can an individual Scientologist know that the materials he is provided with are correct? How can we, as individuals, enforce "Keeping Scientology Working"?
You may personally have other questions. The point is, don't we have the right to ask such simple, obvious questions about our Church and expect answers?
If you agree that there should be more openness, more transparency and more accountability within the Church, pass these questions to your friends and discuss them. Take them up with your local Org or Mission. Write to International Management about them. Make your voice felt.
Beware of those who try to keep you from asking these questions, or any others you may have. There is nothing wrong with asking questions. You do have rights, and you do have a voice in your Church.
-
Why Do Scientologists Believe?
Scientology claims that it is fact based. Scientology claims that no one is asked to believe anything. Scientology claims that, if you don't find something to be true, it isn't true.
So why do Scientologists believe things for which there is absolutely no evidence?
As I've covered before in Scientology: Why Doesn't It Work?, one of the distinguishing characteristics of Scientology is that it doesn't produce any of the major results it promises.
Now what is most amazing about this fact is that Scientologists believe it works.
There are no Scientologists who exhibit any "OT" characteristics, yet they all believe that the state of "OT" exists and that Scientology will produce that state. Why?
There are no Clears, not as described by L. Ron Hubbard, yet all Scientologists believe that Clear can and has been attained. Why?
No Scientologist can "confront and shatter suppression" which almost all of them are supposed to be able to do, since they completed the course that "gave them those powers". But, no, they can't do anything like that. Yet they still believe that the "PTS/SP Course" works! Why?
Course after course, level after level, the results, promised by Scientology, never appear. And, course after course, level after level, Scientologists gladly "attest" they have attained the skills, abilities or powers promised but never attained. Why do they continue? Why do they believe?
What is the magic trick that keeps this charade going?
Well, first, you need to understand a few basic facts about how they do things in Scientology.
When a Scientologist completes a course or a level, they are rushed through to "attest" that they have attained all the wonderful things promised -- before anything else can happen.
Scientologists don't go out to test any alleged "new abilities". Scientologists don't get a few days or hours or even minutes to think about it and see if it stands up even over night. No, they are rushed through to attest immediately -- then go out and "enjoy their new abilities".
So, what they are attesting to is not actually what happened -- because it hasn't really happened yet. What they are attesting to is what they hope has happened.
But there is more to it than just that. There is another aspect of Scientology auditing, never particularly discussed, which complicates this and makes it even harder for Scientologists to see the truth.
There is something in Scientology auditing that causes a temporary feeling of tremendous well-being, or even euphoria. This usually occurs at the end of an auditing session -- the Scientologist temporarily feels good, sometimes quite good. Scientologists call this state "having a floating needle" after the particular manifestation that occurs on the E-Meter when this happens.
This is not connected to any one level or process, but is the expected and common result of each and every session.
Exactly what is the cause of this euphoria isn't real clear, but the state is quite temporary -- sometimes only lasting a minute or so. Whatever its cause and however long it lasts, it is temporary and it always disappears.
So, what does this mean?
While in this temporary state of euphoria, the Scientologist is very suggestible. They feel great and can easily believe they actually have amazing abilities. The church asks them if they will attest to some amazing new abilities and the Scientologist, in the midst of this euphoria thinks, "Well sure, I can do all those things!" And attests. This is the primary reason the church is in such a rush to get Scientologists to attest after session -- the feeling of euphoria wears off rather quickly.
When the euphoria wears off, the Scientologists don't have those abilities and they don't have the certainty any more.
They remember the good feeling, they remember the certainty about those amazing new abilities. They remember, but they don't have it any more. But then it's too late. They've attested -- and a "false attest" is a punishable offence. So, they pretend those abilities are real. They all do this.
And because they can never talk about it with each other, each one believes that the other Scientologists really did get all those abilities and they are the only one who failed to get the promised gains.
Each Scientologist sees all the other Scientologists saying that they all got all those wonderful skills, abilities and powers, and they believe it's all true except for themselves.
And they hope that all these skills, powers and abilities will come true for themselves on the next level.
It is interesting to note that auditors, the Scientologists who are trained and who give those sessions, are often the most ardent believers that "Scientology works". Day after day, session after session, they see people leave session in that temporary euphoria, and they think they are permanently making people better.
And those people, experiencing the euphoria, claim big "wins" and assert that they are "better", "more certain", "more powerful". And that's what the auditor sees and hears. They don't see it wearing off a few minutes or an hour later and the people going back to normal, so the auditor believes he or she has made a permanent change.
But if you look at the community of Scientologists out in the real world, you will see how "permanent" those gains were. In the Scientology community, Scientologists are in real trouble. Scientologists are more likely to be the ones losing their homes to foreclosure. Scientologists are more likely to be the ones declaring bankruptcy. Scientologists are stuck, not making progress, disconnected from their families and friends. They are neither happy nor successful.
And look at the churches themselves. They are empty. They are commonly months behind on their rent. The churches are combining, reducing hours and, finally, closing.
The euphoria doesn't last long at all, and reality, for Scientologists, is cruel. They believe. because they remember how they felt right after session. Without any evidence of any real and lasting results from Scientology, they remember and they believe.
And now you know why.
-
So why do Scientologists believe things for which there is absolutely no evidence?
As I've covered before in Scientology: Why Doesn't It Work?, one of the distinguishing characteristics of Scientology is that it doesn't produce any of the major results it promises.
Now what is most amazing about this fact is that Scientologists believe it works.
There are no Scientologists who exhibit any "OT" characteristics, yet they all believe that the state of "OT" exists and that Scientology will produce that state. Why?
There are no Clears, not as described by L. Ron Hubbard, yet all Scientologists believe that Clear can and has been attained. Why?
No Scientologist can "confront and shatter suppression" which almost all of them are supposed to be able to do, since they completed the course that "gave them those powers". But, no, they can't do anything like that. Yet they still believe that the "PTS/SP Course" works! Why?
Course after course, level after level, the results, promised by Scientology, never appear. And, course after course, level after level, Scientologists gladly "attest" they have attained the skills, abilities or powers promised but never attained. Why do they continue? Why do they believe?
What is the magic trick that keeps this charade going?
Well, first, you need to understand a few basic facts about how they do things in Scientology.
When a Scientologist completes a course or a level, they are rushed through to "attest" that they have attained all the wonderful things promised -- before anything else can happen.
Scientologists don't go out to test any alleged "new abilities". Scientologists don't get a few days or hours or even minutes to think about it and see if it stands up even over night. No, they are rushed through to attest immediately -- then go out and "enjoy their new abilities".
So, what they are attesting to is not actually what happened -- because it hasn't really happened yet. What they are attesting to is what they hope has happened.
But there is more to it than just that. There is another aspect of Scientology auditing, never particularly discussed, which complicates this and makes it even harder for Scientologists to see the truth.
There is something in Scientology auditing that causes a temporary feeling of tremendous well-being, or even euphoria. This usually occurs at the end of an auditing session -- the Scientologist temporarily feels good, sometimes quite good. Scientologists call this state "having a floating needle" after the particular manifestation that occurs on the E-Meter when this happens.
This is not connected to any one level or process, but is the expected and common result of each and every session.
Exactly what is the cause of this euphoria isn't real clear, but the state is quite temporary -- sometimes only lasting a minute or so. Whatever its cause and however long it lasts, it is temporary and it always disappears.
So, what does this mean?
While in this temporary state of euphoria, the Scientologist is very suggestible. They feel great and can easily believe they actually have amazing abilities. The church asks them if they will attest to some amazing new abilities and the Scientologist, in the midst of this euphoria thinks, "Well sure, I can do all those things!" And attests. This is the primary reason the church is in such a rush to get Scientologists to attest after session -- the feeling of euphoria wears off rather quickly.
When the euphoria wears off, the Scientologists don't have those abilities and they don't have the certainty any more.
They remember the good feeling, they remember the certainty about those amazing new abilities. They remember, but they don't have it any more. But then it's too late. They've attested -- and a "false attest" is a punishable offence. So, they pretend those abilities are real. They all do this.
And because they can never talk about it with each other, each one believes that the other Scientologists really did get all those abilities and they are the only one who failed to get the promised gains.
Each Scientologist sees all the other Scientologists saying that they all got all those wonderful skills, abilities and powers, and they believe it's all true except for themselves.
And they hope that all these skills, powers and abilities will come true for themselves on the next level.
It is interesting to note that auditors, the Scientologists who are trained and who give those sessions, are often the most ardent believers that "Scientology works". Day after day, session after session, they see people leave session in that temporary euphoria, and they think they are permanently making people better.
And those people, experiencing the euphoria, claim big "wins" and assert that they are "better", "more certain", "more powerful". And that's what the auditor sees and hears. They don't see it wearing off a few minutes or an hour later and the people going back to normal, so the auditor believes he or she has made a permanent change.
But if you look at the community of Scientologists out in the real world, you will see how "permanent" those gains were. In the Scientology community, Scientologists are in real trouble. Scientologists are more likely to be the ones losing their homes to foreclosure. Scientologists are more likely to be the ones declaring bankruptcy. Scientologists are stuck, not making progress, disconnected from their families and friends. They are neither happy nor successful.
And look at the churches themselves. They are empty. They are commonly months behind on their rent. The churches are combining, reducing hours and, finally, closing.
The euphoria doesn't last long at all, and reality, for Scientologists, is cruel. They believe. because they remember how they felt right after session. Without any evidence of any real and lasting results from Scientology, they remember and they believe.
And now you know why.
-
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The Importance of Dianetics in Scientology
You may be a bit confused as to why the word "Dianetics" comes up so much when it's really Scientology. What's going on?
Dianetics was developed first. When Scientology was developed, L. Ron Hubbard considered it an improvement and a replacement of Dianetics. He said that Dianetics wasn't workable enough, wasn't fast enough and that Scientology was the answer. He even declared that the goal of Dianetics, the "Clear", was now attainable through Scientology.
And so, with the development of Scientology, Dianetics faded away.
Originally, Hubbard declared that Scientology was not a religion, but he soon learned of the value of calling it a religion. Being a religion was a way to avoid those pesky laws about "practicing medicine without a license", those annoying requirements about "truth in advertising", and other legal liabilities. Plus, there were nice tax benefits. So, he decided that he would cloak Scientology as a religion.
At first, most Scientologists thought it was pretty much a joke, but to pull off the religion gimmick, they had to take it seriously and make Scientology look more "religious", and they did -- as much as a business can.
But, despite the legal and tax benefits, the religious cloaking wasn't all to the good. As time went on, it became obvious that there were serious drawbacks to this religion gimmick. While it was working to shield Scientology from a lot of legal problems, the religion angle also closed many doors to aggressive business expansion.
Religion really isn't a good way to get the maximum number of paying public in the door. A lot of people are turned off by religious proselytizing.
Not only that, but most of the countries in the world are very strongly controlled or influenced by one or the other of the major religions. In some, any religious activity outside of the official religion is illegal.
What to do? A business wouldn't have any trouble at all expanding into these areas. What to do, what to do?
Sure, the Church of Scientology created all their little front groups: Narconon, Applied Scholastics, Criminon, A.B.L.E. and the rest, but those were pretty narrowly targeted to the type of person they could pull in. The church needed something that was "non-religious" and could be used to pull in a more general type of person.
And so Hubbard brought back Dianetics as a "non-religious, self-help" technology -- separate from the 'religion' of Scientology.
Of course that's a lie. It isn't separate. Dianetics is thoroughly and completely part of the Scientology belief system. You cannot do Scientology without doing Dianetics. And, of course, the intention with Dianetics is that people will automatically progress through the cheap Dianetics processes onto the more expensive Scientology services.
So, Dianetics was brought back from obscurity as the ultimate front-group for Scientology. That's why you don't see Scientology in the malls. That's why you don't see Scientology on the streets, at the "stress test" tables. You only see Dianetics. It's a trick.
And that's why you see "Dianetics Centers", as a business, in countries and cultures where the religion of Scientology would be unwelcome. But, even with that name it is and will always be Scientology.
In this way, the Church of Scientology attempts to have its cake and eat it too. It tries, with Dianetics, to get all the benefits of being a money-making non-religious business, while still, under the Scientology name, attempting to get all the benefits and protections of being a religion. It's the same organization, trying to play the game both ways.
But it's just another lie. It's just another trick. It's just another way to try to get around the "wog" (non-Scientology) laws and "wog" cultures, to expand their business and, they hope, take over the world.
-
Dianetics was developed first. When Scientology was developed, L. Ron Hubbard considered it an improvement and a replacement of Dianetics. He said that Dianetics wasn't workable enough, wasn't fast enough and that Scientology was the answer. He even declared that the goal of Dianetics, the "Clear", was now attainable through Scientology.
And so, with the development of Scientology, Dianetics faded away.
Originally, Hubbard declared that Scientology was not a religion, but he soon learned of the value of calling it a religion. Being a religion was a way to avoid those pesky laws about "practicing medicine without a license", those annoying requirements about "truth in advertising", and other legal liabilities. Plus, there were nice tax benefits. So, he decided that he would cloak Scientology as a religion.
At first, most Scientologists thought it was pretty much a joke, but to pull off the religion gimmick, they had to take it seriously and make Scientology look more "religious", and they did -- as much as a business can.
But, despite the legal and tax benefits, the religious cloaking wasn't all to the good. As time went on, it became obvious that there were serious drawbacks to this religion gimmick. While it was working to shield Scientology from a lot of legal problems, the religion angle also closed many doors to aggressive business expansion.
Religion really isn't a good way to get the maximum number of paying public in the door. A lot of people are turned off by religious proselytizing.
Not only that, but most of the countries in the world are very strongly controlled or influenced by one or the other of the major religions. In some, any religious activity outside of the official religion is illegal.
What to do? A business wouldn't have any trouble at all expanding into these areas. What to do, what to do?
Sure, the Church of Scientology created all their little front groups: Narconon, Applied Scholastics, Criminon, A.B.L.E. and the rest, but those were pretty narrowly targeted to the type of person they could pull in. The church needed something that was "non-religious" and could be used to pull in a more general type of person.
And so Hubbard brought back Dianetics as a "non-religious, self-help" technology -- separate from the 'religion' of Scientology.
Of course that's a lie. It isn't separate. Dianetics is thoroughly and completely part of the Scientology belief system. You cannot do Scientology without doing Dianetics. And, of course, the intention with Dianetics is that people will automatically progress through the cheap Dianetics processes onto the more expensive Scientology services.
So, Dianetics was brought back from obscurity as the ultimate front-group for Scientology. That's why you don't see Scientology in the malls. That's why you don't see Scientology on the streets, at the "stress test" tables. You only see Dianetics. It's a trick.
And that's why you see "Dianetics Centers", as a business, in countries and cultures where the religion of Scientology would be unwelcome. But, even with that name it is and will always be Scientology.
In this way, the Church of Scientology attempts to have its cake and eat it too. It tries, with Dianetics, to get all the benefits of being a money-making non-religious business, while still, under the Scientology name, attempting to get all the benefits and protections of being a religion. It's the same organization, trying to play the game both ways.
But it's just another lie. It's just another trick. It's just another way to try to get around the "wog" (non-Scientology) laws and "wog" cultures, to expand their business and, they hope, take over the world.
-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
