“The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.”

How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper
by Tony Ortega
Silvertail Books, 2015In 1971

L. Ron Hubbard was at the height of his power. As “Commodore” of his small fleet of Scientology ships that flitted about the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic he was safe from any laws and beyond the reach of nosey reporters, process servers and IRS agents. He was the sole owner of a multimillion dollar empire with bank accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg that were reckoned in the tens of millions of dollars. How much more was stored in safes and safety deposit boxes no one can say. He ruled like some monarch from another era; he demanded long hours of hard work and paid his followers a mere pittance. People aboard ship who asked too many of the wrong sort of questions were either put into special punishment units where they suffered greatly from overwork, lack of sleep and little food or, if they were lucky, they were simply dumped off at the next port of call without a cent to their name. To the public Scientology tried to show an image of exciting progress in the never ending quest for increased mental ability.  But beneath this heady veneer of fresh discoveries and new learning lurked a predator with teeth, sharp teeth.  To date few had challenged Hubbard’s methods and the Scientology course rooms were full to overflowing. Those who were in a position to speak out about the many abuses that existed in Scientology were not eager to engage Hubbard in any sort of conflict. Any attack on Hubbard would be real war, not just a war of words. Hubbard made no secret of what he would do, and had already done, to enemies. His “fair game” tactics would over time become truly infamous. Here are just a couple of the many extant references of what Hubbard had in mind.

PENALTIES FOR LOWER CONDITIONS”, HCO Policy Letter of 18 October 196 — L. Ron Hubbard, “[Suppressive Person] Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed..

HCO PL [7] Mar 65 “Suppressive Acts, Suppression of Scientology and Scientologists, The Fair Game Law” says:“By FAIR GAME is meant, without rights for self, possession or position, and no Scientologist may be brought for a Committee of Evidence* or punished for any action taken against a Suppressive Person or Group during the period that person or group is ‘fair game’.” LRH

Yet in 1971 two people stepped forward to shine some light on the hidden empire of Scientology. Both were subjected to Hubbard’s “fair game” policy. One was a upper level auditor who studied at Saint Hill Manor, a Scientology center in East Grinstead, Sussex, England. His name was Cyril Vosper (1935-2004), his book, The Mind Benders might not have been a best seller but it certainly put a burr under Hubbard’s saddle. Scientology struck back but that is a separate story and, probably because Vosper had a good idea of what steps Scientology would take, he was able to defeat most of their efforts against him.
The other person who attacked Scientology that year was a writer by the name of Paulette Cooper. Her book, The Scandal of Scientology , was enough to make the Commodore’s blood boil. Unlike Vosper she probably had little idea of just how much she had angered Hubbard and his minions. To make matters worse it came out as a trade paperback, not a hardcover like Vosper’s book. By the way, if you have on of these first printings they are now worth about a hundred bucks.

Beyond Belief, My Secret life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape.

Beyond Belief, My Secret life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape.

By Jenna Miscavige Hill with Lisa Pulitzer.  2013, William Morrow, HC, 404 pages.

There have been an umprccedented number of books written about Scientology in the last few years.  At one time the fearsome reputation of Scientology’s lawyers and their sinister use of the courts to persecute authors and publishers was enough to keep all but the most dedicated writers at bay.  But the question must be asked as to why anyone would waste ink on such a tiny group of past-life believers in the first place?

The one-word answer is Hollywood.  Big name stars like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirsty Alley endorse the brand of Scientology giving it an importance it would not otherwise merit.  Every time something happens, good, bad or otherwise to one of these select Scientologists, the pot gets stirred and Scientology is again mentioned.  Reporters are often hostile to Scientology since they know, better than anyone, that the followers of Hubbard are economical in their use of truth.  The tabloids are often filled with tawdry tales concerning the Scientology stars.

Wherever Scientology is found you will see lawsuits, scandals and mysterious deaths.  David Miscavige, the dictator of Scientology, has taken a lot of heat for the oft published abuses that have taken place within Scientology but the truth is such things happened in Hubbard’s time too.  Most Scientologists know little about the circumstances of Miscavige’s rise to power after Hubbard died, nor do they seemingly care.  Yet the feeling among veteran Scientology watchers is that the crown does not fit securely on the short statured ruler’s head; there are signs of paranoia and doubt .  He is very sensitive of criticism, a trait understandable as it is a common finding among all dictators and usurpers.

A number of his family members were Scientologists who were in the Sea Org.  His father, his older brother and his wife, as well as their children had all signed their “Billion Year Contact.”  One might suppose that he would have taken care of these people and shielded them from the deprivations and abuses that are notorious in the Sea Org.  And if he wouldn’t do it for the sake of family obligations he would have done it out of self-interest.  After all, how would it look if these people suffered to so much misery that they quit the Sea Org?  Or Scientology altogether?  What if one of them had endured enough not only to quit but to write her memoirs about it?

Yet that is exactly what David Miscavige did.  His brother Ron and his wife Bitty (Elizabeth) were ruthlessly over-worked and exploited.  They were separated from each other for long periods of time; a common tactic that he used to prevent and break-up possible combinations against his power.  Every action  they took was controlled by the ultimate Scientology micromanager David Miscavige.

 He made certain that they were kept so busy with Scientology management that they all but abdicated their role as parents.  Like other Sea Org fanatics of that time they delivered their children into the care of others who used the “tech” of  L. Ron Hubbard to raise children.  The result was predictable.  Scientology; the prison of the mind then  became the jailer of the body as well.

All the cruelties that the Sea Org could boast of was employed to keep these children scared, malleable and totally dependent on Scientology were used on Jenna and her brother.  Time spent with parents was limited to begin with but over time the situation deteriorated to the extent that these children were lucky if they saw one of their parents for an hour or two every week.

 When normal children were at play Scientology children hauled rocks and dug ditches.  Where normal kids got medical treatment when they where ill the Scientology children got ethics treatment and blame.  Where ordinary children were given varying degrees of trust as part of growing up the Scientology ratted on each other with spy reports.

I could go on but there are just two points that I want to make.  The first is that this is the perfect book if you are looking for first person account of just how evil Scientology is.   If you are looking for a scholarly review of Scientology there are other books that could fit the role better than this one.

Lastly, I must say that for me the wonder of the book was not that Jenna escaped from Scientology.  No, the wonder is that ANYONE escaped it after being subjected to year after year of indoctrination.

This book gets the full five stars from me !!!

“Understanding the E-Meter,” . . . No “Science” in Scientology.

The Scientific howlers pronounced by L. Ron Hubbard are so many and varied that if you were to try to select one as the “best” or the “biggest.” you would be hard pressed to choose one.  After all, when Hubbard failed the subject of “nuclear physics,” at George Washington University he took his ignorance, tucked it under his arm, and carried it right into Scientology.

Auditing, the response to certain questions posed to the subject by another person is the main practice of Scientology.  To evaluate the subject’s response the person being audited will hold on to two metal “cans” attached to a small box known as an “E-Meter” or the “Hubbard electro-psychometer   This device was invented in the early 1950’s by Volney Mathison, a chiropractor.  From an engineering point of view it is simply a  Wheatstone bridge that measures a galvanic skin response to a small amount of electricity passed through the body.  There was nothing new in this, plans for similar devices were to be found in the popular pulp “do-it-yourself” magazines of that era as being a sort of primitive lie-detector.

At some point Hubbard discovered that he could make any claim he wanted no matter of foolish, stupid or asinine and his followers would believe it.  That is the only way that I can understand how a man who served in the US Navy, sailed boats, ships and yachts, and who was literate enough to have some college even if he didn’t graduate, could make the claim that people have the power to create mass, physical, detectable mass, using only thoughts and “mental powers.”  If I am wrong and L. Ron Hubbard honestly believed that it was not only possible to creat matter from “mental energy” then he was not just another charlatan.  No, in that case he would be just plain nuts.

FAIR USE OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS

The book herein being quoted is Understanding the E-Meter by L. Ron Hubbard, Bridge Publications, 1982.

 “In Scientology is has been discovered that mental energy is simply a finer, higher level of physical energy.  The test of this is conclusive in that a thetan “mocking up” (creating) mental image pictures and thrusting them into the body can increase the body mass and by casting them away again can decrease the body mass.  This test has actually been made and an increase of as much as thirty pounds, actually measured on scales, has been added to, and subtracted from, a body by creating ‘mental energy.’  Energy is energy,  matter is condensed energy.”

 Here some mope of a kid shows how this works.  Forget dieting, just lose weight from getting rid of the “mental energy.’

Above.  This chart shows it all.  By the same line of reasoning you could make your laptop lighter by simply dumping the files.

First the meter, then the salad.

Here Hubbard shows what an auditor can do if he tires of auditing people.  Rocks are next.

In Scientology the random swing of an E-Meter needle can land you in the cult prison for months or years.  Your whole life can depend on Hubbard’s junk science, but instead of a roll of the dice it is the twitch on a meter.   In the end this piece of junk science served on purpose and one purpose only; it lent a certain Scientific air to Scientology making it look like something that was built on hard facts.  Nothing, of course, could be farther from the truth.

For another take on the E-Meter, this time by a former Scientologist, Mark Plummer, go here.  http://www.skeptictank.org/gen2/gen00050.htm

“The Mind Benders” by Cyril Vosper.

 

God! Was I tired!

I’d been working for eleven solid, ghastly days. And not just days; eleven nights too. With maybe two hours’ sleep on a hard floor in Saint Hill every twenty-four hours. I hadn’t had a bath or a square meal in all that time either. I felt like death.

It was Saturday, 30th, August, 1968. August Bank Holiday.

I had two jobs at Saint Hill – Dissemination Secretary, World Wide and Dissemination Secretary, Evening and Weekend Foundation. For all the big titles, I still felt like death.

An Open Weekend was going on at Saint Hill over the holiday and I conned my way into getting home because I was beginning to look and act like a zombie. It’s not at all good for Scientology’s public image for visitors, newcomers and newspaper reporters to see a zombie walking about the place.

Why had I been there for 264 hours non-stop?

Because on one or other of my jobs I had been in a Condition of Liability and under the justice system of Scientology, when you are in a Condition of Liability, you just stay there and work your way out of it.

I didn’t give a damn for Scientology or all its sweet little Ethics systems. If I had told any of those crazy Scientologists what they could do with their Condition of Liability, I’d have been declared an even lower condition – Enemy, a Suppressive person; then I would have had to disconnect from my children. I had been declared an S.P. in April 1968 and had not seen my children for a week. I couldn’t stand the thought of going through all that again. Mindbending self-recrimination, degradation. No. I would go ahead and act out my part and hope to get out of Scientology painlessly.

I got home at 8.30 p.m. The children were asleep. I went up to see them. They were so beautiful it hurt. I felt I had failed them. If they woke up now and saw me like this, I’d feel ashamed.

I went downstairs again, to bed. Ever since I had been declared a Suppressive Person in April, I had not been allowed to sleep with Rosalie. After all, she was the Assistant Guardian and I was an ex-S.P.!

I fell into bed and into sleep.

A loud thumping on the door. It went on and on, imperiously. In this half-awake, half-asleep state, I was terrified. What in God’s name was going on? I tried to shut the noise out but it still went on.

Finally it stopped and I heard Rosalie opening the front door. After a few moments she came in.

“There’s an Ethics Officer outside, Cyril.”

I reached for my watch. “It’s half-past ten! Tell him to go away.”

“He wants you to go for a Committee of Evidence.”

“Tell him to get lost. I’m bone tired. I’m in bed. I’m asleep. I may need some things right now but I do not need a Comm. Ev.”

Ros sat down on the bed. It was the nearest we had been to each other in months. She looked concerned – almost affectionate. Ye Gods! What a life!

“You had better go. It could be hard for you if you don’t go.”

“Ros, do something for me. Tell that stupid bastard at the door that if he doesn’t get out of my house now, I’ll call the police and charge him with malingering, breaking and entry, attempted murder, trying to rape my wife and otherwise making a bloody nuisance of himself.”

Rosalie fixed me with a pitying look and went out to talk to Peter Warren, Ethics Officer World Wide.

I tried to get back to sleep but it was only acting. There was a cold and resigned fear in me. I knew I would go to Saint Hill and give evidence at their Comm. Ev. and I had a deep foreboding that this would be the end for me.

Ros came back.

“Go out and talk to him. Do it for me.”

Do it for Rosalie. Do it for my wife. Do it because she used the same surname as me. Do what any good Scientologist would do. I jumped out of bed. I had pyjamas on which was nice for Ros.

“Since he is such a thick-brained nit, I’ll go and tell him myself or maybe I’ll just kick him a few times.”

I went into the hall with a stern look to my face but really just wishing they would all clear off and leave me to get some sleep. These people needed to be put over somebody’s knee and spanked hard.

“Peter, I’m not going to Saint Hill or anywhere else with you. I was at Saint Hill two hours ago and if you wanted me you should have got me then. Right now I’m here and you had better clear off rapidly or I’ll do something violent to you like castrating you without anaesthetics.”

He adopted that patient, pitying look that’s a stock-in trade of Scientologists, especially ones like Peter Warren. He was dripping wet from the rain and I thought that was justice even if nothing else was.

“It will go very bad for you if you don’t come. In any case I have been given very strict instructions to bring you in.”

“You take your instructions right back to the idiot who gave them to you and tell him you failed. For once the Scientology Gestapo failed.”

That was as withering as I could make it with my eyeballs burning with tiredness, but it did not shake his determination. After all, he had the weight and majesty of Scientology Ethics behind him. I nearly vomited.

“I must bring you back for this Comm. Ev. There’s a taxi outside and I must bring you back.”

“For Crissake, don’t you understand anything? I was asleep. I haven’t slept properly for eleven days. What the hell are you trying to do – kill me?”

“I’m not trying to kill you. You must come to Saint Hill with me to give evidence at a legally convened Committee of Evidence. The more you argue, the worse it will be for you.”

Cyril Vosper had been a Scientologist for 14 years when this happened.  He knew the organization about as well as any living person.  But in the end he found it was not a system of knowledge, it was a system of abuse.  Would it raise humanity to a new golden age?  Vosper did not think so, it was more likely that if the world used Hubbard’s tech it would sink back into the dark ages.

This book was published in 1971, long before the current rash of “tell all” books about this cult.  At that time the “fair game” tactics of Scientology had some real teeth and it took a lot of real courage on his part to get this book into print.  Of course Hubbard went wild at this attack and used ever means, fair or foul, to stop Vosper from telling his story.

This book provides an answer to those who say how wonderful Scientology was back when Hubbard was in control of things.  All of the wrongs and evils listed in this book were the result of Hubbard and nis minions; little David Miscavige cannot be blamed for anything listed between the covers of this book.  Too bad Free Zoners.  Hubbard had feet of clay.

This book is available for online reading; http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/vosper/

 

 

 

My Billion Year Contract by Nancy Many, review.

My Billion Year Contract

Memoir
of a Former Scientologist

By
Nancy Many

 

Crash of the Nancy 9000

In the movie 2001: a Space Odyssey, the computer that controlled the ship begins to act erratically with dreadful consequences.  In the sequel we learn that it, the computer, was given conflicting orders.  Besides the orders that were given to the crew there was another set of orders, secret ones, which set the stage for murder by machine.  The conflict of differing agendas within the “mind” of the computer was impossible to reconcile; the computer could follow conflicting orders any more than a human can serve two masters.

The beginning of the book tells of Nancy’s flight from reality and her frantic paranoid delusions.  She was a Scientologist.  It
is the understanding of this simple statement that this book is about.  The following was posted by Nancy under the name Kathryn in an internet news group during 1998.

Sunday night, February 11, l996

I went to sleep. Around 2 AM I was awakened with the cracking of my mind, myself, my soul. I don’t know how else to describe it, other than my mind broke. I was driven to do something, but I did not know what. I was yelling at my husband, but it didn’t feel as if I was yelling the words.

I left the house running. My husband, who was chasing me, caught me before I left the driveway. I paced around the car and tried to touch the trees. My husband calmed me enough to get me back into the house.  I was scared to death. Something had happened to my mind and I knew I was now in a different place. My husband called OSA Int. and spoke with my auditor (who happened to be up at 2AM). She  spoke with my husband and then myself. All I remember of our conversation was her saying “There is no tech to handle this”. I remember feeling as though I was off in the distance, while thinking, “She could at least have lied to me.”

This is reminiscent of the mental collapse of Lisa McPherson.  But the auditor was right in her own way.  In Scientology there is no “tech” that could help her.  For as much as this group may revile mental health providers they offer nothing of any clinical value to anyone suffering from a mental meltdown.  The things that they do offer, mega doses of certain vitamins and herbs, would make the problem worse.  No matter what Scientology may claim. L. Ron Hubbard was not a medical doctor, or a nuclear scientist or a learned man in any respect whatsoever.  He wrote stuff by the seat of his pants.   Later his son “Nibs” would reveal that he and his dad spent a weekend reading what literature was available on vitamins at that time.  This became the infamous “Purification Rundown.” That was the extent of Hubbard’s research.

One thing that is obvious from the beginning is that Nancy never lost her inner voice that could recognize right from wrong.  This is, I believe, the very crux of the matter.  Sure, she believed in Scientology and did some underhanded things for
them, like being a spy for Scientology while working at Consumer’s Council in Massachusetts.  She worked for the Guardian’s Office who “handled” anyone who had a beef with Scientology including reporters, lawyers and writers, complainers, discontented former members and people who wanted to sue in the courts.  This era of time as dedicated Scientology watchers know well is rich in history. This was the era of “Snow White,” the infamous caper of espionage that came to grief in a spectacular explosion with Hubbard’s wife, Mary Sue, and a number of other high ranking Scientologists going to federal prison.  This was the time of “Operation Freak-out,” that attempted to frame writer Paulette Cooper with a bogus bomb threat, and failing that, to drive her mad.

In 1976 she was sent to Clearwater, Florida, known to Scientologists as Flag Land Base, or simply “FLB.” She was lucky, very lucky to miss being included in the wave of paranoid hysteria that Hubbard had let loose on his followers during that period.  Sea Org members were selected to be put into the Scientology penal system, the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) on the basis of types of E-meter readings.  The random twitching’s of this primitive device were enough to turn people into  miserable slaves.  Living in the Sea Org was by itself no picnic.  Stories told from people who were there during this time tell horror stories about crowded quarters were they were packed into like sardines, the filth, the smell and the insects. Lots of stories from that time complained of cockroaches and spiders.  They proved surprisingly resistant to auditing or the intentions of the OT’s.  Not to mention the insane working hours, miniscule pay and being yelled at constantly.  But the RPF was a lot worse.  People were kept in this condition for months on end.  Later Hubbard would shift the blame to one of his staff and said it was all due to incompetence and “dirty needles” on the meter.

In 1978 she was promoted into management.  Too bad for her that in Scientology rising to the top is sort of like a soldier raising his head above the fox hole.  Of course she was sent to the RPF, in her case it was even more miserable because she was pregnant.  Space forbids me in this brief review to detail all the indignities and hardships she endured.  But one quote is telling, at the end of the day they would have a group meeting to discuss how glad they were to be in the RPF.  North Korea had nothing on these people.

“At the end, we would have the obligatory clapping and cheering to a large picture of L. Ron Hubbard.  That always got to me; we were thanking LRH for the privilege of being sent to live in a garage and being treated by the rest of our friends and colleagues as a lower status of being.” –page 100.

“I remember one woman in her forties telling me that children are Thetans (spiritual beings)and that they are responsible for their own conditions. I had nothing to worry about and my son would make it.  She had a daughter who had apparently gotten into some unsecured cleaning supplies and drank from an open bottle; I could not believe this mother blamed her young cild.”  –page 137.

She eventually got released from the RPF, and went to LA with her husband Chris who was also in the RPF, -the tale gets more involved the deeper down the rabbit hole you go.  She got back into Scientology management, her husband ran the Celebrity Center.  However, there is little stability in Scientology.  In 1982 Scientology ran itself off a cliff in a madhouse of power-grabbing and sadism.

Hubbard, who never could not stand the idea that others could make money or even earn a living on Scientology decided to sack and plunder the Scientology mission system, what we would call “franchises.”  He sent his proxies, one of them a young man who already had a reputation for ruthlessness, David Miscavige, to Clearwater where they cruelly extorted every cent they could from the mission holders.  [Freezone members still don’t understand that Hubbard himself was responsible for the looting of the mission system.]  People quit or were thrown out of Scientology in droves; Sea Org members, including some high executives, we being tossed into the RPF prison system in record numbers.   It was only a matter of time before Nancy and her husband suffered the same fate.  They had enemies in the “Finance Police,” (how’s that for a title?).

But there would be no return to the RPF for this couple, they simply refused to go.  This left them only one option, they had to leave the Sea Org.  This was not easy but they did it.  They became “public” Scientologists.  Like many Sea Org members that had almost nothing when they left; little money, no current work history, no drivers’ licenses; in other words the shirts on their backs and little else.  They were able to get help from family and friends, with a lot of sheer determination they were able to get their lives back on track.  Eventually, with help from family and friends, and heroic efforts of their own, they got back onto their feet.  They even made it back to California as members in good standing of Scientology.  Her husband Chris found his living in music composition; Nancy worked for a company that used Hubbard’s secular programs for business growth.  For a time they worked hard and prospered.

Nancy was also persuaded to take up her old line of work as a spy, although it was as a volunteer.  David Mayo, one time friend and co-worker in Hubbard’s growing empire, had split with Scientology and worse yet, he opened up shop on his own and became a competitor.   This was as bad as it gets for a Scientologist.  As a spy she went to Mayo’s meetings and penetrated his circle of friends; all the while reporting back to her Scientology bosses.  After reading her account of this episode I can’t help thinking that the seeds of doubt, which were probably there already, were added to.

In 1990 a fundamental shift took place in the way WISE (World Institute for Scientology Enterprises) operated.  Her company, as a member of this group, was now put into the position of actively recruiting people to become Scientologists.  The ruining of the mission system played itself out; few people were now joining.  Pressure was put on Scientology companies to
take up the slack.  Nancy considered this nothing more than “bait and switch” tactics.  Soon she was looking for something more honest.  To this end she became a Field Staff Member,  delivering Scientology services on her own, paying a percentage of course to Scientology.  She also opened up her own personal and business consulting service.

At a point earlier in her Scientology career Nancy had worked for the Guardian’s Office as a spy.  Scientology always had work for spies, in fact they still do, spy work has never been out of vogue for this cult.  After the convulsion that just about blew Scientology out of existence there were people who decided to go out on their own and start Scientology splinter groups.
Nancy was recruited to spy on some of these people.  This was done by the Office of Special Affairs or “OSA,” the group that had replaced the Guardian’s Office after Mary Sue Hubbard and others went to jail for spying on government agencies.

Nancy thought that while technically this independent Scientology was illegal due to copyright considerations she nonetheless liked some of the people involved.  And now that she was free of the Sea Org she  had access to computers and television where she heard new opinions concerning life, spirituality and how that related to Scientology.  In Scientology such freedom is frowned upon for they know that information and freedom are two words that are alien to Hubbard’s tech.  Scientology operates on secrecy and control; their infamous motto: “Think for yourself,” is only a contemptible lie.  formation leads to action which in this case was contacting a person out of favor with Scientology.  Six months later her e-mail was tossed in her face by an OSA fanatic.  The fat was in the fire.  Once something like this happens you will never again be trusted by Scientology.   Andy auditing that you do will be heavy into sec checks and could contain a type of reverse auditing known as “Black Dianetics.”

My favorite quote in the book concerns the abysmal condition of child education in the cult.

“I called Delphi, the largest most well-known Scientology school that taught a high school curriculum.  I asked the admissions person there for some statistics on their graduates: what their SAT scores were, what sort of colleges they got into, and what percentage received college scholarships.  My first clue that this wasn’t what I was looking for came when she told me she didn’t know what I meant by SAT scores but that a large majority of their high school graduates joined the Sea Org and they were very proud of that.”

This book is well worth the time to read and I would rate it generally in the same category as the other books I have so far reviewed specifically “Counterfeit Dreams,” by Jeff Hawkins and “Abuse At The Top,” by Amy Scobee.  The one question that I cannot completely answer is why do otherwise intelligent people stay so long in a deranged cult like Scientology?  We are talking about some first class dementia here, not just a little internet conspiracy theory.  This is a question I cannot fully
 answer.  The most I can say is that is makes me think of riding on a speeding bus with no cord to ring for a stop.  You may want to leave but if you head for the door the driver and the other passengers would bark a warning to you.  So you keep riding and riding until you realize that you are not on a bus at all.   Instead, you are on a little donkey the type Sancho Panza rode when he followed his master on his crazy quests.   At this point you can get off and send the ass back to the other asses.

            

Ex-Scientologist story #247, “Inside Scientology/Dianetics.”

Dianetics started with Aliens, Scientology ended with Xenu.

Inside Scientology/Dianetics

How I Joined Dianetics/Scientology
and Became Superhuman

by Robert Kaufman
(1995 revision)

The first work ever to disclose the secret Scientology materials.

Robert Kaufman was a Scientologist for a few years in the late 1960’s, this book was first printed in 1972 by Olympia Press.  Besides telling of the then secret upper level courses he aired a lot of Scientology dirty laundry.  This is not big news today but in 1972 Scientology was much stronger and had a reputation that was not as badly stained as it is today.  Perhaps the most interesting parts are not about Hubbard and teachings, per se, but rather the descriptions he gives of Scientologists at St. Hill and elsewhere.  These vignettes are priceless and do a lot to explain the how’s and why’s of Scientology involvement.

Hubbard had made it known from Dianeticson that persons who had been audited, especially Clears and OTs, could not be judged by “human” standards. Superhuman or not, the Upper Level people at Fyfield Manor impressed me in strikingly different ways. Edward Douglas and Max Dinmont — respectively OT I and OT VI — were kind, unostentatious gentlemen with evident strong inner qualities. Edward was like a large, benevolent elf. Never in enough funds for all available processing, he had over the years steeped himself in Hubbard’s writings with such scrupulousness that even people on higher levels than his respected his authority on Scientology fundamentals. Somehow Edward wordlessly conveyed to me the feeling that he surveyed the manor and its surroundings from a non-physical vantage point.

Certain other OTs made it a point to be all too human after all. Richie Blackburn referred to one of them, a voluptuous OT VI named Olga O’Brien, as “an easy lay.” The afternoon Olga arrived at the manor with her eleven year old daughter, she made a “between the bodies agreement” with another new arrival, a Sea Org recruit en route to Ron’s yacht, reported to be off the coast of Spain. The daughter disliked her mother’s lover, and the three of them, indifferent to others present, hashed it over the next day in the dining room. This dispute over Olga’s amours seemed to be only the latest in a series. Olga upheld her end of it with Scientological-sounding principles of Self Determination and Personal Responsibility. There was something spiteful and vindictive towards the little girl in Olga’s carryings-on, but I tried to take her remarks at the table at face value. The recruit was around for only a day or so. Then Olga moved into the room of Mike Glassman, a recently attained OT VI, a fleshy, pompous man of about fifty who gave off no spiritual waves whatsoever. Richie Blackburn told me that Olga had managed to fit him, Richie, in for a between the bodies agreement also, between her bouts with the others, and “Why doncha get in on the fun, Bob? All’s you got to do is say `Hallo’ to her.” Richie’s credibility got a boost early the next morning when I went downstairs to find Olga on the living room couch with Juanita Wilkin’s steady lover, whose frequent presence at the manor didn’t seem to disquiet Juanita’s husband, Ralph, the landlord.

Juanita’s “human” behavior was not so puzzling, however. She was only a Grade IV Release.

Ralph Wilkins, OT I, tall, rangy, and thirtyish, didn’t act superhuman either. Some of his lodgers looked down their noses at his apparent vicarious delight in the naughty bedtime frolics at the manor, his wife’s included. They put it that “His Ethics Are Out.”

Within recent years, Hubbard himself, concerned over reports of Second Dynamic Out-Ethics (sexual promiscuity), had issued a Policy Letter directive prohibiting such activities amongst staff members and students. However, it was then reported to him that people were still doing it anyway; and as they showed no sign of ever stopping, Hubbard revoked his order and fornication was reinstated at Saint Hill.

Ralph Wilkins was scraping to finance his next Upper Level with profits from the manor, but he was extremely disorganized about it. The house was deteriorating, especially the plumbing, so that Ralph had to keep his rents at rock bottom, hoping to make up for it in volume. Some nights he had an overflow crowd sleeping on the living room floor and down in the basement, rather sinisterly called “the Dungeons.”

At one meal, I noticed a boy of eight or nine eating at a small table off to one side. At first I thought he was alone; then Richie told me he was one of the children of an American couple who were on the long Special Briefing Course, who acked(acknowledged) everything said to them as though they were conducting an auditing session, with sonorous “Okays” and “Thank yous.” His mother had found in a Search and Discovery that their son was suppressive to her — perhaps she didn’t want him in the first place — and she had then had to disconnect from him, so he was placed away from her at his own table. Now and then she ran over and gave him a love-pat, because, as she explained, “I can really only half-disconnect from him.” He was the saddest little boy I’d ever seen, his pinched, bewildered features in complete contrast to those of his sunny little sister, who always sat with her parents.

There was also a teen-aged girl who stayed in the attic and showed up for meals only on rare occasion, humming to herself. Richie described her as the Planet’s First Dianetic Baby, the result of Ron’s experiments with “engram-less birth.” “I’m not so sure it worked out all that right, mate,” he said. “She’s really a bit weird, ya know.” 

Students and staffers at the Hill were predominantly from England, America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Scandinavian countries, where English was a second language. Men and women were in about equal ratio. Their ages ran from twelve to octogenarian, though most were young adult to middle-aged. Many of them were in great haste to get through. Pressure from the organization to ascent the Scientology ladder, and the attendant general financial pinch, tended to make the students’ self-interest aggressive and unconcealed. I had first observed this during the backbiting rides over to the Hill and the daily stampede for tape machines.

I also sensed their fear. Something could happen to Scientology before Ron pulled us out of the Trap he had languished in for billions of years. Scientology had been attacked in the press and by several governments. It had survived for almost twenty years; Ron was confident about “the next billion.” Yet the total picture was hardly reassuring, and the bustling surface at Saint Hill did not hide the fear.

Kaufman was soon rid of Scientology finding it  little more than a purposly confusing world of “1984” mixed with science fiction and high-pressure sales.  Once free of this mental virus he did his best to warn others.  To read his book go here:  http://www.xenu.net/archive/books/isd/isd.htm

Ex-Scientologist story #176, -Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy!

True Stories about a Nasty Cult.

Nancy Many was many different things in Scientology.  She was the earnest student who poured over Hubbard’s writings, she was a public (non-staff or Sea Org) member, she became a Sea Org member who signed a billion year contract, she sold Scientology books, she sold Scientology courses.  She was also a spy for Scientology.

During the mid 1970’s Nancy Many worked in deep, cold, undercover work in the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office doing intern volunteer work in the consumer affairs division.  This was very useful for Scientology to find out who was complaining before their complaints reached the ears of the state or got into the courts.  Scientology could often shut these people up or at least reach a quiet settlement without any negative PR.  She was working in the Guardians Office,  or “GO”, which handled all the legal work, as well as dealing with disgruntled former members, snooping reporters, angry parents and the like.  They also hired PI’s and sued people to shut them up.

After “Snow White*” in which her boss Mary Sue Hubbard went to prison, the Guardians Office was disbanded and, according to Scientology, the rogue elements were sent packing.  Only they weren’t.  OSA, the Office of Special Affairs took over the responsibilities of the old GO.  Old wine was put into new bottles.  Later Nancy would spy for OSA, this time her assignment was to penetrate the circle of people who were sick of the Scientology leadership but who still craved Hubbard.  These were independent Scientologists; as competitors they were seen a huge threat and consequently they were hated much worse than mere anti-Scientology critics.

Eventually Scientology began to wreck its toll on Nancy.  At one point she was thrown into their internal prison system, the RPF or Rehabilitation Project Force where she led a miserable dog’s life.  She was sent there because of a needle swing on the E-meter.  That was the reason given but it was really just another wave of paranoia that gripped Hubbard and eventually swept through the entire organisation.  Security checks were the order of the day with intrusive, often weird questions looking for spies working for the drug companies, the FBI or CIA.

Nancy felt her mind begin to crack under the stress of years of overwork, lack of sleep and incredible stress.  When she took her fears and questions to Scientology, to the people to whom she looked for answers what did she get?  She got nothing, nothing at all.  Then it began to dawn on her, Scientology didn’t help her because they couldn’t.  They couldn’t help anyone in fact, it was all a big scam.

Nance got out.  Not only did she leave she began to warn others of Scientology.  Here she is talking on YouTube about her journey to freedom:

Nancy wrote a book about her time in Scientology,  it is a lot more than a simple “get even” book.  It is a harrowing, in-depth account of predators in fake naval uniforms and the mad tech of a paranoid would-be messiah.

* For the Wikipedia account of Snow White go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White

Book review, Scientology, “Abuse at the Top,” by Amy Scobee

Scientology, Abuse at the Top by Amy Scobee, 235 pages with index and photographs, 2010, hardcover, Scobee Publishing. http://www.scobeepublishing.com/

In 2009 a series of devastating articles appeared in the St. Petersburg Times entitled, The Truth Rundown.  Top level defectors came forward and accused David Miscavige, the ruler of Scientology, with physical abuse to his top executives.  Of course Scientology claimed that the accusations were from disgruntled former members and that no such activity took place.  While these statements were largely viewed with a jaundiced eye by a public already hostile to the cult it took corroboration from other high level defectors to ram home the true facts of the situation. 

Amy Scobee was a member of the paramilitary arm of Scientology known as the “Sea Org.”  Of course it was long ago since Scientology had ships but these latter day, dry-land sailors still have the fake naval uniforms .  It is their job to deliver Hubbard’s tech, and more importantly to extort money from the non-staff members called “public members.”  Relentless pressure is put on these public Scientologists to persuade or intimidate them into buying courses, books, tapes and of course to get more auditing.  And if money is not coming in at a sufficient rate then there is hell to pay.  The ones who pay that particular hell are the staff members.  The Sea Org members are generally treated like peons or slaves.  They work long hours, get little sleep and their pay is a joke.  But as bad as these conditions are they can get worse, much worse.  The internal prison system of Scientology is known as the RPF, or rehabilitation force project.  On Hubbard’s ships people who screwed up spent their nights in the chain locker, sometimes days too.  Or else they were just tossed over the side of the ship (overboarding)  into the filthy harbor waters below.  Then came the DPF, or the deck project force, which was the less formalized, but equally as sinister, forerunner of the RPF.  It was a steady progression of human rights abuses.  To read Professor Stephen Kent’s study, “Brainwashing in Scientology’s Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF)” follow this link: http://www.lermanet.com/scientology/gulags/BrainwashinginScientology’sRehabilitationProjectForce.htm

Being in the RPF is not a bar to rising in Sea Org, every single top executive that I have read about has been in the RPF at one time or another, if there are exceptions they are few.  Amy Scobee was there and one only has to read her account to feel the honesty of her statements.  In fact I would say that her transparent honesty is one of the most compelling aspects of her book.

  Amy got into Scientology as a young teen when her parents joined the cult.  She spent the next 27 years of her life in Scientology.  She knew all of the top players, she was a top executive  herself as a member of the Watch Dog Committee, WDC.  She was a dedicated Scientologist who sincerely wanted to make the world a better place.   At long last events took place which made the Sea Org and Scientology unendurable for her. 

As I said in my review of Jeff Hawkins book it looks crazy to an outsider like myself to see all the effort that Scientology goes through to recruit staff members but then they turn right around and treat them worse than dogs.  This is the wonderful world of the great humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard.

 Amy had a bird’s eye view of what went on in top management circles  She was there and saw for herself the savage attacks Miscavige made on those who he thought were not performing well.  Temper tantrums worthy of L. Ron Hubbard himself were seen.  That is saying a lot for Hubbard’s tantrums were legendary.

In rating her book I will give it the full five stars and throw another in for good measure.  Only by shinning the light on predators, like Amy does very well indeed, can we hope to eliminate the criminal abuses of Scientology.

Book Review, Counterfeit Dreams by Jefferson Hawkins

Counterfeit Dreams, One man’s journey into and out of the world of Scientology.  Hardback, 336 pages, index, glossary and photo section, Hawkeye Publishing Co, 2010.

Counterfeit Dreams, Jefferson Hawkins

Whenever I read a story by a former Scientologist, and I have read a good many, I always prepare myself for the worst because I know some of the things that I will encounter.  All of these accounts will speak of lies told and lies believed; of betrayal and hardship, of time irretrievably lost and financial ruin.  Of forced disconnection from friends and family and violations of human rights so gross as to make a mockery of the phrase, “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”

Yet there are rewards for reading such material.  If nothing else it shows the resilience of the human spirit and the innate desire to be truly free.  It is also a call to action against the predators who exist in all ages in many guises.   History teaches us the evil cannot be sustained by itself; no, it must be first carefully packaged in order to be presented as doing good.  Whether it is “ethnic cleaning,” or the “final solution,” or guarding the true faith from the attacks of the devil or heretics, people must believe that they are working towards a better world and other such lofty sentiments.  I think that this is something that L. Ron Hubbard fully understood.

The author as a young man took up Scientology to create a better world and also to advance his own abilities via the upper level course that were held out as little less than miraculous.  He was not alone in his quest for the remarkable OT powers; it was a hook that caught many.   Once inside the shared delusions of the group led him to think that this was the only way that he could advance his spiritual quest.  Once on staff the process speeded up due to sleep deprivation and overwork.

Often in the writings of former Scientologists we see them working themselves into a frazzle but with no discernible end product in view.  They work hour after hour on reports and reports on reports.  Not with Jeff Hawkins though.  He accomplished a great deal of solid, tangible work which is little less than amazing  considering the obstacles placed in front of him.  His books selling campaigns and ads really worked.  Yet he was hounded out of Scientology with contempt and derision.

A young Jeff when he was in the Sea Borg.

There are a couple of other things that I think Jeff made very clear.  You cannot expect long term projects to prosper if you are focused on weekly stats.  There are a great many things that simply do not lend themselves to such a short-sighted time frame.  To add to this the “make-things-go-right” mentality leads to absurd deadlines for projects that should be carefully crafted which of course takes time.  And it seems time is what nobody has in the SO.

Another thing which struck me is how hard they work to get people in the SO but then they are treated worse than dogs.  Some get “off-loaded” (given the boot) for obscure or even trivial reasons.  Sometimes against the wishes of the staffer who wants to stay!  What a waste of resources.

On June 29, 2009 a series of articles appeared in the St. Petersburg Times entitled, “The Truth Rundown,” in which high level defectors spoke of violence at the very top of the Sea Org.  http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1012148.ece Jeff Hawkins corroborates these accusations.  He saw, and personally was the victim of, personal assaults by David Miscavige, the undisputed dictator of Scientology, on his underlings.  He also advised Scientology executives to “get physical” with their own subordinates.  This article, and the subsequent fallout it entailed, has caused some Scientologists to quit.

Out of five stars I give this book five plus.  I had a hard time putting it down.

For more information on how to order this book go here: http://counterfeitdreams.com/