There is always a boom “coming” in scientology. The new “breakthrough” that is going to make everything that has been promised for decades finally come true.
But what is so odd about this is that it is an article of faith that they ALREADY have all the technology there is. The ONLY technology. The answers to all of life. So what is now going to be different?
Without doubt, absolutely nothing.
But these people WANT to believe there is something new just around the corner.
This time Miscavige has “repackaged” the Organization Executive Course (OEC). Nothing NEW, just a new format for the same old failed “technology” of management. It’s not even up to the standards of previous “breakthroughs” that were going to “make clearing a reality”… Remember “The Basics”? How about Super Power? Golden Age of Tech? Ideal Orgs? Golden Age of Tech II? Golden Age of Tech for OT’s? New Student Hat? The Complete books and lectures? The “New” Purif? Scientology TV?
Every year or so (sometimes more than once a year) there is a “big announcement” of a “milestone” in the “Golden Era of Expansion.”
Wonder when they are going to have a Briefing Course again? Or Key to Life? Or Class VIII? Each of those things, in their day, Hubbard himself declared were the saviors of scientology. Or how about a new org somewhere — in a state or country where there is no scientology org now?
And finally, as for “first ever event of it’s kind” – seriously?
The delusion is strong.
These “Exec Training evolutions” are as much for the PR as they are for creating a way to launder money.
Every org is charged tens of thousands of dollars for training and room and board for each person that is sent to Flag. They are ordered to send people to Flag.
Orgs are forced to take on debt – no choice – and that way payments to Flag and the Sea Org are legitimized.
Nomnom. Exactly. These are commonly called ‘inter org bills’. They don’t appear in the normal org bills stat (but in my opinion as debts they should…) and when paid are counted in the FBO’s payments to flag stat (if it hasn’t changed). The reason why these debts weren’t counted in the orgs bills stats is because no org would ever had any chance to result ever viable.
But, will it “drive new public into the orgs” ??
Maybe they’ve finally given up on new public.
Gus, I believe DM gave up on delivery and new public a long time ago, perhaps when he realized what a liability promising delivery was, people wanting customer SERVICE and all. Just too much for his tiny brain to wrap itself around. pure “donation” is SO much simpler; bank it and be done with anything resembling work\, which interferes with the serious business of finishing up that fine whiskey, don’cha know?
Jere, I think he gave up on delivery when he realized it was a fatal liability after the death of Lisa McPherson, and a string of other incidents including suicides and killings.
While a lot of people may have gotten auditing highs and whatever out of their involvement in Scientology, as with other sorts of thrill-seeking, messing around with minds and psyches like trying to get people to ‘exteriorize’ (disassociation, technically a step short of psychosis) came with heightened risks, and a certain number of unfortunates had psychotic breaks and other bad outcomes.
The cathartic therapy that Hubbard was inspired by in Naval hospitals at the end of the war, had been abandoned by the time he was writing Dianetics, because it turned out that while it initially seemed to have impressive effects, in the long term it was relatively ineffective and even made some people worse. I think DM just had to face, decades too late, the ticking time bomb built into Hubbard’s techniques.
Isn’t having members run around poles and give money, at least preferable to their flinging themselves out of hotel windows and drowning themselves in the surf? (the sort of things that happened at Flag before DM really cracked down)
PeaceMaker, I just wanted to say that I enjoy reading your thoughtful comments. Think of this as a “thumbs up”. 🙂
I thought they were supposed to be IN the ‘golden age of expansion’, not headed for it. Pandemic set them back?
A check shows that maybe they haven’t quite called it that – before now. This is the closest I could find:
“End of a Decade, Beginning of Forever: New Year’s Celebration Caps History-Defining Ten Years for Scientology
Jan 1, 2020 — A Golden Age for Scientology. … That’s just a glimpse of why the 2010s saw greater expansion for the Scientology religion than all previous decades combined.”
> https://www.newswire.com/news/end-of-a-decade-beginning-of-forever-new-years-celebration-caps-21066276
That’s expansion in terms of properties, of course. Income, and the amount of money they get per member, may actually have not been doing so badly. Membership size, recruiting, and public reputation, not so much.
They just love to create fresh versions of slogans, not to mention their infamous neologisms, and then act as if it’s all new and wonderful, don’t they?
I once took a seminar with someone who I’m now pretty sure had done some Dianetics or Scientology, or one of its offshoots — along with other influences. I now see some of what they were doing as likely having been based on addressing failings they’d seen in Hubbard’s approach, and one of the points they made that has stuck with me was that there is a difference between making vague promises about “going to” do something, and making a commitment to getting it done including concrete measures like milestones. Scientology seems stuck on that hamster wheel of earnest-seeming activity that lacks the foresight and focus to actually get anywhere.
It seems that things have changed since I was in the S.O. People did not talk about that they were gonna get something done or that they were gonna get the stats up.
It was very simple: You either got the product or you didn”t. You were either an upstat or you were a downstat. You were either with LRH or you had other fish to fry.
There were no “Progress Reports’ Nobody gave a flying fuck that you were “Working on it”. You were either a hero or an SP. I was a hero the vast majority of my time in the S.O. But I greatly prefer being an SP.
In HCOPL 7 Feb 65 Keeping Scientology Working LRH said”
We would rather have you dead than incapable”.
From that point of view I was the ideal staff member: I was both capable and dead.
Bill wrote – “I was a hero the vast majority of my time in the S.O. But I greatly prefer being an SP.” LOL
Bill – Your comment was not yet posted when I made my comment about “try” below. It seems we were on the same “theta wavelength”. haha
Being on the same theta wave length would be a scn neologism for being on the same train of thought in common vernacular.
(Did I use the word “neologism” correctly in a sentence? I think so – pass)
I’m not sure if it’s accurate but I once read that the word “try” does not exist in the Japanese language. There would obviously be an understanding about promises of going to do something.
neologism
noun
1. a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase.
2. the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words.
3. a new doctrine, especially a new interpretation of sacred writings.
4, Psychiatry. a new word, often consisting of a combination of other words, that is understood only by the speaker: occurring most often in the speech of schizophrenics.
I had an MU on neologism so I looked it up and I’m glad I did. It’s an interesting and useful word/concept. Some current woke culture is attempting to replace many King’s English words and phrases with neologisms. 😇
Peacemaker, he can BLAME the pandemic, but most of the shrinkage had occurred LONG before it raised its fuzzy little head. Still under his watch, but he needed no help destroying most anything which seemed to work in scientology
Jere, I’d agree that the pandemic may be just a sort of convenient excuse – probably more implicit than explicit – and just an acceleration point in a long decline.
What in Scientology really ‘worked’? As far as I can tell it was just whatever benefits came from well-intended people like yourself providing a sort of mutual support group, and a certain amount of talk therapy happening in sessions with auditors who were intuitively empathic listeners – essentially, unintended effects of Hubbard’s high control system.
Independent Scientology has also virtually collapsed due to the “subject” being fundamentally un-workable, except as at most an unimpressive, moderately effective talk therapy when applied by talented or conventionally trained practitioners (see Sarge Gerbode’s work and research). How could anyone who took over from Hubbard really have done much better with the CofS, except perhaps to have thrown in the towel on The Commodore’s megalomaniacal dreams, and let it die an inglorious but perhaps more dignified death like Christian Science Reading Rooms, providing old-timers a quiet place to hang out until the doors finally close for good?
I’ve mentioned before that the OEC was sold to the public in the 1970’s. I don’t know how long that continued but I guess the the graduates who are still alive and/or still in business will need to do a redo. (not)
If he gets the OECs sufficiently “corrected” to his liking. I’m sure he’ll find ways to milk them and the finally-on-source courses he’ll also create. He didn’t do too well studying the OEC when he was still masquerading as a student back in ’76. I wonder whether he ever “completed” it back then…. NAW! he obviously didn’t try to understand anything which didn’t directly assist his ascension to control and destroy scientology except for what he could profit directly from. I’ll take virtual bets that he won’t sober up long enough to finish the OEC rewrite in the next decade. I half expect California to experience the next “Big One” before the little guy can complete that cycle of action. Maybe Ron WILL come back — a little late, but WHO’s been counting? He’s already missed his 110th birthday non-celebration last month.
YES YES YES INDEEDY! COME ONE COME ALL….J
JOIN US as we help SPREAD COVID amongst those who so stupidly will attend our event in one of the three states where COVID is on the increase!
WooHoo…..NY State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania…where COVID 19 is on the rise again….let’s not forget the POSSIBILITY of one of those Damned Cute new Covid Variants we know so little about.
What do you have to lose, other than your life, but it will or MIGHT be worth it to get the POOP on the “new Executive Training Program at FLAG”…..
WELL, maybe NOT “exactly new”….but we moved a few words & punctuation around so THAT IS new, right?
REMEMBER YOUR CREDIT CARD & CHECK BOOK!
P.S. We will provide FREE of CHARGE hand sanitizer & maybe some facial masks…..maybe not……
There’s always that nice little Pizza Shop next door….standing room only, but the pizza is really good…so we hear.
And for the QAnon folks, that pizza place ALSO doesn’t have a basement, so they can rest assured nothing nefarious is happening there, other than some spreading waistlines.
Good one Jere! For sure! I’ve been visiting that place for a long time, they have or had really good pizza. Haven’t been there in two years.
As we passed the COS building, Outside the building smoking a cigarette were two young dudes. we had passed them by when entering the Pizza place….we felt bad for them as we saw them not wearing jackets as they stood rubbing their hands together to keep warm as they were handing flyers out.
After we had our fill of pizza, we had two slices remaining & not wanting to carry it around all day or throw it away, we had it placed on a paper plate & then put into a paper bag & took it with us, intending to offer it to the two kids standing in front of the COS building.
We offered THEM the remaining two slices. they looked at use some what suspiciously l but then gladly accepted the slices & wolfed it down. Hope they didn’t get into trouble for it….they did NOT offer us a flyer!
We are headed for the Golden Age of Expansion. But what does it mean?
Do you really have to ask? It means we will expect and demand that you donate ten times as moocho dinero what you ever before did donate-o!
So, if you donated a total of $100 ten years ago and $200 9 years ago and $300 8 years ago and … so on … and so on … and so on … and so on … and so on … and the total of all your preceding donations you have ever made total $250, then you will be honored and rewarded by donating $2500 now. That is $250 * 10 = $2500.
That is ten times $250 since $250 is the total of all your previous donations. Some people have written us about a problem-o with our math in the calculation of the total of all the previous donations. They wrote:
If you donated a total of $100 ten years ago and $200 9 years ago and $300 8 years ago and … so on … and so on …
Then your total is at least $600. So, there is a problem with your calcoolootions.
Our answer is that we all have had the honor of being edjucated by Scamatology math and that math works to the advantage of our scam. So just shut the fuck up and fork over the donations. Just keep the donations coming and if you have a problem with that, go see your Sec Check monster and pay another $20,000 to get all checked out so you get your head screwed on straight. But before you do that, best send us a big, big, big donation to cover your at-fault faulty tinking.
Much Love, Much Money, You know who!
That was awesome.
Oh wow weeeeeeeeee.
A new executive training course at Flag.
I wonder how many execs in all those (failing) orgs out there are getting a feeling of dread in the pit on their stomachs.
It’s gonna suck for them big time. And if they don’t already know it, they will find out soon: Study all day the same ole crap, then white glove around 11:00 pm, then birthing. Then get up just a few short hours later and do it again.
For way longer then they were told.
Like other “golden age” gambits, I’m guessing it will allow them to raise income and other stats for a while as they sell, and force-feed, the latest and greatest rehashing of “tech.” What do you bet they have been taking advanced payments for it during the pandemic, in order to get orgs’ gross income up while almost no one was coming in?
Plus of course it provides a good excuse to tap members’ stimulus payments. An effort like this almost has to have been in the works for a long time, but I wonder if its introduction was speeded up in response to the current situation.
Mark, it’ll work better than it did back in the ’70s when Ron introduced the OEC and FEBC to great fanfare and continued downstats. DM will “adjust” the executive courses and material to crash the stats even worse than the ‘tech’ did when it was forced upon the orgs. Only now, the franchise network which flourished by often largely ignoring the worst-performing policies is dead and gone; only left are mini-orgs forced to march in lockstep with the (failing/failed) orgs, especially the poor, beleaguered ideal orgs.
What is white glove bag? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I never had the honor of going to Flag, and probably never will.
Mike,
Happy Bunny Day!
Hope all you multi-colored hard boiled egg wishes come true 🙂
Q: Are there any old scientologist or OT VIII ‘s left?
How many times do they have to beat a dead LRH?
I remember similar stuff like this being pushed in the early 90’tys. Eg: the new and improved xxxxxx will save mankind.
Sigh….
I know getting the word out and exposing COS will lead to its demise … but sometimes I feel so sad because that knowledge train is soooooo slow.
(PS: (From the Wayback Machine) My two friends and I were welcomed in (after $$$ exchanged)
Six months later. I was told not to come back any more cuz I was too stupid to understand why I could not hang with my non-scientology friends (I also questioned everything all the time) – my friends two other friends are still there
Thanks Mike for keeping the train moving
From: A chug-along train rider
Hello Diane,
I must admit that I often feel unhappy when I think about the speed at which this cult is dying. For people who may not have read the above post carefully, Diane referred to the speed at which this cult is dying out as the “knowledge train”.
FWIW, I believe Diane is entirely correct. The best strategy to put an end to this criminal cult is the strategy often voiced by Mike & Leah. It is to keep on shining a light on this cult’s atrocious human rights violations. The two primary abuses are “Disconnection” and “Fair Gaming”. It will take time to destroy this cult.
At present, when the topic of this cult comes up in conversation, most people tend to consider it to be something silly and they laugh at it. That has to change before this cult can ever be defeated. Instead of thinking it is just silly and laughable, I believe the primary goal must be to change that attitude so that peoples’ primary response is to talk about how cruel and abusive this cult is to people and how it forces its members into bankruptcy by forcing them to donate all their wealth to the cult. Once that change takes place in society, the cult will be on its last legs.
So we must persist in shining the light on its abuses. We must continue to post to this forum and others and to tell our friends and neighbors – especially those who have young children who may one day become influenced to take that “free” personality test – which is the gateway into becoming a member of this cult.
This post is just my opinion. I hope that I have encapsulated the opinions that Mike & Leah have expressed and if anyone here would like to correct me or make any additions to what I have replied to Diane, I certainly would welcome hearing from you.
Most of us that get out of Scientology experiance a resurrection of self.
So that’s what Easter celebrates for me.
Happy Easter Mike and family. Thanks for hanging in there and helping with all our resurrections 😘
Bravo
Yes. To new beginnings!
Cheers! 🥂
What a great post! Hugs!
We have to be honest.
After decades of promises of expansion and too many “this thing here will break down any barrier” where then nothing that could be considered significant has NEVER happened, it is obvious that even the most extremist public has noticed it and has seriously cooled down.
The only ones who have not opened their mouths but have put their hands on their eyes are those who have relatives in the cult and therefore risk losing them.
Scn really has to pull a nice carrot out of the hat that amazes its remaining members so as to keep at least the deluded ones, otherwise it ends here sooner than expected.
(Ps. This OEC thing will be pushed down hard as never before and will turn into a dramatic evolution for all orgs. Hopefully it will be the miscavige’s Waterloo)
O/T. The Sydney Morning Herald: Push for investigation into Scientology’s charity status
https://amp.smh.com.au/national/push-for-investigation-into-scientology-s-charity-status-20210401-p57fsj.html
/
I saw that! Thanks for posting it around. I’m SO glad to see Australia is again putting Scientology’s toes to the fire on its BS ‘Charity’ work!
Wow, that would be big, as the CofS’ UK charity status is based on Australia’s, do to some sort of odd old Commonwealth reciprocity agreement. Though it also means they will fight any change that more desperately.
p.s. Thanks for the ongoing news.
When you join this particular cult, you enter a loop.
They will repeat the same things over and over for decades again without anything happening.
Hopefully they would start soon talking again about OT 9 and 10. And how this will finally break all 4th dynamic chains and drive million of people into the orgs without any effort and clear earth.
Finally!
Wow, a new crop of zombies can learn of the amazing business tools like the TELEX, PHYSICAL client files that are impossible to keep up to date, 3 BASKET communication systems with runners carrying paper memos from staff members to other staff! Not to mention mailing literally tons of junk mail to people who hate you because that is how you make more money.
And the real key to success: Having more management personnel than people who make, sell and deliver the end product all vying with each other to get the rank and file to follow THEIR orders.
So true!
Ah, yes: “A first event of it’s kind.” I love it. Okay; a minion from outside of the anglosphere may not have great English skills – but still, nobody spell-checked it? This gaffe on a public notice, even an internal one, speaks volumes about the degree of awareness of most scientologists. They can’t even get “clear” of simple mistakes like this.
But Bixntram, maybe they meant to say “A first ever event that is kind”.
Now that really would be a first ever. You know, a kinder, gentler way of taking your money, breaking up families, abusing children, trying to ruin you life if you leave.