“For some years now we have had a word “squireling.” It means altering Scientology, offbeat practices. It is a bad thing.
Squirreling is today destructive of a workable system. ”
L. Ron Hubbard HCOPL 14 Feb 65 SAFEGUARDING TECHNOLOGY
A reader recently prompted me to look up LRH EDs about the release of OT VIII.
I came across LRH ED 301 Ron’s Journal 30 from December 1978. While it does not say what he had recalled (there may be something else that does that I have not yet located), I was struck by some things that have often been commented on as sidenotes, but if you put them all together they are an indictment of David Miscavige in Hubbard’s terms as damning as anything could be.
Miscavige has systematically altered “technology” Hubbard dictated (and was perfectly satisfied with), and in other cases has eradicated them altogether. Hubbard claimed that even noting that something was “historical” or “no longer used” is an act of Treason that can result in someone being declared a Suppressive Person. Those are the sort of squirrels Hubbard first developed Fair Game to eradicate.
Let’s begin with Super Power. Hubbard announced in this Ron’s Journal it would be available to public in 6 weeks at Saint Hills. Despite his hyperbole on the timing, he stated this was to be a service for the Saint Hills. Kind of fit with Power and Power Plus…
In fact, he repeats himself on this point again in the same issue when describing the services available at St Hill organizations.
Note what he says about the Briefing Course and Class VIII courses. Both have been cancelled by Miscavige. They are not deemed “historical” they no longer exist at all. Both courses consist primarily of lectures by Hubbard — the two most important auditor training courses in scientology. Hubbard was perfectly satisfied with them in 1979 — having spent a full year reviewing and “updating” the tech as he describes in this LRH ED. He didn’t see that any changes needed to be made, but Miscavige knows better and so these courses have been removed from the scientology line up altogether.
That is the ultimate definition of a squirrel in the scientology world.
And then there is this — Hubbard goes on to describe all the services of Flag. The final service he lists is OT VIII. He didn’t contemplate this being delivered on a ship that cannot support itself — it was to be a Flag only service.
Finally, just for some giggles — Hubbard ends his RJ with some crazy lies. He just could not help himself.
He didn’t direct 9 training films.
“We discovered past lives”???? (and note, this book that he was touting has also been assigned to the scrap heap by Miscavige).
And finally, EVERY scientology book is always higher priced that an equivalent “wog” book. There are so many built in costs, percentages, profits and commissions that even with in-house printing they are still more expensive. And this bold lie was made well before any in-house printing facilities existed.
Isn’t Hubbard the original squirrel? He changed, added and eliminated things constantly throughout his tenure. Oh, and he “squirreled” the work of others before him, from Freud to Crowley (some scholars even consider the CofS an offshoot of the OTO).
And didn’t he leave his successor in a jam, without a supply of fresh carrots – new and improved carrots, even – to dangle in front of followers, like the founder had relied on to keep things going? Of course Miscavige has committed some cardinal sins with things like the SHSBC – which from what I hear is another mess of sorts he inherited.
Can you clarify your statement that Hubbard didn’t direct 9 training films? Why do you claim this is a lie?
Hubbard certainly did direct several training films, although I can’t recall if it was nine to be precise, but it was around that number.
This did occur. I was there.
These were not good films—they were corny and of low production value. Think “John Waters student film” to get an idea. Yet Hubbard was enthralled with himself as a film director, which seemed to be a Cosplay activity for him as much as anything else.
In his mind, it was he who’d unlocked 75 million year old secrets. How hard could it be to direct a bunch of films? Um, not so fast there, Mr. Savior of the Universe™️.
Indeed, I think Hubbard’s failure as a film Director created a narcissistic crisis within him that contributed to his going into that long decline from which he never recovered.
His failure became evident to him when the dailies were screened, and in that dark room, the raw footage showed just how terrible these films actually were. His narcissism wouldn’t allow him to believe that it was his fault: he was constantly blaming and belittling the Cine crew for anything and everything from willful unhattedness to outright sabotage.
Hubbard’s misplaced ire at his Cine crew even prompted him at least once to threaten to take his name off the films. “A Scientology Tech film by Alan Smithee” Ha!
Several years after Hubbard’s death, that Squirrel, Captain David Miscavige, ordered that these films be redone—a bold and blatant violation of KSW—yet one that actually did Hubbard a favor because truly, the Hubbard directed films were an utter embarrassment to him and all of the Cine crew and every scientologist that he had to watch them and pretend they were “amazing.”
The Hubbard-directed film TR 0-4 was probably the only one that should have been left untouched, but it’s been pulled from being shown because all the actors in it turned out to be SPs, martians or FBI agents.
I have not seen any of the “professionally acted” newer tech films, so I can’t really vouch that they accomplish the purpose of improving auditor training. But I bet they sure look a lot better, and that goes along with Miscavige’s ideal orgs program — not a lot of “tech” happening inside them, but they sure look fancy.
Holy Molly!
I just had another read of the section, point 2 of that LRHED concerning ‘Super Power’.
LRHED’s weren’t something I was familiar with in a CL4 org in my day but seems to me a perfect example of the contradictions that spew forth out of Hubbard and gets anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together who isn’t already a robot in Scientology to begin their downward spiral into becoming one.
This is Hubbard in one paragraph talking about ‘Super Power’:
“This is a parallel rundown to Power in Saint Hills which is taken by the Dianetic Clear.” (A couple of sentences later). “Power is still very much in use on the grade chart for those who didn’t go Clear on Dianetics.”
So why all the endless bs on the State of Clear? Power IS a step on the Bridge, whether Dianetic Clear or not at that point, well… per that LRHED it is. Yet it was removed and for awhile you could attest to the State of Clear by uttering a simple sentence, even if by accident or cogniting after reading the print off a cereal box.
Like, how many State of Clear cancellations & recalls have there been? All those confusions surrounding the Stare of Clear, even Miscavige got in on the act and had many do things like the CCRD again & again (more $). As someone once loudly said, “show me a fucking Clear!”
I can just see now, many experienced tech people saying something like, “oh, but there’s this or that reference and or something like it needs a folder error summary done, green form or blah blah blah… The higher you go in Scientology the murkier it is and more of a trap it becomes. The more time, effort and money you invest in Scientology, the deeper the hole you dig.
Hubbard didn’t find the coveted path out – he admitted that himself to Sarg.
When you think of it, there is a certain logic to the Clear Cognition.
Before a person first walks into any Scientology organization, or reads Dianetics, he or she doesn’t know anything about any “reactive mind.”
Then when the new person is introduced to the Scn concept of the bank, and accepts this construct, well, right then and there they “mocked it up”
I agree. I know I did prior to services and again on the purif. I guess the confusion and gross invalidation comes from having to fit yourself into a regimen where you’re believed. I don’t believe a strict enforced checklist shoved down someone’s throat is a good thing. Then what does it do for you even when you are eventually believed after paying heaps in time and money or signing your life away. Off to the reg again. Horrible cycle Scientology, pay up, then hurry up and wait for your next breakthrough as written or otherwise endless repairs, ethically and technically until the square peg fits the round hole. Even as Hubbard said, “there is such a thing as beingness but man only believes there is becomingness,” or something like that. Get involved with an org, and they dramatize being man very much so. They don’t want you happy and walking out the door, there’s no money in that.
The administrative overrides the technical in Scientology technology for profit and to cover up the fact that sooner rather than later Scientology technology becomes a system which is all dressed up with no where to go. OT doesn’t exist as a product, it’s wishful thing at best.
That’s my 2c on what I think of that organisation without a single cuss or swear word used.
It could also be suggested, the Alternate Route to Clear is not alternate at all, especially illustrated by that LRH ED, probably for the same reasons as the BC & CL8 have been abolished. It’s so much easier, with less technical proficiency required to run Dianetics than to train Power auditors and have students on the BC & CL8 questioning the legitimacy of Miscavige’s interference in technical matters. Remember what Miscavige did to Hubbard’s Saint Hill technical staff? He declared them, plus eventually declared Hubbard’s personally trained CL12s. Power process commands are relatively simple in nature & they wouldn’t be understood or impinge upon the uneducated or general PC coming up the line through a squirreled org. Quickie grades destroyed everything anyway at one point & brought Hubbard back on lines to sort out but as soon as he left Miscavige rolled his sleeves up and dismantled everything that even came close to what did make people feel good about Scientology. I remember the saying – “if it isn’t fun, it isn’t Scientology,” and that seemed to disappear around the time insane regging and recruitment became common place. Co-incident with the release of SOLO NOTS. The big carrot! It revitalized the desire… and set the one way trap.
Miscavige did well is undoing everything. He is the ultimate squirrel. Then again, Hubbard’s true colors, dirty washing and his insanely prejudiced policies are now on show for all to see. He was a crack pot!
L. Ron Hubbard: Blowhard Extraordinaire.
I can see where Miscavige maintains a factor employed by Hubbard: provide some things that work.
Example in the Miscavige era, I am one of the people who grabbed onto The Basics when they were released, and I got through them all with steadiness and vigor. I had many gains and wins. I considered, as promised, all the un-smoothness of the earlier books was smoothed out. I was able to read and listen (lectures) for useful and full comprehension. I became smarter and more stable.
Following such lofty positives, it is cloudy to see, much less voice, the weirdnesses one encounters.
For instance, the new Student Hat became one of the “bad indicators” leading to my departure. To me, that revised course is heavy indoctrination. The course is no longer about YOU learning how to learn anything your heart desires. It is drill after verbatim drill; the only standard is perfect verbatim-ness on lots of Hubbard-isms delivered by you in an exact sequence. (Since when did Study Tech become about pure, robotic memorization as the passing standard? A recipe for glib-ness— eradication of which, many of us remember, was the goal of the original Student Hat course.)
My observation was I was being groomed to be a blind, obedient robot for the group, commanded to leave my own ideas and free will behind me. No thanks. That is the opposite of why I got into C of S and stayed for three decades. I emphatically believed it was about cultivating freedom for self.
If only there were not the things earlier that appear to work so well. One would not later have a difficult time separating the wheat from the chaff to realize: “Oh crap, this is a lot of chaff.”
It reminds me of a chilling episode of “The Twilight Zone.” Perhaps others have seen. A seemingly calm, kind alien race arrives on Planet Earth. They have a different language, yet are able to entice several earth dwellers to come onto their ship to travel and join them on their planet. The enticement is a title on a book the aliens present, in English: “To Serve Man.” Irresistible for many who agree to go with the aliens, thinking I am embarking on a journey where I will end up dominant, given abundant respect and innumerable comforts forever. Until a hardworking linguist team figures out, just as the spaceship is departing: “To Serve Man… is a cookbook!”
I highly recommend Alec Nevala-Lee’s book, “Astounding…”
Particularly interesting are the earliest active “auditors” were several Science Fiction luminaries, and they by being active auditors, their mindset as auditors is relevant to what is missing in Scientology today.
The “auditor” role, the active being an auditor, addressing other people’s “cases” using the pseudo-therapy talk technique’s of Hubbard’s “Dianetics” techniques, and other “squirrel” techniques that for instance Campbell got into after Campbell left Dianetics and Hubbard’s techniques.
The earliest “squirrels” were very active strong auditors, they were very strong “field auditors” in Hubbard’s later designation of them (before Hubbard condemned them as ‘squirrels’).
These early strong participant and main founding participants one for one all become splinter auditors to some degree.
The Scientology subject is an “auditor” “case” alleviation technique subject.
Scientology is a soul “auditing” subject, the target is other people’s “cases” and one’s own “case” of soul memories, and then the soul memories of bodiless souls that leaks into our soul consciousness to our detriment. The exorcism later secret steps of Scientology is “auditing” away the soul trauma and bad soul memory stuff that leaks into our soul consciousness to our detriment. Exorcism to just get those invisible souls gone from leaking their bad soul consciousness stuff over to us.
But Scientology, and Dianetics before it, targets our memories, alleviating the effects of our memories, and theoretically in Scientology, Hubbard concluded all of this bad stuff is soul memories bad stuff.
Auditors get rid of this stuff, supposedly, and auditing, the pseudo-therapy sit down with another person and target these memories, alleviate these memories, supposedly, and then the later exorcism steps of Scientology, all target “case” which is bad soul memories stuff.
Hubbard set up only for official Scientology this totalitarian legal system to control the participants.
Squirreling is the way to go, and Hubbard’s standard official Scientology bashes the followers, bashes the staffs who bash the followers, it’s a self defeating self bashing system.
Squirreling is actually the logical course for Dianeticists and Scientologists, for them to take.
Just look at the strongest initial followers, and Alec Nevala-Lee’s book gives great context to the “cases” of some of the earliest followers, who were science fiction genre greats.
They thought they were tackling their “cases” with Dianetics.
Highly recommend reading the Scientology related critical books, to get the picture, and also educate oneself of the fuller quackery nature of Scientology’s pseudo-therapy and exorcism.
ExQuackeryScientologyPaperPusherDepartmentsStaffer75-03
Chuck Beatty
Nicely written.
I observed the same thing you did about the Gat Student Hat Course, Peridot.
While on the BC at ASHO everyone was made to take an excursion to do this sqirrelly S.O. chinese school version. I raised a lot of questions about issue authority and all that, and, because I was a very experienced word clearer, they just kind of put me off in the corner, let me do my thing, and signed off my check sheet. My course supervisors understood and knew that I was correct, but they couldn’t say anything. It was kind of a sad situation.
I do understand why David Miscavige wants students to use the rote, S.O., chinese school method of study and learning.
He is a sociopath who wants blind, obedient, robots.
He does not want people to understand the words they are reading with full conceptual understanding, because if they did, they would understand what he has been up to for the past 30 plus years.
“To Serve Man” ! I took that book out of the library when I was in junior high school and it was great! And Rod Sterling’s film treatment was was great too!
I agree that theme of the book serves as a macabre caricature of D.M.’s main purposes in altering the Student Hat Course.
I hear that @Karl Woodrow. I appreciate all that you wrote here, including your own prior efforts to raise questions — logical ones. Of the stuff we studied that works, it was madness to see enforced violations. I figured at least one person in this blog community would be familiar with “To Serve Man.” I’ve never forgotten it!
To Serve Man has been parodied by The Simpsons in one of their Halloween specials.
I am pretty certain Miscavige would have been found the “Who” for a dwindling scientology in Hubbard’s scientology, ie, no functioning International Executives, etc. to bring the hammer down on the changes miscavige made. and IT IS ALL david miscavige.
I think Hubbard was a horrible person and also should have been in jail considering what he did to adults (overboarding, etc) and children (chain locker, etc.) and his batshit crazy “discoveries.”
In my 35 plus year stint in scientology, I was pretty much always just public, but having experienced the world of scientology in what I call the Hubbard era and scientology in the miscavige era, I can tell you that one was about “What can we do for you?” and the other was “What can you do for scientology?” The difference was palpable. and the “What can you do for scientology?” was with an iron fist.
Since Hubbard is dead and gone, I hope I live to see the day when miscavige gets some form of justice.
This is such a spot on observation, Mike.
If all of the perceived enemies of the church of Scientology had gotten together and recruited the perfect agent to sabotage the organizations from the inside and utterly ruin their reputations, they could not have found a more effective agent than David Miscavige.
Yes, Miscavige – squirrel extraordinaire indeed. The grades check sheets were revised over and over along with the student hat, extra tapes added, lower level drug rdn altered so as to be administered in the academies (the poor sup had to do the auditing recall step taking the task away from HGCs). As a sup I remember the worldwide “cramming” of all auditors on can squeezes because Miscavige got a perceived bad one at Flag, early 90s I think. The BC was extended into multiple parts before it was abolished.
That the delivery of OT8 was to be at Flag just may be the paragraph that exposes the ship as a fraud. Good to see you posting again Mike
Your picking up with this blog makes me very happy. May you soon be back to full health and vigor. There are too many out points of david to begin to count. But more is better when confronting little furry david.
I feel david was put on a pike by Debbie Cook in 2012 with her knowledge report on New Years day. It still resonates with me.
Clearly, Hubbard and Miscavige were cut from the same cloth. Hubbard frequently contradicted himself; Miscavige is a squirrel. At least that’s consistent!
Let’s see this is or was written near his final stay in the Hemet area, and then he blew right after this to go into hiding for the his final 6 years of his life.
Clearwater chad is very happy you are feeling better
David Miscavige isn’t the problem. Hubbard is the problem.
Don’t ever romanticize trauma.
Romanticize trauma???
Huh??
I third that motion….
Huh ???
Can I fourth that motion?
What are you trying to say? It’s a very strange comment.
“Don’t ever romanticice trauma…” invites strange connotations. Is what you’re saying the same as never romanticize torture? That is also like saying Himmler wasn’t the problem, Hitler was.
Miscavige personally invented the finger declare and the Hole. How many wasted lives and careers did that cost?
Off Topic…I was so happy to receive my autograph copy of your book a few minutes ago and I just wanted to say thank you before I dive in an start reading it. Thank you, it’s much appreciated, Mike (SPTV OG)
Old LRH was really feeling his oats when he put all of this falderol out there – full-on salesman BS mode.