This email is a bit dated now, but I have had so much other news to report it just didn’t make it into the mix.
But I looked at it this morning and it is enlightening in its own way BECAUSE it is now 3 weeks on.
I am sure that 7 OT V starts in a week is the best they have done in a LONG time. But honestly, this is really pathetic. With an Ideal Org and SH size org in London and 6 other orgs in the UK, if this is the volume of “Bridge flow” that is occurring, it is sad that these people are SO excited about how they are taking the planet by storm because they had 7 starts in a week.
And of course, 3 weeks ago, GAG II “could be any day now”…. They are probably still saying this.
And let us know you are coming to the event that has not been scheduled!!
Date: Sun, 06 Oct 2013
From: AOSHUK <[email protected]>Dear OT,
We wanted to let you know the good news from Saint Hill on the making of OTs this week!!!
There were highest ever number of OT V starts with 7 public started! That’s one every day of the week!
There were 15 starts in total on OT Levels, more than 2 per day, as well as 10 new OTs made during the week.
The Senior C/S is currently at Flag being briefed and trained for the Golden Age of Tech Phase II and we are all very excited about its imminent release! It could be any day now!
Hope you’re all getting on with your Basics in preparation for this!! (Or the ACCs if already done with the Basics!!!)
We also expect to know shortly the date for the IAS Event, and will let you all know straight away, but if you are already planning to come to Saint Hill for the Event showing a week later, please let us know now!
Love,
The NOTs Team at Saint Hill
This is pretty sad to me. All these poor people, laboring under the delusion that they’re not just Pavlov’s dogs with a power-mad and now terrified lunatic ringing the bell. Someone, sometime, should have to pay for these ruined lives, and I hope it’s that wretched little hunchback David M.
It is sad the way everything now has to be “highest ever”.
The little runt and his lack of education is really showing how his fails with language are…..god forgive me….”highest ever”.
The abundant cutting and pasting in these ever so crucial comms just makes me laugh.
They say so much about nothing.
It is like when a local Buffalo radio station did Bills NFL updates every 10 minutes for months on end even off season.
We kept waiting to see if they would tell us who ate what for lunch..lol
Diminutive Moron has his underlings sort of following, but with fewer people to draw on and no variation on his bullet points, the tiny terror is really doing exceptional harm to Co$ giving them all that fresh faced blankly vacuous stare that somehow even comes across in print.
Say someone should file a missing midget report on him.
Oh right I forgot…everyone WANTS him gone.
Again for the Techies under you.
http://www.youtube.com/user/GalacticGuardian/videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTc4T-vqV0A
Thanks Mike,
15 starts and 10 made. Guess that’s 5 a week that are going into the black hole.
And the Snr C/S is getting trained? Oh dear.
Isn’t that like LRH being in training?
Who is running the show? This will make a good movie like the Grinch who stole Christmas.
The Grinch who stole eternity.
Cece
Interesting number of starts; even more interesting is the omission of the number of graduations.
Now, I’ve never been a Scientologist. Perhaps someone here can explain to this to me – are Scientologists religiously obligated to use as many exclamation points as possible in their communications? It is a direct command from COB?
Because I counted 13 exclamation points in the press release, above.
“It could be any day now!”
Oh dear. The torture Mr. Miscavige is putting these poor folks through.
“We also expect to know shortly the date for the IAS Event, and will let you all know straight away, but if you are already planning to come to Saint Hill for the Event showing a week later, please let us know now”
Huh? How can they know if they’re going to be able to be there a week later…if they don’t know when the actual event will be? A week later than “I don’t know when” isn’t anything you can put on your calendar.
Unless Scientology has indeed conquered space and time while no one was looking.
So very, very sad for these people. And yet, they haven’t seen through the con yet?
The ! is a trademarked religious symbol. It conveys spirit of play, command intention and tone 40. Kneel and pay for forgiveness.
“Kneel and pay for forgiveness.”
That could very well be one of the best comments I’ve ever seen. I may use that one day….
“Kneel and pay for forgiveness”
10/10, would steal to repost on a cult member’s Reddit AMA
LOL, Poison Ivy.
The indefatiguable use of numerous exclamation points is used to convey the tone level of enthusiasm. We who were once in became anesthetized to this and didn’t even notice them after a while because so many communications about practically anything and everything were routinely touted as “the most”, “the highest ever”, “totally unprecedented”, etcetera etcetera etcetera.with !!!!!! liberally salted throughout. Now that we are out we can look at this gratuitous (and phony) “enthusiasm” and laugh.
I enjoy your posts over at Tony’s btw. I may not always agree but I like the way you make your points.
Jane, that’s awesome. I also read Jeff Hawkins’ “Conterfeit Dreams” several years ago when it was a blog. It helped me SO much. I was just beginning to read the internet then. It was probably my first reading of someone’s account of life in upper management and the activity at Gold. Shocking, yet I wasn’t totally surprised. I’ve seen a lot as a public over the years. His account confirmed what I had an inkling of. Now I’ll get his book and read it. I still have his blog printed off, tucked away in my closet which I’ve gotten out and read several times over.
Tons of praise and love to you, Jeff Hawkins. You’re courageous and I’m very happy for you.
+ 100
Sorry for this derail, Mike. I got a little carried away. I’m on the edge of my seat for news on the OOTs, for reasons I can’t reveal at this time.
Aquamarine, Some time back a commenter said that the OOT’s were being sent home even uncompleted on GAG II. But that never happened. I think they need the 1,000 bodies to fill the audience if and when the big event ever happens. But how horrible for them to be beached and waiting to go home and maybe not even being able to pay for their food and sundries while there, not to mention missing their spouses and family.
Thanks, Jane, and I agree. More and more its looking to me like he’ll keep them there until and for the New Years Eve event. HE is holding onto these guys for dear life.
After all, aside from the staff at Flag, the nearby orgs’ staff and their publics, a smattering of whales along with a handful of non-whales who will be willing to drop everything and fly down there on short notice, there won’t be anyone else upon whom He can depend. Add to that the fact that there is no tent permit from Clearwater and I’m putting my money on everything rolled into the New Year’s Event. The way I see things now is that He has the event on automatic because He already knows how many people will be there – because they will HAVE TO be there.
In short, for Him, appearances to the contrary, the Event, be it GAG II and/or IAS, is NOT really “The Event”.if you catch my drift.
You know, most Christians are very pro Christmas. So if Davie keeps the OOT’s beyond Xmas and they have to miss Xmas with their families, that is a huge flap that we should get Tony Ortega and other media to report on. The irony of it all: a church preventing church members from going home to spend Xmas with their families. Wow, I am starting to make up big headlines in my head already.
Slightly off topic but I keep thinking about those 1000 or so OOTs beached at Flag. If the GAG II Announcement Event (whether combined with or separate from the IAS Event) does not occur in the next 3 weekends there is no way they can have it on Thanksgiving weekend so it could occur on the weekend of November 29th, Then, In December there’s Channukah, then Christmas. Factor in the uncertainty for HIM as regards Team Monique’s deposition where He may need to appear in Texas, and He may indeed decide, as Mike has strongly suggested, that the whole mishigas (spelling?) needs to be rolled into the New Year’s Event. And this doesn’t even factor in that every one of them needs to be complete before any of them can leave. Whew!
CORRECTION! Channukkah this year will begin on the 27th of November concurrent with Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving will be on the 28th. So this opens up more time for HIM. HE has the next 4 weekends in November as possible event dates. Now, for sure it won’t be next Fri/Sat/Sun, and unlikely the following 8th/9th/10th, so I would say HIS best shot this month would have to be Nov 15th/16th/17th, as that would give the other orgs the obligatory “week after” (22nd/23rd/24th) to hold their own event showings, because the following weekend is Thanksgiving AND Channukah.
I would therefore speculate that if it the GAG II Event is not held on Nov 15th/16th/17th that it will have to be held on Dec 6th/7th/8th so as to allow for the other orgs to show the vid on the 13th/14th/15th, because any later than that will conflict with the pre-Christmas time of 20th/12st/22nd.
In short, if it isn’t held on either Nov 15th/16th/17th, OR Dec6th/7th/8th, then its very likely that Mike is going to be right about it all being rolled into the New Year’s Event.
Could be New Year’s event 2017.
Aquamarine, thanks for the date-crunching!
I think I recall that one of the emails Mike published here — maybe the one from Lauri telling Cornerstoners what kind of “upstat clothing” to pack — warned addressees that the series of events, ceremonies, dinners et al would span at least one week, so be prepared for a stay of 7-10 days.
I’m guessing the writer was doing the best she could without much specific guidance from the tyrant-in-absentia. But if they’re contemplating a full week of festivities, this might increase the challenge of shoehorning it in between now and the holidays. Every day that ticks by makes it harder.
I wonder if Dave (a) has simply not thought about this, in his obsession with legal challenges, (b) blithely assumes his loyal followers will snap to when summoned, or (c) is already freaked by the tiny number of confirmations and is becoming frozen by fear of another Portland-style debacle, on a much larger and emptier stage.
Richard Grant, you’re welcome and in turn thanks for this “week long festivities” datum which had slipped my mind. As to your theories, I’m leaning toward C. And Jane Doe has pointed out that the OOT’s are captive audience material for his events. That would be 1000 people plus the entire Flag SO staff who He can absolutely count on. He may be understandably loathe to let them go, and to hold this event before the holidays even without the legal distractions would be a huge challenge for Him. But then, God created the entire niverse in only six days and there’s no doubt that HWCBN takes his cues from the Almighty.
But that is all of us assuming that those stats are true data. I am willing to bet they fudged even those numbers and somehow justified it
“…as well as 10 new OTs made during the week.”
And we know there were actually OTs because they donated bucketloads of money to the IAS, the only true hallmark of how OT-ism is measured.
It’s so funny now. Being outside of that tiny universe and looking at it objectively from a number of different viewpoints.
The postulate many of these people have is that LRH is infallible, everything he put out is the best of its kind and all they need to do is export it exactly as written. Then, like magic, the world will be alright. They have no clue that a rabid sociopath is at the helm and is leading them like lemmings off a cliff. HE, of course, will remain behind to lead another group of blessed beings once they have taken their leap. The leap of faith that drains their bank accounts and obliterates their own first dynamic.
For me it’s never the devil that you know that gets you, it’s the one that enters to fill the vacuum. It says: one source, all for me none for you, one answer, one life, one way, one religion uber alles. Welcome to corporate Scientology, goodbye first dynamic.
7 was the Highest Ever? I don’t mean to nag around about a rise, but…
Captain John Danilovich must be so proud.
Hey, a grammatical email! That’s something to celebrate!! And the highest ever ratio of exclamation points to sentences!!!
There’s also a big conceptual advance here: We don’t know the date for GAT II, but let us know if you’re planning to attend the showing ONE WEEK LATER!
I think I see where this is headed. We have no idea what stunt COB will pull next, but please confirm NOW that you will be thrilled and happy about it!!
Thank you for replying to White Star, Ronnie. My guess is White Star has never done any training or auditing in Scn. And talk about generalities — that is all White Star’s post was, one big generality. Just because an OT or any other Scn doesn’t give specifics of their win doesn’t mean they didn’t have OT ability regained. It just means they are choosy who they talk about their deep feelings. I wouldn’t want to share my wins with a critic who was ready to pounce on any word, which is the feeling I get from White Star. These OT’s don’t have to perform for you like some monkey with an organ grinder. They don’t owe you any kind of “proof” of anything. So just back off and let people live and let live.
both your’s and ronnie’s reply are the typical non-replies one ever gets from believers in the tech. they reveal more than both of you realize. i’ll leave it at that.
The numbers are largely irrelevant anyway, eventually this OT’s go one of two ways: 1) Realise that Hubbard cult doctrine does not, empirically, deliver the results he was promising back in the early 50s so disaffect. 2) Become so fanatical and effect that these individuals begin to resemble fundamentalist Christians, believing that the reward will come in heaven / the next life. By the way Mike, keep doing what you are doing, you are providing a valuable service as Marty did before you. Every bit of damage that can be inflicted upon this evil cult is important.
Realise that Hubbard cult doctrine does not, empirically, deliver the results he was promising back in the early 50s
Main Man, it’s true that the church can’t deliver on Hubbard’s promises, but that’s because they’ve completely squirreled the workable technology he labored for over half a century to perfect.
What they’ve been delivering in their orgs for close to thirty years now, only barely resembles the technology as researched, written, and practiced by many thousands of people in decades past, so no, you don’t see any empirical evidence of Scientology’s workability today.
Fortunately, it does still exist, and is now being practiced in the Indie field outside the church.
Well said, Ronnie.
so what about the clears and OTs made before the tech was squirreled? none of them exhibit the results promised by hubbard. i’v seen many videos of indie clears and OT8s who go all the way back to Ron, and none of them exhibit any of the qualities they are suppose to have. what’s the reason for that?
according to the unsquirreled tech, people who speak in generalities are degraded beings, and yet all we ever hear from ALL scientologists, indies and otherwise, is that they’ve gotten “wins”. that’s all, just “wins”. what these “wins” are is never elaborated on. that is very general. but it’s ignored.
all scientologists invalidate themselves within the very sentences they utter.
your own words contradict the very point you try to make.
so what about the clears and OTs made before the tech was squirreled? none of them exhibit the results promised by hubbard. i’v seen many videos of indie clears and OT8s who go all the way back to Ron
What do you want them to do — perform miracles before your eyes on YouTube?
How do you know what sort of abilities they exhibit in everyday life? Do you know any of those OTs personally? Did you know them prior to their participation in Scientology, and hence, are qualified to say that they haven’t changed? Or are you basing your entire assumption on a few videos you saw online?
Respectfully, friend, if you never participated in Scientology yourself, or never rubbed elbows with Scientologists in real life, you have no real basis upon which to make any sort of objective judgment about the subject.
I just finished reading “Counterfeit Dreams” by Jefferson Hawkins. Wow, what a ride! It is more affirmation to other people’s stories of how insane DM is, how he destroys the second dynamic in everyone around him, and breaks anyone with any spirit to get rid of the Big Beings as they are the ones capable of contronting him. And the “don’t look at me!” order confirms the seething mass of MWH he has. Jeff, so amazing when you write, at 58 you were in your car with your belongings in the car, out of the church, with no job, no place to live, no one to go to and almost no money. At 58 you started your life for the first time it seems. And yet you made it! This is inspiring! Jeff, please contact me as I have a question about Betsy Perkins who you mention in the Acknowledgements. Contact Mike for my email if you see this so that I can ask about her. Thank you for your service and what you withstood under the desire to clear the planet. I am so glad you are doing well and having fun.
All very funny but this is the funniest.
“We also expect to know shortly the date for the IAS Event, and will let you all know straight away, but if you are already planning to come to Saint Hill for the Event showing a week later, please let us know now!”
Who’s at who’s beck and call?
How does one sanely and politely answer such comm about the Event?
“Thank you for saying you’ll let me know straight away as soon as you find out the date for the IAS Event at Flag so that in case I’m planning to come to your event showing which will be a week later than the Flag Event I can let you know”.
Wow, life must really suck for these people now.
Mike,
You’re right “pathetic” is actually an understatement.
“There were highest ever number of OT V starts with 7 public started! That’s one every day of the week!”
And this is ‘sposed to be a “Highest Ever”.
At AO back in the ’80’s if our stats in the Tech Div ever got that low Qual would on us like a dirty shirt finding out who the “Bill Keens” were and putting them on the appropriate retreads.
Sheesh.
Pathetic is right.
(Probably New OT V retreads anyway which makes it doubly pathetic)
Anyhoo.
Moving on….
“There were 15 starts in total on OT Levels, more than 2 per day, as well as 10 new OTs made during the week.”
Again if stats were that low at AO back in the day.
Rita would be hurling darts at Rich’s picture and shouting “IT’s MILLER TIME” while Sandy’s office hits Richter 9.
10 new OTs.
(Probably the same completions counted several xs)
But even if they were actually different completions it’s still lousy.
Again at AO they used to play the William Tell Overture so many xs in a week that we got so sick of hearing it.
Finally:
“The Senior C/S is currently at Flag being briefed and trained for the Golden Age of Tech Phase II and we are all very excited about its imminent release! It could be any day now!”
Translation:
“He or she ain’t ever comin’ back.”
“It could be anyday now.” Yeah, definitely maybe.
I recall AOLA NOTs auditors commonly having 12-15 PC’s on their line-up daily, some had more, and an HGC waiting room with a dozen people in it at any given time all coming and going into sessions.
We would sit and wait for our turn to come up. As Pc’s went into session, new people would replace them in the waiting room. If was an area in a constant state of flux. Every few minutes there was a shuffling as new faces appeared and those waiting went into session.
7 starts is a stark contrast!
Tim, I well remember those days and your figures are correct. And what a stark contrast. But the new staff members, all young kids, have no past knowledge to compare it to. So if they have only seen trickles of people coming in, and one week one or two or three more than usual come in, heck that’s a big Affluence. Sad that they don’t have the full picture.
the new staff members, all young kids, have no past knowledge to compare it to.
I remember having a heated email exchange with my Sea Org nephew when I resigned from the church last year. One of the major points I brought to his attention was the fact that the number of people on auditor training courses had dropped by something like 95% since the mid to late seventies.
Having been born in the early 80s, he had no reality on that, so I pointed him to online copies of The Auditor magazine from the time period. Those magazines clearly show that hundreds of people were on auditor training at any given time during those days, and that graduation rates from academy level courses were in a range unheard of today.
Naturally, he wasn’t allowed internet access to verify it, but I reminded him that his father and I had both witnessed those bustling orgs with our own eyes. I challenged him to consult the memories of older Scientologists, if he didn’t believe me.
In the end, he tried to counter with the fact that so many people were doing the Basics courses. It was a weak attempt to justify the documented failure of the church to produce one of their two vital products – and he knew it.
I can only hope that I planted a seed in him that will bear fruit at some point.
I’m sure it will Ronnie, good job on your effort. Perhaps he will come to you with his doubts or when he crashes. Funny, that he spit out the huge outpoint of everyone being on basics instead of the bridge, as if not understanding the magnitude of that statement. I’m sure he doesn’t. Patience and love will go a long way.
Insanity can be easily measured by the number of exclamations points used.
Oh, and it isn’t linear, it is exponential.
http://otviiiisgrrr8.com/2013/10/25/church-of-scientology-to-launch-of-super-power-gat-ii-via-skype/
I worked at London Day 1979-82. St Hill size and ideal org didn’t apply then. Day staff
was approx 35, Foundation approx 65. With 65 on course on foundation and roughly 25-35
on day, plus div 6 day courseroom with maybe 15-20, and no doubt some PCs as well.
About a month ago I went to observe the new St Hill size Ideal London org. From 5.35pm
to 6.45 pm. During that time 30 people arrived and 29 left. I thought the changeover time
was 6.30. Maybe its 7pm. Iether way the org seems much smaller than when I was on staff.
I spoke to someone who was on staff there recently and was told most day staff actually came from St. Hill. This person on occasion posts here so he may comment further.
Note that for a time London was in effect “Flag” and thus had a large CF.
At one point, ISTR folks were getting shipped up from Saint Hill to do courses at Queen Victoria Street (London Idea Org)l, in order to boost their stats.
Mike, If I read your article right you say, “An Ideal Org and a St, Hill size org and 6 other orgs in the UK,” etc. By my count that makes 7 or 8 orgs, Ideal or otherwise, St Hills ize or otherwise, in the UK. So were the stats being touted of 7 starts on OT V coming from all of those 7 or 8 orgs combined? Or were they coming from one org only?
I love it that it needs spelling out that 7 starts in a week equates to 1 per day . I think most people’s maths is up to that equation.
But here’s the reality of life at St Hill as of yesterday – yes, Saturday 26th October. I was talking to an under-the-radar who reports that St Hill is DEAD. There are still plenty of Sea Org members busily hand-routing vital dispatches from one division to another, but as for public? NO ONE on the Briefing Course; very few public in any courseroom, and as for London? It’s gone from sheer panic to some sort of apathetic resignation apparently. It’s as lifeless and soulless as a DM tanning bed. Many key delivery terminals have disappeared completely and the KTL/LOC courseroom is but a distant memory.
“Ever” as in “highest ever” is an interesting re-definition too. When NOTs was released there was a queue half way up there drive for people waiting to sign up and start. In my day there were routinely 20+ public in or around the NOTs lounge waiting for sessions. The fact is the delivery stats are WAY down on even 10 years ago, and in a non-existent range compared to the 80s.
Geez…they forgot to put an exclamation point after the 3rd sentence.
Someone is slipping.
oops…Make that the 4th sentence. 🙂 (the second paragraph had 2 sentences.)
To my way of thinking, this email takes the concept of “lowering the bar” to a whole new level.
When I was working at St. Hill in the late 70s, AOSH UK had a nice flow of people into the course rooms and into the AO. It wasn’t a hundred a week, more like 15 to 20 new AO starts every week, sometimes more. They had PCs from around the world, including the US coming in all the time. It was steady. Now 35 years on, we have banners, confetti and champagne flowing with one new AO start per Day.
The bar has been lowered so far, that there is now a real danger of tripping over it.
Like Junior coming home with a D in math and Mom & Day heaving a sigh of relief – at least he wasn’t expelled again!
It’s both sad and aggravating, in that some of these folks have been there for decades. They KNOW what it was like years ago. Highest Ever, my Aunt Sadie’s patoot!! That is a false statement – compared to what?
Wow – data, facts, stats, lies – they’re all now interchangeable. Nothing really has meaning. I’m feeling very existential right now – where’s a philosopher when you need one!
Calm thyself grasshopper. For greater understanding of dm: “A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.” Henry Ford
For comfort: “The truth crushed to the ground will rise again.” MLKing
For faith: “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches on the soul.” Emily Dickenson
What this immediately brings to mind is Farina’s novel “Been Down So Long It Looks Up To Me” – with glee replacing Farina’s comic relief.
Reading that email brings this Seinfeld clip to mind…!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSKn8RlD7Is
“There were highest ever number of OT V starts with 7 public started! That’s one every day of the week!
There were 15 starts in total on OT Levels, more than 2 per day, as well as 10 new OTs made during the week.”
So no one could figure out how many 10 new OT’s was per day of the week?
At this rate the SO staff will need to renew their contracts. Wonder how much the levels will cost in 1bn years?
Maybe the Pied Piper of St. Hill’s flute has something wrong with it. The little buggers aren’t following him blindly like they used to. No jumping off a cliff for them.
I wanted to confirm that I’ll be at Saint Hill the week after the week of the Event showing just prior to the week of the Event itself.
I’ll be there with or without my family and/or children, along with my wife who can’t make it.
I’ll be attending as well.
Funny, WHs!
WH, has anyone previously confirmed you?
Perfect! I got one of those calls – confirming for an event with no date. I’m still stuck in the incident. On one hand I find myself LMAO at the absurdity. This is over the top even for the church. On the other hand, there’s the poor staff. Ugh. Who probably can’t eat, sleep, breath or use the restroom UNTIL THE CONFIRM STATS ARE UP for the event with no date!!! Why not just have them body route at 1am at one of these new ideal orgs with no foot traffic. Same thing.
One of the scariest movies I ever saw was titled The Killing Fields. It exposed the mass indoctrination of youths who would “report” on their parent’s activities during the Viet Nam war. Seeing the mind control of children against their family and even themselves really freaked me out, so to speak. I see similarity in what baffles me most about my SO friends who are droning on, still on staff, I think often with no means to leave. Let’s help them any way we can. I have 2 spare bedrooms, Beth Johnson my long time friend!! Bob and Jennifer Sanders. 3 1/5 hours north east of Flag—–I’ll drive down and get you, email me through this site!
We’ll cross you off the list so you don’t get any more calls, WH.
In fact that’s happening now so more like rats crawling over rats to get away
At least they are doing something but the envisioned
deluge of people. Floodgates opened on Gat 2 of thousands zooming up the Bridge
is a gross miscalculation. It smacks of Quickie Grades which nearly destroyed Scientology. If so,you will see a sudden rise in stats and then crash. Staff and public bail like rats from a sinking ship.
I love the perspective on this…. It is not late…. It is perfect timing. Thanks for your amazing reporting.