Dan Koon responds to the letter his ex-wife sent to ABC 20/20. A copy of her letter is below with Dan’s commentary in red. Because of my familiarity with some of the matters raised in her letter, I have added my own comments which are in blue italics.
Knowing Sue for more than 30 years, I am positive that she cringed the first time she saw this letterhead
April 27, 2016
This was mailed 2 days before the 20/20 show aired on ABC.
Another perfect example of the Int/Gold Base’s set-in-stone operating motto: “Too little, too late.”
John Bentley
ABC 20/20
47 West 66th Street
New York, NY 10023
Re: ABC 20/20 program and book co-author Dan Koon
Dear Mr. Bentley:
My name is Susan Goodban. I was very upset to learn that you plan to broadcast a program about a book co-authored by Ronald T. Miscavige and my former husband, Dan Koon. I have read a draft of the manuscript and I want to share with you my extensive personal knowledge that undercuts what he has written as the co-author.
I was married to Dan for 27 years. The bulk of that time we were in the Church of Scientology together. I was with him the entire time he was in Scientology and I know what he knows about the workings of the Church and its leadership. I can tell you unequivocally that he was never in a position to know about many of the things he is claiming in the book.
Sadly, my former wife does not know the function of a ghostwriter. My job was not to claim anything but to help Ron tell HIS story. This reflects rather badly on Sue because for the longest time we both worked in LRH’s compilations unit where our job was to compile bulletins, policies, courses and other writings ostensibly FOR L. Ron Hubbard and which were to stand over his signature until the planet was clear. To enter in our own ideas was anathema in that unit. The bottom line is I did not make ANY claims in the book. Now poor Capt. Miscavige is going to have to go back through everything Sue compiled over many years including the Key To Life Course and Life Orientation Course and ensure that Sue did not enter any curves into those “LRH” works.
Before I get to that, though, let me tell you a brief story that illustrates the character of Dan Koon. The last time I saw him was on December 21, 2003. I was ironing his shirt for work the next day and he went out to do some Christmas shopping. I never saw him again. After 27 years, he left without a word.
Of course, that afternoon after I had left without a word, Sue called my mother’s house cheerfully asking whether she had heard from me with the shore story (in other words, a lie) that I might be coming home for Christmas. I wonder how fast she would have alerted Security had I told her, “Oh, by the way, Sue, I’m blowing right now. Bye-bye.”
It was only after he was gone that I found out that for months he’d been having an illicit affair with Mariette Lindstein, now his wife, and that they had gone to great lengths to keep the whole thing hidden. She secretly departed a couple of weeks later and joined up with him. I bring this up because Dan now lies by falsely claiming that the Church broke up our marriage and that it somehow means that the Church breaks up families.
I don’t ever recall claiming that the church broke up our marriage. Since I never even thought it to myself, I doubt I ever said it. As for my illicit affair with Mariette, Sue should know that Mariette did not leave “a couple of weeks later” because by then both she and Mariette were in The Hole, and in fact sleeping on the floor in the same office together. The fact is that Mariette and Sue became friends in The Hole and when Mariette began acting crazy to get herself sent down to the RPF in PAC so she could blow more easily, Sue was the only one who saw through Mariette’s ruse and told her, “You’re not that crazy.” Nevertheless, Mariette did manage to be sent to the PAC RPF and blow on March 31 2004 more than three months after I escaped and our “illicit affair” did not begin until then. I am on the record stating that the church did not break up my marriage to Sue. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t break up lots of marriages, though.
One final comment here, after I blew, Sue was brought onto the base (at the time of my escape most everybody lived in apartments on Kirby Street in Hemet) and she lived for a while in the G Units. Scientologist actors, sound mixers and others who came to the base for work lived in the Gs. There was an outside phone line for their use to stay in contact with their families and others in LA while they were away. In the early days of 2004 I was now living with my mother and the phone rang one morning. I answered it and it was Sue, who called me from that phone in the Gs. She called to say good-bye, to say she loved me and to remind me not to abandon Scientology. It was a sad phone call for both of us and still makes me sad as I write this. Some weeks later she was now in The Hole and eventually confessed to making that call to me. Getting off that “overt” was not well received by the mob of her fellow inmates. How do I know? Her fellow Hole denizen Mariette told me after she escaped and we met up.
The truth is it was Dan and Dan alone who shattered our marriage by moving in with his mistress. Any other tale he tells is a lie promoted by Dan. It had nothing to do with the Church, which supports and encourages strong families.
I understand Dan’s circumstances. I was confronted with a similar choice. When it finally becomes intolerable to remain you have to decide whether you are going to confide in your spouse and have your plans thwarted. Escaping the international base often leads to marriages being split. Sometimes people are fortunate — Becky Miscavige escaped WITH Ron. Claire Headley escaped later and reunited with Marc. Unfortunately, Sue is still befuddled by the KoolAid. Had she and Dan NOT been working for scientology, and especially not at the International Base, I would wager they would still be married. The difference IS scientology. And in no wise does scientology support and encourage strong families, especially in the Sea Org and acutely NOT at the Int Base where couples were forced to divorce only because they were in different organizations ON THE SAME PROPERTY.
One thing that upsets me is Dan’s pretense of having intimate knowledge of the activities of David Miscavige. Dan is no more qualified than I am to write a book on Mr. Miscavige, his position and the global issues he is dealing with as the Church’s ecclesiastical leader. I lived and worked closely with Dan for the vast majority of his time at Golden Era Productions. I was with him virtually the entire time over the years because we were co-workers on the same projects, in the same organization, with the same interests and functions. Given our jobs and expertise, we were naturally many rungs below the top of the Church of Scientology and not privy to the inside information that the book claims.
Again, I make no claims in the book. It is Ron Miscavige’s story, not mine. Yet, having known David Miscavige for 27 years and having worked with him closely from 1987 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2003, I could write a book about my countless meetings with him and my observations of his actions towards myself and others. Yes, I most definitely could. Sue is right that we often worked closely on similar projects over the years and I have to say that we got along so well that I can recall a couple years that there was never even a harsh word between us, much less an argument, even though we spent virtually 24 hours a day together and even worked in the same office.
Dan Koon, in my presence, had HUNDREDS of interactions with David Miscavige. There is no pretense that he has intimate knowledge of the activities and proclivities of David Miscavige. Though none of them are recounted in Ron Miscavige’s book, he certainly could write his own.
Neither of us has a clue about Mr. Miscavige’s time with the religion’s Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, for example, aside from seeing them together on the set, shooting instructional films in 1978. We may have seen them speaking together at the end of each day’s shoot, but we certainly didn’t hear their conversations. And from then on, we did not work in Mr. Miscavige’s office and did not see the million and one things he did in the name of the religion. Oftentimes, Mr. Miscavige would be away from the property handling all manner of things, leading our Church. My husband and I were not there with him. We got our information like everybody else, at Church events and gatherings. We certainly didn’t know anything about the stories Dan tells in this book—and neither did Ronald Miscavige who was even further removed since he wasn’t even on Church staff at the time.
By the logic in this paragraph no one is qualified to write a history of the Roman Empire. On the other hand, David Miscavige considered that the technical aspect of Scientology, that is, the courses, auditor training programs, bulletins and so on were of such importance that he personally gave final authorization to everything technically related while passing all administrative matters to his AVC Unit (Authorization, Verification and Correction), whose head was for some years, ironically, Mariette Lindstein. (Scientology must seem like an inbred West Virginia hamlet at times to the casual reader.) Since both Sue and I were the primary people on these lines we both worked closely with David Miscavige for years and years on virtually every single technical matter in Scientology, a period spanning from 1979 to 2000 and most heavily from 1987 to 1997. Take a look at a Scientology Grade Chart and virtually every single item on it was compiled by either Sue or me. Throw in the disastrous Golden Age of Tech, iteration 1, and the Golden Age of Knowledge releases and Sue and I have it all covered. Imagine how many meetings we had with David Miscavige over those years. A ton. I think we both got a pretty good idea about David Miscavige’s personality and character as well as his management style. But I digress; Sue’s letter is about Ron’s book.
For many years, Dan Koon’s primary job was to compile scripture for publication to our parishioners. It was while working in that position that Dan showed he can’t be trusted. It is crucial in our faith that we adhere strictly to the writings and recorded spoken words of our Founder, Mr. Hubbard. If Mr. Hubbard wrote something, we issue it exactly as he wrote it. If he left instructions how earlier writings or lectures should be compiled for public release, then those instructions are to be followed precisely. There is no more serious offense in the religion than to alter what Mr. Hubbard wrote. To a Scientologist, changing scripture is tantamount to mortal sin.
Dan violated that trust by adding to the scripture, making up his own religious teachings and fraudulently representing his own writings as having been written by the Founder. And not in a small way. His alterations were insidious and extremely destructive to the religion.
Oh, man, would I love to see some specifics here. I have gotten wind of a couple over the years. The first was the 1987 Grades Process Checklists, which were criticized by DM allegedly and blamed on me for making them overlong, which caused preclears to spend endless hours on their Expanded Lower Grades. Of course, the one who insisted that these checklists contain every process under the sun, moon and stars was none other than David Miscavige who went so far as to have me stay up one night to write 50 individual submissions for each change RTRC was proposing to make in these checklists. That was a long night.
Another fiasco laid at my doorstep is the infamous Golden Age of Tech, released in 1996. I admit to compiling the basic pattern of drills later used in auditor training as well as course checksheets and revisions to the E-meter drill books as well as everything else involved in the technical aspects of the program. I’ll take responsibility for any problems this evolution caused anybody and spent months after the launch with the rest of RTRC to correct mistakes in the drills from student reports. I, however, did NOT set the tone for how this program was implemented, that is, to invalidate every auditor’s prior training and the disastrous effects the implementation of the program had on auditors, preclears and the entirety of Scientology over the world. That is the sole province of you-know-who, the Master of Disaster himself, Capt. David Miscavige.
This is the same old line used forever by scientology. As soon as someone leaves and dares criticize scientology, or heaven forbid, David Miscavige, they suddenly become unethical, incompetent “criminals” who spent their entire careers messing things up and creating havoc for others in the church. This is a long tradition — from Reg Sharpe through David Mayo to Dan Koon and other contemporaries like me and Marty Rathbun. Funny thing is is these incompetent criminals were put in positions of great responsibility for years or even decades. How did nobody notice they were SPs messing everything up” Especially when it was mandatory for everyone in the Sea Org to do the PTS/SP Course.
During this period, Mr. Miscavige was away dealing with other Church matters. When he returned, he discovered what Dan had done and summarily removed Dan from his position. Mr. Miscavige has since purged all of Dan’s inventions from the religious scripture and brought the materials back to a pure state. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the harm done, it took the better part of a decade for Mr. Miscavige to assemble all of L. Ron Hubbard’s original works and ferret out the curves and twists Dan had introduced in them and bring these materials back to what Mr. Hubbard had instructed to be done.
Sue has lapsed into fiction in this paragraph. David Miscavige didn’t remove me from squat. I was thankfully removed from my position as head of the Snr C/S Int Office in 1998 but this was after DM had demanded that I assume the Snr C/S Int post (though I was not C/S trained beyond Class IV level, which gives you an indication of DM’s respect for technical qualifications in the church hierarchy), thus sparking the worst year of my 27 in the Sea Org. And fortunately this paragraph is fiction because otherwise it would reflect badly on DM’s ability to undo virtually everything he had carefully combed through and blessed with his papal seal. I won’t go into everything that comprises a technical submission but it is extensive, down to basing every technical decision being made on an existing LRH reference. In RTRC we had administrative people whose job was to assemble all these references, highlight and tab them and proofread the CSW to ensure every I was dotted and every T was crossed. For him to take 10 years to correct all that, sheesh, what a maroon!
Rather than confront what he had done and commit to reforming, Dan chose to sneak away like a coward just as he snuck away from our marriage. But the harm he caused to the Church continued to fester inside him. I know this from seeing the way he has tried to rewrite history in his postings on the Internet.
For example, in a 2015 posting that he co-wrote with another anti-Scientologist, Jefferson Hawkins, Dan claims credit for writing the contents of a large guide chart listing all of Mr. Hubbard’s books and lectures, including a short description of each. The chart was issued in 2007. Dan was long gone from the Church by then.
True, both Jeff and I were long gone, but it was a lot easier for DM to issue the Materials Guide Chart that we wrote and that Carrie Cook (also since long gone) designed than to redo the whole thing. When the chart was released in 2007 I got a copy to see what had been changed since Jeff and I worked on it and was shocked to see that it was virtually word for word what we wrote in 2003. I only say virtually because I could not compare it to what we wrote earlier, but I could not find anything that seemed newly written.
In another 2015 posting, he falsely claims that Mr. Miscavige reinstated a series of counseling steps called the Survival Rundown that Mr. Hubbard cancelled in 1979. What he doesn’t say is that Mr. Hubbard instructed that to compile this rundown properly, hundreds of counseling procedures would need to be extracted from the more than 2,000 lectures in which they were contained, organized, catalogued and compiled. Whereas this was far too much work for Dan to ever do, this is exactly what Mr. Miscavige did.
I will bet dollars to donuts that Mr. Miscavige did little more than demand that others do this work and then hector them when it was not done fast enough. Any takers?
These examples are to show you that Dan cannot be trusted. His level of resentment is clear, and this book should be seen for the cynical and unscrupulous act it is.
How strange it is that not a SINGLE thing she has said shows that Dan cannot be trusted? At best she has sought to make him out as incompetent? Though not even incompetent as a ghost writer. And certainly even taking her statements at face value it doesn’t demonstrate at all that the book is either cynical or unscrupulous…
Dan and his co-author falsely represent that Mr. David Miscavige treated people poorly. Dan knows this to be a lie. I worked with Dan extensively and witnessed the opposite. Here is an example: Even though Dan was in a very junior position, Mr. Miscavige saw that Dan felt uncomfortable about having amblyopia, or lazy eye. Mr. Miscavige asked Dan if he would like to have his eye corrected and then arranged for Dan to receive the necessary surgery. The procedure was successfully done to correct his eye. Dan was quite happy with the result of this purely compassionate act.
Among the many things that Sue and I shared, this included lazy right eyes. As a kid my right eye was crossed and at age 5 I had it straightened. As I grew older it began drifting out. I think Sue had a similar situation. She got hers fixed first and I got mine fixed after that because DM wanted me to begin doing appearances for management or something, which reason now escapes me. And, yes, I went under the knife again for another operation and was very happy with the results. Thanks, Dave, though why you were bypassing the MLO, I don’t know.
Another time, I had hurt my knee in an accident and could not walk easily. To help, Mr. Miscavige personally arranged for me to get an electric wheelchair so I could get around more easily and without pain until my knee healed.
In yet another example, one year Dan and I got stranded at the airport after coming home from vacation visiting our family. We called in on New Year’s Eve. Surprisingly, Mr. Miscavige was walking by and answered the phone when the rest of the staff was at the New Year’s party. It was pure happenstance. He then personally made the effort to get us a lift home so we could enjoy the celebration before it ended. That is what he is like. He always made sure the staff were well cared for.
I vaguely remember this now that she mentions it. To conclude that he always made sure the staff were well cared for is stretching things just a tad, however, as zillions of others’ personal stories all over the Internet will corroborate.
In addition, good work was routinely rewarded by Mr. Miscavige. Upon completion of a project he sent me and the entire unit to L.A. to see the live musical “Phantom of the Opera.” On another occasion we were treated to a day at the Raging Waters water park. On another occasion we were sent out to see a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. On yet another occasion we were treated to dinner and a night out to see the play “Art” in London. One Christmas, he sent the whole office a large basket of food and treats with a nice card thanking us for our work that year. These are just some examples which show Dan’s allegations to be false and he knows them to be untrue because he was a beneficiary of
Mr. Miscavige’s recognition when his work warranted it.
Yep, all these events did occur. Things were pretty good in the early 1980s and even as late as 1996 when Sue and I accompanied DM to St. Hill for the IAS event that October.
In typical Dan Koon hyperbole, he falsely compares Golden Era Productions to North Korea and the staff there to “prisoners.” This is absurd and ridiculous. Dan and I lived together during the years he was on staff here at Golden Era Productions. We lived in an apartment in town and commuted a half-hour each day to get to work. We owned a large blue Buick. We would go to the local shops on Sunday morning, do our weekly grocery shopping and so on. As a routine we would do studies on Scientology in the mornings and then Dan and I would do exercise and sports using the facilities. Sometimes we used to go out and play catch on the baseball field and during holidays and special occasions we would do jet skiing, baseball games, barbeques, etc. In the years we were here together there were more and more improvements to the property and crew facilities such as renovating ideal office spaces, brand-new dining facilities, a new fleet of cars for crew use, a building housing laundry facilities where our sheets and towels are washed and folded, new sports facilities (a baseball field, volleyball courts, a basketball court, tennis courts and a soccer field) not to mention the Olympic-size swimming pool. When we arrived here the property was literally a dirt bowl. Now it is beautiful.
This is more truth on Sue’s part. Of course the time period she refers to is the late 1970s and 1980s, which periods were also punctuated by years of hell as anyone who was at the base in 1982 will remember very unfondly. Also, Sue may be excused for failing to mention the year she spent on the RPF around 1984 or the abortion she was forced to have in 1985. Other than that life at Int/Gold was a paradise. Not.
She adds a new one to the worker’s paradise I had not heard before. A fleet of new cars for “crew use.” As if the vehicles owned by the church were used for anything other than church business. North Korea claims they have ski resorts for “the people” too — they do have ski resorts, the “people” are the friends and family of the Dear Leader. Another way scientology is like North Korea. The way they spin facts into misrepresentations.
The book falsely represents that staff members subsisted on “substandard food” and lacked proper medical care. It also falsely claims that staff members could not go to the doctor unless they were accompanied by an “escort.” Both of these assertions are simply fiction. The food at Golden Era Productions is excellent. Dan told me more than once that he thought the hamburgers were the best in the world. Additionally, neither Dan nor I ever had an “escort” when we left the Gold base for medical appointments or for any other purpose. For example, before Dan had his eye surgery, described above, he had multiple visits to the doctor on his own or with me in our Buick. On rare other occasions we received rides from staff to medical appointments in town but were always dropped off and never monitored in any way.
True, we used to get hamburgers every Saturday during lunch on renos and they were fabulous. Of course the food allocation was not 1 dollar per person per meal. At those times, which were frequent, it was chicken, chicken and more chicken. Or, if you were lucky, rice and beans.
Dan Koon has been gone from the Church for 13 years, having been expelled. Dan knows nothing of the Church today. He gets everything he regurgitates in Ron Miscavige’s book from discredited rants on the Internet from a handful of other disgruntled malcontents like him.
Life in the Church is more exciting now than it has ever been, with Mr. Miscavige’s work appreciated by parishioners and staff worldwide. He has brought about an incredible energy and resurgence of our religion, which is what people like Dan Koon and his small anti-Scientology clique froth at the mouth over. They missed out on it and resent it.
Dan is resentful of someone committed to making the world a better place because he, himself, is a total failure. Obviously, Dan harbors a grudge towards Mr. Miscavige because it is Mr. Miscavige who corrected the egregious alterations of the Scientology religious scriptures created by Dan. This bitterness undoubtedly will be woven through every page of the book Dan created for Ron Miscavige, which is just a vehicle for a tiny group of anti-Scientologists to vent their sick agenda.
Another standard scientology line — everyone who leaves is resentful because they are “missing out” on all the great times scientology is having. Ha ha ha ha. I cannot believe they keep saying this. I would literally commit suicide before returning to Riverside County’s very own Auschwitz.
Dan Koon once described himself as “on the evil side of the equation.” Now he’s publishing vicious lies in a book for money and fame. There is nothing Dan and Ron Miscavige can or will say that will honestly reflect the Church today. Dan is reviled within the Church as a fraud.
Dan Koon cannot be trusted to tell the truth. As someone who was married to him for 27 years, I know. If you have an ounce of integrity, you will not provide a platform to this hateful person and ABC will be honest with its viewers and expose Dan Koon as the heretic that he is.
There’s nothing like having a New York Times #1 bestseller to cover up the resentment, guilt and egregious alterations of scripture. The fact is that Ron was never going to tell his story until his own daughters disconnected from him at the behest of their brother David. Steve Hall and I had been on Ron for two years to write a book but he was going to let everything slide—even when David told the PIs following him to let him die—until his daughters refused to see or speak to him. After that, all bets were off and the rest is publishing history. Money and fame would be nice, but I would trade that in a heartbeat, and so would Ron, to see the church’s policy of disconnection done away with. I left many, many fine people behind when I escaped in late 2003 and would love to see them again.
That includes Sue. All said, I wish Sue well and always will.
Sincerely,
Susan J. Goodban
Off topic, but relevant. Dan Koon was chosen by LRH to portray Joe Howard, the star of The Pro TR’s Film. But, since Dan has left the so-called church, the film has been removed. My conclusion is that David Miscavige considers LRH’s judgment faulty.
Dan:
Quote from Sue’s words:
For many years, Dan Koon’s primary job was to compile scripture for publication to our parishioners. It was while working in that position that Dan showed he can’t be trusted. It is crucial in our faith that we adhere strictly to the writings and recorded spoken words of our Founder, Mr. Hubbard. If Mr. Hubbard wrote something, we issue it exactly as he wrote it. If he left instructions how earlier writings or lectures should be compiled for public release, then those instructions are to be followed precisely. There is no more serious offense in the religion than to alter what Mr. Hubbard wrote. To a Scientologist, changing scripture is tantamount to mortal sin.
Dan violated that trust by adding to the scripture, making up his own religious teachings and fraudulently representing his own writings as having been written by the Founder. And not in a small way. His alterations were insidious and extremely destructive to the religion.
End of quote.
My question to you Dan, is:
The data in the article: “How to study a science” or “How to study scientology” in the book “New Slant on Life”, is completely contrary (the total opposite) to the way of thinking in Sue’s words, in particular:
“It is crucial in our faith that we adhere strictly to the writings and recorded spoken words of our Founder, Mr. Hubbard.”
In “How to study a science”. Hubbard in essence says;
Stop parroting me. Question everything I say. Learn to think for yourself. Go and do your own research.
In other words develop some critical thinking skills.
As far as I can tell, from reading different editions of that book, there are different versions of the article. I think in another version or at least some where else, he is talking about completing the cycle of learning, and how to do it, he says, to get full understanding of a subject, you study and research all data of comparable magnitude in the known universe.
In another place Hubbard says: Nothing is true unless it is proven to be true.
When you come across those words when you are going through the writings with a fine tooth comb and rewriting the books, doesn’t it occur to you to question the way of thinking of:
“It is crucial in our faith that we adhere strictly to the writings and recorded spoken words of our Founder, Mr. Hubbard.”
?????
Don’t you think of doing as Hubbard says, and question everything he says and going to do your own research?
Don’t you think of going and completing your cycle of understanding and read and study everything of comparable magnitude in the known universe?
Which in order to do so would have you leave the church and go off on your own?
Dio
Dio, interesting questions. I am positive that the “Do your own research” came long before 1965 and KSW. However, that is the frame of mind I am in today. Look at it this way: many people raved about their wins from Creative Processing, yet LRH cancelled it in the mid-50s because it sometimes “beefed up the bank.” 10 years later there are Clears, with no bank. And later those completed on OT levels which takes care of other factors. Why the hell would not Creative Processing be valid to run again? With the one caveat about it gone, what’s the downside? None. That’s my point. People need to begin “messing” with auditing to find out what really works and what is just PR, PR, PR.
Dan,
1. To tell you the truth, from what little experience I have with creative processing, Hubbard is right on that point, that is….. it beefs up the bank.
When I had some of it done on me, it hurts my brain. When I read it, it hurts my brain. I get the same feeling as the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. Similar with power processing.
2. Quoting you: People need to begin “messing” with auditing to find out what really works and what is just PR, PR, PR.
End of quote.
I have done a lot of “messing” with auditing. In a way, or to a degree, I have been full circle with “messing” with auditing.
I have developed my own bridge to a fair degree and adopted auditing improvements from others who went before me.
And out of that developed my own process.
(I have not written it down. That knowledge is mostly all in my head.)
I learned a long time ago, that a competent, intelligent student does everything he can to learn everything he can from his teachers and everyone who came before him and build on that, and stand on their shoulders and see further.
The biggest room in the world is room for improvement.
Earthly knowledge is never static.
(If thinking people did not think that way, we would be still living in caves and swinging from trees.)
To put things in proper perspective, and to be honest and partial only to the highest truths possible and to give credit where credit is due, and criticism where criticism is due:
In hind sight, and from a bird on a wire point of view, the best auditing tech that Hubbard came up with, whether it was plagerized in whole or in part, is irrelevant,……. is Dianetics.
It was greatly organized and improved by Frank Gerbode with TIR.
Hubbard’s scientology auditing is of very poor quality. It does more to mess your head up than to fix it. Or it fixes your head up in some ways, but at the same time messes your head up in other ways. So after decades of auditing, you feel better in some ways, but worse in other ways.
Like being raped, on one hand, it feels good to have had sex, but on the other hand, you still feel fucked and violated.
Hubbard’s mission and tech is very cleverly laced (embedded) with evil intentions (evil purposes), too.
Filbert says that Hubbard actually knew nothing about auditing or did not know how to audit.
I for the most part and basically agree with Filbert.
But after reading Excalibur Revisited, I say similar about Filbert.
But this is not a bad thing.
The basic idea or concept of auditing is an incredible discovery.
I would say it is the most significant and most important discovery in all of history.
Nothing else is of more importance and nothing else even comes close to the degree of importance.
But it takes a lot good heads, a lot of knowledge, a lot of trial and error and experience to develop good auditing techniques and to become a good auditor.
No one could do it in one lifetime.
It takes many life times.
It takes the accumulated knowledge and experience of many great minds and many life times to develop great auditing technology and a bridge that really works, (a bridge with no missing planks and no rotten planks) a bridge that will produce a true homo illuminous.
The closest analogy that I can come up with is the invention and evolution of automobiles, or the first airplane to modern airplanes to rockets.
But these inventions and their evolution pales in comparison to what it takes to invent and develop good auditing technology and a bridge that really works.
These inventions took a hundred and some yrs.
Auditing tech took 1000s of yrs, if not more.
Hubbard was right when he said in 8-0-0-8 that his work was based on 50,000 yrs of thinking men. And he names a few of them in the intro.
That is very true.
It is my hypothesis that there is much more to the story of the development of “scientology” in the true definition of the word: the science of knowledge, the science of knowing how to know the truth of something, and the science of making a homo illuminous, or the science of maximizing human potential, than we are aware of, or can comprehend.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s Scientologie could be said to be 1.0.
Hubbard’s version of scientology could be said to be begin at 2.0 and go to maybe 10.0, to pick an arbitrary number, to give roughly one number for each revision or step or stage in his research.
People like Filbert, Electra, the Pilot, Clearbird, Dennis Stevens with TROM, and Zivorad Slavinski, CBR, Frank Gerbode, and others need to be given credit for their work.
Maybe that takes the number to about 20.0.
And the bridge and auditing is still not where it needs to be.
That is the impartial honest truth.
Dio
Dan,
If I remember right, LRH calls the mind a booby trap to end all booby traps.
I have always considered this to be a pretty good description.
He spent his life mapping a way out of it and, IMHO, did!
The problem with the people you think should mess with it, is, that they
would not even have found an entrance point to it by themselves.
Therefore I consider the chances for them to find a better way out of it to be rather slim.
Marcel Wenger
You know Dan, come to really think of it, “solutions to resolve the problems of the mind and life” has been consciously or unconsciously the holy grail since the dawn of elementary consciousness or awareness.
We are not there yet.
I would say that we are now getting close.
The dilematic, enigmatic and diabolical problem we as a civilization have, is that the basic principles of the only real solution to the problems of the mind and life (the baby in the bath water) are contained within a body of knowledge, that the most disreputable, most criminal, most evil organization on earth and in all the history of the earth has usurped and hijacked and claims to have copyright on, and is in essence using it for bait and holding it as hostage for entrapment, ransom and extortion and abuse.
As I am sure you well know, the reputation of scientology and the cos is so despicable that the shear utter of the word in normal society can cause violent and dangerous reactions.
Dio,
Holy grail: a thing that is being earnestly pursued or sought after.
I wonder what were Sue’s TRUE feelings while being FORCED to write this letter. This is DM’s own personality on that letter. What really impressed me was Dan’s INCREDIBLE level of honesty and humbleness; my hat off to him.
Sue also seems like a good person. Her own personality is there hidden behind DM’s, but I can sense her real self, which is not what that letter “she” wrore reflects. She is very sad and hurt that Dan had to leave her. She is upset and hurt that she had to lose a life partner; tha’s all, and she wished it had not happen.
I wish that she could wake up from this cult that has separated so many families; make peace with Dan, heal old wounds, and have a chance to live her last years on Earth in a normal life setting, enjoying the real freedoms of existence.
It pains me to see what by all means seems to have been a great couple, being forced to separate over differences in religion and loyalty towards any “leader”.
You know that you are inside a cult when differences in religious viewpoints and support for any “leader” is greater than the love and tolerance that any couple or friends have towards one another; a VERY sad state of affairs.
I wish them BOTH the best of luck in their life paths, and I can only see her as a lost soul in desperate need of help. May she wake up from her hypnotic state of false loyalties, and find the courage to escape the cult.
And keep that incredible humble attitude, Dan; it speaks so well of your character.
Hi I’m looking for some more great podcasts. That is great stories from from exscientologists and ex sea org members. I’ve listen to all the Jeffrey Auguststine interviews and seems like he hasn’t done any since Mike’s interview last January. Any suggestions?
Hey Tony, there are tons of interviews/videos on Youtube. I’ve listened/watched so many that I can’t even remember them all. Here’s a few that come to mind: All of the video on Tampa Bay Times – Inside Scientology section which includes The Truth Rundown. The interviews on Mark Bunker’s channel with Jason Beghe and Brian Caulkin are interesting. Chris Shelton’s site has good interviews and video too. It’s all at your fingertips!
If anything, Sue’s letter demonstrates the ill-effects years of Scn will have on your thought processes. Once again, public proclamations raise more questions than they answer. Does Sue really think a thinking adult would just swallow her rant without question?
I would love to see Dan’s response to Sue’s letter be made public, hit the headlines. And for ABC 20/20 to interview Dan about it.
Sue: MY GOD! YOU’RE AWFULLLL!!!
Dan: Flunk! … FLUNK!! … FAAA-LUUUUUNK!!!!!
Dave, that one got me smiling. Hilarious.
Hoped you would like that Dan. I wonder how many people here know where that’s from.
Lol, the Pro TRs film!!!
“To give you an idea of the magnitude of the harm done, it took the better part of a decade for Mr. Miscavige to assemble all of L. Ron Hubbard’s original works and ferret out the curves and twists Dan had introduced in them and bring these materials back to what Mr. Hubbard had instructed to be done.”
Bwaaaaaaa ha ha ha haaaaaa ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaa! Sweet, suffering Jeeezus, is that what that little twat Miscavige is saying took so long? That’s fucking rich! Poooooor Davey, PTS to that Eeeeevil SP Dan Koon! What a hoot!
I’d like to see those “LRH instructions” sometime, hah. That’s another load of bullshit from the asthmatic little twerp, the Prophet of Scientology and Oracle of the Fatman.
I just realized Dan mentioned forcing abortion onSue, I did the same thing and I regret it over and over, and it nearly destroys mynlife. I convinced my wife to abort in 1991 because I was making OTS in the Universe Corps. Feel the pain
Mike, I didn’t force the abortion on her. The church did. I had nothing to do with it and regret that I did not speak up loud enough at the time. But, really, I was not even consulted. It was just “taken care of.” Like has been done so many times. Can you imagine how many more Scientologists there would be today?
I’ve said that too… the “no children” policy effectively eliminated the next generation of “born-in” Sea Org members. Then came “no marriages” in Sea Org… both contributed to people leaving.
Miscavige also ‘declared’ and threw out many long-time dedicated members, thereby once again shrinking the member base. Add to that the fallout from people associated with the expelled members leaving because they had left, and you have a snowball effect of people quitting Scientology. DM made some bad decisions. Some members he targeted because he wanted to contain or dispose of anyone who might be a threat to his power (many long-time, dedicated, knowledgeable members who were well-known and respected). But that led to people saying what… Debbie Cook is gone? Mike Rinder? Marty Rathbun…Dan Koon.. CHris Shelton? What is going on…?! And then, high profile celebrities like Lisa Marie Presley and Leah Remini… he really needed to do much, much more to keep members, so, yeah, DM made mistakes, that led to membership severely declining and the church becoming a smaller group made up of very rich people that he controls and very gullible people who will work for nothing and question nothing… unless… that was his intention.
I stoppped reading the article just over half way through because, to me, it is not a relevant attack on Dan Koon but a grovelling sycophantic apology to Mr Wonderful about an evil SP.
It must be very painful to speak ill of a person who you know does not deserve it. Worse yet to allow others to use you to represent their words when those words are not what you believe to be true. The Church of Scientology prides itself in its ability to rob people of their personal integrity then dispaly these people as rags flapping in the wind on their mast of conquered souls. Susan is just one of the many who COBs machine managed to twist into believing perverted lies by drowning out the opposing screams in her head through the threat of a perceived greater loss.
COBs only notable quote that was not written by Dan Sherman (or was it?) is, “People keep saying, How’d you get power? Nobody gives you power. I’ll tell you what power is. Power in my estimation is if people will listen to you. That’s it.”
That is a lie. He does not want people to listen to him. He wants people to obey him.
Scientology has become just another religion of obedience.
It has managed to create an image of a utopian eternity in the minds of its followers that can only be achieved through blind obediance to its leader.
One’s own concepts of love, trust or loyalty towards others become fleeting thoughts against the promise of a “Cleared Planet” if you do your part.
I am sorry that one of your own was turned against you, Dan Koon. The man who controls this “Religion” is an evil man and must be stopped from continuing to hurt others. I thank you for what you’ve done and place myself at your service.
Thank you RB. That is the kind of writing I aspire to.
“The Church of Scientology prides itself in its ability to rob people of their personal integrity then dispaly these people as rags flapping in the wind on their mast of conquered souls. Susan is just one of the many who COBs machine managed to twist into believing perverted lies by drowning out the opposing screams in her head through the threat of a perceived greater loss.” What breathtakingly good writing, Regraded Being. Not only do you clearly state the truth and the way it is, but you do it in such an elegant writing style. Dan Sherman would be so jealous of your skill.
I also thought the remarks by RB were insightful and compassionate. RB has a way of making people think about what is being said, it strikes a chord.. like the comic strip, it always engages your mind, and can make you both laugh and cry at the same time. Is it Friday yet? C’mon RB!
Mike Rinder wrote:
“This is the same old line used forever by scientology. As soon as someone leaves and dares criticize scientology, or heaven forbid, David Miscavige, they suddenly become unethical, incompetent “criminals” who spent their entire careers messing things up and creating havoc for others in the church. This is a long tradition — from Reg Sharpe through David Mayo to Dan Koon and other contemporaries like me and Marty Rathbun.”
When L. Ron Hubbard was still unable to exorcise the last number of “body thetans” that were bugging Ron at the end of his life, and he failed to get rid of them all, who’s fault was that?
Who can be blamed for that?
Standard tech is supposed to work 100% of the time.
But when the founder of Scientology fails at his own exorcism OT 7 procedures on himself, who is to blame for that?
OT 7 exorcism from Hubbard is applied to oneself, by oneself.
So Hubbard died and failed to apply his own tech to himself standardly and he failed to eliminate all of his own “body thetans.”
What does that say about Hubbard?
The last chapter of Lawrence Wright’s “Going Clear…” has even worse details of Hubbard’s failure at trying to eliminate the last “body thetans” still bugging him.
IIRC from my distant auditor training, that’s Flow 0. Fatman to Himself.
I wish assured hope that OCB, ESMB, UB, MRs’ blog and MT stay away from any Politics in regards to who they think the next President should be.
Keep on topic and discussion.
Fact of the matter is that the CO$ has been clueless at detecting SPs.
totally agree.
The fact of the matter is that the whole purpose of dianetics and scientology is to produce a “clear” and then “OT”. Anybody disagree with that?
Religion, faith, OMG. That’s not what I paid hard earned bucks to achieve.
I just wanted to go “clear”, remove the R6 bank, remove the common denominator from mankind that creates “groupthink” or a “crowd” mentally, be a free thinker and self determined.
Hey, I just realized something, the common denominator groupthink of dianetics and scientology is LRH and being a scientologist.
Fuk that shit. SP I am. LOL
Sue went out to the fringes of the Internet and read Dan’s missives? Isn’t that verboten?
Dan, how did you get a copy of this letter? Was one sent to you by her or 20/20?
Cece, no, my wife found it, I think, on the Ron Miscavige smear site.
Wow Dan, Unbelievable she seems to think you wrote the book and Ron’s stories were your stories. She seems to be an intelligent person. I would be saddened if my X of 24 years I left in the SO was to write about me so invalidating. But I would not put it past him. He has managed to get 2 of our 4 children to disconnect from me. I have dreams of taking him to court for defamation but that’s enough for now. All those that cause harm to another will have their own moment to realize the truth and proceed to make up for the damage they have done. I hope it comes soon for many especially the older ones who have another 20 golden years to truly enjoy their new found wisdom. Thank you for helping with the book, I just finished it while relaxing on a trip to Washington state. Easy reading.
Is m night shyamalan a scientologist? The twist ending here is that Sue didn’t even write the letter!
was this letter signed by Susan? Actual signature and does Dan recognizance it?
I must admit that I went into the Reading Pravda mode as I read the letter.
I read Ron Miscavige Senior’s book (co-written by Dan Koon) and thought it was well-done. It sounded as though it was coming from Ron Miscavige’s “voice” as if Ron was talking directly to the reader (I have never met either of the authors, by the way) so I’d say Dan Koon did a good job of advising or editing.
I enjoyed reading the early recollections from Ron about his youngsters, including Dave, the funny little stories parents tell. If anything, they were overly careful about not saying anything controversial about the Church, and they didn’t really ‘name names’, a lot of times he’d say something along the lines of: ‘a colleague of mine’ did that, or ‘one of my associates’ had this happen to him, or this was told to me by ‘a friend’ – he really took care not to call anyone out, which of course is not all that good for the reader, who would like to put it in context, or gauge reliability or so forth, but I understand why they did this, there were no unsubstantiated allegations, no one can sue for libel or whatever, among other reasons.
Also, Ron seemed to skip over many years and experiences “for 7 years I played in the band” (not a direct quote) or “we lived this way for 10 years”, which left me asking, what, nothing memorable happened in all that time? But again, I understand. There is a long time period covered in the book, so he had to pick and choose the most significant events, or just give a general flavor or sense of life in those conditions. I was hoping for a little more detail. But every writer has their own style: Leah Remini’s book was a strong narrative of her life with great verbal illustrations of social situations, who did what, with emotions; Amy Scobee was excruciatingly honest about personal events, very believable, likeable and empathetic; Jefferson Hawkins gave good insights into his motivations, state of mind and feelings as events occurred, and Mike Rinder…. well, he hasn’t written his book yet, to my knowledge, and there is no telling if he ever will. That’s the one I’m waiting to read. Maybe one day.
Thanks for the kind word. One additional point: St Martins put a limit on how long the book could be and we came in just under, so we couldn’t have added in more stuff without taking out something elsewhere. Our purpose was to highlight the toxic policy of disconnection but do it in a way that would reach as wide an audience as possible. That’s why we didn’t get into too much “inside baseball.”
Just a comment on book length. Now that there is a print book out by a major publisher, y’all could follow up with an epub book as many pages as you want. Put a plug for the follow on epub in any reprints of the dead tree book, and in the digital first book.
GREAT POST!!!
1. I find the historical notes fascinating of who wrote or supervised what.
2. Dan’s notes are terrific–honest and caring and candid.
3. Sue comes across as reaching and vindictive…whiny (she forgot to mention he didn’t put the toilet seat down)zzz.
4. Sue’s praise of DM seems incredibly contrived. Compared to the non-Scieno world his “generosity” is laughable. You mean you don’t have health insurance? or a car? or get to go to musicals? or vacations? If “a great hamburger” is a high point of praise doesn’t that tell you something.
5. The COS attack on Ron’s book is bad PR for the COS. Take your medicine and shut up and the book will go away.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that DM was Susan’s ghost writer on this letter.
I agree, it looks like D.M. was Sue’s co-writer. I can feel her emotion when she starts by saying Dan walked out one day after 27 years in the church and left… but I see D.M. adding material when later it says ‘Dan has been gone from the church for 13 years, having been expelled.’ Which was it, he quit without telling anyone, walked out… or was expelled? The whole letter is full of those kinds of inconsistencies. There are two ‘tones’ to the letter: the sad, bewildered, abandoned ex-wife… and the church official who is trying to ‘pin crimes’ on Dan. The two don’t come together well.
What did you expect, T.J? Consistency?
I remember in 2012 months before my wife and I were declared, 2 OSA Bots tried to ambush us at our house unannounced to show us Dan Koon’s and Marty Rathbun’s declare and how evil they were. We refused to entertain that idea. Dan had spend an afternoon at my house earlier that year, and I can attest he is no friggin SP.
It’s ironic I did a CMO Mission into AOSH UK in the mid 80’s with Sue Koon and Mariette Lindstein. Sue and I were the Techies on the mission I got a long quite well with both of them. Sue and Mariette were quite friendly with one another from my observation. It just blows my mind that she would write such a nasty “KR”, but she was probably ordered to by DM.
Groveling to stay off rice and beans.
Re: “… by then both she and Mariette were in The Hole, and in fact sleeping on the floor in the same office together. The fact is that Mariette and Sue became friends in The Hole and when Mariette began acting crazy to get herself sent down to the RPF in PAC so she could blow more easily…”
This is so sad and so terribly not okay. Why must scientology’s crimes against humanity be suffered day in and day out? When did such injustice and insanity become the norm so that unusual solutions are found to overcome these unusual situations? The so-called ‘church” of scientology is mind-f*cking its staff and parishioners.
Fred G. Haseney and JennyAtLAX
Clever Mariette! She wrangled things so she could get out!
I tried to put myself into the shoes of a producer at ABC reading this letter. I know a fair number of news producers, from my own long history of being interviewed on some aspect of the stock market and from personal friendships. There isn’t a producer in town who wouldn’t see this “ad hominem” screed for what it is: a low-grade attempt to distract from a big story.
It would be far more credible to refute point-by-point the allegations in Ron Miscavige’s book, particularly by providing verifiable, tangible evidence to address anything that they claim is inaccurate. But since Hubbard the PR genius said you always attack the messenger, so they must, even when it gets them laughed at.
And if the producer reading this screed wasn’t laughing part way through, the last sentence, labeling Dan a “heretic,” would definitely crack up the reader and guarantee the letter a one way trip to either the trash can or to the “letters from crazy people” file that most public figures keep.
The only thing they could do to get a bigger laugh would be to refer to Dan not as a heretic but as a “bitter, defrocked apostate.”
That’s exactly how I read it….at a point it just turns into blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. (And nobody looks at the Ron Miscavige slander site either, unless directed there specifically anyway. I won’t even grant them the pleasure of my click.)
I’ve recently started to read this blog (after watching and reading Going Cear) and in all honesty, this is the first time I’ve read or heard LRH actually mentioned by name in a letter/release etc… Seems to me like DM is trying, slowly but surely, to remove him from the history of the CoS. Love the blog and the work you’re doing Mike. Especially after seeing the previous you in the first Panorama episode (I’m from the UK).
“Ideal office spaces”?
This is really getting out of hand.
So…..I assume they have Ideal pens, chairs, tables, floors, walls, ceilings, cubicles, similes, cheerfulness, friends, stairs, etc…. Man, that a lot of Ideal!
There is an Ideal Diner on Central Avenue in Minneapolis but it has nothing to do with CoS.
http://www.idealdiner.com/
I saw it. It’s Ideal. What a bitchin’ little diner!
“In addition, good work was routinely rewarded by Mr. Miscavige. Upon completion of a project he sent me and the entire unit to L.A. to see the live musical “Phantom of the Opera.” On another occasion we were treated to a day at the Raging Waters water park. On another occasion we were sent out to see a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. On yet another occasion we were treated to dinner and a night out to see the play “Art” in London. One Christmas, he sent the whole office a large basket of food and treats with a nice card thanking us for our work that year.”
Who paid for these rewards? Were they included in an organizational budget approved by a board of trustees or directors? Did they come out of DM’s pocket?
I would think maybe things like this would be covered by IAS money as that is just free money but could be completely wrong.
Did it come out of DM’s pocket… how does money get INTO DM’s pocket? No matter the small perks of long long ago… who pays for DM’s private transportation, expensive clothing, special chefs, imported foods, frequent vacations, and uniforms for his dogs – yes, for gosh sakes, he did have Sea Org uniforms made for his dogs, it was in Amy Scobee’s book, and I believe her. Who paid for the large wooden ‘joke puppets’ he made of M.R. and Heber? Not too worried about the small trips for staff rewards many years ago, more concerned with immaterial and extravagant expenditures for luxury items right now. Your IAS dollars at work, saving the planet, one pair of john lobb shoes at a time.
sorry, if it seems I’m overly annoyed at this… it’s because every time I think about the IAS, and what a fraud it is, how they prey on well-meaning people who really cannot afford to donate, and I remember the young man who was working his first job after high school, for low wages but saving as much as he could to try to make a good start to his life – then was pressured to sell his car, that he was almost done making payments on, to donate to the IAS. His comment was “man, I really loved that car!” But the regges convinced him that money from selling his car was critical to clearing the planet. for shame.
Holy cow, that is so friggin’ sad. I feel bad for Susan Goodban that she is being publicly used in this way. I know the comparison to “The Manchurian Candidate” has been made so often that it’s going stale, but the praise for Raymond Shaw in this letter is so blatant that it stuns the conscience to see it in print. And what it says about the speaker is that they have had their personal agency replaced with that of an insidious interloper.
David Miscavige is like Donald Trump in so many ways, and one of those is that he knows you know he’s lying, and he just doesn’t care. This letter is another example.
Mr Trump does not deserve this comparison. I don’t know Mr Trump but I don’t think he beats his staff or wife; or has a disconnection policy or employ children or force abortions; and he is a business man. He hasn’t fundraised his riches!
(I’ve gotten too serious! Lol!)
Though Drunph may not physically beat people, he does verbally abuse them. Also, he does have a disconnection policy towards news reporters. How many has he banned now? Another narcissistic cult leader by any other name!
Hey … at last, someone with a sense of humor!
“Goodban”? What an ironic name.
The same bilious mantra over and over again. They have been truly turned into robots.
Michael, I think they’ve gone way past the robot stage. They’re now full fledged Zombies now. And Michael? I believe this is the EP after you’re done every single course and every single auditing program you can. You become, THE LIVING DEAD….
Sue (and Shelly),
Good to see that you have been allowed to peak at some heavily-edited internet postings. This shows some progress in the right direction.
At Int, Dan always came off as the cool, calm and level headed staff member. You were well liked too, but seemed a bit nervous and uptight.
Going forward, you will find out that scientology is NOT expanding. It is imploding; but you are not in a position to know this.
Get access to the internet, to access the truth, and you, too, will be free. Follow in the footsteps of Dan, Mike, JB, and others.
People outside of your reality (it is called the bubble) will not condemn you. You will only be helped.
Think: ‘bye-bye Dave’. And DO it.
BTW, Shelly, this IS the right thing to do. Even Hubbard would stop looking for a pony in Dave’s mountain of bullshit.
Sooooo David Miscaviage got his employees a fruit basket and that makes him on the same level as God? Hmmm, note to self; Buy fruit baskets to give out at Christmas.
Is “RTRC” loaded language slang for RTC?
No, the original unit was called LRH Technical Compilations, or RTC. Well, another org took over those initials and so the unit became LRH Technical Research and Compilations, RTRC.
No. It was a Branch in CMO Int. Ron’s Technical Research & Compilations if memory serves me… I think it was in the Office of the Snr C/S Int.
How would anyone in his/her right mind believe endless ramblings (mostly about things that are totally irrelevant to the situation at hand) would have any impact on a TV executive? This is the kind of letter that, even if Sue wrote it herself on her own determinism, would be a first draft. In the end after having been edited at least 10 times it would just say: “Being married to Dan Koon for 27 years it has been my observation that at times he cannot be trusted. He has an agenda to destroy our Church and even if he’s ghost-writing he’s added his twists and turns that helps this cause. Example ——-, second example —–.” Obviously if she could not find examples the whole thing would never leave her computer. It is so obviously David Miscavige’s attempt to use Sue to get under Dan’s skin.
She claimed to have seen the book, which I seriously doubt. DM may have gotten hold of the book proposal we did to sell the book to a publisher as our agent contacted about a dozen different firms. One may have been leaked and DM got his grubby mitts on it. But St. Martins embargoed the book, meaning no advance copies went out before publication.
Private Investigators may have stolen a copy. I used to work for a printing firm, back in the Seventies. When a run was being printed there were always damaged books, which went into a recycling bin. One of those could have been sold to a PI by an employee.
Of course things have changed since the Seventies, so maybe not.
I’m confused. Did Dan write a book? Apparently his ex-wife appears to believe he did. She mentions his book and Dan’s book several times as though Ron Miscavige’s book was a book about Dan. I didn’t once think while reading the book that this book was about Dan Koon or his experiences with David Miscavige, It shows Sue’s either real or feigned ignorance that she had no clue that this book was NOT about Dan Koon.
In 2014, Marty Rathbun wrote in his blog about the fact that he had convinced himself that he had read “Barefaced Messiah” and did not realize until a year earlier that he had in fact never read it:
“When I read the book, I recognized that in fact I had never read it all those years back. It was lingering cult delusion that made me think I had. In the eighties I had only read summaries and ‘dead agent’ packs compiled by Office of Special Affairs.”
https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/bare-faced-messiah-by-russell-miller/#comments
This collection of Sue’s blatherings makes me fairly certain that she did not read a “draft manuscript” of this book, but is writing her letter based entirely on a dead agent pack with instructions for how to phrase the letter.
That being said, the letter from Sue actually made me sad. It appeared to be a letter from a bitter ex-wife unable to move on and blaming Dan for why she didn’t.
If my ex-husband wrote a book, I may or may not read it. If he ghostwrote a book for someone (not going to happen), I would not believe it was a book about his experiences, but rather about the experiences of the person for whom he was doing the ghostwriting.
I am also sure that some of the food prepared at Gold is excellent. It is a shame that the staff members who work there rarely get to eat it so remember how good even a simple hamburger was when they get the chance to eat anything but rice and beans. ANY food tastes good compared to a steady diet of rice and beans.
I hope someday Sue gets out too. I appreciate Dan’s closing statement. I have always hoped my ex-husband stayed alive because I don’t want to see my children’s father die. Dan goes further in saying good about his ex than I am able.
We in RTC had the same experience: We thought we had read Dianetics many years or decades ago. It wasn’t until the Basics event wherein COB told us Dianetics was unreadable that we realized we had never actually read Dianetics.
What we were remembering were the Dianetics ads from the 1980’s saying how Dianetics was the owner’s manual for the human mind. Being RTC, we are elite and have all the answers. We assumed we both natural Clears and natural OTX’s.
Now we’re not sure and are waiting for COB’s new Wholetrack Monkey Body Rundown to tell us if we are Natural OTX’s with BPC on LRH or if we are just stuck in a mutual electronic incident from having been in monkey bodies for eons on the wholetrack.
COB many times acts like a crazed chimpanzee and so it would appear all of RTC is stuck in a mutual electronic incident when we zapped by Marcabs million and millions of years ago in the Precambrian era when Psychlos ruled this planet.
Dear Mr. GRrr8. Well now, that explains a lot. I will be checking my overstuffed mailbox for promo on the new rundown you describe. I hope I don’t miss it because my mailman has suffered lately from junk mail overload and mutters incoherently as he delivers the daily ream of scientology gRRRRR8 news! To my mailbox.
OTVIIIisGrrr8! – you have missed your vocation. Imagine if you replaced Dan Sherman.
But seriously, you’ve given me such a good belly laugh, I’m happy again!
“Life in the Church is more exciting now than it has ever been”. When the strains of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ start, people start running. That is an excitement that most would avoid. What ‘excitement’ is generated when the weekly income numbers come in? The IAS people may be happy, they get 10-15% and their revenue is pure profit.
So what do the mOrgs report? Square feet of windows cleaned with ammonia and newspapers? They can’t be reporting the rush to re-re-redo all the levels of the Bridge to Nowhere?
Sue Goodban (Goodspeak?) probably had lawyers and MMAs guiding every word. Now that everyone knows about the ‘inch wives’ and other North Korean sacred rites, does anyone give any credence to rants like Sues?
$cientology’s dead horse is just being flogged again. Not that doing that does any good. The brand is damaged beyond redemption.
What??? Bohemian Rhapsody???? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……..RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! Or at least run to Hemet and escape!
“Life in the Church is more exciting now than it has ever been” – I was going to comment on this but I can’t think of a single thing to say. I’m gob-smacked!
Having to leave without saying goodbye in order to avoid being turned in is heartbreaking. It brought tears to my eyes at the end about wishing Sue well. This is what others have said about the spouses they left behind, including you, Mike. It gives me a big sad to know how many have been hurt, how many families torn asunder, by this organization..
Been there, done that…and I’d welcome her with warm hugs and kisses should she choose to go free and join me. I’ll never stop loving her and remain single just in case.
Sue, I pray for the day you’re out of Scientology, feet propped up with a cup of coffee, and can sit back and read this post.
It’ll be painful, but at the least, you’re now free.
It amazes me how many of the ex-scientologists(including Dan) have been expelled according to the CO$, yet Susan states in the third paragraph that Dan left without saying a word.
Surely if he had been expelled she would have been informed and then had to disconnect immediately rather than trying to locate him.
As a ‘Never-in’ I may be wrong and if so correct me.
You are not wrong.
This makes me sad because in all of my dealings with Dan he struck me as the single most empathetic person I have ever met in my life. I only wish him the best because I have found him to be wise, caring, and a truly altruistic person in the highest and most noble sense of the term.
So very true.
And I have to say that even though I do not know Sue
I saw her many times at a distance and she struck me
as a very hardworking and conscientious person. From
the viewpoint I have of her she would never write a letter
like this to Dan.
CityCrawl, would you mind terribly if I appropriated that for my tombstone this lifetime?
I’m a little surprised Sue did not include the ‘facts’ that David Miscavige is the greatest golfer and bowler in the world. That, his first time playing golf on the golf course at Hemet, he shot 5 holes in one.
That he walked at 3 weeks old, he spoke at 8 weeks and has written 1500 books and 6 operas!
And he doesn’t have bodily functions that require him to use a toliet.
(All of these are what North Koreans are told about their Dear Leader).
LRH told some whoppers, so I don’t see why COB should be any different. Especially since LRH is being phased out anyway….
Yep! I recognized the hype of that little runt
Poor David Miscavige ?????
who really wrote this.
Dan,don’t worry.I am a loyal fan of yours.
Where do I get a personal logo like this gal’s.
I need one dripping with blood and with Bats, Rats,
or snakes.
This could be a money maker Dan.
Very gracious and moderate comments Dan. A poignant reminder that people like Sue are the victims, not the problem. I was on the RPF (GCT) with Sue in 1985 and she was warm and funny, I liked her a lot. I wish her and all other victims well and hope they can all taste freedom soon.
You’re a good lad, Martin! Ultimately, They’re all victims of the cult. And, like you, I hope they find their way out of the rabbit hole……
Munchhausen By Inch Wives Syndrome, in documented form. It’s actually a thing of beauty, if viewed through perverse lenses.
Really, Sue, do you think anyone at ABC gives a flying shit about Dan violating KSW? No one in the real world views that as a crime. In fact, to the normal person, the goings-on about Hubbard’s word having to be taken literally would be seen as fundamentalist fanaticism, and treated as such. And no one on the outside gives a further flying shit about what was done to the SRD either.
Oh, by the way, Sue, trying to smear Dan with supposedly having an affair with Mariette before your marriage ended and then, oh gosh, Dan and Mariette getting married really doesn’t work anymore. The presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency did the same thing, and nobody’s complaining about him doing that.
Yet another bunch of textual drivel coming out of the bowels of Scientology whose audience is the still-in. Next time, try to make it more effective.
Love your post, Espiando. It’s not only true, it’s funny. Just shows how far remove they are from reality.
Susan is absolutely right. I personally saw Miscavige help an old lady across the street, then carry her groceries up 6 flights of stairs, then he nursed a kitten with a broken leg back to health, then the clouds parted and a shaft of light shown down from heaven upon his saintly countenance while angels sang.
When someone you have known and loved for many years decides to leave the group, and you see that other people that you know and respect have made that same choice – it’s time to honestly look at why they made that decision, instead of trying to find reasons to ‘make them wrong’.
This appears to be standard operating procedure for the C of S. Every person who leaves is vilified, portrayed as bad, negligent, malicious, instead of being someone who has just made the decision that the group is no long a good fit for them.
Most organizations who are continually losing long-time, dedicated members usually look at their policies and procedures and analyse what they can do to improve and stop losing members… but not the C of S.
This is poor management. It comes about when you do not have oversight; a committee who watches over how the group is being run and makes recommendations for improvements and changes. The most effective forms of leadership, and government of a group, have people who oversee various areas, have checks and balances, to keep the group on track. When one person alone has total control, and no one can stop, change, or redirect actions of this one person, it is a dictatorship.
Imagine receiving this, the folks at ABC must have thought “what a nut job”. She sounds completely insane. Sorry Susan but in scientology parlance you sound very nattery. Go now to ethics to write up your O/W’s!
Nobody in the public will believe one thing she says. She sounds like a 12 year old trying to taddle on her brother while making up lies.
Exactly. Like the church’s DA packs/videos. They scream guilty; they are so juvenile.
How true…. As an outsider it’s so sad and obvious when the current members come out and say all kinds of nasty things about those that have left the cult. None of us on the outside believe those on the inside. We only believe those who have managed to escape, as escape it what it sounds like to us “normal people”.
I think she sounds more like a tamer Jenny DeVocht. There’s the same barely repressed anger, minus the torrent of four letter words.
If it is true, what Hubbard wrote about lying becomes stupidity, well then I feel just a little bit sorry for the condition that Sue and her fellow inmates are sinking into.
One thing we can all be certain of: If someone in the Co$ says it, it’s full of untruths, 1/2 truths and twisted facts.
Once again, David Miscavige stoops to conquer by dipping his hand in mud, conquering zip. Wanting to create a commotion, he is merely background noise while men are talking. Have you ever seen anybody with such an appetite for humiliating himself? Bentley, a busy man, probably didn’t even bother to read the silly letter in its entirety.
This was David Miscavige just trying to get Dan’s goat and piss him off real good. The mighty leader is never too busy to stoop down to where the mud is so he can sling a bit it on people who stir his jealous nature.
The horrible sadness and pain wrenching family discord, the lying to protect the “good name” of Scientology, the action to harm our free thinking critical citizens:
ALL CAN FIND IT’S INCEPTION IN THE MIND AND WRITINGS OF L RON HUBBARD
David Miscaviges’ disdain of the sacred bonds of family came from his teacher Ron:
1) disconnects from Mary Sue and she goes to jail for him
2) Poor Quentin Hubbard killing himself to get away from abusive dad
3) pistol whipping Sarah
4) Ron Jr. trying his best to tell others that dad was really a black magician and was harassed his whole life from the church
5) writing GE is a family man and putting into the minds of his minions that the family unity was “not a good group for thetans”
6) preaching ethics in the 2d yet screwing women on the Apollo when he was married and then off loading them when he was done with them.
Entwined into the benevolence of Scientology doctrine (love all despite all provocations to do otherwise) is the insidious sickness of an ego maniacal articulate genius who cares not a wit for common decency.
The pain of broken families, a reality that Ron created and lived, has been applied (Scientology is an applied philosophy) by his ruthless successor.
There is not a morsel of behavior, that this church demonstrates, which does not find it’s source in the writings of L Ron Hubbard.
David Miscavige, a sick and twisted mental case, fit like a glove into the philosophy of an authoritarian black magician, whose real heroes were Crowley; seeking selfish spiritual power unencombered by common standards of decency.
“By their fruits ye shall know them”
Mathew 7:16
I’ve always been fond of the low hanging fruit….
I couldn’t have said it better, Brian. I’m glad to see Those-Out looking more and more at the real truth of scientology and its creator, evil in destroying minds and lives.
It was mailed 2 days before the show because it was rejected 27 times by Dave before finally being approved in it’s current form. And no doubt, Sue went through living HELL to finally get this gem approved. So, in essence, you’re seeing the mind of David Miscavige at work.
Sue was made to write this letter. I doubt she would have done this on her own and I don’t even know her. It’s all in the timing; don’t tell me she found out about the book just two days before the 20/20 airing. Sorry, but it looks like it’s Sue who can’t be trusted at her word. She’s under duress.
Sheesh! You know what is the MOST sad and pitiful thing about this pathetic letter? This dizzy dame (as me late pa would say) actually believed that someone at ABC would even GIVE a freakin’ flying you know what about this letter (or even UNDERSTAND what she was babbling about? Like they would even have a CLUE as to what “the survival rundown” could possibly mean.) Or would even pay any attention to some black PR about a ghostwriter!!! It is really embarrassing to read. * well … at least she didn’t fall back on the “I know every inch of his body” thing … ha ha
And … a HERETIC! Maud, bring out the torches, will ya sweetie?
Joe. would you like a side of pitchforks with your torches? I hear they go hand in hand….
Good one !!
IMHO this letter, although addressed to ABC was not intended for ABC. It was too full of technical jargon to make much sense to anyone but someone they wanted to keep drinking the kool aid. “Look, they say, look how hard we fought to not have that poisonous interview aired.” Yeah, by the time they got around to closing that barn door, hand delivering this and other hilARious letters on the very eve of broadcast, the horse had already left the barn.
“I know every inch of his body” – God! That was embarrassing. I still cringe when I hear it.
Yes, of course her letter has all the intention to discredit Dan, but more visibly is the hidden intent to place the criminal leader – Miscavige – as someone that cares for staff, for the scriptures and whatever else.
Again Mike and Dan are right, the amount of twisted ‘facts’ inserted here ,and every other published staff’s letters sent to ABC, and before to CNN, are primarily dictated by Miscavige to present himself as a good leader when in fact he is the opposite, a sociopath, careless individual.
Now, another point, it has been many times testified in Court that Black Heart does not mingle with Scientology businesses, that he does not ‘manage’ anything. Then, per Sue’s letter, he himself was involved in correcting all Dan’s assumed alterations?
I used to know Sue when I was at the Int base and she was a great auditor, a thorough person and someone that was fun to be with. I hope she, sooner or later, gets to enjoy her life and do well.
It struck me as odd that Sue recalled the few times in the 1980’s through 1990’s that she had been to a play, a movie, a water park, etc. It shows that those events were so unusual and rare as to be memorable decades later. Who remembers movies or plays they saw years ago, unless it was something very out of the ordinary, that they are not used to doing?
The other thing that was so strange was her description of Miscavige allowing Dan Koon to get eye surgery. Employers are supposed to provide a medical plan for workers. Health decisions are normally considered the responsibility of the individual. As Sue tells it, Miscavige looks like the ‘parent’ and Dan Koon the ‘child’, it’s not a healthy dynamic. D.M. as the benevolent parent allowing the child to have eye surgery. What an exceptional guy. …whaaaat?
I mean, my employer offers us a choice of 4 health plans, and variations thereof, for self and family (also dental, and optical) and we choose which is best for us, and make our own appointments and medical decisions. We choose how much of our medical issues we want to share with others, or to keep private.
Our employer does not have a say in what health care we choose to receive, or the right to know what is going on with our personal health issues. Sue’s story of how D.M. allowed Dan to have a medical procedure is just strange. Sue sees Miscavige as ‘generous’, to me he seems overly controlling.
Sue,
Does Dave still let you drive the black Buick across Hwy 79 between living quarters and working areas? Or, is he concerned that you might follow in the footsteps of Ron and Becky; once out of the gate and past the guard booth, hang a sharp left and squeal on down the Highway, not to return? Sometimes, do you long for the days when you and Dan did the 15 minute commute each way from the Kirby in the older blue Chevrolet?
Or sometimes, do you long to just take off yourself… one bright sunny day, you look on the other side of the fence and see the road with cars passing by and think, you know, I could just leave here… just go out into the world and live my life free of all this strict programming, rules, and whatnot… reconnect with my friends and family who have left, and just think for myself and decide what I believe is right. Or does something chain your mind and you find yourself unable to gain the strength to break free?
The other side of the fence has been HEAVILY ‘Safe Pointed”. LOL
Thank you Mike for publishing this story with Dan’s and your comments. I can only share with you my experiences with the Church.
By 2008, I had earned myself the label “disaffected” for saying to my Flag auditors and Ethics Officers that Miscavige is a lunatic, destroying Scientology. Tami was earlier promised that she would complete OT 7 if she just buys five more intensives for $37,500. We paid for the intensives, Tami came back to Flag to “complete” OT 7 but was then routed to Ethics, where she spent a whole month. They explained to her that she could never complete OT 7 because her husband is an enemy to Miscavige. Her only chance to make it to OT 8, immortality, “Spiritual Freedom”, she was told, is if she divorces me, “the enemy.” For more details, please see our lawsuit against the church:
http://scnil.org/english/2014/11/17/here-it-is-the-lemberger-lawsuit/
The Church is gifted with boundless imagination when re-writing history, according to their whims and immediate needs. They have to do this since all who have left are actually criminals. It is just bizarre that somehow they didn’t catch Tami and me while we were the most upstat members more than thirty years.
Through the Tel Aviv District Court, our SP declare has been made public. It is the work of a sick mind, guess whose. This was posted by Tone Ortega recently:
http://tonyortega.org/2016/06/09/theres-nothing-quite-like-when-scientology-cancels-your-superhuman-powers-with-a-declare/
For example, they say that Tami, “In 2001, …. Tami herself, auditing and C/Sing actions without valid certificates.” They do forget to mention that for both years 2000 and 2002, Tami was given at Flag the “Top Field Auditor of the World” award by Snr C/S Int, Ray Mitthoff (where is he?)
They say about me: “Dani’s squirreling includes false attests to training courses in Scientology technology going back to his first courses and up to his last training.” This covers the years 1980 to 2012 with most of my extensive training done at Flag. Could I fool them so easily and “false attest” to my training and stay on OT 7 for 13 years and hold the post of Mission ED 20 years?
Miscavige and his stooges know that those still trapped inside would never dare challenge the garbage they write. To doubt the lies they shove at you means you are now siding with the enemy and will soon be branded “disaffected-enemy-suppressive”. So better shut up and keep your thoughts to yourself, lest you too lose your family, friends or workplace.
Fear is the only force holding that place together. North Korea anybody?
I admire Ron Miscavige for his courage in writing the book, and thank Dan and Mike for their support of Ron and others standing up to DM’s criminality.
Excellent and I really like the last response from Dan. Once again, the policy of disconnection has caused someone to speak out.
Dear Mike,
This is an illuminating and accurate accounting of the alterations that occur when you have a “3rd party” intervene, in this case david mismanage, and with an agenda that twists the facts to fit the message. This interchange from a knowledgable ex-wife, through a knowledgable ex-husband, to finally a knowledgable observer is worthy of an award for critical thinking.
Thanks to all three of you for posting this
I read the book. I didn’t know the co-writer was once a Scientologist. It is nice to know.
Dan koons I love you. That was an awesome read. I would pay to read your book.
You can at: http://amzn.to/1UOa9eR though it is not out in paperback yet..
The letters defending Hubbard, DM or the cherch are carbon copies. The apostate is a despicable liar and DM is a saint and Hubbard is brilliant. Sue sounds the same.
And comes off as a child telling on another playmate.
The psychotic nature of Scientology is so clearly displayed now it takes very little observation to convince outsiders that it is a true cult.
Thanks Dan and Mike for debunking the sad statements of a distopian child.
This letter has the same, tenor, flavor, angle, whine, etc. as has come out in defense of every despot starting at least with Lenin. DM is too stupid to realise that journalists are VERY well read and well trained to spot such propaganda.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…. DISGRUNTLED APOSTATES!
It was pretty easy to have formed an opinion about this before reading Dan or Mike’s comments. The letter is written with the same toxic mindset that permeates the church of scientology today. How did I come to believe something was wrong with david miscavige before I had ever read anything “entheta?” – Because these same vile “think” had managed to seep down to Flag (where I was) as “command intention” and has oozed into every pore of the church of scientology over david miscavige’s tenure. I feel for every soul that gets too close to david miscavige and nowadays anyone in the church of scientology is “too close.”
So the SO at Flag are privy to his irratic, tyrannical behaviour and unrealistic demands? Someone who’s been on the staff there for a long time would have witnessed the same?
“… Dan is no more qualified than I am to write a book on Mr. Miscavige, his position and the global issues he is dealing with as the Church’s ecclesiastical leader.” -Sue Goodban
To the contrary! Sue, you ARE unbelievably qualified to write a book of your thoughts and thousands of face to face contacts with the Scientology leader David Miscavige.
The lawyers and OSA (Scientology intel branch) muzzling editors of your letter, are the unqualified ones!
Get out Sue and write the truth!