The Freewinds will be empty again by tomorrow. Dear Leader’s annual scuba diving holiday Maiden Voyage celebrations have come to an end and everyone is heading home with their new “OT Ambassador” orders (which are the same as last year — collect money for Ideal Orgs and IAS).
The “OT Base” that sails “off the crossroads of the world” reverts to its real status “Ghost ship sitting at dock off the crossroads of the world.” Bouncing between Curacao and Aruba, she is a cruise ship without a cruise. And without passengers.
In their desperation, they hold all sorts of oddball “conventions” and “weeks” to try to attract anyone to fly all the way down there to sit at a dock (fuel is expensive so they ration it, they still have to feed the crew…)
Obviously there is no stampede of customers charging up the gangplank to do OT VIII. They could have put OT VIII delivery on the Diana sailboat and she would be empty half the time. Let alone a ship with the capacity for 200 “cruisers.”
Here’s their latest pitch — send us your kids.
This is really an “OT convention for young scientologists.” OMG. Tells you what their “OT Conventions” for adults must be like.
And they actually promote “shore excursions” like visiting a donkey sanctuary and “make your own sandals”…
In Aruba and Curacao. Wowza. And the price will be MORE than you would pay for a normal cruise.
The Freewinds is so desperate they will try anything.
Seriously? Teach kids “how to overcome peer pressure.” Inside a cult! What could go wrong?
Hmmm 12 year olds with staff only a little older, what could go wrong???
When the reg’s get those kids in their possession, mommy or daddy better fork over alot of $$$ or else i believe they threaten to put the kids to hard manual labor till the parents fork over little jimmies college fund.
From dog-and-pony show to dog-and-donkey show.
Reading this blog every day. So happy to see this crazy cult slowly dying. Applause to you all contribute to this!
Love from Sweden!
Yep! Scientology is not a well patient. The twitching will soon stop.
I don’t see how all of the cult’s money making scams can’t have members (regular members) finally beginning to wonder just where does it all end? What percentage of members have the money keep on giving and giving with no return on their investment? The big money donors probably don’t even notice, but I guess they do get those fancy pieces of paper for doing so. The celebrities, well, who the heck knows why they hang in there. It’s not like they get the TC treatment.
Miscavige has nothing to sell on the Freewinds. His interpretation of OT VIII can be found in ancient Hindoo literature on the spirit. I’m not kidding. All this about dropping your ideas and feeling better in present time are ancient Hindoo ideas for novices. Seriously, I think that Scientologists should travel to India like we did in the 1970’s and start all over again. I’m not suggesting they try any particular religion but they can get some real stimulation. Like Hubbard tried to formulate Scientology when most of the translations from ancient languages were in error. So he developed this backward working religion which stalls in any form of spiritual development. Miscavige was just a street wanderer from Philadelphia who took it over when he had a chance. Miscavige is hopeless. He will never turn himself around. Hubbard came up with this idea of the thetan so they all stay in the religion because they think they are coming back. Hubbard totally misinterpreted Buddhism and based his theories of past lives on totally false assumptions. Mahayana Buddhism split 100 years after the original. They were the ones trying to make future Buddhas. Give up Scientology.
Sorry. They must not change as Hubbard is the Meytreya, the coming buddha. And he was the buddha as he mentioned on hundreds of pages.
😉
Unfortunately i believed this bullshit. Only a very few scientologists are interested in metaphysics, so i could not discuss and compare these original hindu or buddhistic thoughts. If so, i surely would have gone much earlier. Stupidity is timeless 🙂 (on both sides)
“Stupidity is timeless” – laughter
Hubbard said he applied Western science to Eastern philosophy and had a fast track to Enlightenment. A few “cognitions” along the way and many people got stuck in scientology. Scientology is sticky.
A few years ago on Marty’s blog George mentioned that he once asked his Buddhist teacher if he should publicly refute Hubbard’s claim to have been the Buddha. His teacher replied, “There have been thousands of these. Why bother?”
When Buddhism gets mentioned I like to mention my favorite reference book on Buddhism which is “Buddhism: A Way of Life and Thought” by Nancy Wilson Ross. It’s easy reading, has a glossary and an index and is available in paperback reprint from Amazon and booksellers for $10. Here’s a story from the book.
[Zen genuinely relishes laughter at its own expense, enjoying in particular, anecdotes which expose sententiousness or pomposity…………………..
A monk came to the Master Ma Tsu for help in solving the koan he had been given: “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming to China?” The Master suggested that before proceeding with the problem the monk should make him a low bow. As he was dutifully prostrating himself, Ma Tsu, the great Master, applied his foot to the monk’s posterior. The unexpected kick resolved the murky irresolution in which the monk had been floundering for some time. When he felt the impact of his teacher’s foot, he is said to have “attained immediate enlightenment.” Subsequently he said to everyone he met, “Since I received that kick from Ma Tsu I haven’t been able to stop laughing.”]
……………………………………………….
I don’t think anyone attained immediate enlightenment from any scientology process but “Be three feet in back of your head!” may have given a few people a rush.
“Bodhiharma” (from the book glossary) – An Indian missionary monk, who came to China in the sixth century A.D. Regarded as the founder of the Ch’an (Zen) School of Buddhism. (Known in Japan as Daruma.)
Note*
*Sending your child to the Freewinds constitutes a transfer of legal guardianship of said child to Rumpelstiltskin Miscavige. Other restrictions and obligations may apply…
OTVIII delivery on the Diana 🤣🤣🤣
Scott Campbell gave us:
“OTVIII delivery on the Diana 🤣🤣🤣”
Is “Diana” still floating? If so, it’s getting AWFULLY long in the tooth. She wasn’t a spring chicken even when Tubby took delivery of her. IIRC, the decks were encased in decades’ worth of fish remains, some of which are likely still imbedded there.
AND:
“*Sending your child to the Freewinds constitutes a transfer of legal guardianship of said child to Rumpelstiltskin Miscavige. Other restrictions and obligations may apply…”
SAD, but too close to true. Those kids will experience a full court press from the recruiters before, during, and ESPECIALLY after the “cruise”
The kids will probably get the full court (gang bang) recruiting treatment, but FIRST they will also get a turn in the barrel with the reg(s).
Just think about it for a minute. Junior gets sent to the Freewinds to get some ‘scientology tools to handle life’. The little tykes haven’t been in their meat sacks long enough to have spent much time holding the cans. This means that they have their WHOLE ‘bridge to total freedom’ ahead of them. Except it isn’t paid for yet. The poor little buggers will be in the reg’s office with the screws being put to them and of course they have no money to fork over. But mom & dad do. The reg will have a hay day with this ‘cycle of action’ extracting cash from any source they can to get Junior moving with his spiritual progress to ‘full OT’ so that he has a seat on the front porch of eternity rather than the back porch of ‘lower conditions’ (or worse).
Of course if there is no cash to be extracted, the oh so vigilant recruiters will take over for sure.
It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone involved except for whoever gets something at the top of the pyramid scheme.
Love the “Rumpelstiltskin” moniker for the evil monster.
Totally an SO recruiting event. The thought of sending a kid for a whole week of 24/7 pressure to sign a billion-year contract makes my skin crawl.
The Sea Org is a Godsend for Scientology parents. Mostly tapped out, frequently with one or more bankruptcies, allowing their kids to quit school at 16 and dumping their teenagers in the Sea Org is the perfect, “ethical” solution not only to their financial problems but to their status issues within the cult. Having a kid in the SO is something to brag about in the cult. Children in the SO is “the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics” not the least of which is the parents’ finance dynamic. Any money they’d have to spend on their kids’ higher education can no be spent on their own upper bridge and sec checks, or donated to Ideal Morgues, or donated to the IAS, or, or, or… They shirk their parental responsibilities and get applauded for it. But that’s this crazy cult for you. Where else does one get approval for not paying ones’ bills, going bankrupt, and getting ones’ house foreclosed? Where else does one get applauded for remaining ignorant and unemployable? Honestly you can’t make this shit up.
IAS commissions fueling staff pay:
On the topic of IAS and freewinds….
I was listening to Rachel Bernstein’s interview with a fella who had been lured into moving across country to join staff at Seattle’s failing Ideal Org (wonderful interview) and I was struck by the part where he talked about IAS regging and staff pay.
I’ve been against the IAS nonsense since it began, I was never on board and kept this to myself mostly. I had a lifetime HASI membership and this new thing was bogus in my mind. So I’ve always had trouble with it and have never given a dime beyond my IAS lifetime, which I was forced to buy to do services. (and lifetime was a better deal than yearlys)
But something about this staff pay thing really makes me feel ill.
He was talking about the events that are held, and that they hold the IAS reg events quite often and a hefty commission goes straight to staff pay from the event’s take. I hadn’t known this. If it’s true, and this guy had his info straight, it’s so so gross.
Staff pay used be 30 percent of the Corrected Gross Income. The CGI came from the sale of services, auditing and training, div 4 and div 6 which were supposed to help people and help people go free.
The only thing the services really do is cement you to the bonkers cult and give you a magic feather to heft as you believe you’re now at Cause. So maybe I really should be happy about this staff pay thing.
I doubt that the IAS status trophies hook people the way TRs and Life Repair auditing can hook someone.
But it just strikes me as GROSS.
I don’t know if this was the case all along, I don’t recall ever hearing about our Staff Pay getting fueled by the events we were holding. Maybe this came later, or maybe it was a regional thing..
But it tweaks the purpose in a way that makes me crawl. All those calls for the events, all those events, all those white boards and costumes… people being made to stay until 3AM so we “make the target” .. to raise money…
for staff pay.
Staff pay coming from services supposedly to help people is one thing, staff pay from straight money-grabbing pad the war chest and pay for all the dirty tricks on perceived enemies…
just grosses me out.
It makes every single staff member culpable in a new way. Whether they know it or not.
….
thanks for letting me vent a bit. As layers peel off and as I learn more and more, and get new insights..
I feel filthy by association in new ways.
So ..in a way, it’s good. It’s good that the focus in on plain old money grubbing, it probably turns people off (the way it did me) … and is less harmful than the evil tek of Scn that promises the moon, masking a great big tiger trap that steals your mind and life.
“I was listening to Rachel Bernstein’s interview with a fella who had been lured into moving across country to join staff at Seattle’s failing Ideal Org (wonderful interview) and I was struck by the part where he talked about IAS regging and staff pay.”
Do you have a link?
If I recall correctly, that fellow was helped to escape by The Aftermath Foundation.
So you can check on their website or you can include the term “Aftermath Foundation” in your Google searches.
I remember reading about that person but I don’t remember where. It may well have been on this site or on Tony Ortega’s site. So you can check there as well.
Oops. I found it. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMONcV1LRCk
I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks for supplying this clarification to F68.
I’m still mid the video myself, I listened to more last night. The fella speaking is a bit of a Simple Simon, and is giving some totally whacked info on the cost of the purif – 7- 30 Gs, he has no idea what he’s talking about. I hope Aaron clears that up after. But despite his (seriously odd) manner, he gives some fascinating info of recent nature.
I’ve been listening to Rachel B a lot lately, and forgot that I went to see if Aaron had anything new. 🙂
I do highly recommend Rachel’s podcast, in addition to Aaron and Chris’s videos. Rachel is on soundcloud and spotify and other places on the web.
🙂
Thank you so much!
There is nothing wrong with your thinking. It is gross. You see more in scientology then the guys in do. It gets worse unfortunately.
Cece, did you go to Howdy Con? I wanted to meet you. If you’re in LA let’s meet for coffee.
Sorry, It was on Aaron Smith-Levin’s podcast, not Bernstein’s Indoctrination.
(Sorry Aaron) <3
Don’t hold back, Rip, Tell us what you REALLY think about the “new” criminality which is really just a variant of Tubby’s original scam of getting people to pay for something they can never receive. MustSavage is a bit more honest since he doesn’t promise to DELIVER ANYthing.
Making sandals for donkeys gonna make you “OT”… and shore excursions gonna “straighten your path to destiny”. If there would have been a prize for bizzare stuff, Scientology would have won it way ahead of any competitor.
Free blue asbestos with every OT VIII package?
FREE blue Asbestos with every VISIT.
AND NOW: a chance to be infected with a deadly disease sane people were vaccinated against.
“How to overcome peer pressure”. Yeah. Sure.
Scientology + “overcome peer pressure” = oxymoron
I was thinking similar. If that “course” REALLY worked then they’d have no more new $camatologists.
“If nothing else works, a total pigheaded unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.”
Blackadder Goes Forth.
The Freewinds doesn’t begin to financially support itself hosting a couple dozen kids at the donkey park or even letting a couple OT 8’s find out nothing they audited was really them. Like Scientology itself, the Freewinds is funded by the money brought in by Flag in Clearwater which is over $2 million a week.
Mat, are they still succeeding in bringing in those amounts today?
Such a bizarre idea for a “religion” to own a cruise ship.
Mat, you don’t think FSO is still taking in 2M a week do you? I don’t hardly see the bridge promoted anymore or Mike just doesn’t post those.
But can I make sandals for the donkeys? If not, that’s a deal-breaker for me.
Yes. But it’ll cost you an extra thousand.
Katherine observed:
“Yes. But it’ll cost you an extra thousand.”
YUP, that’s the way it is on the FEE winds.
I think the ‘Freewinds’ is well past the point where $cientology could even donate it to the Sea Scouts for a tax write off. Maybe a few of the lifeboats though.
Be careful of the kids’ cruises. It is just a way to get them there to reg them to join the SO. Even though the kids are under age to make their own decision stick, if the kid says yes, the parents are then leaned on to sign permission for their kid to join SO.
Yup. Beware.
Sadly true…..
And only one parents signature is needed….
Only one parent’s signature is needed? Now that sucks totally. And if you are the parent who objects, you then become a target for SP declare.
Interesting Mike, recently some posters are addressed to kids and/or young adolescents’ activities.
They are not getting new public, the old veterans have done and re-done the bridge several times, the great majority has finally departed the criminal ranks of miscavige so, what is left?
The kids of the ones that are still blind. I hope some of them are rescued before they get indoctrinated on this cult.
But the decline is evident.
I suspect they’re losing a lot of young born-ins, and trying to figure out a way to retain them.
But its got to be a hard sell, to get 21st century kids excited about mid-20th century ideas, and an organization that operates like the sort of last-century industrial conglomerates and collectivist regimes that are now long gone.
Plus the internet has to be killing them in a variety of ways, from just making Scientology whole 20th century approach and belated attempts at adaptation seem hapless, to offering damning critical information. Mormonism is also notably suffering from the newfound ability of those raised in the faith to find previously obscure information challenging fundamental aspects of doctrine and operations.
The cult’s severe restrictions on their internet usage has to be cramping their style in no small way.
The donkey sanctuary is onboard.
LOL! 😂
Xenu’s son threw out:
“The donkey sanctuary is onboard.”
Yeah, what do you think powers the rust bucket when they momentarily leave the dock? Donkeys and the poor kids that the asses left in the care of the Fleecewinds’ staff.
This reminds me of something my late, great father-in-law used to say.
“For some reason there seem to be a lot more horse’s asses than horses.”
I think the same would apply to donkeys and other fools aboard the Freewinds.