You knew you were going to defect.Why not get some evidence against your midget boss so the fbi can toss him in prison? You had plenty of opportunities to record something . I think you’re still brainwashed.
Dear Mike, to be honest I never had to much interest about Scientology and my perception was always that is a cult or trend because of the celebrities involved. after watching the show, I learned so much and my heart aches for all/everyone that has been/are victims of this cult (this is not a religion) I also felt anger that Scientology gets away legally with so much and how you and others have been harassed. I can only imagined the pain and frustrations that you must endured to stand up for yourself and others. What happened to Marty R? It seems that he caved in from the pressure? How are you & family coping after the show has aired? I couldn’t agreed more about how terrible the coverage report of 20/20 was, however anyone in their right mind could see/read the attorney’s body gestures showed so many lies, I believe she knows a lot more than you think and turns a blind eye… after all I am sure she gets paid well. My thoughts and prayers go to all the families and yours. May you continued to stay strong and keep up the great job you are doing. All the best to you!
When I was young, Helen Geltman from the Geltman mission convinced me to not go to college. Going up the bridge was more important she said. When I gain OT powers I’ll achieve anything I want.
Scientology puts all of life below serving Scientology. So Scientologists simply accept going without essentials in life as a low humanoid need.
This one line from Ron is a horrible concept to believe as true:
“Scientology is senior to life because Scientology handles life” L Ron Hubbard
Remember that line? How many dreams, good desires and experiences were seen as a waste of time, replaced with the lies of freedom and power that was supposed to fill us with all we ever wanted or needed.
He sold us a piece of the blue sky. With our hearts and minds open; we let him into our most intimate inner selves. We believed Ron. He lied to us.
Power and profit. He sold our dreams down the drain for his power and profit.
Hilarious. Cuz if you don’t laugh, you cry. Really RB the small touches are great, like making the word “free” in red. I would love to see your depictions of food displays too.
I’ve been reading this blog for a few years now. As a never-in this whole subject is fascinating.
I finally had what they might call a “cognition” the other day. Probably others have realized this before but it finally occurred to me. Hubbard is selling his victims a bridge. As in, “if you believe that I’ve got a bridge to sell you.”
I’m a never-in as well, so I can’t speak to what goes through the minds of people who are or were in it. But for those raised into it, it makes perfect sense. I was raised in a Christian home in America so it made sense for me to follow those family traditions in which I was raised with my own family as an adult. Scientologists who are born and raised into it probably think that its just as normal a part of life as I believe that Christianity is just a normal part of my life. People of other faiths would probably wonder why I “buy into” my own faith.
As for people who join later in life, I would assume that auditing lets people feel really good about themselves after “talking through their problems” with an auditor, especially one who praises you endlessly, making you feel even better about yourself. Kind of similar to talking to a psychiatrist (taboo in CoS) and how people feel better getting things off their chest. It seems to be incremental baby steps that slowly but surely keep drawing someone into it until their way of thinking is altered into the Scientology mind-set.
People like you and me have always been on the outside so it’s difficult for us to understand on a personal level how anyone can buy this stuff, but being able to research it and see the exposure that the church is getting from former Scientologists, gives us insight that many Scientologists don’t have an opportunity (or the desire) to seek out.
In a way, it’s similar to how some folks politically are in the same mind-set on both sides of the aisle. Many of them listen to leaders and news sites/channels that conform to their own way of thinking, and don’t care to even listen to people with differing opinions. Scientologists seem to have this same mind-set that they don’t even care to read opinions from “entheta” critics of the church. I wouldn’t visit a bunch of websites that consistently bash Christianity either (perhaps a bad example, because most Christian sects don’t have abusive policies like disconnection and stuff, except perhaps Jehovah’s Witness and the Amish practice of “shunning”).
Maybe a bit off-topic, but my wife and I (both never-ins) have discussed with each other how Scientology should change if they want to continue to exist. We’ve thought that if they would just stop the abuse, stop the policy of disconnection, pay their workers a decent wage and work them a typical 40-hour work week, stop the Fair Gaming of any critics, lose the “Xenu” stuff, stop with all of the mind-control, and just focus on the auditing to try to truly help people, that they might find more people interested and it wouldn’t be viewed as such a destructive cult.
However, as I’ve thought more about it the last few weeks reading about all of this stuff here and other places, I’m not so sure I believe that Scientology, at its core, can ever be a “force for good” in the world (my apologies to others who may still practice it independently and believe in some of the ways it can help).
The reason I don’t think Scientology can ever be good, is because it seems to me that one of the core principles in Scientology philosophy is getting people to lose their “reactive mind”, or to go “Clear”.
As far as not being “reactive” in your thinking, in some ways, it can be good to not be as reactive, such as when you feel anger and the temptation to lash out irrationally. But in other ways, it can actually be a good survival tool, such as “fight or flight”.
But the main reason I think that this major component of Scientology (which I don’t think can exist without the core philosophy of losing the “reactive mind”) would still be dangerous, is that by working to go “Clear” and to lose your “reactive mind”, you’re essentially changing the way your mind is designed to work, losing a part of what makes you who you are, and ridding yourself of a core component of your mind that lets you think for yourself.
Allowing an auditor to help you lose any part of your mind, and thus, your core being as a unique individual, is basically another form of mind-control and mind-altering. Therefore, I struggle to see how Scientology could ever be reformed to a state where it isn’t considered “dangerous”. If there are some out there that still practice it in some form and disagree with me, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I feel that SCN will never change unless DM is gone and the person or body that replaces him, exposes his crimes and apologizes for his sins. Then changes could occur. Not that DM would ever relinquish his power however.
Since we have lost our son to the cult, disconnection is a constant topic of discussion between Lois and me. One of the reasons that disconnection is so heavily enforced is because the leader of the cult has personally committed such atrocious acts such as his beating of staff, The Hole, personally directing and ordering the Fair Gaming of people, forced abortions, human trafficking etc., he has to ensure that his secrets are kept from the sheep. If the sheep were allowed to speak with us S.P.s the truth of his evil deeds would spread like wildfire and they would leave, taking their money with them. Heavily enforced disconnection is a must for them.
We had this weird thought last night that if SCN had clean hands with no disconnection, fair gaming and none of the other evils listed above, they could survive, my son could come back to us and if he wanted to continue SCN that would be his decision, not one I would like, but it would be up to him. In my opinion, that will never happen.
Our only solution is what we are currently doing. Maybe our government will wake up and do something.
My 2 cents from a never in whose been compulsively reading this and Tony’s blogs. Your Mr Misgavige is doing great job. Do not let him go. Very few CEOs can take an organization down to 20,000 members and have no strategy aside from abuse and paranoia to deal with the changing times and technology.
Another leader could adapt the teachings, be creative and lead to a renaissance with no freedoms for believers. The more he pushes people; the more likely they are to leave. I am sorry for son still being in. LRH and DM seem the same to me; it’s a poison LRH created and it will be allocated to the dustbin of history.
I agree Gary. I don’t see any way this organization can be salvaged. And as Mac said, if someone new came into power in CoS, they might be considered their new “Messiah” and be able keep this deception of “stratospheric growth” going for even longer.
I think the exposure they are receiving now, especially with someone of the star-power that Leah possesses going after them, is going to ultimately get to many CoS members that are currently trapped in this mental prison the church puts them in, or perhaps it will give some attorney the info needed to be able to go after their jugular, or better yet, our governmental agencies would finally understand the meaning of “serve, protect, and defend”, which is what they’re sworn to do for their citizens, and strip this evil and corrupt organization of their precious tax-exemption status and possibly even prosecute for human trafficking and other gross violations of the human rights.
Until that glorious day happens, please keep faith and hope alive that you and Lois will one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, be reunited with Craig. Seeing and hearing from you and Lois, I have no doubt he’s a great kid who has just lost his way for now. Hopefully he finds his way back to you both very soon.
Legally it would be VERY possible for DM to have the HQ of scamology moved to a convenient country (for his legal safety) and transfer the wealth there along with his abode and live a very “comfortable” life.
Something tells me that he is too egotistical to do that any time soon though.
Mick – some very good points and observations from someone never in.
The whole aim of auditing (certainly the lower entry-level stuff anyway) was supposed to achieve relief from negative influences in your life, which was done by finding and stripping away those characteristics (habits, behaviour patterns etc) one had adopted over eons as tools with which to survive in certasin circumstances, but which were not innately the “real you”. The whole premise is that the “reactive mind” is a bad thing and therefore one should WANT to “lose this part of their mind” – it’s the source of crazy outbursts, weird behaviour, shyness, unexplained phobias, proneness to illness, visceral reactions to things which would not normally a phase a “sane” person etc (that term “sane” being relative of course). The lower-level stuff is supposed to sort this all out and result in a happy, sane, well-adjusted person who can be trusted, is ethical and an asset to society.
The above scenario is the theory of course. I’ve seen this fail dismally and many times someone who, just weeks ago was being applauded for having achieved “blah blah” level (say “Clear”), has a car accident weeks later, gets terribly ill, loses their job, is uncovered for dealing with crooks in business – or some other tragedy befalls them.
Conversely, I have seen people who literally couldn’t hold a conversation with someone, were terrified of crowds and became a dithering mess if asked a direct question go on to study a few basic courses, get some counselling and suddenly acquire amazing self-confidence, freely hold conversations with folk and stand up in front of a room of people and give a presentation. I’ve also seen that some of this basic “tech” works when handling children (very light stuff like acknowledging and validating a child etc). What I’m NOT saying however, is that these “Scientology tools” aren’t available elsewhere and that Scientology has a monopoly on all self-improvement and spiritual “freedom” and is “the only answer to main’s ills”.
Many times you will hear ex-Scios agree on the fact that the basic stuff they did was good, and that they benefited from it. I know of a lot of people who still apply some of these basic principles to their lives today (communicating, problem solving, setting & achieving goals, study technology, etc). Others have taken the stance that it’s ALL a load a bull and are doing their level best to forget it all – even the good stuff they benefited from.
Others are still very involved in the practice (outside of the church that is) and are continuing with doing the upper OT stuff (beyond Clear) and swear that it’s of enormous value. What you won’t find around these folk however are the abusive practices of fair game, disconnection, heavy ethics, treating staff like slaves and other nefarious practices like those taking -place in the the church.
As for the upper level stuff, I cannot comment as I never went that far in the church. By personal observation, I saw people returning from Advanced Organisations in worse condition that when they left and I personally had some horrible experiences with so-called “OTs”. Interestingly, in the independent Scientology field I have not experienced this and in the main have observed that these people are doing really well. (I’m not involved in any independent SCN activity myself, so no bias here).
Thanks for the information Shelley. I have no doubt that many of the techniques that are practiced can be beneficial, even auditing. But my concern is with auditing in general, especially when trying to “clear” your “reactive mind”, where someone is giving deference to an auditor, another individual, to “re-wire” their brain.
Most auditors (i.e., most humans) truly have a desire to help other people (or maybe I’m just an incurable optimist), but the danger lies in those few auditors who may try to take advantage of this and fill the “preclear’s” head with what that malevolent auditor wants to fill it with…….to slowly allow the auditor to have a degree of control over his/her subject. That’s the danger to me with trying to “re-program” your brain.
Most of the auditing processes that constitute the foundation before the Clearing materials can be incorporated into ‘talk therapy’ and can help guide a person to search out and view personal issues. I have only guided individuals to places that they wanted to go to in the first place.
Scientology (the cherch) can NEVER reform. They have become prisoners to the belief of the infallibility of a dead person, the one who wrote KSW and enforced it. They are as solidly dead as the walls of the buildings they own.
Great point Jim. Auditing seems to just be “talk therapy”, which I don’t doubt can truly be beneficial. Where it gets into a danger-zone of sorts, is completely re-programming how a person thinks (mind-control), basically changes a portion of your brain and the way you think. I would be more than a bit scared to give that power to someone else, like an auditor.
Mick, I think you may have had a version of the “cognition” that it seems many (though not all) ex-members take several years to get to, that Hubbard made the whole thing up for his own purposes, and there’s not enough worth redeeming in the subject when you really look at it critically.
I have been going back, studying and analyzing it, and what I would say is, between Hubbard’s lack of proper scientific method and his own personality disorders (such as the absence of normal human empathy) that left the subject fatally flawed from the very beginning, and the development of the processes and procedures of the “tech” as part of a mechanism of control (including the mis-use of hypnotic techniques) from very early on, it’s hard to find anything left to redeem that’s truly “workable.” If you considered that Hubbard did have some interesting approaches, you’d probably just want to keep that in mind, go back to Hubbard’s sources, then look at what has been developed and discovered since 1950, and basically start fresh.
If you want to have a bit of fun seeing some of the sort of phenomenon that Hubbard probably used and exploited, at work and being exposed, go to youtube and search for “Derren Brown” and either “Voodoo” or “Mind Control” (watch at least through the first demonstration).
Oh yes PeaceMaker, I’ve already come to the conclusion that LRH was (pardon my language here) “full of shit”. But he was an evil genius, with an insatiable lust for money, power, and admiration, who came up with a bunch of philosophies (or to be more precise, he stole many/most of them from other sources) that people of his time desired, and could get away with it largely due to the fact that there was no easy access during his time for people to check it out before going into it to try for themselves. This allowed the slow spiral of mind-control to occur with his subjects.
But fortunately, the internet changed the game, as has having a celebrity like Leah and a lovable guy like Mike going after them full bore.
People want to belong. Some people got sucked in because they fell for the sales pitch. We can’t question the how all we can do is support those that wake up & want out. I keep saying we need to organize a modern Underground Railroad of sorts. Pool our money & hire those airplanes with the banners one in So Cal one in CW too. All with the same message “Call Me”.
RedShoeLady, you’re exactly right about people wanting to “belong”. Mike wrote a great article a few days ago about this “social circle” aspect of group-think, such as how people get into this mode with politics and religion. If I’m not mistaken, you’re fairly new here, so this link to one of Mike’s previous posts might be an interesting read for you.
Wow. I’m so glad I’m out. I remember refusing to loan my Rainbow vacuum to an gal down the hall and she turned into a nasty tiger. Only the tigers survive. Hope they are really not keeping crew from the food at events. That was the only good part.
Cece, when you left, did you feel the weight of the world go away? I did. When I left staff, I was happier than a pig in slop! I went home, grabbed my surfboard (this was in Hawai’i), and had the time of my life! When you leave Scientology, you get your old life back? You can do whatever you want! Talk to whoever you want. In other words, you’ve achieved total freedom! Congrats!
Funny, but sad & true. Since getting out I’ve heard more and more horror stories of what SO staff were doing in order to survive – and poorly at that. One friend of mine used to go shopping every month for the berthing ladies’ “monthly toiletries” – and then somehow, smuggled these items in so that management didn’t find out. I remember being in session one day only to nearly pass out from a foul odour I thought was coming from the aircon. Nay, my auditor had removed his shoes under the table – I was nearly gagging while trying to be “in session”. The thought of DM sipping on whiskey, smoking cigars, skiing, scuba-diving and partying it up with BFF TC while his slaves live like swine makes my blood boil.
This resembles something out of “Stalag 17” or any number of prison pictures from the forties and fifties. “Escape from Gold Base.” What a picture that would make.I’m calling my agent now.
I want to laugh (because RB usually has me rolling, especially the ones with little Miscavige peeking over his desk, just kills me), but it makes me so damn angry that an organization with the money and resources of COS would choose to treat their workers like this. These people who dedicate their lives to COS, working long hours with very few days or even hours off, dutifully turning their backs on loved ones for COS and making videos disparaging them, trying so hard to keep up unrealistic stats, enduring screaming and insults from superiors, KR reports for every little infraction of unreasonable rules… and you can’t even provide f’n laundry detergent so they look their best for the public. Are you kidding me. You can’t keep toilet paper in the bathrooms. Really, these people are not worth that extra expense, even when doing so gives a better impression to the public. You better hide under that desk little man, because how you are treating your hard working dedicated staff is disgusting. You should be embarrassed and ashamed that RB can depict your organization in this way, then have comment after comment backing up the dirty truth that this is actually the way it is. Im sorry to rant, but damn it is not right. I wish I could adopt every Sea Org worker who doesn’t have the backing of outside family, and provide them all with these basic essentials. Sorry, not the cigs. Seriously, I wish we could set up a Sea Org pantry, where they could go to get this stuff for free. They would at least know that there are so many people outside of COS who care about their welfare so much more that the evil tyrant that runs COS. Of course, COS would immediately ban them from going to such a pantry. Anyway, if something could be set up to help these truly needy people, I would be more than willing to contribute. I just feel so sorry for them. So many were born into this life and it’s not their fault they got stuck there. Or they just got sucked into it because they have big hearts and minds, and slowly begin to believe it is their only path. Being kept in the dark, they just don’t know how wrong this is, especially in America. No corporation in America would ever get away with treating their employees like COS treats their Sea Org, and also staff for that matter.
OK, rant over.
My stomach is churning. Not that I have any personal knowledge at all, but don’t men and women who are incarcerated in our prison system get soap and clean clothes and toothpaste? And they get to sleep and rest in their cells and perhaps keep a diary or even read???? My heart breaks for everyone who endured this and who still live inside this awful cult… surely there is something illegal about these living conditions…
wouldn’t that be a hoot? a mass movement of people dropping off little care packages “FOR AN SO MEMBER” of toiletries/TP, a food coupon, to all the various SO installations in LA, Clearwater, Toronto, NY… Little packages with nice little “Human Aid” labels or something….
O.T. but I just finished listening to the interview with Maria Pia Gardini that was referenced in yesterday’s comments. It is kind of long, but well worth the time. She is a great speaker and has a wry sense of humor. This is heart wrenching and if she weren’t so articulate, I would not have been able to listen to the whole story. Sorry I can’t seem to get the link to copy here, but you can find it in yesterday comments section. The commenter was Hennessy. Does anyone know what became of her? I would love to know more about her story. I think this interview was early 2000s.
This reminds me of the “prosperity” doctrine common in a lot of pentecostal/charismatic churches. Mike, I am so glad I watched you and Leah on the series, you all have given me a lot of insight, not just on Scientology but on mind-control cultish behavior in general.
You are the Scott Adams of Co$ – doing for it what Dilbert did to parody the “Bellheads” at AT&T. It was a comic strip that all could enjoy but that hit particularly close to any who worked for The Evil Empire. A lot of other similarities between the two orgs including a love of buzzwords and clubby acronyms (we had over 13K in publishing alone).
Very funny today! I like the way it says ‘Almost 19 people showed up’ I’m not sure how they get ‘Almost 19’ Isn’t the flyer a little too modest for a scientology event? Shouldn’t it be promising ‘life changing tech’ and crap like that?
Another excellent Regraded Being post! It reminded me of a tragic story of a boy and his jeans.
I remember when I was about 17 or 18 on the Apollo. I was a deckhand and used to paint the side of the barge so my clothes were always covered in paint, turpentine and basically disgusting. On Sunday we had some personal cleaning time and I would wash my clothes in a bucket The ship didn’t have washing machines. We did have soap but it truly did not get my jeans clean and it was a lot of work trying to get the turpentine and grime out of them using a bucket. The feel of the turps and grime never left those jeans. The paint I could live with.
One time I had this brilliant idea. The Apollo had just left port and we were out at sea, so I decided to take one of the deck ropes, tie it to the jean’s belt loop (I only had 2 pairs) throw some soap in the jean pockets and while at sea going 15 knots, I thru it into the ocean. It was at night so I couldn’t see if it was working. But I let the speed of the ship become my wash machine while I bullshitted and drank Kool-Aid with some of the other deckies, while they were pounding on their clothes in a bucket. An hour later I pulled up that extremely clean belt loop, minus the rest of the jeans. I stuck with the bucket idea for my other pair of jeans.
Oh yes, our friends in their grey flannel suits. Lots more of ’em showing up here on the east coast of Aus these days. The local fishermen and surfers see more & more of them all the time. One theory is it coincides with the diminishing numbers of the southern bluefin tuna. Heavily fished for sushi and the Japanese market. Purse seine netting and long line fishing have taken away the sharks natural food source so they roam father. It’s only a theory but there is a similarity to reported fish stats and Scientology – they are both manipulated for PR and financial purposes. Oh, you shouldn’t pee when you swim in the ocean either – leaves a nice scent trail straight to ya.
I Yawn, here in Huntington Beach, we’ve seen an increase in juvenile Great Whites. Rarely would a juvenile shark attack a person. But then, they do grow up to be very large Great Whites. It’s the stingrays that I worry about! Having been stung 3 times, I tread into the water very carefully. And I also do the stingray shuffle when I enter the water.
Dude! The rope already did that. Jeans be free! OT apparel just floating around being a home for barnacles and such. Just like space cooties clinging on.
I drink far too much, do silly things more or less on a regular basis and love to mix all that up with reflecting on life from being far too long involved with Scientology. I lived, breathed and ate that stuff for decades. I bait the odd person, watch and wait for a reaction to see how to set the tone for whatever fun there is to be had… sleep as much as I can, catch fish and… & well… I like you too buddy. Now what were we talking about again?
Even in the 70s we used to have to choose between toothpaste, laundry soap or the coffee from the vending machine. Coffee was usually the best choice. But it wasn’t that easy.
The vending machine sometimes would vend coffee without a cup, sometimes a cup with no coffee. I always had a cup in my pocket just in case and would slam it under the coffee spewing into nothingness to get some of it. It was never an option to make a second try if the vending machine spit out just an empty cup, but hey it gave me a clean paper cup to carry around.
LOL! But of course, a PROSPERITY seminar! A staff pauper telling you how to live large is like a man who has three disastrous marriages and estranged children speaking authoritatively about how to have a happy home.
The life & times of Scientology in cartoon format. Another classic RB! I guess the major difference between Org staff & the SO is that staff get to go home to pretend they are doing the right thing most nights while they worry about food and rent.
One slight problem with that comment Mick, in reality there is no such thing as a “completed donation” in Scientology. There are only lulls between the next time they hit you up for more money. The greatest brown nosing, and hence a moment of respite for SO or staff is to get your stats up and at the top of the tree of stats is MONEY! The rest are of little consequence, unless it’s a new member recruited – fresh meat is always a winner too!
For those members nowhere near money acquisition, it’s just a monotone of misery without that blip of a monetary high of grabbing the bucks of someone. It truly sux to be anywhere in or close to a Scientology Organisation!
Ahh, excellent point. If you’re a Scientologist, it seems that you will never get to a point where you’ve “completed” any donation……whether that’s a donation of your time or (most importantly) of your money.
Now you’re getting it. It is truly a difficult if not impossible task for someone who has never been in Scientology to fathom what they are truly like, the way they treat each other and look at/treat life at large. For a brief moment when I was first in the 80s I saw and experienced it differently than what Scientologists see and act today, but by the late 80s it was a gulag. Hubbard really should never have touched on and introduced policy like he did, but he just couldn’t help himself. He laid the perfect foundation in his rules and administration for someone like Miscavige to come along and go ballistic with all that money, backed up and enforced by a central control system like the SO. The more I look at and hear other people’s account of being in that system of his the more I suspect Hubbard actually believed his own fabrications. But, with that said, I believe it’s also an error to generalize too much about about it all too. Some auditing is fun and beneficial imo plus it helped having first hand experience in it about as far away from the SO control as could be. That’s what really swept through the Scientology world in the mid to late 80s, the iron fist of control of the SO reached into every facet of the organisation. On a global scale,1st it was the missions, then the Orgs. Apparently the closer to Hubbard, then Miscavige you were the more dangerous and unpredictable it was. Being ethical and responsible anywhere near management is punished severely in Scientology.
Its true, Yawn. Early on I learned to dripfeed whatever money I could donate. I calculated how much I’d give and then fed it to them little by little. They were always happier that way and I didn’t get exasperated because I was controlling the action.
I would love to read a diary of an ASHO or LA Org staff member, day by day, over the course of a year, including staff uniforming and staff allowance, meals, berthing, the simplest details would be so revealing.
How, I wonder, to Scientology lawyers, live with this?
Does Rick Moxon and the rest of the OSA legal team know how bad this is?
Somehow these actual conditions with evidence ought to leak to the media.
I don’t think so Chuck. FIrst off, no time for a diary. Second. Self-delusion. I think the diary would be a mess of self delusion “today I won because my shoes were dry”. “We are winning over wogs because….”. They wouldn’t dare think the dark thoughts much less write them down.
Think back to your time in.. would you admit it was bad? It took me years to admit to myself how horrific the conditions were yet I had no soap or toothpaste much less deodorant most weeks.
Certain officers in the military we referred to as has having “reptilian eyes under peaked caps.” A Scientology lawyer… geezers, they cannot even conceive of the term conscience unless they can use it as a weapon against someone to win a case.
It takes a special kind of courage to get inside the head of those types of creatures, they live, breath and generally look like people, but they are not. Don’t for a moment think you can reason with one – they’ll stab you in the back the moment you look away. The really exceptional ones will do you in while smiling at you.
If you think that the vile worm Moxon would ever be disconcerted by the sufferings of others you are very wrong. He is a comparable worm, a sort of minor psychopath who would go out of his way to tread on toes for the sheer joy of it. Only in Scientology could such vermin as he could gain any status; and only Scientology would provide scope for his little cruelties.
You knew you were going to defect.Why not get some evidence against your midget boss so the fbi can toss him in prison? You had plenty of opportunities to record something . I think you’re still brainwashed.
“You had plenty of opportunities to record something”
You know that how EXACTLY? Or, are you just a moronic troll? It’s one or the other.
Moronic troll gets my vote
Dear Mike, to be honest I never had to much interest about Scientology and my perception was always that is a cult or trend because of the celebrities involved. after watching the show, I learned so much and my heart aches for all/everyone that has been/are victims of this cult (this is not a religion) I also felt anger that Scientology gets away legally with so much and how you and others have been harassed. I can only imagined the pain and frustrations that you must endured to stand up for yourself and others. What happened to Marty R? It seems that he caved in from the pressure? How are you & family coping after the show has aired? I couldn’t agreed more about how terrible the coverage report of 20/20 was, however anyone in their right mind could see/read the attorney’s body gestures showed so many lies, I believe she knows a lot more than you think and turns a blind eye… after all I am sure she gets paid well. My thoughts and prayers go to all the families and yours. May you continued to stay strong and keep up the great job you are doing. All the best to you!
RB just keeps on getting better every month.My still in son could have been saying that.
When I was young, Helen Geltman from the Geltman mission convinced me to not go to college. Going up the bridge was more important she said. When I gain OT powers I’ll achieve anything I want.
Scientology puts all of life below serving Scientology. So Scientologists simply accept going without essentials in life as a low humanoid need.
This one line from Ron is a horrible concept to believe as true:
“Scientology is senior to life because Scientology handles life” L Ron Hubbard
Remember that line? How many dreams, good desires and experiences were seen as a waste of time, replaced with the lies of freedom and power that was supposed to fill us with all we ever wanted or needed.
He sold us a piece of the blue sky. With our hearts and minds open; we let him into our most intimate inner selves. We believed Ron. He lied to us.
Power and profit. He sold our dreams down the drain for his power and profit.
I’m so sorry you suffered through that…. It makes me furious, how they abuse people, how they abuse their influence…
Hilarious. Cuz if you don’t laugh, you cry. Really RB the small touches are great, like making the word “free” in red. I would love to see your depictions of food displays too.
Yes, I agree. You have to laugh, or you cry.
I’ve been reading this blog for a few years now. As a never-in this whole subject is fascinating.
I finally had what they might call a “cognition” the other day. Probably others have realized this before but it finally occurred to me. Hubbard is selling his victims a bridge. As in, “if you believe that I’ve got a bridge to sell you.”
How can the church’s members not see this?
TIM, the Kool-Aid the staff & SO drink, is much, MUCH more potent than the store bought variety.
I’m a never-in as well, so I can’t speak to what goes through the minds of people who are or were in it. But for those raised into it, it makes perfect sense. I was raised in a Christian home in America so it made sense for me to follow those family traditions in which I was raised with my own family as an adult. Scientologists who are born and raised into it probably think that its just as normal a part of life as I believe that Christianity is just a normal part of my life. People of other faiths would probably wonder why I “buy into” my own faith.
As for people who join later in life, I would assume that auditing lets people feel really good about themselves after “talking through their problems” with an auditor, especially one who praises you endlessly, making you feel even better about yourself. Kind of similar to talking to a psychiatrist (taboo in CoS) and how people feel better getting things off their chest. It seems to be incremental baby steps that slowly but surely keep drawing someone into it until their way of thinking is altered into the Scientology mind-set.
People like you and me have always been on the outside so it’s difficult for us to understand on a personal level how anyone can buy this stuff, but being able to research it and see the exposure that the church is getting from former Scientologists, gives us insight that many Scientologists don’t have an opportunity (or the desire) to seek out.
In a way, it’s similar to how some folks politically are in the same mind-set on both sides of the aisle. Many of them listen to leaders and news sites/channels that conform to their own way of thinking, and don’t care to even listen to people with differing opinions. Scientologists seem to have this same mind-set that they don’t even care to read opinions from “entheta” critics of the church. I wouldn’t visit a bunch of websites that consistently bash Christianity either (perhaps a bad example, because most Christian sects don’t have abusive policies like disconnection and stuff, except perhaps Jehovah’s Witness and the Amish practice of “shunning”).
Maybe a bit off-topic, but my wife and I (both never-ins) have discussed with each other how Scientology should change if they want to continue to exist. We’ve thought that if they would just stop the abuse, stop the policy of disconnection, pay their workers a decent wage and work them a typical 40-hour work week, stop the Fair Gaming of any critics, lose the “Xenu” stuff, stop with all of the mind-control, and just focus on the auditing to try to truly help people, that they might find more people interested and it wouldn’t be viewed as such a destructive cult.
However, as I’ve thought more about it the last few weeks reading about all of this stuff here and other places, I’m not so sure I believe that Scientology, at its core, can ever be a “force for good” in the world (my apologies to others who may still practice it independently and believe in some of the ways it can help).
The reason I don’t think Scientology can ever be good, is because it seems to me that one of the core principles in Scientology philosophy is getting people to lose their “reactive mind”, or to go “Clear”.
As far as not being “reactive” in your thinking, in some ways, it can be good to not be as reactive, such as when you feel anger and the temptation to lash out irrationally. But in other ways, it can actually be a good survival tool, such as “fight or flight”.
But the main reason I think that this major component of Scientology (which I don’t think can exist without the core philosophy of losing the “reactive mind”) would still be dangerous, is that by working to go “Clear” and to lose your “reactive mind”, you’re essentially changing the way your mind is designed to work, losing a part of what makes you who you are, and ridding yourself of a core component of your mind that lets you think for yourself.
Allowing an auditor to help you lose any part of your mind, and thus, your core being as a unique individual, is basically another form of mind-control and mind-altering. Therefore, I struggle to see how Scientology could ever be reformed to a state where it isn’t considered “dangerous”. If there are some out there that still practice it in some form and disagree with me, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I feel that SCN will never change unless DM is gone and the person or body that replaces him, exposes his crimes and apologizes for his sins. Then changes could occur. Not that DM would ever relinquish his power however.
Since we have lost our son to the cult, disconnection is a constant topic of discussion between Lois and me. One of the reasons that disconnection is so heavily enforced is because the leader of the cult has personally committed such atrocious acts such as his beating of staff, The Hole, personally directing and ordering the Fair Gaming of people, forced abortions, human trafficking etc., he has to ensure that his secrets are kept from the sheep. If the sheep were allowed to speak with us S.P.s the truth of his evil deeds would spread like wildfire and they would leave, taking their money with them. Heavily enforced disconnection is a must for them.
We had this weird thought last night that if SCN had clean hands with no disconnection, fair gaming and none of the other evils listed above, they could survive, my son could come back to us and if he wanted to continue SCN that would be his decision, not one I would like, but it would be up to him. In my opinion, that will never happen.
Our only solution is what we are currently doing. Maybe our government will wake up and do something.
We need to keep the positive message of never ending love.
yes, RSL, you should have a look at the website we made for him and are adding to it as the days go on.
http://www.craigreisdorfwithlove.com/
My 2 cents from a never in whose been compulsively reading this and Tony’s blogs. Your Mr Misgavige is doing great job. Do not let him go. Very few CEOs can take an organization down to 20,000 members and have no strategy aside from abuse and paranoia to deal with the changing times and technology.
Another leader could adapt the teachings, be creative and lead to a renaissance with no freedoms for believers. The more he pushes people; the more likely they are to leave. I am sorry for son still being in. LRH and DM seem the same to me; it’s a poison LRH created and it will be allocated to the dustbin of history.
I agree Gary. I don’t see any way this organization can be salvaged. And as Mac said, if someone new came into power in CoS, they might be considered their new “Messiah” and be able keep this deception of “stratospheric growth” going for even longer.
I think the exposure they are receiving now, especially with someone of the star-power that Leah possesses going after them, is going to ultimately get to many CoS members that are currently trapped in this mental prison the church puts them in, or perhaps it will give some attorney the info needed to be able to go after their jugular, or better yet, our governmental agencies would finally understand the meaning of “serve, protect, and defend”, which is what they’re sworn to do for their citizens, and strip this evil and corrupt organization of their precious tax-exemption status and possibly even prosecute for human trafficking and other gross violations of the human rights.
Until that glorious day happens, please keep faith and hope alive that you and Lois will one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, be reunited with Craig. Seeing and hearing from you and Lois, I have no doubt he’s a great kid who has just lost his way for now. Hopefully he finds his way back to you both very soon.
Thanks Mick. He is a very good son – just momentarily lost in life.
When, and if, Miscavige goes the money and property will go with him.
Legally it would be VERY possible for DM to have the HQ of scamology moved to a convenient country (for his legal safety) and transfer the wealth there along with his abode and live a very “comfortable” life.
Something tells me that he is too egotistical to do that any time soon though.
Mick – some very good points and observations from someone never in.
The whole aim of auditing (certainly the lower entry-level stuff anyway) was supposed to achieve relief from negative influences in your life, which was done by finding and stripping away those characteristics (habits, behaviour patterns etc) one had adopted over eons as tools with which to survive in certasin circumstances, but which were not innately the “real you”. The whole premise is that the “reactive mind” is a bad thing and therefore one should WANT to “lose this part of their mind” – it’s the source of crazy outbursts, weird behaviour, shyness, unexplained phobias, proneness to illness, visceral reactions to things which would not normally a phase a “sane” person etc (that term “sane” being relative of course). The lower-level stuff is supposed to sort this all out and result in a happy, sane, well-adjusted person who can be trusted, is ethical and an asset to society.
The above scenario is the theory of course. I’ve seen this fail dismally and many times someone who, just weeks ago was being applauded for having achieved “blah blah” level (say “Clear”), has a car accident weeks later, gets terribly ill, loses their job, is uncovered for dealing with crooks in business – or some other tragedy befalls them.
Conversely, I have seen people who literally couldn’t hold a conversation with someone, were terrified of crowds and became a dithering mess if asked a direct question go on to study a few basic courses, get some counselling and suddenly acquire amazing self-confidence, freely hold conversations with folk and stand up in front of a room of people and give a presentation. I’ve also seen that some of this basic “tech” works when handling children (very light stuff like acknowledging and validating a child etc). What I’m NOT saying however, is that these “Scientology tools” aren’t available elsewhere and that Scientology has a monopoly on all self-improvement and spiritual “freedom” and is “the only answer to main’s ills”.
Many times you will hear ex-Scios agree on the fact that the basic stuff they did was good, and that they benefited from it. I know of a lot of people who still apply some of these basic principles to their lives today (communicating, problem solving, setting & achieving goals, study technology, etc). Others have taken the stance that it’s ALL a load a bull and are doing their level best to forget it all – even the good stuff they benefited from.
Others are still very involved in the practice (outside of the church that is) and are continuing with doing the upper OT stuff (beyond Clear) and swear that it’s of enormous value. What you won’t find around these folk however are the abusive practices of fair game, disconnection, heavy ethics, treating staff like slaves and other nefarious practices like those taking -place in the the church.
As for the upper level stuff, I cannot comment as I never went that far in the church. By personal observation, I saw people returning from Advanced Organisations in worse condition that when they left and I personally had some horrible experiences with so-called “OTs”. Interestingly, in the independent Scientology field I have not experienced this and in the main have observed that these people are doing really well. (I’m not involved in any independent SCN activity myself, so no bias here).
Thanks for the information Shelley. I have no doubt that many of the techniques that are practiced can be beneficial, even auditing. But my concern is with auditing in general, especially when trying to “clear” your “reactive mind”, where someone is giving deference to an auditor, another individual, to “re-wire” their brain.
Most auditors (i.e., most humans) truly have a desire to help other people (or maybe I’m just an incurable optimist), but the danger lies in those few auditors who may try to take advantage of this and fill the “preclear’s” head with what that malevolent auditor wants to fill it with…….to slowly allow the auditor to have a degree of control over his/her subject. That’s the danger to me with trying to “re-program” your brain.
Hello Mick,
Most of the auditing processes that constitute the foundation before the Clearing materials can be incorporated into ‘talk therapy’ and can help guide a person to search out and view personal issues. I have only guided individuals to places that they wanted to go to in the first place.
Scientology (the cherch) can NEVER reform. They have become prisoners to the belief of the infallibility of a dead person, the one who wrote KSW and enforced it. They are as solidly dead as the walls of the buildings they own.
Great point Jim. Auditing seems to just be “talk therapy”, which I don’t doubt can truly be beneficial. Where it gets into a danger-zone of sorts, is completely re-programming how a person thinks (mind-control), basically changes a portion of your brain and the way you think. I would be more than a bit scared to give that power to someone else, like an auditor.
Mick, I think you may have had a version of the “cognition” that it seems many (though not all) ex-members take several years to get to, that Hubbard made the whole thing up for his own purposes, and there’s not enough worth redeeming in the subject when you really look at it critically.
I have been going back, studying and analyzing it, and what I would say is, between Hubbard’s lack of proper scientific method and his own personality disorders (such as the absence of normal human empathy) that left the subject fatally flawed from the very beginning, and the development of the processes and procedures of the “tech” as part of a mechanism of control (including the mis-use of hypnotic techniques) from very early on, it’s hard to find anything left to redeem that’s truly “workable.” If you considered that Hubbard did have some interesting approaches, you’d probably just want to keep that in mind, go back to Hubbard’s sources, then look at what has been developed and discovered since 1950, and basically start fresh.
If you want to have a bit of fun seeing some of the sort of phenomenon that Hubbard probably used and exploited, at work and being exposed, go to youtube and search for “Derren Brown” and either “Voodoo” or “Mind Control” (watch at least through the first demonstration).
Oh yes PeaceMaker, I’ve already come to the conclusion that LRH was (pardon my language here) “full of shit”. But he was an evil genius, with an insatiable lust for money, power, and admiration, who came up with a bunch of philosophies (or to be more precise, he stole many/most of them from other sources) that people of his time desired, and could get away with it largely due to the fact that there was no easy access during his time for people to check it out before going into it to try for themselves. This allowed the slow spiral of mind-control to occur with his subjects.
But fortunately, the internet changed the game, as has having a celebrity like Leah and a lovable guy like Mike going after them full bore.
People want to belong. Some people got sucked in because they fell for the sales pitch. We can’t question the how all we can do is support those that wake up & want out. I keep saying we need to organize a modern Underground Railroad of sorts. Pool our money & hire those airplanes with the banners one in So Cal one in CW too. All with the same message “Call Me”.
RedShoeLady, you’re exactly right about people wanting to “belong”. Mike wrote a great article a few days ago about this “social circle” aspect of group-think, such as how people get into this mode with politics and religion. If I’m not mistaken, you’re fairly new here, so this link to one of Mike’s previous posts might be an interesting read for you.
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/change-your-mind/
LOL!
Wow. I’m so glad I’m out. I remember refusing to loan my Rainbow vacuum to an gal down the hall and she turned into a nasty tiger. Only the tigers survive. Hope they are really not keeping crew from the food at events. That was the only good part.
Cece, when you left, did you feel the weight of the world go away? I did. When I left staff, I was happier than a pig in slop! I went home, grabbed my surfboard (this was in Hawai’i), and had the time of my life! When you leave Scientology, you get your old life back? You can do whatever you want! Talk to whoever you want. In other words, you’ve achieved total freedom! Congrats!
Gavin,
Busted.
Funny, but sad & true. Since getting out I’ve heard more and more horror stories of what SO staff were doing in order to survive – and poorly at that. One friend of mine used to go shopping every month for the berthing ladies’ “monthly toiletries” – and then somehow, smuggled these items in so that management didn’t find out. I remember being in session one day only to nearly pass out from a foul odour I thought was coming from the aircon. Nay, my auditor had removed his shoes under the table – I was nearly gagging while trying to be “in session”. The thought of DM sipping on whiskey, smoking cigars, skiing, scuba-diving and partying it up with BFF TC while his slaves live like swine makes my blood boil.
This resembles something out of “Stalag 17” or any number of prison pictures from the forties and fifties. “Escape from Gold Base.” What a picture that would make.I’m calling my agent now.
That is an outstanding idea! “Escape From Gold Base.” That’s a winner in my book! And, yes, PLEASE, call your agent! And put me in the movie!
Well Steve Mcqueen is gone, but we could get Jason Beghe.
I want to laugh (because RB usually has me rolling, especially the ones with little Miscavige peeking over his desk, just kills me), but it makes me so damn angry that an organization with the money and resources of COS would choose to treat their workers like this. These people who dedicate their lives to COS, working long hours with very few days or even hours off, dutifully turning their backs on loved ones for COS and making videos disparaging them, trying so hard to keep up unrealistic stats, enduring screaming and insults from superiors, KR reports for every little infraction of unreasonable rules… and you can’t even provide f’n laundry detergent so they look their best for the public. Are you kidding me. You can’t keep toilet paper in the bathrooms. Really, these people are not worth that extra expense, even when doing so gives a better impression to the public. You better hide under that desk little man, because how you are treating your hard working dedicated staff is disgusting. You should be embarrassed and ashamed that RB can depict your organization in this way, then have comment after comment backing up the dirty truth that this is actually the way it is. Im sorry to rant, but damn it is not right. I wish I could adopt every Sea Org worker who doesn’t have the backing of outside family, and provide them all with these basic essentials. Sorry, not the cigs. Seriously, I wish we could set up a Sea Org pantry, where they could go to get this stuff for free. They would at least know that there are so many people outside of COS who care about their welfare so much more that the evil tyrant that runs COS. Of course, COS would immediately ban them from going to such a pantry. Anyway, if something could be set up to help these truly needy people, I would be more than willing to contribute. I just feel so sorry for them. So many were born into this life and it’s not their fault they got stuck there. Or they just got sucked into it because they have big hearts and minds, and slowly begin to believe it is their only path. Being kept in the dark, they just don’t know how wrong this is, especially in America. No corporation in America would ever get away with treating their employees like COS treats their Sea Org, and also staff for that matter.
OK, rant over.
I would donate to food and clothing drives.
Wait…..what? Clothing can actually drive?
Yep, sew on licences are all the rage.
It’s the mind. Without unlocking the mind, the clothes and food and toiletries won’t mean a thing. Sad but true.
My stomach is churning. Not that I have any personal knowledge at all, but don’t men and women who are incarcerated in our prison system get soap and clean clothes and toothpaste? And they get to sleep and rest in their cells and perhaps keep a diary or even read???? My heart breaks for everyone who endured this and who still live inside this awful cult… surely there is something illegal about these living conditions…
So should I drop soap and TP off by Celebrity Center in LA ?
So sad that these people get abused !
If you do, rioting will erupt…
wouldn’t that be a hoot? a mass movement of people dropping off little care packages “FOR AN SO MEMBER” of toiletries/TP, a food coupon, to all the various SO installations in LA, Clearwater, Toronto, NY… Little packages with nice little “Human Aid” labels or something….
O.T. but I just finished listening to the interview with Maria Pia Gardini that was referenced in yesterday’s comments. It is kind of long, but well worth the time. She is a great speaker and has a wry sense of humor. This is heart wrenching and if she weren’t so articulate, I would not have been able to listen to the whole story. Sorry I can’t seem to get the link to copy here, but you can find it in yesterday comments section. The commenter was Hennessy. Does anyone know what became of her? I would love to know more about her story. I think this interview was early 2000s.
Thanks bo – The link to Maria Pia’s interview is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3tIiv2Ke5s
Thanks for that link. I finally googled her and sadly she passed away in 2012. But not without creating massive headaches for the cult.
This reminds me of the “prosperity” doctrine common in a lot of pentecostal/charismatic churches. Mike, I am so glad I watched you and Leah on the series, you all have given me a lot of insight, not just on Scientology but on mind-control cultish behavior in general.
I laughed, but quickly remember it is the truth. So scary. At least you can laugh about it now.
You are the Scott Adams of Co$ – doing for it what Dilbert did to parody the “Bellheads” at AT&T. It was a comic strip that all could enjoy but that hit particularly close to any who worked for The Evil Empire. A lot of other similarities between the two orgs including a love of buzzwords and clubby acronyms (we had over 13K in publishing alone).
Very funny today! I like the way it says ‘Almost 19 people showed up’ I’m not sure how they get ‘Almost 19’ Isn’t the flyer a little too modest for a scientology event? Shouldn’t it be promising ‘life changing tech’ and crap like that?
Anything over 10mis almost 19
Damn autocorrect I said anything over 10 is almost 19
Were any of those 19 people staff? To fill in the seats, maybe?
Gimpy when you are told to count by 20’s, 1 = almost 19.
Good one, RB. I chuckled several times, especially at the sign saying: “Why donations to the IAS are senior to your progress up the bridge”.
As ias reg ones said to me “I don’t how life membership helps to improve your progress but it definitely works”
So said the reg who was having a bad day…
Another excellent Regraded Being post! It reminded me of a tragic story of a boy and his jeans.
I remember when I was about 17 or 18 on the Apollo. I was a deckhand and used to paint the side of the barge so my clothes were always covered in paint, turpentine and basically disgusting. On Sunday we had some personal cleaning time and I would wash my clothes in a bucket The ship didn’t have washing machines. We did have soap but it truly did not get my jeans clean and it was a lot of work trying to get the turpentine and grime out of them using a bucket. The feel of the turps and grime never left those jeans. The paint I could live with.
One time I had this brilliant idea. The Apollo had just left port and we were out at sea, so I decided to take one of the deck ropes, tie it to the jean’s belt loop (I only had 2 pairs) throw some soap in the jean pockets and while at sea going 15 knots, I thru it into the ocean. It was at night so I couldn’t see if it was working. But I let the speed of the ship become my wash machine while I bullshitted and drank Kool-Aid with some of the other deckies, while they were pounding on their clothes in a bucket. An hour later I pulled up that extremely clean belt loop, minus the rest of the jeans. I stuck with the bucket idea for my other pair of jeans.
OUCH! Now that’s an ARCX of some magnitude, but maybe there was a bemused shark swimming nearby, generally soap does attract fish!
No wonder a shark cruised by me when I was out surfing. I still had soap on me!
Oh yes, our friends in their grey flannel suits. Lots more of ’em showing up here on the east coast of Aus these days. The local fishermen and surfers see more & more of them all the time. One theory is it coincides with the diminishing numbers of the southern bluefin tuna. Heavily fished for sushi and the Japanese market. Purse seine netting and long line fishing have taken away the sharks natural food source so they roam father. It’s only a theory but there is a similarity to reported fish stats and Scientology – they are both manipulated for PR and financial purposes. Oh, you shouldn’t pee when you swim in the ocean either – leaves a nice scent trail straight to ya.
I Yawn, here in Huntington Beach, we’ve seen an increase in juvenile Great Whites. Rarely would a juvenile shark attack a person. But then, they do grow up to be very large Great Whites. It’s the stingrays that I worry about! Having been stung 3 times, I tread into the water very carefully. And I also do the stingray shuffle when I enter the water.
Yeah, but even a baby Great White gotta eat! String rays deserve megga respect too – ask Steve Irwin…
Check out this photo. One very lucky 10 year old surfer didn’t even know what he was surfing with until his father called him in (rather hastily I might add) and showed him the photo. Chilling hey? The kid wasn’t phased at all!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/great-white-shark-photograph-10-year-old-surfer-boy-sydney-board-wave-photobomb-picture-a7547191.html
I actually should have gotten a session to handle the loss of my jeans. 45 years later and it still pisses me off!
Let it go, CPO, just let it go. Now, take a deep breath. Why, I have no idea.
Dude! The rope already did that. Jeans be free! OT apparel just floating around being a home for barnacles and such. Just like space cooties clinging on.
CPO I don’t want to evaluate for you but perhaps it’s an unflat process. Got any more jeans you can throw away?
I Yawn and OSD make my day on a regular basis…. you guys get it! I don’t know how one can be buddies from a blog…..
I drink far too much, do silly things more or less on a regular basis and love to mix all that up with reflecting on life from being far too long involved with Scientology. I lived, breathed and ate that stuff for decades. I bait the odd person, watch and wait for a reaction to see how to set the tone for whatever fun there is to be had… sleep as much as I can, catch fish and… & well… I like you too buddy. Now what were we talking about again?
The dialogue really rings true. Wow.
Spot on.
Great little vid on “Orwellian” – I know it was aimed at the political climate and activities, but it reverberates scientology.
https://youtu.be/oe64p-QzhNE
Even in the 70s we used to have to choose between toothpaste, laundry soap or the coffee from the vending machine. Coffee was usually the best choice. But it wasn’t that easy.
The vending machine sometimes would vend coffee without a cup, sometimes a cup with no coffee. I always had a cup in my pocket just in case and would slam it under the coffee spewing into nothingness to get some of it. It was never an option to make a second try if the vending machine spit out just an empty cup, but hey it gave me a clean paper cup to carry around.
That there is cause over life.
But, is there life over cause?
I hear this, “cause over life” a lot! What about cause under life?
LOL! But of course, a PROSPERITY seminar! A staff pauper telling you how to live large is like a man who has three disastrous marriages and estranged children speaking authoritatively about how to have a happy home.
Hmm sounds like you might be describing someone we should know here, just can’t place them though.
Another classic RB. I guess the difference between SO and Org staff is that staff can get to go home and be miserable while they pretend they are not.
HAHA. So close to reality a to be painful!
That is their reality, isn’t it?
The life & times of Scientology in cartoon format. Another classic RB! I guess the major difference between Org staff & the SO is that staff get to go home to pretend they are doing the right thing most nights while they worry about food and rent.
Nice RB. That last bit…..”AFTER YOU’VE COMPLETED YOUR DONATION!”…..seems to pretty much sum it all up about this organization perfectly.
One slight problem with that comment Mick, in reality there is no such thing as a “completed donation” in Scientology. There are only lulls between the next time they hit you up for more money. The greatest brown nosing, and hence a moment of respite for SO or staff is to get your stats up and at the top of the tree of stats is MONEY! The rest are of little consequence, unless it’s a new member recruited – fresh meat is always a winner too!
For those members nowhere near money acquisition, it’s just a monotone of misery without that blip of a monetary high of grabbing the bucks of someone. It truly sux to be anywhere in or close to a Scientology Organisation!
Ahh, excellent point. If you’re a Scientologist, it seems that you will never get to a point where you’ve “completed” any donation……whether that’s a donation of your time or (most importantly) of your money.
Now you’re getting it. It is truly a difficult if not impossible task for someone who has never been in Scientology to fathom what they are truly like, the way they treat each other and look at/treat life at large. For a brief moment when I was first in the 80s I saw and experienced it differently than what Scientologists see and act today, but by the late 80s it was a gulag. Hubbard really should never have touched on and introduced policy like he did, but he just couldn’t help himself. He laid the perfect foundation in his rules and administration for someone like Miscavige to come along and go ballistic with all that money, backed up and enforced by a central control system like the SO. The more I look at and hear other people’s account of being in that system of his the more I suspect Hubbard actually believed his own fabrications. But, with that said, I believe it’s also an error to generalize too much about about it all too. Some auditing is fun and beneficial imo plus it helped having first hand experience in it about as far away from the SO control as could be. That’s what really swept through the Scientology world in the mid to late 80s, the iron fist of control of the SO reached into every facet of the organisation. On a global scale,1st it was the missions, then the Orgs. Apparently the closer to Hubbard, then Miscavige you were the more dangerous and unpredictable it was. Being ethical and responsible anywhere near management is punished severely in Scientology.
Glad you were never in, Mick! Scientology is totally F.U.B.A.R.
Ditto. That organisation needs a reckoning!
Its true, Yawn. Early on I learned to dripfeed whatever money I could donate. I calculated how much I’d give and then fed it to them little by little. They were always happier that way and I didn’t get exasperated because I was controlling the action.
Good one!
This is REALLY Funny RB – it is Ooozing with sarcastic cynicism and SO SPOT ON!
When I don’t have an episode from Rinder and Remini to look forward to watching…. (Hint Hint)
I do look forward to Regraded Beings SPOT on Joking and Degrading of the “Worlds most laughed at religion” – Scientology!
Not realistic. The poster needs more spelling errors.
(Just kidding, RB, you are awesome and this installment is dead on!)
No, I didn’t deliberately type “waky”. It’s just that I’m not yet waky myself and the coffee is just brewing!
Cuts to the chase very effectively. Waky to go, RB!!!
Wow I know it’s supposed to be funny but I just find it incredibly sad and I suppose it’s true as well.
I would love to read a diary of an ASHO or LA Org staff member, day by day, over the course of a year, including staff uniforming and staff allowance, meals, berthing, the simplest details would be so revealing.
How, I wonder, to Scientology lawyers, live with this?
Does Rick Moxon and the rest of the OSA legal team know how bad this is?
Somehow these actual conditions with evidence ought to leak to the media.
I don’t think so Chuck. FIrst off, no time for a diary. Second. Self-delusion. I think the diary would be a mess of self delusion “today I won because my shoes were dry”. “We are winning over wogs because….”. They wouldn’t dare think the dark thoughts much less write them down.
Think back to your time in.. would you admit it was bad? It took me years to admit to myself how horrific the conditions were yet I had no soap or toothpaste much less deodorant most weeks.
Certain officers in the military we referred to as has having “reptilian eyes under peaked caps.” A Scientology lawyer… geezers, they cannot even conceive of the term conscience unless they can use it as a weapon against someone to win a case.
It takes a special kind of courage to get inside the head of those types of creatures, they live, breath and generally look like people, but they are not. Don’t for a moment think you can reason with one – they’ll stab you in the back the moment you look away. The really exceptional ones will do you in while smiling at you.
If you think that the vile worm Moxon would ever be disconcerted by the sufferings of others you are very wrong. He is a comparable worm, a sort of minor psychopath who would go out of his way to tread on toes for the sheer joy of it. Only in Scientology could such vermin as he could gain any status; and only Scientology would provide scope for his little cruelties.
Wings and cinnamon rolls washed down with Kool-Aid, but only after writing a check. Nice touch RB!
That fracked me up as well!
???
Good to the last line about Kool-Aid.