Natalie Webster is an old friend who originally contacted me when her daughter, Shelby, was in training at Flag. She wrote the below as a response to Cindy and I asked her if I could post it as I felt it deserved more attention than it would get if it was a comment responding to someone on an earlier post. I asked her to send me some photos too! She overkilled these shots of happy family!
She also wanted to make the following point, in addition to the comment response which follows:
My daughter was on a training program at Flag, as a staff member of the Twin Cities organization. Because she was 18, I knew that if the cult found out my husband and I were leaving, they might ship her off somewhere to keep her from me.
By this time I had left the Sea Org, and was a parishioner, but I had already decided to leave. I just couldn’t tell anyone till she was safely back with me.
My ex-husband, her dad, had a trip planned with her and her sister in Mexico over Christmas. He took them on a vacation each year to a beach destination. I had no intention of letting her go back to Flag after she came home, but I could not tell her that, knowing she was very much under the influence of the cult’s control.
I knew she was not in a good place while there. She was being made to stay up late and clean bathrooms and other manual labor, for not making sales quotas. Remember, she was supposed to be there as a student. There were multiple red flags and bad indicators. I knew I needed to get her out of there.
Prior to my daughter Shelby coming home to then fly to Mexico, I sent her flight info that looked like she had a return flight, but she didn’t. I didn’t even give her the correct date she was flying out of Tampa. This was because if the cult found out I was leaving and taking her with me, they would not have let her leave for this trip.
My family member knew the whole story and picked Shelby up. They barely let her leave, putting stops in her way each step of her routing form. They also had reports that I was showing signs of being disaffected, so they prepped her for that.
Little did they know I was way passed disaffection as they call it. I was full blown leaving with three generations of my family, including my mother who was mid OT VII. I was OT IV at the time.
My family member picked Shelby up and gave her a cell phone I had sent for her. I told Shelby it was for Christmas. Truth was, it was so the cult didn’t have her number, only I had it. I cancelled her original cell phone.
Shelby thought she was leaving straight from the base to the airport, which is also what the cult thought. I never gave her the correct flight info till she was with my family member. She wasn’t actually leaving till the next day.
I did that because I knew they would try to make her miss her flight. They had already told her a few days prior that she couldn’t go. So, I had my ex-husband call them and pitch a fit. He had already left the cult many years earlier. He and I played good cop bad cop to get them to let her go. He threatened to show up and get her, I told them I could “handle him”.
Shelby fell asleep almost immediately after getting to our family members house. She was fed a good meal and slept for HOURS. She was beyond exhausted from the hours she was keeping. She had huge varicose veins from being on her feet for so many hours. A doctor later told me he had never seen ones that bad in someone so young.
When I picked her up from the airport I only had a short time before she had to leave again for Mexico. I told her what was happening and she was initially upset with me. I could tell she had been drilled on what to do if I spoke negatively about the church.
How I finally got through to her was by explaining that what she was experiencing were human rights abuses. NO one should deny another human sleep, or food. NO one should be punishing a student for not making sales quotas, let alone being punished for anything.
This resonated with her. I also told her the truth about what happened when I was was a pregnant Sea Org member and how I was pressured to have an abortion, which I refused. I shared with her some of what I experienced as a Sea Org member and as a parishioner in terms of mental and financial abuse.
She knew I wouldn’t lie to her. She also knew that her grandmother and I were two of the most active Scientologist in the Twin Cities at the time, so if we were leaving and saying why, it had to be true.
Shelby went to Mexico a little more receptive but still confused. I told her that if she wanted to go back, she would have to come home and get a job to pay for it as I didn’t get her a return flight, nor would I do anything to help her get back to Flag.
While she was in Mexico I didn’t think the cult could reach her, but they found a way. A staff member at the Twin Cities org named Karen Wesling, who I think is now with the Office of Special Affairs for the West US, reached out to Shelby on Facebook. Karen was trying to convince Shelby to move out of my house so she could still be a staff member.
At this point I took action to get the cult to stop contacting her. I was a Sea Org member, so I knew their rules. If I threatened legal action against the cult, Shelby would be disqualified from stepping foot on the Flag Land Base. So I did. This bought Shelby some time to decompress in Mexico.
She slept, she ate well and she spent time with her dad and sister, both who were out.
When she returned home to me from Mexico, she was still confused but starting to think independently of the prepping the cult had done to prepare her for exactly what I was doing.
I took her to doctors to help her physically. She started to accept that what happened to her was not okay, or normal, and that it was outright abuse.
Shelby went to and graduated from college. She is now married with a beautiful baby. A baby who will thankfully never experience Scientology, the Sea Org or any of the abuses. She is also getting her master’s degree and bought her first house this year.
She started therapy last year, which has been helping a lot. It can take time for someone to decompress from Scientology.
I went through a lot with Scientology and the Sea Org in my 35 years. My biggest regret is not figuring out sooner that Scientology was a cult.
Shelby went into the Sea Org at 14. The only reason I let her go is because I knew she wouldn’t make it. I was guaranteed that the second she said this isn’t for me, they would route her off of the Estate Project Force (EPF which is like boot camp for Sea Org members).
I knew my daughter well enough to know she would want out within a few weeks, and sure enough she did. The EPF is not for the faint of heart. At the time I was a “dedicated Scientologist”. Saying no to letting her go into the Sea Org would have meant possibly loosing my family. At that time I was a third generation Scientologist.
Sure enough, she wasn’t allowed to leave when she said she wanted to. That was another whole fiasco. After being screamed at by the person in charge of the EPF about how the Sea Org was “above WOG law” and I my parental rights I was referring to did not apply. (Wogs are what they called non-Scientologists) I told him I would be in LA the next day, which I was.
Took me about two weeks to get her out and I went through hell to do so. Frankly I’m amazed I didn’t get declared a suppressive person then and there, as I really put up a fight, despite their best efforts to intimidate me.
They locked me in a room and screamed at me, which frankly I thought was cute. I had been through way worse by that point and they seemed to forget that they trained me from childhood to have the ability to hold my ground when faced with opposition and intimidation.
Anyone with half a brain knows you do NOT F with a mother and her children. Again, I knew their rules and I used them to get her out.
I had so many reasons to leave so many times throughout my life. This should tell you how hard it is for many to leave. I would have lost my mom and most of my family if I left at that point. I wasn’t even sure then that my husband would have left with me.
It would be four more years before I had the guts to talk to my mom and also my husband at the time about my doubts. My husband had never been on staff or in the Sea Org. Though he was financially put over the coals, his experience was very different from mine having grown up in Scientology and having been in the Sea Org.
By then my mom had been to hell and back with Flag. She had kidney failure and I had given her one of my kidneys. I could tell she was fed up. Thankfully I was right and that put in motion our plan to get Shelby back before we announced we were leaving.
Years ago there was a Time Magazine article called Scientology The Cult of Greed. It had an octopus on the cover. That is what it is like. The cult has these tentacles and they use them to distract you on one side, while picking your pocket with the other.
One of my biggest struggles is in knowing that I didn’t leave when I should have. When they tried to force an abortion on me despite being married and wanting my child, I should have left. When they then tried to take that child from me again when she was 14 and of value to them, I should have left. When I was sexually assaulted and they covered it up, I should have left.
Scientology was all I knew and my family was very close. Plus, they have a way of convincing you that these bad things that keep happening to you, are your own fault.
It’s hard to face that, the not leaving part because of what happened to my kids. Mostly to Shelby, but the other two were affected as well.
But, today I’m not afraid to face that pain and overcome it. I’m not afraid to cry when I talk about it. Shit, I’m crying now, LOL. It’s taken me years to finally realize it’s okay to not be fucking okay! It’s not only okay to be upset about all of this, it’s healthy and an appropriate response to years of trauma.
From childhood they train us to not have what they deem negative emotions. Even after I left, I pushed these emotions away and compartmentalized what happened.
It took me 17 years to tell my own mother about my sexual assault, because I was convinced I did something to deserve it, thank you to senior Sea Org members who were “handling” me at the time. It was one of the first things I told her when I knew she was leaving with me.
In fact, it was my sexual assault that helped get me out of the Sea Org, but that’s a whole different story. I made a deal with the devil aka: Sea Org.
If nothing else, I hope to shed light on why it’s hard for some to leave. When you grow up in Scientology and especially in the Sea Org as a kid, it’s a slow boil. By the time you realize your insides are burning up, you are already stuck in the pot.
Forgiving myself for not leaving when I should have so many times, is something I’d like to achieve for myself.
For the last several years I thought I could just move forward without addressing much of this. I did speak out when I first left about some of what happened. I’m done trying to run from my past.
I’m going to embrace it and see what happens. If that means feeling difficult emotions, well so be it. I’ve got good support on the ground, and all of you here.
Powerful Nathalie, as you know we have an interesting connection through a Hawaiian family that we both know extremely well living in Orange County. I am being a bit sensitive because … well you know why. I did not know the details. Wow. You are strong very strong.
Yes indeed! They raised my sister and I. I guess the plus side to having our mom marry twice into the same family, is we didn’t have to break in a whole new set of relatives. 😂
My cousin was forced to disconnect from me a few times. If she didn’t, her ex-husband who is a very active Scientologist in Orange County, threatened to not pay for their daughter’s college.
Can you imagine a father threatening to take away support from his child, solely to control who his ex-wife speaks to? Bizarre to say the least. Also, one of the many reasons why Scientology is called a cult.
My cousin wasn’t and isn’t active in Scientology. Hasn’t been for years. Yet, she was still forced to disconnect, or her daughter lost the financial support of her Scientologist father.
My sister Lana went back to Hawaii for Brian’s funeral. He was our first stepdad, who got our mom into Scientology, What little stability we had as kids, was because of Brian.
It had been years since he had anything to do with Scientology. We would see him often when we returned home to Hawaii, over the years. It was quite the loss when he passed. He was an incredible artist and one of the funniest people I’ve known.
For my sister Lana, he was the only father she knew.
Lana was NOT allowed to attend his service at the Hawaii Org. She had to wait in the parking lot, while our aunts (Brian’s sisters) went in and attended the service. His family’s connection to Scientology was the only reason he had a service there. He had told my sister before he passed that they weren’t his group.
Lana quietly left Scientology in the early 90s. But, because she is my sister, she was denied access to the funeral of the man she loved as her dad.
I didn’t go back for his funeral, because I knew what a shit show it would be if I did. Even I didn’t think they would keep Lana out of the building, especially given her very close relationship with Brian, but they did.
It’s difficult for me to identify as strong. For me, it feels more like I’ve come to realize I’m carrying around secrets that shouldn’t be secrets, and that is exhausting. I’m done doing that. I’m unpacking my heavy backpack of bricks, one secret at a time.
I’m blogging about, which is helping me work through the emotions I didn’t left myself feel
I love a story with such a beautiful beginning. May you and your growing family ‘live long and prosper’.
It’s always heartening to see another story of a family escaping scientology’s tentacles.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! May it be a scientology-free one for you.
Try as I might, I COULDN’T find anyone in that first picture who might be a GRANDmother. All those girls are OBVIOUSLY too young.
You are very kind Jere 😂. I’m the one in the green dress. I was 19 when I was in the Sea Org fighting against their attempts to pressure me into having an abortion. My daughter Shelby is in the yellow. It’s Shelby’s daughter Mina that I’m holding. My son Jared and daughter Kelsey, along with her son Oliver are also in the photo.
A slight disagreement, Mike: Natalie is NOT an “old friend”, but a long-standing one. That young lady ain’t an old ANYthing.
Natalie, how long ago did you leave? I read this as it is recent? If it is recent, how are things in the church nowadays? How many people on course? getting auditing? Any auditors being made?
Hi Cindy. I left in 2010, but I do hear things once in awhile from people “still-in”.
The local Twin Cities org has been shrinking, especially since they moved into their Ideal Org. As I understand it, there are very little people on course or getting auditing. Services the local org once delivered, people now go to Clearwater for.
There seems to be a cannibalism of public. Larger orgs stealing them away, which in turns lowers their confidence that they can have “standard tech” at the local org. From what I hear it is very cringe worthy.
During the pandemic the org closed for several months. That gave what little public they had left a taste of freedom to a degree. Many of the public who have been around for a long time were and are upset with the actions taken by a few “bad apples” who were or are on staff. Their hope is things get better now that “so and so” is no longer there. I’ve heard people say that for years, usually about a different scapegoat.
They are running out of scapegoats, and many are seeing the cracks. Doesn’t help that it is almost impossible to avoid press about Scientology, none of it positive. Many have even watched Scientology Aftermath, but are holding out hopes that things will get better, which thy are not.
I don’t know how they are keeping the lights on. It’s a huge, empty building. I feel for the remaining staff who are there because they truly want to help people. Then there are those who are more like David Miscavige and are in it for the sadism.
The Twin Cities org had a big PR flap last year when there was an attempted robbery of a Scientology staff member in an adjoining parking garage. He fought with the would be robber. Other staff members came to his aid and held down the man who had tried to rob the Scientologist.
They claimed they couldn’t get a signal to call police right away. I’ve been in that parking garage and elevator, I never had a problem getting a signal to make a call.
Once police were called, they arrived within 2.5 minutes. When police arrived they found the 52 year old would be robber unresponsive and not breathing. He died. There was no gun or weapon found on the man who was trying to rob the staff member.
In a nutshell, it continues to be a shit show.
Thanks for your detailed report. It is as I thought it would be. I knew a girl from twin cities who was really dyed in the wool Scm and I was going to ask if she was still in, but I can’t remember her name. I guess I’ve been out too long. lol. Seven years.
I wish that robbery that turned into a death had gotten press. Heck, when police kill someone in trying to arrest them, there are riots for days. Here it doesn’t even make a blip on the radar when one or more Scns do it. That poor robber picked a broke SO member who didn’t have money to rob, and then he lost his life over it. And yes, it is suspicious that they say they couldn’t get cell service and that’s why they didn’t call earlier. I bet they got service to call OSA and ask what they should do about the flap of a dead man before they called 911 for help.
It did get some press, but Scientology was on top of doing their thing to manage the flap. Apparently all involved parties were interviewed and released. No one should have been robbing anyone, but no weapon found and the man is found by police unresponsive and not breathing?
I think it was a staff member that was being robbed. Not sure if they were Sea Org or not.
Cindy describe the girl you knew from the Twin Cities. I bet I can figure it out. 😁
I”ll try to describe her. She is public and a trained auditor and was auditing on OT VII when I last saw her. I’m not completely sure but she may have done an auditor internship. We met at ASHO originally and then again at Flag. She was nice looking, had dark hair maybe in a pageboy, was slender, not fat and was active in twin cities. She got a divorce back i 2000’s and is probably remarried now. Seemed to be big on the OT Committee there.
Natalie,
You have your whole life ahead of you with experiences that have made you stronger. You are a shining example for those who stile choose to be in even though it’s getting more and more obvious that Scientology is run by psychopaths. I lost my son and daughter to the cult. I was in for 46 years. The deprogramming is still going on for me. At some point I feel my children will reconnect. In the mean time im making a documentary about my story. Keep telling your story. It is one more nail in Scientologys coffin.
Geoff thank you for your kind words. I’m so sorry about your kids. The deprogramming happens in so many layers.
I suppose, it took time to layer it on, and it takes time to peel off those layers. Not only are we taking off the layers of indoctrination, but then as individuals we start to figure out what we really think and believe about the world.
I look forward to seeing your documentary.
Thanks Natalie. My core intentions before I joined the cult are still there. Now I’m free to follow through on them. You can hear it in some of the lyrics on my bands new album.
Apple tunes-
The Return of People! by PEOPLE
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-return-of-people/1599937860
Spotify-
https://open.spotify.com/album/7AhugLBndua0IDal9uJJhq?si=aulj3_LQTLK7PuamI8xclw
Thanks very, very much for sharing!!! It’s a big deal and helpful.
I’ve read 100’s of “now I’m out, doing great” stories that reveal the craziness of the COS.
I’m grateful for every single story as it cements a better understanding of the abuse and tactics.
Looking back over my life, I’m frequently tasked with trying to comprehend my actions or in-actions. For me, it was the context or hubris and hope or simply not knowing any better solutions.
We were thoroughly conditioned to believe in silly and abusive practices. Enviromental control by the cult was ever present. I’m reminded of grovelling with liability formulas, auditing that didn’t work, terrible food, horrible berthing, dental nightmares and pompous, puffed up “leaders” imitating Captain Bligh or General Patton. Then I was supposed to become Captain Bligh.
We were also asked to ignore our families or parents or spouses. Clear the planet or you’ve got other fish to fry.
I’m grateful for every day that passes without the insanity of the COS ruling my life.
They say that living a great life is the best revenge. Well, I don’t see it as revenge but I think of escaping as a miracle. Sharing the miracle is an act of grace.
The beauty of life outside of Scientology isn’t that it’s perfect, or always unicorns and rainbows. The beauty is being able to live in reality. To have the freedom to have and hold our own point of views. To have the freedom to agree or disagree, openly.
I’m with you on being incredibly grateful for every day outside of Scientology. I’m also incredibly grateful for every individual who has spoken out and shared their experience. The curtain is being drawn back in a major way, exposing the abuses and lies in Scientology to the masses.
Natalie,
What an admirable story, thank you for sharing it.
You can be very proud of yourself, you did everything right, really.
I’ m so happy to have left this cult more than 30 years ago. I was a simple public but it was already enough for me.
Congratulations for your lovely family!
And happy New Year from Switzerland!
Happy New Year Patrick! Thank you for being so kind.
Most of the time when I post comments I am very flippant, this is not one of those times. No matter how much $camology rages and screams about NOT being a cult the masses of evidence proves otherwise. You did well to escape their clutches and so I hope things work out well for you and your family.
Thank you GL. The process of shedding the indoctrination of Scientology is an interesting one to say the least.
There is some interesting research on how addiction stunts emotional growth. I’ve wondered if the same applies to cults, which in ways are like an addiction. I’ve picked up where I left off before I joined staff and went into the Sea Org.
One of the first things I did was go back to school to get my GED. I had dropped out at 15 to work for Scientology.
In ways, it feels like I’m learning about much of the world for the first time, despite being 51 today. More accurately, I’m learning how I feel about the world around me, versus how I was indoctrinated to view it.
Natalie, thank you for sharing your story of not only getting yourself out but your mom and daughter too! It was amazing reading all this. I’m so glad you’re out. How nice that your daughter got her degree and has a family now and is happily out of their clutches. Thank you for sharing this and we want to read more!
Natalie’s story is one of courage and daring. That she knows how Scientology and the Sea Org operate and think was an important part of her creating a thorough escape plan to rescue her daughter. The details are remarkable.
What Shelby went through for not meeting her sales quotas is not religious in any what whatsoever. Exploiting a 14 year old amounts to human trafficking for slave labor. This is what Third World sweat shops and Scientology have in common: People are throwaway slaves to be worked until they drop.
Being punished for failing to bring in money is what greedy and insane businesses masquerading as religions do to people. Scientology is all about the money: Punishing, threatening, flattery, whatever it takes to get the money in the door. Scientology regges even engage in credit card fraud because they are pushed to cross the line by threats and intimidation.
Thanks Jeffrey. You are speaking the truth. Shelby was telling me how she was training to be a course supervisor, for the Twin Cities Org while at Flag. She finished everything except the apprenticeship.
Shelby said no one had finished the apprenticeship. In huge part because Flag was using these supervisor trainees from other orgs, as supervisors for their own course rooms. Shelby ran the kid’s course room for awhile.
She was on her feet 9am-10pm, then had to go to the call-center to sell the basic books, and or fundraise for the IAS.
They had 10 women in one room the size of a standard motel room, and they shared one bathroom. Though, that was less crowded than my dorm in the Sea org in LA. 😁 They had Saturday mornings to do their laundry, which they had to pay for, despite most of them getting no money from their home orgs. Shelby got all of her money for food etc from her family.
Also on Saturday mornings, they had to clean their room and pass a white glove inspection.
They were not allowed to read any non-LRH books. Shelby defiantly read non-LRH fiction books under her blanket with a flashlight, when she could, and hid them away.
When she was doing her routing form to leave for Mexico with her dad from Flag, she was shown a list of “outpoints” with her family that she needed to handle, before she left. Here are a few of those items:
1. Get your bio dad back into Scientology.
Her dad had been out since 1994 or so, with ZERO intention of ever returning. Shelby refused to call him to handle him, knowing it would only make things worse between him and Scientology.
2. Handle your grandma (my mother) who was mid OT VII, but had just gotten baptized in a Christian church.
My mother found comfort in her Christian roots. Comfort she wasn’t getting with her own supposed church. With someone listening on the phone, Shelby was forced to call her grandma and “handle” her on it.
My mom calmly told Shelby that the last time she checked, Scientology was non-denominational and LRH said you could have a relationship with God and even another church. The “handling” went nowhere.
3. Handle your mom on the fact that she and your stepdad went on a date instead of attending a Scientology meeting. Also, your mom has been taking strip fitness classes, which is unbecoming of an OT. I was OT IV.
I knew they were listening, so when she called me I played along and let her “handle me” on my “out-ethics”. By the way, strip fitness class was a female only class where we kept our clothes on, but used a pole for exercise. It was a blast! It was one of many new experiences I had, which I wrote a monthly column about for a local publication.
These “out-points” among a few others, were fed to Shelby as indicators that my family was showing signs of disaffection. Little did they know, Elvis had left the building already. We were officially leaving right after we got her back home.
Shelby’s other grandma was a Sea Org member at Flag. Her name was Linda Lafreniere. I really liked her. Last time I saw Linda was at the Sandcastle on my last trip to Flag. Linda passed away a few years ago. Shelby was not allowed to see her before she passed, or attend her funeral.
One good thing that did come out of Shelby being at Flag during that time, is she got to have several meals with Linda, her other grandmother. That is time she still cherishes today.
10 Women, one bathroom: the very definition of cruel and unusual punishment.😇
An inspiring story. Thank you.
Don’t beat yourself up with the “shoulds.” If you had left when you think you should have, it may very well not have worked out as well as it did. For it to work, everyone had to be ready, and they finally were when you made your break.
What’s important is that you *did* get out, and you saved your daughter, and you broke a three-generation cycle, and you kept your family intact.
That right there is a freaking miracle. Don’t sell yourself short on that significant accomplishment.
I appreciate that and you are right. That is a point of view which I’m working hard to adopt. As I work through more of the truth about what happened, and release the secrets I’ve held onto, I think that point of view will become my new reality.
I agree 100% with Anonymous. So glad for you and your family, Natalie!
Anything is better once you get out of Scientology.
I knew that even the lowest jobs in society are freer and happier to live, than anything in Sea Org staff.
“Success” or not, just enjoy freer life out of Scientology, to do what you’d rather be doing.
Life is automatically more enjoyable once off Sea Org staff.
I’m really happy that there is more support for people leaving the Sea Org or Scientology, than ever before.
There are more ex-Scientologist than active Scientologist.
It’s the simple freedoms that I cherish the most.
“Life is automatically more enjoyable once off Sea Org staff.”
AMAZINGLY so!
My “second wog-hood” was SUCH an improvement on the Sea Org/Flag/flog life.
Pretty much instantly, all my dynamics’ conditions shot up to POWER-plus as compared to Flog, where all were suppressed by the demands of the 3rd.
Natalie, thank you for sharing your story. I’m never in, and have followed the Scientology saga for several years now. I understand that it was designed and adjusted over time to do exactly what happened to you and yours, and much worse, even. The lie was saving the planet; the truth was the greed of a miserly curmudgeon named Ronald Hubbard, a guy who failed in school, in college, in the U.S. Navy, as a writer, and initially as an “inventor” of a great breakthrough in science. Hubbard died near-suicidal, full of drugs, cold and alone. But he did get rich. His role was taken over by an inept bully, himself an ignorant school dropout also: David Miscavige.
Google the “Stanford Prison Experiment,” and you will see how easily even good people can be led astray when power over other humans comes into play. But Scientology was set up as sort of a con game by a man with little or no conscience. He wanted money, and he constantly tweaked his organization to make sure cash flowed upstream to him, first and foremost. He truly did not care if Staff and Sea Org were hungry, ill-clothed, and unable to live in decent housing, as long as they continued to generate income which came to him faster than any expenses they cost him.
Hubbard and Miscavige pressured everyone to generate cash for them – that’s the notion behind so many of the abuses of Scn Staff, Public, and SO, even including forced abortions. It was always first Hubbard’s, then later Miscavige’s desire for money. When Hubbard died he had accumulated $650 Million Dollars, so much money he could not even spend half of it in his own lifetime. All of his money came about from skimming cash off the paychecks of Staff and Sea Org, and over-priced ‘services’ that never worked because they were always a figment of his imagination.
Please do whatever you want towards healing any wounds you might feel from your time in Scientology. But please remember always that you, like so many others, have been a victim of a very well designed and implemented Long Con, courtesy first of Hubbard, and now Miscavige. Their boundless greed is the prime force behind so much of the evil that is in Scientology.
I mean, where else but in Scientology is it a Crime to be “Reasonable,” and where else must Church members report to the Ethics Department for punishment?
Best wishes to all, Natalie, and thanks for an inspiring story. Don’t get between a Mom and her Cub or you might just get Bit!
Thank you for your kind words.
Two qualities I treasure today, which were a crime in Scientology, are being reasonable and open minded. 😂
Since leaving, I’ve found so many helpful tools to navigate life. Most of them free, or for the cost of a book.
It is why Scientology forces its members to have blinders on. God forbid we find out that universal truths are just that.
My mom was baptized at a Christian church, before leaving Scientology.
When the people at the Flag Land Base found out, they briefed my daughter on how horrible her grandmother was for doing so.
So much for Scientology being non-denominational.
Natalie, Please write a book. Write it now. I love your writing. It is a talent and that along with telling the truth to expose a bad group and leader are needed now.
That is very sweet of you Cindy. I’m blogging at the moment, who knows what that might turn into. 😁
“Conscience!? Having a conscience was verboten in the Sea Org, replaced by a willingness to do ANYthing your “seniors” demanded, OR you got dumped into the Re-education Project Force (RPF) until you saw the light.
I like this: “Anyone with half a brain knows you do NOT F with a mother and her children”. Unfortunately, when I was declared, my mother, who was and still is an FSO staff member, accepted it and obeyed the disconnection edict. I later found out that she had “cried for days”, then “got on with it”. I’m angry that my mother didn’t snap to when her child, raised from birth as a Scientologist, and a staff member, was kicked out. I resent that she didn’t become a momma bear and tear the place apart getting out so that she could be with her child.
I was very interested in this statement: “If I threatened legal action against the cult, Shelby would be disqualified from stepping foot on the Flag Land Base.” Maybe that’s an approach I could use to get her out. I wasn’t aware of this rule. Where can I find out more about this?
I’m really sorry to hear what you went through. Your anger is beyond understandable.
My two cents, if I could be your momma bear for a moment. One of the biggest impacts on individuals and families, as a result of being in Scientology is the many ways in which it makes us emotionally unavailable as parents, family members and even as children.
Your mom has not confronted her choice. If she did, it would likely destroy her. The irrational belief that by saving the planet she is in turn saving you, for not just this lifetime, but eternity, is what has her locked into denial.
I’m still working on forgiving myself for not leaving way before things culminated with me having to get my daughter out of the country, to free her from Scientology. My own mother struggled with the same guilt, over getting my sister and I involved in Scientology.
When the Sea Org pressured me to abort my daughter, I should have left. When she was 14 and not being allowed to leave the PAC Base (Los Angelos), and I had to fly to force them to let her leave, I should have left. It took the Sea Org trying to take my child for the third time, that I left.
I don’t know your mom, but I know what it is like to be the granddaughter and daughter of Scientologist, and I know what it is like to have my own daughter and granddaughter.
Your mom, loves you as much as she is emotionally available to do so.
My mom and I were never estranged, but she was emotionally unavailable and left us behind a few times. After we left Scientology, we had the most honest conversations of our lives. She told me things about herself I never knew. This really helped me to understand her more.
By that time, she was ill. My mom had kidney failure while on OT VII, so I gave her one of mine. She lived 7 more years. The last two of those years were free from Scientology. We went on a road trip together, and she spent a lot of time with her grandkids.
I was able to share things with her, that I never could before. We both no longer had this limit on our communication or love. My mother felt guilt, but I always felt like she did the best with what she knew how to do, and I told her this.
We were all part of a mind-control cult. One notably known as one of the most difficult ones to recover from. Your mom may or may not wake-up in terms of recognizing she is in a cult. But, if you can, love her. Love is very powerful, whether or not the person reciprocates.
Mike or someone who knows Flag quals for outer org trainees can answer your last question better than I can. I don’t recall the exact reference that led me to believe that. But, think it had to do with making her a PTS (Potential Trouble Source) type. I just can’t recall which one. It worked though. Shelby couldn’t have gone back to Flag if she wanted to.
What I do know, is that each time I fought for my daughter, I used their own rules against them. I had been in training to be a Scientologist and Sea Org member since I was 9 years old. I paid attention to a few thing along the way, LOL
The reason I threatened legal action was because they were actively harassing my family, in a losing effort to get my daughter to disconnect from her family and move out. Karen Wesling, was a Twin Cities staff member, who today is in the Sea Org at the Office of Special Affairs, last I heard.
Karen (ironic that is her name, which has since become a fitting meme) was on a one woman crusade to break up my family, and later get as many Scientologist to disconnect from my family and I, as possible. I’ll be writing about all of this soon enough on my blog, as part of my recovery.
If you need a momma bear to stand in, I got you girl. Reach out on social media or via the contact page on my blog. I’ve got plenty of momma bear in me to go around.
Wow. Thank you so much for responding, and in such depth.
My mother is certainly in denial. Although I’ve repeatedly said that I won’t do the A-E Steps, and I’m never coming back to Scientology, she has told me to do them, and until I do, she can’t talk to me.
I’ll try to love her, but the betrayal runs deep, and I don’t have a direct means of expressing that love to her.
I lost extended family and many friends. The way I love them from a distance is by remembering our good times. Kind of the way I feel I love my mom today, who is no longer alive.
Also, if I feel like reaching out to them, I do. Doesn’t mean I always get a response, but when I’m thinking of them, I want them to know. ❤️
Truly wish I could make all of that betrayal go away for you. As a mom, my heart breaks for you and others who have lost parents to Scientology
We, the disaffected apostates, are here to lean on and help those still “in” get “out”. Today’s posts and comments have given us some tools in that quest. threatening to sue is just as effective as suing, and much cheaper, to keep a loved one from being imprisoned at Flag/Flog… Interesting.
I recognized that they are rightfully terrified that Wog justice should ever get a good look at their inner workings due to legal actions. Just the threat is sufficient to get them to run around like a headless chicken standing on a hot pan…
Just LOVE her, Imaberrated. Even if she doesn’t immediately pick up on it, it’s there keeping your heart alive.
“What I do know, is that each time I fought for my daughter, I used their own rules against them. I had been in training to be a Scientologist and Sea Org member since I was 9 years old. I paid attention to a few thing along the way, LOL” Wow, this is so brilliant. I am in awe of how well you handled it and beat them at their own game.
Before I left I had received a modest inheritance. Flag knew about it and tried to hard to get that money. I had decided beforehand they would get none of it. They tried everytyhing from leaning on me with force, to putting me on the emeter as a lie detector, having the D of P interrogate me about the money while on the cans, having MAA and Qual lean on me, everyone. I never cracked and used their own references. To their question, what did you do with the money, I replied, “I applied Affluence Formula and paid off every bill under the sun, moon, and stars and invested the remainder in service facilities.” It’s their own tech.
Well done, Cindy!
Thanks, Aqua!
Thank you for sharing your brave story Natalie. Being in the sea org and getting my family out, I totally understand all you went through. But it’s way better on the “wog” side of the world. Being told so many times “you will never be successful”, it a great pleasure to prove them wrong. Well done and continue to flourish and prosper!
Thank you Yossi! There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not grateful to be out of Scientology. Not a single day.
The Sea Org was right to a degree, about any of us exes ever being a success. We will never be what they consider to be a success, and Thank God for that.
Instead, I’m enjoying having a curious and open mind. I’m succeeding at getting better at practicing empathy and compassion. I need more work in that arena, but I’m a work in progress. There is much to unlearn, then much to learn.
I’m 51 years old, but in many ways feel like I just joined civilization 11 years ago, and have only begun to fully engage.
Natalie, thanks for writing back. There is no day passes by, that I don’t think about the horrors of SO, and it’s been 7.5 years since my wife Ronit and I publicly announced that we are done with the church. We did it here, on Mike’s blog end of June 2014. We left SO in the end of 2008, and it took another 6 years to cut the ties with them. I am sure you can find our story here. My wife, being a “Jewish Mother” would not leave until we knew our two boys our coming out as well. This is actually a safe place and not the SO that pretends to be. Enjoy your freedom!!!
I’ll look for your story Yossi. Leaving is such a process for some.
First I left the Sea Org but remained a parishioner. Got through OT IV.
Then I left the Church of Scientology, but remained a Scientologist, for a hot minute. Next I fully left Scientology.
Since then, I’ve been shedding the indoctrination and processing a lot of what happened, trauma and all.
Little steps add up to big leaps. However we get there, thank goodness we do and have.
Here’s to being, in their terms, “unsuccessful”!
I’ll be thinking of them as we enjoy New Year’s Eve in our *own*, comfortably warm, clean-enough, and paid-for HOME.
We’re RETIRED!, a concept I couldn’t have wrapped my head around back when I was “in”. How could I feel so *SATISFIED* when I haven’t compiled my stats for the week yet. I only have ONE “stat”: my sweetie’s happiness, and she’s pretty happy last I checked.
Nathalie really a beautiful story. I admire you for your strength.
It is important to let people know that when one leaves the cult, there is not only hope but a real life.
There will be aftermath that will last for a while until one wakes up and slowly comes out of the indotrination implanted in the mind.
It took me more than ten years after the SO to get out of it completely and without ever being in an org.
But after I left I married an incredible woman who already had two daughters, I did my part to help them grow and now they are two strong and smart women. Each had a daughter and now I’m a grandfather and I keep doing my part. The love that comes back from all of them – little ones included – is unmatched.
Staying there pulling up stats trying to “clear the planet” would have been the biggest mistake ever.
I wouldn’t had the chance to live this life
I’m so happy to hear about your beautiful family. Grandkids are the best!
My grandkids are the first in 4 generations to be free of Scientology. I guess they would be the first “never-ins” in my family. I’ve seen people use that term here and I love it. They won’t be 5th generation Scientologist. They are first generation never-ins. ❤️
Natalie, thanks. My girls are cult free and very clever people. My main “teaching” was and still is that their life is their life and nobody can leave or control it for them, but me and mom are ready to help at any time. It works. I wish you the best to you and family and stay safe .
Congrats, Natalie. First-generation never-ins is a fantastic achievement to celebrate.
AND you’re expected to spoil those grandkids ROTTEN, then give them back to their parents, one of the joys of grandparent-hood. (And uncle-hood, I discovered when I returned HOME after Flag/flog.
Today reminds me that the Aftermath Foundation (https://theaftermathfoundation.org) can probably use some help in freeing scns from their individual traps. Print up some cards and distribute them around your local org or pledge funds or whatever you’re capable of. I’m only a cheerleader; I have no other connection to that (according to the cult) “entheta” group.
It’s really such a shame for those who HONESTLY think they’re helping heal the world that “theta” means lies and deceit, and the truth is “entheta” to be avoided at all costs.
I wouldn’t have believed that 40-45 years ago, but today, the blinders on that aspect of the con came off.
To piggy back on your comment about the Aftermath Foundation, you can set it up at Amazon.com that you want a portion of your purchases to be donated to the charity of your choice and Amazon will match your donation amount and give money. It is called “Smileamazon.com.” So now whenever I buy from Amazon, which is often, a portion of my purchase goes in money form to the Aftermath Foundation and Amazon will match that amount to them also. It adds up quickly and helps a lot of ex SO escaping the cult.
This is such a moving story. I’m so glad you found the strength to get out and that your family is out. I was never in the SO, but spent 10 years in S and many of those on mission staff. Once out, I seldom spoke about those years and went on to raise healthy kids, a career and now retirement. It took this last year, when I was doing a Buddhist chaplaincy program to finally let go of the embarrassment over being in a cult and becoming able to freely speak about it and its impact on me and my life. And I still deal with the ‘negative emotions being bad’ issue. I think it is a lifetime path to drop the views that were instilled by S. So good for you for treading this path and I am so happy for your joy.
Congratulations on your retirement Jill! The Buddhist program you did sounds fascinating. I really appreciate what little I do know about Buddhism.
I’ve been trying something new lately. If I feel like crying, I cry. I fight the urge to fight it. I’ve been blogging about my experience in Scientology and the Sea Org, and revisiting a lot of it is painful.
But, for the first time, I’m not minimizing the pain, or forcing it into a box. There is trauma I’m writing about, that I didn’t realize was traumatic till I sat down to write about it. That is how well I compartmentalized a lot of what happened. That is how well I normalized the furthest thing from normal.
Get out there and talk about your time in the cult. I’ve become and open book, and do my best to answer people’s questions to the best of my ability. I like talking about it because I’m able to see what I experienced through the eyes of someone else, who WAS NOT BRAINWASHED into believing the trauma was their own fault, or that it was for any type of greater good.
Speaking with people never in Scientology has been incredibly helpful for me. They are curious, and less judgmental than you might fear. At the end of the day, every person out there has their own “cult”. Each person has experienced some level of suppressive control, and they connect to parts of our stories, because of that.
If nothing else, people in my life come to realize I won’t judge them, because I have done or experienced worse in most cases, then what they fear I will judge them on. I’m back to doing what I set out to do in Scientology from day one, help make the world better.
The difference today is I’m not egotistical enough (anymore), to think I can change the course of the planet, due to my connection to the one true belief of anything. I’m just out there trying to not be an asshole.
I’m trying to be supportive of the people in my life, and not rude to strangers. Once I master that I’ll work on being nice to strangers, which is one step up from not being rude, LOL.
One of the big things Scientology misses the boat on, is their failure to recognize that saving the planet is impossible, if we can’t be there for the people in our direct line of vision. What good is a mission to save humanity, if we can’t love on our own families or help them with what they need, or if we can’t spend time getting to know our neighbors, because we are too busy with Scientology?
Scientology is the ultimate hamster wheel. I got off the wheel 11 years ago, but I think I only recently left the cage.
Thank you for sharing your story! I never was in and I am grateful I never fell for any of LRH’s BS.
We all fall for someone’s BS at one time or another. 😁 Could be in our professional life, or personal. There is something very human about wanting to believe the good in what you are being told.
I think Scientology rivals North Korea when it comes to propaganda. From their flashy events with graphics that could trigger a seizure, to their fictitious stories of Scientology’s impact on the world, it is one professionally packaged lie after another.
They prey on the innate goodness in people who want to make the world a better place. You are kept in flight or flight mode so much, that you are desperate to believe it just has to get better.
The next big release or expansion news promises to be that turning point for Scientology. At one point Scientology did have a positive impact on your life, and you have been chasing that high ever since.
Eventually you see the cracks, but when you start to question things, they convince you that it is your own undisclosed bad deeds and acts against Scientology that is causing you to have doubts. Plus, is it worth risking the loss of your family and friends over doubts that apparently only you are experiencing.
You don’t get to talk about your doubts with anyone else. Doing so is a crime. You believe it must be only you who feels this way. Something in you must be broken. You re-dedicate your efforts, until the cracks show up again. Rinse, wash, repeat.
I can recall the exact moment when I knew I HAD to leave Scientology no matter what, even if it meant losing my family. I’m going to share about that soon.
Thank you for your response. I am happy you are out of the cult. I hope you share your experiences here for all of us to read.
I’ll share here and also on a blog I’m working on. You can find it at http://www.brazenwahine.com I’m just getting starting, but it is already proving to be quite cathartic, even if challenging in terms of experiencing the motion around it.
I’ll share as much as I can here, and I’m sharing a ton on my blog. Just getting started with writing about it.
I can’t wait to read more of your story. You were brave and causative and effective. That resulted in a good product of you and your family out. Way to go!
Inspiring story. Thank you for sharing this
Thanks Dr. Jeff 😁
Wow, Natalie, What a profoundly moving story. The power of a mother’s love truly knows no bounds. You and your family are an inspiration. I hope to someday come to a good place where I can be brave enough to cry and let things go like you are doing. Thank you for sharing your life with us. We are definitely better for it.
Scott I’ve only recently realized that showing vulnerability and experiencing the emotions we deny, does not mean we are weak.
We were trained to endure abuse. We were trained to compartmentalize trauma. We were trained to never talk about our secrets.
Truthfully, I didn’t start dealing with these emotions because I was stronger. I started dealing with them, and correctly seeing my past for what it was, because I was tired of carrying it around. I was exhausted.
The result is I’m actually feeling stronger, for real. Somehow, letting the steam out of the tea pot, gives us more bandwidth to do what we need to do in life. It takes a lot of energy to hold all this shit in and hidden.
I’m writing about a lot of what happened, and I’m often brought to tears. Tears I should have shed in the past. You cry then or you cry now, but crying seems unavoidable. But, like after every rain there is a rainbow, when the tears stop there is peace.
Sometimes I cry in the shower. Lately, I’ve been challenging myself to cry in front of my family or friends when sharing about some of my experiences. In some instances, I’m feeling certain emotions for the first time, APPROPRIATELY. Emotions I pushed down as being non-optimal, because that is what they trained us to do.
F@ck that. 😊
Thank you sweetheart. And thank you for refusing to be destroyed while still being this type of person:
“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice.
Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.”
Ernest Hemingway
Thank you for telling your story , having your family intact is remarkable and you are right , “they” think they can mess with mothers , that’s a mistake .
After I got my daughter back , my own sister ,who is still in , said to me that I was supposed to disconnect and let my daughter go just like everybody would . I laughed at the insanity of her certainty and ignorance.
But I got lucky that my son in law is a remarkable person and helped .
But the hardest thing , as you said , was dealing with the aftermath , the slow awakening.
Marie it truly feels like a slow awakening, with more layers than an onion.
I’m so glad you got your daughter back. Hopefully one day your sister allows herself to admit the truth. You know she sees it, she just pretends it’s not happening, as someone in Scientology is programmed to do.
I’m grateful that we all have each other to work through all of this. Plus, there are so many “never-ins” who have a better grasp of Scientology and the reality of Sea Org than the average Scientology parishioner.
“a slow awakening, with more layers than an onion.”
SO true. I’m still stumbling over their false teachings after 40 years “out” and 30 years into a wonderful relationship (that they’d trivialize as merely a “2D”.)
Natalie Webster you are my personal hero. Thank you for using your strength, fortitude, empathy, intellect, humor & courage to help others. There is no higher calling, to my mind, than lifting our fellow humans up & you do this better than anyone I know.
Molly I think you are my first friend (off the internet) who has never been in Scientology, to comment on a blog like this on my behalf. Love you for it. Thank you for never judging, but instead being there as a friend with an open heart and a curious mind.
Natalie —
Your story is heartbreaking yet has such a wonderful ending. I’m so very happy you were able to save your family when you left.
I was never in $cientology but after reading/researching online and reading Mike’s blog & Tony Ortega’s blog for the last several years, I’m still so moved when people tell their stories about what they went through.
I do my best to make people aware of what a vile organization $cientology is — i.e friends and family. I’ve written letters to heads of local and state government, the FBI, the IRS, etc.
I’ll continue to do these things because $cientology must come to an end so people can reconnect with their family and friends. And if Miscavage ends up in prison, that will be the ultimate bonus.
Again, thanks for telling your story. Sending hugs your way.
Dear Natalie: Thank you for sharing some of your incredible “multi-tentacle” story here. Thank you Mike and Christy, for making Natalie’s story available on the blog.
Holy Cats, this is a crazy, crazy tale. For you and your mom, both on your highly coveted, constantly touted (as “amazing”) OT levels, to determine that you want to leave: That has got to have spoken VOLUMES to active Scientologists around you.
When I was still in, a colleague at work told me he had watched the “Going Clear” documentary. I confidently (speaking the party line) explained, “All those complainers are just loud defectors who have big crimes to hide. Obviously, people who get up to the highest levels know how very important and worthwhile those levels are.” He stunned me by saying, “Do you mean people who get up to that highest level, OT 8?” “Yes,” I replied. He said, “There are OT 8’s in the documentary who have left Scientology.”
That rocked my world. As Still-In, it did not compute.
Natalie, know that you, and your now-passed mom, no doubt put a bunch of cracks in the cult’s protective armor at your org when your entire family left.
What a terrible story about your daughter being a student at Flag, but instead forced to stay up ’til all hours peddling materials to hit a quota. I do not know I will ever cease to be amazed at the bizarre fervor and ruthless-ness of the book and lecture selling tactics. That aspect alone is cult-like.
You are so welcome here, Ms. Natalie. It is great to hear/read your story. Your family is beautiful!!!!
Cheers to splendid New Year. Thanks, too, for the inspiration (that a great life can be constructed) to those of us who have left, and not 10 or 12 years ago, but more recently, where we may still be “burning off” layers of our exterior shell as we continue to re-enter the atmosphere of Regular Life.
Peridot I appreciate that. My mom was mid OT VII when she decided to leave. I was OT IV.
Perspective and a lack of time had a lot to do with it. My mom’s health wasn’t good. It really deteriorated after a particular trip to Flag where she was punished with what she called “outright squirrel auditing” for reporting “out-tech”.
She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life trapped. Neither did I.
Even when I was still in, I was surprised at how often someone would complete an OT level (myself included) with the feeling of relief for not having to do it anymore.
What your co-worker said is becoming so much more common place, thanks to Mike, Christy, Leah and so many others who have continued to get the truth out there. God Bless the internet. 😊
Natalie, My ex friend, Debbie Collins, who disconnected from me when I left, had gone to Flag as an outer org trainee to do an auditor internship. She said Flag would not let her leave even when she completed all on her internship check sheet. Flag kept her auditing in their HGC for free every day. They didn’t even have to feed her on their dime cuz the outer org trainees had to pay for food either themselves or their orgs paid for them. Flag kept her there for months auditing in their HGC and finally she started showing up for muster wearing her Civvies (she calls regular public clothing civvies for “civilian clothing”) They couldn’t put her in the HGC to audit paying public in civvies, so eventually she got her way and got to go home. Flag took advantage of her without batting an eye.
OMG, using OOTs (Outer-org trainees) as phone registrars at FLOG! The must REALLY have been hurting for GI, like only $500k per week. Greedy buggers, aren’t they?
i love it!
I have the utmost respect for those people like Natalie who were born into the cult (or any cult) and have managed to extract themselves. It’s a truly remarkable feat. The Truman Show pales in comparison.
For myself, I got myself into the cult and only have myself to blame for that mistake. Even so it was difficult to get out and I had it way easier than most folks because I wasn’t affected by disconnection or threats to my livelihood. Once out, I was able to recover financially very quickly. Recovering from the mental and spiritual damage done has been an ongoing process but a very rewarding path of self-discovery. Hopefully 2022 will find more people having the courage to head for the exits. That courage will undoubtably lead to a better life. That is a path one has to ultimately walk alone and it can be scary as hell.
Thank you Mrs. B. The truth is very freeing.
We are indoctrinated to deny the truth and hide the truth, because it was “the greatest good” to protect Scientology above all else.
Those secrets keep us trapped.
Anyone thinking of leaving, and I know you are reading this, trust what you have seen and heard.
Your own experiences are what brought you to this blog.
Life on the other side of Scn is your own.
Natalie says:
“Anyone thinking of leaving, and I know you are reading this, trust what you have seen and heard.”
This aligns with about the only useful advice I would take from Hubbard. I think it was from the Data Series. “Look, don’t listen.” If we all did this after we suspected we were ensnared in a cult we would immediately make tracks for the exit at all costs. The really fortunate ones amongst us would have done this before setting foot in the cult door and saved themselves a lifetimes worth of heartache.
So true! One of the biggest insanities in Scientology is how on one hand you are told to “Look don’t listen”, while the other hand is saying “Don’t look, but listen and obey.”
It’s no wonder Scientology can make you feel like your mind is being split in half.
As Natalie mentioned “we are indoctrinated to deny the truth and hide the truth” , is nothing but mind control, the essence of Cults.
Cold war is over, Mayan prophecy turns dead wrong, fight between super humans turn out to be ,which one has better camera IPhone or Andriod ? and now we arrive at the Final Count down of product (cult) life cycle.
Its not me , its written on the wall………..unless they go in isolation and benefit the world with poultry and dairy farming.
God-daaaaaamn!
This is one of the most moving posts I have read on this blog!!!
Great photos, incredible story!
You GO, gurrrrl !👌😊 Thanks for sharing your story. I look forward to reading more
of it.
Thanks, Mike and Leah, for continuing to put your feet squarely in The Tiny Twerking Totalitarian Thetan’s ass !
And to the Pimping Pontiff: fuck you and the criminals who enable you.
Thanks Mark. 😊I started a blog as well to help me have a place to download my experiences as part of my recovery. I’ve barely gotten started, but I’ll be sharing more at http://www.brazenwahine.com, and here as well.
Wahine is Hawaiian for female. I was born and raised in Hawaii.
I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who had and is speaking out. Especially people who have never been in Scientology. It really goes to show that there are more good people out there than we were ever led to believe.
It was getting out in my community and getting to know my neighbors, local business owners, volunteering with non-profits truly helping people, that helped me see many of the lies in Scientology.
Checked it out and bookmarked the site, thanks!
Mark, I find your comments freaking hilarious and cathartic. If think I saw your exit story online some time ago. Is it still out there somewhere?
Francis,
Thanks for the kind words. I can relate to finding the
comments of others to be cathartic. There are many
commenters on this blog, as well as the host himself, who make me laugh and/or move me to tears…
I briefly posted a blog online, then scrapped it.
Being on staff was the final straw in my cult experience…
The Twin Cities are a bit odd. The natural upper point of navigation on the Mississippi River is close to downtown St. Paul. The Saint Anthony Falls which is the primary source of water power on the Mississippi River to close to downtown Minneapolis.