These are infamous slogans from 1984. George Orwell’s classic has hit the bestseller lists again in recent weeks.
Orwell’s dystopian society includes remarkable similarities to life inside the scientology bubble. It was one of the first books I read as I was waking up to the realities of life in the Sea Org. His 1984 bubble, like scientology, has a language of its own – Newspeak. It includes this:
Blackwhite, which denotes the Newspeak user’s ability to believe that black is white, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. Yet has two contradictory connotations: (i) Applied to an opponent (“Impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts”) and (ii) applied to a member of the Party (“A loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands”). Blackwhite is an example of the Party’s doublethink, which re-writes the past.
This subject bubbled to the surface with the recent story on Tony Ortega’s blog: Putting back a family ripped apart by Scientology can be easier said than done.
Claudio and Renata Lugli spoke to their son Flavio who had disconnected from them. He claims THEY were the ones that disconnected by “choosing the path” of diverging from the church.
This is scientology Newspeak. And it is THE most common response both from scientology’s official spokespeople and individual scientologists alike.
It goes something like this: “disconnection is a personal choice” and then they turn it on the person who has been declared and has had everyone they know disconnect from them, “You are the one that destroyed the family because you choose to no longer subscribe to scientology.” My ex-wife and children have stated for years that I “abandoned” them and “destroyed my family” even though I attempted to reach out to them upon my escape and they refused to communicate.
This is a scenario repeated over and over. The person who wakes up and is declared is the one accused of destroying relationships. The people who disconnect point the finger “your choices destroyed our family.”
Scientologists still inside the bubble – and especially Sea Org members — are sure they are not disconnecting. They are NOT the cause point of the breaking up of the family. The people they are disconnecting from have ‘abandoned’ them because of their overts. The offender merely has to do steps A to E and all will be well. That the SP will NOT do this is “proof” of how little he or she loves their family. In the bubble-dwellers mind, recanting and doing A-E is a small sacrifice to make to “keep the family together.”
It is a completely warped view. “Disconnection is Love” or perhaps “Escape is Prison” or most accurately “Me Disconnecting is You Abandoning.”
The idea that these sort of “choices” about family relationships could even exist is abhorrent. Yet the concept that the ONLY REASON they exist at all is that scientology creates the artificial breaches in the family is completely lost on the bubble dweller. They don’t see the world like everyone else. If you told someone on the street that anyone could order them to abandon their children they would look at you aghast. And if you added “and you will not only do it, you will be happy about it and blame your children” they would consider you certifiably insane.
But the bubble-dwellers have been so indoctrinated into this they will swear statements under oath and appear in the media to announce the “fact” that THEY did not disconnect, to the contrary their declared family member “abandoned” them. They automatically and thoroughly believe the person(s) they have disconnected from bear the responsibility to see the error of their ways and make good the damage done to them. And even worse, these poor deluded people are certain they truly understand the “reason” this is happening — it is all covered in the writings of L. Ron Hubbard. They have “Overts and Withholds”, “Out Int,” “MU’s,” “Evil Purposes,” “are NCG,” or a dozen other scientological explanations. And that the “good scientology” thing to do is get their family member to “come to their senses and do A-E” and not communicating with them will “help” accomplish this end.
If you have trouble following this, it is because it is insane. Utterly insane. The logic is every bit as convoluted as War is Peace and Freedom is Slavery. It is truly Blackwhite.
If you want to understand the truth about the “choice” of disconnection, see this earlier article: Disconnection: The PR and the Truth
Mike, im New to your blog after watching Scientology and its aftermath. I live in the Clearwater area and have for 35 years. I’ve always been spooked and amused by the sea org downtown and can’t figure out why the city has let them run the good businesses out of town. But my real question is why can’t so called intelligent stars like John Travolta Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley see the mind control that Scientology has over people. Are they really treated that much different than the average Scientologist or are they really brainwashed or both. It doesn’t take A rocket scientist to see what Scientology does. I’ve only observed Scientology for 35 years by driving through downtown Clearwater. I didn’t have to watch your show to see that it was a cult. Does DM have something on these stars that prevent them from leaving or are these stars really brainwashed. I just don’t understand. Thank you for your show and finally exposing this so called religion as the cult I saw years ago when I moved to palm harbor
“If you have trouble following this, it is because it is insane.”
Thanks for indicating this, no kidding. My head was spinning. Between one thing and another its spinning every day.
I’m sure Orwell would appreciate the 21st century’s nomenclature for “black is white”, i.e., “alternative facts”.
This blaming the victim is very similar for other cults, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses who excommunicate and shun more members each year than there are active Scientologists.
For instance, their main study publication, the “study edition” of the Watchtower (the version for members only) said this in the October 2016 issue:
“A conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped. For example, a sister named Anne received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother. The mother wanted to visit Anne because she felt pained by her isolation from the family. Anne was deeply distressed by the plea and promised to reply by letter. Before writing, she reviewed Bible principles. (1 Cor. 5:11;2 John 9-11) Anne wrote and kindly reminded her mother that she had cut herself off from the family by her wrongdoing and unrepentant attitude. “The only way you can relieve your pain is by returning to Jehovah,” Anne wrote.”
This sentiment is voiced by many Jehovah’s Witnesses toward those who left the organization, essentially saying we didn’t cut you off, you cut yourself off. Of course, this idea does not come from their own originality, but from the leadership’s system of indoctrination.
This is why the work of former Scientologists is so important to former members of other cults. I know of one case where a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses watched Aftermath, saw a mirror image of their organization in the Church of Scientology, and woke up.
Keep up the good work!
Yes they are on Disconnection 2.0 now. What they did (OSA) using Flavio was very very strange. A blog written by an S.O. Member??!!! Me and Renata think that even the phone number that was given to Tony and then relayed to us was an OSA job. We were somehow privileged since after 6 years we heard Flavio’s voice. But he was not at all there, what was there were a series of trained handlings and robot answers. So he was definitely trained in case of a contact. We abandoned him?????!!!! What are you talking about ????? We askedhim!! He is also defining the fact that we called him on the phone a “miracle” !!!! A miracle of what!!!!!?????? He could have called us ANYTIME in this 6 years and making by doing that A REAL MIRACLE. But this did not happened. So the question is why there are doing this NOW??? Is just concurrent with what you, Mike and Leah did. I guess Scn and the Aftermath is creating waves of bad PR and the focal issue here is disconnection. So in the event of a second run of the series they are preparing the “proofs” that DISCONNECTION DO NOT EXISTS. It was said by Tommy Davis back then and now is reiterated in a more subtle way … the 1984 way! To be honest me and Renata would LOVE this to be a real blog, a real phone call. Sadly it is not. Flavio had been manipulated by OSA 6 years ago when he came here to spy on us, disconnect from Tiziano our “bad” son, and is manipulated now. He is a instrument of them and he is allowing them to play this game. Shame on OSA, shame on Flavio. We are here we HAVE NOT DISCONNECTED WITH ANY BODY. We decided to stop supporting ABUSES, mental and physical and a church that has morphed into a money machine!! We did not join 40 years ago for that! We HAVE BEEN BETRAYED and so if disconnection do not exist. GREAT MAKE A REAL MIRACLE HAPPEN CALL US !!!!!!!
Claudio & Renata
Thank you Claudio and Renata. I think your take is accurate. They have to come up with some strategy to deal with the pressure that is mounting on them. This may well be a calculated part of their “handling” – but like everything else they do, it will backfire if it is not sincere.
Claudio & Renata, what DM is attempting (in his usual foot-bullet style) is to establish plausible deniability for the disconnection charges.
Scientology can not be reasoned with. It does not feel pity, or fear, or remorse.
The only way that could make them sit up and take notice is to hit them where it hurts: through criminal prosecution in foreign countries or civil suits in the USA, by relentless picketing, and boycotting celebrity and other members.
I was recently hit with this insane logic when trying to see my son while he was in the hospital. I was met at the door by his girlfriend and friend (his friend is HUGE, 6′ 6″, 300 lbs.). They let me know that in no uncertain terms was I going to be allowed to see my son. The huge friend had the audacity to say, “If you had not abandoned him, he would have been willing to see you.” This was the first time I had ever heard of this insane logic. To say the least, I unleashed a rather pointed and heated argument that it was not me who abandoned him but the C of $ telling him what and how to think. After reading this article it makes perfect sense. After all, I am the one who got declared an SP so therefore it is MY fault that the disconnection occurred. Insane! The huge friend let me know that the C of $ does NOT tell him how to think. I could only laugh at that statement. I can only hope that my son will wake up some day.
Good luck with it all Jeff. Insane logic sums it up pretty well.
Regarding Hubbard’s mind as the source of the double think I wrote Scientology’s parallel in nature – malignant narcissism.
That covers in depth Hubbard’s motivations to use double think and even how the ideal org program fulfills this now.
http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/05/scientolgys-parallel-in-nature_3.html?m=1
I wrote what may be the most extensive breakdown of Orwellian reversals in Scientology in the blog post Propaganda By Reversals of Meaning in Scientology
It has Hubbard references and Orwell’s quotes and lots of examples of Hubbard’s Newspeak.
http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/03/propaganda-by-reversal-of-meaning-in.html?m=1
Very revealing. Incredible to think a guy could come up with such an involved system that has the outer appearance of freeing a person but is having the exact opposite effect. Hubbard really was a master, just not of the things of which he claimed.
Spot on Mike. In the recent months this blog has done a remarkable job peeling back the layers of confusion surrounding the actions and the resulting behavior of Scientologists. Not to mention exposing in more easily understandable terms the rather eye opening matter of Hubbard’s personal contribution to creating the inbuilt instability in the very foundations of his group. I’m not all that comfortable with a few areas forming into generalities in the media but that’s insignificant compared to where family and the unity of the family unit is concerned. We have been forced into an emotional blackmail by the stealing of our family members and holding them ransom trying to force our compliance to a so called religion.The APPLIED Scientology causing this misery is wicked & evil!
Scientologists have declared war on life itself. For all their dedication and so called technology they have quickly settled into creating the only effect they can or have left. The quicker that organisation is brought to justice the better.
“To put this part of the universe back to native state!” What sort of fucked up goal is that to instill in the minds of the not-quite-bright? They haven’t got a clue what that could possibly mean, so they follow their leader to find out. Scientologists have unwittingly adopted an anti-life crusade beginning in their own homes. To disown their own families and then turn around and blame them for the condition they now find themselves in – how fucked up is that?
That is such a shame. I don’t know how a person can come up with bad feelings disconnecting from a “church” that supports stealing their neighbors’ stationary with their neighbors’ fingerprints on it and then writing a fake bomb threat to their church with to get the neighbor framed and sent to prison. What is that called in Scientology “the dawn of true OT competence?” 🙂
Saying that scientologists have declared war on life itself is, in my opinion, not an exaggeration. It’s an accurate description. From the beginning, Hubbard conditions his followers to see the universe and life itself as an adversary you must defeat in order to win the prizes. You are not one with the universe nor even in harmony with it. You are its opponent. That notion or attitude, is the foundation upon which the rest of it sits.
So well said, Mike. Someone above just mentioned how crazy it is that no police or Feds have taken them down yet. That’s a tall hill to climb, maybe even impossible as they hide behind “We’re a religion.” But you told Leah the answer to that, at least for now, in one of the later Aftermath shows….just keep getting the word out about their own crimes and mistreatment of staff and members. Prevent more people from joining, and continue to enlighten the IRS about what a non-religion they really are.
I personally only saw or attended a few “Sunday Services” in my 33 years with them, in the early 70’s, and I did two of them! I wasn’t a minister and I wore plain black clothes once and filled in for someone else at a moment’s notice and wore a beige pants suit. (Early 70’s remember…LOL…) Each time I had around 8-10 attendees.
The fake chapels in the ideal morgues and films and ads are exactly that…fake. 700 people at the base where the films and ads were made and the ideal morgues are designed, but there’s no chapel there for all those staff! “We’re a religion but we have NO kindness or compassion in our tiny, crispy little black hearts. Amen.”
Churches normally have a central worshiped “Supreme Being”………You know, the one they are proud to proclaim as their own…….who does COS claim as their “Supreme Being”…….I’ve heard NO name mentioned, outside of the one that is “confidential”….what kind of church DOES that.
That’s irrelevant L Lash. Religiosity doesn’t hinge on that.
The “confidential” one is not a deity. Just an intergalactic overlord or some such.
Supposedly the Eighth Dynamic (in Scientology there are eight dynamics, self, the family, groups, all mankind, all living things, non-living things, spirits, and god or infinity). Hubbard said you “survive as” each of these, in other words your survival is divided into these eight overarching subjects.
Hubbard said the Eighth Dynamic is up to the individual, you can be a Scientologist and assign your Eighth Dynamic as the Trinity or the Pantheon or simply the infinite or whatever you decide. He even said it was a crime to tell someone else what to believe about their Eighth Dynamic.
So far so good, but if it is “your Eighth Dynamic” and you are “surviving as your Eighth Dynamic” how do you distinguish it from you? I think Hubbard was just making stuff up with this idea to placate any religious believers that might look into it. In reality, to Hubbard we are all little gods unto ourselves with the ability to create and destroy universes without any divine help.
So it would be the height of absurdity to have a “Scientology place of worship”. They are not worshiping anybody higher because there isn’t anyone higher in their view. They think they got there on their own. If anything good happens it is because they wanted it, if anything bad happens it is because they weren’t doing it right or did something wrong.
So a Scientology “place of worship” would have a great big mirror so you can see yourself in it, maybe etched with a picture of Hubbard so you look like him.
When we did have “Sunday Services” at the International Base we just listened to tapes of Hubbard’s old speeches. In the dining hall (called the Galley) at Massacre Canyon Inn. About as “religious” as a car show.
Bruce, thanks for that explanation, and the personal experience.
This made me realize that for the Sea Org and also for staff, there could easily be extended periods of time where they not only did not go to a Sunday service, or worship, but also wouldn’t have received the claimed “sacrament” of auditing (since they’re often to burdened with work to have time for it). Particularly for a supposed “religious order” like the Sea Org, it is telling that they are not truly committed to regularly practicing any of the things that Scientology claims are what makes them comparable in some measure to other religions and qualifies them for status as a religion. That isn’t a slam dunk refutation of their religious claims, but combined with other evidence I think it really does help build a case contradicting those claims.
@Bruce….
Thank you for the information. Honestly, I read the 8th Dynamic along with the others and was seeing the words in “The Eighth Dynamic also is commonly called God, the Supreme Being or Creator, but it is correctly defined as infinity and then the words…. embraces the allness of all”…….. …….
I felt like it was one big HUH????..what the Hell does THAT mean????
It is very confusing to a never in who has been raised with the belief as “God” as the Supreme Being, much like other known religious that do have a “deity”…..that would HAVE to be “recognized” t in order to obtain an IRS Tax Exempt………as in “my deity is the worship of butterflies as my Deity”….or anything else…..can I register too????
In the Bizarro World of $cn, the Holy Word Of Elron is infallible and covers every possible exigency that could arise until the end of time. If Elron said that the only reason that people criticize or attack $cn is because of their own evil crimes, then no matter how ruthlessly criminal or abusive the cherch’s actions are, it’s never their fault; it’s always the fault of others…what a childishly convenient means of blanket denial, absolving one of all responsibility for one’s actions, no matter how harmful or destructive they actually are!
But what’s completely fascinating me is trying to understand – from the scientological perspective – how all this makes perfectly logical sense to them, given the fact that $cn processing and training is supposed to gradiently and cumulatively make those who climb the bridge to its top more and more at cause over every aspect of their existence (and the MEST universe to boot!) and more and more self-determined. Yet, even with all that very expensive training and processing under your belt, the group, rather than you as a $cn super being, is in charge of deciding who you can and can not interact with.
These are mutually exclusive and logically irreconcilable positions: Either $cn auditing and training really works and confers on you the ability to “confront and shatter” suppression, making you as an individual completely competent in handling and dealing with everyone you might meet and interact with or it does not and the group must intercede on your behalf to accomplish a task that you’re unable to on your own. In the latter scenario, SPs end up being the real super humans because they can affect and control any $cilon individual without themselves being subject to a similar level of control. So much for OaTy suppa powerz, huh?
So, even if you accept the premise that the $cn fundamentalist belief system requires of you, and you believe that all critics and attackers have committed crimes that cause them to engage in the evil of attacking the ultimate good of $cn, when it comes to the personal lives of $cilons in their interaction with non-$cilon family members, there should be no need for the cherch to override and usurp the control of the well-trained and highly audited $cilon to take care of whatever needs to be dealt with on his/her own. By $cn definition, these “Bridge Toppers” should be more competent than anyone on earth to deal with whatever situation that may arise…otherwise, what good IS all that very expensive auditing and training in the first place!
On the one hand, $cilons are stroked and fluffed ad infinitum, when it’s convenient for the cult to do so; but on the other haand, when the cult feels threatened by apostates and suppressives, then it’s a completely different story. You either get in line with the cult or you will be threatened with the same punitive consequences that the cherch’s perceived enemies are in line to receive. In other words, you’re supposed super powers and higher knowledge are not deemed sufficient for you to be able to do what you’ve been trained to do.
A real OaTy super being would just say, “Thanks, I got this,” to the cherch if it were to try and override that individual’s self-determinism on any matter that concerned their own personal choice of who they wished to interact with. The fact that no one who wishes to remain a $cilon in good standing with the cherch is allowed to do so is a tacit admission by the cult that it’s auditing and training do not provide the gains that have been promised.
Harpoona: Everything you said is way to logical and makes way too much sense!
It’s as if Scientologists suffer from a type of psychosis which causes them not to see what’s right in front of their faces, to not make those simple, logical connections that are so obvious to those not afflicted.
It could be suggested as there is much evidence to support the statement that Scientology is the substitute firstly for the self, then the family. Their course of action can be demonstrated to envisage consuming all the Dynamics in due course under the guise of religious domination. Scientology is a new twist on an old game.
Correct I Yawn. Much like communist and leftists states. The state becomes all.
“No. We just can’t trust the American people to make those types of choices, government has to make those choices for people.” – Hilldog
“When there’s no person, there’s no problem” – Stalin
“Germany owes you all so you owe Germany everything, including your life” – Hitler
A sort of social intelligence partial blindness that leaves them as vulnerable as baby puppies, but nowhere near as cute.
lol! what are you saying? The blind are leading the blind? GAT to the rescue….
oh wait.
The term is brainwashed. Clear and simple yet so complex and perplexing.
Very well put, Mike. A lot of oppressive organizations operate the same way, whether they are cults or totalitarian governments.
Another parallel, and one I use for social justice paradigms, is that of the abuser. I think there are discrete steps on the continuum of being an abuser or modeling behavior that will teach people to be abusive).
The first is to inflict the harm, obviously. Part of that harm is to imply the person deserved it in some way. If the recipient buys into that the abuse can continue without obstruction. But if the person notices or protests in any way, the cycle moves forward.
If accused or caught, the next step is to deny it ever happened, that the person is making it up, that it is not true. That’s often called “gaslighting” which has also reappeared as a popular term in these political times.
If that no longer works, then the abuser will minimize the damage, say the person is overreacting or exaggerating, try to get the record wiped clean. Then the abuser will basically blame the victim by saying it was something they deserved, or asked for or invited. They transfer the blame for the incident. And lastly, the abuser assumes the role of the true victim. THEY are the ones hurt, being persecuted, made to suffer.
These steps can occur separately or flow together.
This model in various stages can occur in relationships, it can occur in organizations, and it can occur in whole societies where some populations have privilege to oppress others, abuse them or discriminate. In our own country, I often point to the injustices done to both Native American populations and black populations.
Slavery existed for hundreds of years. When it was abolished reparations were made to white slave owners for the income they lost, but not to people who had worked for free, who had not been allowed to even learn to read. To prevent upward mobility, “separate but equal” segregation laws separated white and black people and resources allotted to each group were anything but equal. Draconian Jim Crow laws were put into place that imprisoned black people for whims and used free prison labor as a substitute for the former free labor of slavery for the next century and intimidated and terrorized the population with violence and lynching. Social constructs were put into place to deny upward mobility like equal access to mortgages, education and employment opportunity. Claims of innate “inferiority” were used to justify these social constructs (it’s “deserved”) and when the recipients claimed biased they were told they were overreacting or lying.
When frustration turns to protest or violence, the abuser becomes the victim – in fact, many white people in America now see themselves as the “victims” of racism simply because they are less of a majority or have to share the same rights with others, or that they are the recipient of justified anger. Finally, mention of slavery and its consequences in the South are being minimized and even systematically erased in textbooks (or stories inserted about how it was really good for people). Society claims people have equal status or opportunity, that it is “colorblind” even when every study and statistic shows the opposite is true. The abuser always assumes that privilege.
Blaming the person who leaves for the disconnection is the start of the process of Co$ member or whole organization being the “real victim”. The organization is expert at this and viciously litigious in asserting its victimhood of being “religiously persecuted” by anyone who criticizes or objects to either their philosophy or practices. (which is why a suffering non-member who threw a hammer through a window was accused of a “hate crime”, when their mental suffering was clearly exacerbated by church policy – switching places with the wronged party).
This behavior is also the opposite of what is authentic and loving in most relationships, as any marriage counselor will say, which is that both parties respect and listen to the experience of the other without denying, minimizing, marginalizing the feelings of the other person, regardless of whether they agree with them or think they are right. And the absence of that reciprocal respect is why many relationships fail because there is no mutuality, no equality of perspective, no room for a differing opinion.
An abuser protects their own ego and its alleged superiority at all costs and disrespects and denies the experience of others, particularly when they are the cause of any pain, harm or discomfort. There is no humility in such a relationship, not to mention compassion. It is absolutist and only one person controls the narrative. Which sets up future relationships that are abusive because it provides a model that transfers all power to one individual or one ideology.
It’s funny that an organization built around forcing people to assume all blame for their own problems (in a way that is also financially predatory and mentally abusive) refuses to step up and assume responsibility for its own.
I’m a bit curious about where you get your facts. I live in a southern state and notice many blacks and Hispanics who are in high office around the state. I see little signs of organized racism at all. I find people of all colours in many responsible positions. As well, the black and hispanic labourers I’m acquainted are invariably friendly and accommodating. In truth, the places I’ve seen racism most in my travels are places like California with people (and politicians) who do their utter best to keep the idea of racism alive and well for their own purposes. As for slavery, it’s very much alive today all over the world…and will be for all our lifetimes. Governments and businesses make use of it for their own purposes. There are many flawed folks out there and they’re not going away anytime soon.
Your comments re the church re shame, blame and regret are very well taken. The sign in every ethics office – “You are totally responsible for the condtion you are in.” – neatly alters the meaning of responsibility to one of “blame”. It’s a neat trick. Then you are condemned to some “condition” which is decided upon by someone else, generally someone who enjoys being “in charge” of others. Often they are teenagers who have not lived long enough to know anything about life.
However, I don’t believe I’ve seen in my long life any cult which has been taken on so openly and effectively. As long as people like Mike and Leah are active, the reach of scio will continue to detract. And all it will take is one really big f/u by Miscavige to really set off “the end.” I look forward to the denoument!
Ooops! WordPress won’t open for me! Darn!!!
Nice post there Peter, tku.
Good arguments.
Cecybeans, In 1862 the federal government (LINCOLN’S administration) abolished slavery in Washington DC for slaveholders who did not join the Confederacy, but HAD TO to compensate slaveholders per the constitution in order to do so. That was only done for 0.075% of the slaves in the USA.
Playing fast and loose with the facts there. Also, the reason for the comp was NOT a you stated.
I realize that. Thank you for pointing out my haste. The compensation was primarily for slaveowners loyal to the Union and evidence suggests as well that it was done to avoid the embarrassment of foreign dignitaries seeing slave auctions at the Mall in Washington.
Emancipation itself was an executive order designed to get hundreds of thousands of slaves and former slaves to join the Union Army. The 13th Amendment formally abolishing slavery wasn’t even introduced or ratified by Congress until years later.
What is of far more importance to my initial point is that all sorts of compensation promised to freed slaves (Sherman’s 40 acres and a mule) were not only stymied by Johnson during Reconstruction but thwarted in various ways afterward with the advent of Jim Crow laws that effectively re-established servitude through forced sharecropping as well as severely limiting access of legal rights to former slaves.
The details of how many white people were actually compensated is less relevant than the fact that all whites in the South had a legal and financial leg up after the 13th Amendment was actually passed. For all intents and purposes all of the compensation designed to go to freed slaves was circumvented and the benefits went to white people in the South for over a century after the war ended.
Still wrong Cecybeans. The compensation was because salves were OUTLAWED in D.C. and compensation was REQUIRED by the U.S. Constitution. The ones who didn’t stay in the Union FLED and weren’t around.
It had NOTHING to do with what you surmise. Your original premise is incorrect so forget about your reasoning after that point.
The Emancipation proclamation freed not a SINGLE slave. Obviously none in the C.S.A. and NONE in the Northern slave areas either. Slavery in the States was CONSTITUTIONAL. Neither the PotUS nor Congress could free them. It was done by Lincoln to shore up political support for an unpopular war (remember Lincoln stated that he didn’t want to free slaves at the beginning of the war) and to garner contributions for his Pres. campaign war chest.
I REALLY suggest a good US History course comprising mostly primary documentation rather than whatever drivel you have gotten your hands on.
First of all, I was a history major. Second, both my father and grandfather were Civil War buffs (and my family fought on both sides of the War) so I’ve been listening to this bullshit for over 50 years., So instead of engaging in the legerdemain of irreleant semantics or nitpicking details (some of which are debatable by actual historians and some of which are revisionist tripe – let’s face it, history is a rather fluid discipline and subject to all kinds of interpretation regardless of “facts” or “primary sources”), I’d rather you simply deal with the reason I was using the analogy to begin with, your factoid quibbling aside.
Because your patronizing misdirection over minutiae does not change my original point in any way whatsoever and why it was used as an example of abusive social practices, and is completely irrelevant to any discussion not centered on petty trivia. Push comes to shove – some white people were compensated outright (regardless of the reason), all white people in the South received preferential treatment both legally and financially for over a century afterward, and much of the infrastructure of the South (courthouses, roads, schools, etc) was built by free prison labor of mostly black Americans. Black people as a group have also been blamed for their own circumstances regardless of systems put in place to thwart assimilation and upward mobility.
I probably should have used an even more parallel historical instance, but seeing as how social justice and civil rights also blends nicely with criticism of Co$, I thought this would be more germane, to the topic, never dreaming that somebody would be more pulled in by microscopic technicalities than by the gist of the opinion. Setting up a straw man argument and using condescension to intimidate is just idiotic and disrespectful. Really troll-like behavior, imo. The kind of snarky contretemps synthesis one would expect from an ex-member perhaps, not someone reading with an open mind about historical similarities and trends of human abuse.
Remind me not to get on your bad side! Bam.
Sorry – I just deal with people like that on other forums and I don’t like the way they bully people and use ad hominem attacks. I can handle myself but some people can’t and sometimes I go full metal jacket when my radar senses preliminary troll tactics. I prefer respectful discourse. I hope I didn’t either offend or freak anybody out. I
Not me you didn’t.
Wow, great comback. Nobody else has sized him up so well, though some of us have tried. Hopefully, he’ll learn something from it.
Specifically, I had in mind this: “Setting up a straw man argument and using condescension to intimidate is just idiotic and disrespectful. Really troll-like behavior, imo.”
And let me add that your knowledge on the topic is amazing, and your ability to articulately present it is supurb.
I don’t care why you were using false info as an analogy. It was false. Resorting to argumentum ad verecundiam doesn’t make it true.
I didn’t resort to anything until your snide little remark about how I needed to take a history course. I wasn’t using false info as an analogy – even if the details were up for debate. I think I answered that in my last post. It was also not causal or directly correlative to my point, and nothing you said disproved my theory in the least, which had NOTHING to do with the details of reparation and EVERYTHING to do with the overall behavior of one group of people versus another. I also taught Latin. Culus tibi purior salillo est, That’s resorting to ad verecundiam. Finis. I’m done with OCD circular logic for the day.
The reason I ask about anti psych, is because that is a trait nor NPD, and BPD. I’m not a ex or in, but Ive spent years learning, and revisiting the descriptions.
I escaped DV, just a mean ole country boy that needed to control me. Draw from my paycheck so he could buy his toys(guns). Times I tried to leave, he threatened to hurt my family, children too. He actually foamed in both corners of his mouth.
I got away, was followed for a while, had nightmares about wolves in the window, got counseling. I was blessed to find someone that gently led me out of my belief that I deserved it. A belief that my NPD mother instilled in me. Until today, I couldnt figure why I was so drawn to this.
But yall didnt deserve any of it. You entered with good hearts, fine aspirations. Trust. It’s hard to recapture, but it will happen.
Wise words and so true that we need someone to gently lead us out of our nightmares. DV, is that the Branch Davidians? Would love to hear more.
No maam, domestic violence.
It’s been my firm contention for two decades that Scios are the uber-masters of “doublethink.” This “1984” excerpt might be instructive and revealing.
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated. The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.”
The human mind therefore has the answers for everything, even if it doesn’t know. As a species we run the risk of understanding ourselves to extinction. Organizationally understood Scientology at the vanguard of stupidity.
Scary.
That great bugaboo of Scientology—psychology—has a name for Blackwhite or Doublethink: cognitive dissonance. Unlike the totalitarian regimes of Scientology or Orwell’s dystopian government, the field of psychology recognizes that cognitive dissonance can have real and very negative effects on a person’s mental health. This was something I did not discover until I finally started seeing a therapist and discovered that the real reason Scientology doesn’t like psychology is because this actual science seeks to identify and allay the thought control techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard and emphasized by his unimaginative successor David Miscavige.
If Scientology was just galactic empires, clam hinges, error lists, and thetans, body or otherwise, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. After all, anybody can believe whatever they want to believe no matter how ridiculous it might seem to me or anybody else. That’s why this blog and the show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath have been effective: they focus on Scientology’s actions and the mad policies of the church that direct people to perform these harmful actions.
Unfortunately, the self-defense and thought-stopping mechanisms Hubbard established in his doctrine were so effective that, for example, it took me thirty years to finally “give in” at the urging of friends and see a goddamn therapist. (It’s actually been three therapists now; I didn’t really click with the first two. And this is another extraordinary thing about therapy: the patient is in charge. Anybody who’s had their awful fifteen year old auditor assigned to them at Flag will understand that Scientology always knows best and the preclear’s opinions are irrelevant.)
The ability to entertain two opposing concepts simultaneously must be trained into a person’s mind, and the younger that mind the better. The earliest example I can identify personally is when I was thirteen years old. I was attending the Delphian School and accompanied some staff members to a promotional event for a newly published book written by the school’s headmaster Alan Larson and his colleague Paolo Lionni. Their book “The Leipzig Connection” was a screed against the educational system. Rife with juicy and questionably-researched paranoia, this book ties the knot between the shadow governments and their collectivist educators, and remains a favorite of conspiracy theorists.
They were giving a talk for—who else?—the John Birch Society in Salem. After listening to these people, I realized they thought America had the greatest government in the world, and the worst. They would give their life defending it, and they would give their life tearing it down. Public education was one of the American strengths, and it would tear society down.
I found it all very confusing. Little did I know that within a few years, I too would start thinking this way, and it would take a great many more years later for me to start unraveling this mindset.
I was a young novice Kool-Aid drinker when “The Leipzig Connection” was first published and I can recall the hype that surrounded it then in my little corner of the Clampire. Although it would be years until the phrase “nutty conspiracy crap” would be coined, my thoughts after reading it followed along those same lines.
“That’s why this blog and the show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath have been effective: they focus on Scientology’s actions and the mad policies of the church that direct people to perform these harmful actions.”
Sorting out the whacky and scientifically unsupportable beliefs that most religions contain as central tenets from religious groups’ actual behavior is exactly the right way to take on this cult or any other which abuses human rights, commits crimes and destroys families. It’s not what this or that group or individual believes; it’s what they do that matters. And once you clearly distinguish one from the other, then any attempt to deflect from the issue or paint critics as opposing religious freedom vanish completely. Believe whatever you like, you nutty fucks, just don’t mess with my family or friends!
I think it’s whacked beyond all comprehension to imagine that any of Elron’s made up sci-fi, space opera drivel has any basis in reality at all, but what someone else believes on the basis of their religious faith is not at all my concern or business. That is, until their whacky notions get translated into harmful practices and abusive behavior…it’s at that exact point that I have a big problem with it, but not before! The cult loves to play the victim, when in reality its very long record of crimes and abuses provides ample evidence that it is the perpetrator…just another example of how $cn is the very best exemplar of exactly what Orwell was both warning us about and simultaneously predicting for the future.
Infinitely More Trouble and HP, you guys though serious, both made me laugh with your tone and adjectives. You’re both creative writers.
I’m going to tell you a funny story about therapy, and I hope you appreciate it. I saw a therapist for a year straight. When I first started, I was pretty effed up. I knew I wasn’t in a good place when I started but quickly realized it was worse than I thought.
Shortly after I started therapy, my therapist had an accident doing yard work. He cut off the tip of his finger, broke some bones and had to have hand surgery. It was surprising when I saw his hand with a huge cast on it when I only saw him the week before and he was fine. He assured me that he was doing okay and would heal up in about six weeks time.
About two days later, I woke up with an anxiety attack. My heart pounding and my thoughts were racing: He had that accident because he is taking to Me! I actually thought that I had caused his accident to happen and was to blame for it. It took a moment for me to realize that I was having irrational thoughts, and I was then able to calm myself.
Luckily this guy knew quite a bit about Scientology, (probably learned some more after me) counsels people who leave religious cults, and people who leave the LDS. He was unfazed when I told him about it, and said about the accident, “no, it’s not you, it’s because I’m an old fart.” ?
This is an example of an appeal-to-force fallacy. Basically, if you won’t be a Scientologist, I can’t be related to you any more. It is using manipulation to attempt to force another person to do their will. I like the puppy example.
Person A: Join my group.
Person B: No.
Person A: If you won’t join my group, I’m going to kill this puppy.
Person B: Please don’t hurt that puppy. I still don’t want to join your group.
Person A: I’m really going to do it if you won’t join my group.
Person B: No, leave the puppy out of it. I am not joining your group.
Person A: See what you made me do? It’s your fault. You killed this innocent puppy!
So, who killed the puppy? Person A or Person B? Obviously Person A unless you’re a Scientologist, then you believe Person B is responsible.
No puppies were harmed in this analogy.
Love the analogy! But to take it one step further: In the case of young, completely confused and clearly manipulated $cilons like Flavio and others who’ve been forced by the cult to denigrate and discredit their own family members for the sadistic pleasure of DM, they are the innocent puppy who’s going to be killed, while acting as DM’s instrument of revenge by proxy.
Mike I have been a silent reader of your blog for a very long time now and i finally decided to reach out. I just wanted to say as a never-in who lived with a sociopath, diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (the eu version of npd) for a decade that I recognize in DM everything my exhusband did to me. The violence, emotional and financial control and abuse, just everything. You always manage to explain everything so perfectly here that I feel connected by trauma to every ex-member. My heart goes out to all of you, readers and contributers to the blog alike.
Mike, I was shocked to learn there is an org in Sweden, where I lived, do you know how active it is? Are many non English orgs very busy these days in western Europe?
Thank you so very much Alexis. I want to add something too. I came from just a regular dysfunctional family and it is the trauma that is the connection. Thank you for figuring that out!! I too feel for every ex Scientologist becaus there is something in their story that is my story and I was never in a cult. It’s the lie in the family and the struggle the mind has to make it true or to pull away from those you love. I want every ex-sci and sci to know that they are not weird or unusual.
They are having a pretty common human experience and it stays confusing for the rest of your life. And there are flare ups, but it does get better over time. Kinda like a rash I think… that’s an attempt at humour!! But it does get better when you mix with the rest of humanity. Isolation is the problem.
Another example of Newspeak/Blackwhite:
The ‘spokes persons’ of the CoS are always asserting that former Scientologist or former Sea Org members who have left or even have escaped were “expelled” because of “x”. The illogicality that they were expelled after they have left or have escaped is not considered.
What I find also an appropriate comparison to Scn’s various methods of interrogations, sec checks, ‘ethics’ interviews and the Scn Truth Rundown is Orwell’s description of “thougthcrime”. The worst thoughtcrime in the cult is to think anything negative about “COB”. It is treated as having committed a high crime.
Crimethink is the Newspeak word for thoughtcrime (thoughts that are unorthodox or outside the official government platform), as well as the verb meaning “to commit thoughtcrime”. Goodthink, which is approved by the Party, is the opposite of crimethink.
Thanks Mike, great timing for an excellent and important article.
“You are the one that destroyed the family because you choose to no longer subscribe to scientology.”
This is the exact ‘thinking’ that is applied. 50% believed, and 50% shouted and proclaimed as PR window dressing.
………
Exposing and broadly publicizing the truth about disconnection is so very helpful and needed. But we do know that scn can never change this. They can never back down or say, “oops” or have a change of heart. We can’t just replace DM and think it’d all work out.
The policies that outline which acts are considered suppressive, how to deal with SPs, on handle or disconnect, on PTS types, on who is accepted onto training and processing, on eligibility for OT levels – all of these policies are by hubbard and must be followed and won’t change.
Exposing disconnection is spot on.
But we know that it can never change without changing the very foundation and structure of scn.
Dave can’t suddenly find a lost suitcase of “revised HCO PLs and HCOBs” that would do away with disconnection. It’s woven too tightly into too many places and aspects.
So let’s keep exposing it cuz they can’t do a damn thing about it. 🙂
Unless they do as Leah was saying on the Rogan interview, – start embracing the real policies, have the courage of their convictions and tell the truth. It IS what they believe.
I havent seen any discussion on PTSD therapy. I was wondering if anti psych is still prevalent ? Among ex scientologists?
Psychiatry is, and always will be, the Devil. All evil comes from psychiatry. And it’s been around forever…
I’ve got double return tickets to Farsac. Got a free eternity on the weekend, wana check it out?
PTSD therapy to deprogram yourself (ie cognitive therapy) is extremely helpful. I used to be very anti-psych, but have found psychology/guided therapy and POSITIVE self-hypnosis to be invaluable. No electroshock, medications, ice baths, or mind games. Just peeling back the layers of subconscious so I can pull out the negativity ingrained in my brain via conversation and common sense, caring analysis. No auditor, no judgment, no worry about ethics. And if anyone tells me my therapist is evil, they are using some of that Scn newspeak Mike mentioned above.
This article is great and just hits me in the stomach. I recently finished reading 1984 and thought it was brilliant and especially the correlation between scn today and the control mechanism for those in. After our episode aired on A&E the cofs had videos released in which 2 of my sisters absolutely told the biggest lies. I expected that these videos were coming, but I never in my wildest dreams expected these 2 sisters to tell such lies. It really floored me. As I explained and showed proof in my last article here on Mike’s site – Lois Reisdorf Aftermath – I had absolute proof of disconnection and I published the emails which stated that my family COULD NOT communicate with me and this was before my declare. The fact that they then put out the videos saying the opposite made me sick. The redhead sister has been at Gold since 1980 – I have seen her 4x in all those years. She has had virtually nothing to do with my side of the family so for her to say that she tried so many times to contact me is such a lie.
Approx. 7 years ago I got an urgent message from her saying she needed an operation and was going to be at a Burbank hospital and could I go to be with her. I immediately left San Diego and drove to Burbank and stayed with her for 2 days in the hospital, even though she had “minders” with her. I had not seen her since 1997 when our mother died. I dropped everything to go to her. She later was able to have an email address and I kept in comm with her and told her MANY times that since she is only an hour and half away from me – if she had a liberty, I would drive to Hemet and meet her and her hubby at a shopping center, bring them to my house, feed her, let her do her laundry etc and then return her the next day. That obviously never happened.
In 2009 my son got married, I then decided that because my family in SA were unable to come, I would go to SA and do another 2nd wedding so my family could be involved. We did that at great expense, and this sister came from Gold, which surprised me but that was the ONLY time she spent more than 2-3 days with my side of the family in almost 40 years.
Between the 2 sisters there were so many more lies that I won’t even go over them. But this particular one was stomach turning for me.
BUT, regardless of this and what they did – if either of them showed up on my doorstep and needed help, especially if the redhead had blown Gold, boy would I be there for them without even a 2nd thought.
Good girl. You’re such a good one. This is the way we do things. <3
Dear Lois
You have a spectacular capacity for love, patience and forgiveness. I wanna be you when I grow up.
Lois, I really feel for your dilemma but you have a heart of gold. It struck me recently that my family still stuck in the bubble who don’t talk to me or mine anymore actually disconnected from us a long while before they actually ceased communicating. This aloft type of “good roads good weather” employed is not communicating but an effort to distance yourself while giving the apparency of being there. It’s a long road this recovery of loved ones from within that cult. Being there for them comes naturally I found too but it’s one of the cruelest and loneliest pursuits to ever have in your mind. To explain being punished for loving someone is so far beyond words… Scientologists have no idea of just how mean they can be!
Excelent. Thanks Mike. Love Jim Grant
After all, what is ‘black or white’? White being the total absence of color; black having the presence of all color. It is just a fluke of language that one is termed black and the other white. In another universe or dimension they could just as easily be called wind and fire. It would be interesting to try clay models of black and white.
Holy Crap! I’ve been reading too much scientology and Dianetics. I’m heading off to the library to get a good Jack Patterson or Patricia Cornwell.
Beautiful in the perfection of how you explained this phenomenon, Mike.
Mike,
Once you left Scientology, I was curious, as to what other literature you read outside of Scientology? Which were the most profound or influential for whatever reason?
I also extend this question to the other ex Scientologists especially those born into it.
Jenette
Jenette – I have read a lot of things. Most influential for me:
Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor Frankl
Lord of the Flies
Barefaced Messiah
The Sociopath Next Door
Mike: I’m so glad you have read, and were affected by, Victor Frankl’s little book which I came to relatively recently. Talk about humanitarians -= I tell everyone it will leave those who read it inspired and changed. I read #2 at high school and #3 when I first looked at Scientology. I know Marty and yourself have both mentioned the Sociopath Next Door several times but I haven’t got to that one (yet).
Good reading suggestions Mike. I would add as suggestions :
Demon Haunted World By Carl Sagan
Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan
Anything by Jon Atack – he really goes for the jugular and can loosen Scientology beliefs quickly.
Also might be important to take a look at the Milgram experiments and the Stanford Prison experiments to get a sober look at the depths of pursuation and manipulation that we humans are prone to with seeming ease.
The Children’s Story by James Clavell is a concept book worthy of being horrified at. But don’t forget to balance the input with something frivolous and fun too.
Part of being in
a cult is a complete belief in its dogma to a point where there is only black and white. Psychiatrists are all evil, policeman only stop people, all PTS people are connected to an SP, if a person leaves a group, their family or friend they have crimes against that group, family or friend, Scientology is the only thing that will save this planet, etc…….. the dogma goes on and on. When a person is so indoctrinated that they think that way then they can no longer reason. They can no longer able use logic.
The ironic thing is that Hubbard with Dianetics was trying to remove the “held down seven” in the reactive mind. So his solution. Create a new stuck key that only he controlled.
He was a truly evil man who built his empire on mixing truth with obfuscated lies that turned his followers into brainwashed robots. I thought the same way for many years till it got so bad I didn’t believe anything and at that point I woke up to the real world. Thank god!
1984 is a great book. More of these materials should be included in public school curriculum to help prevent these mind tricks from holding power in the populace of the future. Inoculate them, so to say, from fear based mind control techniques, concepts of false flag terrorism tactics, shock doctrine politics, secrecy etc.
Whoever is in charge of school curriculum, mainstream media, and funding elected officials’ campaigns holds a lot of power in society.
Thanks to Leah, Mike, the Internet, and others we can learn and spread this information freely for now.
“Thanks to Leah, Mike, the Internet, and others we can learn and spread this information freely for now.”
+1
And I fully agree about the need for schools to educate regarding mind-control techniques.
Once the words of L Ron Hubbard are considered infallible by the Scientologist; there goes ones grasp on reality.
It all boils down to L Ron Hubbard’s deep fear and terror of being seen for who he truly is and deep fear of being criticized.
The great Satan in Scientology is not Xenu or SPs.
The great evil in Scientology is TRUTH. That is why criticism is a crime in Scientology.
Criticism leads to finding things out, new ways of seeing, understanding the true nature of something.
Ron abhored the truth. Ron was terrified of the truth. Ron hid and ran from it.
That is why he lied about his past, lied about research, lied about what Scientology could accomplish.
This is for those who were in Scientology:
Ron like the non existent ape in the back seat of the taxi more than the truth that there was not an ape there.
TRUTH WAS THE ENEMY OF L RON HUBBARD. TRUTH IS THE ENEMY OF THE SCIENTOLOGIST BY DEFAULT.
Truth then is the enemy of mankind, because the truth of Ron and Scientology dissolves the lies of Scientology.
And if you believe that the lies that Scientology is the “only way”, then finding the truth will unmock that lie. Therefore the truth is dangerous.
Truth has always been dangerous to the legacy of L Ron Hubbard and Scientology.
Truth will always be a danger to make believe. Ron was make believe; a well marketed strategy to create Altitude so as to control his subordinate and secure paying customers.
The Wizard of Oz was killed in the flash by the pulling back of the curtain.
The pulling back of the curtain is an evil act to the Scientologist.
Really Basic Basic!
I found a lot of Basics which are 180 Degree hidden and wrong and tends to the wrong Direction. Like axioms. Trs, policies made for stupids and robots etc. But this is the point! Of course, because everything in this company leads towards slavery.
One glaring example that stands out in my mind is July 8, 1977. I lived on the third floor in an apartment complex in special “un-designated housing” (that’s what staff housing that wasn’t known as staff housing and you didn’t say you were staff because well… cloak and dagger) across from the Manor, (now known as Celebrity Center).
The Cedars of Lebanon Complex (now known as Big Blue) and the Manor were raided in the early morning hours by the FBI. I got a call and sat my 5 month pregnant self on my third floor balcony taking photos all day long. I was scared a little but mostly angry. My brother and sister in law were at Cedars and we didn’t know how they were.
I was angry because the FBI had raided scientology. The had raided them to take back the documents that scientology had systematically been stealing from them for years. Although I was well aware of what had been done to the FBI by us, I was totally convinced scientology was the bully and the FBI was the bad guy.
The warped thinking that had been drilled into me by then had me convinced that it was right and good to take the documents from the FBI and wrong of the FBI to be upset because they were taken.
Valerie, you said yesterday that Mary Sue and Diana trained you to kill and die for Hubbard.
Could you please expand on that? Could you describe what that looked and sounded like?
Because what you said yesterday needs to be looked at.
I believe it is supremely important to expand on that comment.
If you are willing of course. If not, I understand.
Warm Regards,
Brian
P.S.
I lived in that apartment across the street from the manor. I used to see Juliette Lewis running around unattended in her diapers.
Brian, it would take more than a few words posted in a comment to get into the detail and especially this time of year I do not have the time or inclination to go there. I have slowly started writing things down. Most of them will probably never see the light of day, but my grandchildren will know.
I was acquainted with the Lewises. I thought highly of Geoff. Juliette loved her father deeply.
Thanks Valerie, I understand re stories.
I use to see Juliette running and having fun. She was a bundle of energy.
I just realized I subconsciously misworded that I should have said “I was totally convinced that scientology was being bullied and the FBI was the bad guy”. Whoops – Freudian slip.
Valerie, when you sincerely believe that the whole agonized fate of us all for the next umpteen trillion years depends on $cn triumphing, then ANY means are justified in order to obtain that most important of all ends. And if all that mega-whacked space opera nonsense actually was true, then that logic would indeed apply. However, the only Battle in the Stars that $cn is really involved in is the tug-of-war it’s playing with you over your wallet. There is no allied Marcabian Invader Forces ready to swoop down on us all; there are no implant stations are Mars or Venus; no OaTy can demonstrate the super powers that are supposed to be standardly attained by all who attest to having completed those levels…in short, there’s no credible reason to believe any of that made-up crap
Elron was the Grand Master of getting folks to do serious wrong in the guise of doing ultimate good, and it all hinged on getting the faithful to buy into incredibly bizarre, space opera tales, comprising an alt history of the universe for which there is absolutely no evidence beyond Elron’s mere assertions. How he got so many to believe for so long all of the preposterous and completely unsupported crap that he was able to is both a wonderment and cautionary tale going forward for us all!
“Remember – it’s not a lie if you believe it”
– George Costanza
As a “never in”….I stated it before……two words suffice…GUILT TRIP. How the Hell can “the organization” get YOU back into the fold unless they use your own child against you.
Your own child is coerced into blaming YOU for leaving THEM, when those who have voluntarily “blown” made the choice to leave for reasons of keeping their own freedom and sanity intact.
When you refuse to obey without question the demands of “the organization, they have to draw you back in someway, nothing else will work other than to have the person you love more than anything, your own flesh and blood, blame YOU for the “disconnection”. Your child has not receive the wake up call because they’ve been trained/brainwashed to remain loyal to the cause.
Similar to the Stockholm Syndrome….brainwashed by their captors but they don’t see it that way. Their eternal souls/spirits or whatever are doomed unless they remain and they fear for your “souls” as well.
Nothing ELSE has worked so far to get you “back in”….so now they go AFTER your child to use against you..
To turn your own child against you is as low as anyone can go.
I am lucky that I left when my children were so young that they were never exposed. It would be the hardest thing in the world to leave a child of mine behind in any situation.
HOWever, if I made the impossible decision to leave a child behind because I had to escape the organization, I can guaranTEE you that using that child to try to force me to return would create the absolute opposite effect. It would turn me so against the organization that I would do whatever I could to cause the demise of that organization.
And wow, I just realized where Mike Rinder gets the intestinal fortitude to keep posting on this blog every. single. day.
Thanks Val. I see where Mike’s impetus comes from. Number three in Aftermath had Mike’s wife Christie saying there were times when she just wanted to let things go, but Mike would remind her about his children. It IS heartbreaking.
I can’t imagine how hard and hurtful it is for Mike to hear what his daughter says about him. From reading this blog, hearing him speak on the A & E documentaries, he is carrying a heavy burden.
Kudos to lovely Christie for supporting him, even against ALL odds, it isn’t easy. She is a remarkable woman and obviously loves Mike a great deal.
I cant fully described how proud I am of all of you who have made the choice to BURST the bubble that once contained you….as Mary said that her feelings one time about COS was that “they owned me”….NOW THEY DON”T…..God Bless You ALL and stay strong! We are here to support you in any way we can….
I vaguely remember seeing the video of Mike’s daughter, so I don’t remember most of it (and I have no desire to see videos like that anymore so won’t go look it up). And I hesitate to even mention this (because I know Mike has to read these comments to moderate them, and don’t like bringing this to his attention even more), but one thing about her video that I do remember is when she was basically saying something like “he was never around for me”. I wanted to say to her “no, because he Sea Org at Int and working his ass off thanks to David Miscavige’s Scientology-first-and-only demands in order to clear the planet for everyone’s eternity…..isn’t that something that should make you proud of his dedication to the church you now proclaim is saving mankind?”
Anyway, I was Friends with Mike on Facebook for a few days until he made his own Public Figure page and asked folks to unfriend him and migrate over there to follow him, and it was obvious from some of the photos I saw on his private page just how loving of a father he is to his children. But during the time that his daughter is talking about, he was simply in the same mind-controlling cult that his daughter is currently in, but working for a demanding tyrant. Really hoping that she wakes up one day and learns which people TRULY cares about her as a person.
I know Mike realizes it is the cos scripting what Taryn says/posts etc. The policies/docterines are ingrained since childhood. That in itself shows how abusive this organization is. Truly heart breaking that family bonds are not sacred.
Big hugs to you Mike, Lois and everyone affected by this horrible thing called “disconnection”. The real SP here is DM.
I think I’ve seen mentioned in the past that Scientology, particularly the Sea Org, is basically like existing in the mind of Hubbard. This behavior of turning the tables on the disconnected family member is exactly how a person with Narcisstic Personality Disorder behaves. LRH and DM have been labeled narcissists many times before, but I just made the connection that somebody at the highest degree on the NPD spectrum actually drew up rules and regulations that correspond with the coping mechanisms of a classic narcissist. It’s all being indoctrinated and turning regular people into narcissists as well. And a person with NPD has to feign confidence, transfer and project blame to protect this narrative that they tell themselves over and over again. If you even suggest that the narrative is erroneous, there will be hell to pay. I just cannot believe a whole religion is formed around the warped narrative of a colossal narcissist, both dead and alive. It’s pretty incredible that you, Mike and others, valiantly made it out without going completely mad. I deeply admire your courage!
Quite so, Melissa. I just read a book https://www.amazon.com/Master-Dealing-Psychopaths-Sociopaths-Narcissists-ebook/dp/B011YKLWVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485961987&sr=8-1&keywords=Master+Dealing+with+Psychopaths%2C+Sociopaths%2C+Narcissists It is uncanny how well the book describes the coping strategy of the NPD and how well it aligns with what Hubbard did. We cannot really remotely diagnose Hubbard’s condition since he died in 1986 but the parallels match up so well that I consider it pretty well proved.
To the NPD others are not really humans in their own right. They are either extensions of the NPD acting on his behalf or are enemies. A great example is the story oft retold about how Hubbard reacted to the death of his son Quentin, Instead of mourning he went off on a rant about “how could Quentin do this to me?”
A lot of readers on this blog are recovering Scientologists. Some have never been Scientologists but are recovering from other high control groups, often centered on NPDs. Others are just interested outsiders. I think anyone could benefit from knowing how the NPD operates. The Scientology experience is the NPD out of control writ large over a long time span. It is even so well constructed that another NPD (Dave) can take over and sort of keep it going to a degree. This is pretty rare.
So it is worth studying Scientology just to see how humanity can go wrong. Without true empaths to surround and feed them the NPDs are helpless. If the normal folks really understood this the NPDs, sociopaths and psychopaths would not have a chance to wreak their destruction.
Yes Bruce! This is an excellent study of NPD at its most extreme. This is a person who is only interested in leverage, devoid of empathy, and so deeply broken inside, they will never be “normal” or learn their “lesson”….this is hard to comprehend. People throw the word “narcissist” around a lot these days, but the condition of a true narcissist to the point of a personality disorder is so hard to fathom unless you’ve been victimized by one. And most from Scientology, especially the Sea Org, have been brutally victimized by the condition. Another thing about an NPD is there is no logic or integrity…it’s just whim after whim, with no real answer to satisfy the person I was married to one and it seriously about drove me insane. When your emotions and family are all entangled with a narcissist, it takes the power of a rocket launch to break away from the madness and abuse (emotional and physical) I completely understand why people are unable to leave. Obviously, your family is being held hostage, but It’s also sometimes similar to a battered women syndrome, which I wouldn’t have understood if I hadn’t been in an emotionally abusive relationship with an NPD. I can’t say that I understand exactly what the ex-Scientologist has endured, but I think I can identify with elements of it, definitely. And the NPD traits in LRH and DM are textbook…I will for sure read what you’ve recommended, Bruce, Thanks!
Yes True words. I experienced the same, but with a NPD Wife. You must experience it, to understand.
Well said Melissa.
Me and my son pray when i put him to bed at night.
Next time i put him to bed mike rinder i will pray for the return of your children.
I was in CCINT for 7 years. I lost a wife. Thats nothing compared to children.
We love and respect you, leah, jason beghe, tony, wise beard man, chris shelton, jon attack, paulette and everyone else who speaks out.
Amen! Like you I pray every night for illumination of this cult and the resulting downfall, with healing of all it’s affected.
Rick Alan Ross, “Cults Inside Out” https://www.amazon.com/Cults-Inside-Out-How-People-ebook/dp/B00OZR1QNO/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Not everybody agrees with his methods, but the basic idea of providing a safe landing zone and then providing true information has helped me a lot, Another approach is to remind the person of times before they were in the cult.
All this assumes you can talk to the person, and the doctrine of “disconnection” effectively prevents that. It is almost as though Hubbard knew that his ideas could not survive any contact with actual truth…
But even in the situation of full disconnection you can still reach out, like Phil with his sign or Leah and Mike with their TV show. Or in many smaller ways. Gifts on holidays. A kindle with internet access, but that probably won’t work now that Dave knows about the issue. Attempts to call even when they are turned away. Letters even though you know Security will just trash them.
On the inside they will not know what you said, but they sometimes find out that you still care. Sometimes that is enough. Remember, they are assaulted every day with piles of evidence that Scientology does not work. They hand out leaflets and movie tickets that immediately hit the trash or the sidewalk. They find out there is no pay because nobody even bought a book that week. They have to do a search and discovery mission to find toilet paper. No matter how high the mental barriers, the facts batter against them daily.
If they know someone is there for them, that the whole world is not really against them, that someone cares, someday it will click. Some day they or someone they know will get some unbearable injustice and they will decide to chuck it. Or they route on to OT III and find out how crazy Hubbard really was. Or they get sent to the RPF for kissing somebody. It takes a combination of factors and everybody is different. But a big factor is knowing you have somebody on the outside who cares. Scientology says the outside world is scary and dangerous. Prove that it is not and some day some lost soul may still appear on your doorstep.
Oops, this was supposed to be a reply to Mick Roberts below. His question that I am answering is ” Is there any way that anyone has thought of to counter-act this and get them to “wake up”? “
Thank you Bruce. I suppose you can only show that you care and wait for it to one day just “click”. Like you said, it’s a combination of factors and “everybody is different”.
The way Scientologists are indoctrinated to believe that “Wog World” is uncaring and dangerous, is one of the reasons that I, as a never-in, decided to try to stop personally bashing those still in this cult and try to portray to them (even though they don’t read this site, so it seems futile) that us wogs are actually pretty decent people for the most part (of course, you have your outliers), and most of us are genuinely kind and really do care about their well-being and hope that they give those of us in Wog World a chance to prove that to them.
Leaving a nice big wide trail open to the loved ones in is a great piece of advice.
Letters, cards, small gifts, things to remind the SO member that they have support outside is not only kind, it’s just a good idea.
When you’re IN, anything that smacks of disaffection, disagreement, efforts to pull them away, would be viewed as dangerous and it ‘cuts the comm line’. It has the exact opposite result.
Keeping the line open, safe, and perhaps…inviting… 🙂 is safer than risking getting cut off from all communication.
We can just be there to catch them when they fall. As much as we’d like to be the PUSH!
This encourages me once again. Thanks!
Spot On Mike Rinder!
Here is how Scientology works in real life.
A person is interested in Scientology because they want a path to follow that will lead to improved life. They love the gentle ethics Scientology claims to use and the policies that APPEAR to help improve life conditions. Scientology is a science of smoke and mirrors. It is a FAUX Hollywood set.
A trusting soul has no clue..after all, Tom Cruise is in Scientology and he seems pretty cool. (well, not so cool anymore – after Katie Holmes hit him upside his OT noggin with a divorce – he is not very cool)
but you guys get the drift….celebrities are used to keep the faux Hollywood set – seem real.
They invest heavily and begin the journey of indoctrination.
They slowly lose control over their own thoughts, their own money, their own family and their dreams are replaced with David Miscavige’s dream – HAVING COMPLETE CONTROL OF THE SHEEP.
They wake up if they don’t give up total control of their minds because the criminal activity is everywhere in Scientology – but it is carefully masked.
That Scientologist cognites that the Organization is criminal, does not apply its own policies unless it is trying to DUPE members into BELIEVING Scientology is great and, the Scientologist, being responsible, tries to tell others.
Then the ignorant Scientologist friend or family member thinks the responsible Scientologist is hiding big crimes because it is seen as “nattering”.
So the duped member disconnects and says –
“I am not disconnecting from you – but don’t talk to me ever again”
Scientology is truly the opposite of what it claims to do for people.
True!
A partial explanation for why this Newspeak type of dialogue is possible in Scientology is Hubbard’s description of a thetan as a no mass, no location static. A nothingness, with qualities.
If one is actually a nothingness (and therefore a blank slate) and all of reality is a consideration, then ANYTHING is possible and one only has to “change their mind” in order for something to be true or false.
Once one has adopted Hubbard’s idea of a thetan, one is susceptible to every hypnotic suggestion possible, because as a blank slate (thetan) one is whatever one decides one is.
That sounds like “freedom”…except that what gets written on the blank slate in Scientology is Hubbard’s crap…not the person’s own ideas.
Excellent point! I hadn’t considered that, but I think that’s a very fundamental point to keeping someone stuck in. Make it seem that all you have to do is change your mind. Simple, right? If that were the case, why the hell would you need Scientology anyway?
If a ‘Blank Slate’ is what he was shooting for, Ron would have been served much faster with the ‘Neural Neutralizer’ from Star Trek than the E-Meter. I have learned so much about Scientology from Mike and Leah, and I see how you could get sucked in at the beginning, but from here, I just cannot believe that anybody would ever give L. Ron Hubbard enough credit to believe anything he said.
Which is why the continuous exposure is so important, so the public at large is more informed before taking that first step into this so-called “religion”. That only leaves CoS to remain desperate to hang on to those already in it, and to pressure them to get their kids to sign up for the Sea Org and keep contributing more and more and more money (which even the richest person can eventually run out of).
Thank you Mike. Another bullet of a post and half way through I had to smile because darn it,I actually understood the insanity you so eloquently described. The cult of Scientology has these actions stamped in Titanium on their hearts and minds and souls. They cannot see Truth Revealed.?
Brilliant Mike. It describes our situation with our youngest son and Lois’ family in South Africa perfectly. They believe that we cut off communication with them because we didn’t follow the cult’s order to disconnect from my oldest, never-in son and my SP sisters and do our A-E. I guess we have to follow a criminal organizations orders, that we want absolutely no involvement with or we are abandoning our family. I see that as more like “whitemail” err..blackmail.
I wonder if DM is going to tell his OSA goons, when they are all behind bars for their criminal acts, that “prison is freedom”.
Well, if push comes to shove, it’s a virtual certainty that lil davey, the Super SP I/C, has someone groomed to take the fall for him, just as Elron tossed Mary Sue under the bus in the wake of the Snow White debacle.
The real trouble with $cn there is that even if you end up martyred for the cause, you don’t even get the kind of respect or status that Jihadi suicide bombers can count on receiving after they sacrifice all for the cause. In $cn, you’re just a loser who was stupid enough to get caught, so you MUST have pulled it in to begin with. DM, Marty Mark and that whole crew of “young guns” called Mary Sue and her GO underlings “crims,” not because they broke the law and committed felony domestic espionage, but because they got caught doing it.
In an sociopathic organization with no moral compass or respect for the law, you can do whatever you like. That is, until you get caught, then it’s time for you to take the fall so that the real SPs in charge never have to.
Who would take the fall:? Lou? Shelly is indisposed. He’s sent most of his staff to the RPF some have been there 7 years or more. DM is probably paying himself their wages too. I’ve been listening to “Surviving Scientology Podcast by Jeffrey Augustine” I’m on #32 of some 45 in total. What an education for a never in. I’ve heard about the heavy arms DM has big time guns automatic rifles – that even LRH had a 1930’s real gangster “Tommy Gun” among his own cache of weapons. Today I listened to Jesse Prince an early auditor who knew LRH and even audited DM. Very little good was said for either LRH or DM. Mike Rinder is there plus others I had never heard of. Very good education on this hateful cult.
Here is Hubbard’s key to success. It is a truism he spoke and used.
“If you really want to enslave people, tell them you’re going to give them total freedom.”
This is why he promoted “The Bridge to Total Freedom”. Hois entire scientology pitch was giving total freedom.
At least he warned people how he was going to trap them.
I had someone hand me a rifle and a uniform once and said much the same thing.
One truly must be careful when listening to others.
Yawn, the Army told you that you would gain Total Freedom by being in the army?
Where was this? Not in the US.
Not in the US, no. Just something along similar lines I suppose I meant to say, not total freedom as referred to Scn propaganda. They will say whatever you want to hear at recruitment with the one on one tech they use, but once in – it’s not quite that way at all. Idealist youth believing you’re saving your country and making the world a better place, fighting for freedom. Defense yes, no argument there. But for aggression or for financial or geographic pursuits it eats away at your sense of purpose. Peace time or aggressive occupation of someone else’s country doesn’t sit well with me anymore. I knew a couple of SAS guys, now out, and the stories of what they got up to makes you wonder just WTF is going on. Like Scientology, many Govt motives are shrouded in secrecy and have numerous hidden agendas, none of them are really conducive of what you signed up for. Scientology doesn’t have a monopoly on lies and half truths. Guess I should have been more specific what I meant or not said anything, it doesn’t quite fit, square peg, round hole but similar bs.
Quite correct I Yawn. For the then future USA, Ike warned us quite well indeed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/books/1984-george-orwell-donald-trump.html?_r=0
It is being revived as part of the anti-trump backlash, ironically by the ‘liberal media’.
Ah well..
Hubbard commented routinely on 1984 in the 1952 time era, even going so far as to claim Orwell committed suicide! (In the Technique 88 lecture series, prior to the Philadelphia Doctorate Course lectures later in that year. Those (Tech 88) lectures have probably been ‘edited’ to remove that erroneous comment, in the great tradition of Newspeak.
A fuller list of words here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Newspeak_words
I’ve read that the sale of the book is now back at the top of the charts. One of the parallels that hit home this week is that Fox news reported the mass shooting in Canada as having been done by a terrorist Muslim when, in fact it was a white Christian. Based on what I could tell, Fox didn’t correct their reporting mistake until several days after the fact.
One of the reasons we got caught up in the Scientology bubble was our belief that we shouldn’t read anything but Hubbard because he had all the answers. That insulated us from what was actually happening, which is the main point of 1984.
Thank you for bringing this up. I believe it’s an important point to have made.
Exactly Robin. Reminds me when MSNBC reported that the Orlando nighclub shooter was a white Bush supporter when he was a Muslim Obama supporter.
I don’t take news at face value. Wait for primary docs.
Yes fox did correct it but then stated the suspect was a Canadian Trump supporter. Unsure of the definition of that.
You nailed it Mike! It does make sense though in a very warped way. When I was on staff, I also realized that and the impossibility of working through the conditions due to the warped and unevenly applied dynamics. i.e. the 3rd Dynamic of Scientology trumps all. Scientologist take it for granted that if you work through A-E you will be back to being an on policy/in good standing Scientologist. The possibility of doing A-E and leaving is not possible in their minds. (Been there, done that!)
As kind of a word nerd (excessive interest in origin, use and perception of) it seems like Scientology speak provides a barrier to the emotional connotations of belief and actions. Or maybe a validation that reinforces tenets by allowing rote, automatic response? Not sure exactly what I’m getting at but it feels significant. I wonder if someone in “the bubble” who had to explain disconnection and other nefarious practices of Scientology would sense a crack in their denial.
Thanks for an intriguing read.
Sorry, meant explain without using Scientology terminology.
It makes you feel us versus them. Elite. The chosen. It’s narcosistic to the extreme. L ron hubbard talked alot aboit his nomenclature. To him it validated the tech and made it real and proved that it was scientific.
Liz: I was in “the bubble” briefly decades ago with my two young children after my divorce. I was a Bible-Belt- bred, California-wed nurse who seemed drawn to a community, in my perception, of like-minded people. We were like-minded because we seemed simpatico in spiritual awareness. I was weary of my hellfire and brimstone upbringing, searching for a new direction. I liked that SCN seemed so well codified and organized without undue emotionalism. I was seeking intelligent solutions. Fortunately, I had a sufficient dose of autonomy to see the cracks in their MIND PATROL early on. I did not want my children to become their puppets. We left. We did sneak out. My daughter reminded me the other day about that time. She remembered (I’d forgotten) how someone tried to stop us. I had hurried her, her brother and myself out another direction when that person went to get someone else to speak with us. Our departure has not been without repercussions but I’m grateful my experience was prior to the advent of DM. Unfortunately, anyone seeking similar solutions to their life situations may not have enough autonomy to recognize the snare.
I feel the need to expand on what I mean by MIND PATROL. I believe that’s how they ensnare. Church members become adept – thru training – at reading minds then punching exact buttons to make one want their help, ’cause only they can help. In the beginning it is MIND PATROL – a person’s mind is patrolled to ascertain how easy it can become controlled. It gets curiouser and curiouser. Some of my early required reading inside the bubble was about the hazards of “collective think”. Yet, in the end, what is scn but a huge COLLECTIVE THINK. Early in my own indoctrination I heard Hubbard had declared there was no original thought left. No one was capable of original thought anymore. He wished. He postulated. Hence, MIND CONTROL Hubbard trained his auditors – “listeners” – to “grant beingness” – i.e., allow the preclear his own self, or own thoughts. This is the catch, while feeling validated by being allowed to think for oneself a subtle system of “implantation” of specific thinking is infused. Thus, slowly sinks the authentic soul into “the collective”. No soaring allowed.
I am reminded here of Emily Dickinson’s poem:
The Soul unto itself
Is an imperial friend –
Or the most agonizing Spy –
An Enemy – could send –
Secure against its own –
No treason it can fear –
Itself – its Sovereign – of itself
The Soul should stand in Awe –
My own experience revealed this to me: While doubting self, one can be seduced into believing a more authentic soul is to be gained thru Hubbard’s programs when, in actuality, authenticity already resides within from the get-go. Discovery is each person’s own adventure, quite often without an itinerary. Awareness, being alert is key.
Hubbard’s & DM’s psuedo minions are trained to spy. What a turnoff. How Orwellian.
Observing someone receiving the ‘Truth Rundown’ is a Blackwhite kind of thing. The person becomes capable of making a lie a reality. Yeah, among those in ‘agreement’ (ii) or toward the one(s) who the lie is directed(i). It would take some doing to get the target(i) to ‘agree’ with the lie(ii). Insanity.
Truly fascinating….and extremely sad. Is there any way that anyone has thought of to counter-act this and get them to “wake up”? Would be most interested to hear the former members describe what their “breaking point” was to allow them to “wake up” to see if perhaps there are similarities that can apply to a large number of people still inside this mental prison.
I know it’s hope beyond hope, but to borrow a phrase from Dr. Phil, I’m an incurable optimist. There has to be a way to get through their mental barriers and let them finally see reality as it truly exists.
Observing the Cadet Org first hand woke me up! My 1st wife joined the SO while I was on staff at the LA Org and the kids went into the Cadet Org for a week or two before I removed them. No organization could allow kids/babies to live unattended and in squalor and be still be the greatest good!
Glad you got out before they started pressuring you to get your kids to join. Hearing stories about how young children are basically raised in situations, like one untrained person watching a very large number of children, where a typical child care facility would be raided and shut down, is frightening. Sort of like how Leah Remini talked about how Suri Cruise was just left to cry on a bathroom floor because three people in the bathroom didn’t seem to know what to do for her.
Yay good daddy! Proud of you!
Removing Miscavige will help them to ‘dry out’. Gullibility, integrity and ‘bandwidth’ all play a role in stepping away from scientology.
Would love to see DM removed. I just don’t know if that would change things much. Sort of like when we supported getting rid of Hussein and Gadaffi, groups even worse seemed to fill the power vacuum that was left. Not sure much would change with a new COB.
I think Mike has said that the cult of scientology would collapse without DM, I tend to agree. But DM probably has a Trust in place that would put the cult into some sort of Perpetual Zombie Trust, reminiscent of Christian Science Reading Rooms with empty parking and lights out; with Sunday and Wednesday one hour ‘services’. Ex-Executives and people like Lois’ redhead sister might limp along for a while, but DM has gutted the cult of any real competence.
“DM has gutted the cult of any real competence”
Very true. It certainly seems as though he has run off or Holed anyone else who may be able to run it and continue with his eternal quest to clear the planet (great job there Dave!). I suppose he hasn’t changed much since sabotaging Pat Broeker to force him out of the way. Maybe this so-called “church” will finally go when he’s done as “COB”.
I guess that in a way, LRH really did the world a solid by not getting any type of “line of succession” policy written down when he wrote all of the rest of his “holy scriptures”. Or I suppose it’s possible that there actually was a policy written and DM just destroyed the evidence…..I mean he “found errors in the transcription”.
Some observations:
1) DM has had “some work” done on his face, nose….where else I don’t care to know.
2) There must be a way to fight fire with fire. Give them a dose of their own medicine.
3) We need Anonymous to waive their magic wand. Send them scurrying like roaches on the Apollo when you turn the lights on in the galley.
Fitting end to a cult borne out of Black Magic brought down by wizardry they cannot fathom by people much smarter than they are after all DM never got his GED.
Legally of course. lol Oh and my cousin in California just told me I called her to chat about #ScientologyTheAftermath that she (a photojournalist) worked with the poor man whose dog was poisoned he worked for LA Magazine I think she said. She also told me many people she knows hate Co$ for the ruthless cult it is.
Love your thoughts. I would hope so, I have lost my youngest to this insanity, at this point I just hope she would wake up.:(
🙁 We all hope she will too Mary. This ripping apart of families is just absolute madness.
Mary Jane, I’m so sorry you have a family member in. But never give up. At some point, it’s going to unravel. And you’ll welcome her home. That is my wish for you…
It happened in the form of an epiphany for me: “I don’t have to do this.” Simple as that. I cannot describe the feeling of elation and relief that I felt in that moment. I felt renewed and empowered. There is an old expression that God helps those who help themselves. This follows along those lines for me.
“I don’t have to do this.” Simple as that.
Perfectly encapsulates it. The best EP ever in scientology.
http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.php
And it’s free!
People have reported they just couldn’t take it anymore. The abuse they suffered and they had enough. Yet they still subscribed to Scientology for awhile. I think it goes back to fight or flight response. I think the fight response was just not an option so the only other response was to flight. All else seems to fall into place once people leave and experience the real world outside Scientology. Just my thinking on it.
Many of them don’t have the guts and the energy to do this, Jen Smith. They’re old and scared and tired. Its so much easier to justify and dub in and stubbornly cling. SO much easier. KSW gives them a marvelous excuse for their cowardice because they can refuse to confront and feel very righteous about it at the same time. “Sad”.