Our old friend, Terra Cognita has returned with another thought provoking essay.
Scientology, Confront, and Fear
One of the more celebrated concepts in Scientology has to do with “confront.” From Training Routine 0 on the beginning Communications Course, to ferreting out demons on the OT Levels, the ability to confront is paramount in achieving spiritual freedom. A Scientologist is nothing without excellent confront.
The old Scientology tech dictionary lists four definitions for the word. 1. An action of being able to face. 2. The ability to be there comfortably and perceive. 3. Confront itself is a result and an end product. It itself isn’t a doingness, it’s an ability. 4. –v. to face without flinching or avoiding.
I’m not sure about definition number three, but Scientologists fall short on living up to the other three. It’s comical the amount of life the average church member refuses to confront. It’s almost as if they’re wearing big side blinders—the kind put on skittish horses. Not only is their ability to confront low, it’s further repressed by a multitude of contradictory LRH tech and policy.
On one hand members are taught that nothing is true unless what they’ve observed is true for them. On the other, they’re sent to Qual or Ethics for disagreeing with anything LRH ever wrote. Or whatever new asinine program David Miscavige is trying to promote that week. Scientologists are afraid to confront and speak out about truth for fear of retribution. Scientologists are scared people.
Scientologists are taught to find out what they did wrong when confronted with LRH materials that don’t make sense. They train themselves to look the other way when confronted with unsettling church policy. Instead of “pulling the string” and discovering the truth, they turn away. Cognitive dissonance is the bastard stepchild of low confront.
Ha, Ha
Laughably, Scientologists pride themselves on their ability to confront anything—especially evil, which founder, L. Ron Hubbard said was vital if one didn’t want to fall prey to the suppressive person and become a Potential Trouble Source.
Church members live by the credo that they can’t be the adverse effect of that which they can confront. They’re convinced that nobody confronts life more than they. If their ability to confront is so great, though, why having they confronted and handled all the disease, bankruptcy, and divorce within their dwindling ranks?
How do they explain their failure to convert new followers? How do they explain their failure to “clear” their communities? How do they explain not being cause over matter, energy, space, and time?
How do Scientologists explain being asked to donate more and more money, even though LRH advised members to avoid fundraising in favor of simply doing more Scientology? How do they justify this new “policy?” Why can’t they confront and recognize the hypocrisy?
LRH wrote policy in which he clearly indicated that the physical nature of a church had little to do with what he deemed an ideal organization. And yet, Scientologists routinely donate mountains of cash toward erecting “ideal,” multi-million dollar buildings—all of which are floundering. Why aren’t Scientologists able to spot the duplicity?
LRH wrote about the sanctity of the family and yet Scientology routinely separates fathers and mothers from sons and daughters. Why can’t Scientologists understand the hypocrisy?
Despite Hubbard’s voluminous policy on how to build perfectly functioning, “nine division” organizations and “clear” the planet, with the exception of replacing old buildings with “ideal” ones, few new churches have opened in decades. All the while, membership continues to hemorrhage.
Chickens and Foxes
To most ex-Scientologists, David Miscavige is crazy, if not criminal, and is the actual fox raiding the chicken coop—the real suppressive person about whom LRH wrote so extensively. From his physical abuse of staff, to his disregard of Keeping Scientology Working, he is a poster boy for representing the twelve characteristics of a suppressive person. And yet staff members continue to put up with his infantile outbursts, obey his illogical orders, and support his misguided programs. Despite Miscavige’s claims of mammoth stats and legions of new converts, orgs and missions stand dormant. All the while, the remaining few near retirement. Can they not confront what is happening?
Last Words
I bumped into four Scientologists—all old “friends”—at a restaurant the other day. Two of them refused to talk to me—literally, not a single word left their mouths. The other two managed to answer a few simple questions about what their kids were up to. Their ability to be there comfortably and just look at me was embarrassing. Although they were all long time “OTs,” you’d have thought none of them had ever completed a basic Communications Course. I felt sorry for them. I wished we could have really communicated.
Still not Declared,
Terra Cognita
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/alt.religion.scientology/ot$20tr$200|sort:date/alt.religion.scientology/JCFp-4sr7cc/XbTQaQ44CgAJ
When I left scn in 1982 during the Great Exodus caused by the monthly price increases, most of the people I knew also left. Maybe a month later I came across a long time acquaintance who had stayed in and said, “Hi Bill. How’s it going?” He replied, “I can’t associate with you any longer, Rich.” or something like that. It was an almost perceivable wall he put up between us and the conversation wasn’t going any further. I wonder if he perceived me as sort of an enemy or treasonous or if his thoughts leaned more toward being loyal to the organization.
If he was willing to talk I wouldn’t have tried to talk him out of scn since I had no beef with the subject itself at that time, just with the organization and the price increases which I thought were unjustified and greedy.
Hubbard barbequed critics on an open fire instead of their criticism.
Why go for the owner of the balls instead of the balls?
Why barbeque chickens on an open fire when it is their cowardice that ought to be barbequed?
How long is someone a full fledged member of CoS before ‘reality’ becomes a perpetual misunderstood?
Gee Terra, do you think the 2 who wouldn’t talk to you immediately ran off and wrote their KRs on the 2 that did ……..?
One of the four was currently on OT 7, so at the least, he reported the “incident” to the CS.
Let me guess was it Doug Daniloff?
No, it wasn’t Doug.
Con front.
Yep, that’s scientology in a nutshell.
“…you’d have thought none of them had ever completed a basic Communications course.”
Good to know I’m not alone in experiencing this embarrassing performance from “OTs”. Pathetic, really. The higher up they are and they longer they’ve been in, the worse their communication skills. No wonder they keep getting screwed. I used to get angry thinking about them; now I just consider them as I do people who have mental impairments. Because they ARE mental. They’re not normal! Its not possible that they’re normal. Because how is that WE saw, understood and left, and they can’t, or, are determined not to? And the fact that they are afraid of losing their families – well, that doesn’t wash either because PLENTY of people posting here – not me, but many here – had families they KNEW they’d be in trouble with and STILL they could not, would not, lie about what they saw and what they knew to be wrong! OK, end of rant. Another rant, sorry.
Great article, Terra!
No Aqua, that is my kind of rant!
I too would try to be “reasonable” so as not to make waves on the Freewinds during my time in the SO but sometimes I felt that I had no choice to act, and to hell with the consequences.
I would send off a missle (KR) and then (duck and cover as they told us in the 60’s in Elementary school during the Cold War. Fortunately for me the retuning fire was not too severe. Later in my SO career they got so touchy that to state or worse prove that the action I was protesting was criminal or off-policy would provoke a reaction that I knew I knew that they didn’t give a fuck about policy or what was right and I knew that my days were numbered. Fortunately I was found to have AIDS and could die with honor.
“…I knew that they didn’t give a fuck about policy or what was right and that my days were numbered.”
Bingo, DMTNTBS!
Policy be damned!
By their OWN scripture as it is written, the Church of Scientology is TOTALLY off the rails – BE be it policy-wise, tech-wise and/or every-other-wise, including WISE 🙂
Did not it blow your mind – I mean ABSOLUTELY BLOW YOUR MIND back in the day when they threw the “out-ethics/overts/witholds/MU auto-responses in your face when you SHOWED them with LRH’s own words how thoroughly off policy they were?
Do these staff REALLY deserve to be pitied? They are, after all, SO determined to NOT see what’s plainly in front of them, SO determined to make anyone with the audacity to point out how off the rails they are utterly wrong/stupid/PTS/Suppressive. Can this determination be classified as innocence or ignorance? ..Indeed, has not this determination of theirs long ago crossed the line of innocent, ignorant victimhood into knowing, causitive supporters and administrators of EVIL policy?
I for one no longer pity them. They know what they’re doing, these staff. And they’re my enemy. I don’t hate them, but I don’t feel sorry for them in the slightest. In my mind, If they’re still in staff, Sea Org and to some extent public, they’re evil doers. If they wake up and acknowledge their evil , and LEAVE – AS WE ALL HERE HAVE DONE – then I’ll put them back into the bin of “Possibly Can Be Trusted Who Deserve Help”.
And if they stay determined, if they’re THAT stupid and stubborn, well, they are where they belong, They choose non-survival. Fine; let them stay and rot in the cult.
Well, let me cease this latest rant however enjoyable they may be to you 🙂 and end with a heartfelt ack to you, Bill, for getting out, and NOT DYING! You’re ALIVE, and with us and THAT IS VERY WELL DONE, my friend, if you don’t mind the Scientologese 🙂
Wow Aqua, I duplicate you utterly and agree with you totally. It took me many years and I am still grappling with the idea that all the friends I had on the ship are evil. I should have realized that what I was told by the Security Clearance I/C OSA WUS was right; namely that ex-SO have no friends. It is just too bad that I continued to be friends with Church members as long as I did. And no, they don’t deserve any pity any more than their fuehrer David Miscaviage does.
That’s right, Bill. They made nice to your face and inserted the knife whenever your back was turned. when it was turned, right? Nice “friends”, huh?
I had it done to me but with nowhere near as serious consequences as occurred with you. That said, these “friends” of mine didn’t hurt me for one reason: they COULDN’T. If they could have, they WOULD have! “Friends”…yeah, right. I see the people in my org now as a small group of gossiping, backbiting phonies pretending that they care about people, pretending they’re producing something. Total bullshit artists. Good riddance to them!
Somewhat off topic but I was just reading up on the David Miscavige/Colombian medal thing. Boy, what a megalomaniac! I wonder how this is going to play out? What, with half of Colombia pissed off about it?
Here’s a possible scenario:
1) Colombia’s current police chief appeals to the Colombian president to get Donald Trump involved in getting the medal back.
2) The Colombian president contacts Trump and makes the request. Trump promises to help in any way he can.
3) Trump issues an Executive Order to Miscavige ordering him to return the medal.
4) Miscavige receives the Executive Order and immediately launches into a hissy fit, slapping anyone within five feet of him and overturning expensive office furniture in the process. He declares Trump to be an SP and expels him from the Church of Scientology. When a staffer points out that Trump is Div 6 public, Miscavige leaps on the staffer and beats the shit out of him. Then Miscavige insists that the medal was given to him fair and square and that, as Supreme Ruler of Teegeeack and the MEST Universe, he has far more power than someone like Donald Trump. All this is written up in a report and sent to the White House.
5) Trump receives the report, calls Gold Base on the phone and demands to speak to Miscavige. He insists that, in the interest of good Colombian-American relations, the medal must be sent back to Bogota at once. Trump also demands definitions to the terms ‘Teegeeack’ and ‘MEST’. Miscavige tells Trump that he’s keeping the medal as well as to go take a fucking Study Tech course before hanging up the phone.
6)Trump authorizes the IRS to conduct an audit of all Scientology organizations with special emphasis on the IAS. With the new data, IRS agents descend on Gold Base. After a fierce gun battle, Miscavige is arrested with medal in hand. He is escorted to a waiting vehicle continually screaming “No, no, no, it’s mine! It was given to me fair and square!”.
7) The medal is confiscated and returned to Bogota, thus averting a war between the United States
and Colombia.
Alcoboy! You just made my day! ☺
Glad I could help!
I see a problem in your scenario: Miscavige would not talk to Trump, being that he is merely a WOG and thus deemed to lowly to deserve an audience with the Supreme Leader of Teegeeack.
That’s not a problem. You have to remember, Komodo, that nobody, not even the Dwarfenfuhrer, disses The Donald and gets away with it. Miscavige might see Trump as a mere wog but tell that to The Donald and you will see Scientology fall like the Berlin Wall.
So Tc or CT whatever however you are.
I thought it try out my TRs I learned in ’74.
Call to Jack Kruchko – goes to VM.
Call to Daughter #3 – goes to VM.
Call to Son #2 – goes to VM
I’m confronting !!
Where are my kids????
Try calling from a number that they will not associate with you so that they will at least answer it to find out who is calling.
Good article TC. The insanity of Scientology becomes more and more apparent every day. OT TR O, the first step in brainwashing new converts. “Close your eyes and trust us, trust us”.
I’m a never-in. I’ve been watching and reading about Scientology for years. I can’t help but remember videos I’ve seen when people would confront. Tory Magoo before she left. Other with Tory after she left. Mark Bunker’s videos of face-offs with people in front of the orgs.
This makes me think that they’ve been ordered NOT to confront over the years. In the same way Miscaviage won’t allow any Scientologist to speak for him anymore. He just doesn’t trust anybody to do what he cannot, so nobody confronts.
Bill Strauss, Maybe buying a billboard and putting up the Aftermath Foundation’s phone number and a message to all SO that they can leave and there is a soft landing for them and help for them through the Aftermath Foundation’s money and jobs and people thing. I know billboards are expensive, but if all in the outside contributed a little, we’d quickly accumulate it right away. Look at how fast $40,000 or more was raised for Claire and Marc Headley. It was within days that that money was raised from good people in this group.
CT, to put your mind to rest. Something IS being done about it and you are right. XOXO
Thanks, Cece!
That is a great idea Cindy. The Aftermath Foundation is a great idea to soften the blow of leaving the SO. Of course, that did not exist when I left the SO, or should I say when the SO left me.
All the “soft landing I had was a padded coffin that the Church would have likely provided.
I realize that my story is getting old and less interesting and that the Aftermath Foundation is primarily to help new people to leave the SO. If I had the wherewithal, I would gladly donate it for a billboard but right now I am still trying to figure out where I will come up with rent for next week. I was working for Steve Hall which was going fine until he noticed a hernia I have had as long as I can remember. Then I hurt my leg and was in the hospital 2 1/2 weeks.
But anyway your idea is a good one. Unfortunately I would not have seen a billboard on the Freewinds.
I just had a similar idea: Roving picket signs on the dock promoting the Aftermath Foundation when the Freewinds comes into port. If I had the money, I would be happy to pay for the whole thing myself.
If they were to see me alive they would freak out, thinking that they had seen a ghost. The last message I left at reception was “I’ll be back”.
I sometimes think that it would have been better for the cause of justice if I had died in 03. But no, Marty and Mike were still in the SO and it would have been their duty to finish me off which I understand.
My parents would have not done anything when they eventually learned of my demise.
They would have just said to themselves “Bill said that he was going to work there for the rest of his life and they would have “respected” my wishes by doing nothing. I would have been just another corpse sent into the ovens and perhaps money could have been raised for the cult to hire a few more PIs.
After I spent over a year doing LOC, I was basically told that my “Hat in Life” was Mechanics Chief Freewinds, a post I had already held for 15 years.
Now that the Captain Freewinds and others have basically declared me dead, I need to find out what my “Hat in Death” is.
Whatever is the greatest good for the greatest number is Ok with me.
Great article TC! You hit it out of the park!
Dear Mike, I appreciate every day that you stand tall and confront for all of us. Yes. Nobody able to confront by the sheer fact that they are still there. Sorry about my language, I got to say it: Fuck the system and David Miscabbage. David, you are there not for long. Not for long bud. Criminal & untruth never flash and prosper. You karma already catching in on you.
It is the force that you must confront .. which gives surely no confront as a result ..
Terra Cognita,
Interesting observation re the friends you encountered; two of them would not talk to you and, as you noted, their level of confront was nil despite they being OTs and having this tech.
Yet, I wonder if the reason they can not apply this principle is due to fixed ideas and indoctrinated beliefs. In other words, they are robotically following what had been told: do no communicate with disaffected, don’t engage with SPs, run away from psychs and so on.
Their judgment has been impaired and they end living on what is acceptable to ‘command intention’. Their self determinism is below existence and they do not really run their own lives, far less make their own choices.
This very well be the result of the covert indoctrination this cult enforces on their followers. What a waste of life.
“…two of them would not talk to you…”. Seriously, this is just childish behavior. Everything in the cult is childish.
“Their judgement has been impaired…”
There’s that word. But I have a modification.
THEY are impaired.
Oh, you think its not THEM, its just their “judgement”.?
Well, I would disagree, with that, hugely.
A person IS his judgement.
What ELSE is a person, if not his or her decisions in life? The millions of decisions large and small, that make up a life?
Think about it.
Nothing new under the sun. Those scientologists are obeying to order of the hierarchy. It was the same with catholics, communists… etc.
At first they are into the basic teaching of the philosophy or religion, then some impostor who wants power for themself, alter totally the basic tenet and create a totalitarian organisation like Inquisition, Stlaine etc….
So, why onlu to blame scientology?
You can blame cowardice, stupidity, obedience etc…. even Hubbard describe all this phenomena, he calls robotism. Most people in scientology are as idiots as the rest of the world .
Zealot obeying Miscavige and extreme anti are simply awfully stupid. I am an extremist myself, I simply cannot understand so much stupidity
I agree with everything you’ve said 100%. Still in Scientologists have no monopoly on cowardice, stupidity and blind obedience to their totalitarian leader. . Lots of people are determined to “survive” with non-survival policies, and one can only observe these robots, in a kind of incredulity. .
Sylvia: Good points. Thanks.
When I first glanced at the title, I thought it said ‘Comfort’.
Fuck the system.
Some people say my protests against the cult at http://www.angrygaypope.com are “mean” and “confrontational.” I’m not trying to save them, I’m trying to show them their failure to confront. And, if they get in big trouble for their performance and are punished, then all the better. Nothing pleased me more than Lissa Uvizle showing up in court against me looking like she was just dragged out of a hole 🙂
We love your work AGP! Never thought it was mean – you are “confronting and shattering” Scientology right before their eyes – they are “trained” to NOT HANDLE but to HIDE. Good job and thank you for all you did – you helped us go free!
We love you – AGP!!
“On one hand members are taught that nothing is true unless what they’ve observed is true for them. On the other, they’re sent to Qual or Ethics for disagreeing with anything LRH ever wrote.”
That was/is just Hubbard’s PR BS to lull especially people who are new in Scn into a false sense of security. Of course – contradictions galore till your head is reeling (it also acts as a thought-stopping). But because of no “verbal tech” you can’t even talk about it but have to look for your “misunderstood words” (till you understand it) and bend your mind into a pretzel… yes, and then Qual and Ethics.
“…they’re sent to qual or ethics for disagreeing with anything LRH ever wrote.”
That’s why they’re a cult and NOT a religion.
Excellent article Mike, thanks for posting it. Well written & said Terra Cognita!
“Still Not Declared” but obviously whisper campaigned into being disconnected from. The church is too cowardly to declare many these days as dave is sick and tired of seeing them on Leah: Scientology and the Aftermath. (BTW: Good luck tonight.)
It’s not a church, Mary. It’s a full blown CULT.
Add to it that by OFFICIALLY “declaring” people the number of members that are being counted as “still in participants” in the organization would drop like a stone. Once declared they can’t be counted as members & that would make COS look like it’s going down the drain…..they can’t have that happen.
Definition #3 isn’t a definition. It’s not even a clarification of a previous definition. It’s just more thought-terminating jargon from Hubbard. He really had them all coming and going, didn’t he? If you don’t understand his made-up jargon, then you have to look the words up in the dictionary; the dictionary you’re given is full of more of his absurd jargon; if you notice this, you must be PTS or have crimes. So you have to pretend to yourself that it makes perfect sense. What you are not allowed to ever confront is the simple fact that Hubbard was a malevolent conman who made all this crap up.
You give a lot of time and especially money.
You get bankruptcy,broken up families,imaginary knowledge of who you thought you were.
After hundreds of thousands of dollars and 25 years you find yourself after OT VIII at the same spot where you started.
Just 25 years older,bankrupted and disconnected from your family.
After so much time and money invested who would have then have the courage to realize the real ep of OTVIII:”I was fooled”
“Imaginary knowledge of who you thought you were” . When you think about that, that’s a helluva thing to steal from someone. That’s the first thing that bothered me about scientology. Stealing a person’s faith, thoughts, and who they are really is beyond despicable.
We were all fooled, Xenu’s son. The internet opens the door to all people who think it may be a cult.
How sad that the people at the restaurant were unable to exchange a few polite words, no doubt due to fear of Ethics or whatever fear inhibits their behavior. They have truly restricted their lives.
The OTs I knew led very narrow little lives. Ironic because that’s just the opposite of what operating in a state of OT is supposed to be. OT is supposed to expand one’s dynamics. Well it didn’t – at least, not with the ones I knew. They scurried between the org (doing the Basics), Flag and their homes. Oh, they talked a good game, alright. (“We are kick-ass OTs!”) There was ONE OTVII I admired; a successful, intelligent woman with a lot of warmth and a bright, engaging personality. She was also modest and kind and a good listener. She didn’t go around puffing herself up like the others did. Probably because she didn’t have to; her life spoke for itself. Was it being OT that made her who she was and what she was? She most likely would have replied in the affirmative as she was a fervent koolaid drinker. If outward appearances were any true indication, going OT didn’t do much for the others, but then who can evaluate something so subjective as improvement of a being? One of my late aunts claimed and believed with every fiber of her being that Jesus Christ reached out and saved her when she was 53 years old.
Confront in Scientolgy is reserved for extracting money from koolaide drinking members and for making up lies intended to capture slaves/staff.
Excellent article Mike. It goes far beyond failing to confront. I know no group that uses less of its own precepts and technology on itself. There is less ARC in Scn than you would get from any working nurse or bank clerk. The overt motivator sequence should occasionally cause them to look inward but the group never apply the data to themselves. My grandchildren have more personal integrity than a Sea Org member (there may be the odd exception, but I would ask, if so, why are they still there). In the 60s, this was not so. We couldn’t wait to be on course. Good people making a difference.
Nice Essay Terra. It is amazing how these “OT’s” clam up and refuse to look at the truth. When I entered Scientology in 1972 in New York, one of the first questions asked was “Have you ever heard of Theosophy?”
Of course, I answered “No” but the question stayed with me. Now I know why the question was asked. Hubbard was afraid that someone would figure out that he copied most of Scientology from Helena Blavatsky and Theosophy. He then degenerated all of the information into Scientology. Sad ending to Hubbard’s nonsense.
Thanks for your comment, George. I’ve never paid much attention to Theosophy (though I enjoyed “Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon”), as I always thought it was pretty silly. I think I’ll looking into it a bit, knowing what I now know about scientology, and see how much Hubbard stole (a lot, no doubt, considering how much else he stole from whomever). Loved you book, BTW
bixntram, Thanks for the kind words. I have information on Blavatsky and Theosophy which is in peer review. Hope to publish it someday. I need five more reviews. The problem is that Hubbard basically copied almost all of his ideas and no journal wants to risk its reputation on his foundation of sand. It is almost futile to seriously consider Hubbard’s religious foundation. When it is seriously analyzed, it ends in contradictions. My conclusion is that Hubbard wanted to motivate his followers so he painted a degenerated natural universe. Blavatsky, on the other hand, was simply looking at a more optimistic universe. But it does not change the fact that Hubbard freely used her model whether he gave her any credit or not. When Hubbard found the Occult, he found his goldmine. I was amazed to find out that theological discussions in the newspapers were popular in the time period of 1875-1930. Hubbard was building his own personal world view at a time when the last parts of the super-natural were being investigated by science. He hit my Catholic trained mind and I got hooked.
Hi again, George; do let us know when your study gets published; looking forward to another good read from you. It sounds like you and I might be in agreement about Hubbard’s involvement with “the Occult,” Crowley, etc. Some people (beginning with Nibs) take his involvment seriously, but based on my readings (Miller, Attak, et al.), I don’t buy it. Hubbard was ever the opportunist, so, yes, when he found Jack Parsons and HIS dabblings in the occutlt, Hubbard saw a goldmine right away, taking Parsons to the cleaners and taking anything and everything he could to concoct his own brand of snake oil.
FYI, I was never in myself, but I could well have been. I headed out to California in 1970, intending to join The Children of God cult as I was desperate to get off heroin and had failed to do so with other modalities. The C of G had just started up and hadn’t reached the heights of insanity it would eventually. Fortunately, I ran into some decent mainline Evangelical Christians and got “saved.” My “salvation” didn’t last long, but it got me off drugs (I then became an alcoholic, but that’s another chapter). That’s my Monday morning soap opera.
Nearly got into the Moonies in 1971 in New York after “love bombing”. Resisted it even though the women were beautiful. Quit the drinking about that time and drifted into Scientology.
Bix – I’m acquainted with Bill Wilson. Met him about 15 years ago. About once a year I have a lively drunk dream. The dream usually starts with getting frustrated about something and deciding one beer won’t make a difference. Should it be a 12 ounce, a 16 ounce or a quart? haha
Keep comin’ back, Richard (yuk, yuk). I play with a band and we often get wooden chips for one or two free drinks. I give my chips to another band member, thereby accumulating my own you-owe-me “chips.” That local designer beer is really expensive! Glad I quit before it came into vogue. Take care, friend
So they won’t talk to you, but you’re not declared?
Good observation TC. 30+ years out and my wife and I still do 10 minutes of TR-0 daily. i think Buddha would approve.
Jim, I don’t know if the Buddha would approve or not. Some folks have compared TR-0 with meditation. On the surface they may appear similar, but in practice they are vastly different. TR-0 is all about confronting. Confront is a verb. It implies doing something. In every definition I’ve read, confront has undertones of aggression that go along with it. Doing something is part of some meditation practices but from my understanding of shamatha (calm abiding) meditation as taught by the Buddha, confronting something, anything is not part of that practice. I think if you were to tell a scientology course supervisor that you were meditating whilst doing TR-0 you would be sent to qual or ethics to get sorted out. I think if you were to tell the Buddha that you were meditating whilst doing TR-0 he would tell you to just rest and relax instead. In other words, get over yourself. In scientology it’s all about reifying the self while Buddhism is all about selflessness.
I could say that you could do worse things than doing TR-0 for 10 minutes each day, but I would be wrong. I think 10 minutes of daily meditation would be beneficial to most people. Let’s just hope that you have an MU regarding TR-0 and are really just meditating instead. That nasty MU is probably what caused you to blow from the cult and that is why you are here on the far flung portions of the internet reading and participating in suppressive blogs.
Carry on.
Ms. B,
It’s worse than you think………… We do not pay attention to the occasional blink, swallow, or deep breath while confronting. We are mostly working on ‘not thinking’ while doing TR-0. Eeeeeekkk!!!!!!
Cramming RPF for us! /s
Well buddy, that’s a big FLUNK from your course sup for sure!!! Can’t have any of that blinking or twitching going on. You should be able to fake it for at least 10 minutes. Of course that is the whole problem with the scientology approach, you have to fake it all the time so the end product is a phony, plastic person who can’t confront shit if they were standing in it.
That’s also a gentle flunk by the Buddha too. I know some pretty highly accomplished meditators and they will all say that the elimination of thinking is impossible. Besides, it’s not the point of meditation.
Off to cramming & RPF and get in the alms line with the Buddha and you two get yer shit together. All the best to you and the Missus.
Carry on and good luck and glad you’re out.
Ms. B,
Not to counter your meditators but it is possible to: J–U–S–T B–E T–H–E–R–E.
A deliberate act on my part to have a point from which to view, without engaging/thinking with what is viewed.
It helps to have flattened the OT-2 implant known as a Thinking Machine
Oh boy – Secret Knowledge available only in scientology.
Richard,
No secrets since it has been on the web, since 1999.
After scn I tried Transcendental Meditation for two months. You sit and think a mantra for however long, I think it was 20 minutes twice a day. Too boring. While I was in scn being an auditor, doing TRs for 15 or 20 minutes a day wasn’t so bad, sort of a method of focusing.
TM made the claim that advanced meditators could gain the ability to levitate. In defense of TM and meditation in general I went to a TM weekend retreat which focused on “quiet, calm, peaceful” which was a unique experience.
I’m a never-in, just what is TR-0?? Thanks!
I’ve been out so long I’ll probably get this wrong. TR stands for Training Routine. These were originally drills that were created to assist auditors confront anything that came up in an auditing session. The drills are also used on the Communications Course (usually the first course one does in the cult) to help and individual increase their ability to communicate effectively. There are several of these TRs that one does to pass the course. OT TR-0, TR-0, TR-0 Bullbait, TR-1 through 4. Later on there are another set of TRs called the Upper Indoc(trination) TRs but I don’t remember the number sequence. This is where the infamous yelling at ashtrays occurs. It doesn’t stop there. For special people in OSA and elsewhere there is also TR-L (I’m not sure about that exact title) that stands for TR-lying. No shit. They actually drill people on how to lie effectively. This is not for public people as far as I know. If I’m wrong on any of this I’m sure that someone will correct me.
Ms. B, Appreciate you taking the time to explain that. ☺
You sit across from another member with your eyes closed. And the other member does the same. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
Hi Briget,
Google is your friend: “TR-0 Scientology”
Spot on again Terra. I also don’t understand the disconnect between the tech and it’s real life application. I can’t understand why Scientologist who are supposed to be able to confront everything fail miserably in confronting viewpoints that do not match their own. The only explanation is that the tech is bogus! I also “wish” they would wake the f#:”* up!
Right on Terra. You’ve hit the nail directly on its head again. Thanks so much for being there.
A brilliant article, Terra. I agree with it 100%.
So, since we can see the outpoints, what are we going to do about it?
Mike and Leah are kicking ass and certainly are doing more than their share. I would like to do a hell of a lot more than waiting for others to handle.
What do you (and others) suggest?