A report from our man in Brisbane, Australia.
Brisbane, like Adelaide, Perth and Canberra (ACT) in Australia is not an “Ideal Org” and doesn’t even seem to be on the horizon for idealishness.
This is the real state of the vast majority of Scientology Orgs around the world in this era of “massive international expansion, greater in the last 5 years than in all 50 years before, straight up and vertical like a runaway train on a downhill thundering avalanche of destiny unlike anything ever before witnessed in the history of mankind searching for answers on a collision course between destiny and destruction, given all that has come before and all that will follow into the future of planetary clearing!!!!!"
As you can see from the below, it doesn’t seem the expansion has made it to Brisbane. Nor Buffalo. Nor Berlin or NY or Joburg or Pretoria or, or, or… the numerous other orgs I have heard from and haven’t yet had a chance to post about.
If you have reports on your local org, please send them along.
Special Correspondent Report
I am not a Scientologist nor have I ever been but find the whole thing very interesting and really feel for the people still in the COS who are just trying to help people but are having their good intentions twisted by DM's narcissism.
I have spent the past year investigating Scientology. I've read a lot of the books and done a lot of online courses and consider it my hobby at the moment as I have no-one to really try it with and would not feel comfortable trying to go up the Bridge in the CoS.
I just wanted to email you to let you know of the state of the Brisbane org. I know it's not an Ideal Org … (Yet)… and that is what this blog is mostly focused on, but I thought you may be interested in the state of affairs there.
I first went to the Brisbane org in October 2012. The first thing I noticed was how hard it is to find the building. It is in a residential area, but only 100-200m away from a MAJOR traffic road. But are there any signs on that major traffic road letting people know that only metres away is a CoS offering services to help people? Nope. Not only is there no signage to lead people to the building, when you finally find the street address you wouldn't really know it had anything to do with Scientology.
The building looks like a nursing home. Identical to all the other nursing homes in the area. There is a small sign out the front which is covered by hedges on one side. From the outside you can see people's washing hanging in the windows of the building and there are broken windows and graffiti covering the back of the building.
I don't understand why the org moved to this area, where they were before this address was a truly IDEAL location. It was in the perfect area that attracted the kinds of people Scientology can minister to. It was central, had lots of foot traffic and people KNEW it was there (big neon sign on a major road). I guess it's this whole new thing that Scientology is doing "We won't come to them, we'll make them come to us… (But we also won't do anything to make people come to us either)".
After finding the place and figuring out the entrance (the building still has all the original signs from when it was a nursing home saying that the reception is in one area and visitors to go to another, but the entrance to the org is a completely different entrance).
I walked in. There was no-one there. Not even a staff member. I stood there for 5 minutes. Still no-one. This was a Thursday night at about 6pm. I went to walk down one of the dimly lit hallways to see if I could attract some attention. Nothing. I left. I went for a walk and decided I would go back and try again and see if it was just a fluke that no-one was there.
This time there was someone, I said hello, but they ignored me and walked straight past me. So I went back to waiting. Finally a man (who was wearing construction gear, I had heard sawing and hammering in the background while I was waiting) came up and asked me if I was ok. I said I lived in the area and was curious and wanted to know what the deal was with Scientology. He seemed really thrown off like he didn't know what to do. He said he would be right back. He came back later with a DVD. He sat me at a table in a room which was obviously the dining room when the building was still a nursing home. The tables were covered with Ideal Org merchandise. Hats, balloons, pens, books… Blue and white everything. He didn't explain any of this and acted like it wasn't there. He then put the DVD on and said the DVD should answer my questions. He then left the room.
I had a bit of a look around while I was waiting for the DVD to start and saw white-boards with names of people who had signed up for a fundraiser (there was two people's names on the list) and a big sign saying "AUDITORS NEEDED". There was A LOT of GAT stuff and Ideal org stuff and Basics stuff EVERYWHERE, then there was the one photo of LRH hidden in a corner.
So essentially I sat in the room, alone, for hours, while only one other person walked in to get a cup of coffee out of the room. I left before anybody else came back in the room (he didn't even come back after the DVD ended).
That was experience one.
Yesterday (Saturday), I decided to go back. This time telling them I had watched the "How to use Dianetics" DVD and was looking for people to try auditing with (which was legitimate because I am interested in seeing if it works).
Again the building was empty and nobody was there to greet me. I waited another 5 minutes before the same man came back and greeted me. I explained what I was there for and he seemed really baffled. He didn't know what to say to me. He took my details on a piece of scrap paper and said "There are heaps of people out there who do it, I'll give your contact details to them and they'll organise it with you". I turned to leave but then turned around and asked him about the Dianetics Seminar. He seemed to vaguely remember what that was. He then told me they only run it when they have the volume for it and usually students twin up with a staff member for the weekend (he used a lot of Scientology jargon with me, which would have been really confusing if I w as an actual member of the public with no previous knowledge of Scientology). But he couldn't tell me when it was being run next or even how much it cost. He asked me AGAIN if I had watched the Scientology an Overview DVD. I said yes. He didn't really know what to say after that.
I was pretty much standing there asking to be signed up for a course (I even said "Is there anything I can do while I wait for a seminar to be held?" and he said "no"). He didn't even offer to sell me a book after I told him I didn't have a copy of Dianetics and that I probably should read it before trying auditing and not just watch the movie. I asked "Should I just borrow it from the library?", he said yes…. I was a bit dumbfounded.
I only mention all of this because it seems what you say about people focusing on the displays in Ideal orgs doing the missionary work (I apologise I don't know ALL of the Scientology lingo yet) seems to be applied in the 'normal' orgs as well. It's "Watch a DVD… we don't know what to do after that…. because nobody seems to join Scientology any more… So there's no focus there… but we're raising funds for a new building… where we still won't know what to do when a new person walks in off the street… but you'll want to walk in off the street more because it's pretty inside right?"
I don't understand how someone with the LEAST business/sales/common sense (which you would think most of them would have considering the money to pay for courses has to come from somewhere) hasn't stopped for a moment and thought "Wait a minute… this is the opposite of good business practice." I just want these people to get it right…Ron seemed to have his head screwed on about how to get people into a building to give Scientology a go… but from what I read in your blog, it seems like it might be too late for a turn-around.
Sorry that was incredibly long, I just thought you might be interested to hear what is happening in an Org that you rarely see updates on.
Dear "Special Correspondent",
this story is just wow!! Thanks a lot for sharing it!
Indeed, the first thing I felt was: If he (you) only would get the chance to come over to us (Berlin, Germany), so that he would find out for himself, if Dianetics worked for him, too, or not. Of course, I understand, that you feel like not secure to get your auditing inside a CofS. But my heart feels prompted to come over and audit you – and straight up to Clear. If I could overcome the considerations (it´s impossible, because…) of distance etc.
So, I hope, you find some contact introducing you into the treasures of the real you. Whether or not you will end up in a real session on day, good luck on your journey of life!
Chris
I am saddened by this deeply as this amazing technology is being denied to thousands/millions by David Miscavige's psychopathic activities over the years has contracted Scn worldwide. Find independents people if you want standard delivery.
Scientology zero is out!
Dear mike,I would like to add that the staff the staff ,and ex staff at the Brisbane org ,are the best people you could possibly meet,to me are true frends and mean well,a couple that where higher up,knew when the I A S came to town not to support them,and to only support Brisbane org,when I got phone calls from the I A S,near the end I would say it straight out,no I want to support Brisbane org,mike it's damme hard to wake up,I feel for them,but when your gut instinct ,tells you some thing is fucked up big time,well 9 out of 10 you right.
Thanks Eric. I agree with you. Staff everywhere are generally incredibly decent, honest, caring people who are sacrificing their own pleasure, free time, income and a lot of other things in order to do what they believe is right. It’s very difficult to shake the purpose line of people like this, so its hard to get them to see what is really happening. Part of the reason they dedicate themselves so wholeheartedly is they see the world is a mess and it needs help. ANd part of the mess are the “naysayers” and “critics” and they have a “cross to bear” to deal with that sort of thing and they are sure they cannot allow it to derail them from their purpose. It’s almost a Catch 22. The more the irrationalities are pointed out to them, the more it convinced them they have to keep doing what they are doing….
When I think about orgs far away from where I am, such as orgs in Australia like Adelaide, Perth, ACT, etc, I think of the many friends that I have had from those orgs who were on staff there and were on training at Flag with me at various times.
All of them were there because they wanted to dedicate their lives to helping others with the tech. The long distance traveled to arrive to Flag, the years at a time away from their homes, friends and families, the long hours, the getting beat over the head to learn the tech, getting yelled at without being allowed to stand up for themselves, the persistence in continuing to go back in there and learn it better and the victories they had in succeeding to whatever degree in getting their tech down and helping someone with the tech, despite so many losses on the way.
So what did they do all that for if their Div 6 can't even deal with an interested public who is ASKING for their services, all aside from the fact that the C of S with it's inhumane practices has become one of the most despised organizations on the planet?
I long for the day when more of the guys I trained with wake up and join me on the other side.
Dave — I agree with you 100%. See my response to Eric’s comment I just posted.
Brisbane has always been a small Org. I was a staff member for 10 years in Brisbane. Five of those were as the C/S. The Org up until I left hovered between 5 and 10 actual staff members. The reason they are in the old people's nursing home/hospital is because they got kicked out from everywhere else for not paying the rent and they couldn't find anywhere else. The owner of the current property only wanted to rent the premisis to not for profit groups and that's how the Org got there and its cheaper rent. I am not one bit surprised there was no-one there at night, I'm pretty sure that most of the staff are actual volunteers now and not contracted. They do have a FLAG trained Class VI C/s there and have since 2009 but he loves to get out of work and is actually pretty lazy. Certainly do not miss Brisbane Org one bit. I must say I'm really surprised that they are not operating out of someone's house by now. I cannot imagine how they can still be reg'ing money successfully, there's hardly anyone there and many have actually left or are "disaffected". CLO ANZO must be propping them somehow.
Now you know why DM hates staff so much. What a joke this guy is. This is what DM has created in orgs. Nobody else.
Dear mike,back in 2000 I walked in the Brisbane church there was about 2 students plus me,for about 2 years the church could not keep up with the bills and moved form the city ,to Dudley st ,to a dead area,2 staff would catch the train back to the city set up the tables for the stress test,I now a guy there his on staff trying to be an auditor seens 2000 13 years later,his getting no where health is no good,his skinny as.hardly no money for food cheap noodles are the order off the day.i complained I was not getting the wins I used to like I did back in the 80s,I was sec checked ,kept getting a floating needle,and my auditer ended up in ethics I don't now why,I gave the church about $450000'to go clear,I received no auditing,all I did was a grammar course,and other basic course,what I don't understand is how can the church survive for so long with no public,no students,by the way I walked in the course room about 2010 no one was there,I went to a fund raiser 2010 there was about 12 people ,for 13 years the church has been dead,here in Brisbane ,how do they keep the church alive,I don't get it,
Wow, it's the long awaited sequel to the 1962 cult classic, Carnival of Souls.
LOL, the derelict dance pavilion and someone who doesn't realise they've left the body. At least it's not Bates Motel.
Yeah, I thought of that film because the lady wanders around a creepy abandoned carnival and nobody is there. Someone shows up, but wanders away without saying anything. Finally you realize in the end they're all ghosts.
Thanks for this very accurate report. I am also happy to hear that you are somewhat interested in getting some Dianetics auditing. This is encouraging, especially since you have never been "in the chuch" and have been exposed to mostly "cult talk". My advise to to find an independent auditor that you feel comfortable with. I am sure that you will like it and get some gains, also you will get an idea on how we all got so involved. For me I sometimes look back and ask myself, "What the hell was I thinking."
Mike, that was so funny, yet so sad and true at the same time. Although I hate to see something that I was part of and contributed to destroyed like this, but I know that it will have to happen (crash totally) in order for the recovery to begin. And I hope that it is soon before more people get crushed by the steam roller. Keep up the good work.
PS: Mike, I think you've missed your true vocation here, 'massive international expansion……' one of the funniest things I've read in a while. Deserves a frame. A shame that Dan Sherman beat you to the job though!
Blue S, you beat me to acking Mike on thst marathon Danny Sherman sentence which had me immediately me chuckling away. Sorry to be off topic but how my eyes used to glaze over at Int Events, between the narrator's booming voice, the booming music, the incessant repetition of 20 different people each saying the same thing from their own "viewpoint:, and then another point made and another 20 people praising that, then the images continually flashing in front of my eyes, the whooshing sound effects when they would display a "graph", and last but in no way least, the sentences mouthed by the Dwarf in his artificially enhanced deep voice with its up and down cadence, the sentences that went on and on and on…I'm actually getting dizzy just thinking about it now. God, I hated those things…
Ahem! Back to PT: As an effective handling for the fossilization of the soul caused by repeated attendence of 3 hour Int Events, I propose a solution for the RCSers: The End Of Endless Sentence Rundown! Delivered only at Flag, anywhere on the Bridge.
Sorry for typos!
Actually, were somone to take on the task, it would be interesting to juxtapose the Shermanspeak uber self-praising false propaganda of unimaginable superexpansion at ever accelerating rates beyond imagination with reality in the form of images of empty orgs and weird fundraising events.
Thanks for posting this – it's a very revealing account and one I found truely astonishing and disgraceful. I worked in Div 6 for many of my years on staff and I prided myself on looking after new people coming in and ensuring their questions were answered and that I presented a very good image etc. And I always tried to get in comm with them, usually via an OCA, to find out what book and/or service would be best for them and their needs. It was often commented by the ED that what I demonstrated was a lot of CARE, something I considered should be taken as read, bearing in mind the nature of what we were in the business of. So this report and the behaviour it describes of these staff members towards a new person, not to mention the state of this 'Ideal Org', really does appall and disgust me. I feel so outraged that if this was happening in my area, I'd be seriously considering storming down there to raise some noise.
I am glad that everybody is as stunned as I was.
Coming from a Mormon background I am used to being BOMBED with attention, questions and a caring attitude the moment I walk into a new church. Within an hour of a newcomer coming into the church they'll have the next three meetings set up with them and within a week they'll have their baptism date set. I guess that comes from actual belief in what you're teaching and HONESTLY thinking it's what everyone needs in their life.
Very different from "We'll let you know when something comes up"
It's such a shame
Dear Mr from Brisbane, thank you for this excellent report – very informative and well described!
Unbelievable! Not even time or willingness to service an interested new public (to say nothing of an adequate communication and basic curtsey). If it is not fundraising, it seems to be “off purpose”.
How incredibly sad and yet not surprising. How many of the staff these days have done a TRs course the hard way?
TR 0 being out leading to communicating via MEST (here watch this DVD) isn't a real leap, really.
JTG
I don’t see the churches lasting more than a year or two at best.
David “The Butcher” Miscavige doesn’t care if the orgs die, after all they are dead and dying because he intended it that way.
There is no Scientology applied in the Church Of Scientology. The staff don’t know Scientology – that includes the “tech terminals” that are still in there. If they knew any Scientology – other than the DM/RTC altered versions – they’d be out here using the technology to help themselves, their families and their fellow man. At the very least they wouldn’t be using the subject harmfully, and assisting Dirty Dave in destroying it.
This was probably the worst non-reception of a new person that I have heard of but I can’t say I was shocked. This is how it’s been going and there won’t be any reversing of this trend in there. After all, one would have to apply some Scientology to the scene and we know there is no one left in the “church” who can do that.
Davey will most likely slide out and leave his loyal followers behind to suffer the sling and arrows as his ilk are wont to do.
The really think that the Church of Scientology is doing straight up and vertical just sucking blood from his parishioners in pure money.
I had the opportunity to go to Adelaide and I can say I wanted to run as it was a shame to see the organization died. I think the ED Monica I forget her name maintain the Organization on money you know pay bills, etc. I think her daughter currently works with miniboss..I am sure you know her.
Anyway you can tell that this Ideal Org plans is just PR and not real help. I dont see any real help.
Obviously stats like WDAH and Bodies in the Shop are no longer important. Now the only real stat is How Much Money Was Extracted From The Org This Week.
"Idealishness" – now there's a clever word! That inspired me to come up with this one.
"Idealatry" – Corporate Scientology's worship of garish and ultra-expensive empty buildings.
I must credit Stephen Colbert for the inspiration — “truthiness” is a brilliant word he coined and it seemed so fitting to coin my own similar term….
…it is an absolute disaster- they are lacking the very escence of COMMUNICATION. Unbelievable!
Unfortunately, Silvia, it hasn't been unbelievable for quite some time. One of the realizations that smacked me in the face (at least a decade or more ago) was that, by all objective measures, communication was worse in Scientology orgs than perhaps any other place I knew of.
Being an old timer who remembers when the orgs were the safest, most in comm places in the universe, the irony of that fact almost completely broke my faith in the organization. Even still, I clung to the faith that real communication existed in the technical divisions, and that if I could just get past all the admin people in the org, I'd get myself into that safe haven.
Wrong.
In mid 2005, I paid for OT Preps and Eligibility at ASHO. I started the auditing program and the very first thing they did, was invalidate my Clear state. Even after spending a great deal of time with the Deputy DofP, where I was made to study every issue pertaining to the state of Clear, no one seemed to hear me when I indicated that nothing in my reality had changed, and that I was indeed a Clear.
Suffice it to say that the next six weeks were a mind f*ck like I've never experienced. It got so bad that I finally couldn't even step foot in the building anymore. One day, I realized that if I forced myself to endure another moment of their "auditing", that I would literally lose my mind. I picked up the phone and told the Board I/C that I was done. When he tried to use Tone-40 to get me to come in, I told him that it would only happen if he sent four strong guys to take me at gunpoint.
Well, no one ever showed up to 8-C me into the org, or to try and handle whatever upset I was having. In truth, I was terribly red-tagged, but such was the inability of anyone in the ASHO HGC to observe or listen, that I was the only one who knew it.
Sad to say, but communication is something that's been banished from Scientology orgs for a very long time.
Ronnie,
I couldn't help but chuckle – just a little- while reading your post. Not because of what you were saying, but because I was across the street at AOLA at the same time, getting the same state invalidated, while thinking, "why is no one listening to me, or even pretending to listen to me?"
I spent 3 intensives and over $15,000 trying to resolve this. When it was over, I realized that most of my definitions within SCN were outdated. Communication, no longer meant an exchange of ideas, with attention and intention for duplication to occur on both sides. It had devolved into, "do what I say."
ARC and compassion, was simply replaced with command intention. For within command intention lay all the answers one really needed. That is, "do what I say."
The list went on and though I completed my OT V and had my wins despite the constant chatter and distractions within the Org, I still walked away feeling dismayed. Like that Tourist who flies into London, hails a taxi and 800 pounds and five hours later, arrives at his hotel after what was supposed to be a thirty minute ride!
Clear and other states were challenged then and now for one reason and one reason only – money. Trying to look for or get your head around any technical reason for this, drives one mad, because there are no technical reasons. Can you imagine UCLA or USC invalidating their degrees 10 or 20 years after the fact, claiming, not that you missed some credits or courses, but that those two "A" grades you got were really an "F" because "they" changed the requirements! It would never happen. But in SCN, we accepted nonsensical changes as gospel because no one else was delivering SCN.
That's changing now and Corp SCN will begin its final descent soon into the abyss – sad but true.
Thanks for the write up. If you were actually brand new to the subject you’d be repelled by this at the first visit.
Dianetics/Scientology repellant… that’s what these orgs are.
Interesting. We always thought in Joburg that Africa was so far behind everyone else, and now I am seeing how well Africa was and is doing compared to Brisbane, Berlin, and Buffalo. Its quite an eye opener, and I think Mike might have pointed out before that every Org thinks they are the only ones failing and everyone else is doing great. It looks like that at the events, but really it is no more than an illusion. The bubble will burst…..
Thanks for the report. I think a turn around will require a 180 degree about-turn on every plane. If its not happening in Australia (said to be THE place to live these days), that says a lot.
One of the Big Lies in corporate Scientology is that everything is always booming Somewhere Else. Your org is in the dumps? See our shiny new Ideal Org with all the people! (Most of whom travelled hundreds of miles just for the photos.)
Gee, thanks for taking the time to write that. I was not in the church all that long due to all the reging and other bull_____.If you do alittle research on line, you might find some independents to help you. Lrh tach is great, its all the rest of it you have to watch out for
Fascinating and very well written. There is NO COMM LINE there when, instead of handling a person in frot of you, they use a substitute – the video – so there is zero A-R-C and from there you can easily conlude the results.
Anywhere in the planet, whenever you go into a business, a store, or Chrch, or whatever someone will acknowledge your presence and minimum will ask you if you need anything or if they can help you. Right there you established a comm line, but if the above is being done all over the world you can say it is an absolute disaster- they are lacking the very escence of COMMUNICATION. Unbelievable!
<blockquote> From the outside you can see people's washing hanging in the windows of the building.</blockquote><p>This is a sign that one should run, not walk, away from the facility as quickly as possible. First time ever that I have heard of a "church" that also serves part-time as a tenement. Of course, this must be because the staff can't afford to have dry cleaning services for their expensive uniforms.
It just boggles the mind that with all the pressure to get new "bodies in shop" and grow the stats that when someone walks in actually interested in the subject, nobody apparently has any idea what to do. Imagine how long a McDonald's restaurant would last if that is how they treated customers.
Hey Dave, currently, the highest toned game in all of Scientology is "getting you."
Laughter!
Stunned. I have not words. Well I do but I think the story says it all.