Another in the continuing series of essays from Terra Cognita. See earlier posts: Respect, The Survival Rundown – The Latest Scam, Communication in Scientology… Or Not, Am I Still A Thetan?, To Be Or Not To Be, An Evaluation of Scientology, Fear: That Which Drives Scientology and Justification and Rationalization.
I ran across an old evaluation of the local Scientology scene in which the ED determined that seventy-five percent of all new people had come in off the FSM line back in the org’s heyday—which was a good thirty-five years ago. Now? No one brings anyone into the org anymore. Except for a handful of old timers redoing old courses, the place is a morgue. For some reason, Scientologists aren’t FSMing new people into orgs. OT’s aren’t FSMing. Hardcore lifers aren’t FSMing. Staff aren’t FSMing. Ron isn’t FSMing. Nobody is FSMing.
FSM stands for Field Staff Member. Per LRH, an FSM’s purpose is to help him “contact, handle, salvage and bring to understanding the individual and thus the peoples of earth.” “FSM’s get people into Scientology by disseminating to bring about an understanding of what Scientology can do thus creating a desire for service and selecting the person for that service.” All Scientologists are automatically appointed FSM’s and expected to bring new people into the church—or “to FSM.” These new people are called “selectees.”
Human Nature
Helping people is human nature. We all like telling our friends about great new restaurants, wonderful movies, and good places to shop and recreate. Religion is no exception. Except, apparently, when that religion is Scientology.
For reasons which I’ll get to later, few Scientologists tell their buddies about their church. What’s up with that?
Org Staff
The majority of remaining Class 5 org staff are over fifty. (Most are probably over sixty.) FSM’s don’t have confidence that their younger selectees will be able to relate to this old staff.
On the flip side, FSM’s are fearful of exposing their older friends to abuse from the few young staff—usually supervisors and MAA’s—who have little reality of the outside world.
Since all of these older staff have worked in empty, insolvent orgs for most of their indentured servitude, one can only assume, they’re somewhat delusional, if not slightly crazy. Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Scientology staff have been doing the same things over and over again for decades.
Cost
The outrageous price tag affixed to the top of the Bridge is not only unreal to the FSM, explaining the true cost of Scientology to selectees is totally un-confrontable. All church members hide the real cost of services from all their friends and family. Withholding the “price of freedom” is rationalized in many ways, but the truth is, if an FSM really believed the cost justified the gains, they wouldn’t have a problem disclosing the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to play the game.
All Scientologists—and ex-Scientologists—are embarrassed to reveal how much they’ve spent on “services.” Many feel humiliated by the amount they’ve “donated” over the years. Many are still in debt.
Scientologists don’t like to admit that the vast majority of jobs in today’s world don’t pay enough to go up the Bridge. Which means, their selectee would have to quit their beloved teaching job in favor of selling car insurance if they were to have any chance of “going free.” Scientologists know the price of Scientology isn’t right, and is a significant reason why they don’t FSM.
And even if some FSM does manage to talk an unsuspecting mark into doing a course, vulture-like regs lie in wait just inside the doors, ready to strip their friend’s wallets of the rest of their cash.
Buildings
Most Class 5 buildings—“ideal” or not—are empty, cavernous spaces devoid of warmth and humanity. Few public inhabit their course rooms. Staff roam the hallways with nothing useful to do. This lack of vibrancy is very embarrassing to the FSM. It’s hard to convince your friends that Scientology is their road to salvation when so few are playing the game.
Tech, Policy, Ethics, and Events
FSM’s fear that exposing their friends to much of LRH’s books, bulletins, and policy letters will turn them off and drive them away. They know that much of his writing is outdated, and if not false, is pure fantasy. The OT levels are especially susceptible to “misinterpretation” by new public. FSM’s can only hope their friends haven’t already researched the “wall of fire” and those “pesky body things” on the Internet. (If they have, the FSM will insist he doesn’t know what they’re talking about.)
Most FSM’s are embarrassed to bring selectees to any of the bi-monthly, over-slick, over-hyped “events”—the fake enthusiasm is enough to make them run for the door. Scientologists understand that the purported statistics flashed at the beginning of each event have little to do with the sorry state of their local org, and even if they can’t articulate why, they know something’s off about the android-like David Miscavige.
The Gestapo-like Department 3 looms large on the horizon for all who enter the church. Since most Scientologists have been abused by Ethics, they can only assume their selectee will receive the same treatment.
The Media
Perhaps the biggest impediment to FSMing these days is the huge quantity of damning information about Scientology on the Internet. Anyone with a laptop or cellphone can access a website such as this one with a few key strokes—or voice commands. And since all young people have grown up with this technology, Googling the church online before committing themselves is second nature. Had I been privy to such technology when I was young, I would have never “joined” the church in the first place.
Many anti-Scientology books have been published recently, any of which can be delivered to your doorstep the next day by Amazon. Author, Chris Shelton even posts weekly YouTube videos, damning the church and its suppressive policies.
One of LRH’s most famous promotional utterances was “books make booms.” He contended that all he needed to do to hook a person on Scientology was to get them to buy a copy of Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health. A person would read the book and then run to the org for auditing. A few did. Most couldn’t get through the first chapter. All Scientologists know about the fallacy of pushing DMSMH, and yet, the church continues to promote this action. “Ron wrote to a more educated audience,” and “the literacy rate has gone down,” is the corporate justification. FSM’s are scared to give DMSMH to their selectees. Books, as tools to get new people in the front doors, rarely work.
Going Free…or Not
Few, if any, Scientologists ever achieved the gains they were promised and ended up leaving the church. Those who’ve stayed, go on hoping that their next level will be the one that finally sets them free. Promising friends and relatives a salvation which they, as FSM’s, have never attained, is hard to do.
Last Words
Unless they’ve been declared clinically brain-dead, all Scientologists know LRH’s tech doesn’t fully work. They all secretly harbor the same doubts about the organization as does everyone reading this essay. They’ve all run up against tech, policy, and organizational phenomena that doesn’t make sense. All have faced wall after wall of unattainable EP’s. They’ve all been witness to DM’s repeated insanity. Many are still sitting in their “ruin.”
The staff lie to the public. The public lie to their family and friends. And all Scientologists lie to themselves and to each other.
All church members have experienced inexcusable invalidation, abuse, and injustice inside the church—with no exceptions. It’s no wonder, they don’t tell their friends.
Scientologists don’t FSM because their friends would think poorly of them if they revealed they’re members of the cult, and their confidence that the church can actually help their friends is at an all-time low—if not, nonexistent.
I was always embarrassed to tell people I was a Scientologist, much less did I ever FSM. And for the past three and a half decades, “my” org has been near empty and insolvent.
Still not Declared,
Terra Cognita
Yikes! So sorry Mike. Somehow I got to posting in a thread from 2016. I don’t know how that happened.
Sorry.
A great blog, another very good post; and interesting and funny bloggers. I enjoy coming here.
The cult is doomed. They refuse to adapt to modern times and any apparent adapting is exploited solely to make more money; the new AV studio in Hollywood, tapes becomes CDs (still behind the times but hey, it will be even more money when they get re-released onto a newer medium), etc.
It’s kind of how the cult applies it’s own policies. Randomly and only to serve it’s preservation in the pursuit of more money and slaves. I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Those who fail to walk away after poor service, injustice, etc. are simply caught in the cycle known as Escalation of Commitment.
And the more bridges they burn whether it be because they no longer deliver services such as the BC, or because MAAs have been running around unchecked on witch hunts, injustice, the more that whole 6 degrees of separation (more powerful than any dissem drill by the way) cuts off the rest of the world from their island “paradise” cult still bilking the few thousand gullible souls they have left.
I’m rather enjoying little Napoleon-Miscavige try to keep up the ruse when I know behind closed doors he’s probably a flailing, nervous, suppressive wreck fulling directly the ship toward the rocks, because the light of truth has blinded his black little thetan. heh
Nice to meet you Michael Winters,
I enjoyed reading your post very much. I felt a great sense of happiness after reading your post because I realized you were right on the money and it is so funny that the original monster had this 1940’s approach to everything. i.e. everyone in the world must wash windows using newspaper. That is the only way to wash newspapers.
But every new piece of technology that unfolds – and it’s all unfolding faster and faster every day.
computers, mobile phones, the Web, all the new entertainment devices …. etc.
The scam will never be able to adress any of these changes because they all happened after ORM (Old Rotten Monster) died. So all the tricks and rules he originated to protect his victims are rapidly going out of date and this scam has no way to deal with tactics people develop in the 2020’s to escape this scam and to destroy it.
That really warms my heart. Thank you so much for a wonderful post.
Darn! No edit capability. I meant to say, “That is the only way to wash newspapers with windows.”
So true. All of it. And I felt that way shortly after getting in, in the late ’80s.
I realized recently just how I (and everybody still in) had to be constantly OUT of present time, not facing the reality that IS, but continually going on hoping for a past that used to be or a future that would be…never in the reality of what IS.
I had an FSM for a time who was a “Power FSM” meaning she had FSM’ed over 100 people on the Bridge. But none of her selectees were newbies. I asked why she didn’t FSM to get new people onto the Bridge. She said because all the real money is on getting people onto OT VII and new people just do a $50 intro course. She was not ashamed to admit she was money motivated. So much for Clearing the Planet.
CHERCH gave me the FSM course for FREE! Didn’t it come with coupons to fill out so you could keep track of the 10% commission? I refused to finish. I never asked for this free or not. I just liked the people, nice to have “ethical” folks to hang out with! What wishful thinking! Wouldn’t recognize any of them that are still in. So militant and angry! Glad I blew!
Out and about: Yes! Frikken coupons!
The few times I FSM’d early on, I wound up sorry I had done it.
Later, I decided that I wouldn’t even think about any more FSM’ing.
Even later, I thought, what could I do to my worst enemy?
Well, I thought, I’ll lure them into the cult. HeHeHe, But I just couldn’t be that mean to anybody, no matter what they had done to me.
So, I never FSM’d after those first few times.
In my opinion only, to add to this knowledge regarding FSM’ing. I think the members of the church are too distracted by the situations being forced on them inside the church, one such situation being to sell people the Basics training (when they are not busy writing each other up for alleged out-ethics and O/W’s). A person goes to the urinal and then comes out – go sell them the Basics. A person sits down to eat after a session – sell them the Basics, perhaps 2 Basics sets. Courses and auditing are over for the day and it is time to retire – make the person un-session able keeping them up selling them the Basics – or perhaps 3 sets of Basics because this Pre-OT is getting their full L’s back to back. It is disgusting and doesn’t even make sense. I finally cognited the other day on the FSO staff member that barked in my face some entheta a few years back, my cognition of her being that she is as a really nasty type of female individual, even though I had not thought much about her again until the other day. 🙂
The analogy I use is Tivo. My spouse & i were at a dinner party once and one of the other couples there had just got a unit and described, with a giddy sense of wonder, how it worked. My wife got up the next morning and we drove over to buy one. That’s all we needed.
if the Co$ stuff and the tech was as great as the claims, the same thing would be going on all the time. People would be spreading the word right and left about their incredible, measurable gains in IQ (promised in Dianetics), etc. But they aren’t. No one you meet a dinner party does this.
From the point of view of a never-in, a big reason not to be an FSM is that it is more effectively unpaid work for the benefit of Co$. Suppose you get $10K in commissions for being an FSM. Doesn’t the pressure to donate that money IN FULL begin as soon as you are paid, presuming that you are paid?
People do odd things to benefit organizations. The father-in-law of a friend of mine caters church functions at his Catholic church, then donates the money that he is paid to the church. It would make more sense to make a cash donation than cook enough food to serve 100 or more people, then donate what you are paid to the church. after working for several days to cook the food. He’s out the cost of the ingredients, so maybe the right donation is whatever it costs for the food.
Interesting – the IAS non-sea org reges get paid commissions, and quite often they hand the commissions over to the IAS – Howard Rower did this. He was patron whateverous ( possibly Meritorus – not sure) and gave a lot of it away. I think Wendy and Joanne did the same thing. Staff did that as well, Bridge was paying staff minimum wages per state law, and many gave the money back to Bridge.
It is amazing that the organization feeds on it’s own – it knows no bounds.
Another aspect is the regs that make the most money, are the ones that have a field of OT’s that for minimal effort on their parts ( because the OT is moving up the bridge anyway) get commissions. FLAG go tired of paying commissions on 6 mos checks and told the FSMs they could only get commissions on regging their public for intensives not part of a 6 mos check.
Once I told Wendy, I wanted to get some auditing – she began dragging me back to the Flag Consulting area shouting “This is a money cycle!” I was taken aback by her bluntness. I wish I had a chance to talk with her before she passed away. Apparently she had become disenchanted and was asked to leave her house, and died of cancer. Shows you what they think of one of their top producers, and what they think about of a regular Joe, must be worse. Charity and common decency are quite lacking.
Mimsey
For all the beautiful souls wanting, wishing to break the bonds they don’t know hold them back from those they love and who love them – this sacred music will do it in an instant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bLDIfh22uM
Download this and play it as loud as whatever equipment you have will go – you’ll be changed.
All any of us wants is to love and be loved. It has always been this – we just forgot.
Just magnificent! Thank you for this post. I’ve bookmarked it for often watching/listening.
Music of such beauty – balm to the soul. Thank you greatly.
An excellent article!
It’s true that many would be too embarassed to bring in their friends or afraid that they would be abused by staff. And yet they would be happy to participate in dissemination to unknown people (letter writing, passing out promo, etc) – a rather hypocritical double standard.
Maybe in the back of their minds they knew that that kind of dissemination produces almost zero reults.
it has always been a Pyramid Scheme. It is one reason that the “wasband” (the ex-husband OT 7/8 stayed involved; to get some cash. How is that working now fool?
Terra: so true.
It looks like any public nowadays having done some services gets so PTS in Scientology that he does’t dare to talk about it, let alone do some FSM’ing.
It doesn’t take a genius to see what they are PTS from: Scientology itself, especially the management thereof. I remember from a long time ago that that was already the case with many public. The existence of the internet has multiplied it I guess.
Scientology is losing it, and very quickly. And they have only themselves to blame for it. They did not keep Scientology working: did not improve and/or change it where needed (e.g. the overload and misuse of confessionals), they did not abolish the OT levels, they did not criticize their management, and last but not least, they did not sent Miscavige to go fishing elsewhere. And because they didn’t do it themselves, now the outside world is doing it. And now it’s too late. Tech is out, Admin is out and Ethics has been out long before that.
In most cases, I tend to go with the simplest explanation. Today’s Scio just isn’t as genuinely gung-ho as they once were. Today’s loyalist toes the line because of the various threats and manipulation mgmt uses to enforce obedience. Everyone else is having second thoughts they dare not express, as they’re well aware of the consequences. The truth, as much as Scios try to deny it, is much too compelling for them to completely wish away. In a word, it’s Doubt.
Yes indeed Murary it truly is but even more simply they know what they have doesn’t work. They see, feel and experience the unworkability of it everyday, yet tow the line for reasons they can’t even fathom. There is nothing more fearful and lonely than the moment a Scientologist cognites on the rip off. It passes quickly to anger etc but it’s the recognition of failure and nowhere to go is just too much for many of them to bear. So they slog on hoping for the impossible. Like a cigarette smoker believing there is no evidence to support the connection to lung cancer (as the legal stance was for many years) so the Scientologist believes Miscavige’s promise of freedom.
Opps! Murray I should have typed.
That’s OK. I was Murary in a previous life.
Never liked the whole FSM system to begin with, especially after experiencing it in action. I understand why it was created, but I think it just ends up making people lose themselves and become mercenary. I had someone whom I had considered a good friend for several years, suddenly fighting with an organization behind my back over an FSM commission, over a service I had decided to take myself, without even discussing it with either, and neither had anything to do with me finding Scientology. Turned out this “friend” thought they were FSMing me by just being in comm with me (when I was the one usually doing the listening during our conversations). When I said, “I thought you were a friend”, they replied, “Your FSM IS your best friend!” Needless to say, I was flabbergasted that all those years, they had considered me a “selectee”. Another time, I had been recommended to a “professional” FSM, but it turned out they didn’t do any handlings or hatting, “conditions by dynamics”, etc., just expected to collect money from you! And this person was supposedly highly-trained and at the top of the Bridge. So just by being in contact once in a while and sending them money was supposed to help move you up the Bridge? What was the point? Like televangelism without the entertainment…
Terra Incognita, when I started in 1973 there was every day new people. None of the reasons for not FSMing existed. Up to 1982 scientology was still itself. In 1983 I wanted to leave. I was already OTIII and class 4 and had a deep understanding of the tech, lots of winning PCs. I knew that something was terribly wrong when I saw the SP declare of the senior CS of my org, a good friend and very good person very much enclined to help. He had spoken and said ” this is not scientology but a suppressive take over “. And he add “probably US government action”.
He was then declared and on his SP declare there was his “out 2D” culled from de worksheet of his PC folder. No respect for auditor’s code. This was not scientology anymore, but I stayed 30 more years fighting my doubts, witholding them from eligibility sec check to go up the bridge.
This is called reasonableness. I participate to the destruction of scientology et scientologists. Those stil in don’t see, and those out have fall for this deadly identification of the subject of scientology with Miscavige’s action.
Miscavige is no more scientology than Hitler was Germany. Stauffenberg failed, we didn’t even tried!
Hi;
Your post sounds like I wrote it.
I started with the CofS in ’72, but by late 70’s it was obvious to me something was changing, and by early to mid ’80s it was no longer Scientology but had morphed into something dictatorial. I held my nose for the same reason you did, did what I could until it was impossible to pretend, and then walked. I think there are hundreds if not thousands of others who did the same.
I came into the czerch in earlier years, got great auditing and training, made many friends, moved up the bridge quick and with good lessons learned. In the early 80s, I realized I was done, that nothing further interested me, nothing else I wanted to achieve. Costs were insane, I watched as the very active and successful mission system was destroyed and stolen away from those who had made it work. It was the very beginning of the suicide the church has been pursuing ever since. And it was the end of my involvement. I simply left. No one noticed.
Well said FG, I agree, and you are so right ” Stauffenberg failed, we didn’t even try!”
Great comment FG and nice summary of the overall situation. Well said.
Paladin, where, in fact, did you roam?
In a galaxy, far, far from home…
Dave,
Just think.
You could plagiarize each one of these articles by TC (no, not Tom) and use them for another one of your brilliant Evals.
I haven’t read all of the great comments, but I will. One thing I’d like to say is how weird and creepy the FSM program could be. The FSM would get 10% of the money that their “selectee” spent on their bridge. So Joe would get Dentist, Dr. Dough, to join up with the Scilons. Then he’d become a close “friend” to Dr. Dough and encourage him to continue with his courses and auditing. He’d further behind the scenes smooth Dr. Dough’s way and bitch slap any staff member that did anything icky to his “selectee.”
In the multi-tiered Scilon experience, if you had a wealthy selectee and brought many “selectees” into an organization you had clout as an FSM.
Don’t want your guy to get recruited for staff? It was hands off.
Don’t want your guy to have to scrub toilets, help tailor an easy amends project and maybe even help him with it, because you’re his “friend.”
Well with friends like that, who needs enemies.
How many of you who read this blog had an FSM and didn’t know it? Thought he or she was your friend?
I heard a disturbing FSM story years ago.
An attractive FSM was carrying a Scilon book prominently while waiting for a flight. A guy came up all friendly and said, “Are you a Scientologist?”
“Why yes I am, I’m Veronica.”
“I’m Donald, I’m going to FLAG.”
“Me too.”
Seat switching occurred and Donald found himself next to Veronica, who was an old hand at this. The friendly nosy; who are you, what do you do for a living, what service and auditing are you getting, what org are you from, ensued. Privacy does not exist in the Clampire and so Veronica learned all about him down to his underwear size.
She raced to the FSM I/C and selected Donald for all of his services. It was something in the tens of thousands of dollars worth of services.
Donald came from an Org that had worked for years to get him ready to go to FLAG. Due no doubt to some staff member blowing at the wrong time, they had not “selected” Donald. Within days the Org found out they were not getting the FSM commission and screamed long distance bloody murder. For naught.
Veronica was an “upstat” and got a lot of cash for FLAG with her various selectees. She had demanded her check right away and got it. As she had many selectees “on board” when she arrived and she had clout.
It stunk to high heaven.
Donald found out and was pissed. Didn’t matter. She had her money and I bet she never even went to ethics for highjacking that FSM commish.
This is an example of the dirty underbelly of the Clampire. I wonder if the IRS knows that people calling themselves FSMs profit on the marks they bring to the church, whom they befriend, not disclosing that the personal advice they give is how they pay their house payment. While these FSM’s are paying their bills on the backs of their new “friends,” those self same friends are racking up the credit card debts and possibly losing their homes.
There ought to be a law protecting people from friends who profit without disclosing it from the crap advice they give.
All the FSMs I ever had said, “I want to help you reach your eternity”, “your spiritual freedom is my goal, It’s not about the money,” and on and on with the sales pitch. One thing Ron got right is that we all seem to have a “help” button and when you push it we respond. I actually bought that crap which was followed with, “how much room do you have on your credit cards?” And other nosy none of their business questions. Which, hangs head, I answered.
When I think of things that shame me, this memory is shaming… Wait a minute the shame belongs on the manipulative FSM. Yes. Picks head up. Smiles. “I’m out!”
What a story – sickening ! Not surprising though, based on my own experience and observations. The CoS unfortunately became a haven for some “operators” and other assorted business criminals, especially in the 80’s, with the Bridge being the incentive and justification for anything, while the “Church” turned a blind eye, as long as the money kept rolling in. Ethics write-ups? Seem to end up in the “circular file”…
Yep, saw that same ugly shit at Flag. They hung around the HGC lounge & the Sandcastle restaurant room like a bad smell. Saw that same crap go on in ANZO too. All those “selectees,” especially from Taiwan and South Africa were all open season. The chiropractors were a particular juicy target in the mid to late 80’s. The church encouraged it!.
Nothing good come from any involvement with the Cof$.
Terra Cognita, another good essay. One small point: although repeated often, the authenticity has not been verified of the quote supposedly attributed to Einstein: “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” – this is in dispute and many reputable sites and knowledgeable persons claim he did not actually say this. It also has a faulty premise.
Think about it logically – if this were true, scientists who conduct experiments over and over to achieve a different outcome would be termed ‘insane’, yet this is how experiments are routinely conducted. So would athletes, like a young basketball player just learning the sport who shoots for the basket, misses, yet tries again and again, until one day he finally makes it and puts the ball through the hoop – he would be ‘insane’ for trying the same thing over and over hoping for a different result, if this quote was valid.
This is a really faulty saying. So many things in life require us to try repeatedly until we get a different outcome. We are not insane for doing so. I know this quote has popped up a lot recently, and been passed around rapidly, thanks to the internet, but common sense shows us this is not a good quote, it’s faulty at the base. Surprisingly, several online sources claim this mis-quote originally came from materials published many years ago by Narconon. In any event it hasn’t been proven to have come from Einstein, a genius who most likely wouldn’t boil things down to such simplistic terms, which don’t even make sense.
quote debunked: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-therapy/200907/the-definition-insanity-is
http://www.news.hypercrit.net/2012/11/13/einstein-on-misattribution-i-probably-didnt-say-that/
*side note: this is no way takes anything away from your excellent article today – it’s terrific as usual, always enjoyable reading your writings. – T.J.
T.J.: Thanks for pointing this out.
As a working scientist, this is incorrect. When experiments are repeated, scientists expect to find the SAME results, centred around the mean. If you get different results, somethings gone wrong!
That’s a very simplistic statement. I have no idea what your qualifications may be, but I prefer to get my information from reputable dictionaries and other trusted information sources rather than an unknown internet poster.
1. Google results: definition of experiment:
ex·per·i·ment
a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.
a course of action tentatively adopted without being sure of the eventual outcome.
synonyms: test, investigation, trial, examination, observation;
2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/experiment
an operation or procedure carried out under controlled conditions in order to discover an unknown effect or law, to test or establish a hypothesis, or to illustrate a known law.
3. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/experiment
a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, supposition, etc.
Conclusion: your statement is incorrect. This is how mis-information is spread. By someone hearing something, then repeating it as a fact, without checking into the veracity of it for themselves. That’s also how the mis-attributed insanity quote found its way into public usage.
Rather than being defined as a someone doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result, here is the real definition of insanity:
in·san·i·ty
the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness.
“he suffered from bouts of insanity”
synonyms: mental illness, madness, dementia; lunacy, instability; mania, psychosis;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity
Insanity, craziness, or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person becoming a danger to themselves or others. Insanity is most commonly encountered as an informal unscientific term denoting mental instability.
Wait, don’t scientists just observe the results; they don’t expect anything. Or if they do, it has no bearing on the experimentation nor the outcome itself.
A scientist running an experiment for the 111th time isn’t expecting any kind of result that deviates from the norm, if he’s expecting anything in the first place.
I know it’s just useless semantics, but you started it. 😛
Nezquik, we were only talking about scientific experiments numbers 1 through 110, so your question about #111 is out of the scope of our discussion. Therefore, irrelevant. In any event, we are done with this matter as the funding has dried up, we have exceeded our budget, and you have now been reassigned to instead research the second example: please gather information on how many times beginning basketball players need to throw the ball before they can get it through the hoop with any regularity. I’ll need a 12-page, double-spaced report with fully cited, cross-indexed references, flowcharts, and statistical graphs on my desk by 11AM Monday morning. You are authorized for 2.4 hrs. overtime for expedited research. chop chop.
…oh, and bring me a mocha latte and cheese danish too. thx. :p
Great post TC. I’ve seen FSMs become embarrassed by staff and Sea Org members after having convinced someone to come in and take a course or some other introductory service. It didn’t take long before the selectee was submitted to intense regging for donations and/or pressured to sign up as a member of WISE, Staff, ABLE or if they were young, the Sea Org. There is no longer granting of beingness for a new Scientologist. Their viewpoints on life are quickly invalidated and there is an intense effort to get them aligned to purpose. It doesn’t take long for the selectee to realize that these guys sure have a lot of attention on money.
When the selectee protests to their FSM, the FSM dares not forward those protests for fear of being routed to Ethics for not handling their selectee. After the selectee is driven away by the money hounds he/she is labeled as a degraded being who was not really high up enough on the tone scale to be able to have Scientology.
It doesn’t take long for an FSM to decide that a game is not very much fun when your own team is trying to score against you. Each players individual stats are more important than the survival of the team.
Why play?
Outstanding post, Terra Cognita! Thanks so much for the info. I can’t imagine how staff can still stay with no new people coming in. I’ll bet the turnover is horrific…..
It’s one hell of a train wreck Scientology… one huge, unprecedented train wreck!
I Yawn, you’re right on the money. It is like a train wreck. Albeit, a slow moving train wreck where we can view it in present time.
But at least it has a qual. 🙂
Qual? Qual what? A more improved or put back to a standard train wreck? Don’t get what you mean? I’m getting older and sillier by the day but heavy metal gone nuts does leave an lasting impression.
FSM–I looked it up and got Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Enjoyed the article and got the gist of what the author is saying, I just wish these acronyms could be explained. Not everyone who reads this is an ex scientologist.
Field Staff Member but Flying Spaghetti Monster will suffice.
There are several glossaries online explaining the different acronyms and Scientology terms like hatting and regging.
http://www.xenu-directory.net/glossary/glossary_a.htm
Ironically, some of them are CoS or IAS(International Association of Scientologists).
The entire second paragraph explains what FSM stands for and what a “field staff member” does.
Ah yes, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster which publicly states it’s a parody religion, unlike the Dwarfinator’s cherch.
What? WHat? A parody? But I’m a pastafarian. JK
FSM=Find Some Money?
FSM: FAIL SCIENTOLOGY MADNESS!
For Sucking Money
FSM: Frequently Steals Money, or
Following Source Madness
For Source Mainly
FSM – Fraud, Sleeze and Malevolence.
TC, I love to call you that, thumbing my nose at Tom Cruise, the one who blithely accepted hundreds of hours of free labor from me with never even a thank-you note. I wonder at your experiences. My last 25 years in Scientology were in the Sea Org, mostly at the Int Base. At the Int Base no-one can hear you scream. There are no public around that you can talk to so the idea of being an “FSM” doesn’t really come up. If you sold a Dianetics book to someone at the Walmart on a Sunday morning you would get in trouble with Gerald (MAA) for “blowing Gold’s cover story”. I guess nowadays they all live on the Base behind the razor wire and Dave took and trashed all their old beater cars. So they can’t even disseminate at Walmart anymore.
But in the old days, back in the 70s it was a completely different scene. There were lots of Missions, and they were literally packed wall to wall with new public. The Communications Course was $25 and the full Dianetics Coaudit Training Package was $2650 including the e-meter! The Dianetics package (Not New Era, the old Hubbard Standard Dianetics) was good for hundreds of hours of coauditing on the Dianetics Drug Rundown, which was what everybody was doing. I was never brave enough to do it, but if you talked a friend into visiting the Mission they would not watch a stupid video! They would get a truly hard sell talk with a registrar that would get almost 100% signup for the cheap Communications Course. After some time in the rollicking rambunctious packed course room you would get the idea that something was going on, read some books and be ripe to sign up for more.
Of course that was the Stevens Creek Mission at 4340 Stevens Creek Rd, not everywhere. I visited Palo Alto Mission once and that was also packed with people but much more sedate. But San Francisco Org was also packed with students in the early 70s on Mason Street, before the disastrous move to the bad part of town at McAllister Street. You had to show up early to be sure you got a seat.
Your older gray haired staff friends are veterans of a different Scientology. If you read the old “Aberree” magazine http://www.aberree.com/ you can sense the wild excitement of the 50s Scientology old timers. Veterans of the 60s still wax nostalgic about the Old Saint Hill. In the 70s the Missions had some autonomy and there were lots of Field Auditors too. Then Hubbard got greedy in the early 80s and clamped it all down to make more $$$ out of it. Raising prices and shutting down the Mission network took all the excitement out of it though it has not really died even today.
Give somebody the idea that their experiences are important and encourage them to talk about themselves. Add in some mystical elements (exteriorization, past lives, OT III stuff) and you can easily drum up some excitement among the New Age types. It is a formula as old as the hills. Possibly it can act as a form of talk therapy in the early stages and actually do some good. At least it gives some exciting new experiences and promises a lot more. Like the first hit of heroin or the first toke of marijuana, the later highs never quite match the wonders of the introduction. And the promises, the “State of Clear”, the ability to make ash trays rise in the air by themselves or make chairs disappear, these are false promises that never materialize. But there is always another step on the Bridge, a Cause Resurgence Rundown or the incredible Ls, Superpower, something more to do that will definitely work, this time for sure. Cross all your fingers and toes and scrunch your eyes firmly shut like the little child with the Christmas package that surely must this time be a pony! Not clothes or a stupid plastic toy. This time a pony for sure for sure for sure….
Except nowadays even the false promises fail to materialize. No OT IX and X. Not even a hint of OT above that. Except the lie that somewhere up there is a level that has to be done “outside the body” meaning Scientology is a suicide cult. But Dave never mentions that. I heard him say it at the event at the Palladium https://scientologymoneyproject.com/tag/l-ron-hubbard/ But it appears in no other Scientology publications and they take it off of Youtube every time it is posted.
I can’t imagine someone excitedly talking their friends into spending $100,000s on today’s Scientology. Even for the commission.
Bruce, I’m a never-in, but as the old quote goes, great minds think alike.
https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/2296/1052/original.jpg
You are welcome to use the poster as you please.
Bruce: Well articulated. Thanks.
BTW, ALL Scamology books can be had for free on the interwebtubes. Therefore EVERY interested person on the planet, in effect has them at their finger tips.
I guess Books makes Busts! Not Booms..
p.s. Around 2000 I sent an anonymous letter addressed to the BEI post suggesting giving away electronic copies so as to cause expansion as per Books Makes Booms, just to see the response I’d get. I got a letter back stating that it would be off policy. I didn’t bother to write the idiot back to ask which PL did El Con write making it off policy to give away cost free electronic copies of Dianetics.
The issue is called “Free Service Free Fall”. I imagine you can find it on the Interwebs somewhere. Basically he said that people don’t value something they receive for free.
This is pretty stupid though, if Scientology really did even a tiny fraction of what it promises it would be taught in the universities today. Imagine an exercise that could actually improve response time for example. If it really worked it would be used even if the greater subject was thought to be wrong. We use the Pythagoran Theorem today but we surely do not subscribe to the rest of Pythagoras’ crazy ideas!
“if Scientology really did even a tiny fraction of what it promises it would be taught in the universities today”
It is.
It is called Metapsychology, and was developed by Dr Frank A. Gerbode, a psychiatrist and scientologist. He basically rewrote it from Dianetics on up in non-scientology language.
It always did have it’s presentation problems! From my Day 1 as an org student in the early 70’s I disliked the strange format of issue after issue, scrambled dates and sometimes even conflicting information between issues in the same course pack. It wasn’t like any other class I had experienced. A little explanation back in the day of why it was that way and how to deal with it would’ve been helpful. Instead we had a course supervisor who rotely and in an unfriendly way stated over and over again “What do your materials state?” Pretty maddening.
You’re making an assumption that Hubbard ‘discovered’ strategies to work with trauma. He didn’t. The initial strategies came from Freud. On his megapsychology website, Gerbode himself states that meta psychology “grew mainly out of the work of Carl Rogers and Sigmund Freud.” These two are giants in the field of psychology. Attribution of any basis of his work to L Ron Hubbard is notably absent.
Yes, Carl Rogers taught human therapy to 1) ask questions, 2) listen to answers and 3) don’t evaluate… sound familiar?
His findings and theories appeared in Client-Centered Therapy (1951) and Psychotherapy and Personality Change (1954)
Robert Almblad asked, “Yes, Carl Rogers taught human therapy to 1) ask questions, 2) listen to answers and 3) don’t evaluate… sound familiar?”
Yes, it does. That is the same format used by US Army psychologists at the end of World War 2 when working on soldiers with battle related mental problems. Why do you ask?
Yeah, well there is a reason why none of us ever hear of it.
I don’t even care to know what school it is that would actually teach this nonsense.
And,
If it is taught as some practical application?… Well, this “university” would have some serious answering to do.
Let me make an psychologically oriented observation here:
A lie becomes easier to believe the more it is repeated and/or elaborated. Scientology is nothing if not … very well elaborated, targeted, and orchestrated.
Fat chance your soul is what they are after, however. Now it is “clear” the only purpose of scientology is to suck your money …by illuminating the spiritual/emotional voids your life.
“We have the answer for that…”
really, is their best lie to date, the lie to get you in the door, the promise that never arrives.
Let’s get one thing straight, right here and now:
Scientology has no merit as either a religion or philosophy. There’s simply nothing there beyond false promises. The promises, however, loom rather large.
As a science it is a joke, again offering nothing that can be measured. That is, there is no system of measurement by which to make any scientific evaluation, or semblance to a scientific evaluation. There is a whole lot of rhetoric; it all adds up to a big, fat zero, if not a negative quantity.
(“floating needle”, my hypnotized derriere)
What kind of University would brag about teaching any form of a rigidly closed single-source belief system? Frankly, I find it hard to believe that there is even a single soul in the intellectual community willing to say Scientology is anything more than a criminal, profit-oriented enterprise.
Let us not forget:
families are destroyed by this cult, to the tune of one family per scientologist, and peoples’ lives are spent in fruitless pursuit. If you mean to imply that Scientology has anything to offer an individual beyond servitude, or mankind any benefit beyond a social disease… then,
I aim to chop you down.
Which, when talking about the cult of scientology, is easily done.
And, about the new leader,
how could he be the only guy to not recognize the dunce he portrays, or that he is doomed to pass in the same ignoble manner as the founder (?), yes, I do mean father LRH.
aka: Messiah
Genius though he may have been, a con is still a con.
“Sarge” Gerbode was one of the consistent giants in the Mission field, particularly anywhere near San Francisco. Steady, solid, highly educated and intelligent. He got great results.
The Mission system, btw, was a “franchise” and one signed franchise documents in order to open. After that, it belonged to you as long as you paid your 10% of income weekly. Then, right around 1982, a letter came out to all mission holders to put Herbie Parkhouse, GOFinance chief, on their bank accounts as a signatory. Most followed instructions. Then, in a single day, all bank accounts were emptied by Herbie and the Mission Holders had their missions stolen from them. Then, of course, those who objected to the theft were comm eved and declared. And that was how it was done. Straight theft.
Hey Dave,
“Dr. Gerbode began the development of Applied Metapsychology in the 1980s. It grew mainly out of the work of Carl Rogers and Sigmund Freud.”
Doesn’t anything about being derivative of scamology. Where did you get your data?
“It grew mainly out of the work of Carl Rogers and Sigmund Freud.”
The above is what scientologists call a shore story. TIR and Metapsychology is a re-write of Dianetics and Scientology by Psychiatrist/scientologist Gerbode and the banished David Mayo. They had to distance themselves from the church for mostly legal reasons, and also to avoid the cult stigma. Of course they would not attribute any of the procedures and ideas to Hubbard!
I was around at the time and know some folks involved.
I would suggest reading some TIR material yourself and compare. Sure Hubbard took inspiration from Freud, he credits him in DMSMH!
This is absolutely right. I was present for the settlement with Frank “Sarge” Gerbode – David Miscavige and I met him in a hotel in Riverside. The settlement involved Sarge (a very nice guy BTW) editing his “TIR” to remove any use of trademarks and rewriting the text into his own language (he had done a lot of this already). TIR is a rewrite of Dianetics. Sarge had to send the manuscript to me to review to ensure it was OK. Miscavige’s idea was that it was OK for Sarge to do what he wanted with the tech as long as he didn’t claim it had anything to do with dianetics and scientology because he was a “squirrel” and thus his “lack of results” would not relfect badly on the church.
Sarge is an intelligent, very likeable man who is also a very accomplished musician.
Fascinating Dave. Makes sense vis-a-vis avoiding the scamology litigation machine.
Free Service Free Fall obviously didn’t apply to books per Hubbard (see policies on getting books into libraries where: people could read them for FREE! ) And LIBRARY books were dead wood that cost $. E-copies, nothing really.
p.s. I send the original comm because I already knew that NO policy exists prohibiting that action. 😉
Mike: Free, electronic copies? Way too logical, dude.
When I was still about 12-15 years ago, the main reason to have what Scientology calls “Counter Intentions”, to FSM to others was the concern that our selectees would be harassed by the Reg into buying, either services that the person was not ready to buy, or attempting to sell them too many services all at once.
According to my own experiences and those of my Scientologist friends, a large percentage of the selectees complained about the pressure and unreality from the Reg. It was always a very hard and stressful endeavor to work with that ” Reg barrier”, and get the selectees interested in applying the “Tech”. Many thought that Scn was workable to a certain degree, but considered the group behavior as crazy and weird thing say the least.
As much as I wanted to ” justify” the staff member’s erratic and unethical behavior, I always knew that the selectees were right on their assertions, but I thought is was a problem from my Org itself due to all the “untrained” staff, and believed that other more “advance” Orgs didn’t have that situation as they were more “In-Tech”.
It took me 30 years!!! to understand that the REAL WHY was that it all was a con right from the start, and that Scn in itself (not necessarily the staff, though many were plain crazy and stupid) was a scam, and LRH an evil individual whose worth is below that of a laboratory rat.
People do not FSM because deep inside (as most humans can sense the truth) they KNOW that Scn is evil. And because people are basically good (a belief held by many philosophers CENTURIES before the crazy bastard LRH was born), they then intuitively seek to protect their fellows from evil.
The “greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics”, to paraphrase the con man, is the eradication of ALL of Scn. And with that I mean ALL of Scn, including all and every Scn type of action and “service” on the Indie Field. As long as I live I’ll disseminate to others about the insidious harmfulness of Scn, and will do everything within my power to eradicate Scn from this planet, as the bad GREATLY outweigh the “good” by a factor of AT LEAST, 20 to 1.
Scn should not and must not exist. And I’ll see to it that it doesn’t. And I postulate the return of the “Commodore” as a laboratory rat to be used again and again by “evil” physiatrists to experiment on him the latest advances on implanting technology.
I am auditing my son with great success, first on pleasure moments, and we have now moved on to locks and secondaries. He is experiencing relief and cognitions. I won’t let him walk into the org so I guess I really am an independent auditor now. Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!
I agree, Burnedbutnotbitter. Good for you and your son.
That is so good to hear! I’ve done the same for years and watched my children gain in confidence. Some simple techniques work marvels.
Great news of your son’s wins from your auditing, Burnedbutnotbitter. I agree: let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I’ve posted here and on The Bunker that to throw out what works is, in itself, stupidity. Much of what I got worked beautifully. I was made sane enough to leave when it was just about to plunge into the depths. Well done…and said, “Burned”!!!
“what works” As soon as someone can quantify that (with actual data) then people can talk about it. Otherwise the “baby” and the “bathwater” remain equally toxic and criminal.
“What Works” is NOT Scientology folks. I hate to burst your bubble but L Ron was a Criminal Con man and if you go all the way down the rabbit hole – you will even find the date, location, person and place of where he stole the “good stuff that works”.
THAT is why L Ron did not want you to “Mix Practices” – you would restimulate his missed with hold.
Well, those missed with holds got restimulated anyway folks…and L Ron tried to kill himself by electricuting hisself with a specially designed E Meter by “Sarge”.
Ole Sarge would not fulfill CI’s intention…and he built the meter to give the tub of lard with rotten teeth con man – a jolt of electricity.
Get all of the missing data so you can get out of doubt in Present Time.
Sorry to dirty the bath water…but the truth is the truth and it will set you free.
There are tons of philosophy’s, practices and knowledge that will help and it is FREE!
Also – a psych can help – without drugs too!!
It is ironic how Hubbard poisoned “help”
Yes, that it the truth…it is all about $; so help is ONLY through the Cult
TC, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I cannot allow myself to be associated with “technology” invented by a person (LRH) who “discovered, created, originated, manufactured” this tech, as he is the same person who created disconnection and fair game and introspection R/D and the untested purif and of course OT III with LRH’s Science Fiction influenced, twisted mind which he called the Wall of Fire. The OT levels were the final straw for me. I propose that LRH had continual voices in his head and OT III and above was his insanity being forced on his followers.
I knew Steve Pfauth (Sarge) very, very well (RIP). He was one of the most honest, down to earth person you would want to meet. He worked for me when I was LRH External Comm Aide and he was our courier, along with Marty. When Marty interviewed Sarge for his book “Scientology Warrior”, Sarge explained how LRH was still chasing B.T.s until the day he died and he died a lonely man, after letting his wife take the fall for him, without any family near him. I believe Sarge completely.
I see that there are people that comment on this blog still believe in LRH’s tech. One should ask themselves if they want to live out their lives like LRH did? Having Sarge make an e-meter to shock him to death? No famly around. Suffered 2 or 3 heart attacks (or strokes – whatever he had)? Lots of money to enjoy in the desert living in a motorhome. Nice life.
I don’t care that someone still believes in LRH’s tech but at minimum, drop the Fair Game, conditions and the Disconnection and other OSA tactics that LRH invented as part of his admin tech. Knock yourself out sacrificing squirrels or doing LRH tech just don’t harm others in the process.
TC, I’d love to know your plan to end the cult. It needs to happen.
Clearlypisseoff: Wow! You’ve obviously been around! I bet you’ve got a million and one stories. As for my plan to end the cult, I don’t have anything in the works. I do plan to continue writing, though.
“I cannot allow myself to be associated with “technology” invented by a person (LRH) who “discovered, created, originated, manufactured” this tech, as he is the same person who created disconnection and fair game and introspection R/D and the untested purif and of course OT III with LRH’s Science Fiction influenced, twisted mind which he called the Wall of Fire.”
Touche! Me, neither.
As LEAST find out who’s “tech” you are using and assign the originator of it the accolades. At the very least!
I do not agree with the allegation that many customers of the cult were coming back. I’ve crossed almost nobody coming back after having left, except for a whort period when LRH invented the “natural clears” or the Dn clears. Many of those left later anyway. MOST of them.
They often didn’t leave. They were, instead, declared. Far too sane to be dominated!
Some of the reasons given (age of staff, pay, etc.,) are “late on the chain”. By the mid 80’s most “FSMing” consisted solely of recovering and recycling scn’ers. (based on % of those FSM’ed having done services PRIOR to being selected.) This was recognized in FB at the time when it was looked into.
The whole FSM & Field Staff Auditor program never really took off after it was created in the ’60s. It was El Con’s “Great White Hope” for orgs.
Successful field auditors often blossomed into Missions. And they *did* take off.
thegman77, I am talking about what the hope/plan was strategically for Scamology. NOT the odd exception. In the MAIN, the program was an utter FAILURE. LMAO
Thank you Terra Cognita for your reasoned ideas. They are well thought through and balanced. You are not a basher. You are a reasoned observer.
And being a reasoned observer is the first characteristic of an SP. You deserve a Golden Rod. Take a bow and standing O.
That’s it!!!!!!!
Terra Cognita has just finished the “Sovereign Thinking” rundown.
What is powerful about your writings is that you are an unbiased observer of your own discoveries (perceptions).
In the philosophy of India, yoga, being the witness, being the observer accomplishes two things:
1) as the observer, being the witness, we can look at something directly and thus see it’s true nature. I am “here”, and the observed to “over there”. (It’s what running BTs does but for delusional reasons) Thus creating space to perceive the difference between the real (directly seeing) and the unreal (the imagined)
2) seeing the true nature of oneself because of that differentiation:
Because the discriminating intelligence is seeing what is perceived as “over there”, there is an intuitive realization that the observer and the observed are “separate”.
When this realization occurs, we can then directly see that the observer (the soul or incorporeal consciousness) is distinct from what it observes (the external universe or subjective thought)
Thus the practice of witnessing as opposed to collapsing our space and becoming identified, is really the only true mechanism for knowing. It’s is a punishable offense in Scientology (the study of what Ron knows and imagines)
Thank you for being that kind of person! We need more of you around. It is the science of self transformation.
There is a Sanskrit term which incapsulates what I am trying to get at. The term is:
Neti Neti. It means “not this, not that.” In other words, the soul or incorporeal individual consciousness is not its products. I am not this body, I am not this mind, I am not my emotions. I am spirit, ever free, not subject to time, birth and death. Fire cannot burn it. Water cannot drown it. Bullets cannot penetrate it.
I experience these things, the are projected from me; but I am not these things. I am their possessor, and they are the possessed.
This is called Jnana yoga. The yoga of knowledge. The Sanskrit word Jnana is pronounced “neeyana.” It is probably the oldest root of the word knowledge
Neti Neti…… Not this, not that. What Scientology should have been about.
Clarification of running BTs:
Most likely the reason people are blowing charge from running BTs is that the process accomplished a dufferenciation between the observer and the observed.
In the OT running BT session, Ron created an enviRONment in which the solo auditor is looking at pain, pressure, thoughts, emotions etc as over “there.” And the thetan (soul) is here. This accomplished being the witness, the observer and thus disentangling the person from its projected products.
Unfortunately though, Ron defines these external perceptions (BTs, body pressures, unwanted thoughts or feelings) through the filter of his delusional Sci Fi imagination.
Leaving the OT with delusional reasons for blowing charge.
The essence then of what is really happening is that the soul is causing space between the observer and the observed.
This discriminating intelligence is specialized only in the human being. Ron capitalized on this human capacity but distorted it with his subconscious imagination that ran wild during his emetered attempts at liberating himself from his own suffering.
Ron became overwhelmed and failed at his attempts at liberation. And because he, the teacher, failed, his by product, Scientology has failed.
Very interesting take, could well be.
The why for no FSMimg– is– your post today. Well thought out and written. I would like to take this why to a handling. But first a clear statement of the
Ideal scene:. Orgs closed, back taxes collected, DLHDM in jail.
Handling:
1. Do not FSM for this criminal outfit.
2. Demand their tax free status be removed.( Write your congressman.)
3. Demand that DLHDM be arrested for fraud.
4. Support this blog and others like it that seek the truth and want to assist in the first 3
5. Be relentless and resolute in the above.
As you said, TC, if “Had I been privy to such technology (internet) when I was young, I would have never “joined” the church in the first place.” This is very true for me too… I got in about 1971 but today I study everything “new” using Google, Wiki, etc…so there is not a chance I would have joined.
This is a little off subject, but if I was thinking of joining Scientology today, I would Google what happened to LRH? It’s easy to discover DM lied about LRH’s cause of death in 1986 and you can find Sarge’s (RIP) much later report that LRH said he was “not coming back”. Right.
I believe LRH did come back and is here now with 2 arms and 2 legs and wouldn’t touch Scientology with a 40 foot pole to save his/her life. At the end of his life he said he was self admittedly obsessed with money and power. So, in Scientology it was our duty to salvage/save the planet. But, that was not his job. He was putting his big boot into history and trying take over the world. But, using Scientology to do that failed, as he said to Sarge.
So, he/she continues in the entertainment industry, where he/she is alive and well taking number 1 spots all over the place… IMHO
This may be the best installment in the series (to date). It reads like a summing-up of all the reasons why Scientology is dead in the water. And to me the most amazing part is that Terra Cognita, a sharp-eyed observer, is convinced that *all* Scientologists today are aware of these problems, at least to some extent. How does the church stay afloat, even in its moribund state? How does it still have the power to mess up people’s lives?
Great reporting, great perspective on a vexing subject. Thanks, Terra and Mike.
Why does an abused wife stay?
There isn’t a single word here that isn’t true.
Since leaving the CoS, I’ve reacquainted myself with old friends, going back 25-30 years. They’re delighted to see me again, but very surprised as they all thought I was lost to common sense. Something I find odd is that notwithstanding all my auditing to recover my ‘whole track’ I have massive blanked out areas of my relationships with them. I have always believed I have a good memory, but they tell me things about myself at that time (my early scn days) that I literally have no recollection of. Apparently, early on I tried to get quite a few of them into scn. I’ve completely blanked it out. I spend a fair bit of my time now apologising to people for trying to dissem to them. They liked me, some girls more than liked me, and some might have followed me in had they not been a little tougher than me.
It’s plain embarrassing – but I must say, after those early days I stopped all dissem, just like the man says.
Great points TC? I reiterate that you should not hold your breath waiting for your declare. IMHO there are very few goldenrods issued these days, but lots of verbal declares, and you may well have been verbally declared. The person who has been declared is highly unlikely to know that fact. It’s something that’s whispered behind your back.
As for your post, most people who are truly happy doing something are not shy about spreading the joy. This includes something as simple as a game you love to play or something as profound as having a child.
When you have to convince yourself you are doing the right thing, you are a lot less likely to be sharing what you’re doing.
I also believe people still in the bubble have been whipped to the point that the eggshells they are walking on make it impossible for them to talk to a “Wog” for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing, or hearing some sort of “entheta”. How can you talk to someone when you are so fearful of the punishment you may receive for doing so?
Ps that should not be a ? After TC. I was not infrerring that maybe they are not great points. Must. Proofread. Before. Hitting. Send. Button.
Oh, face it, Valerie, you’re just getting old like me…..It happens.
Hey! I’m still in my 20s how can I be old? 20-20-20-1 see? In my 20s
Oh! Well! I guess I stand corrected! My sincere apologies….
Valerie: I like your point about truly happy people not being shy to spread the joy.
Very much describes what’s going on in the orgs I know.Even if Misvavige qiúits tomorrow notmuch will cange.He keeps flogging a dead horse.
This patient seems terminal.Shrink rate is getting comparable to Christian Science or Amway.
Or Herbal Life…
If ‘books make books’ then why not give the books away? Seems like a small investment to make upfront……. especially since once a person reads DTMSH they are ‘guaranteed’ to rush into an org for services.
Also, ‘Ron wrote to a more educated audience’s?
One has to look no further than the 10th grade graduate, David Miscavige to see the fallacy in that argument.
I’m not one to equate intelligence with how many years of formal education one has…… I also believe in an emotional intelligence. David Miscavige has the emotional intelligence of a 6 year old who hasn’t had a nap or a 12 year old girl who is plotting how to exclude another girl from her birthday party, even though her mom told her she had to invite the entire class.
‘Android-looking’…….LOL! What a great way to describe COB! It’s even better than ‘a young Liberace’ (which was my current go-to description).
Terra….VWD!
S/B…’books make booms’. Darn autocorrect. If only iPhones had ‘rolls of butcher block paper’ I could use to madly type away ….. I would not need autocorrect
There was been for years a small group of hard core people that call themselves “professional FSMs”.Of course, they are literally dying (Wendy Ettricks) or going off the grid in strange ways like Barry Klein… What’s up with him?I heard he is still FSMING but not going up the bridge himself (re-doing stuff).I found him to be particularly distasteful in his regging technique.I heard he blew to Utah and is possibly ill.Anyone have info on him?
Lola, would love to get in touch with you. Interested in hearing what you know about Wendy Ettricks.
Terra Cognita, You have joined the ranks of Scilon-Busters. Scientology is the world’s fastest shrinking religion and I, a wog who spoke with Scientologists nearly daily from 2004 until June 2016 when I was disconnected, bear witness that you are so accurate. I watched my tennis student be seduced by an older sports celebrity.I watched her join as a sixty year old for the love of a man who had no capacity to treat her well other than to use her money. I watched her cogntive dissonance a lot since she joined in 2009. Seven years later at 20 hours a week average class work as a “public” she is still pre-clear and she’s given a lot of money.
Because I was now in business with this sports celebrity, I had to “play along” and not criticize a religion I knew deep down was a cult. I lost good business partners because they were asked to read DMSMH and dared question Lieintology and then were declared PTS and disconnection occurred. I set up a prominent former Australian pro WTA player to come to USA to meet with my team in Encino who then chased her away because she had been in business with a former SP in Australia who of course was a “child molester” and “evil” when there was no such evidence. I lost one business deal after another because this prominent 70 year old sports celebrity would not go near anyone who even had an association with anyone in psychology or pschiatry. He turned down a Mercedes Benz sponsorship because the agent’s brother had a degree in psychology. I trusted his judgement, not knowing he was brainwashed to the point he sold private stock in his burgeoning sports video business and then bankrupted the company nearly overnight so that he had to pay back nothing. I brought over a million in cash to him and all my friends lost everything we invested. I have a lot of amends to make.
Scientology is the world’s fastest shrinking religion because the internet is it’s greatest enemy providing evidence of it’s evil crimes against humanity. It will go down in flames for sure and be remembered as one of the greatest con jobs and the definitive example of how to implement George Orwell’s 1984 in practice. When Tony Ortega updates the 20 greatest enemies to Scientology, Rinder, Regraded Being, and Terra Cognita will rise up in the rankings because your recent work telling the world the truth has simply been sublime.
Thank you for your service as true human rights warriors for the fullest expression of healthy human freedom, meaning you are truth seekers. May the force (the search for truth that withstands any attack) always be with you!
inexcusable invalidation, abuse, and injustice inside the church pretty well sums it up.
“inexcusable invalidation, abuse and injustice….” On Steroids. Lots and lots of steroids.
TC, thanks again for an impressive, cogent article.
This was always my ruin. In my first 6 month in the cult I was an FSM Dynamo but as my auditing results started to become compromised I withdrew from getting people in. From that point on it was a ruin that: I was not upstat because I could not disseminate effectively.
It was my ruin up until I finally got out. Thanks for reminding me of the underlying inval that was part of a decades long self doubting that did not have to be part of my life.
Amazing that I’ve been out for several years yet articles lie yours continue to help me deprogram and become more free.
Everyone one of your articles has touched on an important area which when examined leads to more recovery from the heinous lies perpetrated by Hubbard and his sycophants.
So I say again, TC your ROCK. DOUBLE ROCK.
Thanks Mike for printing TCs great observations.
Certainly have to agree with this, I was deeply embarrassed about my involvement with the cult, in my 10+ years in the same job I never told a single work colleague I was involved, this was very difficult to maintain as scions called me at work all the time – several times a day. I never tried to involve friends or family in it either, and kept very quiet about what I was spending, a good thing I take care of the household finances as my partner would otherwise have been absolutely shocked to see huge chunks of money disappearing each month to pay credit card bills or for the latest donation.
Somehow I still managed to reconcile my involvement despite all these lies and deceptions, now it just seems insane.
I was at the Tustin (Orange County, CA) org, in the very early 80s. Even then, we were told not to say the word “scientology.” It was always scn. Imagine what you can’t say today…..
Thank you.
In addition to the points you noted I think FSMing died shortly later after Missions were nullified by Miscavige.
And as time went on IAS “FSMing” became very lucrative; about 13 FSMs I used to know became, practically, IAS registrars.
So, there was easy IAS money (ask Miscavige), no Missions and FSMing died too.
“Lets join a Leper Colony”
This recruiting gimmick does not work
Jose, I would join a leopard colony as long as I’m on the other side of the fence.
Not reference to Big Cat farm.
Scientology today is a remake of the 1958 “Blob”
with Steve Mc Queen except the Blob eats money.
Great article Terra! You nailed it. Thank Xenu for the internet.
How the cult can get any new people into their mOrgs is a complete mystery to me. The one thing I have noticed with current cult members is that most of them only have other Scientologists as friends and if they have non-cult friends, they are too embarrassed to even mention they belong to this evil cult. Saying you are a Scientologist is right up there with saying you are a witch, take part in séances or make nightly sacrifices of small animals, in this wonderful, modern science of mental health.
All that the cult is able to do now is buy more empty buildings and sue and harass their critics. Of course, they also need to keep blinders on their cult members and keep them on a short leash.
CPO, all hail the Mighty Internet! It sees all & it knows all. And…it’s free to access. There’s nowhere to hide for cult members now. All of the OT levels have been out for many, many years.
I think Mike said once, “The only people they (the cult) can get are people who don’t know how to use Google.” Or something close to that. It’s a brave new world now. One in which, all their lies and crimes are exposed for all to see.
Amen to that, OSD. Nowhere to hide….
But OSA can still lie and attempt to ruin people’s lives. $3 billion or so and nothing to spend it on but empty buildings and criminal conduct against it’s critics.
Karma is a bitch DM. All of this will come back to haunt you!
Clearlypissedoff: Yes.
Last time I FSMed was about 2010 when a newbie wanted some Book One. I talked to her about going to her nearest Org which was a two hour drive. She planned the whole weekend there did the drive and the course. When she got home she called and asked me if it was necessary for her to actually become a member of the IAS. (She was regged to get her annual IAS membership on her first weekend into her nearest org.) I told her no. She never went back and I never asked her why.
Wow, Mary! If that happened in 2010, imagine what’s happening now inside the cult. Sixteen years later. I shudder to think……
Terra who-ever you are, you write well…….. thanks.
FLAG? ANZO,? OSA? David?.. If I am not to be spoken to…, If I am so abhorrent to you…, where is MY money you are holding in AP ??!! why do you not throw that back into my (face) account ???
Mike Moretti
I most certaintly would not Wish to be an FSM in this current state , Theirs no reason not to FSm areas outside depending if they operate FSM policy or not
My favorite of your installments so far Terra. The Scientology brand is so toxic, I can understand why members don’t bring their non-Scientologist friends/family in. It’s like offering someone financial advice from Bernie Madoff.
I hope more members will start FSMing themselves right out the door.
“I hope more members will start FSMing themselves right out the door.” Now that’s a dream I would really love to come true.
Me too OSD. I look forward to the day that no org is viable enough to pay their bills and Dave (or his whales) has to pay them if he wants to keep his “expansion” illusion going. I’ve seen some orgs/missions changing their hours to evenings and weekends only. The crumbling is starting to happen and I’m enjoying it immensely. 🙂
Oh – one last reason why no one FSM’s …
SP’s…they are EVERYWHERE and they are suppressing the shit out of Scientology.
Please – continue!
VWD too!!
Yes Mike Rinder – “Something Is Being Done About It”!!!
🙂
Hey Idle! Do we get certificates for being Supreme SPs?
great read as usual terra!
Spot on as always. This made me remember when I would have to attest after finishing a grade level. The examiner would say “would you like others to have similar gains?” I would say YES…..but in my mind I was thinking I would not want others to have to put up with the bullshit. And putting my attention on what i DIDN’T want my friends or family to put up with ended with “thank you very much your needle is floating.”
TommyJ: I can relate.
OH – just remembered more reasons why people don’t FSM
Let’s say you “recover” someone who gets back on the Bridge.
Scientology won’t pay the original Reg who “regged” the person….they will make up some excuse not to pay them and Scientology won’t pay you and will tell you “you did not regg them”. ACTUALLY happened.
Scientology also extorted all of the money the person had on account….the MAA said they had to “make up the damage for not being part of the group for so long…and highly recommended that they donate their “bridge that was already paid for” to make up the damage to the group.
The gal gave them everything she had on account and went home with no progress up the Bridge to No Where.
She left after that and would not even return phone calls from me. I wanted to tell her “WELL DONE FOR BLOWING” and “PEOPLE LEAVE BECAUSE OF ARCX” LRH
I left after that.
What a criminal organization that annihilates it’s members in the name of HELP.
Ummmmmmm…..a vicious, evil, toxic, militant cult? Hey, I took a shot….
Why Scientologist’s don’t FSM –
Scientologist’s are BROKE.
There are no new people coming in.
You can “perceive” something is wrong with everyone – they are 1.1 on the Tone Scale but wax enthusiasm
Sea Org hates staff and public, staff hates public, public don’t come back – they are alot more OT than the organization realizes…so the “tech” does not work.
That is why Scientologist’s don’t FSM
Laughter! Nice! “Sea Org hates staff and public, staff hates public, public don’t come back…” Truer words were never spoken. They’re becoming a self-destructive cult. YAY!