This is something I have brought up many times on The Aftermath show, podcasts, YouTube videos and interviews because it is so important to gaining an understanding of the “scientology mind.”
It is one of Hubbard’s most devious devices for keeping the flock in lockstep and always ensuring what is good for scientology is the measuring stick every scientologist uses in making choices in life.
This is the fundamental principle from Hubbard:
An optimum solution to any problem would be that solution which brought the greatest benefits to the greatest number of dynamics.
He goes on to explain this concept:
To be good, a thing must contain construction which outweighs the destruction it contains. A new cure which saves a hundred lives and kills one is an acceptable cure.
To grasp what he is talking about it is necessary to understand “the Dynamics” in scientology. These are the 8 “urges towards survival.”
This is how they are described on the scientology website:
There is nothing inherently wrong with this. It makes some sense and seems benign.
Until you consider what the “3rd Dynamic” is for scientologists: Scientology. This is their group. And they honestly believe that scientology is the ONLY route to save every man, woman and child on planet earth. It is their belief that if scientology is flourishing, then every person, every family, every group, mankind and even animals and the environment will flourish as a result. Scientology permeates all of existence and is the only means of improving lives in the entire universe.
Thus, the real equation for scientologists then becomes: “If it is good for scientology, it increases survival across ALL Dynamics, thus it is the optimum solution.”
Back in the day, this equation included L. Ron Hubbard. Without him, scientology would not exist, so obviously it is imperative to protect him — thus we saw Mary Sue Hubbard and the GO criminals fall on their swords and go to prison, all the while protecting Hubbard and claiming he knew nothing about their activities. Today, the equation extends to David Miscavige. Scientologists believe HE is now the salvation of scientology and without him, scientology will die (they cannot see that under him that is exactly what is happening). So, they line up to do videos and sign statements under penalty of perjury that he has never raised a finger in anger and is the nicest, kindest, most caring person in the world.
It must be understood that even when a decision or action would potentially harm you or your family, if it benefits scientology, it’s considered “pro-survival” because it helps improve more dynamics than it harms. This is how many scientologist end up handing over more money to scientology than they can afford — it will benefit scientology to have that money to help save mankind, and it will benefit the person who hands it over because they will become more powerful/affluent/successful by reason of doing more scientology.
Though it might be dangerous to oneself to lie to law enforcement, if the lie is for the benefit of scientology, the downside to the “1st Dynamic” is outweighed by the upside to all the other dynamics. This is why scientologists routinely lie if they believe it will protect scientology, L. Ron Hubbard or David Miscavige to do so — even under oath. It is why scientology spokespeople lie to the media regularly. It is completely justified by this false equation of the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics.
When you see public statements from scientology or scientologists, whether in the media, on social media or in court proceedings, this “greatest good” equation is the yardstick you must use to determine whether they are telling the truth. They will never knowingly say anything that would in their minds harm scientology, Hubbard or Miscavige. They WILL lie to protect scientology, I had decades of experience doing just this. It’s not theory.
Hubbard, now Miscavige, stuck in the Hubbard Scientology empire policy regulations which require vast bodies of PR and GO/OSA people doing immoral things to protect the “LRH image.”
in the final 1980s years of Author Services Inc final “advices” from Hubbard, the “LRH Image” is still one of the paramount jobs of ASI. Hugh Wilhere was a professionally trained PR person a former Captain in the US Army were he did his PR traininng. Not sure where Hugh is today, if he’s alive, he’s not at ASI any longer. Vaughn Young’s traffic from LRH I wish were public, Vaughn I think was the first banana ASI PR person, and Hugh came next. A thankless job being PR person for Hubbard.
The history of Scientology PR people who wised up and spoke out, has been repeatedly commented on chat sites.
Even popular TV from Hollywood, was up on Cult Guru hiring PI’s, to investigate a former cult/guru PR person(s).
THIS IS A MUST WATCH episode, that was on the money:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt_R9LFHb_0
“Peter Gunn | Season 1 | Episode 6 | The Chinese Hangman”
In fact the whole PR person tradition, is a pattern, a pattern even a TV episode for the Peter Gunn TV series, “The Chinese Hangman”
Hubbard was about his image, and the Scientology administrative cult bureaucracy with the “HCO Division” in all orgs today, Hubbard this, Hubbard that, right in the labels of things in the names of things within the continuing Scientology cult bureaucracy units, is too much.
Who does this, in human history? It’s megalomania.
Hubbard thought he and his name was first.
The “tech” was second, in his mind.
If the “tech” were first, then he’s have never built all the “Hubbard this” and the “Hubbard that” and he’d have not attached “Hubbard” onto all parts of the cult empire.
Hubbard’s reputation is pretty permanently impossible to ever elevate to the respectable levels of other institutions in society, and that’s due to the Hubbard writings and regulations for the Hubbard striving cult empire sub units.
The “tech” (the quackery) of Scientology, is all dodge language, but the “tech” is a pseudo-therapy that leads one into one’s past live trauma memories, or “soul memories” in other lives. And the secret advanced upper Scientology is exorcism/soul-freeing procedures to exorcise/free invisible souls that supposedly infest our human bodies. And the Hubbard Emeter gizmo is used to detect our past lives trauma (our “own case”) and the the Hubbard Emeter gizmo is used with the upper exorcism/soul-freeing to detect the invisible souls that infest our human body, and it shows when we’ve removed those harmful souls off our body.
Scientology, because of Hubbard, is crippled from presenting itself simply.
The “tech” ought to have been really Hubbard’s highest accomplishment. But that is a futile goal, since the “tech” doesn’t work better than placebo/psychosomatic beneficial, meaning it only “works” on some.
Hubbard’s hype and the Scientology regulations from Hubbard to protect his image as extensively as it is done, just isn’t ever going to work broadly.
Hubbard’s Scientology falls down on the Hubbard image, and it falls down on the “tech” being the grand glorious thing Hubbard thought it was.
———————————–
Me, of the Hubbard “teachings” the “Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought” was the intro book I first was taught on, when I started Scientology in May 1975, it was on the “Introduction to Scientology Course Checksheet.”
And of that book, today, I’d say the “start, change, stop” principle, aka “create, survive, destroy” or basically “all good things come to an end” type of thinking, is how the world is.
Things get created, go along with ups and downs, and then get discarded.
So will the Hubbard pseudo-therapy/exorcism-soul-freeing “tech” quackery.
The Hubbard self re-generating “LRH Image” cult empire units of the Scientology movement, has a long uphill futile battle. (I think of the good that Gerry Armstrong brought about by the events leading up to the public exposure of the “LRH admissions” writings by Hubbard, those LRH admissions pretty much knock the wind totally out of Hubbard since they ring so true what type of person thought of himself.)
If only the “tech” actually accomplished the grand goals hinted at in “Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought” chapter “Parts of Man”, is what stuck in my long hindsight view I have of Scientology, 1975 to 2003. Of course no one achieves supernatural soul flying out of the body abilities, for real, from doing the Hubbard “tech” quackery.
Good point. The concept of “start change stop” or “beginning progress end” is another of the many things copied from the Vedas and Hindu mythology and cosmology. But then “adapted” as if it were his own discovery. Hubbard was to spirituality as Goofy is to a fashion model.
He didn’t grasp the real aspect of the matter; in fact, he was ego-centered, and the whole scn revolves around this, keeping the ego ‘alive’ forever, which is nothing but identification with forms and concepts, nothing real, so it doesn’t work, or it doesn’t lead anywhere.
Reputations have to be earned. Scientology has earned a negative reputation. That reputation will eventually catch up to them.
FTR, this is a basic philosophical argument called utilitarianism. LRH ripped it off, like everything else. Look it up on wikipedia. It originated thousands of years ago with the greeks.
I know a few Still Ins who know that I am no longer in, but apparently they – likely because I’m supportive of their auditing goals and never say anything negative about Scientology to them, and despite their auditing on OTVii – are allowed to do business with me. It makes financial sense for them to do so; it makes financial sense for me to do so, and I like them, they’re good people. They don’t bust my chops, I don’t bust theirs. We just don’t talk about Scientology unless THEY bring up some Scn activity of theirs (a course, going to Flag, etc.,) and then I respond with an “uptone” “That’s great!” and smoothly change the subject. They’re Still In and I’m Long Out yet they are permitted to speak with me. Wow, huh? Don’t get excited. Doing business with me is decidedly profitable for them. Its ALL about the green, with the cult, n’est-ce pas?
So that’s the background info necessary for this anecdote concerning how and why Scientologists lie.
One of their adult children is Sea Org. Some years ago they shared that he/she had “eloped” (their term). Evasive language, no big deal. Well did I know that Sea Org members do NOT “elope”. They do not just decide themselves to get married and run off somewhere to find a preacher. Sea Org members need strict permission to marry. I KNOW how SO members are married and divorced, coupled and uncoupled like barnyard animals by Farmer Dave. Yet there I am, being told that their son/daughter “eloped” and didn’t even tell them, their parents, and was now married, and they had always wanted to have a big wedding for the kid like they had had, etc. etc.
Well, people, this pressed a major button for me – these very nice people who had supported their brat well into adulthood (that’s another story), this said brat with no marketable skills, no way to earn a living, became over-ripe fruit for the Sea Org recruiters of course and as such their creature – did not (or more likely was not permitted ) to reveal plans of an impending marriage to his/her own parents.
Whoa did this press a button with me!
There was SOOOO much I wanted to say, but via Herculean effort I merely made a mild remark, wishing the new couple much happiness and longterm marital bliss despite “what I had heard” was a high divorce rate amongst Sea Org members.
WELL!!!!!!
THIS was received like I had just dropped a bomb in their office!
How did I know this…why would I say something like this…They were “not OK” with this….Their schedules are extremely demanding!…This is not something that needs to be “furthered”…
You get the idea. Flipped OUT, I’m telling you. Merely because I mentioned in a mild tone that Sea Org people seem to divorce quite a bit and that I hoped that this first marriage of one of their adult children would follow THEIR example and be happily married for life.
I had to back and fill, back and fill. Damage control! I immediately realized that that remark of mine would have to be revealed by them on their six month ethics check up thingies at Flag, and would probaby cost them thousands of dollars. So I did effective damage control, apologized for “miscommunicating”, swore that I had no postulate for their child to be divorced, etc. etc.
But get this; At no time during this sputtering was any denial of what I had said given. They KNEW v that Sea Org members get divorced and remarried a lot. They KNEW that my remark had merit and truth and I was not just spreading idle gossip. BUT…the truth could not be admitted – uh uh -because the truth was DAMAGING to Scientology and more pertinently it was going to cost them MONEY in their next Sec Check on OT7!
“This does not need to be FURTHERED”..
NOTHING gets “furthered” unless it is totally flattering to the Church of Scientlogy. I buttered them up and smoothed them down; I can’t recall now precisely what Whole Track or Spirit of Play or KSW bullshit I pulled up to everything OK for them so that Flog wouldn’t be soaking them for extra thousands because of me.
Scientology trained me to tell the truth.
I spent the bulk of my time in the cult on staff, I did a lot of training, admin and tech, and also worked as staff in orgs and other sectors. I did extensive outer org training and I went up the bridge through the OT levels.
This taught me to tell the truth. I really believed that I was on the road to total freedom, and that road was only made possible by truth.
From early on, I had to do O/W write ups and get meter checked on them. I did sec checks for posts, for bridge, and as punishments. I was plant checked and had all kinds of things happen over my years.
“Clean hands make a happy life” and the teck of O/Ws were truth to me.
I couldn’t expect to be an all powerful being if I couldn’t even confront my own actions and take responsibility for them.
I was active on all my dynamics and had good relationships with my extended family, in and out of scn. I was truthful as much as possible in “wog” situations, and could tell ‘acceptable truths’, which for me, were the truth with avoidance of certain aspects as needed. But mainly I just told the truth even with non-scios, because I wasn’t afraid, scn was correct and I was very ‘overt’ in my ‘comm’.
While on staff I had to have other sources of money, mainly entrepreneurial, small business things. I ran them honestly, and followed the laws of the land, as that’s what LRH said to do, and it was the safest way to do it. You can’t get caught for something you didn’t do.
It always surprises me that I don’t see this echoed in the Out community. I see a lot about how Scios lie. It’s odd. When there was untruth I used to put it down to something that that person needed to personally handle and cognite on. Or, that SO order etc would eventually be corrected.
When I got out of the cult, UTR, I found it to be hard to have a secret. I was so used to just confessing all, all the time.
It goes very deep. Even though I’ve been out a long time now, I’m still just ingrained to tell the truth and fess up, take responsibility.
Telling the truth about yourself and to yourself is different than telling the truth about Hubbard/scientology.
I imagine this is true.
I was never in a position to lie to reporters, police, or the courts.
We had an active GO, and I was involved with them through my HCO post a few times, and it seemed there may be secrets there. (the BI guy helped out with the occasional accidently locked door within the org) Our GO did a lot of things that seemed off policy, or Hidden Data Line, thus, when they were disbanded, it rang true for me.
I didn’t lie to the public when I was in Div 6, and didn’t lie to them in HCO, Div 4, or as a senior exec. Same for my posts in various sectors. There was never a circumstance where I needed to.
It does make sense to me that people on those lines in OSA/GO could be put in situations where they’d lie. Hubbard instilled in us a dismissal of anything except him. Police, courts, all fields, all professions, all branches of learning, all were fumblings in the dark or BS, and only he had the answers and awareness, and the balls to act.
Pretty crazy stuff.
Eaxctly, Mike.
This is a bit of an aside to the main conversation.
When I left staff, I soon found that getting a job with a history of working for Scientology was a kiss-of-death. Also, just try getting a reference from HCO.
Eventually, I came up with a fictitious resume, together with real people in real companies provide references and confirm the dates I worked for them.
Hated doing this, and when I eventually found a job in software development, I stayed put for a very long time to ensure that I never had to repeat the experience.
Almost 40 years on, I am still working in the same field and naturally no one ever asks me what I was doing such a long time ago.
Mormonism does something similar to Scientology in this regard. You know, “Nooooo! Joseph Smith never took teenage girls as plural wives!”. Or something like “The LDS church has never taught that God sees black people as inferior to white people!”. In short, what Scientology calls “The greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics” is what Mormonism calls “Lying for the Lord”.
The trick is talking yourself into believing it. I was a pro at it. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? We all do it all the time, just some of it is easier to see.
Absolutely. From within the bubble, everyone outside is aberrated, unethical, implanted, off the path, trouble sources (PTS), suppressive, walking cases, lost souls, people without a thetan.
So, how do you address people “like that”? With ‘acceptable truths’ or falsehoods, since they’re lost in their confusion and you have to manage them as you are the ONLY one aware.
This shows how delusional this cult can be.
The more I completely left scn, the more I’ve see how lethal it is.
Scientology is a lie. They make people think that they are helping and that’s how innocent people get sucked in to this. The Scientologists lie saying Scientology does good. When it doesn’t. they seem to be blinded by the feeling of wanting to help and having somthing to believe in. The lies in Scientology run deep.
Suzie, exactly. The ‘functionality’ of scientology is based on and utilizes what people want to believe to be true. Scientology/hubbard create a priming in their mind on which people then experience what we can call ’emotions generated by beliefs.’ They experience in the present a conviction of past experiences similar to the initial priming and become increasingly convinced that they are on the right path. So lying is fine when you are one of the fortunate few who knows the’real truth’ and should save this planet and the sector 9 of this galaxy.
When I started to see sea org staff tell me blatant lies, I think that started me questioning the validity of the subject. It probably didn’t help that I was not finding I was really winning applying it. Then I found the library campaign was a big fraud.
In hindsight, the whole subject is filled with lies and false promises. The occasional small win or listening to someone’s supposed big won keeps you in way too long. I really thought most Scientologists were ethical/moral/truthful because I was, but it was not necessarily true.
Due to this belief system I wasn’t able to leave Scientology as a staff member until my contract was up. After that I left without saying a word to anyone still in the church. The greatest good is a scam …..
Same thing happened to me when my staff contract was up.
This was very informative Mike. Scientology is a mind prison. Scientology is full of lies that LRH and DM have told. The lies are spreading to the Scientologists who think they are doing good. But in reality aren’t. They lie to protect a organization that has hid and commited crimes. I hope one day the Scientologists who are in see the lies. And can get out of something so abusive.
That was very enlightening Mike and helped me understand some of the experiences I had.
When I was still a true believer my auditor would frequently let me know that I was out ethics. Later at his encouragement I went to Big Blue for 2 weeks. I no longer recall what it was but they lied to me about something while I was there. When I saw him again I questioned him about being lied to by the people that are supposed to be the most ethical on the planet. His reply was their ethics are fine but you have to understand their ethics, implying that it was okay to lie to me if that’s what it took to get me to spend more money while I was there.
Lying to the government.
A friend who had worked in the GO at Flag back in the mid 70s told me that all of the non US SO members from the Apollo who had to move to the US when Flag moved to Florida were instructed and drilled on what to tell US Immigration officers both on their applications to US Consulate Officers for visitor visas and on arrival at their ports of entry and throughout their applications for permanent residency (green cards) in the months after. Lie, lie, lie!! All for the greater good, etc. Guess they felt they had to do that because Flag needed them. Some were holding very high posts and their loss would harm the cult’s production immensely.
But get this. US immigration law specifically penalizes anyone who lies to the US government in any dealings with them and demands that they be deported and forbidden to ever come to America again! True fact. So, what if they all got caught in their lies? They’d be forever banished from coming to America again. And where would that leave Flag, huh? Devoid of 100 or so staff, some of whom who were posted near the top of the org board?
Dumb as a box of rocks cult.
Iirc this “winning formula” was repeated at FSO in the late 70s when the “super-upstat” First Mate (?) recruited about 100 Italians to “fully man-up” HCO and other places.
It looked great on paper then they all had to go back to Italy when their visas expired. The “super-upstat” became “the out-Ethics who endangered …”.
As an “outsider” (I was an outer-org trainee) I thought it was all short-sighted BS when it was first happening despite the spin I was being given by the crew. But what the Hell would I know – I’d taken LSD years ago so wasn’t even eligible to join “the most ethical group on the Planet.” LOL
Stupid kult is stupid.
He created this whole thing to make people turn on themselves…” the prison of belief”. It is so sad that people get involved and raise their children in it. Hopefully more people will leave every day but it will never go away completely. People are always looking for things (cults) to improve themselves. I hope you and your family are doing well. Thank you as always for providing all this information.