Do not confuse the Reformation with the reform of the Catholic church. The latter was a consequence of the former. The Reformation refers to the reforming of the religion of Christianity. That entailed the breaking of the monopoly the Catholic church held up to that point on Christianity the subject. Reformation began by pointing out to the Pope and Christians what was wrong with the monopoly, setting forth its abuses so that they might be corrected. The all powerful monopoly reacted much like the C of M of today. That is, rather than reform itself it branded the reformers as ‘heretics’, prounouncing them guilty of “blasphemy”. Instead of accepting the labels and conforming, the founders of the Reformation recognized they did not need the church in order to practice their religion.
The “Counter Reformation”, wherein the Catholic church begrudgingly began to change some protested practices, occured long after the Reformation was in full bloom, only when it became clear that the monopoly had been broken and that in order to survive the Catholic church would have to compete in the marketplace of ideas.
In the early 16th century Martin Luther didn’t consider then-reigning Pope Leo X was such a bad guy. He recognized however that the Curia and the priesthood had been so thoroughly corrupted over time – and its vested interest in keeping matters corrupt so precious and innate, the only reform of the institution would come as a reaction to enough people refusing to continue to empower and enable it. That is, discontinue lemminmg-like compliance to the church’s anti-Christian practices, and cease contributing to its vast building fund and war chest coffers.
Luther’s attitude toward Leo X serves to demonstrate how the Scientology Reformation is that much more necessary and inevitable. In contrast to Leo X, Miscavige himself is the author of Reverse Scientology. He micro manages every action and utterance of Scientology management, ruthlessly controlling his kingdom with an iron fist.
If you think the Catholic church analogy is far out, consider the fact that Miscavige doesn’t. He has directly ordered both Mike Rinder and Tommy Davis to position Miscavige as “the Pope of Scientology”.
If you believe that Scientology managers will magically arise, topple Miscavige and right the ship you should consider the following facts. The last three people who I witnessed advise Miscavige contrary to his own spontaneous evil impluses on matters of importance were myself, Shelly Miscavige and Mike Rinder. When Mike Rinder told Miscavige which way was up, he was subjected to dozens of ruthless beatings and torture in the Hole (yes, torture by any current, civilized definition of the word). When I attempted to advise Miscavige against insane dictates one too many times, he threw a several hour tantrum at Int HQ whining that nobody in the Sea Org, no public, no media, not even the Internal Revenue Service backflashed him, but I did. His handling was to sentence me to the Hole jail house, where he tried to turn me into a mouse. Mike and I opted out of the game when it became apparent to us that independent thought had been oppressed into oblivion on the Int base and was about to be extinguished in ourselves. Shelly Miscavige was similarly handled by Miscavige. She was sent to do years of hard time at the Church of Spiritual Technology fortified compound near Lake Arrowhead, subjected to personal invalidation to the point of apathy and silence.
There has been no, NO, check on Miscavige’s evil impulses since. None. The people who remain at Int have long since be neutered of the notion they could ever confront Miscavige. Those who dream of an internal uprising are whistling past their own graveyards. No one is left in Miscavige’s perimeter but mice.
The idea of declaring independence from the C of M was not an arbitrary one. From long, hard experience we learned that the only way to break free of DM’s stanglehold on thought is to discontinue investing DM with power. In his 1998 profile interview with the SP Times DM defined power as “will people listen to you?” He rose to power on that principle and continues the practices of imprisonment of body and soul on the same principle. To play DM’s game requires you let DM win. He innately and instinctively applies the most ruthless and violent measures to squash dissent or even percieved disloyalty in his environment. This is a man who cannot even play a game of cards without overtly cheating.
Exercise of independence, both physical and mental, is the historically proven solution to overcoming tyrany. It worked during the Reformation, it worked during the struggle for American Independence, it worked for India following Gandhi’s lead, it worked during the civil rights movement. It is working now.
It was the factors outlined herein that prompted us to encourage people to overtly declare their independence. The initiaters of the Protestant Reformation did not publish in anonymity or shyly sneak around in the shadows. Nor did the American founding fathers. Nor did Gandhi. Nor did Martin Luther King. They didn’t hide in little cliques and natter about how victimized they had become. A victim causes nothing but his own continued suffering. The only way to ultimately handle oppression and suppression is to turn around and face down the demons that have been hunting you. Only then do suppressives lose their power. Their only strength lies in others’ reluctance to step out of line.
If you want to be at effect, stay in line, hunch your shoulders and remain silent. If you want to move on over to cause, step out of line with authority and sound off.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 