Haydn James just wrote the following to me after he read one of the books from the recommended reading section of this blog, A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. I’m posting Haydn’s communication to suggest other people read that book as well as consider reading some of the other books there too.
Marty,
I am sometimes slow on the uptake but I get there eventually. For some years now you have recommended reading the account by Fredrick
Douglas of his life as a slave. To be honest, I thought: “Slavery is an abomination and shouldn’t be allowed, but that’s the long and the short of it so what’s to be gained by reading an account on the subject?”
Having just finished reading it I believe there is everything to be
gained.
There is no shift, mechanism, trick or means of domination used by
the slave master of old that isn’t used by David Miscavige. There
is no feeling, thought or emotion experienced by a slave that isn’t
felt by a Sea Org member, staff member or Scientologist under
Miscavige’s savage rule. There was no rationale, mind-set,
compromise or acceptance made by a slave that isn’t made by
Scientologists that are still trapped.
Some may say: “Sure but slaves were born to slavery whereas
Scientologists and Sea Org members volunteered for servitude.”
Well, I would say this: “In addition to the fact that I know of no
one that signed up for servitude, it was thrust upon them by
ambush, check out the accounts of children and youth that were born
into Scientology.”
I would much prefer to find differentiation rather than association
but between Mr. Douglas’ account of slavery and my experiences as a
Scientologist, staff and Sea Org member under Miscavige in the last
thirty years, as hard as I tried, I could only find association.
I have long sought the answer to the question of why do some shake
off Miscavige’s suppressive chains while others accept them,
reluctantly resolve to go along with the status quo and do nothing,
and some even go so far as to slavishly support their master? .
I finally found the answer in Mr. Douglas’ book — a very important
work.
Freedom is the senior datum, always was, always will be. Those left
in the “church” are enslaved because they have relegated freedom to
a junior level. They continue to make freedom less important than
the “Church” of Scientology and so are able to be enslaved by its
self appointed ruler. It’s an alteration of truth and natural law
that will persist until the matter is rectified. Until resolved
they will continue to feel all the sufferings that slaves of old
did.
Though it is 2011, I now consider myself an abolitionist. Slavery
is masquerading as religion and in a perverse twist of fate is
using a movement that had total freedom as its goal.
Total freedom is still the goal.
Haydn James
A couple of observations. While Douglass writes of being a slave, more importantly the narrative recounts his metamorphosis from that beingness into that of a free man. I recommended the book because I believe there is no difference in the evolution he navigated and that which must be negotiated by anyone living with a slave-like mentality, whether that state was enforced from birth physically or mentally or was self imposed. Here is a man who was born into slavery but recognized he remained in that state first and foremost because he agreed to continue to do so on some level. If Frederick Douglass could escape that prison mentally, then physically, then continue to work on his freedom and get there spiritually in the mid 1800s – all on his lonesome – then not a single one of us has any excuse to continue to walk about with shackled minds. It is about removing the shackles of other-determinism and walking the walk of self-determinism.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 
Is Douglass really a black man? He looks like a white man who was too long in the sun.
Brilliant.
I walked away in 1989 . To this day I am still “removing the shackles of other-determinism and walking the walk of self determinism”. This post has helped shed even more light on this process.
Haydn,
Thanks for your post. I shall read this book soon after your excellent and well-written recommendation.
May all beings be free, well and happy!
Much loving-kindness,
GMW
I don’t know. I joined SO on my own self-determinism because of the purpose to help people by bringing Scientology to them. I stayed in the SO for 18 years because of that purpose and I left the SO because I became disabused of the idea of ever reaching that purpose through Sea Org. There are superficial similarities with slavery but essentially and basically, to me, there is nothing in common. I would absolutely disagree with being called a slave or even a victim. Of course, others may have a different experience and a different attitude toward things being done to them.
Being equally slow off the mark I am only now just finishing Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl, an astonishing account of the freeing oneself of slavery of a different kind. Anyone wondering what it’s like to have one’s soul completely crushed, whether “self-imposed” or not should read both these books, absolutely.
However, slavery comes in different guises, and it could be argued that 21st Century USA is the greatest perpetrator of slavery in history. I have mentioned this before it bears repeating:
The US jails more of its citizens proportionately than any other society in history – about 2.3 million, or 1% of the population. That’s 2X more than South Africa, 3X more than Iran and 6X more than China. One in thirteen men aged 20 – 34 are behind bars, rising to one in nine black males. There are more 17 year old black males in prison than in college.
They are forced to work for less than 25C per hour or else face solitary confinement. 100% of all military helmets, ammo belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags etc are made by American prisoners. 93% of domestically produced paints are made thus, and even 36% of home appliances and 21% office furniture, enabling the US to compete with factories in Mexico. (Source: BBC)
Due to the “three strikes and you’re out” system, you get absurdities like Leando Andre serving 2 consecutive life sentences for stealing 9 video tapes, and Kevin Webber serving 26 years for stealing 4 chocolate chip cookies. That’s just plain wrong.
Absolutely true, Marty. Everything starts with you MENTAL attitude. If you think poor, you’ll be poor. If you think you’re a slave, you’ll be a slave. I had a nice cognition just on this post. Thanks, dude!
Okay, so I’m reading this one before the last suggestion then. Thanks for the insights Haydn.
Great post.
I was just writing to a friend about my daughter in still in the SO. I have to admit to not fully understanding the rational of her choice when it seems so clear to me. Thank you for this post Marty and Haydn. I will be reading the book.
Martin,
Thanks for this. A topic I’ve studied quite a bit. Most of those African Americans who wind up in prison for long stints did nothing more than “use”, and did not deal, drugs. The average African American teenager uses far less volume and far less potency of drugs than his/her suburban white counterpart. That datum of course leads down a very interesting, hard to confront rabbit hole, one which the education system, media, the powers that be constantly condition us not to search.
Marty
Have you read the book?
9, I think you will love the book – it is not a long read.
Read the book and find out. His mother was raped by her master. In America and western “civilization” one has been considered black if one carries one ounce of African blood.
I guarantee you this book will give you great insight into your daughter’s frame of mind and raise your understanding as to why won’t or can’t make a rational choice.
This narrative is in the public domain (no longer copyrighted) and can be read online here:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/
Michael,
I held a similar view before I read the book.
Just one of the things that hit me while reading it was the fact that when I left management in 2006, I left 350 slaves in the management building in Los Angeles. Slaves that lined up each week in avid anticipation of receiving a paltry $12.50 as ‘pay’. I couldn’t figure out why it was only ever around $12.50 until I realized that was just enough for subsistence but not enough to finance escape. If these people received more they would save up money and leave. That couldn’t be allowed. As deputy to the Commanding Officer, I knew the leaders in that building were utterly paranoid about people escaping. It was the biggest flap possible. I don’t think I need to draw any comparisons between the “blow drill” and how escaping slaves were brought back.
The slaves in that building could have no contact with the outside world, were punished for speaking the truth or complaining about conditions, they … I could rewrite my own version of Mr. Douglas’ book but I don’t need to. He did the job 180 odd years ago.
Somewhere in the bible, was always my favorite verse:
“it is for freedom that Christ set us free”
I already ordered the book on Amazon… Just reading the post blew charge. THanks,.
Yes, and Mr. Douglas’ book gives great insight into how society kept (and keeps) the slave system in place, supported by otherwise good people who go along with the system rather than go against their so called peers, and propaganda of course, lots of propaganda.
The audio book is on iTunes and is well done.
Thanks for the link, Tara!
I had an interesting cognition after watching a video called ‘They Came To Play’. It was about amateur piano players who held professional jobs in many different industries who also had keyboard abilities who competed in the Van Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition.
My cog here is that having been a member of the Church of Scientology as a public, staff member and S.O. member, as time ensued the ability to assume different viewpoints in other areas of life became less and less due to the absolute peer pressures and ‘Orders from Above’. I realized as a public that the incessant grilling by regges and DofPs and Bridge Consultants kept a public imprisoned within the dictates of the Church and prevented one from pursuing anything outside of Scientology. Clearing the planet became far more important than one’s own profession.
My own goals outside of the church have been what has kept me young and alive. That is not to say that everyone has fallen prey to this enforced servitude, but the greater # koolaide drinkers find their abilities to enjoy the thinking on an independent mind grow less and less.
From all that I have read from 2009 on, it is impossible to not see that the Co$ have diverged from an entity of sanity to insanity.
The fact that I have been willing to look and see outside the box that is the Co$, the pressure has become less and less and my ability to stay exterior of the Co$’s diatribe grows with each waking day.
Thanks Haydn!
Very inspiring! Will definitely read this book. It might give me some more arguments when dealing with people who are leaving the church.
Have already ordered it! 🙂 Found a used copy in German on Amazon.
I’ve had some remarkable insight recently with some ’65 LRH data explaining the difference and variance of applications between subjective and objective processes and phenomena.
It wasn’t quite so clear cut as I assumed, the considerations of a being are certainly senior but what if the MEST itself is a bank. No one knows for sure how another physically views their environment or conversely how their environment communicates to them. It is indeed a clever auditor who can differenciate between a subjective or objective aberration. The resolving of entrapment is a two way door and involves juggling between mass & significance.
Slavery is such an entrapment. Some are held in by the significance while others the mass or a combination of the two.
It takes a brave being to stand up to the mechanisms of entrapment and an even braver one to find a way out for the first step always has something to do with agreement.
Got it Haydn, Excellent point you bring up and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. The place is a slave camp by definition. Very subtle, you fall into it, then you talk yourself out of it as if it just too outrageous. How many times I looked around and looked at ED Int, Captain FSO, RTC Inspector Generals, and my friends – these guys are kick ass – they are no idiots – if it would be all that bad they would have walked!!! so I hung there. But 2001 came around and it became a matter of personal integrity for me. I felt entrapped – I was a slave; I was in the wrong place, I did not sign up for that program – and I left! I’m still decompressing after 10 some years, Thank you Hayden, Marty, MRinder Steve and all.friends of mine. Sergio – I’m a free man
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/
Tara, Very helpful, thank you! I was able to copy and paste the entire book into word. I will print it on my printer and enjoy the read. Thank you Haydn and Marty for this educated freedom!
Martin-fascinating. I learn alot on this blog.
The book is fantastic and thanks for the tip.
Another book I think is a must read is “The Lucifer Effect” by Phil Zimbardo, The book describes in detail the famous Stanford Prison experiment where normal students completely changed their behavior and become more or less dramatizing suppressives. It explains in detail how good people turn evil and exactly how people come to follow evil leadership. It also talks about “heroes” who break out of this and how this happens.
Marty et al: Least we not forget that the prison system is one of THE largest private businesses in the US. Prisons are BUILT by private contractors, prisons are FED by contracted private businesses, prisoners are CLOTHED by contracted private business. ETC
AND as we ALL know — hotels, prisons, hospitals must first and foremost FILL the beds.
And who better to fill the prisons with, than the poor, undereducated or not educated young black man. Who can THEN be trained IN the prison to BE a REAL criminal who will leave prison to return again to the revolving door of prison having NOW committed a bigger non violent crime OR worse a violent crime.
America — where we keep THE SYSTEM going, the beds full and the hearts of our young — no matter the skin color — full of fear, despair and the feeling of unworthiness.
IF WE can imbue into the lives of those around us a palpable FEELING of WORTHINESS we CAN change the world.
IF WE can remember that the SPARK which was ignited when we found and connected TO LRH/Scientology was the HOPE that man COULD create a world that was free from war, insanity and criminals —
It was THAT spark which brought us JOY and cheerfulness. Which enabled us to work LONG LONG hours for a meager stipend which mattered not because we KNEW in our hearts that we our spark had
IGNITED a MOVEMENT of engagement INTO the world.
So — as you walk INTO the world:
Remember —
spark (connecting to our basic goodness)
Cheerfulness (knowing we are ALL worthy)
Ignite — into engagement with the world. And that engagement can BE any path as LONG as you remember 1) man is basically good 2) we are all worthy
Love you all,
WH
Sergio, it was great talking to you on the phone the other day and yes, you are a free man about to launch himself into total LRH Tech application to succor to those Independents and peoples of earth that deserve your talents as a Minister. Now you are going to hang out with the creme de la creme of the True Ambassadors of LRH Tech. One has to admire your intention and goals. Peace Brother!
Great, thanks! Just bought it on iTunes.
WH, Yes, much like America’s nursing home industry.
Haydn, nice ne! I have been of the belief that once a person gives up his/her integrity, self determination and responsibility, he/she is owned!
Haydn, that is supposed to be nice one!
Indeed — forgot about that. That’s a long slide from residential individual housing to assisted living to nursing home to hospice to coffin. Costly to the max.
Although — there are NEEDS for prisons, for hotels, for hospitals and for nursing homes — so we can’t brush them ALL aside of course.
It all has to do with RESPECTING the human spirit and then providing places that empower rather than imprison.
If we remember to move on up a little higher and help others to do the same —
We’ll create an enlightened society.
Easy-peasy 🙂
(just need to get a few small obstacles out of the way)
WH
In the Summer of 1984 I spent several months at the Int base right after I joined the Sea Org. After 24 hours I had concluded that place was the most entheta hellhole on earth. The staff were complete strangers to the most fundamental concepts in Scientology — the bedrock of the religion. Concepts like the breakthrough of ARC, the discovery of the 8 dynamics, etc. At the Int base there was only one dynamic. ARC was used in reverse as a “denial of ARC” in order to push production. If you not in good graces, then your treatment was an intentional denial of ARC. Literally, I’m not making this up. I was in the Office of Senior C/S International and their Establishment executive (Eileen Campaign) who had recruited me from the Briefing Course in LA explained that “the denial of ARC was a huge motivating factor.” Based on what reference I asked and she could not name one. Eileen was a nice person and not long afterward, she blew the SO herself.
Anyway I decided to get myself out of there and managed to get traded for a Class XII auditor at Flag. I became the Solo I/C FSO, running the Solo – OT III line. Anyway, it was very clear to me that the Int base was a proposition of slavery, pure and simple. I made a decision whether I thought Scientology could be expanded through enslavement, and I decided it was impossible because that violated Scientology itself. Therefore, when I arrived at Flag, I decided to reject the idea I had to be a slave, and I followed instead a policy of freedom and living across 8 dynamics — just as LRH had done.
LRH had a racing car in the ’50s. He had a motorcycle on the ship. He had boats. He had a wife and kids. And plants. And pets. And homes. And he moved up the Bridge. I theorized that the more dynamics you could fit into your life the more successful I would be.
On libs, I rented a Camaro and raced the Tampa freeways. On another libs day I flew to Dallas and brought my street van and ski boat to CW. After post I took friends dancing at the Hilton on Clearwater Beach or to Sneaky Pete’s in Tampa. Before post, we’d get up early and go water skiing along the causeway, carving big slices of sea water up onto the deck of the Sand Castle. I bought a motorcycle and learned how to ride. On Friday nights we would ditch insipid staff meetings and ride our motorcycles out to Countryside Mall to catch a midnight movie, racing down deserted backstreets. We went cruising on the back roads of Tampa. After post we might go swimming or watch a video. I secretly took some singing lessons on the side because it sounded like fun. One time we rode our motorcycles into a FSO morning muster, inside the auditorium and won a costume contest. I went on dates.
Oh, and I was moving up the Bridge too the whole time. I went from OT I to OT IV, did lots of courses and even did the OT Doctorate Course where I studied the PDC Lectures for the second time in my life.
I found out, just as I suspected, that helping Scientology expand could be fun. The idea that helping others go free = you have to be enslaved is a crock of total BULLSHIT. It doesn’t even make any sense! You bring joy into other people’s lives and you have to suffer?
Over the next 2 1/2 years the Solo Tech Division expanded to it’s largest size in history the only exception being during the NOTs boom in 1978. We had 90 students in Department 11. All my staff were moving up the Bridge. Throughout that time, l participated in the Sea Org on my own terms which were in keeping with the LRH datum, “If it’s not fun, it’s not Scientology.”
It still wasn’t all fun, mind you, because there are always the few people who in their suffering resent someone else doing the same thing but having fun. But I always made sure that I was living across the dynamics.
Anyway, my point is that my initial opinion of the Int base summed up in one word: slavery. I knew it clearly in 1984. So I tried life in the Sea Org another way and it worked grandly and was a total success.
After 2 1/2 years at the FSO, a few individuals started to target me particularly because I refused to be a slave like them. So in 1987 I petitioned CO CMO Int and was approved to transfer to Central Marketing Unit in LA. My petition was approved. In May, after I had replaced myself at the FSO, I loaded my motorcycle inside my street van, hitched my ski boat to the back and drove across country to Los Angeles.
Life in the SO in CMU was really thrilling… because it was run by two individuals who thought like I did — Ronnie Miscavige and Bill Dendiu. We worked hard, and Dianetics boomed and we had many adventures… until POB ordered that we move up to the Int base.
Based on my earlier experience, I refused to go back to Int. But various people assured me it had totally changed and wasn’t like it used to be. Now staff lived in an apartment complex in Hemet, a block from a shopping mall. And the rest of the story you can guess.
But, overall, is slavery a correct term for the condition of life at the Int base and now throughout the CoS? Hell yes. Are you joking? Just get the concept of HOW IT COULD BE. And suddenly HOW IT IS looks pretty damned sick. Maybe not so sick to someone who was raised in the USSR (Misha) but to someone who was raised in the USA, where every person is supposed to have certain freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and in the Bill of Rights, and suddenly someone is confiscating my passport and my car keys, declaring that I cannot drive my own car, declaring that I am “restricted to the base” for months at a time and cannot even sleep in my own bedroom with my own wife but instead have to sleep on the floor of my office or in a filthy trailer with dirty sheets crawling with ants actually IN THE BED? While not being paid because I have no “chow card” because the asshole I depend on to look at my scripts it took two months to write waits 6 months to a year to look at them, meanwhile I have no “stats?” And I’m on beans and rice the whole time. And on an “extended schedule” so I’m always tired due to sleep deprivation.
What other terms are there in the English language or any other language better suited to the CoS scenario except “freedom vs. enslavement?” There aren’t any. Those ARE the right words.
When Marty and I found ourselves sharing the same path in early 2009, I introduced him to Viktor Frankl and he introduced me to Frederick Douglass — both, towers of courage… for the ages. Those two books have everything to do with the Church of Scientology and Slave Master Miscavige.
How amazed I was to truly discovered that I had it right in the Summer of 1984.
🙂
Carol-you are so right.
Thoughtful, “How amazed I was to truly discovered that I had it right in the Summer of 1984″….indeed you did!
“Here is a man who was born into slavery but recognized he remained in that state first and foremost because he agreed to continue to do so on some level.”
The most important point of all, in my view…
Training and auditing are the real solutions for REAL freedom.Slavery and enslavement has been a long term dramatization on this planet.The second a bit of case moves in and takes over you are other-determined and a puppet in it’s grip. I’ve handled many people who are held hostage and suffocated by their own employees, their spouse, children and it ruins their lives. When I locate and handle what enslaved them in this situation its a miracle for them.
What is being discussed in this post is a very serious and planned out enslavement on a big scale. Depending on a persons case some are more susceptible to that much enslavement. There is a great quote from Responsibility of leaders ” Once as great a wrong as degrading beings has been done , there is , of course, no freedom short of freeing one from the depravity itself or at least from its most obvious influences in the society. In short,one would have to de-aberrate a man before his whole whole social structure could be de-aberrated.”
Haydn,
As you said, “Slaves that lined up each week in avid anticipation of receiving a paltry $12.50 as ‘pay’. I couldn’t figure out why it was only ever around $12.50 until I realized that was just enough for subsistence but not enough to finance escape. If these people received more they would save up money and leave.”
So true. Even minimum wage, which could have been afforded in the last few decades with the money that was being squeezed out of public Scientologists for no-service, would have been enough for an individual to save a little and have some freedom of choice.
Decades go by, and what can a senior Scientologist who is aware of the gross violations – who knows the spiral has been dwindling, who observes that true stats going down, down, down – do? – No skills, no nest egg, no family, no vehicle, no place to go, no clothes, no credit. The choice is not much more than: homeless or slave.
Leonore
PS. It took me some years before I realized that general staff were regging for the IAS because they got bonuses.
+ 900,000,000,000
Nothing to add. That was just about the best I’ve ever read. Thank you,
Ingrid, well stated!
Go Sergio!
I was not a slave to the church ever in most people’s books. One day I decided “I shall listen to these people no more”. I put down what I was doing in the church and literally asked “Now what can you really do about it?” It may surprise some that they even sent church members to my house to try and scare me. I have a policy is my book “Living with the truth is always a pleasure” and living and working with members of the Church of Scientology was not. Hence the truth. I have walked the walk and I am glad I did. 🙂 To all the people who challenge the authority and/or correctness of David Miscavige, give them a round of applause. THEY ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK to the truth and telling that idiot to get lost is the first step. 🙂
Marty, check out front page of Yahoo, me and Linda are on the head lines after talking to a reporter. Email me on ot7tom@gmail.com
Misha,
I recall vividly pointing out the PL MODEL HAT FOR AN EXECUTIVE, to my various and sundry seniors, in particular Ron Miscavige when I was a drummer in the Gold Musicians.
“Don’t confuse a clash of personalities, independence and lack of subservience with unwillingness to do. The military does this and look at it! If you only want a staff that won’t talk back, join the army-they punish people for communicating or deserting. Some very high-class bastards can do some high-class jobs.”
I never considered myself a slave either. But, on being declared and getting a $350,000 ‘freeloader’ debt I realized that meant I was being treated as one, an indentured servant, unable to work off my debt and willy-nilly, no matter how much exchange I’d put in, there was always a bill to pay. THAT is by definition peonage.
I can understand your position on this. I had the same one. But you and I are possibly exceptions, being large Boreal Bear types.
My needle is floating! 🙂 Ingrid, I have already learned more from this blog than I anticipated there was to even learn.
WH,
That post was a marvelous breath of fresh air, and compassion to boot.
It’s a big piece we’ve all bitten off, the renaissance of this world’s life force, and for sure the obstacles loom large, but with creative thought such as yours and a continuing to keep the spark, ignition and flames burning we’ve made some progress haven’t we.
(Sorry I missed you in Halifax. I’m in Oz. Roos, snakes, lizards, cows, sheeps, and a beautiful country side here in New South Wales.)
Steve,
Indeed, you live large bro’. That’s exactly how to do it. And am I ever happy to hear you did so and continue. Dang!! What a pleasure it is to have you as a friend and compatriot in this here game.
No, I haven’t, Marty, I know I should, point well taken.
Okay, Haydn, I understand, thank you..
Tom – what are we looking for? I just looked at Yahoo and didnt see you? What’s the story?
Tara,
Thank you, this is also available as pdf download of the book at the following:
http://antislavery.eserver.org/narratives/narrativeofthelife/narrativeofthelife.pdf/view
Click to access DOUNAY.pdf
Click to access Narrative-Douglass.pdf
Click to access lifeFrederickDouglass.pdf
entire book online
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23/23-h/23-h.htm
This is well worth the download for all to read and share with their friends. I have not completed it but it is absolutely worth the time to read. Thank you all for pointing this valuable asset out.
Audio book also available for free at:
audio books mp3
http://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/audiobooks/Douglas/mp3/douglasmp3.htm
audio book m4b (audio format for iPod)
http://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/audiobooks/Douglas/m4b/douglasm4b.htm
In the USA most of what there is in the way of servitude is VOLUNTARY servitude. The point of volunteering is birth certificate, followed by socialist slavestate number and then driver’s license. Each one of those items is obtained at the expense of relinquishing certain powers of attorney and/or signing, under penalty of perjury, that you are a “US citizen” and a resident of the “State Of …..” which means, legally, that you agree that you derive your citizenship via the 14th ammendment to the US Constitution, which gave a limited, subject class of citizenship to the freed slaves, since they were not white and therefore could not be made Citizens of their respective states. BTW, that is not being racist, that is stating a historical truth about the nature of law in this country … that would make govt. at the state level the biggest racists of all for not ammending their constitutions to permit Citizenship for other than whites.
Bottom line … we have accepted all manner of taxation and limitations on our right to travel, right to keep and bear arms, right to medicate ourselves as we see fit (even if we make foolish choices) etc. all as part of signing on to birth registration, marriage licensure, use of socialist slavestate numbers, vehicle registration, and driver’s licenses.
To this day, there is no law requiring a license to marry; no law requiring the registration of birth of our sons and daughters with the state; no law requiring anyone to apply for or obtain an SSN; no law requiring anyone to register their private conveyance with the state thereby making it a “motor vehicle”; no law requiring a citizen to have or use an SSN to work in this country (notice I did not use the word “employ”); and no APPLICABLE law to a Citizen (not a “person”) that would prohibit the use of any substance for medical reasons, up to and including self medication against the condition of sobriety.
Lots of luck attempting to assert your rights.
Pete
I find this to be an enlightening expansion upon the “PTS to the middle class” comment made by LRH: “The bulk of your PTSes may very well be PTS to a class, the middle class of which their particular SP is simply a member. Few of them realize this or even that the middle class (bourgeoisie) ARE very suppressive to anyone who tries to do something in the world besides support the system. My attitude in this is that both the capitalist and communist are alike old hat and a bore, that they’ve made a ruddy mess of things, exhausted the planet and, with their senseless wars, smashed up mankind.”
This is becoming even more apparent as the economy crumbles….almost like an enforced group death wish…
I was referring to Thoughtful above on my comment here.
Steve-You make freedom sound like alot of fun-I’m having so much more fun myself these days-Do people like John Allender or Nurse Rached look like they are having fun? The Adams family looks uptone by comparison.
Marty,
This post inspired me to actually pick up and read a copy of Frederick Douglass’s autobiography. Thank you for a writeup that moved me to action. Now, with that perspective, a couple of comments.
1. The description in Chapter 6 of Douglass’s first mistress in Baltimore, Mrs. Auld, is interesting. At first, unused to the idea of having slaves, she’s nice to Douglass. But then the institution of slavery draws her in and turns her into a monster. This gives some indicator of how the majority of people when promoted to management in the CoS who were OK before turn out to be monsters. I’m not talking about how sociopaths adjust, I’m talking about how normal people get corrupted.
2. I like the parallels between Douglass’s story about how he learned to read, learning the alphabet from Mrs. Auld, who quickly stops teaching him to read when Mr. Auld forbids it. The desire to free his mind by reading is overpowering, and Douglass learns to read as best he can, taught “on the fly” by some of the poor white kids in his neighborhood, until he sees the truth. And the truth poisons the institution of slavery. Particularly powerful: “It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate. The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever.” This certainly sounds like some of the stories of the people who have declared independence on your blog have come to that point — first, the basics of knowledge, then more scraps from friends (in the modern CoS case, truth gleaned a fragment at a time from the Internet) and then the dawning realization that can not be suppressed no matter what the master’s lash may threaten.
3. When Douglass talks about teaching some of his fellow slaves to read, he said that they had to pretend they were out drinking and carousing, “for they had much rather see us engaged in those degrading sports, than to see us behaving like intellectual, moral, and accountable beings.” I’m reminded of the story about the game of Musical Chairs — management getting the slaves to play the ultimate degrading sport instead of teaching staff how to run the business better.
4. But probably the best relevant quote in the whole book is this: “I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless
one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.” I think this covers what I’ve read here and elsewhere about life in the SO.
A couple of questions to understand the dimensions of the problem: How many people do you think there are in the Sea Org at the current time? How many people working at HQ in LA, whether SO or not? I am sure the 10,000 figure given for SO membership in some places by the CoS is horribly inflated.
And what percentage of those who have joined the Sea Org in the last 10 years are children of CoS members (public or staff)? Those are the ones who don’t have any real choice in the matter – the real slaves. The stories about those kids essentially being grabbed without full parental knowledge and consent are heart-breaking. While I’ve sometimes fantasized about how my boys might have done better getting some discipline from a hitch in the (real) Navy, I can’t imagine how miserable it must be for kids to get tricked into the SO. Nothing reflects worse on the depravity of the CoS as an organization that literally devours the children of its members.
–John P.
The CofS practices slavery and is the very worst of slave owners. The separation of families – husbands from wives and parents from children all for the perceived benefit of the Church, more productivity squeezed out of each slave – is a dramatization of this. The organization has an culture of abuse – physical, verbal, emotional,
and psychological – which traps people and makes them fearful and unable to act. People just don’t understand that members are just trying to survive somehow.
“Slavery is masquerading as religion and in a perverse twist of fate is
using a movement that had total freedom as its goal.”
Although diametrically opposed to the true goals of any religion’s origins, have they not ALL ended up in the same soup?
It might be a perverse twist of fate but it is regretfully common.
One only needs to view a recent post in which it was recommended to know the PTS/SP information to see why that is. The bad guys like to “masquerade themselves in help”. Indeed, it is one of their stocks in trade. And not to say that this is the rule of people who align themselves with something that helps but when it comes to attracting the slime, a fellow had better know the potential downside of his “well-meaning associates” before walking down the aisle with his faith and goodness of nature.
And when it’s all said and done, and perhaps things go awry, the majority of the people sit back and do nothing. Maybe that is because, as TWTH points out, good intentioned people are easy to fool. Or maybe it is their failure to confront.
Nevertheless here we are.
The only solution is education for those that will. And make no mistake; they are the torch bearers of freedom.
Steve-O,
Fantastic account of your years in the S.O. You really are a shining example of the Spirit of Play! After I joined in ’85, I too had a great time and did many fun things as well as my post duties and beyond.
All of that changed when Miscavige came to the fore after LRH’s death. Things started to get a lot more serious. The flow up the bridge stopped. Regging for things other than training and processing became top priority. The materials started to change. Things were now “Based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard” instead of “By L. Ron Hubbard”. The organizational structure became a top down dictatorship instead of an information, evaluation and programs resource for orgs.
The list of outpoints, unfortunately, goes on and on…
Fortunately, I found Marty in 2009. The first book he had me read was Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Soon after I read “Narrative” and the Tao. I still have “Malcom X” and “The Sociopath Next Door” to go, but I’ll soon be caught up.
Come to think of it, I’d better read, re-read and listen to my Scientology materials too. Lots of good reading on the horizon!
Thanks for the inspirational comment Steve, You’re a great example of a free being!
“So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so: for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men”. –Voltaire.
Wow Haydn, that blew my mind.
+1
Yes, in Twain’s “Puddin’ Head Wilson” the Slave “Valet de Chambers” was 1/32 African, and was the spitting image of the master’s son. This was common.
Leonore,
The inconsistency here is that a “senior Scientologist” who has been in for decades is supposedly way up the Bridge by then and ought to be a lot more able than when s/he started out. If this were true, s/he could start anew; even a Pro TRs grad is supposed to be “able to handle any situation by communication alone”. Let alone finding some kind of a job for pay.
So how could it be that such a person could not get a job of some kind once out?
Any staff scientologist has a LOT of skills! Or ought to have them by then. The fact that anyone feels s/he can’t do it, is an indictment of the training they received and the “Church” that has suppressed their self-confidence to that extent!
Mike, it is still on yahoo front page, but under local. Send me your email and I will send yo the link for it. It is about the Ideal Org here in Phx. Linda and I commented to the local paper and yahoo picked it up.
ML Tom
OT7tom at gmail dot com
Martin, and I believe therein lies the answer as to why the power structure and it’s FBI is so reluctant to investigate and act against the CoS. The reported abuses by CoS – slavery and human trafficking – are all too similar to the what you describe the prison systems is doing
State and Federal governments are heavily invested in doing essentially the same thing the CoS is doing, possibly with only a little more justification because the inmates of prisons usually have broken some law.
Of course the way to create more criminals is to legislate more crimes into existence, creating the potential for more cheap labor.
Having a “prison industry” creates jobs, with the bills being footed by the taxpayers.
Very good Lawrence. Me too, I said to myself “They are not to judge me anymore”. And that was the end of it.
This post is not intended to offend anyone, but it can be a bit hard for Buddhists to confront. I posted it about a year and a half ago on The Scientology Forum, and got some strong reactions.
Tibet under Buddhist Lamas: Religious Utopia or Religious Gulag?
Buddhism is often idealized in the West today, and the Dalai Lama is regarded as one of the supreme symbols of benevolent religious
leadership, and a nice guy besides. Buddhists are depicted as non-violent seekers of “Awakening”, “Enlightenment”, “Nirvana”, and
Buddhist teachings are sold as the Way to achieve these “higher states”. But are they really?
A closer look at Tibetan Buddhism and the rule of Lamas in the Tibetan religious state shows a completely different picture.
There are incredible parallels between David Miscavige’s Church of Scientology, and how the Tibetan Buddhist Lamas
ruled tibet right up until 1959 when the Han Chinese invaded and took over tibet.
I’ve excerpted a few paragraphs from one article about tibet below. I think anyone can see the similarities between how the CoS is run,
and how old tibet was run. There are more similarities, and I recommend reading the entire article, available at this link:
http://www.michaelparenti.org/tibet.html
Here are some excerpts:
SUPPRESSION OF FREE THOUGHT AND DIFFERENCES
“In 1792, many Kagyu monasteries were confiscated and their monks were forcibly converted to the Gelug sect (the Dalai Lama’s denomination).
The Gelug school, known also as the “Yellow Hats,” showed little tolerance or willingness to mix their teachings with other Buddhist sects.
In the words of one of their traditional prayers: “Praise to you, violent god of the Yellow Hat teachings/who reduces to particles of
dust/ great beings, high officials and ordinary people/ who pollute and corrupt the Gelug doctrine.” An eighteenth-century memoir of a
tibetan general depicts sectarian strife among Buddhists that is as brutal and bloody as any religious conflict might be. This grim
history remains largely unvisited by present-day followers of tibetan Buddhism in the West.”
LIVING HIGH WHILE IMPOVERSHING OTHERS
“Drepung monastery was one of the biggest landowners in the world, with its 185 manors, 25,000 serfs, 300 great pastures, and 16,000
herdsmen. The wealth of the monasteries rested in the hands of small numbers of high-ranking lamas. Most ordinary monks lived modestly
and had no direct access to great wealth. The Dalai Lama himself “lived richly in the 1000-room, 14-story Potala Palace.”
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
“In old tibet there were small numbers of farmers who subsisted as a kind of free peasantry, and perhaps an additional 10,000 people who
composed the “middle-class” families of merchants, shopkeepers, and small traders. Thousands of others were beggars. There also were
slaves, usually domestic servants, who owned nothing. Their offspring were born into slavery. The majority of the rural population
were serfs. Treated little better than slaves, the serfs went without schooling or medical care, They were under a lifetime bond to work
the lord’s land–or the monastery’s land–without pay, to repair the lord’s houses, transport his crops, and collect his firewood. They
were also expected to provide carrying animals and transportation on demand. Their masters told them what crops to grow and what animals
to raise. They could not get married without the consent of their lord or lama. And they might easily be separated from their families
should their owners lease them out to work in a distant location.”
“YOU PULLED IT IN.”
“The theocracy’s religious teachings buttressed its class order. The poor and afflicted were taught that they had brought their troubles
upon themselves because of their wicked ways in previous lives. Hence they had to accept the misery of their present existence as a
karmic atonement and in anticipation that their lot would improve in their next lifetime. The rich and powerful treated their good
fortune as a reward for, and tangible evidence of, virtue in past and present lives.”
TORTURE
“In feudal tibet, torture and mutilation–including eye gouging, the pulling out of tongues, hamstringing, and amputation–were favored
punishments inflicted upon thieves, and runaway or resistant serfs. Journeying through tibet in the 1960s, Stuart and Roma Gelder
interviewed a former serf, Tsereh Wang Tuei, who had stolen two sheep belonging to a monastery. For this he had both his eyes gouged out
and his hand mutilated beyond use. He explains that he no longer is a Buddhist: “When a holy lama told them to blind me I thought there
was no good in religion.” Since it was against Buddhist teachings to take human life, some offenders were severely lashed and then “left
to God” in the freezing night to die. “The parallels between tibet and medieval Europe are striking,” concludes Tom Grunfeld in his book
on tibet.”
SEXUAL DEGRADATION
“Young tibetan boys were regularly taken from their peasant families and brought into the monasteries to be trained as monks. Once there,
they were bonded for life. Tashì-Tsering, a monk, reports that it was common for peasant children to be sexually mistreated in the
monasteries. He himself was a victim of repeated rape, beginning at age nine. The monastic estates also conscripted children for lifelong
servitude as domestics, dance performers, and soldiers.”
Here’s that link again: http://www.michaelparenti.org/tibet.html
It appears David Miscavige may have patterned his restructuring of the CoS on a study of the tibetan Lamas, more than on anything he picked
up from LRH, as some “critics” would have it.
Or perhaps all this is a dramatization of behaviors, goals, and patterns already existing deep in the human psyche, and are not actually learned by person-to-person transmission.
It has happened repeatedly in human history around the world in different societies and cultures, and continues to happen today in many
places, including the CoS as run by DM.
Tibet under Buddhist Lamas: Religious Utopia or Religious Gulag? Here’s the link to that thread:
http://www.scnforum.org/index.php?t=msg&goto=13024&S=44e69f20e3f8e9c61ceb5f0839181e46&srch=Tibet#msg_13024
Wanted to share this kick ass statement by Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC in regard to the issues surrounding the #OccupyWallStreet protests. The truth is cracking through here and there:
Slavery manifests in many forms. Slave owners become enslaved to their MEST. Women become enslaved to their children. Workers become enslaved to their boss. You cannot own land in America anymore. The government owns it all and rents it back you under the category of “property tax”. Which means people remain in economic slavery for their life for a home. The banks own many slaves who work feverishly to pay their mortgage and credit card and car payments. And you can also manage all of the above and not feel like a slave at all. It has to do with your willingness and desire. Once you fall below curious about or desire on the CDEI scale you are in a slavery situation. Scientology only works on people who are in desire of it or curious about it. I have been a slave many times and felt more free than anyone in my midst. Free from self importance. Free from names and identities. You are right Marty, it is a state of mind. I always remain curious about the other people. Each one so different and magical.
Whatever I have been, it has been my pleasure to see and know other people. I find Scientologists to be the most interesting and the Scientology to be the most magical. We are the free-est I know. We have good karma.
I was born into this nightmare of the SO. I escaped later into a world I did not know. I wanted to make some interesting parallels:
“libs” the word is ironically called liberty day. In the eighties one had to get a CSW approved by every senior on the org board. it was hard to get a day of liberty. In the monetize and later it became treason to even think of taking time off. John P made an interesting comment about people becoming monsters, people in Dept 3, executives at the int base and anyone at a higher org than Gold treated others like total trash. The RPF and the RPFs RPF are powerful conditioning tools. I think the threat of the RPF is so strong that it keeps one “in line”. Physical beatings were another factor. I got into several physical fights with people at the base and while on the RPf in my early teens. I have had wins in Scientology but I also was there because I wanted to become an OT. After a while I lost interest for the more “OT” the more psychotic people have become. David Miscavige is a true monster, corruptor and ensnarer of fools. It enrages me still that my mom and dad bought into this and dragged myself and my sibling into this nightmare. I never got 50 dollars a week pay by the way in my 16 years in the SO. I also dished out a lot of misery on others. The se org is a slave camp. No doubt about it. I would never had joined. But then all of us were hitting the kool-aid pretty hard.
“I couldn’t figure out why it was only ever around $12.50 until I realized that was just enough for subsistence but not enough to finance escape.”
Holy crap! I never looked at it like that before but it’s completely true.
Thanks for the new viewpoint. I similarly had the idea that I was doing what I wanted to do but when times got really bad there was no way out…
Add to that the comm lines to the outside world were completely cut so it is almost impossible to get help.
Leaving can mean literally having to jump out of windows as I did – it’s not heroic – sometimes it’s the only option left.
+1
Thoughtful,
Great post…if it isn’t fun it isn’t Scientology is the truth of it!
I know when I was on staff, there was a great many of the staff who didn’t take vacation time, and didn’t get audited, and just ran on a can’t have because even way back when, there was a solid group agreement to be in sacrafice. That’s not living, that is devoid of life. The SO obviously has the worst of it, being directly under POB. However, the class 5 Orgs have their own brand of solidity and agreement: one needs to work to pay rent and eat etc, but the time off for this is very limited because staff comes first, so it is a perpetual PTP for many staff and attempting to have dynamics other than the Org is difficult at best. Even the idea of operating on other dynamics is sometimes called “other fish to fry”. Some guys do okay, but there are only so many hours in a day so if you work full time and do your post then their is no time for hatting or personal training…what a grind!
In theory, the SO should be the best gig…just produce your post and be on hatting, but ofcourse it is just slave mentality all the way. What really got me is when PoB took away family time. Why should he care though, he has no family…where is Shelly?? what happened to his brother? where are alot of people is evidently the question of the day.
Marty,
I really like the Fredrick Douglas reference, and what is real to me is the ‘mental shackles” that I adopted while being an active Scientologist and staff member. I really thought that I did my own thinking as a Scientologist, which is why I woke up prior to finding this blog, but was pleasantly surprised (undestatement!) to find that I wasn’t the lone ranger in my views. Since that time, I have learned so much of what others have gone through outside of my own family. Still, over the last few years, I have amazed myself with the amount of ideas about things that I accepted at face value. I have to constantly examine and throw away “think” that has no basis in fact or reality.
It sickens me to hear what others have had to endure and to now look at Scientology (the group) the way the “sp’s” and “wogs’ look at it- a dangerous cult, thanks to the SP who is now running it (into the ground).
What is worse is that it doesn’t have to be this way!
I have been to Douglas’ home in D.C.. It is a large house with a separate space outside in the back where he did his writings. The view from the home is spectacular, since he is on a hill and the Capitol Building is clearly in sight. He used to walk there often. But the Most impressive thing you see when you enter the house is a stunning set of China. It was a gift to him from the Queen of England. From the place he began, no more needs to be said.
Update on petitions signed as of Thursday, AM October 13th,
as of signature #2,790
The top ten states:
1. 420 California
2. 168 Florida
3. 145 Texas
4. 114 New York
5. 91 Washington
6. 75 Illinois
7. 66 Ohio
8. 65 Oregon
9. 58 Massachusetts
10. 57 Pennsylvania
Next in line:
11. 56 Arizona
12. 45 Michigan
13. 44 Missouri
14. 42 Georgia, Virginia
15. 41 North Carolina
16. 40 Minnesota Tennessee
17. 38 Colorado, New Jersey, Tennessee
18. 35 Maryland
signing with no location indicated.
613 no location indicated (still takes the overall lead in numbers)
for those not in the U.S.
60 from outside the U.S. or didn’t recognize city, no state indicated
(I’m off a few, but close enough for practical purposes)
Sunday PM petition posted September 25th
Monday, did not get a count
very early Tues had 1,004 signatures (Sunday and Monday)
very early Wed had 357 additional signatures
very early Thurs had 245 additional signatures
very early Friday had 130 additional signatures
very early Saturday had 97 additional signatures
very early Sunday had 85 additional signatures
very early Wednesday had 248 additional signatures (for 3 days, Sun, Mon, Tues)
mid morning Thursday had 68 additional signatures
very early Friday had 67 additional signatures
very early Saturday had 100 additional signatures
very early Sunday had 95 additional signature (earlier typo of 85)
very early Monday had 85 additional signatures
very early Tuesday had 71 additional signatures
very early Wednesday had 72 additional signatures
very early Thursday had 66 additional signatures
Strong statement Revenimus.
Valkov,
You’re not one of us who were in this position I suspect. There’s a big difference between theoretical and practical – until you’ve been there you can’t really say what it means or does to you to contemplate grabbing your bootstraps and making that jump let alone DOING it. In so many words you say that it’s a given that there’s a parachute due to the training of even Pro TRs. I know you’ve been reading this blog for a long time now so you know the factors that are in play include an indoctrination that you’re spiritual freedom is dependent upon doing and thinking as you’ve been programmed, that the “wog world” is nothing but a reactive mob of insanity, out-ethics, greed, stupidity and incompetence and that leaving your position in the church sentences you to a downward spiral caused by your “contraction as a being because you are cutting your responsibility by choosing to play a smaller game”. That invalidation includes those who leave the SO to have children. That purpose is basically viewed as reactive mind behavior within the church and invalidated further by passing around the enemy lines that “there’s no such thing as a family, a parent, a child per se. To drive this indoctrination home the church indoctrination says these “labels” (family, parent, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, grandparents, mom, dad etc) are a “lie”, a self-imbued significance that is trivial and even destructive to the church expansion which is equal to saving the world. This is party line used to ease everyone in to “disconnection from family” (shhhh, this doesn’t really exist though wink wink).
Your post here does make me wonder what would happen in the Pro TRs course rooms if the bullbaiting started to include the threats and dramatizations of the church against you if you leave the church. In all my experience I can say that was a category of bullbait I never heard in the course room…
Back to the main point Valkov is this – putting ones final products obtained from training to the test is not as simple as it sounds when you write it like you did even though it’s understood why one could think it is when the valuable secondary product of the course is as you say. It’s not a black and white world most of the time.
WOW Thoughtful,
In a few short words you created duplication of LIVING as I too think life is to be lived and would be if LRH’s Tech was actually understood and used to contribute to such motions and expresssions. Thank you for that ride!
Btw I’m on a cell phone and I wrote nineties and it changed it to “monetize”. I may have been a little harsh. While it was a terrible existence for the first part of my life, it has only enriched my “rebirth” so to say.
CP, I think you’d find the book fascinating: prevention of education was isolated as the most effective tool of the enslaver.
Thanks for these observations John.
I was attacked quite severely last year, here on this blog, (not by Marty) for suggesting the Sea Organization was a Cult and should be disbanded. Frankly, it was more educational to me that some would still cling to a notion, even after years of decompression outside in cases, that the SO was a noble enterprise and smart management structure. That somehow there could exist a benign fascist, total authoritarian version of it where it would be a lovely thing to partake in.
I guess my estimation of how deep the case runs, how corruptible people are and how completely unworkable that institution is once it grew beyond a few people led by LRH, is borderline cynical, but I still look at it that way.
LRH admonished repeatedly that if it doesn’t work, discard it.
I still say, ditch the SO for good.
Steve,
The way in which you write, just sucks me right in. I felt like I was right there with you on all those adventures, even though I was never in the SO.
Great points!
Bryan
Nice quote and write-up.
I so love to find an auditor DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
No cold, chrome-steel, permission required.
Inspiring!
Wow Valkov
Thanks for posting this. What interesting parallels.
I’m leaning towards the implanted bank-pattern theory. The dramatization keeps coming up all over the world. Maoist cultural revolution. Stalin purges and slaughters. Nazi rise to power and death camps. Now this about Tibet. All corrupt cults with a very similar basic dramatization.
I do not think David Miscavige ever studied anything except his prepared speeches, income stats and harrassment operations reports traffic.
It is kick-ass. Right on the money (pun intended). Thanks!
Thoughful,
Thank you for sharing. That story “indicated”.
GMW
For anyone visiting the DC area, here is the National Park Service web site:
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
Valkov,
Thanks for the post. As you probably know, I follow the Theravadan tradition and we do not follow the Lamas.
However, I have read stories about Buddhist Sri Lanka in the middle ages. The monks became land holders of vast estates. Also, the system did become corrupt.
Our current problem here in the United States is that some monks come to this country from Asia and get very “Americanized” and dis-robe.
I have seen this happen in the last 5 years at out Vihara.
We have a ‘forest tradition’ which produces the most virtuous monks and these monks are long term meditators. These monks are expanding now into the USA.
Recently, we have been listening to many American monks who have now reached very high levels. These are the monks who came out of Berkeley and other colleges in 1960’s. They are now in their 70-80’s. They were trained in Burma and Thailand by the great masters.
In Theravada, we spend so much time in meditation and chanting and so we loose touch with controversy.
Much loving-kindness,
GMW
Valkov. You seem to intend on taking Bhuddism down a notch from the spiritual pedestal some would have it rest upon. As interesting as the parallels are between ORGANIZATIONS, whether Bhuddist, Christian, Scientology, I dont think you can stretch it to the teachings of the Bhudda any more than you can attack Jesus for the tortures of the Catholic church in the dark ages and beyond.
If there is a point to be made I would grant that its the inherent dangers of any organization to reward and glorify itself rather than stay true to the teachings upon which it was founded.
I would not confuse or diminish the teachings of the Bhudda based upon the practices of any of the sects which sprang from it. Your examples of Tibetan religious society and its shortcommings and abuses confirm that the Tibetans are no more free from self-interest and extreme abuses than the Italians. To me it was a confirmation that mans weakness is universal and I thank you for the information
Great post, very thought provoking.
The slave vs the slave master is a powerful GPM throughout history.Enforced ignorance seems to be the common denominator in all of the slave-making activities. This aligns with the modus operandi of implanting activities up and down the track.
My observation thus far is that until one fully grasps the mechanics of and audits out all four flows of the game of “lets play GPMs,” one will to some degree remain a slave or a master.
It seems to me that there are a growing number of beings who get it.
Tom & Linda are mentioned in this article:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2011-10-13/news/scientology-s-newly-purchased-ideal-org-building-in-phoenix-will-become-a-recruiting-tool-once-the-last-of-its-tenants-gets-kicked-out/
Sergio,
I’m glad you are here. 🙂 Laura Ann Wilson
Thank you, Hayden and Marty. I am anxious to read the book!
Here is the direct link to the petition.
http://wh.gov/4Os
Some people have had trouble signing it, and these are helpful instructions:
1) Click this link to sign up for White House account to register
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/user/register
You do NOT have to fill in a zip code.
You do not have to give your real name if you prefer not to.
People from all countries can sign.
2) Check your email to confirm your registration
3) Then click this link and sign the petition
http://wh.gov/4Os
😀
Irrespective of GPMs, the mechanisms discovered by Douglass will always be in play as long as there is greed.
i agree. That’s why I think you find those who “get it” aren’t greedy.
Les
Good commentary. Thank you, I have ordered the book.
I tend to agree, WN. The patterns are in the mind, waitng to be activated. That’s how it was during the Dark Ages in Europe, too. Many of the people were serfs, the Church controlled information and withheld education and literacy from the majority of the people. It was a “typical” feudal system much like Tibet.
It seems like having an educated populace is a rather new idea, and controlling information is that much harder for the powers-that-be, but they try, they try.
George,
I was sorry to post the article. It is not the kind of thing I like to dwell on.
I thought of you and windhorse and other perfectly fine Buddhists I know or know of, and I felt sad.
But I guess in the end this is something that must be faced, just as Christians and their Inquisitions, Germans and WWII, Moslems and their suicide bombers etc. Nobody’s perfect, the low side of human nature exists and must be dealt with.
I think LRH wrote about it in 8-8008 when he referred to the MEST universe and the paradoxes inherent in trying to live and survive in it, and be ethical at the same time. But it also brings to mind a book titled “Why Can’t We Be Good?” which led me to this quote from 2,000 years ago, of St.Paul:
“For the good that I would do, I do not; but
the evil I would not do, that I do. Now if I
would not do, it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwells in me. I find then a
law that, when I would do good, evil is
present with me. For I delight in the law of
God after the inward man; but I see another
law in my members, warring against the law
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. 0
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?”
A nearly perfect insight into the reactivity, ignorance, and aberration that a human being struggles with or sometimes dies in the attempt. Hopefully even in the depths of the darkest of us, those that have apparently lost the struggle, that basic divine spark of consciousness still lives, waiting to be reborn into a better life. I believe it.
George, ,windhorse and all you brothers and sisters out there, may all you beings be well and happy, and of still and blissful mind.
This is a very important point you make, JF. Thanks for making it.
It has become part of our struggle now, today, to differentiate the Scientology philosophy itself from the aberrated organization that the “Church of Scientology” has become.
Just as other religions have been put in the position of having to differentiate their actual guiding principles and ideals from any unworthy and impure deeds of some of their “followers”, just as you say.
Buddhism is indeed squarely in the great tradition of “Reason and the Contemplation Of Optimum Survival”.
Hi everyone. I am a practicing Tibetan Buddhist, and have been following this blog with quite a keen interest. The activities of the CoS are not unfamiliar to me, but this blog is really a major wake-up call – or perhaps more pertinently… an awakening.
First and foremost, I just want to say that I am shocked and saddened, yet ultimately inspired by the many personal stories that have been shared here throughout the past couple of years. It is amazing to see the meeting of minds that is occurring here during these difficult times, and I would like to extend my support as a practitioner from outside the fold.
Having said that, I would like to address some points within the above post; just as one would hope to make a distinction between Scientology and the pernicious character that has permeated the CoS, I think it’s important to make a correct distinction between Buddhist practice, and the abuse that can occur in some political, cultural, and religious institutions. Bear in mind that I am not making a distinction between the Tibetan Buddhist religious structures in general and the practise of Buddhism as a whole, as I believe both are beneficial and worth preserving.
Valkov, as your post is very long, I will just address a few key points.
— Buddhists are depicted as non-violent seekers of “Awakening”, “Enlightenment”, “Nirvana”, and
Buddhist teachings are sold as the Way to achieve these “higher states”. But are they really? —
I think here, it is important not to generalize about “Buddhists”, who, by and large, really are seekers of enlightenment through the force of compassion, according to how the dharma teachings have been set forth by Buddha. Of course I am sure you know this!
— In the words of one of their traditional prayers: “Praise to you, violent god of the Yellow Hat teachings/who reduces to particles of
dust/ great beings, high officials and ordinary people/ who pollute and corrupt the Gelug doctrine.” […] This grim history remains largely unvisited by present-day followers of tibetan Buddhism in the West.” —
This is indeed an unfortunate piece of work and has caused much controversy to this very day; yes, it has been addressed at large. As a non-sectarian, I find it to be particularly appalling. This propitiation did gain some popularity amongst the Gelugpa sect in the past; however, today the Dalai Lama has spoken out very strongly against it on many occasions. It is only a scant few who follow it now – and it is strongly frowned upon by all schools, including Gelug. Long story!
I think it is also worth noting that the previous Dalai Lamas, as the figurehead(s) of the Gelug school, also learned from and practised other traditions. Of course, the Gelug reign most certainly did cause serious problems for other lineages at times. This was responded to by a movement called Rimé (non-sectarian), whereby practitioners from the other major schools had undertaken studies and practices within each other’s traditions. Today, this movement is very fertile and also encompasses the Gelug school too; there is a lot of goodwill between traditions, whilst the idiosyncratic tenets and practices of the different lineages are kept distinct.
— [on serfdom] —
I think it’s best to point you to this resource on Wikipedia, which is a more balanced view:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Tibet_controversy
— “The theocracy’s religious teachings buttressed its class order. The poor and afflicted were taught that they had brought their troubles
upon themselves because of their wicked ways in previous lives. Hence they had to accept the misery of their present existence as a karmic atonement and in anticipation that their lot would improve in their next lifetime. —
Whilst this lazy way of thinking may have infused some sectors of the culture, the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism – and the masters who have upheld it in all traditions – make a special point of criticizing this view of karma. These teachings stress that since all karma is based upon causes and conditions, it is subject to change through spiritual practice. The karmic tendencies of many previous lives can be eradicated and enlightenment can be attained in this very lifetime, regardless of one’s current situation. Circumstances can change.
— “In feudal tibet, torture and mutilation–including eye gouging, the pulling out of tongues,hamstringing, and amputation–were favoured punishments inflicted upon thieves —
Unfortunately, this kind of thing did occur. It is absolutely inexcusable and it goes without saying that it was a horrid political device. Thankfully, the ruling 13th Dalai Lama put an official end to it.
— It appears David Miscavige may have patterned his restructuring of the CoS on a study of the tibetan Lamas —
Again, I don’t think it’s right to conflate the majority of sincere Buddhists past and present – lamas or otherwise – with these atrocities. Actually, the term “lama” really just means “teacher” and doesn’t necessarily apply to political rulers as much as it does to esteemed masters who guide myriad students through their individual spiritual journeys. This principle was not a formulation within Tibet, as is sometimes thought, but has its origins in Indian Buddhism.
I make these points because, in many ways, the practise of Buddhism flourished in Tibet. It was the only country where every “form” of Buddhism (whichever one chooses to adhere to) was collected and widely disseminated to the public. This widespread adoption and dissemination of fundamental Buddhist dharma is the primary reason why we have such a rich and vibrant Tibetan Buddhist tradition in the West today.
I think we can all learn something from the serious mistakes that were made in Tibet – it certainly wasn’t the Shangri-La that it’s often been made out to be – but I also hope that, more than anything, we’re able to draw strength and knowledge from the perseverance of the exiled Tibetans and their wealth of ancient wisdom teachings, to this day.
Thanks. 🙂
Wow Steve! What a theta booster! Fortunately, the OTs there when I first joined staff were uptone and theta and far removed from Int.
Unfortunately, in the late ’90s the new OTs who took over were DM darlings who stamped out of existence anything that didn’t line their own pockets.
“Let the slaves see their shackles and ask for release”
Oracle,
That was certainly sprinkled with kernels of wisdom. Thank you.