Russell Miller’s book is finally going to be published in the U.S. apparently. An interview with Miller was posted on Tony Ortega’s blog this morning. I read the book last year. I actually thought I had read it back in the eighties when it was published. After all, I helped direct and coordinate the abusive litigation tactics that drove his U.S. publisher into dropping the project. When I read the book, I recognized that in fact I had never read it all those years back. It was lingering cult delusion that made me think I had. In the eighties I had only read summaries and ‘dead agent’ packs compiled by Office of Special Affairs. Even in the past couple years I have referred to Miller as a propagandist; that was before actually having read the book. What I found remarkable about the thorough read I did was how balanced and even-handed Miller was about L. Ron Hubbard. It is not a wholesale condemnation. While I don’t attest to the accuracy of all his facts, for the most part the book covers a lot of irrefutable history pretty accurately.
As Miller noted in his interview, the nature of the legal attacks upon the book, similar to the defenses in Rathbun v. Miscavige incidentally, revolve around strained (read invented) intellectual property rights theories. If the book were inherently dishonest there would have been claims based on defamation theories. But as we have noted previously, to Scientology the purpose of the suit is to not to win, but instead to harass.
Mr. Miller makes reference to a profanity-laced Scientology outburst about the book during the legal proceedings. The actual quotation is interesting. It is a quotation from the deposition of Norman F. Starkey, then executor of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard. It appears in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York Opinion:
2. Norman Starkey, the Executor of Hubbard’s estate who licensed plaintiff to exploit the Hubbard copyrights stated in his deposition: “That scum bag book is full of bullshit, man, and you know it. It is full of bullshit…. goddam, fucking bullshit.” (Gready Aff.Exh. A, p. 94.)
If you think that language is strong, you should have heard Miscavige’s reaction to Starkey nearly blowing millions of dollars of litigation fees on that one infantile, albeit honest, outburst. One of the most remarkable feats in the litigation was overcoming that clear evidence that the real Scientology complaint about Miller’s book was that it did not like the facts being aired, and not that it was suffering any harm by having copyrighted works quoted. But, again as Miller notes the U.S. legal system has some flaws, and Scientology has perfected the ruthless, if expensive, exploitation of them.
As to the man in the red sports car following Mr. Miller in Los Angeles, that in fact was the infamous Eugene M. Ingram. Ingram made so much Scientology money by his aggressive, noisy investigative tactics that he bought himself two shiny new sports cars (a Mitsubishi 3000GT and a Lotus Esprit), one with gold-plated mag hubs. In his inimitable style he wore loud, flashy Hawaiian shirts during his stake outs with those bright low riders. When I reported on the flap of Ingram being so easily and regularly made because of his audacious ways, David Miscavige ordered that Ingram be encouraged to be even more loud and noticeable, ‘it’s supposed to be a noisy investigation, isn’t it?’ Incidentally, that is what ‘ensuring the orthodox practice of the scriptures’ that Scientology lawyers are paid so much to repeat interminably is all about.
I apologize publicly to Mr. Miller for my involvement in the investigative tactics designed to shudder him into silence, and the unlawful abuse of legal process to block publication in the United States and cost his publishers inordinate sums in other countries.
I encourage people to purchase his book once available and read it. Not just because it will make me feel a bit better about my own efforts to suppress it, but because I believe it is essential reading for anyone involved with Scientology.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 
Thanks for the input on this subject, Marty. You were in a position that allows you to comment with authority on Russell Miller’s handling by the COS. I’m glad you are doing just that.
I found his book, way back in the 80’s, mis-shelved in a library section where I was doing research for school. It caught my interest, and I was familiar with the subject from a friend who’d been badly treated by the “church”, Jeff Hawkins’ TV ads, and a copy of DTMSMH I’d been reading, so I checked it out. Thus was I introduced to the character of L Ron Hubbard. It was an eye-opener, for sure. Russell wrote an excellent book, and it fed right into my curiosity as a teen about psychology and the extremes of human group behavior. I was galvanized. Almost thirty years later, I continue to learn things that astonish and appall me about the “bare-faced messiah” and his twisted brainchild.
I’m looking forward to getting a copy of this book. Congrats to Russell Miller on finally getting it published here. It’s about time!
I will order the book. After reading “Going Clear”, I was not satisfied , I didn’t think It gave me enough answers as to the man , maybe this one will fill the holes.
Nice post Marty.
I will read it.
Remarkable! Thanks for this bit of history. I remember covertly reading the book after the local DSA had enlisted me to try to get the book taken off the shelves at a local bookstore. To say the least, my viewpoint of Scientology changed.
Incredibly even handed is an apt way to put it, though truth be told I prefer the more analytical approach taken in “a peice of blue sky”. It can be hard for anyone to face the tearing down of a person we idolize, religiously or not. It’s in how we face that we see both ourselves and our own fragile subjective view of the world. The ability to accept new “data”, even when it radically alters our world view, is truly a excellent measure of one’a character.
I think I hear keyborads clicking for a screenplaly, scripts and a movie.
I just discovered it is available now on Amazon, for Kindle. If you have that reader or reader app, it’s very reasonably priced.
Well said Marty. This wasn’t a book I was running out to read. My wife read it a few years back and verbally gave me bits and pieces.
However your recommendation now will inspire me to see what has been said.
Bruce
You can easily download the updated March 2014 version on your kindle. If you don’t have a kindle you can download the free app on your computer. You can be reading it in a few seconds. Only $7 plus change
I haven’t read it either. I always felt it was way off base. What fascinated me in Tony’s article was that Gene Ingram was so involved.
Someone I had a wee bit of history with because we shared an interior designer, who told me — “Ingram is the president of the church” when he saw my Tech Vols etc … huh?
He told me one of his clients was Ingram’s wife and she told the designer that.
One thing I know for sure — Ingram was not a rocket scientist.
Just a busted LA cop.
Marty, your evolution is inspiring. Thanks.
I’ve ordered. Not an urgent read for me as I think I am already “there” but I wanted to support the author for his courage in confronting the subject and the attacks made against him. No doubt I will also learn something in addition.
Marty, I appreciate that you have added even briefly what you know first hand of the story and your role in it.
It is available. I just purchased it from Amazon in Kindle format. I’d first read it when published back I. 1986 or 7. It is an eye opening read indeed. So glad it’s available again.
mr. rathbun, i congratulate you. i congratulate you on disentangling yourself from the damnedly sticky spiderweb of deceit and self-delusion. i *have* been reading your posts for some time, and thus i am very aware of the painful process of that release. you have my respect.
I was the ED of the Peoria Mission when it was published.
The Peoria public library had a copy of it, and I used to go there and sit down with it at a back table, and flip through it with one eye closed, avoiding the parts about Xenu and the OT Levels lest it made me sick and die. It was so full of entheta! Then I would look to see if anyone was watching me and surreptitiously slide the one copy the library had back behind or underneath bookshelves so no one else could find it.
Then I would nonchalantly walk out of the library, feeling like James Bond, mission accomplished!. One less enemy of mankind silenced in my area of the planet.
I would tell other Scientologists that I had read the book to show them my confront of evil and to establish my authority and altitude, assuring them that it was all bullshit.
They didn’t need to read it. I’d done it for them.
I’ve since read the book for real, with both eyes open, and linked to the resources Miller generated with his full interviews of people on the internet many times.
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/miller/interviews/
I’m going to buy the book, too, to support the author and the courage he displayed in getting the truth out to people so they had the information they needed to make informed decisions about Scientology.
Alanzo
Marty,
Its funny to read your blod today because when I read Tony’s blog this morning I also realized I had never READ the book, only the “DA materials” about it. But I had for the longest time asserted to myself and others that I had. Amazing the ideas that are planted in your mind that upon subsequent inspection turn out not to be true!
I went right to Amazon to order a copy though I wish it was available in book format and not just Kindle as I prefer reading actual books.
BTW, irrelevant but just because I happen to know — Ingram had two bright red sportscars: a Mitsubishi 3000GT and a Lotus Esprit. The Esprit was the “english Ferrari” driven by James Bond in the movies of that era.
Thanks Mike. I’ll correct the post. Leave it to you to get the automobile details right. I have a hard copy of the book. If you’d like I can ups it to you.
Thank you for the change of heart. This book has been available in bookstores, and on the shelves of public libraries in Canada since 1987 – perhaps due to our Commonwealth affiliation to the United Kingdom.
Marty, Mike;
Read all of this and thought “wow, cool”. Then I went out and watched some construction we are doing, 22 cement trucks of concrete before 10:30 AM, watching my contractor orchestrate a team of about 20 people to do a flawless job, with almost no wasted effort, thinking it would be fun to do that. I realized I couldn’t do that, I don’t have the skill set needed, I have left over emotions or feelings that I can do anything and be an expert at everything … . I analytically know I was never nearly as good as I thought I was when in the SO, but subconsciously fall into feeling as I did, I can do anything better than most, getting into trouble if I try and practice it, LOL. Like you I thought I read and told others I read many of these books, I hadn’t … unsure if I was just lying or telling an acceptable truth, or thought I did or whatever.
For me, the most dangerous aspect of the past “acceptable truths”, lies, whatever you want to call it, was when I believed them as true. Couldn’t tell me otherwise. I still dig through this.
Purely in the interest if historical accuracy, if one is going to read this book they would be well advised to compared its account of Hubbard’s military record with the research Margaret recently did on same. See http://scientologymyths.com/hubbardww2.htm
Great post! No one should be denigrated for speaking the truth as they best see it, as happened with Miller – and indeed, anyone who has ever voiced any of the horrible aspects of CofS that they have encountered. It has been a pleasure watching your ever evolving viewpoint!
BTW, I used to post as “Everfree”. I met you and Mike at Tony D’s house once a few years back.
Feeling much respect for you Marty.
Go to http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Faced-Messiah-True-Story-Hubbard-ebook/dp/B00IF9B4OO/ref=cm_cmu_up_thanks_hdr and check out the Kendle version. Read the book review and comment on it if you have an Amazon account.
This is an excellent new release that should by rights become a best seller in the United States once people learn about it.
Good stuff. Personally I came to the realization that to fully graduate, as-is and set things in order data wise one would have to also include and evaluate data about the man, L Ron Hubbard as well as his treasure of materials contained in Dianetics and Scientology. It’s part of the entire picture if you include all the goings on regarding the organizations long record of questionable behavior. Appreciate you sharing your journey as we all make our way along. I feel as though we are all a part of and witnessing some historical changes in the trajectory of the movement. Where it will lead is a most interesting ponder.
Appreciate your apologies. That is greatness.
Hubbard and the COS should have never had a reason to think that many books wouldn’t have been written about a man who conceived himself as earth’s next great messiah (Messiah Project circa early 80’s in the Nancy Many book). And that his life wouldn’t be inspected over and over again with microscopic care and put into print, warts and all. Are you kidding me?
16,000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln.
1,000 books about Marilyn Monroe.
Jesus: 10s of thousands.
Books and histories and remembrances get written. It happens.
Thank you, Marty.
While Miscavige is busy re-re-reopening haunted and empty buildings he insists are cathedrals, those of us who laid those very bricks are re-re-reeducating our haunted and empty history we insisted were memories.
The vaulted cognition of recovery that most of us eventually discover:
“I never actually read the book.”
I think you will find it does. We couldn’t keep it in at the college library where I worked. Between reports and those just wondering about Hubbard it was a very popular read
Nice comment. I echo your sentiments.
Is it possible that we Sea Organization Members were all indoctrinated into that “must-know-it-all/must-do-it-all” expectation with those Flag Orders (Sea Org bulletins) + basic Sea Org lectures to the point that we lived those “beliefs” ??
►There was a Flag Order, one of the first in the Keys to Competence course pack, in which L. Ron Hubbard, Commodore, instructed us that all Sea Org Members are capable and expected of doing ANY post anywhere.
” … you’ve all been around before [past lives] and nothing we do in the Sea Org is new to you.”
+ [paraphrased] “I do my job and wear my hat. I expect no less of you. Welcome aboard.” LRH
There was the EXPECTATION that we must be able to know and be a competent expert, step up to the plate, CONFRONT, take responsibility for it all, make it go right and get it done. If we failed due to lack of training or skill set → it was our fault for being incompetent, untrained, low confront level, or plainly counter-intentioned (CI).
Thus in the Sea Org, even if you KNEW that you did NOT have the skill-set, you would have been EXPECTED to EXPERTLY orchestrate those 22 cement trucks of concrete, and would have been strongly punished if there was any delay, or if any detail went wrong.
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You are da man Rathbun. You are da man!
Bravo! Mr. Rinder. I salute you for telling your part in this history of “Bare-Faced Messiah.” That is one of the things I have found the hardest, yet the most healing: Telling my part of it, what I did, what I thought, what the consequences were.
And thank you, albeit as an observer, for your apology. That too is healing.
Again, Bravo!
Michael Leonard Tilse
Oops. For some reason I thought I was reading Michael Rinder. Please accept the same bravo, just know it is for you Marty.
You are really upping your game. The pre-$cientology dude I caught glimpses of in “Scientology Warrior” is starting to re-emerge. Thank you for posting this, it is heartening. Moving on Up is becoming my “go to” blog of the day, I’m always excited to read the next post.
Mrs. L.
Mrs Libnish wrote:
The pre-$cientology dude I caught glimpses of in “Scientology Warrior” is starting to re-emerge.
I saw that guy too in that book.
I felt that I began to understand Marty Rathbun much better when he described his late teen years playing basketball and going to see and try to help his brother in Oregon.
My best friend in junior high and high school, basically a brother to me, started showing signs of schizophrenia and manic depression in high school as he reached late adolescence. It was devastating for me. I was helpless while watching his mental decline. It really sent me into a spin. When I found Scientology, I KNEW it was the way I was going to help him, my dysfunctional family, and everyone else.
Scientology had ALL the answers I would ever need.
And I too understood Marty better when he described his study of Taoism, and how that connected him to Scientology, too. I had begun to study Buddhism in my late teens, and I fell for its mimicry in Scientology as well.
Yeah. I know what you mean, Mrs L.
That guy was there all along.
And I want him again to know that he has my full support.
Alanzo
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+1
That is one helluva book review.
I’ll get the book on Kindle to support the author. I look forward to reading it, but not just now – Healing Trauma by Peter Levine, and The Book by Alan Watts will be first.
That book has OT iii data in it , if one were to read that they could become ill and die , they just have to read it and then think about what they have read , and thinking about it is running it which causes it to restimulate .
20 years ago I myself became ill and died from being told OT iii data .
Integrity is somehow linked to an equivalent – incorruptibility.
You have demonstrated these qualities in spades today, Marty.
Dear Marty,
I have been a frequent and loud critic of yours for quite while now on Tony Ortega’s site as well as on others, largely because of what I felt was your inexplicable (to me, at any rate) insistence on the culpability of Miller and Gerry Armstrong whilst presenting the same fact as being true yourself..
I feel greatly relieved. I know this can’t have been easy, and that you don’t take it lightly. I appreciate your clear apology, free of a lot of caveats an mushy-mouthed nonsense.
And I continue to wish you and your lovely wife success in your lawsuit.
You might want to do a Misunderstood Word search on the difference between ‘research’ and ‘propaganda’.
Life after death, hallelujia, huh?
Many happy returns, ealadha!
I remember the early days of this blog when Bare Faced Messiah was dismissed by Marty and other newly independent zealots of the cause. BFM was what put me over the edge of no return when I read a copy in the Portland Oregon Public Library in 1994 while I was studying at the local Celebrity Center. My jaw dropped seeing that Hubbard was as human as anyone else. The flawed man behind the show was much more likeable than the avatar he fashioned himself to be. I guess I could see an innocence beyond all the pomp and bluster. It took me 3 more years to make my official break from the church. Even now I sometimes have dreams of being on course 😉
Marty, as others have noted , it is sweet to see you becoming the person you always were.
Margaret’s work is far more completely researched and documented than anything I’ve ever seen from any “critic” publication to date on this particular matter. Documents talk, propaganda walks. 😉
Michael A. Hobson
Independent Scientologist
Welcome back…..
I’m curious. If you re-read it will you ‘die’ again?
Marty. For any man (or woman) to admit a mistake takes courage and character. The evolution of your blog and your work bears witness to your ample possession of both.
Thank you.
+2
After all of the recommendations I will be buying the book too and then pass it on to my friends to read. The truth will set you free.
Thank you Marty. Wow, efish, I haven’t seen you in *ages*.
+1 🙂
Thanks Marty,
when I received the Deb Cook email, I then proceeded to do a proper due diligence on this thing called Scientology,
and that meant really researching, the good and bad, the critical sites as well.
Shoot, I figured I was a grade 0 auditing comp, so I should be able to view all viewpoints.
So I did. I research the internet, and compared to my experiences, and compared to what the COS was doing, and compared to what LRH was doing, and compared to what others have achieved or not and compared.
I’m glad I did that. And I’m grateful for your blog, which was the one I landed on after the Deb Cook email, and all the others before and after, such as Mike’s and others.
And I’m grateful for all those that decided to speak freely their opinions and knowledge before and after.
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+1
Mike have you read Piece of the Blue Sky or Messiah or Madman ?
Have you watched on YouTube “Hanah Whitefield’s Interview ?
Have you read Barbara Kaye’s Interview ?
I have heard of Russell Miller and had heard of him quite some time ago and his web videos. He has been around for quite a long time. He was and is a very good reference on L. Ron Hubbard. I am surprised more people have not caught on to this fact in recent years. Good that some have though.
One of the first things I stumbled across in 2005 when I first allowed myself to look on the internet for ALL information about Scientology was BFM. I could not stop reading. I read the whole book and all the transcripts of the interviews available on Andreas Heldahl-Lund’s site Xenu.net. My first reaction was to go to the Scientology web-sites to get “the truth”. I wanted so bad for this to be lies, but when studying from a logical point of view I realized that exactly as Russell Miller says in the interview, none of the facts were being disputed. L. Ron Hubbard’s grandiose “expeditions” were really “Ron and Polly’s vacation to Alaska” to the rest of the world etc.
Marty and Mike and anyone else like me who were caught up in the fantasy that was L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology: Let’s celebrate what spiritual gains we got from being there as well as the ones we got from taking a good look and confronting reality. As much as I can get into invalidating myself about how gullible I was, I look at myself, my life and where I’m at as compared to where I could have been at and I have nothing (correction: not a whole lot) to be ashamed of. I think that we, who are committed to the truth are the ones winning in life.
Thank you for adding your context Marty – there is still a lot of history to be made sense of and your contribution is so important.
Great post Marty. Interview on Tony’s blog is brilliant. And book is a must-read.
In style only Radical Official Scientology can do, an *anonymous* phone call was placed to Scotland Yard stating Russell Miller was an Axe murderer.
An embarrassed Scotland yard did interview Miller only to find out it was the Cult wasting Scotland Yard time and resources.
Nevertheless, in vengeance and with full blown Intentions to DESTROY the *ENEMY*, this happened next ~~
In 1990, nearly three years after the book’s first publication, a defector from the Church of Scientology provided the Sunday Times with internal documents detailing the smear campaign against Miller.[2] These records listed several private investigators who had been hired to keep Miller under surveillance and feed false information about him to neighbours and the police. A Scientology executive had flown from Los Angeles to a flat in London where he and a private detective co-ordinated the campaign. Rubbish from the publisher’s offices was regularly emptied into the flat’s bathtub to be picked through. According to the informant, the investigators used contacts with the British police to try to implicate him in unsolved crimes: “People were brought in from abroad posing as journalists to arrange interviews with Scotland Yard where they would drop innuendoes about Miller. Other investigators were used to smear his name with colleagues, friends and neighbours. They worked hard on the line that he was an undercover British intelligence man.” A Church spokesman dismissed these allegations, saying, “anyone giving you this sort of information must be crazy or on drugs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-faced_Messiah
Cool story, thetan.
Thanks Marty. You definitely have my interest piqued to now read the book. Also, thanks for being humble enough to apologise so eloquently on the issue of publishing the book in the USA and your involvement in the whole thing at the time.
Love BP
Looks like you reincarnated nicely, ealadha.
Will read once it is available in hard copy (do not have a Kindle). Appreciate your apology and your opinion that it is a must-read and quite accurate.
Dear Marty,
I was wondering if you could address something Miller said on Ortega’s site: “You know, I was never able to answer the question where Dianetics came from. I thought that was a fascinating unanswered question in my book. You know, as far as I was aware he just came up with it.”
That question has been my question as well. I am aware of Hubbard’s plagiarism in many areas and knew Hubbard mostly knew about Freud’s techniques and the military’s use of Abreaction Therapy but no one that I know of has clearly laid out how Hubbard came up with Dianetics. I wonder what you know anything about this. Thank you.
A very correct step you took Marty!
Thank you.
Greta
I do not know if one would die again re-reading it . I believe everyone who has read it will become ill and probably die when they cognite on what they have read ,the com lag on realizing what they have read could be anything from a few years to a few hundred years or more .
I
“When I read the book, I recognized that in fact I had never read it all those years back. It was lingering cult delusion that made me think I had.”
Hey Marty, I think I have to come to the defense of this earlier “you” here. What you describe here does not always have to be attributed completely to cult mentality, though it was probably a factor in it.
It’s just that we humans tend to hold on to preheld beliefs, discarding information that contradicts these beliefs while only considering those that reinforce them. Happens to all of us. Usually takes an event of pretty great magnitude to make a noticeable impact on these beliefs.
And looking at the journey you took the past 10 years, I’d say that qualifies.
“The ability to accept new ‘data’, even when it radically alters our world view, is truly a excellent measure of one’a character.”
I have to agree here.
Hey Yvonne, may I ask you whether you have relatives in Scn in Germany? I remember a former DSA in Stuttgart going by the name “Schick”.
I really do love your replies. So much class. 🙂
Merci beaucoup Marty !
(@ Brian – amazingly I live not far from Tail of the Tiger now known as Karme Choling. I’ve attended many programs there as well as several silent retreats and did one solitary retreat of 7 days. AND own but haven’t read “Awakening” by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. Thank you for mentioning it in your comment to me last post. Started reading it last night. Love it.
This blog continues to help me mine the layers of consciousness still blinded by my 20 years in scientology.)
This is news to me (the 27 year blockade). I wish it were more shocking. I admit I never read the book, but didn’t I see a movie or YouTube video on “This Bare Faced Messiah” book a long time ago? I’m sad the writer got ripped of profits and harassed by Scientology. I’m sad Scientology and religious ‘liberties” (the reason Scientology can hide in plain sight to begin with…..) are allowed to influence our secular lives to such an incredible degree in the first place. Biggest single target market for the re-release of this book? Ex-scientologists. Nobody else cares anymore. Have you seen the actual turnout at their events lately (I know you have)? They are left preaching to the choir. Nobody else gives a crap enough to read a book like this unless the topic has somehow already been a part of their life. It could be quite cathartic for them as it appears to have been for the author of this blog.
O/T, but still somehow related…..
It’s not JUST the crazy Scientologists pumping money into questionable real estate. The Mormons dumped a reported 1.5 BILLION on a SHOPPING MALL in Salt Lake City. It was said to be an amount in excess of total charitable expenditures made by the church in the last fifteen something odd years COMBINED. On one Salt Lake City shopping mall!! And it’s not the Disney World of shopping malls you would expect it to be either. That’s the REALLY shocking part to me! Big Blue looks more interesting to me…….lol…. (h/t to Magoo for the most excellent BigBlue stalking vids…).
Enjoy.
I read it when it first came out, I left in 86.someone sent me the book. A lot of it was unreal to me, I had been in scientology 19 years,had many wins in auditing,now I’m reading all about L.R.H. Over time it made sense to me. I had talked to lots of people who were very close to ron, Virginia dowwnsbourough who was my room mate, was with ron on his small boat when he was doung ot3, jim Dincalci who was Ron’s medal officer and lived with him in queens , n.y.hannah worked with ron on the ship.plus many more, I have no interest in reading it again .it is old news to me. I respect Marty for sharing his evolvement, he say what he feels if it pisses people off ,he says his truth.
Mike,
Read Hubbard “Affirmations”. See what he has to say about all of that himself.
Alanzo,
That was funny in so many levels!
Now, that is funny!
Bodil,
Very sane and refreshing view. Thanks
It is a joy to talk about these subjects. It is a joy to share these roads of truth. So much to share and learn from each other.
So much wonderful road ahead, so much opportunity, so rich.
It’s a bit like the invisible unicorn in my garage then.
Only people who take ‘shrooms can see it, and sometimes it can take other forms like a pink elephant or a giant blue cockroach wearing a bowtie and top hat.
Also, they often see it outside my garage. In a parallel universe. Backwards in time.
This book was available in the Burbank public libraries
(10 mins drive from the Complex) 2008.
For short answer, please see this post:
http://www.scs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/miller/interviews/barbkaye.htm
Very funny! :))
Truth ends the past. Marty, thank you for standing tall.
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+5
Marty, I read your blog sometimes but I’m more usually to be found at the Bunker. I’ve never commented here before but I had to come out of the lurker’s closet to tell you how much I respect your public apology to Miller. It gave me a flash of pride in humanity. Thank you.
Marty, the link didn’t show up on your post here. Can you please re-post it?
Followed the saga of co$ during the Lisa mc/anon era , after dealing with 2 friends (it was the 70s) who became lost in other fundamentalist groups, but then allowed my interest to wane. To this day I must share the burden of ignoring the child abuse/ slave labor and moving on to other modern injustices. But then the Louis Farrakhan stealth forced me to take another look as new ” cannon fodder” from extreme poverty stricken world locations became the new face of the Sea Org. Lurking and educating myself since , I agree that growth and transformation emanate from the Scn Warrior and soooo many survivors. May ya’ll continue to grow spiritually, but more importantly, continue to assist others to get ” their sea legs” and shed the horrors perpetrated against those abused with poor/nonexistent? education, financially and physically raped, suffering and abandoned after contracting diseases brought on by asbestos, exposure to feces, carcinogenic chemicals, etc. my heartbreaks for all those shunned by their loved ones. I marvel at the growth of not only Mark but those who post here and elsewhere. lifting you up against shunning and suppression while you explore and embrace your own truth and freedom
I have never seen anything from Margaret except flat denials that the documents are what they are.
Last year I came across the free version of BFM on the Internet. Having done months of research on Scientology and LRH I approached it with an attitude of “ok, so there’s some quibbles about LRH’s military record, let’s see what this guy has to say”.
Well, I got a lot more than what I had anticipated! The barf bag had to be kept close by.
It really turned into a SECOND phase of decompression.
Having survived 2 RPFs gave me the certainty to make it through any
prison or slave camp and after reading this book I feel like nothing can phase me anymore about Scientology or LRH.
It is peaceful now and I can just focus on delivering good tech.
Greta
“Conan”, don’t you mean purported “Affirmations” ? Guess what, no true copy of those alleged documents exists anywhere on the Internet. Gerry Armstrong posted a text to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology on 2000/03/11 in which he claimed an unspecified individual sent him copies of the handwritten originals, allegedly authored by Ron Hubbard and from which he claims to have transcribed the text he published in that post. Yet there is no scanned copy of this claimed document, authenticated or not, anywhere on his web sites.
I don’t see any compelling reason to believe Mr. Armstrong’s claim that Ron Hubbard authored those “Affirmations” or “Admissions” or whatever one wished to call them without a true copy of the originals for verification.
Michael A. Hobson
Independent Scientologist
Actually, in the research paper linked below she went to a lot of trouble and detail in documenting her research, including making some photocopies of official records she consulted, which are shown in the paper. Here is a part of her conclusions at the end:
“If one relies solely on Hubbard’s service record from the NPRC to understand Hubbard’s military career in the Navy (as most earlier Hubbard researchers and biographers appear to have done), one will be left with an inaccurate and incomplete picture of Hubbard’s World War II years. One must look into the military, travel and other records of the National Archives (as well as other reliable sources) in order to get a more complete and accurate picture of Hubbard’s Navy service. This is especially true as it pertains to accurately answering the questions surrounding the South Pacific period, i.e. the truth behind whether Hubbard was flown home in the Spring of 1942, whether he was injured, and whether he saw combat.
“When more extensive research was conducted into these areas, it was found that Hubbard was in fact flown home from the South Pacific (as he had claimed), did in fact sustain injuries while in the South Pacific (including being “blinded” by something which physically damaged his eyes), and was sent into an area where he may have seen combat. The injuries, combined with a later duodenal ulcer, left Hubbard in a debilitated condition after the war. As a result, the Veteran’s Administration considered him 40% disabled, after World War II, after conducting physical exams and tests.”
http://scientologymyths.com/hubbardww2.htm
Kudos Marty.
You are the man.
Kudos Marty, just ordered it 🙂
Nice story, Alanzo!
It gave me a “flashback” that I’ll share because it may show readers how controlled the mind of the follower can get.
On the occasional “free” day (when not on course or in auditing) I would sneak to the public library. I felt guilty about this. I should have been out disseminating or reading more of Ron on my own — so I had been indoctrinated — since the whole agonized future of the planet depended on what I did right now in and with Scientology.
The guilt did not come from looking up exposés on Scientology. No, I was reading things like science, history, culture, and so forth. My mind was hungry.
In those meanderings, I did confirm for myself that my educational training and memory was correct on certain aspects of physics. And that led me to conclude that Ron was flat wrong on some of his descriptions of physics. He was not countering current physics theory in some insightful way. He was saying things that were quite obviously sophomoric misunderstandings.
But did this shake my faith in Scientology? No. I managed to compartmentalize it off, and reason that, well, Ron is right on all the rest of it.
People who are not in: please think about what life would be like in an environment where Scientology is your one and only valid source of information, and where you must sneak to a library and feel guilty about going to a _library_!
I believe you are correct, Mike, about the lack of proof.
The best I can get to is that the alleged affirmations would not be inconsistent with Hubbard’s time with Crowley.
I put it in the somewhat plausible but unproven category. If anyone has a documented source that ties the affirmations to Hubbard, that would be interesting to read.
Ditto what Joan said. Thank you Marty.
Well said.
I think if someone could unearth the church of Scientology, et al vs. Armstrong case files you would learn otherwise.
The exposure of the many lies and falsehoods of the Church of Scientology on the Internet has created an interesting situation. More and more, only those inside the bubble are cut off from the truth. Everyone else “got the memo.”
If whatever is good and workable in Scientology is to survive, the beliefs must go through this hot forge of scrutiny.
The following video, while only touching on Scientology briefly a couple of times, is an interesting take. It’s titled “The Internet — Where religons come to die.”
What is funny is some of you think I am joking, that is really funny.
You are a good man, Marty.
Marty,
I truly don’t care whether these “Affirmations” are genuine or not at this point. My beef is with the so-called “critics” constantly using this material in anti-Hubbard PR rhetoric when the accuracy and authenticity of Gerry Armstrong’s version has never been verified and – so far as I can determine – not one of them has ever even attempted to verify them.
According to Mr. Armstrong, he only read selected excerpts into the court record: ” In 1984 I read portions of them into the record at my trial in $cientology v. Armstrong, Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. C 420153″. The originals were returned to Co$ by court order. Maybe a true copy of the complete originals exists in the files of the above case, but weren’t those records sealed ? Given how vital this particular document is to “critic” PR operations against Ron Hubbard, I should think somebody would have obtained and posted a copy online by now – if it were possible.
Michael A. Hobson
Independent Scientologist
Well, the later Armstrong version looks pretty accurate according to my recollection.
I can sense his reply with my mind:
“I truly don’t care”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
Nice to know it’s to be available. Waiting for the hard copy. Don’t do well with e-books vision-wise.
It is such a relief to see you supporting Barefaced Messiah and sincerely apologizing.
I remember sending this book to my Dad a few years ago. He responded with a note that said “Garbage in, garbage out.” and he threw it in the trash. The funny thing is that I was only lending him the book, not giving it to him. We haven’t spoken since, but I really wanted to tell him “Hey, man, I’d like my book back.”
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