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Moving On Up a Little Higher 
Couldn’t mortal sin be her characterization devoid of Scientology lingo?
Well, I may have to change my opinion of Mike R. Anyway, he did good to get out and get some kind of decent life going outside. But the rest I can see – the viewpoint Leah is laying on with a big trowel. And there is no doubt Mike is participating, if only as a willing tool.
The continued use of deceptions that generate non-comprehension and\or misapplication of data is rarely born of ignorance. It is usually wilful. People who wilfully misapply data to assist supposedly themselves at the expense of others are crazy. They have a club where they have banded together for collective personal extinction, and they want to take a lot of people with them. This is the club of self-professed No Gain Cases known as the ASC.
I have noticed that Leah Remini has millions and millions of views on You Tube. Even members of my family have mentioned the series to me after almost 30 years of silence. There is a massive impact on the public.
My best memory of Scientology is reading the book Self Analysis while sitting on the Village Voice entrance steps. They were very bitter about Scientology in the early 1970’s.
In the end, it always seem to revolve around what someone is ready for.
I think “mortal sin” is a dramatization of her Catholic background. It is Catholic lingo. I also think much of DM’s behavior is a dramatization of Catholicism. His family has Polish roots, and the Poles are Catholic. The Miscaviges came to the USA by way of France, thus the spelling of the name. The Polish spelling is Mickiewicz, which is a famous name in Poland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Mickiewicz. Our Miscaviges are probably or possibly related to Adam. DM’s dad Ron might know.
I don’t doubt that DM really does think of himself as the Pope of Scientology, and don’t forget, the Pope is Infallible. Also, Catholicism is well known for cathedrals; therefore, Ideal Orgs. It may be a shallow view, but that’s how I see him. Leah’s behavior is probably consistent with an Italian (and Catholic) background. If you don’t behave you’ll get smacked upside the head with a rolling pin while she berates you loudly. Don’t underestimate how cultural background and conditioning influences a person’s beingness, and how they try to create an effect.
To the degree that Mike Rinder is “being paid as an authority to…manufacture negativity about Scientology” (quoted from the video), it would explain why he reacts the way he does to posts that express too much of the positive, or that counter too much of the negative.
This part of the video also applies to many of the posters there:
“There’s nuances in every situation. You’re not invited to examine those. When Levin-Smith makes a bloop [in describing how easy it was for him to get away with not disconnecting from his father when he was supposed to], it just goes right by you because the pile-on is so heavy that by this part in the series you’ve lost all cognitive sensibility. It’s all this insensible appeal to emotion: They’re bad; everything’s black and white; there’s no exceptions.”
Ok, this part here (11:18) I agree with and I think it’s important. I think people don’t want to confront it, or they wont see it, but it’s there. Lets get out of this type of “thought”, if you could call it that. It bothers me and you’ve described it pretty well here. Looking at Mikes blog, the Regraded cartoon yesterday. I see stereotypes or weird propaganda, I’m not sure how to describe it. I was in for a long time and I never met these people in the cartoon. This is not real. They are creating a narrative, as you say, that isn’t real. For various reasons, financial, etc they cannot acknowledge that fact and that is where they lose me, because they crossed that line and are full of you know what. Mike responded to me on two or three occasions that he does not make a dime from his anti-Scientology work and I didn’t believe him. I think it does matter. If you’re being paid to be a critic you have to fill the role or the checks stop coming. https://youtu.be/Oxe3AoNysqA?t=11m18s
Wow. Aaron Smith lying on national television to millions of viewers. Obviously, Leah did not employ a fact-checker. And AandE ran it without hiring a fact checker. So millions of viewers were lied to. Not even counting the omitted data. And now Leah is nominated for an award for programming.
And feeling honored too!
Some people fold early in the game. That’s a long distance from power. Thanks for being a constant.
I think self-improvement should begin with handing someone a Rubics cube. Once they can connect dots, put things in alignment, give them another learning game which teaches them elementary skill sets.
Teaching people how to communicate, when they have no perception of consequences, is kind of reckless.
Pick up sticks is good. You learn to earn without causing major damage.
Jacks. You know, you throw the ball up in the air and have to catch it while you grab for the jacks. You learn to take without dropping the ball, which puts you down.
Little games like that. Very meaningful in learning about conditions and forces.
https://www.google.com/search?q=pick+up+jax+game&oq=pick+up+jax+&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l2.5891j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1
Following the emotional tragedy of Scientology is a common and accepted way to be compassionate. The irony is that this emotion covers the anti-establishment message of Scientology. This attitude of opposition is more deeply rooted and was probably in a more pure form in former times.
Cutting Scientology to its core is obviously beneficial in one aspect since the independent movement has a better chance. But cutting Scientology to its core also involves cutting Miscavige to his core. When this core is cut, loyal members will finally see that their inner feelings of independence have been dependent. In the end, it is probably not emotion but faith.
A while back, after a very long while of not even thinking of Scientology or my experience as a Scientologist, I found myself watching, My Scientology Movie, that Marty played a major role in. Then, soon after watching the movie, I found myself watching Leah Remini videos on YT. Being that I believe that there is no such thing as random in my journey through space and time, I recognized that this was the time and place for me to revisit and reexamine my Scientology experience. The movie and the videos flushed up numerous experiences for me to examine; experiences I had completely forgotten about. In reviewing these experiences I discovered that I was still holding onto a host of emotions and attitudes that served absolutely no beneficial purpose. But, before I could let them go, I knew I had to examine the beliefs that justified them and gave them value. Once I looked at the beliefs that gave these inappropriate emotions and attitudes value and purpose, and recognized the insanity of the beliefs, they were no more. Also gone was any interest in watching anymore Leah Remini videos.
I soon discovered, though, that I was not yet finished with my trip down Scientology memory lane. A few days after I had purged these once forgotten and then remembered unneeded and unwanted beliefs that I had adopted as a Scientologist, I see in my email, that Marty now has something to say. As I watch Marty’s video series and listen to what he has to say, my perspective shifts and I am prompted to communicate the following:
As long as Life believes the story that identifies a “myself,” Life will perceive opposites and consider interpretations as being stories to judge as being either more or less true or false, right or wrong, good or evil. Judgement of the story perceived determines whether to include or exclude. This is the moment to moment experience of Life in a world where beliefs are mistaken for reality and illusions for Truth. There is no Truth in the mad world of beliefs. Truth has no opposite. And if Life is perceiving, Life is first projecting for it is projection that makes perception possible.
The insane world of beliefs is a conceptualized stimulus response world wherein Life, imprisoned in its belief of a myself, is in a perpetual state of needing or wanting something that must exist in the external world that it perceives but doesn’t recognize it’s projecting. Yet, there are no answers to any question, or objects that will completely satisfy any need, in the external world as it is a nothing being believed by Life to be a something, while the actual something that Life is, is believed to be a nothing.
Between stimulus and response there is an eternal emptiness and stillness that is not a here, there or where. It is an abstract that is beyond description, explanation and concepts. This is the Sun that never not shines even though clouds can make it seem to disappear. Life IS. Anything added to that statement is a belief that there is something else; is a cloud attempting to be the Sun.
“His family has Polish roots, and the Poles are Catholic.”…..This would be news to the thousands of Jewish families who lost ancestors in the Holocaust.
To the degree that you point out flaws and contradictions in the anti-Scientology narrative, make others aware of them, and assist people to evolve up out of the “Ex” mindset, I am with you all the way.
To the degree that you wage shallow personal attacks on your former friends and call people names to shame them publicly – simply to vent your poisoned spleen – I am not.
The majority of this hypocritical and contradictory behavior that you are describing is not unique to Scientology or to Ex/Anti-Scientology. It is simply normal human group behavior. Thinking this normal group behavior is unique, or special, or that it comes from being in a “cult” of some kind is the source of all the wigged out hysteria, and the useless anger, in Scientology watching.
Examine the group dynamics and social coercion involved in being an athlete on a professional sports team, or in being a member of a particularly fanatical fraternity, or in being a member of the military. Aren’t the group dynamics there similar or even more invasive and controlling than anything in Scientology? Yet these groups are never called out or targeted as “cults”.
For many, this whole activity has become nothing but fighting and ego-based chest-pounding.
For others, it is a way for bigoted sociopaths to persecute a minority religion while maintaining a party bus atmosphere.
And for many more, it is fretting over things that no longer matter.
As long as Scientology does not break the law, then they factually have a right to do everything that they are doing. No matter how disagreeable, no matter how morally repugnant, they literally have a right to do it as long as what they do is legal. This is one of the adult lessons one learns in order to co-exist with others in a free society.
There was a time when what Scientology did to people remained hidden. Scientology was able to lie to people and to deceive them in order to recruit them.
Those days are now fully over – never to return.
Scientology is not as bad as anti-Scientologists claim it is, and anti-Scientologists are not as good as they think they are.
Great. We got it.
Now let’s move on.
Well said.
Windhorse
Just shows that she has a misunderstood of what a “Mortal Sin” is in Christian Theology.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas it is “those sins that cry out for vengeance from God” as opposed to a “venial sin”.
No surprise since much of what Remini promotes is all sensationalism, hyperbole and exaggeration in my opinion presenting herself as the Joan of Arc of the ASC and ending up looking more like Joe McCarthy in drag.
I totally agree with Marty here that there are nuances that are never conceded because it would destroy their carefully contrived simplistic black vs white narrative that Scientology is evil.
Truth is eloquent. Thank you for your eloquent contribution, Monte.
Good post.
Regarding this part: “To the degree that you wage shallow personal attacks on your former friends and call people names to shame them publicly – simply to vent your poisoned spleen – I am not [with you].”
It seems to me that what shames some people is part and parcel of the exposé.
In other words, “shaming” people is part and parcel of the overall message that (as you put it) “Scientology is not as bad as anti-Scientologists claim it is, and anti-Scientologists are not as good as they think they are.”
DRB64, I guess I missed something in your response. What would be news? That the Poles are Catholic?
Religions: Catholic 87.2% (includes Roman Catholic 86.9% and Greek Catholic, Armenian Catholic, and Byzantine-Slavic Catholic .3%), Orthodox 1.3% (almost all are Polish Autocephalous Orthodox), Protestant 0.4% (mainly Augsburg Evangelical and Pentacostal), other 0.4% (includes Jehovah’s Witness, Buddhist, Hare Krishna, …
Poland Religions – Demographics – IndexMundi
http://www.indexmundi.com/poland/religions.html
I’ve had some time contemplate Leah and company lying on television to millions of viewers.
The special could just be moved to “Science Fiction” category. Perhaps even be given an award. Leah, and the rest of the cast would fall into “artist” category. Everyone could win.
Val, You hit the heart of Scientology. I was Polish Catholic. What you say is true. I have said this before. Hubbard read most of the books that were banned by the Pope’s in Catholicism. This explains his strange attraction to Catholics such as myself. Hubbard was expressing the Occult to us which we never heard. Spot on. I might add that he only copied Blavatsky also who you know about. Her books were banned. I could exorcize by the 6th grade.
” I also think much of DM’s behavior is a dramatization of Catholicism.”
He’d be following right in the footsteps of Hubbard, if that’s the case.
I vote that we dispense with the Hegelian Dialectic approach. There is no enlightening ‘synthesis’ possible when both sides are lying.
“The majority of this hypocritical and contradictory behavior that you are describing is not unique to Scientology or to Ex/Anti-Scientology. It is simply normal human group behavior.”
There is so much of it world wide, I do wonder if it is not just part of the implant, to make us human, fight amongst ourselves, and to demand our attention to forget our spirituality.
I see this whole schoolyard spat as a diversion from what is important, and something that would be expected, knowing the degraded level of management for the last 30 odd years. From my viewpoint, what is important, is the regaining of our spiritual self. The best route I have come across to regain this sense is the Bridge. If it was origami I would promote that.
Whoever can get that standard level of training and processing back will be the hero out of all this in my books!
Kind of an interesting purpose for a television special anyway. To create bad memories for others.
Tony Ortega is busy inventing enemies. I noticed he has several volunteers already. “I wanna be somebodies enemy” volunteers. He sure knows how to summon them up.
The purpose of Leah’s specials is to invent enemies also. I guess it is a form of “create” as an “artist”. On the dark side.
Rinder’s blog update: I posted a short non-inflammatory summation of CoS fundraising, on his new post, the “Endless Fundraising” post. It is about how it all began with the advent of the IAS in 1984, and how the IAS destroyed the viability of the orgs.
So far, Mike has not posted it. So evidently I am “banned”.
The comment thread thus far sounds like “Endless Wisecracking”.
…if I may judge. 🙂
Very nicely put. Lovely point of view. Not that I mean to oppose you, but I would not agree that truth has no opposite. If that were true, we would have nothing but truth. Truth has many opposites from where I am viewing. The opposites are the people that withhold the truth. Suppress the truth. Deny the truth. One form of suppressing the truth is to “forget”. Not telling the whole story, is a lie. Giving only small parts of the truth is a lie. The truth is not a “belief”. Or an idea. If a glass is dropped, the glass is dropped.
Bringing people “the truth”, when you are only “guiding their ideas”, is treason. That is what Leah and her series are. The purpose is inventing enemies. That has nothing to do with truth.
The worst condition of poverty a person can experience is when they are in a position, where they can not tell the truth. Choosing to withhold the truth, is not the same. You still have command of the truth.
There are many people, that can not even be honest with themselves. They actually lie to themselves. So, if they can’t stop lying to themselves, how can they be honest with others?
Everything else you said aligns very much with my views.
Tony Ortega is so misaligned he is tweeting messages to Marty on his Twitter, not even informing Marty. “Come on Marty…” but he isn’t even talking to Marty. He’s gone violent with the Marty tweets. Never, ever, picks up the telephone to call Marty. Never ever, goes to someone’s home to face them. Sits on his ass and tweets and blogs to anyone who may be out there. Stab stab stab. He can’t stop stabbing Marty.
Tony, you did your best to kill him off. It didn’t work. Never will. All you are doing now is trying to restimulate others, hoping they have some disenchantment of their own you can stir up.
But your crimes are flowing out onto the street. You might restimulate five to ten people on Twitter. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands have signed their disgust at your part in launching children for sale website. The scandal is flowing through the halls of Washington. All you can do is try to throw attention on Marty. Those hundreds of thousands don’t have a problem with Marty. Those senators don’t have a problem with Marty. The children that were tortured do not have a problem with Marty. His neighbors don’t have a problem with him. His friends don’t have a problem with him. Mankind, in general, does not have any problem with him.
You know who they have a problem with Tony? YOU.
P.S. I would have gladly posted this on your blog, Tony. But I was banned when I called you out for using your blog to torture children.
https://disqus.com/by/chuckbeattyxquackologist75to03/
Marty,
I hope you aren’t gagged, and that these videos are not your last public communication.
I’d like to see a book summarizing your views, every 5-10 years the rest of your life. Even if it’s just an online self published book. And if you allowed outside regular media to interview you when you do write your ex Scientology top official hindsight books.
When you gona make a vido abot Whats worng whit Sicntology?
Very interesting, George. And I think Hubbard looked to history in setting up the organizational patterns for his CoS. He was looking to establish the longevity of that organization so he tried to pattern it after other long-lived organizations like the Roman Catholic Church. In DM I think he may have thought he found a worthy tool for that end – a ruthless ambitious man with a zealous Catholic background.
Back in oh, maybe the 1980s, I recall some promo about training to become a “zealot of standard tech”. These were full page ads in the magazines like Advance!. They had only a brief run, because I think they didn’t survey well, but they were pushing a KSW line.
A “zealot” is a “a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.” That was not the spirit of most Scientologists back then, but it was what was being pushed by the Sea Org, and DM was probably Hubbard’s point man, as he had been for the “mission massacre”.
So we end up with an officially fanatical organization with cathedrals sponsored by some “whales”, with an impoverished feudal population of monks and serfs. A church in which you can buy your salvation by donating, for a little while anyway. Or something like that.
Interesting that you and George both mention Hubbard’s connection to the “catholicism” I think I see in Scientology.
A few years ago, after reading a lot on Marty’s blog, and Geirs, and some on ESMB, I formed the notiuon that there were 2 major phases in Hubbard and his development of Scientology. The first was codifying what he presented as the philosophy and tech, and the second phase was trying to establish an organization that would last. And last, and last. So he looked to history. He even talked about pulling some data from his whole-track recall, about an organization that had lasted “millions of years”, as I recall the lecture. He said he had tweaked it a bit to correct some outness he found in its pattern, which caused it to eventually fail. I believe he was talking about developing his Org Board.
But what I see among other elements, is a Catholic influence. Hubbard’s background is apparently at least partly Scots, and today Scots are about 33% Presbyterian, but there is also a substantial Roman Catholic population, about 15%. And lets not forget Hubbard was born in 1911, so he was of a generation that was closer to those kind of religious roots.
As George said, Hubbard was trying to put some old wine in a new bottle, packaging some occultism in modern scientific clothes. Dianetics resembled nothing so much as the teachings of the Gurdjieff/Ouspensky school of human nature, and Scientology a repackaging of ancient spiritualism. The Vatican of course has all those “forbidden” books stashed under lock and key and “need to know” in their library.
PS., the similarity between Gurdjieff/Ouspensky and Dianetics is the extreme emphasis in both teachings, on the mechanical side of human nature, and that spiritual development was possible, but not a given.
What laughably calls itself the “Independence Movement” originally led by Steve Hall has pretty much sold its soul to the Devil incarnate Backpage Tony who thinks nothing of exploiting children for the perverted pleasures of the elite proving that the old Middle Eastern maxim that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” is not necessarily true.
Backpage Tony only uses the indies to create the controversy he desires with the Church of Scientology possibly hoping that the two factions will destroy each other through internecine warfare.
He pretty what exemplifies what in Scientology is known as a “Third Party”. Yet the so called indy movement blinded by their hatred of David Miscavige are too blind to see this which is what happens when one lacks intel capabilities.
Regarding Tony Ortega.
Child abuse, sexual slavery, sex slavery and child neglect is where most humans draw a line in the sand. Hardened criminals draw the line in the sand there. This is why child abusers and child rapists have to be held in solitary confinement in prison.
It is even unacceptable to a hardened prison population.
The fact that some of Tony Ortega’s closest friends and followers do not draw the line in the sand at that, is indicative of who they are and where they are coming from. In fact, some of them have a long history of child neglect and child abuse themselves.
Appealing to their better senses or the better angels of their nature, at this point is futile. They wouldn’t even be welcomed in a prison population.
Very true.
(y)
Chuck, I think you should, if you haven’t already and/or aren’t working on one, write a book. You had many years in, and have immense knowledge of ‘the tech’. You might think you wouldn’t have an unique enough story or that people would be interested. IF you think that, I respectfully differ. With your always helpful references for people, willingness to explain things to those unfamiliar with scientology, and overall kindness, there’d be many interested in hearing your story.
Hi val,
I think Hubbard secretly knew that the real market for Scientology consisted of the ignorant who did not get the Occult in early education.
Over & Done With
“To the degree that you point out flaws and contradictions in the anti-Scientology narrative, make others aware of them, and assist people to evolve up out of the “Ex” mindset, I am with you all the way.
To the degree that you wage shallow personal attacks on your former friends and call people names to shame them publicly – simply to vent your poisoned spleen – I am not.”
+1 from me
Same with:
“Scientology is not as bad as anti-Scientologists claim it is, and anti-Scientologists are not as good as they think they are.”
Except that Marty, Mike, even Leah and most in the “ASC” used to differentiate between Scientology and $cientology. (eg. Marty’s “What’s wrong with Scientology” or Mike’s speech at Trinity College in Dublin.)
Now neither Mike nor Marty seem to make that difference which in my opinion is absolutely crucial.
Marcel Wenger
I did read them (G/O) at your suggestion a years ago. In review, “the mechanical side of human nature” is something Hubbard copied. Is there any proof that he read them? I can trace Blavatsky right down to a few words. It could have been from Parsons. Jack was very bright and his influence on Hubbard is not easily tracked. Also, I am not sure on this.
Is there a easier connection to Hubbard and Greek Orthodox? I know little about it. There are more than a few Russian Saints who were mystical.
It’s sad to me, that during this time when the lines between “traditional” muslim households and marriages, “traditional” hindu households and marriages (please continue adding almost all nationalities and ethnic groups and life style choices) are being brought front and center to THE SILVER SCREEN and/or direct to Netflix or Amazon — to wit : “The Big Sick”, Trevor Noah, Aziz Ansari: Live at Madison Square Garden and numerous others through the medium of stand-up, movies and/or TV shows —
That those formerly involved with scientology are hell-bent on dividing rather than uniting in *some* way. Pointing specifically to the current Leah Remini show(s).
The adage that change is “impossible” within and outside of scientology is impossible due to the tenants/rules laid down by the founder of scientogoy that forbids it is simply meaningless. Scientology is “new” and yet older belief systems of muslim beliefs, buddhist beliefs, jewish beliefs, christian and catholic beliefs that ARE changing.
There is one thing about whistle blowing to affect change and quite something else when the abused are made into victims for sensationalism that gets viewed BECAUSE of the “star-quality” that is mentioned and kept alive — i.e. Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
If those older religions/belief systems are finding amongst their younger born-in members an ability to step OUTSIDE of the very confined boxes of “now I’m supposed to” – surely those involved in scientology, whether born in OR not can figure out something more uplifting than locking themselves in a world of vitriol and name calling.
Thanks to advances in neuroscience, brain technology (fMRIs etc) it has been found that as human beings we seem to default to a NEGATIVE bias and it takes work work work to life ourselves up from that.
I’m saddened to see this continuous speculation and name-calling and vitriol.
It’s really hard to swim against the stream but ultimately that is the only way to honestly move forward.
Windhorse
TYPO: it takes work work work to life ourselves up from that.
Should be : it takes work work work to lift ourselves up from that.
There’s an article in the Washington Post today captioned “Backpage has always claimed it doesn’t control sex-related ads. New documents show otherwise.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/backpage-has-always-claimed-it-doesnt-control-sex-related-ads-new-documents-show-otherwise/2017/07/10/b3158ef6-553c-11e7-b38e-35fd8e0c288f_story.html?utm_term=.f9ffd27099d7
George, I’m not sure about that. I think it appealed to either or both. “Seekers” were also attracted to scientology. Like me, they were familiar at least to some degree, with other traditions and teachings, and what I looked for was pretty much what I said – a new codification and perhaps refinement and expansion of earlier teachings. I think the concept of occultism as opposed to anything else, is Western to begin with. It is defined as “supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena”. Scientology claimed to investigate and explain these kind of things on a more rational basis. Built in to our usual definition is the implication that these things are somehow not as real, rather than natural and inherent, which is how I tended to think of them, to the extent I was interested in them at all. Which was not very much. I was more looking at traditions and schools of personal development and the causes of suffering, rather than magic tricks.
But I can see how the occult side had a great attraction for many people, with them getting hooked on “OT powers”. But I do think that was a reflection of their desire to escape suffering. In the East, people generally knew better than to chase those “powers”. I think there were quite a few people originally in scientology who were in it for the knowledge of human nature and existence, rather than for the “occult powers”. But that’s just my opinion. Obviously chasing OT has turned out to be a big thing. Except now, it’s not even that. I have no idea what those “in” today, think they are in for.
He did. He made many videos. Google “Scientology Carwash” or “Scientologists at War”. Or you could read his book entitled, er, What’s Wrong with Scientology?
On Tony Ortega’s blog today he ran a post pointing the finger at others financed by pharmaceuticals.
Meanwhile, according to media watchdog site the Village Voice and his paycheck was wholly financed by drugs and prostitution.
“Village Voice Depends On Sex and Drug Ads for its Very Survival.”
http://gawker.com/5860101/pickets-lawsuits-sex-ads-and-hard-times-at-the-village-voice
This guy Ortega, he accuses others of his own crimes on a daily basis. He has no view, shame or remorse about his own crimes against humanity. A Poster Child for a sociopath.
George, I agree. I think it highly likely Hubbard was aware of Gurdjieff/Ouspensky. G. died in 1945, and Ouspensky in 1947. Ouspensky had parted with G. 20-25 years earlier but had been taught by G. personally for 10 years before they parted. Ouspensky then taught “the system” in England and the USA for over 20 years. I still occassionally run in to proponents. A fellow here is just now trying to start a Gurdjeiff Meetup group through the local Meetup.com site.
I would find it incredible if Hubbard and his fellow writers were not very well aware of Gurdjieff/Ouspensky. Interestingly, Gurdjieff titled his group of associates and pupils as part of “The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man”.
Part of the emphasis was on “self-remembering”, and Gurdjieff did quite a lot of S-C-S exercises with his pupils. I remember at some point thinking “Why, Scientology could be a Fourth Way School!”, which is what Ouspensky called what he taught. It was supposed to be an advance on the 3 types of traditional “schools” which focused on developing the Mind(Intellect), the Emotions(Devotion), or the Body(Physical Culture), but not all 3 at once.
The emphasis on the mechanical aspects of human nature are certainly similar, and are to some extent echoed in the teachings of some Tibetans, like Chogyam Trungpa today, who likes to point out that human beings are more mechanical, and have less “free will” than they like to pretend they have. One of his books on human nature is titled “The Myth of Freedom”. But Trungpa, no nonsense as he is, is actually a very kind and loving teacher with a sense of humor, as can be seen in searching his quotes online. Here is one of my favorites:
“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.”
Ouspensky’s timeline is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky
Two of his significant books are “In Search of the Miraculous” and “The Fourth Way.”
I think Hubbard did focus on the Mind, but along the way he was forced to deal with the other aspects of human nature. In any case, I cannot imagine that he and his writer buddies were not very well aware of Gurdjieff/Ouspensky. However, it is a tradition in Sufism that every teacher in every order presents himself as “the Source” of whatever he is teaching, and obviously Hubbard took this up. It is like any retail clerk in any store, who always speak in the first person, saying “Yes, I have those, I’ll show you where they are”, as though s/he were owner and the sole proprietor.
PS, in my experience, “teachings” have been repackaged this way throughout history, at the same time usually pointing back to some kind of ancient sources. Hubbard was no exception. I do think he(and some of his associates) contributed new formulations and methods and systematized things in new ways.
It’s one of a two part series. Stay tuned.
The concept of Truth, Oracle, might very well be one of the most deceptive concepts that we have ever invented. Personally, I don’t know what Truth is, but the more I look for Truth, the more manifestations it appears to have. For example:
I used to consider that truth was something that was fixed and solid but the more I contemplated the concept of truth my view truth evolved to where I considered it to be something that is quite fluid and pliable. Perhaps truth exists as an infinite set of concentric spheres where it manifests uniquely in each sphere and each sphere is different from any other sphere. Furthermore, I can visualize each sphere within this concentric arrangement of spheres as being multi-dimensional i.e., each sphere is composed of many, many frequencies from where it begins and ends. And at each sub-frequency, each gradient layer, truth is manifesting as a unique vibrational pattern perceived only if the viewer happens to be tuned to that specific vibrational pattern. If my awareness is confined to only one sphere that contains x amount of dimensions or on just a few vibrational patterns, then I am aware only of the truth of that sphere or those patterns. But, as I gradiently expand my awareness out into other dimensions and spheres, I come to know other truths and the many layers of truth existing from each sphere that I’m aware of build upon one another to form even another truth – a combined truth – that appears to run parallel to the concentric spheres.
My current view of conceptual truth, what is considered to be truth in this world (the physical universe world of perception) cannot possibly be Truth. For in a world of perception no two people have exactly the same “truth.” Each individual perceives the world through myriad filters that are peculiar to them. What is taken for truth, declared to be truth, is only an interpretation of perception, thus, anyone can have their own truth that is true for them but not true for anyone else. There can, though, be interpretations of perception that are held in agreement by many that act as a sort of collective truth that is mistaken for universal truth or law and seems to act that way. In a world of perception one is as truthful as their best metaphor.
Truth is an abstract that is inconceivable to Life while it is pretending to be an individual human body identity. Life, playing out the pretense of being form and having opinions about everything, is unable to recognize Truth.
The Truth is, Truth IS.
Here is an interesting article I just came across that seems relevant to what we’re talking about.
I’m not in doubt about truth. The word “truth” comes from “True” or “truce”.
There is a mathematical inclination of the meaning in measurements. I will not foray into that rabbit hole.
For our discussion, true (adj.) Old English triewe (West Saxon), treowe (Mercian) “faithful, trustworthy, honest, steady in adhering to promises, friends, etc.,” from Proto-Germanic *treuwaz “having or characterized by good faith” (source also of Old Frisian triuwi, Dutch getrouw, Old High German gatriuwu, German treu, Old Norse tryggr, Danish tryg, Gothic triggws “faithful, trusty”), from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru- “be firm, solid, steadfast.”
Sense of “consistent with fact” first recorded c. 1200; that of “real, genuine, not counterfeit”.
The word has already been defined. The meaning is very clear to me.
Response to the first article was so overwhelming the Washinton Post is down for a series now.
Oracle, I could be wrong but it seems you might have got the idea I was trying to change your mind. I wasn’t. But I can certainly see how my manner of writing could have been interpreted that way. My intent was to just share some of my thoughts on what I view to be an abstract; i.e., Truth. Something that I believe can never truly be experienced as long as one continues to hold onto opinions.
Yes, the word has already been defined, however, when it comes to that word, I believe there is an earlier beginning and more to the story. Therefore, I continue to explore other possibilities.
I agree with you there. All the way.
A Haiku poem (not by me):
Never touching truth
words only align to point
to its reflection.
Her Childhood in Scientology: The Dark Unspoken Truth ft. Dani Armando