Author Archives: Mark C. Rathbun

1. Body, Mind and Soul

Posted on July 18, 2013 | 181 comments

Spirit is the invisible-to-the-eye animating agent that brings vitality to otherwise lifeless matter.

A soul is an individual unit of sentient life.  It is the spiritual being.

Souls, so far as we can tell, are of the same quality as spirit. Souls seem to be distinguishable from spirit by carrying the notion of individuality or demonstrating it through operation of, and identifying with, an organism and exercising some measure of sentience.

Thoughts are those considerations, ideas, intentions, and similar units of mental creation of other descriptions that are produced by souls.

Mind is the combination of, or repository of, thoughts generated by souls, including mental mechanisms and systems devised by individual souls to satisfy interest, curiosity, and convenience.

Physical matter reality consists of the observable, measurable components and combinations of energy and matter in space and time.

The body is the physical human organism that is distinguishable from soul or spirit, but which is animated and operated by spirit or soul.  When imbued with soul or spirit the body is alive.

Spirit, soul and thought can only be measured indirectly.  That is because they do not apparently consist of energy and matter located in space and time.  However, they can be observed to create effects in physical matter reality. They can only be objectively evaluated against those effects that they create in the physical matter reality universe.  Because soul and spirit cannot be observed directly through the five senses nor measured by physical matter reality instruments, they have largely been ignored or denied by many sciences.  That ignorance is more recently being challenged by modern thinkers conversant in both advances in science and traditions of spirit.

Whether souls are actually separate units or individual manifestations of a greater, all-encompassing body of spirit is a philosophical question that has been argued through the ages.  Since neither can be measured and directly scientifically evaluated nor described precisely by words, ultimately that question is answered by each individual in accordance with his or her own perceptions, awareness, experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and conscience.

This work is designed to assist an individual become more acquainted with soul and spirit.  It is based upon the idea that increasing such familiarity can lead to more spiritually fulfilling states of awareness or consciousness and more meaningful lives.

A soul is capable of the creation of effects on other souls and physical matter reality.  It does so through animation, the as yet scientifically inexplicable process of bestowing life.  It also apparently does so through thought.  A being’s considerations are so effective that they seem to dictate how others and the world itself appear and how they affect the individual.  Wayne Dyer has said, ‘when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.’   That would serve as a fine exercise to test for yourself to determine whether the ideas conveyed here have any validity or appeal for you.   Before you continue reading try it for yourself.   Alter your own viewpoint in any fashion you choose, then go out and take a walk or a ride or a drive and see how the world appears from that new viewpoint.   If you are undecided on how to change your viewpoint, try to assume a more optimistic, positive outlook; then take your walk or your ride with that attitude.  From this new point of view talk to people you have talked to before from an earlier viewpoint or outlook.  See whether your change of viewpoint and outlook creates an effect upon others and whether it changes the way things look to you; even if only ever so slightly.

If and when you see that your considerations can change the world and even the people in it, you may wish to continue reading.

181 Comments

Posted in healing, independents, Integral Theory, philosophy, the future, the world, Uncategorized

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When The Shoe Fits

Posted on July 16, 2013 | 107 comments

From The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton:

 

Ch’ui the draftsman

Could draw more perfect circles freehand

Than with a compass.

 

His fingers brought forth

Spontaneous forms from nowhere. His mind

Was meanwhile free and without concern

With what he was doing

 

No application was needed

His mind was perfectly simple

And knew no obstacle.

 

So, when the shoe fits

The foot is forgotten,

When the belt fits

The belly is forgotten,

When the heart is right

“For” and “against” are forgotten.

 

No drives, no compulsions,

No needs, no attractions:

Then your affairs

Are under control.

You are a free man.

 

Easy is right.  Begin right

And you are easy.

Continue easy and you are right.

The right way to go easy

Is to forget the right way

And forget that the going is easy.

107 Comments

Posted in healing, Integral Theory, philosophy, quotations, Tao Te Ching, the future

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Time and Space

Posted on July 13, 2013 | 99 comments

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Studies in science and consciousness (e.g. Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, Biocentrism by Robert Lanza, The Field by Lynne McTaggart, My Big T.O.E by Thomas Campbell, etc.) have demonstrated through a variety of means that time and space are constructs of  human and animal minds.  They have no independent, observed or tangible reality in and of themselves.  We create them in order to establish dimensions within which to survive amongst and with other organisms and to play games.

Transcendent experiences, such as enlightenments, peak-experiences, even Scientology releases, are instances where the automaticity of creating time/space constructs are ceased – even if for the briefest of spans.  At those moments we experience more of the true nature of the universe and its interconnectedness. Here is the realm where psi (psychic phenomena – or theta perceptics – such as clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, and telepathy) activities are observed and exercised. That reality only appears perceivable and achievable outside of our mental time and space constructs, which by their very purpose and definitions create the apparency of separateness.  Those transcendent experiences are often far and few between for folks because they have so permanently implanted upon themselves – and begun to mistake for ultimate reality – the reality of the time and space constructs they create. But, the more frequent a practice makes their experience possible, the more chance we have of, as Ken Wilber put it, converting temporary states more toward more permanent traits.

L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics and Scientology processes are exercises in restoring the ability to cease the automaticity of creation of time and space.  Understood in this context, it is very easy to run processes, to run groups of them (grades/levels), or even the complete program (or Bridge), to their fullest potential gain.  Not a lot of duress and dogma designed to instill unswerving devotion and surrender is required to bring about ability when that simple, if all-encompassing, framework is kept in mind. When viewed against this scientific/consciousness field of evolving, tested context Hubbard processes can become as natural and simple to deliver as driving an automobile.

I think the more a practitioner appreciates these facts, and our increasing objective (scientific) understandings and how they relate to consciousness, the more proficient, effective, and empowering his or her practice becomes.

This ability can become unachievable in Scientology; much in the way it has in many other practices.  There are a number of reasons for this.  However, all of those factors can be recognized and understood to one degree or another as invitations or commands to build further time/space constructs, and to believe so implicitly in them that one – once again – puts the process on automatic.  Whatever titillating or inviting backdrops against, or foundations upon, which one presents such enticements to build new mental constructs, they still have the same regressive effect ultimately.  They send one back down the rabbit hole of time/space construction, which after enough practice ultimately to one degree or another goes back onto automatic.

Consequently, a simple axiom evolved for me that I have found useful in studying and applying any work in the fields of spirit, philosophy and psychotherapy.  To those cemented into the permanent constructs some paths tends to embed one in, this will sound like the most rank heresy.  To those not so embedded, it might help keep you from falling into the wet concrete looming along certain paths.  It is simply this, to the degree data assists with relieving additives to the mind that enforce automatic time/space construction it is valuable; conversely, to the degree data invites introduction of additives that further automatic time/space construction it is destructive of higher awareness and states of consciousness.

99 Comments

Posted in healing, Integral Theory, Ken Wilber, l. ron hubbard, philosophy, Scientology, the world, Uncategorized

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The Rest of the Story

Posted on July 11, 2013 | 62 comments

From the outset we have represented that at Casablanca we are about the practice of repair, remediation, reconciliation, sane and integrated Scientology progress, graduation and transcendence of and beyond the Scientology experience.

We don’t solicit ‘success stories’ at Casablanca.  My view is that they have been used in the past as a cult positive reinforcement mechanism.   When you audit and coach toward ability – rather than simply release – folks attain abilities through applying what they gain in auditing toward life.   To pin someone down to a statement of result after only subjective, contemplative practice in some ways can act to constrain and limit the potential gains.  In some cases it can set them up for losses since their immediate seemingly miraculous releases don’t seem translatable into abilities in life (in a stat push environment that is often enforced).

We have, however,  maintained a book in our guest apartment where visiting former church members – and those new to Scientology –  stay when they visit.  The book serves the purpose of giving folks a completely voluntary feedback communication line.  I have never published words from the book because for the past several years the church of Scientology has run a propaganda operation against anyone who has expressed success or equanimity restored at Casablanca.  Since we moved into our new quarters near San Antonio that is not of concern because the church has no means for determining who visits us.

I have decided to publish some entries from our guest book now for a couple of reasons. One, we have been at it for so long and so consistently that we have dozens of notes that can’t possibly be traced as to identity (provided I leave out dates). Two, the church has expended so many millions in attempting to destroy our reputation and credibility (and been echo’d by their agents in the field), I want to share what is that we do in the words of those we do it with for balancing the record purposes.

From the Casablanca guest book:

As I write this note, a deep and profound love flows through my body and condenses into my ink and onto the page.  And here it remains in the physical universe as a gift for you both to revisit time and again.  Thank you both for your warm hospitality and abundant theta and for helping to mend the last remnant of a heart that was broken and is now fully healed…there is magic in the world and in this special place, where special beings come and go, the magic is nurtured and cared for and it grows – as it shall continue to grow and fill the whole world and every being in it.

—

Words cannot describe how I feel towards Marty and Mosey.  But, I can only say that they are devoting and dedicating every moment of their life to help others, like me, to do better as a thetan.  Thank you, Marty my brother and friend for applying standard LRH and helping me to regain my abilities and my self worth.  Mosey, you are one of the most beautiful kind souls I have met in my lifetimes.  Thank you for everything you do.  We are so lucky to have you as our true friend. 

—

I had (many) years of auditing at the C of S, but nothing like what I had in the last 5 days with Marty.  Marty’s C/Sing is spot on and his auditing is AMAZING!!!!!  

—

Sometimes less is more.  Sometimes small is big. Sometimes enough is abundance.  Sometimes simple is profound.  These are those times. With heartfelt gratitude and love.

—

As the week here in Casablanca with you is coming to an end, a new era begins for me.  An era of ‘I’ve got my life back and now the world has to deal with me directly; and no longer vias around me’   I came with a shy hope to sort matters out and now, as I’m parting, I’m at total peace.  What an amazing week it was!! 

—                               

I have spent 2 weeks in Heaven.  I am not a ‘religious’ person in the conventional sense of the word, but I have to say Marty and Mosey are like 2 angels in human form who were sent to guide my way on this journey.  Every wish I had has been granted with such love,tolerance and understanding that nothing could ever top this.  They have taken the ‘granting of beingness’ to a new level.  They epitomize what ‘family’ should be but even more than that.  All I can say is that I hope others can experience what I have.  I love you both (also Chiquita and even Cat !) and wish that  you achieve all your own dreams – you deserve them!

—-

Thank you for taking care of me with such obvious intention to help me find the answers I needed.  Thank you for restoring my Bridge, for restoring my willingness to believe my own thoughts, for teaching me.    Thank you for the most penetrating auditing I have ever received.   Thank you for the expansion I feel, for the huge new understanding I have of myself and of life itself, and thank you for putting together pieces of myself that I thought were lost for this life and maybe forever.

—-

In the past decade I have been to the Freewinds and Flag and I must say my experience here in this simple Casablanca far surpasses all the glitz and glamour of Freewinds and Flag in service, convenience and of course ARC.  I arrived here feeling like this was my last stop before the graveyard. I’m going home feeling a renewed zest for life.

—

Thank you so much for your hospitality and caring. Session after session the wins kept getting bigger.  I am not afraid to live any more or face the future thanks to your superior auditing. You and Mosey will always have a place in my heart and home.

—

This has been an experience of a lifetime – I’ve gotten more case gain in four days of auditing – than the entire time in Scientology (decades).  To say I am thankful is such an understatement.  This has been a life saver – an awakening – which opens up a whole new game.

—

My rediscovery here of the real Scientology has been nothing short of wondrous…Your purpose of bringing LRH’s tech and its workability to the personal level where I believe it was always meant to be has made a huge difference in my life.

—

62 Comments

Posted in acknowledgments, Casablanca, harassment, healing, independents, l. ron hubbard, Monique Banks Rathbun, Mosey Rathbun, propaganda, Scientology, texas, wins

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Scientology and Sociopathy

Posted on July 9, 2013 | 154 comments

Taking Scientology as the literal package that it insists that it be taken as in the Keeping Scientology Working (KSW) series, makes a died-in-the-wool KSW Scientology group an inevitable plum for the sociopath’s picking.  Witness Scientology Inc., and Scientology Inc. Ltd.

I made a recommendation originally two years ago, several times since, and will make it again now. If you want to fully understand where I am coming from with this sociopath analysis, and have not already done so, please read The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout.

The following two facts have been repeatedly demonstrated and tested – not simply dreamed up and expressed by some authority:

1)      Sociopaths thrive in groups of well-meaning people; to them such an environment is like shooting fish in a barrel.  Well-meaning people – particularly those inclined to follow – are the first to justify or explain away sociopathic behaviors of someone else, particularly someone in a position of authority.

2)      Sociopaths thrive in highly structured, disciplined, military or para-military type groups.  Sociopaths – many being more clever than average – can easily learn to game such structured, policy-driven systems and thereby rise and game them toward the destruction of lives from a position of power.

Thus, a KSW worshiping Scientology group – which by policy is required to destroy anyone who might disagree with a continuous harmonious group chanting of Scientology mantras – makes for the perfect sociopathic storm.

I have mentioned in the past that in decompressing and moving on up a little higher from the Scientology experience it would serve one well to recognize the difference between walking the walk and talking the talk; both in oneself as well as recognizing it in others.  In a highly literal KSW environ, inevitably the guy or gal who talks the best talk rises to the top – and by its own firm policy, rules over the hearts and minds of his followers.  It is the ideal scene for a sociopath.  He or she can kill, maim, and disable to nothing but hosannas by those he intends to slaughter, provided he or she can stifle any original thought, and instead artfully spit out nothing but green on white (policy) and red on white (technology) of Scientology.

154 Comments

Posted in healing, independents, int base, justice, Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior, policy, psychs, Scientology, the future

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The Future

Posted on July 7, 2013 | 192 comments

I am in the process of writing two books related to Scientology.  It seems to me at this juncture of that process that they will probably be the last I write about Scientology.  In keeping with the philosophy I follow in helping people on a one-to-one basis, I am writing with the purpose of assisting people in a fashion that does me out of a job.  I think that modus operandi evolved out of recognition that somewhere along the road Scientology sowed its own seeds of destruction by inculcating a sort of unhealthy dependency.  I consider what I do to be of the nature of outfitting and guiding folk to begin charting their own paths.  Hopefully the books will relate all that I know to be workable in assisting people to move on up a little higher.  The first book is about moving up from the ultimate trap that is Scientology for those stuck in it to one degree or another. The second book is about applying Hubbard’s workable discoveries in an integrated fashion that proofs one up against getting entrapped in the first place while seeking higher levels of awareness and consciousness.

The former is a recommended guide for moving on up beyond what Scientology has to offer. The latter is a recommended guide for integrating safe and sane application of that in Scientology that can be effective for those who wish to apply it.   That is, an integral practice which by my own estimation is the only fashion by which Hubbard’s workable ideas will survive or serve salutary purposes for future generations.

All of my books to date, including the first future one introduced here, are directed at a very limited audience: Scientologists and potential users of Hubbard methods.  As much as Scientologists and even former Scientologists would like to convince themselves otherwise, I know this to be a tiny minority in today’s society.  The audience is so limited that writing books on the subject is not a means to make a living; in fact it is an impediment to doing so.  The books are written out of a sense of obligation for imparting what I have learned through my own experiences of moving into, through, and beyond Scientology.  It is my hope that somewhere down the line that the audience for the second book, the integral guide, might gain a wider audience;  or, at least, serve to get some of Hubbard’s ideas into the conversation and mix in future integral mental and spiritual practices.

By necessity, the books are second in priority at the moment to making a living.  When they might be completed will be determined by the time I can find for completing them.  Notions of integrating, evolving and transcending are apparently not the most popular among former members; and most certainly, thinkers and researchers in integral practice don’t want to even hear the words ‘L. Ron Hubbard’, ‘Scientology’, or ‘Dianetics’. Resources and interest in the former church member community seem to be increasingly directed toward efforts to expose Scientology as a scam, expose and denigrate church leadership as the why for Scientology’s unworkable or destructive aspects, or even – of late – attempting to resurrect a weak imitation of the original.

In the interim so that nobody feels like a mystery is being dangled, virtually everything I have to publish can easily be derived from everything I have already written (in three books and nearly 1,100 blog posts; including its recommended reading).   I don’t purport to have brilliant, original new ideas.  I think all of them that are useful to moving to greater heights have already been better articulated by others.   My ideas simply have to do with connecting dots that have long since been created by others.  I have decided to write the books to organize those thoughts for the benefit of a) those ingrained by Scientology with the need for structure, construct and maps,  b) the loud few, and those they confuse, who insist it is dangerous to read my words because ‘I don’t know where Marty is going’, and c) (and perhaps most importantly in the long term) future integral practitioners who could benefit others by incorporating workable ideas of L. Ron Hubbard into programs of human betterment.

The two future books I have mentioned will largely focus on integration, evolution and transcendence.  The previous three books and the blog have focused more on identification, association and differentiation so as to possibly awaken folk to the necessity or wisdom of integrating, evolving, and transcending.   I will continue to attempt to do that on the blog as time permits.

192 Comments

Posted in Casablanca, healing, independents, Integral Theory, l. ron hubbard, Scientology, tech, the future

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Dangerous Thoughts?

Posted on July 3, 2013 | 338 comments

I recently caught wind of a whispering campaign wafting amongst independent Scientologists.  The message warns true believers to stay away from Memoirs Of A Scientology Warrior.  Apparently, some folks consider it a threat to orthodox, unchallengeable thought (belief).

For the benefit (or detriment, depending on one’s point of view) of those who might have had some of the campaign’s sentiment rub off on them, I am posting here some other points of view from people who have actually read the book.  I pulled several of them from the comments section of the blog – recognizing that a lot of people either don’t read comments or only some of them.  A few of the entries are reviews posted at the Amazon Books page for the book.  I have included the names or handles of the authors they were posted under.

Thanks to all of you who took the time to share your impressions and thoughts.

David Richards:

If you have been a Scientologist, if someone close to you has been a Scientologist, if you have ever wondered about the Church of Scientology; read this book.

Ronn:

Top shelf. Anyone at all interested in the “cult” would be well served to read Rathbun’s history as he lays it out bare for all herein. Really good read and great writing skill.

The Bookster:

This should be required reading, not only for those who have left the group, but for those who are still enjoying acceptance in the group. This read rings true, is entertaining and informative.

Carol:

Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior offers it all…drama,suspense, but most of all truth! For those involved or not this books delivers so much insight into what happened, and what happens when a corrupt person takes the reigns of any corporation, whether it be a church, a tech company, whatever. I could not put this book down. For me personally my questions were answered and I could finally “let go”!! read it!

Yvonne Schick:

Loved this book. It reads like an action adventure story. Filled with a “what
next” adventure while giving the non-fiction back story on the inside workings
of the Church of Scientology from the only man who could tell it. We are blessed
that Mark/Marty is in a position and willing to share his story. I enjoyed and I
learned and more than once had tears rolling down my cheeks. What more could I ask for?

And, for the record, it is shocking for anyone Scientologist or just interested human being to discover the depth of depravity within the church.

Grasshopper:

I just finished your latest book. Masterpiece. Incredible food for thought, and absolutely a must- read for anyone who is it was immersed in Scientology. Thanks. I will write more later, but I had to say that it is awesome. Thanks for writing it.

Margaret:

I just read your book. First, Wow! What a journey. You do a wonderful job of walking a reader through your life and your experiences. Your writing style is clear and direct, and several times I was tempted to take a break and come here to comment because of the poignancy and impact of what you were describing. But I ended up reading the first half straight through last night, going to bed, and then finishing the book this morning.
I loved the description of your life leading up to Scientology — it will bug the hell out of the anti crowd, because you so beautifully answer the question “why do people become and stay interested in Scientology even after leaving?”: the question that Wright posed, but never answered. You describe your experiences so lucidly and authentically, that only the most hardcore cultists (in the anti crowd) will find it necessary to deny and fight it.
The details of the Colletto murder … wow. I had read the news reports years later and so was familiar with it from the media’s description, but hearing your first hand, detailed account was gripping.
At a certain point in the book, I knew you could have written tomes on what went down in the legal struggles of the 1980s — but I think you successfully found the right balance of the most salient and important points. I loved the entry of Cooley into the picture. I had really never heard about or understood the FAMCO/DOJ collusion and corruption theory — I had heard about Flynn of course, and was familiar with some of the cases. But I didn’t know it to the level of detail that you provide. I also didn’t realize that the videos of Armstrong were so extensive. I tried watching a couple of the ones with Mike Rinder (the ones I found online), but didn’t have the additional extensive background that you provide which puts it into better context. I do hope that someday, someone also provides all of the documentation you mention (that the G.O. found in the non-FOIA files), and really documents the battle that Hubbard and the early CoS was facing through the 50s-70s. There have been narratives, of course, but I’d really like to see the raw documents. I’ve already seen the FOIA FBI files from the 50s and 60s on Hubbard — if there are other AMA and APA documents which show collusion, wow, THAT is a story that needs telling (and documenting).
I wish there was more on Mary Sue — her steadfast loyalty was incredible. And the part about the lawyer noticing that “Scientologists are too honest” — it’s weirdly true. But maybe “naive” is a better word.
I think you take a fair and unbiased look at Hubbard — of course the fact that you can separate out the wheat from the chaff will drive both sides of the cultic-thinking crowd nuts. And I also appreciate your sharing your take on the OT levels — a view that I personally think is more consistent with the fundamentals of the subject.
I also appreciate that you gave us the verbatim words of Sarge — that helps a person understand the whole picture. (If you’re reading Sarge, thank you for sharing more details. I could tell that Ron was a real friend of yours and I’m sure he appreciated your being there.) Wright did attempt to take additional swipes at Ron through Sarge’s words, and I hope we hear more from Sarge on it someday.
Overall, Marty, your book was both a vindication of the workability of the subject of Scientology and also a poignant and honest representation of the failed organization and the brilliant imperfect man who started it all.
And you’re right — the extremists in both camps will hate it. But I reckon that those who can hew to the middle path will love it.
Congratulations!

Bruce Pratt:

“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Thanks for bothering, Marty.

While grace shone upon me with a marvelous time in Panama with my Dad and friends, I had a chance to read your Memoirs.

Wow!

Among other factors, it was a trip through an amusement park house of mirrors. Not me, but boy, the reflections were unmistakable.

Thank you for the opportunity to see something I would not have seen otherwise.

Brings me back to truth in this universe and my appreciation for your bother.

Truth is an absolute and as such does not lend itself to comparable magnitudes, which from this wonderful level of existence are usually essential for some understanding.

Your experience has aided me to separate LRH the man from his philosophy and the consequences of incorrect or inappropriate application, regardless of my agreement with your position, that of M2 or any other.

Dichotomies are a bitch. Fortunately they are much less so when one gets somewhat exterior to them and can identify them as such as opposed to individual terminals.

Oh, yeah, thank you my friend. Thank you and that powerhouse Mosey.

Brian:

This book is a non stop roller coaster ride. What an amazing look into the bowels of the Scientology power beast. Here, saving the world can surely end up looking like cookoo land. I highly recommend reading this war time story of the “religion” that seeks destruction of critics.

But all Marty really wanted to do is help his brother and he ended up an intel operative and legal rat fighting cosmic bad guys for the “only hope for man”.

I know people love to hate Marty or put him up on some pedestal. But I gained an empathy for him by understanding the karmic forces that jettisoned him into cookoo land.

I applaud his intimate candor and sensitivity as a boy and cringed at the way he was rocketed, as a young man, into the hypnotic influence of cult mentality.

I recommend this book.

Windhorse:

By far the best book by former #2 man in the Church of Scientology. Despite official scientology, those of us who were involved at various levels know full well that Marty Rathbun was a highly respected, feared and dedicated senior official in the Church.

He writes this memoir from his heart – pouring out his early years. The loss of his mother, his love of sports and his failed attempts to save his brother from a life time of psychiatric institutions.

Along the way, Marty reveals his thoughts about what happened to Hubbard. How he became a victim of his own philosophy. Why he created ultimately a draconian organization, intended to save him from those who might harm the organization only to find himself in the end virtually alone and afraid.

One is even left feeling sorry for the man who has become to many the nemesis of “true” scientology — David Miscavige. Himself a 2nd generation scientologist, DM is a man caught up through misplaced devotion and his own delusions in a web of intrigue, abject fear of everyone and an iron fist — made of diamonds he’s ensured are his to wear.

Definitely read this book. You’ll learn a great deal. I did and I’ve been following the unwrapping of the Church of Scientology for over 20 years after being a member for the prior 20.

Pale Horse:

Marty, I just finished reading “Memoirs…”, so your present blog post could not be more timely for me.

When I went Clear in ’92 I wanted to get on with Life and try out my new wings, but as I am sure you can guess, the reg had other things in mind for me – KTL/LOC, the Ls, blah, blah, blah…I was going stir crazy! After finally getting away from Flag and getting back into the real world, I really began to hate what I was starting to become. I find it incredibly embarrassing now to look back and see that I was turning into one of those self-satisfied, Homo Novus, I’m-better-than-Wogs type of Scientologists. And, yes, I suffered the humiliation – Thank God I had the presence of mind to be humiliated! And thank God that phase didn’t last long. It sure was the wake up call I needed to distance myself from the Church.

I particularly loved the last chapter of your book where you spell out the very danger of falling for the Crowley-esque super-ego trip and the demand that you MUST begin the battle against Xenu and the Body Snatchers. Thank God I escaped before I became assimilated by the Borg.

I see now why the M2 crowd and so many “better-than-human” Scientologists are pissed off at you. They enjoy their superiority complex too much. And I also see why you have renounced the label “Scientologist” for yourself.

Thank you for your excellent book and your thoughtful insights.

Martin Padfield:

Having just finished “Memoirs” I can say you are in for a treat. It gets better and better. I love the attention to detail on the various legal incidents; names, dates – it’s all there, and the way they are all put in the right context. Ditto the dialogue towards the end with Sarge is verbatim, so there can be no misunderstanding or misinterpretation of exactly what was said and how.

Although completely impractical and probably discriminatory, it would be great if all contributors to this blog had read the 3 books as a pre-req to posting. It sure would make for an easier blog experience! I simply haven’t got the time to wade through 500+ comments, most of which would be null or invalid as already answered in the books.

There are so many things spelled out that make recent history understandable. Just a couple of examples from dozens I could have chosen – the authorship and background to Disconnection reinstated. Similarly, regarding the infamous 1982 Mission Holders Conference: “In fact, LRH had advised or approved of virtually everything that was uttered by Miscavige and his management boys at that conference. And when they returned Miscavige sent a recording of the entire conference to Hubbard. Hubbard listened to the whole proceeding. He was so thrilled with their performance that he highly commended Miscavige and his managers and ordered that a transcript of the entire event be prepared and distributed widely amongst Scientologists. His wishes were complied with…” (Page 197)

Best of all, the VERY recent activity on this very posting and elsewhere is discussed in a way that promotes better understanding of what’s really going on and the source of it. Great stuff.

I’ve put up some more shelves; ready for the next one!

Phil Bruemmer:

I just finished reading “Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior”.
The book verified things I suspected were fact, set me straight on some “facts” which I had wrong and introduced me to some things I hadn’t expected at all.
I’m glad that I heeded the advice in chapter 15 of “What Is Wrong With Scientology” and have been studying diligently (more or less) the past few months. Things that would’ve shaken me up before didn’t.
It actually resolved some confusions and conflicts for me and restored some peace in my universe.
Considering what you experienced and how you handled yourself, I’d say you got the EP of Pro TRs on the Comm Course.

You are a hell of a writer to boot!

Dan Koon:

By the way, Marty, I just finished your book and really, really enjoyed it. You filled in a LOT of blanks for me about what went on during various periods. So a big thanks for taking the time to put it all down. Tony Ortega slammed it, which, having now read it, is about what I would expect from someone who refuses to experience any part of the subject subjectively but who depends on the experiences of those who do and did for his livelihood. I understand he is writing a book. I can tell right now it is going to be a piece of crap. The guy has been writing about Scn for 20 years and never opened Self Analysis. He should watch The Master and then do the window and wall process for as long as Freddie Quell.

Cooper Kessel:


I just finished your new book. Very well done in presenting your experiences telling your story. It is a story very worth telling.
I realized that I held a belief that Miscaviage had altered what LRH really intended and that that was the reason why things went off the rails. I really appreciate knowing that he was actually in his own mind trying to do what he thought best for LRH and Scn. And I am happy to discard that belief!

I especially enjoyed reading the epilogue. I think your book will contribute in no small way to help people with a new course of action. As Pai-chaing noted ‘….one that is different than before’.

I will raise my glass to a toast to that concept. I hope to meet you and Mosey one day. Meanwhile, thanks for carrying on with a different course which is a bit higher than before!

Scott Campbell:

I just finished reading your book last week and have been thinking about it ever since. I can certainly see how LRH’s “fight fire with fire” strategy became the default “culture” throughout scientology. It was interesting to hear of the non-FOIA data regarding the tactics of the various government agencies arrayed against the C of S and LRH.

I for one am glad that you had the strength of character to get out of that situation and ultimately do the astonishing amount of good that you’ve done in just a handful of years. Whatever you’re doing, keep it up if its what you want. You’re a good man and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

As for this other political bullshit. I’ll say what I used to tell friends of mine on the ship when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the orgs and scientology at the time – “It makes me tired just thinking about it”.

I also think that anyone hell bent on creating any kind of authoritarian organization would be well served to heed this observation from St, Thomas Aquinas – “The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.”

Joe Pendleton:

Marty, finished your book about 20 seconds ago.  Wow!  Brilliant concluding chapter/words and a book I’m sure that everyone who posts here has either read or will be reading soon.  I won’t give any of it away to those who have not read it yet, except to say that your continuing journey has involved not only your willingness to risk the disapproval and possible abandonment of your allies, but also no small amount of intellectual honesty and intellectual courage.  For an acknowledgement, here I will quote LRH – as was once said on R3R step 8 – “OK, Continue.”

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Posted in healing, independents, l. ron hubbard, Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior, propaganda, Scientology

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Why Bother?

Posted on July 1, 2013 | 233 comments

Some hard-core ‘independent’ Scientologists have ruminated  among themselves lately the idea that I am somehow trying to bring down L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology.  Otherwise, they reason,  ‘why wouldn’t he just move on and let it be?’   I am going to try to address this concern as directly and succinctly as I can.

L. Ron Hubbard developed a number of unique, aggressive methods for tackling problems of the human psyche.   Used intelligently there is nothing that compares to their direct, predictable effectiveness in intensifying present awareness.

However, there is a potential trap in the fields of therapy and spiritual practices discussed by Ken Wilber in his Kosmic Consciousness interview series that applies in spades to Scientology.  In segment eight of the series, Wilber speaks of people attaining ecstatic, exalted altered states in their particular discipline that they consider to be so miraculous as to be without compare.  They are convinced that they have found the only way, which results in a sort of tunnel vision and puts a figurative ceiling on their own continued growth and development.  Such people become opinionated, exclusive and intolerant – ultimately repelling others from experiencing the transcendence they experienced and losing whatever they gained in the process.

This trap is particularly acute in Scientology, because along with the peak and plateau experiences it delivers, its scripture is saturated with reinforcement of this sense of only-one way and superiority to mere mortals.  As intensively and effectively as Scientology can focus an individual’s attention and concentration, it just as intensively and effectively conditions those new found abilities onto worshipping and defending to the death the construct that made them possible.

In an ironic way, the zealous, judgmental, super egoic, ‘I will save you if I have to kill you’ mentality of the advanced Scientologist serves as testament to the effectiveness of that which they are hell-bent on defending and promoting.

Just as assuredly, it is evidence that somewhere along the line the science of ‘knowing how to know’ is converted into the practice of ‘knowing so best that we had better not be exposed to learning anything else and not allow anyone else to either’.

The observation I am trying to share is that it is this vicious cycle that is at the root of the demise of the methodologies of Dianetics and Scientology.  It is the cause of every other ill – disconnection, fair game, Simon Bolivar, violence in management, money is everything,  image is everything, you name it – every other ‘situation’ that folk continually mistake for the ‘why.’

I have witnessed tremendous relief, rehabilitated ability to learn, and renewed capacity for transcendence by getting this ‘why’ understood by many who have devoted their lives to Scientology.   I have also effectively helped a number of people with Hubbard methods by using them – sans the only-one religious indoctrination;  people who knew little to nothing of Dianetics and Scientology when they came to me.

It is for this reason that I believe the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard are doomed to the extent they are not used in an integral (integrated) fashion.   The whole package – taken as the whole package requires it be taken – leads inevitably to all of the ills ex-scientologists, those effected by Scientologists, and Scientologists (including and especially independent ones) seem to make a pastime out of clamoring about.

Why do I bother?  Because I want to help free those who are stuck in this Scientology dichotomy, and because I don’t want to see the demise of ideas and discoveries that can be effective in helping people in the future.

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Posted in Casablanca, disconnection, ethics, healing, independents, Integral Theory, justice, Ken Wilber, philosophy, policy, Scientology, tech, the future

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What’s Going On?

Posted on June 29, 2013 | 151 comments

I came across an interesting passage in a book – the passage originally published in 1963 – by a prominent psychologist predicting quantum advancements in human consciousness by the marrying of religious and philosophic wisdom with rapidly evolving science. It is fifty years later and it seems Scientology is only now beginning to go through the throes of differentiating the adults (truth seeking spiritualists and values inspired scientists) from the children (flat earth religionists and reductionist-mechanistic inclined scientists).  Scientology seems, to steal a verse from U2, stuck in a moment that it can’t get out of.  From Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences, by Abraham H. Maslow:

These two groups (sophisticated theologians and sophisticated scientists) seem to be coming closer and closer together in their conception of the universe as ‘organismic’, as having some kind of unity and integration, as growing and evolving and having direction and, therefore, having some kind of ‘meaning.’ Whether or not to call this integration ‘God’ finally gets to be an arbitrary decision and a personal indulgence determined by one’s personal myths.  John Dewey, an agnostic, decided for strategic and communicative purposes to retain the word ‘God’, defining it in a naturalistic way.  Others have decided against using it also for strategic reasons.  What we wind up with is a new situation in the history of the problem in which a ‘serious’ Buddhist let us say, one who is concerned with ‘ultimate concerns’ and with Tillich’s ‘dimensions of depth’, is more co-religionist to a ‘serious’ agnostic than he is to a conventional, superficial, other-directed Buddhist for whom religion is only habit or custom, i.e., behavior.

Indeed, these ‘serious’ people are coming so close together as to suggest that they are becoming a single party of mankind, the earnest ones, the seeking, the questioning, probing ones, the ones who are not sure, the ones with a ‘tragic sense of life’, the explorers of the depths and of the heights, the ‘saving remnant.’  The other party then is made up of all the superficial, the moment-bound, the herebound ones, those who are totally absorbed with the trivial, those who are ‘plated with piety, not alloyed with it’, those who are reduced to the concrete, to the momentary, and to the immediately selfish.  Almost, we could say, we wind up with adults, on the one hand, and children, on the other. 

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Posted in Casablanca, ethics, healing, independents, Integral Theory, philosophy, propaganda, psychs, quotations, Scientology, the future, the Reformation, the world

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The Great Decompression

Posted on June 27, 2013 | 158 comments

I borrowed, or coined by inspiration, from Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search For Meaning) the idea that decompression was the first and most important step in recovering from the Scientology experience with an upward trajectory.  Frankl – having himself survived years of imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, and attempted to help others similarly situated upon release – noted that an adjustment period was critical for someone coming out of a strictly controlled environment to a relatively free society.  He likened it to a deep sea diver submerged for several hours far beneath the surface.  One must bring the diver back out from under the tremendous pressure he has adjusted to on a gradient basis or he will suffer from Decompression Sickness, also known as the bends. Similarly, if a person imprisoned – even mentally – in inhumane conditions, conditioned to think and act in super-compliant ways while developing all manner of deceitful (albeit as justifiable as they may be) means to survive, comes out acting like he owns earth he is going to be in for big, ugly and possibly devastating losses.

Over time I have exchanged observations with other counselors about a number of folks that we guided and assisted through the Scientology Underground Railroad – or Decompression Road.  One pattern we all have observed, and taken terrible losses on, is Scientologists entering the family of humanity with the exclusive, arrogant and judgmental attitudes they developed to survive in Scientology culture.  All of us have expended a great deal of resource and effort in helping to clean up messes such attitudes have created, and in getting people who exhibit those attitudes back on their paths after the inevitable smack downs society tends to deliver in response.   For those going through that process now, and who are discomforted absent orientation to L. Ron Hubbard references, everything I have noted thus far in this article is in complete accord with Scientology notions of the efficacy of tackling problems,development and life on a gradient scale; and even the ethics conditions formulas (see Non- Existence condition and formula).

One of the first posts on the Milestone 2/iscientology blog – created largely in protest of my books and this forum – was a piece attempting to discredit this idea of decompression as some psych-based attempt to belittle Operating Thetans and put people at introverted effect.  It reasoned that former Sea Org members and public OTs who bought into the idea they could use a tad of decompression as part of their gradient entry into the community of fellow human beings were victims of an attempt to put them at groveling effect of the psych-indoctrinated ‘wog’ world.  By God, the MS2ers proclaimed, we need to bring society up to our standards, Revenimus! (In keeping perhaps with the Class VIII indoctrination, ‘you are the people who own the planet’ – see Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior).  This mentality of wanting to cling to the inside is understandable (see e.g. the films  The Shawshank Redemption and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – I know you have all seen them, but watch them again with the Scientology experience in mind).

These thoughts arose when considering a general response to the many inquiries I have received lately asking me which of my three books ought to be read in what sequence.   That includes a lot of non-Scientologists asking what book might appeal to or help a Scientologist family member or friend. My answer is always a question, eliciting information on where the person is at on the decompression process.  When I know something about their circumstances I can recommend the single book that I think might help the person concerned.  They do not necessarily flow one to the next in the order they were written.  And all three of them aren’t for everybody necessarily.

So here is a short generalized guide to whom I believe the three books individually might appeal to, and hopefully help  –  in alignment to degrees of decompression already experienced by the concerned person.

The Scientology Reformation.

This book was written primarily with Scientologists still connected with the church in mind.  It is anchored upon L. Ron Hubbard references and attempts, on a gradient basis, to get a Scientologist to observe for himself or herself just how far adrift Scientology Inc has strayed from the intent and purposes memorialized (at least in some places) by its founder.  It introduces hope that one need not reject all of Scientology, in order to escape and even to take a stand against its abuses.

What Is Wrong With Scientology? Healing Through Understanding

This book would likely be dropped like a radioactive rock by the time a Scientologist in good standing read the first sentence of the introduction.   It is addressed more to people who are already out of the church, and for whom turning back is no option.  It is a detailed presentation and analysis of the features of Scientology that tend toward entrapment.   It describes in some detail the sum and substance of what Scientology’s effective processes are  in order to set the table for analyzing what is wrong with it and how it is ultimately used to entrap.   If one only mindlessly makes a break and declares a wholesale rejection of everything scientology, one tends to become as glued to it as ever, albeit from the opposition vector.  That is because he or she never took the time to understand and come to grips with what salutary aspects of it may have kept one pursuing it in the first place.  If one understands that, one can transcend the experience in a more desirable state than victimhood.

Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior

Because of the personal, autobiographical nature of this book and its consequent gradual, real time and subjective introduction to Scientology this can inform someone never involved in the subject with a perspective they will get nowhere else.  That is, what attracts and keeps one involved in the subject.   Popular books and films have been woefully two-dimensional and inaccurate in that regard.  They only focus on fear factors, which for those involved had next to zero effect in garnering their voluntary, self-determined involvement (the involvement that creates the most lasting effect on someone).  Many who have read it remarked that reading another’s real time experience of getting into, developing into a crusader for, and then transcending out of it prompted them to review their own experience more honestly, fully and rationally.  And that had a liberating effect upon them.

Memoirs is probably akin to a post-doctorate extension of the ‘what is wrong with Scientology’ analysis.  But not with a lot of opinion.  For the most part I let the facts do the talking.

While I still regularly use the term, and the model, of ‘decompression’ I am more often using it with a modifier to better describe what it is I am trying to accomplish: Decompression with an upward trajectory.

Link to all three books:

Mark Rathbun books on scientology

 

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Posted in black dianetics, Casablanca, disconnection, healing, independents, Integral Theory, jason beghe, justice, l. ron hubbard, Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior, Scientology, tech, the future, the Reformation, Uncategorized, Viktor Frankl, What Is Wrong With Scientology?

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