Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Enemy Formula: Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior

Posted on May 1, 2013 by | 79 comments

Coming this month.

Preface to The Enemy Formula:

“Use the shotgun”, Kerry Riley advised in his thick Oklahoman drawl, “it’s better they be picking shards of glass out of their foreheads for a spell till the Sheriff arrives than to have corpses on your hands.” Kerry preferred that I use my double-barrel, over-under shot gun – “use the heavier buckshot, not that chicken-shit bird shot” – when the Mexican Mafia started surveiling my home in preparation for a drive by shooting. One of their offshoots had tagged my car port with their death sentence – three pitch fork prongs up, with stars above each one, signifying I am soon to arrive in one of three places: jail, the hospital or the morgue. That is how the lead investigator for the San Patricio County District Attorney’s Office interpreted it anyhow.  Until I helped deliver some hoods to jail, I would continue to guard my wife’s slumber at night, sitting in our carport with my shotgun across my knee.

The deputy chief of the local police department was puzzled by all this. He wanted to know what I’m doing in South Texas investigating gangs for Riley’s tri-county “conscience of the Coastal Bend” newspaper when I was once an international executive in Los Angeles. I reminded the man that I sort of made it my mission when the Crips nearly killed a six year old girl with a Russian assault rifle during a drive by shooting, and it seemed apparent that local law enforcement, including himself, were too intimidated to do anything effective about it.  He smirked as if unaffected by my swipe at his lack of courage and added, “a man with your history could do a lot better than this.” Without acknowledging the implication that he had looked into my past life – I replied, “you may be right on that score”.

I pulled away in my pick up truck, turned up Wyclef Jean’s cover of Knocking on Heaven’s Door and drove into the shadows of another steamy, gulf coast summer night: “I remember playing my guitar in the projects, a product of the environment, pour some liquor for those who passed away.”

“Good question” I thought, “what am doing in a place like this?” I contemplated the answer as I drove an isolated stretch of highway. I’m investigating gangs because they are the bullies in this county – shooting up innocent folk – that’s easy.  That’s what I do, that’s what I’ve always done. I’ve got to defend to the death in order to survive. “My dad taught me the American dream, baby, you can be anything you want to be, if I did it, y’all could do it.”

But, the cop’s unasked question nagged me, “how could you be here doing that when you are dead?”  If he had looked my name up on the Internet – as he obviously had –  a number of sites, including Wikipedia, listed me as deceased. But, I was breathing and creating chaos in San Pat county to boot.  That was after the Church of Scientology had effectively pronounced me dead. That’s what happens when you up and leave unannounced, even after twenty-seven years of service. Excommunicated – can’t speak to another living Scientologist, or any professional contact you may have made during that time. Those are the rules and I had agreed to play by the rules. So, yeah, I guess I am dead. “I feel a dark cloud coming over me, so poor, so dark, it feels like I’m knocking on heaven’s door.”

Then I thought about the “why South Texas?” part of the question.  Easy. It is the furthest point geographically in the contiguous US from the two main Scientology centers I worked at for almost three decades.  There is unlimited space, and plenty of uncorrupted coast line. After nearly a quarter century of fighting Scientology’s legal and public relations battles, all I was looking for was a little peace of mind. And I found where to get it. “Would someone take these guns away from here, take these guns from the street, Lord, I can’t shoot my brothers anymore.”

 As I pulled up to my little bungalow on the bay, I admitted to myself that I was certain only about the last answer, why South Texas. Then, the dichotomy hit me – if I came here for peace, what on earth am I doing at war again? I walked out onto the small deck behind the house and lit a menthol. I looked at the moon reflecting off the wind swept water, then at the stars. I felt melancholic, but did not know why. I was contemplating who I really was.  I found myself humming Clef’s tune, and singing lightly its final lyrics, “Please put down your heat, Oh Lord, To my brothers that’s on the corner, Oh God, Ay, get out quick or you too will be knocking on heaven’s door.”

    —-

79 Comments

Posted in disconnection, ethics, healing, justice, Mark Rathbun, Marty Rathbun, Monique Banks Rathbun, Mosey Rathbun, Scientology, texas, The Enemy Formula, Uncategorized

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Enlightenment

Posted on April 23, 2013 by | 85 comments

My latest book, an autobiographical narrative, is off to the editor.  I feel out of words at the moment.  So, here’s Van the man with just about all the words (the musical accompaniment contributes mightily to his hitting it right on the sweet spot, imho) that anybody needs:

 

85 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Becoming Clear

Posted on April 16, 2013 by | 249 comments

The communication training routines in Scientology are very much downplayed in my opinion.  Supervised with the requisite attention and emphasis, in and of themselves they are a tremendous advance toward the state of Clear.  Ron Hubbard at one time made that point rather plain.

From L. Ron Hubbard’s lecture Scientology and Effective Knowledge (15 July 1957):

I woke up eventually to discover that these training drills (communication training routines) all by themself, practiced with sufficient rigor and coached well enough and instructed well enough, were steps on the road to Clear, all by themselves, without any further processing…

…And where training and processing processes are successful, they lead toward a straighter communication.  And therefore, the road out is marked by simplicity and direct observation….

…The whole subject opens up at its inception with just this: that the simplicity of observation, the simplicity of communication itself and only itself, is functional and will take Man from the bottom to the top.  And the only thing I am trying to teach you is look.

Provided one approached the training routines with the above in mind, and not as a bait and switch toward dependence on years and years of costly and complex psychotherapy or membership in some true-believer group, one might avoid the pitfalls Ron warned of in the same lecture:

Now, that’s the first thing we must know about Scientology is that by the attainment of a simplicity we accomplish a benefit. By the attainment of a simplicity, we accomplish a benefit.  By the invitation of or involvement in a complexity, we accomplish the unfathomable and create a mystery.  We sink Man into a priesthood, we sink him into a cult.

It is interesting to note that Taoists had a similar philosophical view about becoming clear more than two millenia ago.   From Lieh-Tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living (translations of ancient Taoist texts) by Eva Wong:

Those who are involved are muddled; those who watch are clear.

There was a man who was so intent on avenging his father’s death that he could think of nothing else.  He was so engrossed in making plans for his revenge that he forgot he was holding his walking stick upside down.  He leaned on his staff and the sharp point punctured his cheek.  One of his friends said, ‘He is so deep in his own thoughts that everything around him is a blur.’

There was another man who was obsessed with getting rich.  One day he went into the bank and tried to walk off with several bags of gold.  The guards caught him immediately.  A passerby said, ‘only a fool would think of robbing a bank in the presence of armed guards.’  The man said, ‘my mind was so set on the gold I didn’t see the guards.’

You often see people stumbling into walls or stepping into holes because they are so occupied by their thoughts that they don’t see what’s in front of them.  When we are too involved in a situation, we can’t see straight, and things that are obvious and clear to bystanders are a blur to us.  This is very dangerous.

The training routines that Ron devised, well supervised by those not caught in the rapture/delusion of complex scripture, go a long way in attaining that ability to be clear.  A handy stable datum to help steer one clear of the ‘priesthood’ and ‘cult’ aspects of Scientology is to question anything you encounter that doesn’t seem to contribute to this:  And the only thing I am trying to teach you is look.

249 Comments

Posted in acknowledgments, black dianetics, healing, independents, Integral Theory, l. ron hubbard, quotations, Scientology, Tao Te Ching, tech, the future, Uncategorized

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Total Certainty – Really?

Posted on April 14, 2013 by | 156 comments

Reference: What We Are Doing Here

Some people get mixed up in Scientology with its sometimes obsessive attempted attainment toward and assertion of  ‘total certainty.’   It would seem such folk may have jettisoned some basic Scientology axioms and laws in pursuit of later claims and emphases.  Consequently, I find a lot of former and independent Scientologists are mixed up on the Know-to-Mystery scale.  They can’t seem to understand why it is that ‘Not Know’ is the second highest rung on the scale.  This conundrum was addressed in an earlier post, What We Are Doing Here.   Of late, we have been examining the subject of judgmentalism on this blog – most recently its relationship to sociopathy, The Psychopath Test.   In reviewing one of the texts from the recommended reading section of this blog, The Sociopath Next Door, I came across a passage that sheds a little light on this subject of ‘total certainty’ particularly as it relates to judgmentalism.  It gives some idea why it can seem untoward or uncomfortable or even anti-survival to obsess with attainment of  total certainty.

From Chapter Five, why conscience is partially blind:

One of the more striking characteristics of good people is that they are almost never completely sure that they are right.  Good people question themselves constantly, reflexively, and subject their decisions and actions to the exacting scrutiny of an intervening sense of obligation rooted in their attachments to other people.  The self-questioning of conscience seldom admits absolute certainty into the mind, and even when it does, certainty feels treacherous to us, as if it may trick us into punishing someone unjustly, or performing some other unconscionable act.  Even legally, we speak of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ rather than of complete certainty. 

156 Comments

Posted in acknowledgments, ethics, healing, independents, Integral Theory, l. ron hubbard, psychs, quotations, Scientology, the future, the world, Uncategorized

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Walking the Walk

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | 18 comments

If you have not already seen the Oscar-winning documentary on this extraordinary fellow, Searching for Sugarman, I highly recommend it.  You might learn a little something about walking the walk and the Tao.

18 Comments

Posted in acknowledgments, Tao Te Ching, the world, Uncategorized

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Is Spirit of Quality or Quantity?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by | 364 comments

For the first several years of L. Ron Hubbard’s research into a path to enlightenment, his focus was on simplicity. In that wise, his quest aligned perfectly with the ancient universal truths he sought to make more easily and uniformly attainable.  Those truths, per Hubbard, were particularly well articulated by Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha), and Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching.   Hubbard seemed to understand, and could communicate in modern language, the Buddhist and Taoist descriptions of the spiritual, the difficult to conceptualize ideas of ‘emptiness’ or  ‘nothingness.’  Hubbard lectured as follows on 1 December 1954:

You can have a quality in complete absence of a quantity.  You don’t have to be “a quart of good boy.”  And this was what he (the scientist) was assuming, see.  The next time you see a pound of lust, send it around and we’ll put it in a museum.  These things are not quantitative.

So we had to get out of quantitative thinking, thinking in terms of objects and masses, before we had any real comprehension of existence.  And this was very easy to do. Very easy to do.  You merely had to define what zero was .  And we find that life, basically the awareness of awareness unit in life, is not a thing of quantity – not even vaguely of quantity. It is a thing of quality, of ability. 

Where you have ability, you have life. Where you have space, energy, mass…I don’t care what kinds of energy.  The energy contained in your engrams.  The energy contained in mental pictures.  The space contained in your visios or lack of them.  Anytime you have any quantity of any kind, you have walked downhill from life.  Just like that.  And this works out.  This works out in processing, works out gorgeously.

Scientology counseling (processing or auditing) does work out quite gorgeously when a thetan (the awareness of awareness unit, or individual spiritual being) is considered in this wise.   When this framework is kept in mind, Scientology procedures are rather simple.  That is because all of them are used toward the result of removing additives, or complexities, and returning the quality of the awareness of awareness unit to itself.   That quality is uniformly found to be good by universally recognized human standards.

Hubbard clearly mapped philosophy and procedures that brought about abilities (qualities) in a being that culminate in the state of Clear.  Hubbard defined a Clear as “an unrepressed and self-determined being” who is no longer subject to stimulus-response reactive thought processes.

Unfortunately, the issue becomes muddled as one assays to move higher on the Scientology path, called the Bridge.   Above Clear, the reached for states are no longer expressed in terms of freedoms from the additives that hamper a being.  Instead, Scientologists shoot for the vaunted state of ‘cause.’   Cause over matter, energy, space, time, and life is the state that is promised.   Powers become the target.   Rather than the removal of additives the goal becomes the inclusion of an additive, expressed in a term that infers physical properties or force, power.

In formal, organizational Scientology the relentless promotion and cultural propaganda and pressure hammer that theme home.  They seize upon some later seemingly contradictory words of Ron mentioned in policy letters and bulletins because of later turns Hubbard himself took.  By the mid sixties he began to contradict the maxim regarding quality versus quantity.  Beings were increasingly considered to vary in size, or to be recognizable by something other than quality, the new measure being quantity.

For example, in a policy letter issued on 22 March 1967 Hubbard introduced the idea of size with respect to thetans. He wrote,  ‘Some  thetans are bigger than others.  None are truly equal. ‘  He went on to instruct that smaller beings, whom he designated as degraded beings, occur ‘about eighteen to one over Big Beings in the human race (minimum ratio). ‘

Along with that shift of focus onto size came the introduction of different goals for processing.   Rather than the original goal of returning a being to the simple, uniformly good, freedom from the additives tainting the being’s quality, the focus went toward achieving powers.  Conditions of existence were issued along with formulas one could apply in life to improve one’s condition.  Those conditions were determined primarily by the quantity produced as measured by statistics. The most senior of those conditions to which all of them were designed to lead toward was called ‘Power.’  While those condition formulas were, and are, very workable, the schema contributed to a culture of lust toward attainment of power.

The very definition of power in Scientology radically changed as follows:

a)      The ability to maintain a position in space.  – 1 March 1958

b)      The amount of work which can be accomplished in a unit of time, or the amount of force which can be applied in a unit of time.  – 6 December 1966

Over time the adjective “powerful’ became regularly associated with ‘thetan’ in Scientology think and speak.   Scientologists began to promote and covet the idea of becoming a big, powerful  thetan.   Scientology promotion became more geared toward such ideas as ‘unleashing the power of the thetan’, and  bestowing ‘super power’.   Achievements in the Scientology world were ascribed as attributes of ‘powerful thetans’ and ‘big beings.’   Conversely, bad conduct was routinely condemned as that of smaller beings.

Exacerbating matters were more Hubbard policies that excused otherwise destructive behavior of beings based upon the size or power of the individual, particularly when that alleged size or power was abused in the forwarding of the power of Scientology as a movement.  Thus, in the policy The Responsibilities of Leaders, Hubbard’s ‘seven points of power’ suggested the ends justify the means when protecting the ‘power’ one relies upon for his own power.   Hubbard suggests the physical beating of the critic of the power one relies upon and serves is commendable behavior.  He even suggests that a real power would accept those who rely upon his power murdering enemies of the power.   And that a true power would encourage his underlings to keep him ignorant of the crimes they commit in increasing his power.  In fact another  Hubbard ethics policy letter stated that an individual who produced a lot toward expansion of Scientology could ‘get away with murder.’

In the years that Scientology evolved in this fashion, most particularly after the death of Hubbard, its very aims were demonstrably altered in significant ways.  Gradually, alleviating the world of ‘insanity’, ‘war’, and ‘criminality’ was replaced by a drive to wreak ‘planetary obliteration’ or exact ‘global vengeance’ against the Scientology-designated evil-doers of earth.

It fairly makes one wonder whether somewhere along the line Scientology lost sight of its own purpose and the quality of life it was created to restore.

Does Scientology address beings as ‘qualities’ that lost sight of their own very nature by introduction of the confusion of ‘quantity’ into the equation?

Or does Scientology address beings as ‘quantities’ that need to have some quantity added to them to become sufficiently big and powerful?

364 Comments

Posted in ethics, healing, ias, independents, Integral Theory, l. ron hubbard, Scientology, Tao Te Ching, tech, Uncategorized

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Something Can Be Done About It

Posted on March 20, 2013 by | 104 comments

by Mike Rinder

For 4 years, Marty Rathbun’s Blog – Moving On Up A Little Higher – has provided an invaluable service.  It has been the best source of news on the current goings-on in the world of Scientology, exposed truths about what has happened in the past,  provided a venue for those newly emerging from the bubble of the Church to announce themselves to the world, given insight into squirreling of the tech, offered helpful advice on sources of wisdom and became a place to find new friends or reconnect with old ones.

Marty has always said that it was his desire to help raise spiritual awareness, to move on up a little higher.   If you are a regular reader you have probably noticed his blog evolving away from the daily news into higher concepts and discussions. This is something that is important. And it is a message directed to those who have well and truly left the church behind and are moving onward and upward.

But I feel there is still a need for coverage of day to day news and activities. And a place where those who may just be emerging from the bubble that is corporate Scientology can find information to help them to break free once and for all.  And perhaps a place where even the seasoned veterans of Moving On Up can keep up with current news.

Tony Ortega’s blog covers a lot of ground, but I don’t see everything from the same perspective he does, and no doubt anyone inside the church, or “under the radar” or recently stepping away would reject a lot of what he says due to his clearly expressed skepticism about the entire subject of Scientology.  That being said, there is no question of the service he continues to provide, standing tall and strong in exposing abuses as a journalist rather than a former insider blogging for a different public.

Sinar Parman recently began a Facebook private group where he keeps everyone abreast of current media, but Facebook doesn’t lend itself well to any in depth articles, and it is fleeting, unindexed and unwieldy to use as a reference source for information even a few hours after an initial posting, let alone weeks or months later.

I have assisted Marty moderate his blog since the early days.  We have agreed that while he continues Moving On Up A Little Higher I have started a new blog Something Can Be Done About It  that will hopefully help fill the vacuum on the “daily news” about Scientology, slanted to the perspective of those who consider themselves Scientologists. And by that I mean nothing more than those who have found something workable in the subject and apply it to their lives. It is not intended as a label, just an easily understandable shorthand for whom I consider the target audience for the blog. I would like it to be a place where those “sitting on the fence” or “under the radar” as well as those who want reassurance that progress is being made towards ending the abuses in the church can find information of value.

I intend to share the latest news about the Ideal Orgs and events in orgs. About who has announced their departure from the church. I plan to cover current news and pose questions that should be asked by those who are still in the church.

As has been the moderation policy on Moving On Up since its launch, a lot of leeway will be given to people who are sincerely expressing a view. But if it becomes clear their only intent is to stir up trouble and distract from the discussion, they will be told they can go somewhere else. It’s simply a matter of deciding whether one person demanding their “right” to yell “Fire” in the theater trumps the right of everyone else who is there to watch the movie.  Anyone who feels aggrieved is welcome to start their own blog. It costs nothing and WordPress makes it very easy to do.

I have tried to make this blog seem relatively familiar to readers of Moving On Up, but I have also added some features. You will see on the right side there is a menu that shows the 10 most recent comments  as I know it is sometimes difficult to navigate through the comments to find what you haven’t read if there are a lot of responses. I have also included several fundamental articles – the 31 Factors, Debbie Cook’s Open Letter and The Letter from Garcia.  The earlier posts I wrote that were published on Marty’s blog (see the button at the top of the page “All Posts”). And recommended books are also included. Not all features and aspects are fully finalized, but its operational enough to get started then fill in all the blanks and iron out any bugs as they arise.

If you have an article or information you think may be of interest, send to me at idealorg@hushmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you.

104 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Ron the Integral Thinker

Posted on March 15, 2013 by | 199 comments

I finally got around to watching several of the interviews of Phil Spickler that are posted on You Tube. What a breath of fresh air. A wise man who evolved through Scientology and lived long enough to speak about it with measure, intelligence, compassion and hard won experience. Clearly, Phil doesn’t have a horse in the race nor any agenda other than sharing his experience and what he took from it for the purpose of helping others. I am including one video in particular here where he and I share some observations. I am going to tell a back story to demonstrate why I think it speaks to Phil’s credibility and teaches an important lesson about Scientology.  Phil and I have never met, spoken nor corresponded.

For the past several months I have been studying sources that L. Ron Hubbard once credited as being influential on his thinking. Several of the critical ones he later eschewed and effectively denied had any connection or relationship to the development of Dianetics and Scientology. From my reading, it appeared to me that some indeed had little influence. That was particularly true for some of the more sensational ones that certain journalists have obsessed with because it made good copy, such as Aleister Crowley (note: in my final analysis though, Crowley’s influence was a dastardly one). However, after reading Alfred Korzybski, the founder of General Semantics, I found far more influence than Ron ever let onto, even if he consistently made more references to Korzybski than just about anyone else.

Korzybski’s 1933 opus Science and Sanity is as close to a template for Dianetics as exists anywhere. Science and Sanity is a 900 page foundation for the creation of a “Science of Man.” Korzybski finds the underlying principle aberration of the human mind is ‘identification.’ He isolates one of the most important foundational skills to develop as that of differentiation, which he calls ‘to distinguish.’ He begins by establishing the need for the use of infinity logic, and to eliminate two-valued logic and the belief in absolutes. Being the first general semanticist he puts extreme importance on knowing all definitions of words, and emphasizes the importance of creating an entirely new nomenclature. Central to a ‘science of man’ is revolutionizing the science of communication. He is the one writer I have ever read whose tone and voice closely resembles Ron’s. He repeatedly emphasizes, with unrestrained vehemence, the need to reject much of what has come before: scholarship, institutional education, mental health profession givens, politics.  He even preaches a heavy disdain for ‘democracy.’ That was the extent of my comparison by the time I ran into Phil’s talk below. He identifies another parallel between Korsybski and LRH that is probably more important than any of those I have noted.

I found the several videos of Phil that I have watched (the 5 part series and the 6 part series) to be chock full of credible information given in a credible manner. I chose the one segment below to introduce the idea that Ron was indeed influenced by his learning – and did not immaculately conceive Dianetics and Scientology, as miraculous as his discoveries were.  Though some might bristle at the suggestion his discoveries were ever represented in such wise, I believe such a reaction would be born out of denialism. It is critical for growth and transcendence to understand that the technologies of Dianetics and Scientology were evolved out 10,000 years of evolution in thought that preceded them.  Unless of course one desires to regress by holding to the idea one can, or must, cling to that which is already written to the exclusion of any other evolved or new original thought.  L. Ron Hubbard applied Integral Theory decades before Integral Theory was even conceived of.  And I agree with Phil’s assessment of and attitude about Ron, he is a hero for accomplishing what he did, particularly in the environment in which he did so.  At the end of the day, I believe what I am noting here, in combination with what Phil talks about, are validations of the credibility of Ron’s work.

Watch the rest of Phil’s talks when you get the chance. The ones I have watched are poignant and contain rich history and observations we all could learn from.

Thanks to Tatiana for having the foresight and for expending the time and effort to capture Phil on video and make it available.

Thanks to Phil for demonstrating that study and practice of Scientology can contribute to our evolution into wise folks.

199 Comments

Posted in acknowledgments, healing, independents, Integral Theory, l. ron hubbard, tech, the future, the Reformation, Uncategorized

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Lessons From Man’s Best Friend

Posted on March 9, 2013 by | 38 comments

A little something we can all likely learn something from:

Thanks to Michael Fairman for passing it along. I learned a few things from it.

38 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

The Great Ideal Orgs Scam — Update

Posted on March 6, 2013 by | 261 comments

By Mike Rinder

The continued descent of the Church of Scientology from theta into MEST is well illustrated by the Great Ideal Orgs Scam.

You may recall earlier posts describing the beginning of the incident of this 3rd dynamic engram – Buffalo org the subject of an eminent domain action and Tampa org in a strip mall and an embarrassment to Dear Leader who was in Clearwater to ensure his role as executive C/S of Lisa McPherson didn’t surface in the legal proceedings following her death.

With a continued campaign of propaganda by redefinition of terms, Miscavige’s “bright idea” has now morphed into the “LRH Ideal Org strategy.”  Of course, it is nothing of the sort. It is in fact the David Miscavige ideal money making strategy. Anyone who has ever read the Ideal Org PL knows it does NOT call for buying large, unfillable buildings and spending a fortune to turn them into over-the-top demonstrations of wasteful extravagance. In fact, this and other policies warn against just such a thing. But the clubbed seals have swallowed his rotten fish and continue to pay for the privilege to boot. This “strategy” has now taken on the mantle of “Command Intention” (once a term that referred exclusively to the plans, programs and orders of L. Ron Hubbard, now exclusively the whim of Miscavige) and to question/disagree/fail to instantly salute, bow and scrape “on command” is a thought crime of magnitude. Likely to get you declared and subsequently feel the effects of the non-existant disconnection policy enforced by the Hitler Youth (who seem to occupy all MAA/EO positions these days).

So, where does he stand with his “only guarantee of planetary clearing”?  Well, truth be told it is just one of several “only guarantees” including turning over all your worldly possessions to the IAS, 10,000 on OT7 (and it seems no matter how many decades they keep people grinding away they still can’t even get halfway there), handing over more cash to “complete” the Superpower “bridge to nowhere” pork barrel project, or getting books into every library (at least sending them, few libraries put the books on their shelves – that’s known before they are shipped).

The church, through its puppet spokesperson Karin Pouw (Charlie McCarthy to Miscavige’s Edgar Bergen) constantly refers to the “new churches” opened around the world – “10 in just the last 12 months”, “30 in the last 5 years” etc etc as “proof” of the huge expansion of the church under the brilliant leadership of the Dear Leader.  Miscavige hammers this home at every event. In fact it is the ONLY thing there is to show to “prove” the “massive, straight up and vertical expansion.” It has become his obsession and along with the IAS, THE most important activity of the RCS.

But there is a gaping hole in his theory that even the media has started to  comment on.

There are no NEW orgs, there are only new BUILDINGS. And they are empty.

In spite of the astonishing, mind boggling international expansion, there isn’t a new org to be seen ANYWHERE on planet earth. Not one since Moscow, St Petersburg and Athens in the 90’s. Not a single one of the “more missions than ever in history and opening at a rate beyond anything ever experienced” has turned into an org. Not even Kaoishuing which has had an empty “Ideal Org Building” for a decade.

So, now it seems a new strategy has emerged. Take an existing small and failing non-org, move it to a different town nearby, and herald it as “new.” Thus Kitchener “org” (many had never heard of it) becomes “Cambridge” org as it moved 5 miles from its old location to the adjoining town. Maybe he thinks this will fool people into thinking this is a NEW org? My god….

And what of the latest “Ideal Org” to open?

Pretoria in South Africa (another non-org most outside of church management have never even heard of).

It is the first “Ideal Org” in South Africa since Joburg – one of the few orgs that really was expanded by the “Ideal Org” program when they moved out of crime ridden downtown Joburg to a campus in a more upscale neighborhood. In fact, it may be the only “ideal org” where the move resulted in a bettered scene (at least temporarily).  Miscavige made a big deal about it, “South Africa will be the first clear country” and he is “personally going to see to it” hype. That was 8 years ago now. Capetown, Port Elizabeth, Bulawayo and Harare (the last two where there are no full time staff) have had “Ideal Org” buildings purchased for many years and they sit empty — let alone the “AO” at the Kyalami Castle where the church has to pay to hold events as it is being rented out to others.

Joburg today has about 40 staff and backlogged utilities bills of a million rand — all the attention is on collecting money for more “ideal orgs” and IAS and book packages and no attention is on expanding the org. So, even this “model” that started out as a bright spot has faded in the face of the church of MEST.

Now, here’s the rub on Pretoria.

The South African public have dedicated themselves to making “Command Intention” a reality. So, in spite of all odds, they pushed forward and managed to get Pretoria “done.”  Pretoria, another non-org like Kitchener and Canberra and St Etienne and Long Island and Lausanne and, and, and….

The opening was held last weekend. But that is when things went oh so wrong. The wheels are coming off the emperor’s command intention wagon train.

First, despite 10 years of “massive expansion” there were less than HALF the number of people at the opening as for the Joburg opening nearly a decade ago (and it was primarily Joburg staff and public that made Pretoria happen – they are about 30 miles apart).

Second, the org reportedly has a grand total of 80 staff – many of whom are part time. No longer a standard Day and Foundation (that idea was scrapped some time ago it seems).

Third, they have not completed funding the interior furnishings.

Fourth, in the ultimate slap in the face, “COB” sent a “representative” in his place (he has attended every grand opening, even “re-openings” except where he fears things may not be safe — he didnt go to Moscow for example, though he did go to Melbourne).  So, who was his personal emissary?  Not ED Int (not on post), nor President CSI (not on post) nor even anyone from RTC (there isn’t anyone left to send as they have all been busted too).  No, he sent the CO CMO IXU, Kerrie Ibert.  A nobody.  And they don’t have anyone apparently capable of being the local MC, so he also dispatched Erin Banks as the event “MC” — another nobody.

Of course, it’s a Catch 22 for Dear Leader. He didn’t want to go himself (and this HAD to be done so he would have something to show at the upcoming March 13 event) but he doesn’t have anyone of stature to send. The Scientology public have never been told that Guillaume Lesevre, Heber Jentzsch, Ray Mithoff, Marc Yager etc etc are “declared SPs” long since removed from post.  So, the South African staff and public took this as a direct, personal insult. Miscavige thinks so little of them and their efforts, he sends some flunky nobodies to conduct their “grand opening.” And he even went to “Cambridge” in the middle of a blizzard just a few weeks ago.  Major field opinion leaders didn’t even attend the event….

As a result of his disdain for the “little people”, South Africa may become the first country to secede from the RCS. There are a lot of very unhappy people with a  bad taste in their mouth. And like Australians, they tend to have a rebellious, independence-minded attitude…

So, don’t be surprised if there is some big news coming out of South Africa in the near future.

But what has happened in Pretoria “ideal org” since the “grand opening” a week ago?   Someone who toured the org in the middle of primary production time (one of the “87 new people who came in since we opened” hype they have been sending around to show how great things are going) reported that in the SIX courserooms there was a grand total of ONE public student (and one staff member). And in the TWENTY NINE auditing rooms there was a grand total of ZERO people in session.

Not only that, there are still piles of construction rubble and incomplete painting and other “punch list” items outstanding throughout the “ideal org.”

This is what happens when MEST becomes the priority, and even more so, when Miscavige’s events and showing phony videos takes precedence over delivery of Scientology (the March 13 Pretoria video will make it sound like the place is “taking off like a rocket with unprecedented expansion as part of the IDeal Org strategy of planetary clearing.”

Here is a shot of THE lone public in the “new” Pretoria “ideal org”:

Pretoria (3)

Meanwhile, anyone have a clue what happened to the “Ideal Org” buildings that were purchased and have never opened in Battle Creek, New Haven, St Louis, Chicago, San Diego, Kansas City, Auckland, Portland and other cities?

Or any reports on the current scene in the “Ideal Orgs” in Rome, Nashville, Phoenix, Denver, Cincinnati, St Paul, Malmo, DC, Moscow, Berlin, Seattle, Brussels, Madrid, London, Buffalo (since it was “reopened”) or any of the other “ideal” orgs?  I would like to get current reports from any with first hand knowledge.

If Scientologists actually got the facts about what is REALLY going on in the “Ideal Orgs” it might help save some of them from financial ruin supporting a false cause.

Captain Miscavige is sailing his listing ship in ever smaller circles, soon to disappear into its own vortex. It is inevitable. But the sooner it happens, the sooner the passengers are going to jump overboard and can be saved from drowning in a sea of out tech and red ink.

If you have information about the current scene in the orgs, or can pay a visit to your local org for some eyewitness accounts (photos would be a wonderful addition), I would love to hear from you at idealorg@hushmail.com.

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