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.

261 Comments

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Practicing Scientology

Posted on March 4, 2013 by | 197 comments

 

I came across a little something that I think that people practicing Scientology – inside or out of the church – ought to consider while pursuing the higher realms of cognitive development and consciousness it can assist with the attainment of.  The following is a segment of a talk by philosopher Ken Wilber on traps that certain spiritual teachers can set for students.   I think this applies to both the teacher (auditor/supervisor/advisor) and the teachings themselves.  The latter being so, in fact, has prompted several essays by me of late suggesting that while you strive for as close to perfection as you can with technical Scientology procedure, you not fall into the trap of becoming a radical, fundamentalist Scientologist (literalist) whether you are affiliated with the church or not.

From Kosmic Consciousness with Ken Wilber by Sounds True.

Indeed we do have these one or two dozen developmental lines, like cognitive development, interpersonal development, moral development.  And you can be very highly developed in some of those lines, medium development in others and very low development in yet others.

What seems to happen with a lot of meditative, contemplative or spiritual teachers is that one or two lines are very highly developed; and they are, indeed, the lines that have to do with the capacity for introspection, for awareness, for cognitive capacity and they can get into some very, very high states of consciousness.  So in that capacity they are very highly developed, really authentically highly developed. It is not to take anything away from that accomplishment.  It’s just perhaps that their own practice or personality has left two or three or five other developmental lines not very well developed, or possibly atrophied, or possibly even pathological.  And particularly in certain types of spiritual development there is an emphasis on, let’s say meditation or personal interior development – that spend hours and hours and hours inspecting the “I” but not giving a lot of time to polishing your inter-personal skills, or your sexual skills, or your moral skills even for that matter.

The fact that you are a great meditator does not mean that you are going to be a great mathematician or have great musical skills or have any of these other developmental lines.   The problem comes because some of these states of consciousness are so overpowering and appear to be so all-inclusive in a certain way that it’s easy for individuals to say that ‘because I now have this experience of enlightened oneness, that therefore everything about me communicates this perfect oneness.’  And teachers fall into this trap all the time.  And I think anybody who has had these kinds of experiences can see that tendency in themselves; because that experience of ‘one taste’ , particularly when you are tapping into the absolute truth – not just relative – but you are also getting this blast of absolute isness, then it is just impossible for that to be wrong in a certain sense. And in its formlessness that’s right.  It is impossible for it to be wrong because there are no parts.  It just is.  And there it is, you just see it.

That doesn’t mean therefore you excel in all these other areas.  The problem comes when students come to spiritual teachers and the spiritual teacher is trying to help the student overcome ego which is a very important part of spiritual growth.  You have to sort of grow beyond your own individuality, your self contraction, your separate self.  And what the teacher tends to do is then – half the advice they give the student is very good, half of it is usually a disaster.

The good part has to do, indeed, with the areas that the teacher is competent in, and can spot self-attraction, can spot ego and so on.  But the areas that the teacher is not competent in, then they start criticizing the student for things that might in fact be very wise on the student’s part but can’t be spotted by the teacher.  It can be in anything, it can be in any sort of relation, it can be in the job, it can be in work, it can be in marriage, in any sort of relation you are in.  And the teacher is telling you ‘no, you are doing that because you are contracting ego, you are doing that because you are being egoic, you are not taking my advice because you are resisting me.  And your resistance to me – the teacher, guru, master – is evidence of your ego, your contracted, illusory ego.’  But it might be evidence of your discriminating wisdom growing and evolving.   But because the teacher is not evolved in those areas, the teacher can’t spot that.  All the teacher can do is spot any disagreement you have with the teacher as if that is egoic contraction, when the disagreement you might have with the teacher is with that part of the teacher that is a jerk – and you should disagree with that.

If teachers don’t have some form of integrally informed awareness, then it is going to be hard for them to discriminate the areas in which they are competent to make these kinds of judgments in and the areas they are not very competent in.  And that is a real nightmare, for everybody.  We’ve all had teachers like that. To the extent that any of us are teachers we get caught in the same traps ourselves.  And the only thing that we can do is to continue to have this dialogue in an integrally informed context.

 

197 Comments

Posted in healing, independents, Integral Theory, quotations, tech, the future, the Reformation

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The Blame Game

Posted on March 1, 2013 by | 522 comments

I just received another volley from an irate, prominent self-anointed  ‘with Ron’  type of ‘Independent Scientologist’.  It was actually an attempt to control through command, assigning me a Treason condition with instructions – after lengthy evaluations – to first apply the Confusion formula.

I only raise the matter here because it is live evidence of two of the most insidious elements of Scientology that in my estimation are at the root of its demise.  It is a great learning opportunity.

The first I will address here, blame.  The propensity to find and assign blame is woven into the woof and warp of Scientology, making it perhaps one of the most difficult character deficiencies to remedy in a veteran member.

The rather lengthy screed I received pronounced me guilty of the current horrid state of Scientology on the planet today.  One central allegation was that I allegedly totally mishandled the corporate Scientology attacks upon me and my family, by …’  Your response to the attack of Miscavige is quite predictably stimulus and response…rather than tangling with the cur dogs nipping at the wheels of the fire engine, you have become one of them.’                            .’

Not more than a month ago two other prominent ‘Independent Scientologists’ as much as accused me of being a suppressive person for failing to automatically and continuously attack David Miscavige and blame him for virtually every shortcoming of Scientology – really on a stimulus-response basis.

The common denominator of these self-professed ‘with Ron’ Indies on both sides of the GPM (goals problem mass – the resultant mass from the collision of opposite intentions or flows colliding) is the seemingly stimulus-response tendency to blame.  In all of their authoritative, judgmental communications the overriding theme is to assign responsibility for whatever it is they are suffering upon another.  Ironically, anyone who witnessed much of Miscavige in action knows that his stimulus-response habit of blaming is perhaps his most destructive and prevelant tendancy.

Here is a central dichotomy with Scientology.  The technology, in pure, sane application can deliver a person to the state where he or she truly understands that he or she is responsible for his or her own condition.  In fact, a person only reaches the pinnacle of the state of Clear, by recognizing this fully and thus losing all inclination to engage in blame.  Yet, I ask you to examine the matter for yourself and see whether there are not other conditionings added to the mix along the route that make that realization in practice short-lived.

I was also accused of ‘You are not getting people to do, you are getting people to question and think about.’

Good point.  Here, I’ll ask people to do something.

Get yourself a copy of the Tao Te Ching, preferably ‘a new English version’ by Stephen Mitchell.

Read it more than once at your leisure, and particularly when you sense the onset of anxiety.

Learn to let go.  I assure you that if you work on it it will move you on up a little higher in disposition and character.

Since apparently the ‘with Ron’ guys won’t listen to Ron on the matter of blame, maybe they’ll listen to Lao Tzu:

Failure is an opportunity.

If you blame someone else,

There is no end to the blame.

522 Comments

Posted in acknowledgments, David Miscavige, ethics, healing, independents, l. ron hubbard, policy, propaganda, Tao Te Ching, tech, the future, the Reformation, Uncategorized

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Dissociation and Denialism

Posted on February 27, 2013 by | 182 comments

Disconnection in the church of Scientology is as blatantly applied as ever; even while it is vehemently denied.  It is denialism, and a sort of dissociation, playing out in real time before our eyes.  If you haven’t seen it already, please read this story concerning the great pianist Mario Feninger and the wonderful soul Allen Barton, Mario Feninger Disconnects From Help.  It demonstrates denialism and dissociation in living color.

I have been closely following this matter for some time.  I came very close to initiating fundraising for Mario on this blog.  The only reason I did not was because Mario made it very clear to Allen that he would prefer not to receive the inevitable blowback of being associated with our types.  The story is very competently told by Ortega and it speaks for itself, so I will not focus on the details of Mario’s plight.

Instead, I will focus on the journey of Allen Barton (for related earlier post see,  Beverly Hills Playhouse.)   Look at what his simple act of kindness and care has wrought.   Examine the responses he received – disconnections, while denying ‘disconnection’ is an active policy – from Scientologists.  Consider their ‘rationale.’   Consider the factors that resulted in such obvious denialism.

Is that denialism, and the perpetuation of dissociated behaviors that it justifies, limited solely to the ‘Disconnect Policy’?   Consider that, before you knee-jerk a respone that the immediate impulsive response  itself may in some measure  be influenced by a form of denialism.

Also consider this description of denialism that I once posted on this blog under the title Denialism:

[From] Michael Specter, Denialism, Penguin Books 2009:

We have all been in denial at some point in our lives; faced with truths too painful to accept, rejection often seems the only way to cope. Under those circumstances, facts, no matter how detailed or irrefutable, rarely make a difference.  Denialism is denial writ large — when an entire segment of society, often struggling with the trauma of change, turns away from reality in favor of a more comfortable lie…

…Unless data fits neatly into an already formed theory, a denialist doesn’t really see it as data at all.  That enables him to dismiss even the most compelling evidence as just another point of view.

182 Comments

Posted in disconnection, harassment, healing, los angeles, policy, propaganda, Scientology, the Reformation, the world, Uncategorized

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OT VIII – Hallucinatory Cause?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by | 236 comments

Here is a reality check on where the Scientology Bridge leads, at least within corporate Scientology.   The following is a published ‘success story’ of a recently minted OT VIII.   With all you have read on Super Power and the Super Power building on this blog – use the search feature in the right hand column if you haven’t read much – please consider just how hard this OT VIII is working on creating delusory reality after expending God knows how many years and how much money attaining the supposed state of not having to continually do such.  Really take some time to think about this.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel for the guy.  But, look at what’s what here.  He’s apparently been listing incessantly why, after completing the highest pinnacle of the Scientology Bridge, he caved to ruthless regging not only for more rundowns (Super Power) but no doubt status-raising donations for completing the grounded space ship that is going to take the planet by storm (the $200 million plus Super Power building).

If it is even possible that a person could spend decades and hundreds of thousands to achieve the state of ’cause over matter, energy, space, time and life’ and wind up in such a delusory, perhaps even hallucinatory, state don’t you think it might behoove you to take a little time to evaluate this path against some standards not instilled along that path?

SUCCESS

Dear Theta Buddies,

While trying to wrap my wits around a particular item  on the BC Level F checksheet, I decided this was a good time to see Rebecca, the word clearer. In the process of sorting out my confusion, I was reading a couple  of the pages from the transcript for the lecture I was listening to, and lo and  behold… I had a HUGE cognition on how Super Power was going to work!

This particular lecture is called “Routine 3A.” It was a modification to
the existing Clearing Procedure, Routine 3. But this theory behind this “little”
modification was the reason why thetans hold onto aberrations for eons:
counter-intentions; counter postulates. In other words, problems, created by
oneself, or other intentions agreed to by the thetan. What does this have to do
with Super Power? LRH had lectured in the mid 50s about how he didn’t really
know why it worked, but when a person who was having trouble with his spouse,
received problems processes auditing on the spouse, the spouse ceased to be
trouble. The EP of the modern day Suppressed Person rundown is that the terminal  antagonistic to the PC originates a friendly communication to the PC! The reason  for this is that when you have two terminals (or even the PC himself with a postulate/counter-postulate) with equal force holding a problem in place, when one side of the problem is unbalanced through auditing, there’s nothing (or much less) force to keep the problem in suspension. This results in the terminal(s) on the other end of the problem feeling compelled to communicate to the PC.
All of a sudden, I got how Super Power was going to work its magic for World
Clearing. Many of the rundowns on Super Power address third dynamic areas:
Ethics, Justice, Consequences, etc. Based on the above, I see how when one does
Super Power, he removes his side of the problem. The result should be, that “the
government” in the form of the individuals holding posts in it, will originate
to those who have completed the rundowns, asking for help! And this is how I see Super Power as “auditing the government”! Our solutions, with our National
Affairs Office right down the street from the White House, will replace the
false solutions the government has been using, with true solutions. Truth
as-ises lies. Entheta becomes theta.

The missing step has always been,  getting the government (PC) interested in its own case (the problems of the representatives themselves and the nation as a whole) and willing to talk to the auditor (Scientologists with the true solutions). Super Power IS that step!

Needless to say, I got WAY MORE from that word clearing cycle than
I expected!

I highly recommend you stop by ASHO (or any Qual Library  with a full set of BC tapes) and pull the binder numbered Lectures 77 – 88.  Pages 64-65 of the transcript is where LRH covers this piece of  technology.

The above also explains why ANY auditing, especially the NOTs  band, results in unbalancing the problem of theta vs entheta which has been going on for eons. Maybe that’s why LRH said it’s the faintest chance this universe has…

ML,

236 Comments

Posted in FLAG, freewinds, healing, ot 8, ot ambassadors, propaganda, Scientology, Super Ponzi, tech, the future, the Reformation, Uncategorized

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Faith Healing

Posted on February 22, 2013 by | 293 comments

In the book The Intention Experiment author Lynne Mctaggart details scientific studies conducted on the effectiveness of various forms of faith healing.  Faith healing encompasses all forms of spiritual assist utilizing intention to aid in the recovery of physically ill people.   The healers use various forms – from the direct laying on of hands, to prayer, to long-distance intention direction practice.

The results determined  by statistics that a certain type of healer had a higher rate of success than another type.  The distinction was that group “A” healed by supplicating to or conjuring a higher level of intention or spirit beyond their own, individual spirit potential – be it God, the Tao, or whatever word various intention practitioners used to describe a higher level, available pool of life force – to channel it into the healing process.  Healers in group “B” asserted they were directing solely their own life force to effectuate healing.   Extensive testing determined that group “A” had a significantly higher success rate than group “B.”

Knowing what you know about Thetans, theta, the 7th Dynamic, the 8th dynamic, spirituality and God – and assuming all other factors were equal, which they seldom are – what are your thoughts concerning the reason for the higher success rate of group “A?”

293 Comments

Posted in healing, Tao Te Ching, tech, the world

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The Road I Must Travel

Posted on February 20, 2013 by | 212 comments

L. Ron Hubbard was a great observer and describer of phenomena.  He once noted that the universe abhors a vacuum.   He also noted that when confronted with a vacuum of data, people tend to invent data to fill it.

I have intentionally not shared a lot of personal information over the past several months; and I don’t intend to start regularly doing so in the near future.  However, I have observed that Ron’s description of the information vacuum has apparently created a field day for those intent on reading tea leaves and those who harbor intentions inimical to my own.   And that has apparently upset some folks.  So, I am going to attempt to fill in the vacuum in the hopes it might set some people at ease.

Monique and I worked hard throughout 2011 to create some time for me to write some books that I believe will help Scientologists and former Scientologists heal and move on up a little higher with their lives.   Things did not go as planned.  2012 presented some issues that I thought, right or wrong, deserved my attention.

We wound up spending the bulk of the year assisting with battles (Battle of San Antonio, mop up of Headley affair,  expose of the Pat Broeker affair, etc.).   We with forethought entered them and exited them without a single penny in compensation; not even for the not insubstantial personal costs involved.   Fundraising for them diverted much of our income for the year.  This was the case much to the frustration of Debbie, Wayne, Marc, Claire, and others who demanded I be compensated.   We did not do so because the road I feel I must travel requires absolute independence of thought and obligation.  The pursuit of truth can, and has through history – including with Scientology- , been compromised by financial considerations.

We decided to move at the end of the year and Monique decided to go back to work in the health care field for two reasons.  First, it was necessary in order to obtain the type of premises that would afford us our life back from an intelligence apparatus the likes of which have been unknown to the world since the infamous East German STASI.  Second, it was necessary to afford me the time and space to get done the books I am in progress on.  Monique knows what I have to say – and what I have been trying to find the time to complete in the full context I have always asserted it deserves in books form.   She felt it so important to be said that she gave up – temporarily – the joy and fulfillment of auditing in order to make it happen.  We also forfeited our only assets, $35,000 in equity from a lease/purchase option, in order to effectuate this change.

Thanks to great research and planning on our part, we are moving forward on our plans while also rebuilding our lives from the intrusion.  It is not that the STASI (OSA, Scientology Inc.’s Office of Special Affairs) has gone away.  It is that they are buffered.   Thanks to the good people in our community, and the rather ethical and uncorrupted law enforcement agencies in our vicinity, we know more about their rather extensive and expensive surveillance operation than it can divine about us.   Their absurd black PR campaign being run directly at virtually everyone we have known or met (including everyone who has visited us and all of Monique’s family) is indication of the level of frustration of not having 24/7 access to our every movement.  It also doesn’t hurt having Sugar Ray Jeffrey as a neighbor and friend – the only man in history who has kicked Scientology Inc.’s ass two times in one year and who is fully motivated and prepared to do so again if they get too adventrous.

As far as what I have to say in my books, I am previewing some of it on the blog of late – but those are simply snippets.   I will say the following.   I believe I will demonstrate that perhaps the most powerfully destructive fault with Scientology is its promise and authoritative insistence that only it, to the explicit and must-be-agreed-upon exclusion of examination of any other data or technology, with scientific precision delivers ultimate truth.   Understanding that, in my view, opens one to potential heights that Scientologists wind up insisting they have achieved, but in reality are not even aware of.

Where ultimately does that go?   I don’t purport to know.  I do believe, though, that the moment one is certain he has arrived, he in fact has died spiritually.

To borrow a line from Tom Morello, ‘the road I must travel, its end I cannot see.’

212 Comments

Posted in acknowledgments, black dianetics, David Miscavige, Debbie Cook, ethics, harassment, healing, independents, justice, l. ron hubbard, miscavige crimes, miscavige lawyers, Monique Banks Rathbun, Mosey Rathbun, office of special affairs, PI reports, tech, texas, the future, the Reformation, Uncategorized

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Integration, Evolution, and Transcendence

Posted on February 18, 2013 by | 174 comments

Learning the art and honing the skills of differentiation, identification and association increases accuracy of observation. It increases intelligence. It increases ability.  L. Ron Hubbard aptly defined the application of those skills as sanity.

When one observes while exercising differentiation, identification and association one has assumed and assigned identity, differentiated himself from and made associations between himself and those phenomena and things that he observes.  By doing so, one is experiencing duality in the mode of causation.

Continued practice in these skills can reduce complexities and systems to simplicity and create a heightened sense and certainty of oneself and his place and role in the cosmos.  It can bring about an unrepressed, self-determined, well and happy state of being.  Scientology technology, sans cultish policy/group think indoctrination, is well equipped to bring about that state (the means and reasons why are covered in some detail in the book What Is Wrong With Scientology? – along with vital data on how to steer clear of the policy/group think cult indoctrination).

Once attained, one can trade on those skills to bring about higher intelligence and power of observation in others and/or more profit and power to oneself.  Some, though they would be the last to admit it, obtain and exercise a feeling of superiority and a comfortable identity for having accomplished a high degree of competence in the skills of identification, association and differentiation.  If the exercise of one’s skills are of sufficient value by way of their scarcity, more penetrating observation beyond them might seem a threat to the value of those skills of differentiation, identification and association and all that they garner. One can very easily find a contentment level where further observation of higher truths and unexplored realms might be seen to upset the comfort of the help, profit and power zones one is experiencing or operating in.  Some have even bought into the idea that to transcend or move on from that which increased one’s ability to identify, associate and differentiate would be tantamount to eschewing those skills and constitute the most heinous form of treason.  The act of continued observation beyond the constructs provided apparently threatens the very identity the skilled one carved out and created for himself as a master of identification, association and differentiation.

On the other hand, one could also value curiosity, sense of adventure, and thirst for higher truths above comfort and power – and possess the courage to explore them – and one could thus seek to view larger and more complex systems and the interactions between them.  Over time, one might begin to observe entire universes and their interactions.  One might even transcend identity and the differentiation, identification and association that defines it and catch a glimpse of all of existence and the synchronicity with which all elements within it seem to interact.  Contrary to the fears announced by those profiting and comforting by expertise in the skills my personal experience is that further exploration only sharpens those skills.

When one observes the whole of existence with no differentiation, identification and association in mind – simply observes the whole of existence as it is – one does not differentiate, identify or associate himself.  One is not separate and apart from the whole of existence.  One is experiencing nonduality.

If one also studied advancements in science, he might find that the higher reality of nonduality is being validated in the laboratory.  And if he continued to observe, beyond differentiation-association-identification, he might find that the universe can be seen to behave as quantum mechanics is beginning to demonstrate. That is, the behavior of the universe is dependent upon the character of the observer; that there is a synchronicity and interconnectedness across the cosmos that is largely invisible and undetectable to the five traditional human senses which are all bound up in identity, and its dependence for survival upon differentiation and association.  Planet earth’s greatest scientific minds – historically, the most skilled at differentiation, identification and association – tend to say of quantum mechanics, ‘if you think you understand it, then I know that you don’t.’

They might more accurately have stated that ‘if you think you can explain it in words, then you haven’t witnessed it.’  As Lao Tzu noted: The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.  The name that can be named is no the eternal Name.  The unnamable is the eternally real.  Naming is the origin of all particular things.  Free from desire, you realize the mystery.  Caught in desire you see only the manifestations. Einstein called it ‘spooky’ phenomena, as phenomena observed potentially could turn our entire concepts of all of existence, our very identities and the definition of God, upside down.  For decades hence science agreed to steer clear of examining how quantum phenomena might impact or shed light upon the nature of the soul, spirit and consciousness. For the past five decades, however, scientists have increasingly explored consciousness and contemplative philosophers have begun to explore science. And in this meeting of minds more clarity is arising.

The heightened abilities to differentiate, associate and identify are demonstrating with greater accuracy how we can better predict the manner in which the universe responds to stimuli.  The universe can be more causatively manipulated. It can be more thoroughly controlled.  It can be caused to bring about more comfort, profit, and power to the identities exercising identification, association and differentiation on a more causative level.

However, it seems that only when one transcends identity and the need for comfort, wealth, and power and the need to differentiate, identify and associate in order to collect and maintain them, that the higher truths of the universe can be directly experienced and perceived.  Not with the five traditional senses.  Instead, with the sixth sense and beyond – referred to in Scientology as theta perceptics, referred to in Eastern traditions as nondual consciousness or awareness.

It seems that if one can learn to let go of an avid craving and drive for the ultimate, everlasting state of ‘causation’ he or she might get a taste of it.  Ironically, contemplative teachers increasingly refer to such tastes as ‘causal consciousness.’ It might just be an activity that one cannot do, but instead a state one must actually be in order to realize.

In that experience, the universe does not respond to one’s causation. It is not something separate, apart, or even associated with you.  There is no association or differentiation between you and it. It is you and you are it.  It and you simply is.

Is one then a separate, distinct identity or a part of a single infinity?

It would appear that it all depends upon how one is viewing himself and the universe.

Can one have it both ways?

Inevitably.

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Posted in healing, independents, l. ron hubbard, Scientology, Tao Te Ching, tech, the world, Uncategorized

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Sitting In Judgment

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | 398 comments

 

In December 2012 I posted an essay on this blog suggesting that  judgmentalism is a negative  trait that Scientologists ought take care to curb.  This blog is frequented in the main by former members of the church of Scientology who still consider themselves Scientologists.  These are people that have been out of the organization for years and who profess that Scientology ought not be used to control and dominate the lives of others.  Nonetheless, a popular counter-position posted in response to my essay was that ‘labeling, and judgmentalism, is just fine in and of itself – the only problem with such practice is inaccuracy of the labeling.’   Even years after their participation in the organization, many Scientologists considered a judgmental attitude a positive virtue provided it is done in keeping with their own standards of accuracy.  The most zealous proponents of that idea resorted to ad hominem attacks on me for raising such issues, and ultimately disconnected from me.

I do not contend that the labels Scientology promotes usage of are inaccurate or harmful provided they are used in a professional manner as initially intended upon creation.   Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard created numerous constructs against which the mind, spirit and human condition could be understood and improved.   He observed and recorded gradient scales ranging from horrendous, painful conditions all the way up to beautiful, joyous conditions.   The scales are invaluable when used by professionally trained Scientologists to help move people up those conditions.  But, just like any other field of the mind and spirit – including psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and other religions and systems of spirituality – the moment one takes the diagnosis and treatment or practice scheme out of the hands of trained, responsible practitioners and applies it casually and inexpertly in the field of day to day human relations, disaster is close to inevitable.

Imagine a friend telling you that you are an obsessive compulsive disorder case – in all seriousness – , and thereafter treating you as leprous until you conformed with that friend’s standard of acceptable behavior.  How long would you tolerate that friend in your proximity?  Not for long I suspect.   Scientologists – regardless of levels of training – are encouraged to apply their own, equally judgmental, labels to others and apply them in life.

Scientology has a substantial lexicon of judgmental labels that rivals the scope and complexity of the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).   Its organizations promote their facile use in day to day life.  Despite that, Scientology organizations spend millions of dollars a year condemning the DSM and its misuse or even professional use.  Their argument is that such labeling is judgmental and as such it does not promote improvement but instead categorization and stigmatization.

Perhaps the most commonly used stigmatizing terms in Scientology are “suppressive person” or SP and “potential trouble source” or PTS.   An SP is defined in Scientology as one of those roughly 2 ½ percent (Scientology founder  L. Ron Hubbard estimation) of any population who exhibit the characteristics of a sociopath or psychopath.  Scientology’s diagnostic scheme for identifying an SP is nearly identical to psychology’s and psychiatry’s diagnostic standard for identifying the sociopath or psychopath.   A PTS is a supposed  member of approximately 20% of the population who are intimately connected with an SP and consequently are mistake-prone or act ill or cowed.

Scientologists are encouraged to take a three week course of study in order to achieve the purported professional  ability and  license to identify and handle an SP and the target of his effects, the PTS.  All Scientologists are required to take this course and are expected to apply it with an attitude of certainty regardless of lack of any other professional credential.   The result, bluntly, can denigrate into a community  of untrained, arrogant, Monday morning shrinks passing the most condemnatory judgments upon one another at the drop of a hat.

To make matters worse, there is a distinct SP characteristic in Scientology writings that takes precedence over the other dozens that align with the psychology field’s similar diagnostic characteristics checklist.  That is, if someone exhibits an ‘anti-Scientology’ leaning he or she is sure to be diagnosed as being an SP.  To qualify one only need question the wisdom of any Scientology writing.  This fact alone is probably more responsible for Scientology taking on the character of an insular cult than all others combined.

L. Ron Hubbard once quipped that it is futile to get into an argument with a psychiatrist.  The problem, he noted, was that the minute you get a leg up on the psychiatrist he definitively ends the debate with the evaluation, ‘you are crazy.’   Ironically, this ad absurdum joke could almost describe the modern day Scientologist.  If you attempt to even discuss a shortcoming of Scientology the debate decisively ends with the evaluation, ‘you are an SP.’  Per Scientology policy all Scientologists must disconnect from an SP.  That is, the Scientologist must refrain from any type of communication with the SP, directly or indirectly.  That policy holds whether the declared SP is one’s spouse, child, parent, business partner or best friend.   The SP is entitled no civil or human rights as far as any Scientologist is concerned.

By way of comparison, the psychiatrists’ condemnatory label ‘crazy’ is a rather mild evaluation.

Nonetheless, Scientologists – even those who have disaffiliated from its organizations because of its alleged proclivity for judgmental evaluation, trying and sentencing of followers and the population at large – believe ‘judgmentalism’ is not a problem with Scientology.   They are so dead serious about that that they are prepared to prove it by disconnecting from anyone who says otherwise.

Decompression is important in any cult recovery effort.

Re-education is probably even more important.

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Posted in black dianetics, disconnection, ethics, healing, independents, justice, l. ron hubbard, policy, propaganda, psychs, Scientology, the Reformation

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Buddha’s Brain

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | 161 comments

 

I have added Buddha’s Brain, (Hanson/Mendius – New Harbinger Publications, Inc, 2009) to the recommended reading list.  The following is my review.

buddha

Buddha’s Brain is authored by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson and neurologist Richard Mendius. Hanson is also a meditation teacher, and Mendius is also cofounder of Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom.   These fellows give a relatively easy to follow sum up of what developments in science have taught us about the function of the brain.  They also, through work with Buddhist contemplative practice masters tested for neurological and hormonal/chemical patterns created by decisions of the being, detail how the brain – and thus the body – is affected by thought.  

Buddha’s Brain provides great food for thought and correlation to those trained in Dianetics and Scientology.  The authors’ description of science’s 2009 understanding of the human brain is remarkably consistent with L. Ron Hubbard’s 1950 description of the reactive mind in Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.   They describe the brain as being hardwired for avoiding danger, taking precedence over behavior/action patterns that seek pleasure or reward.   They describe how transcendent states attained through contemplative practice – their main frame of reference being Buddhism – erase reactive neuron channels and create new, more analytical, intelligent and rational ones.

Just as Scientology was somewhat vague in differentiating between the Thetan (spirit) and the mind and nearly mute on the subject of the brain, the authors of Buddha’s Brain are somewhat vague on differentiating between brain and mind, and never label that which is making the decisions that are creating a better functioning mind/brain.  To get hung up on such difficulties with constructs describing that which is invisible to the eye and physical measures would be to miss the forest for the trees.

Hard core Scientologists, if they could muster the curiosity or courage to read the book, would likely heavily tune out somewhere in the last 2/3rds of it.  That is because the material for the most part prescribes contemplative practice that the authors claim demonstrably reforms the brain/mind.  To react in such wise would be a mistake in my view.  To read it, for example, might lead to some insights into why running pleasure moments, as in Self Analysis by L. Ron Hubbard, is so therapeutic.  Could it be that Scientology processes do far more good than L. Ron Hubbard even knew given the relatively archaic state of science in his day?   One thing is for sure, those who are afraid to look will never know.

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Posted in acknowledgments, healing, independents, l. ron hubbard, psychs, Scientology, tech, the future, the Reformation, the world

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