Tag Archives: Clearwater Florida

Scientology Golden Ages

Posted on September 9, 2014 by | 470 comments

This essay does not stand alone.  It will not make much sense absent first reading the essay ‘Standard Scientology.’

There is a rationale behind David Miscavige coming out with ‘Golden-Age’ campaigns.

Consistent with the essay ‘Standard Scientology’ (and chapter 25 of Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior) there is every necessity to continually revise, re-revise, compile, re-compile and re-issue the words of L. Ron Hubbard.  And thus there is some logic behind the Golden Age of Tech, the Golden Age of Knowledge and the Golden Age of Tech II – the three major Miscavige directed re-compilations of Hubbard.  Whether you agree with the way the church of scientology went about it is an entirely different matter.  But, moaning about the fact of the re-compilation is about as sensible and effective as complaining about the weather.

The original Golden Age of Tech was done in response to virtually all of the established technical hierarchy of scientology (Class XIIs, mainly trained under Ron’s regime) being about as capable of applying scientology fundamentals as the leading electro-convulsive shock therapy psychiatrists were.  I know, I was there, having been the only one in scientology who I am aware of to train uninfluenced by the scientology technical hierarchy.  Nearly all of the Class XIIs at Flag could not read an e-meter, could not deliver a crisp command, and did not apply a single tool effectively for salvaging a session gone south (which occurred frequently).  Quite a few of them could not make it through an entire session without dozing at some point.  When put on a correction program directed by me personally, by personal observation the majority of the Class XIIs were by modern societal standards nut cases.  About 90 percent of them were incapable of correction.   One reason for that was that they were convinced that the only valid correction was to ‘blow’ the body thetan who suggested that they screw up in the first place.  “It was misownership; not my overt” was the common refrain; and once the body thetan was addressed, they exclaimed gleefully “it’s all handled now!”  Not only had they bought Hubbard’s space opera constructs literally, that universe view was running their lives helter skelter.  I have written earlier that had the XII’s remained in boot camp with me to learn communication training routines the hard way and how to naturally and accurately handle a meter I believed that 90% of the problem would have been solved. But, alas Miscavige’s and the Class XII heirarchy’s killing of Lisa McPherson ended that program.

Having had six years of experience watching what passes for ‘independent scientology’ outside the walls of the church, having deconstructed the subject through intensive study and practice, I have come to the conclusion that there was something even more fundamental than Training Routines and metering that needed to be addressed.   It is covered in the post ‘Standard Scientology.’   Virtually every Class XII in the church at the time – those at Flag, those on the ship and those at the International base, including Senior C/S International Ray Mithof – were empowered to squirrel to their hearts’ content by none other than L. Ron Hubbard.  They, much like some of the die-hard scientologists who continue to frequent this blog or have disconnected from (while claiming Miscavige is a squirrel for allegedly reinstating the disconnect policy) and declared war against me, could and did regularly come up with an LRH reference to justify just about every technical crime imaginable.  And they routinely committed them.  You doubt that statement?  Then how could L. Ron Hubbard’s Class XII technical hierarchy from his ‘Mecca of Technical Perfection’ effectively kidnap a non compos mentis woman out of the hospital, imprison her for seventeen days, and ultimately kill her?  Lisa McPherson is only one of many products of the scientology ‘Mecca of Technical Perfection’ that went mad under scientology processing there.  And she was not the only one to die in the process.  That is impossible in an environment that has not committed every other crime and misdemeanor routinely for quite some time.  Certainly, I have made a strong case for pinning primary responsibility to Miscavige for McPherson’s fate. Just as certainly, by statistics the frequency of suicides and psychotic breaks among Flag public drastically declined after Golden Age of Tech implementation.  Some might argue that that is due in large part to heightening of restrictions against people prone to psychotic breaks being allowed on church premises.  Well, that is as it ought to be.  Scientology is eminently unqualified to practice in the field of mental health that its founder sought to take over.

In either event, Miscavige attempted to solve the problem by bypassing the Class XIIs lack of responsibility and understanding by making everything rote for them.  He was precluded by Hubbard policy from doing the type of radical, fundamental compilation the subject requires. That is, compilation of what ‘to do’, instead of what ‘not to do’, and communication of it in plain English.  He tried all manner of tweaking in order to overcome the inherent confusion of millions of words of dianetics and scientology trial and error, none of which could ever be accurately labeled as ‘background’, ‘historic’, or ‘no longer used’ because of firm policy prohibiting that.  And so he attempted to covertly do so through the via of hundreds of packs of drills – heralded as the Golden Age of Tech.  That effort provided endless fodder for organization-spurned scientologists.  A wave of disaffected scientologists arose, seizing on the fact of organizational revision to justify their continuing loyalty to their own interpretations of Hubbard’s incomprehensible – conflicting evolutions and devolutions must all be accepted as Gospel – body of work.  Certainly, I exacerbated that prairie fire with my continuing loyalty to Ron Hubbard.

Miscavige became increasingly frustrated as his new Age resulted in continuation of declining delivery and income statistics.  At some point he apparently threw up his hands in disgust and decided ‘to hell with it, you all listen to everything Ron said and sort it out for yourselves.’  Hence, ‘Golden Age of Knowledge.’ Given scientology’s unalterable policies forbidding any sort of rational compilation, it was not a wholly irrational measure.  It took something like that for me – done on my own – to fully appreciate what is effective and what is not and what is destructive in the legacy Hubbard left behind.  But, I am not bound – as all those considering themselves scientologists are – to submit to allegedly more informed, or more ‘with Ron’ or more ‘ethical’ or more ordained scientologists’ arrogant enforcement of Hubbard’s other writings outlawing such understanding and subsequent application.  It should be noted that that arbitrary, arrogant policing priesthood too was created by Hubbard and invested with paramilitary powers.

I have yet to review the second major phase of re-compilation heralded as Golden Age of Tech II.   It is possible some of the thorough re-compilation I have noted here that is required was assayed with that. Given the continuing absurd lust for lucre apparent in scientology promotions and the terroristic and counter-productive ways in which the organization continues to spend the take, it does not seem very likely to me that the job was approached with a motivation approximating that required to do an effective job.  Moreover, as my next book will explain in some detail, the better the job in enforcing ‘standard’ is ultimately a better job at enforcing mental imprisonment.  In that regard, habitually lamenting the alleged colossal balls up of Golden Age Of Tech II is a disservice, keeping potentially recovering scientologists caught in the paralyzing cognitive dissonance that something can be done to salvage something that if done more ‘standardly’ will only serve to entrap more people.

Even if Golden Age of Tech II were effective, however, it is likely doomed in the longer track of scientology.  That is because if it was effectively done, some bands of true believer scientologists in the future will no doubt ‘discover’ the grotesque violation of fundamental scientology tenets prohibiting such bold compilations.  In fact, some have already figured out how to make a living by condemning it sight unseen; a practice that capitalizes on keeping potentially recovering scientologists locked into a cognitively dissonant state of false hope.  All of this continuous, finger-pointing nonsense is one of the many inevitable pitfalls of converting a purported ‘modern science of mental health’ psychotherapy into a religion.   It is ordained by a system whose most advanced levels teach that ‘standard technology’ can only be realized by ‘commanding’ acolytes and not by appealing to ‘reason.’   It too is inevitable given the facts spelled out in Standard Scientology.

My sincere advice to any people still caught in this vicious circle is to move on.

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The Mecca of Scientology Inc.

Posted on November 1, 2012 by | 305 comments

What follows is a detailed insider view of the Flag Land Base (Scientology Inc’s Mecca is Clearwater Florida) of late.   Former RTC and Flag Auditor, Silvia Llorens gives a credible state of  the dis-union of Scientology Inc.

TO INDEPENDENT SCIENTOLOGISTS:

Hello! My name is Silvia Lloréns. I started  in Scientology in 1978, joined the SO in 1983 and left in early 2007.
I have read the numerous accounts on the experiences and viewpoints others have had and that have been expressed in various web pages; I do understand them.
All of them share one common point or conclusion: the suppression is coming primarily from COB (Chairman of Scientology Inc. David Miscavige) and some of his followers.
Now, I will share my experiences from the viewpoint I had then as a 24 years Sea Org Member. The years as a Scientologist are still counting as I have not ceased being one; we all have experienced the immense benefits LRH´s tech can provide.
It matters to me to make clear that the following personal story has the purpose to provide my viewpoint regarding RTC, COB and his followers; in no way is it intended to include Scientology as a the Philosophy or LRH as these are way, way, way apart from what COB has perpetrated inside, outside Orgs and towards Scientologists at large.
Having said that, here we go,
I worked in RTC around ´84.  In ´87 I was heading  toward the RTC Offices at Int Base to return the pin I was given when I joined that Organization; it was exactly the time DM was taking over, all the offices were a mess, most of the Sea Org Members  were being routed back to their original Orgs, thus I ended back at FSO.
Early ´90s FSO was visited by higher Execs such as Guillame Lesevre, Ray Mithoff, Marc Yager; they all deal with staff with their landmark professionalism; they listened to the staff, observed the various scenes occurring and improved them.
Late ´90s COB used to do some visits here and there; at that time I did not understand why some staff tried not to cross his path, it could have been that the few that did ended usually off post…
So, time goes on, early 2000s are in progress; each day, every time and  more and more RTC starts to take over, meaning:
-Whenever one of the RTC member spoke the rule was to keep quiet.
Specific: during a meeting at the AO with Miscavige he did ask a question to the AO staff gathered there; one staff answered it. He said “What? You probably are not fully hatted.” Hours later that staff was removed from post, even though she had been doing well on it and was usually upstat.
As the time went on many other Execs fell into “RTC´s valence” of meaness and cruelness.
-The fences were put up at Hacienda Gardens, where most of Sea Org members lived, the security guards started to question every simple move anyone did, such as “How come you have 3 hours libs (liberty, day off)?”
-Orders such as: No walking on the streets, no talking to anybody outside the base started to appear. As well as: No communication with public.
Most of the Tech terminals were very aware that cutting COMMUNICATION with the public and people in the community will cause a direct fall on the ARC Triangle; but the orders against such a basic increased as the time went on.
Tech terminals, and Execs such as Debbie Cook, were all the time working in finding ways and actions where somehow we could standardly audit the pcs while, on the other, were to communicate to RTC Reps that:  “of course the stats were under control”
As time went on, obviously things got worse:
-Public literally, with “kind words” of course, were forced to return again and again in session to “re check a question that was said to have FN´d” to ensure standard tech was applied to him or her- The truth was that the VSD target had to be met “over dead bodies” which was the favorite RTC Reps´ phrase.
– Every Thursday, after 2pm of course, AO DTS called her pages who ended carrying from the warehouse about 25-30 folders, no exaggeration. But why?
To go over each, page by page, to re count the VSD and magically find the minutes, or even hours, that “were missed in the past” and add it now; this will always  get the PT VSD stat  up.  Yes, as far back as ´98, ´99 etc…folders were reviewed and always, no fail, the VSD stat ended up.
This was occurring in 2003, 2004, 2005 and so on.
KRs were written to no avail.
You needed to be stupid to not figure our some things- the above point was always related to the Advanced Tech VSD – RTC Stat. That was the point.
By Friday every staff had turned in their Conditions, CSWs, Battle Plans and what not.  By now, to expect a full Saturday LIBS was something of the past, you were lucky to obtain 2, 3 maybe 4 hours. It did not matter if you were in Affluence with 40-50 hours of well done auditng.
By early 2000s, and from there on,  Tech and Qual staff knew we all have to wait for Saturday noon to see if the CSWs were approved, it all depended on one thing: if the Advance Tech Stat was down by Friday night all CSWs were cancelled, sometimes on Saturday,just when  you were about to leave for 2 hours LIBS  the D of P came to tell you she was truly sorry but all “partial LIBS had been cancelled”… you guessed it right…the Advance Tech stat had dropped. CSW Policy letters were unmocked- you would not dare to ask what PL the Tech Sec was using to cancel an already approved CSW.
Stats – individual staff had no more stat; the matters of the Org were handled only based on the Advanced Tech Stat- schedules, libs, conditions, golden rods, states of emergency all was based on that stat.
What upset us the most was not even if we could have or not Saturday Libs, it was the continuous violations of Policies as basic as; your production, your stat, your condition, your rewards or penalty.
The other amazing, I should say, aspect of this was to see RTC Reps, such as Ty Webb, literally “running the board”, being there ensuring the VSD target pcs were placed first on the line up, it did not matter if the other pcs had had only one session the prior day, no, they did move the pc tags so the VSD targets were to happen first.
One day, after seeing Webb been at the PC Board  for over two hours I asked myself: if he is running the Board, who is  KSW? Wasn´t this the primary purpose of RTC?
Execs – They used to be dedicated, professional, honest, working always with you and all the other staff on how to handle matters; as RTC stepped in more and more… as years moved from 2000 to 2006, Execs turned into desperate people who only shouted at staff demanding the VSD to be made, such as Donnie Webster throwing things at you when you informed him the pc was out of hours and need to be re-signed before she could be gotten back in session. In the early  90s he would have accepted it, after 2000s he (and others) turned livid, shouting how would one dare to not go in session just because a minor Policy Letter and so on.
RTC Reps usually ended talking “loudly” to excess such as Janet Herring, Debbie Cook and others; this infuriated me and the rest of the auditors. Those excellent, professional Execs had always supported and backed up the Tech and Qual terminals as well as any other staff member, now they were left to cope with the constant demands for the  Adv. Tech Stat  while on the other hand they were trying to prevent  forcing pcs and auditors to go out tech in order to get that stat up.
MAAs turned into the “blind performers”, of course all under RTC Instructions. Lets say several auditors were in Affluence as they had accomplished 50-60 hours that week (the past stat of 35 hours normal – 40 affluence was by now obsolete, that did not apply and up till now I have not seen an LRH reference cancelling those PLs).
This was reported as usual Thursday after 2pm. By thursday 8pm or Friday 10 am Golden Rods “reprimands” were issued on all auditors (independently if their past week´s production had been of 50 hours,) who were at 3-4 hours by Friday morning…this was “downstat”, and a Non Existent Condition was assigned, name by name, on any and all auditors who were not above 7 hours by then.
Yes, I know, this could affect Advance Tech VSD if hours are allowed to go down, heaven forbid!
CSWs… for 3-4 hours Saturday libs guess who was the final approval terminal? Correct-RTC, this being Elsie Tucker, Francine Ladoucer or whoever was on the scene.
Again, if RTC Reps needed to approve Saturday LIBS CSWs, who then was KSW?
Not only that, the Form of the ORG PLs were un-mocked. If an RTC Rep was running the Board or roaming the HGCs to ensure auditors were in session and no Danger Condition was assigned to this staff or area being by passed, then a Non Existence Condition would occur on that staff or area. As this went on for years, and being that no Non Existence Condition was ever applied, the staff and the area kept sinking into lower Conditions; that is the only way to explain how Execs of the Division condoned and participated in such a massive stat push.
Such was the obsession for this stat that MAAs, FLB Ethics personnel and RTC terminals were all day around the HGCs ensuring pcs received “intensive auditing”. Getting pcs in session is not the Hat of an MAA, far less the one of RTC.
Writing folders in between sessions as per HCOBs? No mister, no; that was Admin and it delayed production thus the C/S and Senior C/Ss were swamped at 10pm or later with all the folders from all Auditors. Needless to say they hardly slept.
Somehow, we auditors, developed tricks such  as to leave the “IN Session” sign ON so you can be in your room writting up your first pc´s folder; but unfortunately sometimes you were caught up and it was the D/Tech Sec who, personally had gone out into the pc waiting area, had asked your pc to follow him while a tech page was grabbing the folder you were writing up and handing you the pc that the Exec was escorting  into your auditing room.
PC tired, no, not a consideration despite the Auditor´s Code. DTS had ensured pc had been stuffed of energy bars. had napped 10 minutes, had taken a walk, whatever necessary all in the name of a almost godly stat Advance Tech.
So, pc in the chair, metabolism test failed, pc and auditor agreed to leave the session for tomorrow, walked to the waiting area with your pc where he was immediately approached by DTS or higher Excec and, with hidden propitiation the pc was asked to follow him or her who will ensure session ability could be gotten.
But there was a new trick we auditors developed: while pc was taking a deep breath your thumb was strongly on the  TA; you needed to sit in a certain way to ensure your body was covering the camera so this trick won’t be caught by those who were watching the session. So, pc takes a deep breath, you hold the TA and move it little by little and slowly in a way that prevent the “metab” to show up on the screen where the faces of Tech Sec. DTSs and even RTC were expectant to see the needle fall on the metab so they could start counting the minutes that were need to  “officially” count the VSD target.
Gross!!!!  Unbelievebale!!! Yes, but we had a choice, either do this “trick”  or audit an un-sessoinable pc that already had had three or more attempts to metab and was obviously un-sessionable. As far as Auditors were concerned we always choose to follow the Auditor´s Code.
We auditors did this or whatever else was needed to allow our dearest pcs to go to bed and rest and prevent the horrendous harassment that were subjected to.
It may seem these points are small compared with other humongous irregularities carried out by COB; yet, add this to every auditor, every pc, every C/S not only at FSO but all around the planet and it is a complete disaster- you are dealing with  matters that LRH considered to be key for Scientology: a simple, honest application of the Tech and Tech and Qual personnel who can deliver it standardly so we can have satisfied pcs and well trained auditors.
Now, the Events- it´s true what a public wrote on the web:  The public was totally jumped on after each event literally by the thousand SO members that composed the FLB plus all the Outer Org Trainees. Before events,and about  twice a week, all the FLB staff was gathered at the auditorium to drill, 1) NOT to communicate with the public as that was fraternizing and that was out of the question  2) to ONLY ask each public “Cash or Credit?” while handing them a bag with whatever New Releases there were.
Later on was added the order to tell every pc you audited to buy, donate or whatever; yes, before exams or right after. Unacceptable to return for the next pc without having sold something or at least having asked about it.
Eternal late nights for drilling, calling, letter writing, selling and re-selling and selling again and again the “New Releases”.
Sessionable? Nobody was.
These no sleep nights were preceded by reminding to all the staff ” that COB was so dedicated that he worked 24/7″.
Well, me and other staff thought and quietly voiced amongst us:  “Well that is his problem and HIS game. I refuse to take his beingness or act like him, if he wants to work so much, let it be that is his decision; that ain´t my choice”.
LRH worked as much as he wanted but he never rubbed it in the face of others, far less demanded “every body should do the same”; he was himself and, most important, he allowed others to be themselves.
On the few situation related above I am proud to say I violated every “order” – never asked my pc to buy or donate specially if we were coming out of session; I always talked with the public after events and the hell with the crush selling.
Related a bit to the Events category and after the video of Tom Cruise came out where he was talking about KSW and so on, suddenly, RTC Reps started to do star-rates on KSW # 1. This was due to the mention by Cruise about this Policy and the idea was “if TC said it it was a big message, then all Scietologists should ensure KSW was left with no MUs”. RTC Reps went all over giving checkouts on that PL even though W/Cers were available and Twining HCO Bs still existed.
Similar, TC also mentioned something about PTSness, well after that, at least one of my pcs, was asked to re-do de PTS Course. She alleged to the MAA she had done it 3 times including the GAT one; it did not matter, “it was an order to be followed after T Cruise´s mention of it”. Eventually she was told she was out ethics and forced to do the Course at Tampa Org (we can assume with this someone could report “numerous public driving in at Tampa Org”).
And don´t take me wrong, Tom Cruise is a good movie actor, but as far as I remember LRH IS SOURCE, isn´t he?
Study time – of course RTC had study time, some of the Execs and most the Admin Staff- after all they started at 9.30 am directly into the course rooms and were on post by 12pm. That is fine, Study time is per Policy but….
… a  new Policy came up too “Auditors do not study, specially if they have incomplete Internships plus they usually get crammed and that counts as study time”- Nowhere written by LRH.
F/Ns- the statement of COB that “every miscalled FN was suppressive and always called for a minimum condition of Liability” led to the following:
On one hand you had the Adv Tech VSD Targets – on the other Standard Cramming.
Solution, as soon as you received your Cram Order starting with “To MAA first, Liability for miscalling F/Ns” you sat down and wrote, by now, a robotic Liability Condition.
It was so, so, so routine that after 1/2 an hour you had gathered a few dozen signatures from your fellow auditors who were very well versed on the situation. Later on auditors were upgraded by a rushed MAA, who in turn was being chased by D of Ps, or DTSs or Tech Secs to return the auditor in session while at the HGCs were the RTC Reps demanding at the few Execs who happened to be there “how come the auditor is still in cramming?”
Debbie Cook, by then Captain FLB, was very often called to the HGCs to “debug” the delivery obviously with the purpose to ensure the RTC Stat up. She may have wanted to do her post, but this was an RTC order, you see?
What a waste, such and extraordinary Exec Being called to do the DTS or D of P hat, really, what a waste!
As we auditors had no study time, I worked out something:  to wake up at 6am, get to the base around 6.30 and study on my own the LRH tech up until 8am.
When the schedules to start auditing pcs moved from 8.00-8.30 to 7.00- 7.15 I had no chance to study anymore and that was the end of it.
I knew I had all the right and choice to do my bridge-this was being supperssed and I decided the Hell with it. I joined the Sea Org to deliver Tech to the public so they could get better, I did not join to be the slave of anybody, far less to contribute to this horrendous and continuous criminal stat push.
It seems the RTC Stat never took into account what the public expected and deserved; what standard tech was able to give them: self determinism, power of choice and the right to live their lives the way they choose to.
So, I wrote my OWs and felt good, I was clean in my own eyes and could proudly said so to LRH.
I “ended sick, very sick” and off post on MLO lines. Then, and intentionally, I did use “the condition” to stay away from the base.
But, while being out of the base, in a place where, by the way,  another 5-6 tech and Qual terminals besides me were also “being handled” on various illnesses, I realized that I was not going back, I just simply was not a slave and could not audit just for “VSD” instead of auditing FOR the pc.
I had two choices: to spend a year or more being hammered with incorrect conditions and forever on sec checks or “use” my situation to leave right now.
I knew what a “Threat to the base” meant, by now three auditors had used it and were rushed out of the base, so I took that road, very consciously and intentionally pretended that I was so, so, so in bad shape that,  in the blink of an eye, I was “helped” to leave. A year later my Fitness Board was mailed to me.
My contacts were back here in Mexico City, so I travelled back home, recovered from my “awful illness” in less than two weeks, managed to handle IDs and what not and went on with my life. I haven´t been sick ever since!
I was shocked to see the world outside- NO Dianetics, NO Orgs, NO Scientology, NO books in the Bookstores, NO Ads on Radio or TV; hardly anyone had heard about it; yet I had the impression that half of the planet was already a Scientologist, a false idea promulgated at the events, of course.
It took me about two years to completely break the habit of “explaining” whatever I did; at the Org, even going to the bathroom in between sessions needed to be explained and justified to the D of P, the MAA who was always roaming around and even sometimes to an RTC Rep that happened to be there.
Since I left  I have remembered many times my old friends, specially the Auditors, Class XIIs, C/S, Senior C/Ss and Cram offs- most of them originally had the clean and straight purpose to deliver standard tech- most of them are great people. Deep in my heart I knew I was not the only one wanting to leave that suppressive scene, and some of us had hinted at it here and  there; but I also knew most of them lacked the courage to do it in whatever way they could.
The worst was to see the public manipulated, ordered to do this or that, their self determinism ignored completely.  What the public went to obtain through LRH’s tech was not being delivered. Public was lied to by MAAs, Execs, Regs; Standard Tech was no more a concern, selling was the primary “duty” of every staff.  Veteran Scientologists  fought a little, the new public had no clue really of the mess they have gotten into.
If a public was reading a novel or working on his I Pad while waiting for session, he or she was asked to please put that aside and grab an LRH Book, anything else was unacceptable. It did nor matter if that public had read all the LRH Books or even if he was a trained Auditor. The point being that LRH would not have taken such an approach, he would have allowed that individual to live his or her life; using a computer in the pc´s waiting area would not have meant “out ethics” for LRH. Never, believe me.
CMO was now “messengers” running to ensure stats were up, RTC their “senior”.
Execs were overpowered, Janet Herring, Debbie Cook, there was no way to combat RTC pressures and keep standard tech far less run the Org plus EVERY SINGLE DECISION had to be OK´d by RTC Reps.
Other minor Execs turned into “RTC´s valence” – shouting, degrading every HCO or PL that was in their way to get the stat up.
Other staff as Board I/Cs, pages, etc were so, so, so, so tired that apathy became their chronic tone.
The Form of the Org un-mocked; staff individual production and stats also un-mocked; all was assigned and run based on the RTC Stat.
Oh…I remember in one year we had 6-7 States of Emergency declared-highest ever! Shame this was no one´s stat!
Now, COB and “The Hole”, yes, it is real. That brought to mind an incident in late 90s, a meeting with him and all AO staff; again he was stating whatever, a staff member said something then, COB grabbed one of the biggest pebbles he could find, those that were used as demo kit, and threw it very hard at the staff; luckily he dodged it and came out safe. Interesting behavior from an assumed ¨the highest” Sea Org Exec.
Comparing his behavior with those of real professional Execs such as Mr Heber J, Mr Guillame L, Mr Mithoff, Mr Yager and many, many others…well, actually there is no possible comparison; the gap is just too wide to even think of comparing one with the others.
How can Miscavige call himself a Sea Org Member when he is using millions of parishioner´s money to buy cars, clothes and live as, god knows what!!  Enough said about this off the rail individual; is not worthy to give him more attention.
No, we all rather remember LRH who only wanted the individual to regain his self determinism and power of choice; remember  the true Sea Org Member Execs, the staff that honestly joined with the mind set in using standard tech and admin, the genuine great Auditors and C/S, Supervisors and Tech-Qual staff that know what standard tech can do; it is worthy to have attention on those that are true to themselves.
Lets acknowledge all the public who basically are each one a unique individual who found Scientology, saw a way to a better conditions and decided to attend the Orgs to receive Standard Tech, and learn it too.
Lets remember another fact. LRH is Source and Scientology works when standardly applied, that includes HCO Bs and HCO PLs too.
Lets move on with the Independent movement of Scientologists which is now well in progress, lets carry on with our lives using Scientology;  the action which will bring benefit to oneself and others, and lets leave the criminals sink into the world of oblivion that awaits them for eternity.
We Scientologists have better things to do.
And truth, though fought, always at the end prevails. LRH
Wish you the best,
Silvia Lloréns

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Posted in acknowledgments, black dianetics, celebrities, David Miscavige, Debbie Cook, ethics, FLAG, golden age of tech, healing, independents, l. ron hubbard, mexico, miscavige crimes, policy, propaganda, regging, squirreling, tech, tech alterations, the Reformation, Tom Cruise, Uncategorized

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The Friedman’s Break Free

Posted on March 27, 2012 by | 297 comments

Some of you may know Marsha and Steve Friedman, but for those of you who don’t, here’s a little information about these two new independents. 

Marsha became a Scientologist in 1969 and introduced Steve to Scientology in 1973.  They are well-known as Scientologists in the Clearwater community, where they moved in 1989.  They are also well-known as successful business people who own and operate a national PR agency, founded by Marsha 22 years ago.  The firm, headquartered until recently in downtown Clearwater, represents professionals, high-profile individuals and corporations in a wide range of industries. Their staff is comprised mostly of media professionals, and each month they arrange an average of 160 radio interviews, 20 local and national TV appearances and millions of potential readers in offline and online print. As well they market online, with Marsha having 70,000 friends and followers on the various social networking sites.  She is also the author of the book, Celebritize Yourself, and is co-host of a recently launched national talk radio show airing weekly on Sirius/XM.

– Mike Rinder

Here’s Marsha’s story in her own words.

Dear Friends,

As I don’t know where this post will wind up in the wild world of the Internet, consider this an “Open Letter” to friends I know and those I don’t, people in the church or on the fence, public and/or staff.

While writing this letter might seem as evidence to those within the church that we have gone “to the dark side,” I’m actually writing this for the purpose of telling the truth and filling in the vacuum of data for the friends and family who have chosen to disconnect from me and Steve, and others who might become new friends.

To start, I’d like to share a little of my background. I became a Scientologist in 1969 and joined staff at the Miami Org as Marsha Ulan.  I have fond memories of being on staff during that era, and can vividly recall those exciting days when new HCOB’s and HCO PL’s were released.  Whenever this happened, we always stopped whatever we were doing to read LRH’s new breakthroughs.  The energy and excitement were beyond compare; we knew we were part of a great new movement.

While still on staff in 1973, I introduced Steve to Scientology and shortly thereafter we got married. (We were raised together in Queens, NY, and have known each other since we were 7 and 8 years old.)

I finished my contract and left staff in March of 1974 to have our first child together. We’ve now been happily married going on 39 years in May, and are the very proud parents of 2 sons, a daughter, 3 grandchildren and a new great-grandson (whew…even hard for us to believe!).

In 1989 we moved to Clearwater to be close to Flag, and while I never went back on staff, I always volunteered for OSA whenever called upon.  Over the years, we did a lot of services at Flag, including auditing on OT 7 until about a year ago when we routed off the level.

I had no idea when I routed out of the Flag AO last year that this journey would lead me here.  And, quite honestly, in a strange sort of way, I have my auditor and FSM to thank for finding my path to this portal.  You see, when Steve and I chose to route off of OT 7, it wasn’t conceivable to anyone in the Church that we could have made that decision without being influenced by people we were told are “the enemy.”  Our instantaneous response was, “What enemy? Are we in some kind of war?”

Then we were accused of being associated with “friends of LRH.”  We thought, “How strange, of course we’re friends of LRH and, yes, that is who we associate with.”  And this wasn’t said tongue-in-cheek at all, even though it may seem that way.  Truly, we were the best of soldiers.  We didn’t dare read anything on the Internet about Scientology.  We were told it was evil, enturbulating and could cause us great harm.  While neither Steve nor I believed anything or anyone had that kind of power over us, especially considering we were OT and armed with ethics and PTS tech, we chose to simply follow the rules and do as we were told.

But, after routing off services and being free to think, read and experience whatever we desired, I decided to look and see who those “enemies” were and what exactly was meant by “friends of LRH.”

Once I started to look, I anticipated finding a volume of success stories and well publicized good works of the church by independent media coverage.  However, the only pro-church coverage I found were press releases the church wrote and paid to have distributed by PR distribution services.  But most important was what I found from independent news coverage – the harrowing stories of people who had been on staff, and the violation of their human rights.

After doing a lot of research online, when Debbie Cook’s email hit my inbox at the beginning of this year, I found myself in complete agreement with the points she raised.  And, for the reasons listed below, on Tuesday, February 28th, I learned the church was planning to issue a declare on me and Steve.  This was told to me over lunch by one of my closest Scientology friends of twenty years.

My crimes?  Since I’ve received no communication from anyone at the church, or OSA, I can only speculate on their reasoning:

1.  On January 2, 2012, I forwarded Debbie Cook’s email to 3 people with whom I had a close relationship: my brother and two friends.  My brother did not respond to my email nor did he call or try to engage in any conversation.  Rather, he sent me a Knowledge Report in the mail and after a 60 plus year relationship, he just disconnected from me.  My sister-in-law disconnected shortly thereafter.

The initial response from my two friends was to say that while they didn’t agree, they still loved and treasured my friendship and would like to just agree to disagree.  However, they have both since disconnected.

2.  On February 8th, after receiving an email from two Scientology business associates asking to contract my company for services, I sent them a response letting them know of my agreement with the points Debbie Cook raised in her letter.  As lines in the sand were obviously being drawn at this point, I felt it was only appropriate they should know my feelings, in case they preferred not to engage my company for this reason.   (I never heard back from either person,      even though one of them was someone I’ve known over 30 years.)

3.  Around this same time, I got about 5 or 6 messages on Facebook, stating I was Facebook friends with Debbie Cook and requesting I un-friend her.  I didn’t un-friend Debbie Cook; I un-friended them instead.

The close friend, who over lunch told me of the declare coming down, said he was meeting with OSA’s Kathy True that following Saturday to “right this wrong.”  He said he would contact me after the meeting to let me know what occurred.

I never heard from him again.  After a very close 20-year friendship, he has disconnected from me, un-friended me on Facebook and had all of his family do the same.

At that point, I assumed a declare had been issued.  Then, a couple weeks ago, I learned about a Facebook posting below, by someone I don’t know, which resulted in a lot of FB disconnections from Scientologists.

“Russell Posyton

1:07am Mar 9

“Marsha Freidman and her husband Steve Friedman have been Declared Suppressive, I know this as a fact. This Declare can be seen and verified with any MAA or OSA terminal.

“As your Facebook Friend, I would most appreciate your removing them as your Facebook friend ASAP.

“Thanks in advance for your action on this,

“Russell”

Lastly, I learned from my son who works for a Scientologist (and former friend) of some false things being said about me by the church:

1.  That the church has been trying to “handle” me for a year but I refused to take any calls, return any calls or speak to anyone. 

This is completely false.  No one from the church ever called, emailed or even stopped by my office (located until recently a few blocks away from Flag) to talk to me about any problems they had with me.

In fact, it’s quite to the contrary. This past Christmas I was very involved as usual in an event the church is associated with.  In 1989 I founded a group that I later established as a non-profit called Cherish the Children Foundation, which championed for abused, abandoned and neglected children.  For 22 years me and my organization sponsored a Christmas party for these foster children in which the church played a role as a co-sponsor.  This past year was no different and one of OSA’s staff even attended the event, without one word spoken to me throughout the planning or at the event itself.

If perhaps this statement was referring to “handling” my husband, the situation there is that when he turned in his confidential materials and said he would no longer be auditing, both his auditor and FSM (at different times) visited him at our office.  His auditor was furious about his decision, yelling at him in the driveway with accusations that he’s been “influenced” by enemies.  His communication was nasty enough that he called Steve back later that same day to apologize.  Then, two MAA’s called Steve (on the phone at the same time) yelling and threatening him about what would happen if he didn’t come into the Org to see them.  Well, if you knew Steve, you’d know he doesn’t take kindly to being threatened. Without raising his voice, but with tons of intention he told them their threats were meaningless and they wouldn’t be seeing him. They hung up the phone on him and he has never heard from anyone at the church since then.  So, if no longer wanting to audit on OT 7 is a suppressive act, he’s guilty.

2.  That I broadly spread Debbie Cook’s email.

Completely untrue. I sent Debbie Cook’s email to three people.

3.  That my FSM came to my house to talk to me but my husband slammed the door in her face.

Completely untrue.  My last home in Clearwater that we lived in for two years was very close to Flag and my FSM had never seen it.  It’s a high security condo building.  No one can even enter the building to get to our unit to have the door slammed in their face.

What did occur was our FSM stopped by one day at the office while we were working.  She arrived unannounced and went into Steve’s office.  He was not happy about a prior conversation where she called him an “a-hole.”  He told her that she didn’t have an appointment and asked her to leave.  He never left his desk to close the door or slam it in her face.  She got up and walked out and it was apparent she was upset.  Right or wrong, I asked him to call her afterwards to apologize.  He did and she accepted his apology.

To date, Steve and I have still have not heard from anyone from the church about a formal declare.  Nor do we know what other untruths have been said about us in a goldenrod, which we understand is apparently available at Flag.

So, after being an upstat, loyal and dedicated Scientologist for 43 years, my journey has led me here.

It’s been very difficult at times to confront the lies I believed for so many years and the aberrations that exist within the church at the most senior level.

During this journey, I was so careful not to speak to my friends in any great depth of what I found. I was concerned it would enturbulate them and I didn’t want to create that effect.  While I was being so careful to protect those I loved, they disconnected from me without any thought or reason when they were told the church had declared me a suppressive person.

If any one of those people were asked what they thought of me a few months ago, they would have declared me not suppressive, but rather their sister and friend, whom they loved and cherished.  Yet with nary a question, they have disconnected because they were told we have gone to the “dark side” and are now suppressive people.

As I didn’t take the opportunity to speak candidly with friends before our declare, and had I known they would have disconnected from me so easily without even a question, let me say, here and now, what I should have said to them when we were still speaking.

To them I would say, honestly and truly, the only “dark side” that exists is at the senior level of management of the C of S and OSA.  The entheta embroiled in the activities of disconnection and declares becomes very apparent when one is on the other side and subjected to disconnection and being declared.

But, like an auditing session – where you blow chunks of charge and see the world as bright and shining – that’s what it’s like to be on the other side, where suppression is non-existent.  I’m talking of the suppression of being told who you can and can’t talk to, what you can and can’t read, what you can and can’t think, what you can and can’t do, where and how you spend your time and your money.  Now that we’re on the other side, that suppression doesn’t exist anymore. It’s the most wonderful freedom Steve and I have experienced in a long time.  The sad part is that until the suppression came off, we didn’t even realize how other-determined we had agreed to be.

We have personally experienced the off-policy regime that currently exists within the church.  The following are just a few specifics that speak for themselves.

1.  Steve and I have been declared but we never received any communication from the church about this status.  Instead, we have heard only rumors that we have been declared – with NO prior ethics or justice actions, or Committee of Evidence held as clearly defined in policy.

2.  Parishioners have disconnected from us, some who are directly in comm with the MAAs office, even though the policy on disconnection was cancelled in Ron’s Journal ‘68, (an LRH lecture of 1968).  The existence of this LRH reference is completely ignored by the church.  At the same time they have reported to the media that disconnection is not practiced.  Is it really okay for any person or entity to force you to disconnect from those you love, be it family or friend?  What kind of a church does this?

3.  We have been “crush-regged” for the IAS and for fundraising for Ideal Orgs.  Yet there are numerous LRH policy  references against fundraising, many of which can be found on http://www.friendsoflrh.org/COBvsLRH/.  Can anyone truly deny that crush regging exists?  We’ve all experienced it.  On many occasions I have been regged by my auditor after finishing up at the examiner, by my D of P, Board I/C and examiner.  Finishing a checksheet cycle in qual was usually accompanied by a reg cycle with the Cram Officer, Qual Consultant or MLO.  And, the bigger reg cycles usually included the D/ED and MAA, and oftentimes an FSM (other than our own) or an OL in town.

By no stretch of the imagination could we be considered wealthy.  But we gave when we could – $100k to the IAS and thousands more to library donations in addition to the hundreds of thousands for bridge cycles over the years.

But the reg cycle that took place in the last quarter of 2010 turned the corner for us.  After being detained for over 3 hours with a host of people, some using verbal force to try and close us to take out a $100k second mortgage on our home (to no avail), we realized we were no longer giving because we wanted to; it was now being demanded of us.  I was told the donations were necessary because the church was building a “war chest.”  The irony is that while one of LRH’s stated aims for Scientology is “a civilization without war,” money is being accumulated for a war, which flies in the face of LRH’s intention.  When I finally got to look at this, I asked myself, “What war is the church fighting?”  I know what I was told by the Church powers that be, but I didn’t feel I had enough data to really understand what I was told.  When I started looking, I saw the evidence to support the fact that, yes, this church IS at war.  But unfortunately, I found that the war is against anyone who dares to expose the off-policy injustices and crimes being perpetrated.

Debbie Cook is just one example.  There are many, many other individuals who have come forth with similar or worse stories of their own.  And these very well documented stories all live online.

The question you have to ask yourself is, “What if? What if any of these reports of abuse at the highest level of the Church are true?”  When I asked myself that question, I realized I could never stand proudly and look myself in the eye, if I didn’t do something to expose the dirty secrets that are very well-known to the rest of the world, but unknown to those on the inside who choose not to look.

To those still in the church, think of LRH’s essay on Personal Integrity.

“Personal integrity is knowing what you know. What you know is what you know and to have the courage to know and say what you have observed. And that is integrity and there is no other integrity.”

And, think of the Code of Honor which says: “Your self-determinism and your honor are more important than your immediate life.  Your integrity to yourself is more important than your body.”

Another important reference is an LRH quote from 9 Dec. 1952 PDC tape called “What’s Wrong With This Universe:” LRH says, “Man’s degradation always stems from his first desertion or breakage of really the Code of Honor.  He breaks the Code of Honor and after that he starts downhill and he gets worse and worse and worse and worse because his trust in himself is worse and therefore he can’t trust what his own energy is or anything else.”

If anything I’ve said resonates even to the slightest degree, then you owe it to yourself to do as LRH says, “Look, don’t listen.”  Even if you decide the data you find is not true for you, at least you’ve taken responsibility to “know.”  The other side of the coin is to not know, and that’s when you mess with your integrity.

Personal integrity is the one thing no one can ever take from you.  Only you can give it away.

While our SP declare was intended to negatively impact us, it’s actually been a very freeing action for both of us.

Our lives are good.  Steve and I feel very fortunate that we’ve never been solely dependent on Scientologists for friends, employees and clients.  We have a successful business with a wonderful staff and a great stable of clients.  And, thankfully our business is doing well.

I know many people who have experienced disconnection from the church are not as fortunate as we are in this way.  But, just as we have created close friendships and business relationships with people outside the church, from all walks of life, we know others can do this too in time.

At the end of the day, Steve and I have chosen to maintain our Code of Honor and our personal integrity.  We’re able to freely enjoy our family and friends, to keep our business flourishing and prospering, our clients happy and to live our lives to the fullest, all while contributing to the happiness and survival of others.

In summary, due to all that has happened and the off-policy regime that exists, we’re happy to announce our formal resignation and disconnection from the current C of S.

Love,

Marsha

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Posted in acknowledgments, black dianetics, Debbie Cook, disconnection, ethics, FLAG, healing, ias, independents, justice, l. ron hubbard, miscavige crimes, policy, regging, squirreling, the future, the Reformation, the world, Uncategorized

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