It's Always the Next Level

In 1950 L. Ron Hubbard published his book Dianetics - the result, he claimed, of years of scientific research into the human condition.  In it he claimed that he could show people how to rid themselves of all irrational behavior, compulsions, and psycosomatic illnessess (about 70% of all illnesses, according to Hubbard.)  He further claimed to be able to alieviate asthma, poor eyesight, color blindness, poor hearing, stuttering, allergies, high blood pressure, sinusitus, arthritus, ulcers, migraines, morning-sickness, alcoholism, tuberculosis, and the common cold.

"Dianetics cures and cures without failure." L. Ron Hubbard

Dianetics would lengthen the human life-span and slow the aging process.  It would boost your IQ by at least 50 points and give you a perfect memory.

The trick was to go "clear" - free of painful memories or engrams that had been recorded in the unconsious or reactive mind.

But this wasn't a problem.  It was simple to do.  A person could go clear with as little as 30 hours of auditing.

In August of 1950, L. Ron Hubbard held a lecture in the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles where he presented a young woman identified as "Soyna Bianca" (a psuedonymn) who was the world's first clear.  He called her to the stage to demonstrate the effectiveness of his Dianetics.  But when the audience began to ask her questions, she stumbled.  When they asked her to demonstrate her "full and perfect recall of every moment of her life" - she couldn't do it.

"What did you have for breakfast on October 3 1942? someone shouted. She couldn't answer.
"What's on page 122 of Dianetics someone else asked. Again she couldn't answer.
At that moment L. Ron Hubbard was pacing the stage and had his back to her. "What color tie is Mr. Hubbard wearing?" And again, she could not answer.

Dianetics couldn't live up to Hubbard's claims and the world's first clear was ushered off the stage.

Undeterred, Hubbard continued to promote his "science of the mind" and making extraordinary claims. In 1952 he published the book, What to Audit (later retitled as The History of Man)  and claimed that with Dianetics "the blind again see, the lame walk, the ill recover, the insane become sane and the sane become saner."

But now it wasn't enough to be clear. Auditing sessions now required the use of the E-Meter (a simple sort of lie-detector), and one had to clear the engrams not only from this life, but from countless thousands of previous lives going back trillions of years.

Believers continued to shell out their money for auditing sessions hoping to reach that always elusive Clear.

In subsequent years L. Ron announced that being Clear wasn't enough.  There were further levels beyond Clear.  One had to become an OT - that is an Operating Thetan.  The OT would be able to remodel his physical appearance, grow taller or shorter, loose or gain weight at will. They would have astounding abilities like telepathy, telekinesis, and remote viewing.  All that was required was that you give total control of your life and finances to Hubbard.  Don't ask questions.  Don't think about the contradictions or the failures, just keep working the procedure and Hubbard guaranteed you would become an OT

But then there were ever increasing levels of OT.  OT-I, OT-II, OT-III where one went through the "wall of fire" and was introduced to the space-opera story of Xenu.  The levels of Operating Thetans continued to increase - OT-IV through VIII were introduced each requiring many hours of expensive auditing sessions and books and recorded lectures from L. Ron.  When members of the Church of Scientology don't realize the promised changes in their abilities or health they are told that the next level will bring the break through they've been anticipating.  It's always the next level.  The next level.

David Miscavige - current leader of the Church of Scientology - recently spoke about OT level 56.  It's not clear whether or not he was joking.