Do As I Say Not As I Do...

I have been in the last two months, as you might have been able to deduce from my numerous blog posts, curious about L. Ron Hubbard and his Church of Scientology. I followed the white rabbit and now, like Alice and Neo, I’m wondering how deep the rabbit hole really is.

I’ve begun reading LRH’s 1951 book, The Science of Survival, though the particular edition I am reading is from 2007 – after the repairs and corrections made by the Church of Scientology to restore LRH’s writings to their purest form.  I’m only 100 or so pages in so far, but a couple of quotes have really caught my eye, enough to write a little bit about them and to connect them to real life happenings.

The first is a little bit lengthy, and for that I do apologize. Please bear with me.

Handle the psychotic gently. Respect his rights to a whole brain and a future. Do not consider that he is your toy or your experimental animal for vivisection or strange sadistic “treatment.” Above all, when you are auditing, be a civilized human being. Don’t try to punish your patient because he “refuses to get well.” His engrams and general turbulence make your preclear very hard to reach. His basic personality is in there trying to help you. Smooth out entheta and make theta out of it and do so as gently as you can. Don’t loose your temper or resort to dramatic methods. Be civilized. Man can only be handled with reason, no by Hitlerianistic [sic] force. You can’t beat a man into sanity. If you feel so exasperated by a preclear that you would like to scold him or hit him, stop the session and go cool down. Don’t fill him full of sedatives or put him in restraints. By being as gracious and serene as you possibly can be, you will greatly increase your success in treating your fellow man. And you have to be first cousin to a saint to get the best results with a psychotic.

Any effort made to hammer a patient or scold a patient into sanity will meet with failure. … Don’t be convinced that you have rights of ownership or life-and-death powers over your fellow man. Leave that to the accomplished authoritarians, of whom we have unfortunately so many.” (Science of Survival page 35)

Here LRH is giving instructions to his followers about how they should use the Dianetic process to help clear people of their engrams (painful memories that affect the body and mind). His advice to them is really pretty good advice for counselors: Be civilized. Don’t hit. Don’t yell.

However…

By 1951 – the time of this book’s original publishing – LRH had already been accused by his two wives (not quite successive wives, by the way) of abuse – both physical and verbal. LRH told his second wife (Sarah Northrup) that he no longer wanted to be married to her but that a divorce would ruin his reputation, so she should kill herself if she really loved him. (Bare Faced Messiah – Miller, page 184)

These accusations from friends, family, employees and followers continued through the rest of LRH’s life. During his years at sea aboard the Apollo, he threw frequent tantrums, screaming at anyone and everyone. LRH aslo instituted harsh punishments for those who failed to please him, punishments like being confined to the ship's dirty chain-locker for days or weeks at a time and given only meagre meals, or being bound, blindfolded, and thrown overboard. Some of these punishments were even applied to children.

This is not being “civilized.” This is not the way to make the world sane. And it wasn’t just LRH. This kind of abuse continued in the Church of Scientology even after LRH’s death. There has been much in the news recently about the allegations of beatings and screaming fits and verbal abuse coming from the church’s leadership.

The second quote that has really caught my eye is shorter.

Around 1.1 [of the Tone Scale / Column G “Affinity”] we reach the level of covert hostility. Here the hatred of the individual has been so socially and individually censured to a point where it has been suppressed and the individual no longer dares demonstrate hate as such. He yet possesses sufficient energy to express some feelings on the mater and so what hatred he feels comes forth covertly. All manner of subterfuge may be resorted to. The person may claim to love others and to have the good of others as his formost intrest. Yet at the same moment, he works (consiously or otherwise) to injure or destroy lives and reputations of people and also to destroy property. (Science of Survival page 64)

LRH’s Tone Scale is a characterization of human behavior based on the obseravation that some people appear livelier than others. 0.0 is “Body Death” and 4.0 is “Enthusiasm.” LRH claimed that people around 1.1 on his Tone Scale were psychotic and covertly hostile. But, this strikes me as a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.

Scientologists have a policy called “fair game,” established by LRH in 1967. It states that SPs (Supressive Persons, or enemies of Scientology) “may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” (HCO Policy Letter of 18 October 1967)

The Fair Game policy was offically rescinded in 1968, but (and there’s always a but, right?) in practice it still continues. Critics of Scientology are harassed, sued, stalked, sued, followed, sued, slandered, sued, and falsely accused of crimes. And sued.

Paulette Cooper – author of the book The Scandal of Scientology – was subjected to the Church of Scientology’s “Operation Freakout”  attempting to frame her for bomb threats against the Church of Scientology and the Arab consulate. The operation was discovered by F.B.I agents and brought to a halt.

See Scans of Church of Scientology Documents concerning Operation Freak Out
This kind of criminal and abusive behavior is not a one-off exeception to the general practice of Scientology. This is the general practice of Scientology.  Look at the history of the Church of Scientology and you’ll find ruined lives, and smeared reputations, lawsuites crafted to destroy and allegation after allegation of abuse and “Fair Game.”

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.

The Thetan and Your Life as a Clam

Scientologists like to claim that they “proved, for the first time, that man was a spiritual being, not an animal.”i

I too believe that we are spiritual beings, but I don’t know what they cite as evidence – what scientific, tangible, quantifiable, verifiable evidence they have of the spirit, the soul, - or in Scientologist terms – the Thetan. I’ve read a fair number of their books now, and I see the claim, “we’ve proven it” many, many times. But I’ve not seen the proof, just the repeated claim that they have the evidence.

In fact, in the book Scientology: Fundamentals of Thought, Hubbard details the where and when of this exciting discovery:

Probably the greatest discovery of Scientology and its most forceful contribution to the knowledge of mankind has been the isolation, description and handling of the human spirit, accomplished in July 1952 in Phoenix Arizona. I established along scientific rather than religious or humanitarian lines that the thing which is the person, the personality, is separable from the body and the mind at will and without causing bodily death or mental derangement. ii(Italics added. jc)

Can you imagine that? He isolated and measured or quantified or inspected the soul. He even “handled” it. I’ll bet my Thetan is sorta’ squishy.

This event is not, however, mentioned in the list of “Important Dates in Scientology” found in text-book styled What is Scientology? In this list June 1952 has Hubbard giving lectures in Phoenix Arizona concerning the subject of “effort and energy.” And then in July of 1952 “Scientology: A History of Man book is published.”iii It says nothing about the astonishing discovery of scientific evidence for the human soul.

Oh well, maybe it wasn’t that important.

A History of Man claims to provide “a cold-blooded and factual account of your last sixty trillion years...iv" In it Hubbard traces the immortal, omniscient and omnipotent Thetan through the entire history of the universe, and even before.

According to Hubbard, before the universe existed, there were Thetans who concocted a universe for their own amusement, but became enmeshed in this universe and forgot their omnis (omnipotence and omniscience). They forgot that they were ‘gods’. As I said before: this is Gnosticism.

It seems that these Thetans (which you and I are are, we’ve just forgotten) inhabited countless, innumerable bodies though these trillions of years, including many pre-historic life-forms. Ever feel like a dinosaur? That’s because you were one in a previous life.

And in all these multitudinous lives, the Thetans accumulated Engrams – painful experiences that were stored in the eternal memory and now cause everything from arthritis and allergies to cancer, schizophrenia, and behavioral ills like murder and drug abuse…

The Thetans accumulated many of these engrams during their time as clams. The clam’s main problem – and he had many problems– was one of opening and closing the hinge of his shell. This hinge, according to Hubbard, eventually evolved into the bones of the human jaw, and if you were to be so indiscrete as to discuss the clam and his difficulty with his hinges with somebody not yet familiar with the tenants of Scientolgy, you could reawaken their engrams and cause them pain.

…your discussion of these incidents with the uninitiated in Scientology can cause havoc. Should you describe the “clam” to someone, you may restimulate it in him to the extent of causing severe jaw pain. One such victim, after hearing about a clam death, could not use his jaws for three days.

The book continues tracing the Thetan through the millennia – as other assorted animals, as cavemen, and eventually into their lives as humans. Volcanoes come into the story quite frequently v and lots of Thetans were eaten.

But eventually humans evolved, and here we are, you and I with our immortal, invisible Thetans and I’m kinda’ hungry for some clam chowder now.

***

i What is Scientology? Bridge Publications Inc, Los Angeles CA, 1993. page 641


ii Hubbard, L. Ron, Scientology: Fundamentals of Thought, Bridge Publications Inc, Los Angeles CA, 1988 (originally 1963) page 63.

iii What is Scientology? Page 776

iv Sixty trillion years would be roughly 4,300 times the general scientific consensus on the age of the universe. Don’t let science get in your way, though. Hubbard never did.

v Volcanoes are a big part of Scientology – note the volcano on the cover of Dianetics. Xenu used a volcano to obliterate billions of Thetans, but that’s a story for another blog post.

This is Dianetics

Hey. Remember that time when I had surgery and I was unconscious because of the anesthetics and the Doctor called the nurse a “stupid twit” but my ‘reactive mind’ heard it and how ever since then I’ve acted like a stupid twit? Remember that?

Or

Remember when I was really young – this was two or three weeks after my conception, and my mom was at the grocery store and someone bumped into her with a grocery cart and they said to her “you’re in my way” and I felt the bump and I thought they were talking to me and so now I hide in my room all the time so I won’t be in anyone’s way.

No? Why are you snickering? This is serious stuff.
This is Dianetics.

According to L. (Lafayette) Ron Hubbard, creator of Dianetics, we all have what he termed a ‘reactive mind.’ This ‘reactive mind’ is recording every moment of our lives, every experience, everything we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, think and or imagine. Everything.

We also have what he called an ‘analytical mind’ which is our thinking, reasoning, deciding mind. And this mind is perfect. It never makes a mistake. Never has a fault. According to Dianetics our perfectly operating ‘analytical mind’ is blocked up by ‘Engrams’ created by the ‘reactive mind’.

Engrams are the impressions of painful events when we were either unconscious or not yet aware – like my surgery or prenatal experiences. In fact, Hubbard says that most of our engrams come from the trauma we endured in the womb.

And these engrams are responsible for everything: arthritis, bursitis, asthma, allergies, sinusitis, coronary trouble, high blood pressure, cancer, poor vision, hearing loss, even depression, schizophrenia, and various kinds of cancer… And what is more, these engrams are responsible for our poor behavior as well. Are you timid – Engram! Are you addicted to pornography – Engram! Are you angry – Engram! Are you an alcoholic- Engram! Are you a murderer – Engram!

It’s not about what you do. No, no, no. In Dianetics, it’s about what happened to you to cause all of these Engrams that make you the way you are.

There is no judgment in Dianetics. There is no fault or sin or moral depravity. In Dianetics there are only engrams. And those aren’t your fault. You got your reactive mind all filled up with engrams because mommy and daddy had sex while you were in the womb, because mommy was constipated while she was pregnant with you, because she used a douche while you were in the womb.

Your reactive mind is filled with engrams because daddy yelled at mommy while you were in the womb, because daddy hit mommy, because daddy threw mommy down the stairs, and tried to give her an abortion by punching her in the stomach…..

Seriously. 90% of Hubbard’s anecdotal illustrations are of spousal abuse or attempted abortions. This, I think, says something rather striking about Hubbard’s own mind.

But praise Xenu there is a cure.

Your troublesome engrams can be “cleared” from your reactive mind. With the help of a patient ‘auditor’ you can become a “clear” and never again have to worry about engrams causing you to make bad choices or to suffer a migraine.

More later.