61 Years - the Modern Psuedoscience of Mental Distress

Today - May 9th - is the 61st anniverary of the publication of L. Ron Hubbard's book: Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health - The ...ehem! "church" of Scientology likes to refer to it as "the owner's manual for the human mind," but that is in no way accurate. 


Dianetics is the psuedo-scientific ramblings of a seriously disturbed hack science fiction writer.  There is no Science, modern or otherwise, in Dianetics.

For my summary of Dianetics, read - This is Dianetics

or for all things L. Ron Hubbard

LRH's Study of Particles (Contains no Particles)

I have one more LRH song for now.

On 29 October, 1953 L. Ron Hubbard gave a lecture to his dribbling disciples entitled "The Study of Particles." In the entire lecture he didn't mention particles even once.







If you like it, you can download it here.

LRH's Disappearing Machines

If you can figure out what he's talking about, you win the secret prize.



"Have your mother out in front of you making your father's machine disappear..."

What?

If you like the song, you can download it here.

LRH Loses It

He sounds crazy.  But maybe it's too easy to take things like this out of context.  Maybe I just took random phrases from his recorded lectures and strung them together without reference.  Maybe.

But consider the source.  LRH (Lafayette Ronald Hubbard) isn't exactly known for his sanity. 

Here he is in one of his lectures becoming increasingly agitated and decreasingly articulate - with additional music by me.

You can, if you like, download it here.

Snakes in Suits

I am in the middle of reading the book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths go to Work by Paul Babiak, Ph.D. & Robert D Hare, Ph. D.  It was recommended to me by one of my Anonymous friends after I had read Feet of Clay - a study of madmen and gurus.  This all stems from my recent interest in the cult of Scientology. 

Snakes in Suits  is written as a layman's guide to the psychopathic personality - particularly as it relates to the corporate and business world.  It is not a clinical or technical book, but is filled with examples from real life situations and composite hypothetical examples.

First point:  Psychopathy is a personality disorder - not a mental illness. (There is a difference.)  They are not raving lunatics or slobbering catatonics.  For all intents and purposes, they are quite normal.  At least they appear to be. 

The psychopath - male or female - can be charming, persuasive, and quite likable.  But they are predators. They are not charming and friendly because they like other people or care about them in any way.  On the contrary, to the psychopath other people exist only to serve them.  Other people are either pawns to be manipulated, patrons to be exploited or threats to be neutralized.  When charm and persuasion can't get them what they want, the psychopath feels no guilt in using threats, intimidation, or even physical violence. 

They feel no guilt.  They feel no remorse.  They have no empathy. 

As I said, Snakes in Suits is written primarily for the business world and the corporate structure but it does occasionally describe the psychopath in a religious setting.   They are chameleons and can adapt to whatever group they've infiltrated; they can shout "hallelujah" with the faithful just as easily as they can attend a board meeting with the shareholders.  And since the organizational structure of  my own church - The Salvation Army - is a strange blend of both the religious and the business, I began to wonder if there are any snakes in Salvation Army uniforms. *

I doubt it (though I wouldn't be so foolish as to say absolutely not).  I doubt it because The Salvation Army is rather bureaucratic. No. We're heavily bureaucratic.  We have layers upon layers of organizational rules.  We have a thick book of Orders and Regulations to which we're expected to adhere.  And while there are potential rewards for the exploitative psychopathic personality (i.e. power, privilege, and access to money) the obstacles are numerous. 

"We doubt that psychopathic individuals would be very successful in a highly structured bureaucracy for several important reasons. First, psychopaths are generalized rule breakers; rules and regulations mean little to them.  The sheer number of policies, procedures, and laws governing how companies must act, as well as the fact that managers and supervisors are charged with enforcing them, makes them inhospitable to those prone to psychopathic behavior.  They would not last long in a traditional, textbook bureaucracy.  It is unlikely that they would even consider working for one, unless they knew the boss and could get away with getting a paycheck without producing any work." page 95-96

But while the structure and bureaucracy of an organized religion might be a deterrent to a psychopathic personality the world of New Religious Movements is a bountiful hunting ground.  (New Religious Movement is the more neutral term for those groups sometimes refereed to as "cults.") Loosely organized and free to make up the rules as they go along, the psychopathic person can easily charm, manipulate and swindle those who are caught up in their deceptions.

Psychopathic individuals can and will tell extravagant stories - outright lies and even when they are caught in their lies will not stop. They change their stories, adjust the details as needed until they're believed. And they good at it.  They are persuasive story tellers, raconteurs of the highest calibre.  They're willing to say anything without regard for truth or accuracy.

I'm not a psychologist. I cannot make a diagnosis of any kind - but I would suspect, after reading biographies of L. Ron Hubbard and interviews of people who knew him and worked with him, that the founder of the cult (or NRM, if you prefer) of Scientology was psychopathic.  He used people for what they could give him, and when they could no longer give him what he wanted or they opposed him, he threw them away and destroyed them, without remorse.

The Church (cough, cough) of Scientology in Australia recently made the outrageous claim that they're "just like the Salvation Army."   But the history of The Salvation Army isn't filled with reports of abuse and exploitation like Scientology.  Just compare biographies of our founders, look at our organizational structures, and I think you'll be able to see the difference. 


* Since The Salvation Army - like every other human organization - is made up of fallible humans there are of course some "snakes" amongst us, people who act badly, who occasionally lie or cheat or whatever.  It's inevitable. Even in a religious movement.  But here I'm referring specifically to "psychopathic snakes" and to no specific individuals within the leadership whatsoever.  Is that enough of a disclaimer?

Feet of Clay - Saints, Sinners and Madmen: A Study of Gurus

He's a god, he's a man,
he's a ghost, he's a guru
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – “Red Right Hand”

The Sanskrit word Guru refers to one who brings light out of darkness.  The guru - or teacher - is an illuminator, a light bringer, a guide.  Hopefully.
 
We know, however, that not all religious leaders are good.  Many gurus have exploited and manipulated their followers for money and for sex, leading them into financial ruin, mental anguish, physical pain, and in too many tragic cases -  even death.
 

British psychologist, Anthony Storr, wrote about some of the common characteristics of gurus - good and bad - in in his 1996 book, Feet of Clay - Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus. 

I found this book at the public library (thank you inter-library loan system!)  and read it because of my recent interest in Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard.  And while LRH and his invention are not mentioned in Storr's book,  there is much that those who are familiar with LRH and Scientology will recognize.

The book is brief - 254 pages and that includes the index.  I wish he had either included more examples or had been more detailed about those figures he did analyse.  But this is a minor complaint (and really, I know I'm just a nerd who always wants to know more...)

The first half of the book is devoted to a brief description of the life and teachings of various gurus - some (in)famous and some obscure, some deadly, and some who were truly beneficial despite their "feet of clay."
Included are Jim Jones and David Koresh - who lead their followers into suicide, the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - who had a passion for collecting Rolls Royces, (He had ninety-three before his arrest and deportation from the United States and the psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung (who for all their talk of psychiatry as "science" promulgated a secular religion and promised salvation...)

Also included in this section is the guru Jesus. I must admit that I am not always objective (none of us are) and it was a little difficult at first for me to think of Jesus in the same context as Jones, Koresh, Rajneesh and the others.  Though Storr's thesis - that there isn't so much a LINE between the sane and the insane as there is a spectrum or a continuum.  Some who are mentally ill live functional and productive lives.  Some who are thought of as sane are actually very maladjusted.  "We tend to diagnose mental abnormality in the socially incompetent and overlook it or deny it both in the socially dominate and the socially unobtrusive. (page 153)"

Looking at my guru Jesus in the light shone light on others who would take up religious leadership. If the dangerous and crazy gurus like Jones and Koresh are at one end of the spectrum then Jesus is at the other.  I am forced to consider where I am along this continuum.  Am I closer to being a bringer of darkness than an illuminator? 

The second half of the book looks at the larger issues of mental health, sanity and insanity, - and the difficult question of where to draw the line between faith and delusion. This is a topic that concerns me.  Though my interest in Scientology is recent, and will in all probability diminish somewhat over time, I am continually interested in what it means to have faith.

Gurus through the years and around the world share a number of similarities, says Storr.  Often they: 
-are solitary or isolated as children
-are charismatic and charming
-are fluent speakers
-create a mysterious history of travel - usually in central Asia
-are elitist and anti-democratic
-endure a period of mental distress or illness which is followed by a new spiritual insight
-are paranoid and suspicious of others
-develop intricate and wildly eccentric cosmologies

But the most important characteristic of gurus - is their narcissism. 

They are arrogant.  And why shouldn't they be?  They've received a special knowledge (either from God, the universe, or from their own diligent study)  that the rest of us mere mortals could never attain.  They are superior, and they know it.  They will not suffer to be questioned.  They will not tolerate disagreement.  They will not accept correction or suggestions.  Touch not the Lord's anointed!

"Whether a guru has suffered from manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, or any other form of recognized, diagnosable mental illness is interesting but ultimately not important.  It is not their thought disorders, not their delusional beliefs, not their hallucinatory visions, not their mystical states of ecstasy:  it is their narcissism. (page 210)."

A religious leader (or political leader, or a leader in any field) who will not allow that he or she could be wrong is a danger to him or herself and to any who would unquestioningly follow - but that is the only way that (dangerous) gurus would have them.

Brainwashed

I recently picked up from our local library the book Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control by Dominic Streatfeild - (2007 St. Martin's Press).  It's part of my recent inquiry into L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics and the "church" of Scientology.  And though LRH's new religious movement is given only a few passing references there is much within this history that has connection to the practices and policies of Scientology.

Particularly the studies in hypnosis, sleep deprivation, and isolation.  These sound eerily like the accounts told by "blown" Scientologists - those who have fled the church.   Though Hubbard always denied the accusation of hypnosis in Dianetic "auditing" sessions, the state of reverie that he prescribes sounds very much like the very suggestible state brought about by hypnotists.  Accounts of sleep deprivation by former members of the Sea Org and the practice of cutting secluding members away from family members who might question or oppose the teachings of Scientology have followed Scientolgoy since it's inception.  It's not difficult to understand why they've been accused of brainwashing their victims...er members.

Streatfeild's book deals with numerous aspects of mind control - from the Moscow Show Trials of the 1930's, The CIA's development of LSD as a 'truth serum', the brainwashing of American POWs during the Korean War, Subliminal messages in advertisements,and thought control by New Religious Moments (a fancy euphemism for cults) such as the Unification Church and Scientology.  As a documentary filmmaker, Streatfeild is adept at interviewing his sources.  And it shows.  The book is a well written combination of narrative and pedagogy.  He tells the stories of the victims - and often of the perpetrators of thought control experiments -  with unnerving and disquieting acumen.

The chapter entitled Sleep was especially disturbing to me.  Steatfeild described the out-of-control psychiatric horrors of Dr. (Donald) Ewen Cameron.  His practice was surely the kind of psychiatry that L. Ron Hubbard so despised - indiscriminate use of Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT), aggressive prescription of powerful narcotics, and his "annihilation" therapy wherein he erased a patients mind through a combination of ECT and drugs and then, using endlessly repeating tape recorded messages, reprogrammed his patients.  Furthering this nightmare was Cameron's connection to the CIA's secret Project MKULTRA.

And though this kind of torture (not treatment) is rightly condemned... there is one aspect of Cameron's technique that reminded me of Dianetics.  Cameron would record psychiatric sessions with his patients.  Then he would snip out the portions of the tape where the patient had talked about the source of their issue and would force them to listen to this played back over and over and over and over again.

Similarly - during a Dianetic auditing session the auditor, when seeing a movement on the E-Meter's needle indicating an engram, will tell his patient (early Dianetics used the word patient, but later it was dropped from practice when it became apparent that LRH's techniques could provide no demonstrable health benefits) to "run that again" and again and again and again until there is no more movement on the E-Meter.

In the end Brainwashing and thought control is an impractical method of control.  While some forms have proved to have limited effect, they cannot be sustained long term.  Given time and a removal from the coercive practices used by totalitarian regimes (be they communist governments, unethical intelligence agencies, or religious cults) a person can regain their critical thinking abilities. 

Streatfeild's book is engaging and informative. I'd recommend it to anyone who values freedom of thought and critical thinking.

Mission Earth 10 - The Doomed Planet

Here it is,  The Doomed Planet, the 10th and final volume of L Ron Hubbard's arid and interminable Mission Earth Series.

I've been seeing these books in libraries ever since I can remember but had never picked them up.  And now, 1.2 million or so words later, I almost wish I never had.  LRH may have been a decent writer during his early years, writing adventure stories for pulp magazines, but by the end of his life he had completely forgotten his craft.  He was no longer a story teller.  The Mission Earth books are not about story - they're not even really about people. The Mission Earth  books were merely an excuse for Hubbard to spout his venom and bile in a nearly endless rant against anyone and everyone who had ever done him wrong.

LRH poison penned psychologist, psychiatrists, the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, Universities, Homosexuals, Punk Rock music, Religious leaders, Public Relations and Advertisers and, and, and, and...  The only people who don't receive this bitter treatment are the members of Godfather mafia styled organized crime family (LRH even named them the Corleone mob!)  It's curious that these criminals are the only one to be treated as righteous and noble.   Why is it that the only people LRH didn't despise were criminals?  Because he, himself, was criminal? 

Here in the final volume the series' hero, Jettero Heller, single-handedly restores the Voltarian Confederation's government after a violent revolution and forestalls the invasion that has been threatened in the whole series. And he does this simply by making an official declaration that the planet Earth does not exist.

Wait... That's it?  1.2 Million words to play ostrich?  1.2 million words to pretend that the things we don't like don't exist.?  Seriously? 

Monte Penwell, the very first investigative journalist on Voltar,  has, in the course of his investigation of this story, become infatuated with all the things from Earth that have never been used on Voltar - things like: psychiatry and psychology, drugs, Public Relation, Drugs, Sex, and Spies and so on.  Penwell is angry with Heller and the restored government for covering up the mission to Earth and concludes his work (ostensibly the books we've been reading...) with a hymn to encourage the people of Voltar to wake up and recognize the cover up that has been perpetrated and to take up the mission to invade earth.

ODE TO EARTH

Oh, Earth, oh, Earth, you luscious globe,
You beckoning, wine-fat treasure-trove,
You whet our hunger as you spin
And lure us with your wealth to win.
You saved my life with your PR.
I triumph now without a scar!
Your spy techniques are quite sublime
And can be used to undermine.
And who could think but to extol
Your psych and psych for mind control.
Who would refuse to cut their fug
If offered some divine Earth drug?
Who can deny that men will drool
For just one shot of good white mule?
And no musician would heed sneers
If he had Punk Rock to drown their ears.
And who, pray tell, would show aversion
To lovely butt and mouth perversion?
And Earth, you number in your riches
Sex that converts girls to (bleeepches).

Did I say sex? Oh, you excel!
Never has such concentration
Been levelled at self-gratification!

It goes on like this for another two pages.  But I can't take very much more... I'll skip down to the last couple of lines.

Don't plead, O, Earth, for mercy now!

Your time has come and this I vow:
Each thing you know we will suck up
And toast your death with blood in cup!
Surrender? No, it is too late.
Just weep while solders fornicate
Upon your grave up there so high,
So soon will be our Voltar sky.
But, cheer up, Earth! When soul has flow
It will in Voltar find its home.
Your wisdom wise like graveyard flowers
Will come to us and will be ours!
So, Earth, just bare to us your breast
And let us suckle you in death!
VOLTAR!  SEEK NOT MORE OF MY PERSUASION!

LAUNCH ON TIME THE EARTH INVASION!

THE (TRIUMPHANT) END!

I cannot comprehend how the adherents of the Church of Scientology could read these and still think that every word LRH spoke / wrote was genius. I cannot understand how the founder of their religion can be revered in the face of this series.  If Jesus of Nazareth had written something like this, I'm not sure that I could continue to call myself a Christian. 

The books of LRH's Mission Earth series should be a troublesome source of perpetual embarrassment to all Scientologists. I suggest that they should purchase and destroy every copy still in print and then, like Mission Earth hero Jettero Heller, issue a proclamation that the series has never existed. 

Mission Earth 9 - Villainy Victorious and Lingering Lewdness

Villainy Victorious, the penultimate book of L. Ron Hubbard’s 10 Volume Mission Earth series begins with what are possibly the only true words LRH ever wrote.

“This bizarre, fallacious tale has not been made any more palatable by the introduction of a different narrator.”

We agree.

Volume 8, Disaster introduced one Monte Penwell – an unpublished and untalented author – to continue the story of Soltan Gris, Lombar Hisst, Jettero Heller and the Voltarian mission to Earth. Gris had been incarcerated, Hisst was taking over the Voltarian confederation, and Jettero Heller had escaped with the ailing and drug addicted emperor. Penwell prefaces the story but makes no further appearance.

Like the preceding 8 volumes, Villainy Victorious is a sprawling chaotic jumble with a lot of bile but little story. What narrative there is focuses on the exploits of the earthlings J. Walter Madison – a PR “genius” and Teenie Whopper – a teen-aged nymphomaniac.

Madison and Whopper proceed to infect pure and noble Voltar with the corruptions of Earth – psychology, psychiatry, drugs, perverse sex, public relations and advertising. Blah, blah, blah. This is the whole point of the Mission Earth series: to demonstrate in overwhelming and graphic detail the sickness and depravity of the planet Earth.

At one point early in the book, Teenie Whopper (who inexplicably came to be worshipped as a queen on Voltar) leads a “lecture” to instruct the prepubescent sons of Voltarian nobles in how to become catamites and sex slaves.

Then with one light finger she touched a spot at the lower center of the boy’s pubic hair. His eyes rolled up, his chin thrust forward, he gave an ecstatic groan.
HE (BLEEPULTATED)!

What the BLEEP? You ask.

This has been one of the running “jokes” in Mission Earth. According to a footnote in each of the books, the translating robots are forbidden to reproduce “cursing or lewd words.” This is ironic because the books are filled with descriptions of all manner of vulgar and disgusting – lewd- activities. That some words are BLEEPed out only serves to heighten them.

It seems as if LRH took pleasure in describing the many and varied perversions of earth. He certainly lingered over each one of them in loving and painful detail.

Teenie leaned over and touched his ear with her tongue.
ANOTHER (BLEEPULATION)!
The crowd went mad! (Villainy Victorious page 81)

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.”

Mission Earth Volume 8 - Disaster: What a Disaster!

Earlier this year I began reading L Ron Hubbard’s massive Mission Earth series. I’ve just finished volume 8 Disaster. I can see the end approaching. I’m almost there. Almost there….


LRH has lumbered through the first 7 ½ books like an angry drunk – more concerned with rants against his enemies (psychiatrists, psychologists, the FBI, homosexuals, etc…) than with coherent storytelling. But in this 8th volume of the Mission Earth series LRH finally gets around to tying up all the loose threads of his ‘narrative.’

…at least I think that he got them all. To be honest, LRH left so many subplots  rabbit-trails, and false starts along the way, I’m not sure if he wrapped up everything or not, but I’m not inclined to go back and check.

The 1st half of Disaster moves rapidly to a conclusion: the series’ hero, Jettero Heller, is successful in bringing down the evil oil companies controlled by J. D. Rockecenter and introducing a free energy source to the planet (in the form of a captured black hole placed in orbit around the earth!) and the villainous scoundrel, Soltan Gris, is captured and taken back to the planet Voltar to stand trial for his crimes.

Check and check.

But then, after 7 ½  books written from the viewpoint of Soltan Gris,  LRH introduces another character – one Monte Penwell, a struggling (and failing) author who decides to become the first investigative journalist in Voltarian history. Penwell (Get it? He’s a writer? Penwell? Nudge. Nudge.) continues the story for us.

Heller rescues the Voltarian Emperor from the clutches of Lombar Hisst (Gris’ superior) who had been keeping him weak and addicted to heroin in order to take over the Empire. Heller returns to earth to restore the emperor to health and to prevent World War III from beginning. The book ends with a cliff-hanger, of course.

Has Rockecenter

foiled the entire plan?

What will Hisst do

to retaliate?

Find out in

MISSION EARTH

Volume 9

Villainy Victorious

(page 333)

LRH’s idea of dramatic action packed writing was to string together a series of simple declarative sentences – one per line, with lots of exclamation points and WORDS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS! – and sometimes he couldn’t even be bothered to write complete sentences.

He could make out the outlines of a spiral chute going down!
A shotgun blasted again at the door.
Heller grabbed his satchels.
He threw himself on the spacetrooper sled.
The shotgun roared again!
Heller hit the controls.
The sound of the door bursting in.
The sled started out the window.
Another shotgun blast!
Something tugged at his heel!
He shot out into the dark night!
THE FIRST EXPLOSION WENT!
It sounded just like lightning had struck close to hand, a blasting, cracking roar that filled the night!
The sled bucked and twisted.
It plummeted earthward from thirty-five stories high.
THE SECOND EXPLOSION WENT!
Convulsively, Heller gripped the controls. The ground was coming up, unseen, but it must be very near!
He got the sled into a climb.
THE THIRD EXPLOSION WENT!
The sled slewed.
Heller got it straightened out!
A tree straight ahead!
Heller zoomed over it.
At least he knew where the ground was now.
He settled the sled vertically and played his light down.
He landed.
THE FOURTH EXPLOSION WENT!
(pages 317 – 318)

And it goes on like this through THE TENTH EXPLOSION WENT! Seriously.

I am almost finished with the series.  I have the final two books from the library now.  The end is coming soon, praise Xenu.

Child Dianetics: Don't Trust this Man with Your Children

In 1951 L. Ron Hubbard wrote a book entitled Child Dianetics: Dianetic Processing for Children.  Actually, "wrote" is not quite the correct word; compiled would be more accurate.  It's a short work derived from his earlier writings, his lectures, and the work and research of uncredited others. (Apparently the 1951 edition's first page included a list of "thank you"s but this page has been removed from subsequent editions.)

Here are a few gems from Child Dianetics:

How would you like to be pulled and hauled and ordered about and restrained from whatever you wanted to do?  You'd resent it.  The only reason a child "doesn't" resent it is because he is small.  You'd half murder somebody who treated you, an adult, with orders, contradiction and the disrespect given to the average child.  The child doesn't strike back because he isn't big enough..." (page 10)

Care for a child? - nonsense!  He's probably  got a better grasp of immediate situations than you have. Only when he's almost psychotic with aberration will a child be accident prone" (page 15 -16)

A child is perfectly logical.  (page 48)

Grandparents should not be permitted into the home of their grandchildren until they have learned to behave themselves dianetically. (page 48 - yet the church of scientology denies that they "disconnect" families...)

LRH didn't think of children as children. To him, they were already immeasurably old Thetans trapped in not-yet-adult bodies (though this book was compiled before the Thetan concepts of Scientology were fully developed).  Children didn't need to be corrected or restrained or disciplined.  Just loved.  LRH encouraged parents to let their children be fully "self-determined." 

But after reading some of the biographies of LRH's life (Bare Faced Messiah - Russel Miller, A Piece of Blue Sky - Jon Atack, L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman - Bent Corydon & Ronald DeWolf (a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard Jr.) I'm not sure that I would trust this man with children.

LRH sired 7 children with his 3 wives. Of them -
-Ronald DeWolf (LRH jr) was cut off by his father and has subsequently spoken out against his father and the Church of Scientology
-LRH  kidnapped his daughter Alexis from her mother and fled with her to Cuba until her mother agreed to retract her claims that he had abused her.  When Alexis attempted to reconnect with her father as a young woman, she was rebuffed. LRH denied paternity and refused to see her.
-Quentin Hubbard committed suicide at the age of 22. Some who knew him say that Quentin was homosexual, and LRH did not have anything kind to say about homosexuals. When LRH was told of his son's suicide he is reported as shouting , "That stupid f***ing kid! Look at what he's done to me!"

For a period of years LRH lived at sea on the Apollo. During that time there were numerous reports of abuse to the children of Scientologists who lived and worked on the ship.  Here is one:




And that kind of abuse didn't end with LRH's death in 1986.  There is a veritable flood of recent news reports of child abuse and child labor within the Chruch of Scientology. This is just one.



Don't trust this man or his "church" with your children.

A Scientology Field Trip

As a pastor for a smallish congregation in a small town I get rather excited when a visitor comes into our building to see who and what we are.  I am eager to answer their questions, to show them around, and to introduce them to others in our group.  I also try to find out who they are, and why they've come to us. I hope to get to know them, and though I will probably forget their name (because I'm forgetful like that) I ask.

I want to try to make a connection to whoever comes in through our doors.  I expected something similar when I visited a Scientology center this afternoon, but it didn't happen.

I had to do some travelling today - a trip that would take me through Minneapolis.  And since I have been reading about and digging into Scientology and Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard, I thought should get out of the library, out of the books and actually visit one of their churches to meet some of their members.  So I left a couple hours earlier than I originally planned so that I could swing by the Scientology center in downtown Minneapolis.

When I walked through the doors, I was -slowly- greeted by a young man at the front desk. He said hello and asked my name.  I told him and stuck out my hand to shake, out of habit. And for a moment he just looked at me and then at my hand and then back at me.  Then he stood and wiped his hand on his trousers and shook my hand. 

I explained (after he asked) that I had read Dianetics at my local public library and had become interested in the science and tenants of Scientology, and that I was dropping by to find out more.  He then lead me to a table piled with books and DVDs and launched into a sales routine for Dianetics and a companion DVD set.

This, I expected.  Sorta'.

I've read enough now to realize that much of the "Church" of Scientology's work is in marketing, but -based on my church experiences - I didn't think that a sales pitch would be the first thing offered to someone who's come in from the street. 

I explained that I wouldn't be buying anything (economics being what they are these days, I don't have a huge surplus of funds) but that I still wanted to know more about the organization and their teachings.  But getting my host to tell me more was like pulling teeth.  I had to ask and push and prod.  I had to lead the conversation.

I asked about the "free stress test" as advertised in the window and on their web site.  My host grimaced and looked around for another staff member.  He called out to another gentlemen in the back, but he was busy.  Reluctantly he led me over to the E-meter that was sitting on display and began my free stress test.

It didn't take me long to realize that I could goof the E-meter's readings. I could cause the needle to swing to the right (indicating stress) or I could make it hover in the center (indicating no stress).  Though I think that my host caught me towards the end. "Are you squeezing the cans?" he asked.  So much for this "religious artifact." 

After that he really seemed like he wanted to get me out the door, but since I would be paying for parking in the city parking garage, I wanted to get a little more for my time.  I decided to push my luck a little bit.

I asked - in all sincerity and without malice or mockery  - about the jabs and jokes made by people about Scientology.  I asked specifically about the South Park episode that makes fun of Scientology.  "What is it that they're making fun of?  Are they just making stuff up?" I asked. 

My host looked confused. "You can ask me about the things that they've said." 

"Well," I continued, "what about space aliens throwing people into volcanoes millions of years ago?  Are they making that up?"  I asked.
"There's nothing about aliens or throwing people into volcanoes" he answered.  "I've been a member my whole life and I've never heard anything about this."  he said.  "There's a volcano on the cover of Dianetics but that's it.  It's just the cover.  It's just a symbol."

I let it go at that.  Maybe he was telling the truth.  Maybe he hasn't reached those upper levels where one is initiated into the secrets of Xenu.  But it's common knowledge (or at least it's getting to be) that there is this kind of 'science fiction' material at the core of Scientology.  To deny it seems disingenuous at the least.

I moved the conversation away from the sensitive Xenu issue and asked about his own experience.  He said he'd been a member his whole life, raised by parents who are also Scientologists.  "When," I asked, "did you realize for yourself, choose for yourself that you wanted to be a Scientologist?"

He told me about his college experience, and an unsatisfactory internship - and then pointed me toward another book, The Way to Happiness.  He then, rather awkwardly, transitioned the conversation to accounts of how this book has been the direct cause of decreasing crime rates in the country of Columbia and in Los Angeles.  "All the police have read it and the crime rates have gone through the basement," he said.

Moving on he told me about Scientology's NARCONON program and gave me a handful of pamphlets about it, all the while moving me towards the door.  I tried to stall by asking about the services held on Sundays, (what church WAITS for visitors to ask about Sunday services?)

Realizing that I was about done, I thanked him for his time, for taking a few moments to talk to me and to tell me about his life.  And again, I stuck out my hand to shake.  I wanted to be personable.  I wanted to connect with him, even if I wouldn't be buying any of his material or taking his auditing sessions.  And again, he seemed reluctant to shake my hand.

I don't think that I smelled bad. Maybe I did.  Maybe he just has a thing about touching people. I don't know.  But, I thanked him again, and walked out the door, down the street to the parking garage and continued on my way. 


- I also want to thank all those Anonymous visitors who've stopped by my little blog here in the past couple of days.  Your visits are appreciated.

A Few "Classic" Dianetics Adverts and LRH Gets Religion

Here are a few "classic" Dianetics / Scientology adverts that now cruising through space at the speed of light.

What will space aliens think of us when they see them?

This first might seem like an over-the-top parody but it's not.  This really is what LRH (L. Ron Hubbard) and his Scientologist followers think about psychs - (their term for psychologists, psychiatrists, and all professionally trained mental health professionals).  LRH convinced them that all - ALL - psychologists are mad scientists.



I remember seeing this one (or one very like it).  I sorta' like the electro music.



Here is a more recent one:



The selling point in these - and most of Scientology's - advertisements is self-confidence.  Scientologists claim that they're interested in making the able more able.  Seems more like a self-help, motivational speaker kind of thing than a 'religion.' In fact, LRH said that it wasn't a religion:

"Theta clearing is about as practical and simple as repairing a shoe lace. It is nothing to do with hypnotism, voodooism, charalatanism, monkeyism or theosophy. Done, the thetan can do anything a stage magician can do in the way of moving objects around. But this isn't attained by holding one's breath or thinking right thoughts or voting Republican or any other superstitious or mystic practice. So for the reason I brought up, rule out, auditor, any mumbo jumbo or mysticism, spiritualism, or religion." - LRH  A History of Man 1952

"Scientology has opened the gates to a better World. It is not a psycho-therapy nor a religion. It is a body of knowledge which, when properly used, gives freedom and truth to the individual." - LRH  The Creation of Human Ability 1953

But then LRH got the idea that maybe 'religion' wasn't a bad angle (that's his word, by the way). 

DEAR HELEN                                                   APRIL 10


                  RE CLINIC, HAS [Hubbard Association of Scientologists]




The arrangements that have been made seem a good temporary
measure. On a longer look, however, something more equitable will have
to be organized. I am not quite sure what we would call the place -
probably not a clinic - but I am sure that it ought to be a company,
independent of the HAS but fed by the HAS.


We don't want a clinic. We want one in operation but not in name.


Perhaps we could call it a Spiritual Guidance Center. Think up its
name, will you. And we could put in nice desks and our boys in neat
blue with diplomas on the walls and 1. knock psychotherapy into history
and 2. make enough money to shine up my operating scope and 3. keep
the HAS solvent. It is a problem of practical business.


I await your reaction on the religion angle. In my opinion, we


couldn't get worse public opinion than we have had or have less
customers with what we've got to sell. A religious charter would be
necessary in Pennsylvania or NJ to make it stick. But I sure could make
it stick. We're treating the present time beingness, psychotherapy
treats the past and the brain. And brother, that's religion, not mental
science.




Best Regards,
Ron

Notice LRH's goals for his 'religious' clinic?  1-to destroy psychotherapy, and 2 to make money.
It's an angle - a pose - a trick to lure in more customers.  It's not a religion.  It's a business model.
 

"Scientology 1970 is being planned on a religious organization basis throughout the world. This will not upset in any way the usual activities of any organization. It is entirely a matter for accountants and solicitors."  - Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter (HCOPL) 29 Oct. 1962, "Religion" (emphasis added)

Becoming a religion granted them a tax-exempt status, afforded them a veneer of credibility and protection under the law.  But it's not about faith.  It's about your money.

Mission Earth: Voyage of Vengeance - LRH's Real Life

Book 7 of LRH's (L. Ron Hubbard's) 10 volume Mission Earth series, Voyage of Vengeance,  confirms my suspicion that Hubbard was thinking about himself as he wrote.

The book follows the series' villain, Soltan Gris, as he zig-zags across the Mediterranean Sea on a luxury yacht.  This parallels LRH's own life during the years 1967 - 1975 when Hubbard and his own private navy called the "Sea Org" criss-crossed the Mediterranean offending local governments at their ports of call and searching for the treasures LRH had buried in underwater temples during his previous lives.

In Voyage of Vengeance Soltan Gris is sailing aboard a first class luxury cruise liner with a professional crew, gorgeous cabins, and gourmet meals. In LRH's real life the cruise ship was a hastily converted cattle ferry, formerly known as the Royal Scotsman and later re-named the Apollo.  It was crewed by LRH's dedicated followers, members of the Sea Org, most of whom had no experience at sea.  And the accommodations and meals - for everyone except LRH and his family - were spartan and foul.

One curious incident from LRH's real life is recreated in the book.  In 1974 LRH and his Sea Org sailed to the Portuguese island of Madeira.  He expected to be greeted as a king, as royalty, as a hero, as a savior. Instead, the port authorities were suspicious because of the rumors and reports of bizarre activities at their stops. 

Sea Org members were instructed never to mention Scientology when they went ashore. Instead they were to tell people that they were part of a highly successful business consultancy firm - but the people could see with their own eyes that the Apollo was an old rust-streaked ship, crewed by ill-dressed and secretive strangers.

When the Apollo moored in her berth on Oct. 7 and Sea Org members went ashore to advertise a free rock concert (by LRH's band, the Apollo Stars) the people of the city responded by rioting - throwing rocks and bottles at the ship. They believed that the Apollo and her crew were there as part of a CIA spy operation.   LRH and his followers fled.

In Voyage of Vengeance, Soltan Gris also prompts a harbor riot (this time in Greece).  "Black PR [public relations] ... Somebody has uncorked the bottle.... Who would ever have thought I would be at the receiving end of a black PR campaign." (page 245)

Voyage of Vengeance is filled with the same undisguised hatred for psychiatrists, psychologists, homosexuals, women, journalists and etc... as the previous books.  There's little concern for story telling.  LRH just wanted and excuse to fling his bile out upon his enemies.

Mission Earth: Death Quest - Death to Mental Health

It's no secret that L. Ron Hubbard (LRH) disliked psychiatrists and psychologists.  He loathed, abhorred, despised, and hated them. And even that might be understatement.

His "non-fiction" books (and that term is used reluctantly) is filled with venom for mental health professionals.  And so is his sprawling 10 volume Mission Earth series -"the Biggest Science Fiction Dekalogy Ever Written"

I've challenged myself to read the entire series - as a learning experience.  I think I'm learning as much about LRH in his fiction as I am in his other writings and in biographies. I have just finished reading volume 6, Death Quest and  I am convinced that he was seriously twisted. 

It wouldn't be anything strange to be somewhat hesitant to consult a psychologist or psychiatrist, or a "shrink".  There has been, and to some degree still is, a stigma about seeing a counselor.  But mental health professionals have through the years have helped countless numbers of people.  That stigma is fading as more and more people realize that there's no shame in seeking professional help.  Sometimes a problem is beyond our ability to fix and we need someone who is trained to help us deal with it. Sometimes it's a more serious condition - a very real, and medical condition - that can be accurately diagnosed and treated with proper medication.

There have been, of course, failures and horror stories as well.  There have been abuses and scandals.  There are in every human profession - humans being humans after all.  But LRH saw ONLY the horror stories.

By psychology theory, there was neither limit nor personal penalty to crime unless it happened to oneself...man was just an animal that had no conscience or soul, just a rotten beast, in fact.- page 127

Psychiatry is for the rich to keep the poor in line. - page 139

Psychiatrists and psychologists are professional and they are not bound by any law: they can even murder people and nothing is done about it because they actually work with the government and courts and like them, are above the law.  They can do anything they want to anyone placed in their care.  Even murder them. - page 320

LRH filled the pages of Death Quest with lurid accounts of perverse sexual activities - bestiality, homosexual prison rape, necrophilia, and urolagnia (look it up) - and laid them at the feet of psychologists and psychiatrists.  Mental Health professionals in the book are blamed for encouraging their clients in these grotesque behaviors.  One man is told by his psychiatrist to imagine having sex with his mother.  When that didn't achieve the desired result he was told to imagine having sex with the corpse of his mother.  Another 15 year old girl was forced by her counsellor to have intercourse with the boys of her school.

This isn't just satire (as LRH claimed of the series).  This is what he really and truly believed about mental health professionals.

A psychiatrist today has the power to (1) take a fancy to a woman (2) lead her to take wild treatment as a joke (3) drug and shock her to temporary insanity (4) incarnate [sic] her (5) use her sexually (6) sterilise her to prevent conception (7) kill her by a brain operation to prevent disclosure. And all with no fear of reprisal. Yet it is rape and murder… We want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in England, a murder, an assault, or a rape or more than one… This is Project Psychiatry. We will remove them.  -Confidential memo "Project Psychiatry" (22 February 1966)

There's only one remedy for crime -- get rid of the psychs![Psychologists, Psychiatrists, any professionally trained mental health worker] They are causing it! -"The Cause of Crime" (6 May 1982)

And his hatred has continued to infect his church - The Church of Scientology - long after his death.  In the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks Scientologists sent a team of their volunteers to ground zero to disrupt the work of professional mental health workers.

...we are trying to move in and knock the psychs [professional mental health workers]  out of counseling to the grieving families and that could take another 100 plus people right now. Due to some brilliant maneuvering by some simply genius Sea Org [Scientology's private "Navy"] Members we tied up the majority of the psychs who were attempting to get to families yesterday in Q&A, bullbait and wrangling. They have a hard time completing cycles of action and are pretty easy to disperse. But today they are out in full force and circling like vultures over these people and all of our resources are tied up in the support efforts in the disaster zone at present.



There is nowhere on Earth right now that hurts like this place. These are brave people and they are the able and they don't know it but they need the Scientologists with LRH's tech to be here right now. ...
 
The fire-fighter company down the street from the org lost 14 members on Tuesday. No one can do anything for them or the rest but Scientologists. The other religions here with their ministers have shown their true colors and are working hand in hand with the psychs to give these people as much false data and restimulation as they can. They HAVE NO TECH and they're not even trying to hide it anymore. They've crossed over and abandoned anything spiritual and to hell with them. - An intercepted Email from Scientologist "Lt." Simon Hare

And again, after the shootings at Virginia Tech, Scientology volunteers were on the scene, claiming that their assistance had been requested by The Salvation Army and the Red Cross.  This was not true.  Their "help" wasn't requested or wanted.  This kind of help we don't need.  One man's (mental) illness and hatred should not be allowed to continue to infect people.

A History of Abused and Tortured Thetans

Scientologists are a little bit sensitive about the whole OT - III "Wall of Fire" Xenu Space Opera.  Perhaps with good reason.  It is a little weird - weird that is if taken as "science" - which is how LRH (L. Ron Hubbard) always described his work.  It's not so weird if taken as science fiction.

In this video, Tommy Davis, head of The Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centre, storms out of an ABC interview when asked about Xenu.

Given a yes or no question - do you believe this? - he could have said "no" and put the whole thing to rest.  But, putting that aside, there is plenty of weird science fiction material within Scientology without going into the whole disputed (and falsely denied)  Xenu material.

In the book Scientology: A History of Man LRH described how at death the Thetan (the pure spirit being) leaves his or her physical body and goes to the "BETWEEN-LIVES" area and "reports in." For males this report area is located on the planet Mars; females are required to go elsewhere in the solar system.  At this reporting station the Thetan is brainwashed to forget his or her most recent life.

Additionally it appears that the Thetan is naively curious about bright shiny things and ornate buildings.  Seeing them, the Thetan will approach and can be captured by an Invader using an electronic force. The Invaders are "an electronics people" from heavy gravity planets intent on conquering the whole of the physical universe. The captured Thetans are then abused in a variety of ways - they are beaten up, spun around and around, jerked back and forth, and dropped repeatedly from great heights.

This, according to LRH, is why you and I are so screwed up.

A Great Big "SCREW YOU" from Scientology

The auditorium was filled with excited and exuberant Scientologists dressed to the nines for this event – the OT (Operating Thetan) Summit 2007. Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley – all the stars were there of course. The Stage was set with elaborate props – including a large portrait of LRH himself, staring beatifically out over the crowd; a slick multi-media presentation had been prepared, complete with humorous computer animations. It was a big deal.

Current leader of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, strode to the pulpit at center stage and began his address concerning “lost tech” and “the golden age of knowledge.”

I'll summarize the three hour video for you, but you can watch it yourself if you like.

Has Dianetics / Scientology not really worked for you?

Have you had trouble understanding the books and materials?

Well you have to have read them in the proper order. You have to have read them in the exact order that they were written. That’s the only way to understand them. And you have to have attended all the lectures that LRH gave. If you didn’t hear the lectures you won’t be able to understand the later material.

But even if you had read all the books in the proper order, and you had attended all the lectures, you would still not be able to understand LRH’s books because of the thousands upon thousands of errors made by the transcribers who typed LRH’s dictated books and the editors who put them together.

These brain dead idiots and miscreants should be strapped to a volcano and blown up with an H-bomb for what they did to poor LRH’s books. It’s unforgivable.

But now we’ve fixed all those thousands of mistakes and restored LRH’s books to the purity with which he spoke them.

And we offer to you, our faithful Scientologists, this great big SCREW YOU. You’ve sunk thousands and thousands of dollars into this material and you’re going to have to buy it all anew if you want to ever get to clear / OT VIII.

The audience stands and applauds. They cheer. Miscavige exits the stage with a smile and a wave.

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.

A Very Strange Trip with L Ron Hubbard

In 1987 Dave Wolverton won the WRITERS OF THE FUTURE contest begun by L. Ron Hubbard for his story, On My Way to Paradise.  Some time after that, Hubbard's literary agency, Author Services, Inc., gave Wolverton the opportunity to "collaborate" with Hubbard on a novel.

Hubbard died in 1986 but left behind a number of writings that hadn't been published.  One of these was a full-length screenplay "replete with detailed directorial notes, character sketches and more..."  Wolverton took that screenplay and adapted it as a novel.

I haven't read any of Dave Wolverton's other work  - he writes science fiction under his own name and fantasy under the name David Farland.  I don't know his style. I don't know if he's a good writer or not - though he has won a number of awards.

But A Very Strange Trip reads like the rest of Hubbard's work.  The humor is flat and not humorous.  The characters are undeveloped stereotyped caricatures.  Their actions are wildly implausible and their motivations ludicrous.  As with other of Hubbard books, A Very Strange Trip seems like something written by a jr. high aged boy. It is juvenille.

The protagonist, Everette Dumphree, is given the task to drive a truck full of secret contraband Soviet equipment from Trenton, New Jersey to Denver, Colorado.  Included in this cache is a time machine that is set off with the slightest bump or jostle.

Dumphree finds himself thrown into the past.  There he purchases three indian squaws - Pretty Rose, Bear Tail, and Lotsa Smoke - who are, of course, very beautiful, quite buxom, and barely dressed.  The squaws speak "movie indian" english.

"Go town, now," Pretty Rose said.  "We here long time, we set up trade."

"I make heap strong rat root tea - it give vision plenty."

"We work plenty hard.  One cup firewater not much thanks," Pretty Rose pouted.

The four of them continue the trek towards Denver and experience a number of other cliched time-travelling adventures and the end is predictable enough - they all live happily ever after and have lots and lots of money and etc. etc. etc.

I wonder how free Wolverton was to adapt Hubbard's screenplay.  His career took off after winning the writing contest begun by Hubbard.  The book was suggested to him by Hubbard's literary agency and was published by Bridge Publications, Inc. which is the publishing arm of the Church of Scientology.  I would suspect that Wolverton didn't change much in adapting Hubbard's screenplay into this novel.