The Mind Benders
Cyril Vosper
Unabridged
Mayflower
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CYRIL VOSPER
THE MIND
BENDERS
SCIENTOLOGY
`...capable of such danger that the
public interest demands that people
should know what is going on'
LORD DENNING
THE BOOK THEY TRIED TO BAN
A fast, furious, funny,
_violent_ exposure of a major
global cult
`Indicates quackery of a type
which might be dangerous behind
closed doors...'
HIS LORDSHIP, THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS
583 12249 3 Mayflower
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(blank page, 5)
Granada Publishing Limited
Published in 1973 by Mayflower Books Ltd
Park Street, St Albans, Herts
First published in Great Britain by
Neville Spearman Limited 1971
Copyright c Cyril Vosper 1971
Made and printed in Great Britain by
C. Nicholls & Company Ltd
The Phillips Park Press, Manchester
Set in Intertype Times
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall
not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired
out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior
consent in any form of binding or cover other than that
in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the
subsequent purchaser.
This book is published at a net price and is supplied
subject to the Publishers Association Standard
Conditions of Sale registered under the Restrictive
trade Practices Act, 1956.
Australia - recommended price only
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Contents
List of plates 7
Prologue 9
1 Why Scientology? 17
2 Assumptions 27
3 The Thetan 41
4 The Mind 49
5 Past Lives 60
6 Auditing 70
7 Training 89
8 Clear 104
9 Operating Thetan 112
10 Ethics 121
11 Promotion 140
12 The Organisations of Scientology 152
Epilogue 169
Appendix 171
Acknowledgements 175
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PROLOGUE
God! Was I tired!
I'd been working for eleven solid, ghastly days. And not
just days; eleven nights too. With maybe two hours' sleep
on a hard floor in Saint Hill every twenty-four hours. I
hadn't had a bath or a square meal in all that time either. I
felt like death.
It was Saturday, 30th, August, 1968. August Bank Holi-
day.
I had two jobs at Saint Hill - Dissemination Secretary,
World Wide and Dissemination Secretary, Evening and
Weekend Foundation. For all the big titles, I still felt like
death.
An Open Weekend was going on at Saint Hill over the
holiday and I conned my way into getting home because I
was beginning to look and act like a zombie. It's not at all
good for Scientology's public image for visitors, newcomers and newspaper
reporters to see a zombie walking about the
place.
Why had I been there for 264 hours non-stop?
Because on one or other of my jobs I had been in a Con-
dition of Liability and under the justice system of Scien-
tology, when you are in a Condition of Liability, you just
stay there and work your way out of it.
I didn't give a damn for Scientology or all its sweet little
Ethics systems. If I had told any of those crazy Scientolo-
gists what they could do with their Condition of Liability,
I'd have been declared an even lower condition - Enemy, a
Suppressive person; then I would have had to discon-
nect from my children. I had been declared an S.P. in April
1968 and had not seen my children for a week. I couldn't
stand the thought of going through all that again. Mind-
bending self-recrimination, degradation. No. I would go
ahead and act out my part and hope to get out of Scien-
tology painlessly.
I got home at 8.30 p.m. The children were asleep. I went
up to see them. They were so beautiful it hurt. I felt I had
failed them. If they woke up now and saw me like this, I'd
feel ashamed.
9
I went downstairs again, to bed. Ever since I had been
declared a Suppressive Person in April, I had not been
allowed to sleep with Rosalie. After all, she was the Assis-
tant Guardian and I was an ex-S.P.!
I fell into bed and into sleep.
A loud thumping on the door. It went on and on, imperi-
ously. In this half-awake, half-asleep state, I was terrified.
What in God's name was going on? I tried to shut the noise
out but it still went on.
Finally it stopped and I heard Rosalie opening the front
door. After a few moments she came in.
"There's an Ethics Officer outside, Cyril."
I reached for my watch. "It's half-past ten! Tell him to
go away."
"He wants you to go for a Committee of Evidence."
"Tell him to get lost. I'm bone tired. I'm in bed. I'm
asleep. I may need some things right now but I do not need
a Comm. Ev."
Ros sat down on the bed. It was the nearest we had been
to each other in months. She looked concerned - almost
affectionate. Ye Gods! What a life!
"You had better go. It could be hard for you if you don't
go."
"Ros, do something for me. Tell that stupid bastard at
the door that if he doesn't get out of my house now, I'll call
the police and charge him with malingering, breaking and
entry, attempted murder, trying to rape my wife and other-
wise making a bloody nuisance of himself."
Rosalie fixed me with a pitying look and went out to talk
to Peter Warren, Ethics Officer World Wide.
I tried to get back to sleep but it was only acting. There
was a cold and resigned fear in me. I knew I would go to
Saint Hill and give evidence at their Comm. Ev. and I had
a deep foreboding that this would be the end for me.
Ros came back.
"Go out and talk to him. Do it for me."
Do it for Rosalie. Do it for my wife. Do it because she
used the same surname as me. Do what any good Scientol-
ogist would do. I jumped out of bed. I had pyjamas on
which was nice for Ros.
"Since he is such a thick-brained nit, I'll go and tell him
myself or maybe I'll just kick him a few times."
I went into the hall with a stern look to my face but really
10
just wishing they would all clear off and leave me to get
some sleep. These people needed to be put over some-
body's knee and spanked hard.
"Peter, I'm not going to Saint Hill or anywhere else with
you. I was at Saint Hill two hours ago and if you wanted me
you should have got me then. Right now I'm here and you
had better clear off rapidly or I'll do something violent to
you like castrating you without anaesthetics."
He adopted that patient, pitying look that's a stock-in
trade of Scientologists, especially ones like Peter Warren.
He was dripping wet from the rain and I thought that was
justice even if nothing else was.
"It will go very bad for you if you don't come. In any
case I have been given very strict instructions to bring you
in."
"You take your instructions right back to the idiot who
gave them to you and tell him you failed. For once the
Scientology Gestapo failed."
That was as withering as I could make it with my eye-
balls burning with tiredness, but it did not shake his
determination. After all, he had the weight and majesty of
Scientology Ethics behind him. I nearly vomited.
"I must bring you back for this Comm. Ev. There's a taxi
outside and I must bring you back."
"For Crissake, don't you understand anything? I was
asleep. I haven't slept properly for eleven days. What the
hell are you trying to do - kill me? "
"I'm not trying to kill you. You must come to Saint Hill
with me to give evidence at a legally convened Committee
of Evidence. The more you argue, the worse it will be for
you."
I went back to see Ros and get dressed. I knew this was
the end of everything. Marriage, children, everything
worthwhile. That it would inevitably be the end of Scien-
tology for me seemed the only real relief. I felt like crying.
Like getting on my knees to Ros and beseeching her to jack
all this nonsense in, but I knew it would do no good.
"I'm going to Saint Hill."
"Good. I'm sure you will manage fine."
"I'll be declared S.P."
"Do you really think that?"
"I know that. Once an S.P., always an S.P."
The ride in the taxi to Saint Hill was a bit strained. The
11
driver seemed embarrassed and bewildered. He would
learn soon enough if he took many bookings from Saint
Hill. This Ethics Officer sitting next to me had been learn-
ing long-division in school and kicking the toes out of his
shoes when I was first auditing preclears. Twenty-four,
maybe younger. Six months or maybe a year a Scientolo-
gist. Whoever it was said: "there ain't no justice, no justice
nowhere" was dead right. I had persuaded Peter Warren to
join staff at Saint Hill. I must have been out of my mind.
"Do you like your job, Peter?" I asked by way of con-
versation.
"Yes, it is very interesting." He smiled with that tolerant
smile reserved by the superior for the very inferior. If I had
had a gun, I would have carefully aimed it and blown his
head off. Maybe he didn't know he was accompanying me
to the end of my family, the end of my marriage. Or maybe
he found that interesting too.
The Committee of Evidence consisted of Allan Fergu-
son, Chairman, Brian Day, member, Lucy Duncan, Sec-
retary, and a tape-recorder. At least the tape-recorder didn't
look hostile. By regulation there should have been four or
preferably five human members and a tape-recorder. But the
accused are held guilty whatever they say in a Scientology
trial, so who worries about how many people are there to
see your final degradation?
"Sit in that chair," said Allan Ferguson with a stern look
as if he were a supreme judge sentencing a Train Robber
to thirty years. I was already sitting in it but I stood up and
sat down again to try to make him feel in control. I don't
think it worked. He had that glazed, bemused look about
him that is very common with Scientologists. He was going
through a ritual. The ritual implanted by L. Ron Hubbard
said: "Find the S.P.'s." He was finding an S.P. - me! The
word of Hubbard is senior to any minor thing like smash-
ing up my family.
"Turn on the tape-recorder." The way he said that
sounded as if he were saying "Fire!" at an execution.
I felt I wasn't there. I felt I really were dead. I'd died of
the bloody silliness and grief of it all.
My children. Christ - at the ages of seven, five and three
they had more sense than these three had ever dreamed of
having. But I sat there wearing a studious expression and
wondering what was coming.
12
"This is a recording of the proceedings of Committee of
Evidence convened under Ethics Order 727 World Wide,
on 1st September, 1969. The time is 11:20 p.m.," said Allan
Ferguson, self-consciously to the microphone. "Cyril Vos-
per; on Tuesday, the 27th August, 1968, did you receive
orders to plan an Ethics Mission to New Zealand and Aust-
ralia?"
"Yes," I replied. I lit a cigarette. My hand was trembling
ever so slightly. I didn't offer them around. Sometimes cool-
ness can go too far.
"When did you start to plan the Ethics Mission?"
"Right away." I'd won that one.
"Did you fail to immediately draw up the plans for the
Ethics Mission to New Zealand and Australia?"
I looked at him for a moment. What sort of a loaded
question was that?
"Well, it's actually impossible to immediately draw up
plans for anything. Planning takes time. You have to get
facts, find out who is going and all sorts of things. It takes
time."
"Answer the question, Yes or No?" Allan Ferguson
would have made a good village idiot. He lacked the
panache for anything more demanding.
"All right, if you want me to admit that I failed to do
something impossible, I failed." I had lost that one.
"Did you pass completed orders to the Executive Coun-
cil and Alert Council before copying or duplicating those
orders?"
"I circulated the orders I had written to as many mem-
bers of the Exec. Council and Alert Council as were avail-
able but due to the fact that most of the members were not
around, I went ahead and copied them in order to speed
the thing up."
"You consider yourself senior to the Exec. Council and
Alert Council, then?"
"Not at all. I worked on the basis that ANY orders given
to the Mission were better than none, since I was unable to
get a decision from either of the Councils."
"You took it upon yourself to act over the heads of the
Exec. Council and Alert Council. That's what you're say-
ing, isn't it?"
"Policy says that I must submit plans and orders to the
Exec. and Alert Councils for approval before copying. It
13
does not say what you do when you cannot find the men-
bers of these Councils."
"You went over their heads."
I shrugged. The whole thing was pointless. I should have
stayed home and had a good night's sleep
And so it went on. I didn't know what they were talking
about most of the time. I certainly didn't care. Just get it
over with.
After about thirty minutes, the tape-recorder started to
creak which was no help.
"Finally, Vosper, how long have you been a Scientolo-
gist?"
"Since 1954, about fourteen years," I said with no pride
Just a deep-down conviction that for fourteen years I'd
been well out of my mind.
"And how many times have you left Scientology?"
"I've not actually left Scientology but I..."
"Answer the question. How many times have you left
Scientology?"
Ye Gods. This guy was going to get his pound of flesh.
"I've left Scientology organisations twice to get more
money. Once when I went into private practice; once when
I got married."
"So how many times have you left Scientology?"
"Twice, I suppose."
"Thank you - we eventually get to the truth." Allan Fer-
guson turned to the other two. "Are there any further ques-
tions from the other members of the committee?"
They shook their heads sheepishly. They had been
friends. People I bad respected at one time. I couldn't blame
them for keeping their mouths shut. They could be de-
clared S.P. along with me if they spoke up.
"You can go now, Vosper."
"Do I get a taxi to get me home again?"
"That's up to you."
If there had been any possible point to it, I'd have bashed
his smug face in.
I went out and walked the two miles home, crying. Not
because of the Comm. Ev. Not because I wasn't as good a
Scientologist as Peter Warren, Allan Ferguson, and all the
others. But because it was the end of that special thing
that existed between Lindy Lou, Sean and Ashley and me.
14
I didn't think of Ros. She was part of Scientology. Part of
all the nonsense.
The next day I was declared a Suppressive Person. Per
Gardstrom, International Ethics Officer, World Wide,
found me in the Lower Hall working and handed me HCO
Ethics Order 729 WW (World Wide), 388 SH (Saint Hill),
9 EU (Europe), 1 SH FND (Saint Hill Foundation). He
did not give me time to read it.
"Get off the premises right away," he said.
"But my children are here somewhere. I must see them
and say goodbye."
"Get off the premises right away."
"One day you'll have children, Per. I hope you will then
remember what you have just said. I hope you will feel
very proud of yourself," I said.
He escorted me to the main gate and told me to get out.
He was doing his job by the book. He was being the In-
ternational Ethics Officer, World Wide. A great title for a
wretched job.
I went to London, booked into a hotel and slept and
slept.
15
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Chapter One
WHY SCIENTOLOGY?
The word SCIENTOLOGY was constructed by an American
science fiction writer, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, from the
Greek word SCIO, to know in the fullest sense, and the
Latin word LOGOS, to study.
Thus Scientology is the study of knowledge or knowing-
ness and the technique whereby knowingness is acquired.
Scientology evolved in 1952 from L. Ron Hubbard's
DIANETICS (DIA. Greek - through; NOUS. Greek - mind,
intellect), which had been started two years earlier with the
publication of Hubbard's Dianetics: The Modern Science of
Mental Health. This 400-page book outlined methods
whereby the unqualified person could apply the techniques
of Dianetics to resolve his problems, neuroses, psychosom-
atic ills, repressions, inhibitions and such. By comparison
with the pessimism of mainstream psychology and
psychotherapy, Hubbard described Dianetics as simple
commonsense that invariably produced the desired results
and by virtue of this optimism, Dianetics gained wide-
spread, though short-lived, acceptance.
Almost total rejection of the assumptions of Hubbard
by authoritative psychologists, psychiatrists and psycho-
therapists, along with medical opinion, did not deter Hub-
bard from cashing in on this widespread acceptance and he
formed organisations to apply Dianetic techniques on a
professional basis. Although many thousands of people
throughout the United States and Canada tried Dianetic
techniques on their friends and acquaintances and in turn
had these friends and acquaintances try it out on them,
and although the vast majority of these dropped the sub-
ject after a short while, yet a hard core of support grew.
Through much public rejection, derisive press and tele-
vision comment, the movement slowly snowballed. It is
almost impossible to establish precisely what the early his-
tory of Dianetics and Scientology was, since there are now
very few of the early supporters left, but one of the keenest
supporters was John Campbell, Jr., editor of Astounding
17
Science Fiction Magazine (now Analog Science Fiction-
Science Fact). John Campbell, Jr., was than and still is
regarded as the doyen of adult intellectual science fiction.
In his editorials, regarded amongst science fiction fans in
the same way as the editorials of The Times, both New
York and London, are regarded by the press world, Camp-
bell was unstinting in his praises for Dianetics. The May
1950 issue of his magazine carried an article by Hubbard
entitled "Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science" and it
took up the entirety of the magazine.
In this article, Hubbard compares the human mind to
vastly complicated electronic computer. He claims that if
a computer has a "held down 7", that is an input which con-
tinuously registers 7 in all calculations, then this is roughly
analogous to an aberrated mind. Whenever a calculation
is performed on the computer with the "held down 7", all
results will be incorrect to the power of 7. Similarly all
human minds have their own "held down 7's" which alter
the accuracy of mental computation. The only difficulty
is that whereas with the computer the fault is easily de-
tected, with the human mind it is not so easily detected
since the mind's "held down 7's" are obscured by justifica-
tion, reasonableness and fear.
The word ENGRAM is borrowed from biology where it
means Cellular Scar Tissue and is adapted to mean Mental
Scar in Dianetics, used to describe all of the "held down
7's" in the human mind. Precisely, the Engram is defined
as: "A mental image picture of an experience containing
pain, unconsciousness and a real or fancied threat to sur-
vival; it is a recording in the Reactive Mind of something
in the past which actually happened to an individual con-
taining pain and unconsciousness, both of which are re-
corded in the mental image picture called an engram."
Thus is constructed a whole new mental science. The Di-
anetic Engram could be compared to psychiatry's trauma,
but is more specifically delineated by Hubbard. Similarly
the Reactive Mind of Dianetics is somewhat comparable to
Freud's Unconscious, but again Hubbard is more precise
in his definition, as follows: "Reactive Mind - that portion
of a person's mind which works on a stimulus response
basis (given a certain stimulus, it gives a certain response)
which is not under his volitional control and which exerts
force and the power of command over his awareness,
18
purposes, thoughts, body and actions. It consists of Goals
Problems Masses, Engrams, Secondary Engrams and
Locks."
Much more information on the human mind, as seen by
Hubbard in his Dianetics and Scientology, will be given in
later chapters but the Engram and the Reactive Mind
formed the basis for Dianetics and still form the main
areas of attack for Scientology. It is a more easily under-
stood concept than all of the verbosity of psychiatry and
psychology and Hubbard claims it as the basis of all mental
and mental/physical ills.
His techniques for the reduction of the power of the
Engram, i.e.: his methods for turning unconscious mem-
ories into conscious memories, were, at the outset of
Dianetics, comparable to psychoanalytic techniques. How-
ever, as he widened the scope of his subject into a religious
philosophy - Scientology - Hubbard introduced a mech-
anistic precision in an attempt to bypass the random per-
sonal inter-relationships which had bedevilled the original
Dianetic methods and at the same time introduced an ele-
ment of the esoteric and mystic. It is this last element that
distinguishes Scientology from other psychotherapies.
Hubbard has attempted to produce an essentially prac-
tical philosophy that is both a summation of Mankind's
knowledge of himself and his environment, and a means
to increase this knowledge. He has described his subject as
being senior to all other pursuits since self-knowledge and
self-control are prerequisites to certainty in any other
study. He claims to have been a member of the original
research team that developed the American Atomic Bomb,
presumably the Manhattan District Project, 1942-1945,
though it is difficult to credit this since he was a comman-
der in charge of a U.S. Navy corvette in the Pacific during
this period. However, from the knowledge of nuclear phy-
sics gained and his claimed intimate experience of Eastern
mysticism he has welded Western ideas to Eastern faith in
Scientology. So it is that much of his writing is in the
style of a motor-mechanic's handbook while at the same
time dealing with the most stupendous ideas. After the pon-
derous wordiness of most other studies in a similar vein
Hubbard's direct statements, right or wrong, are refreshing
indeed.
The greatest impact of his approach, both in his twenty
19
or so books on Dianetics and Scientology, and in the thou-
sands of hours of tape-recorded lectures he has made, must
surely be the certainty with which he deals with problems.
With unbounded self-confidence, he tackles such Gordian
Knots as the definition of Life, reincarnation, communica-
tion, Flying Saucers, sex, politics, together with the minor
problems to do with the resolution of the human mind, with
a pragmatism greater than Alexander's. Some of the things
he says are absurd but equally many are very pertinent and
it is this curious mixture of truth and untruth, fact and
fiction, that gives Scientology its impact, AND its strength.
The newcomer to Scientology is attracted by the engin-
eering-like practicality of the early stages of training and
therapy. Good, solid stuff; applicable to everyday life;
little hint of the wild non-proven and non-provable material
to come.
At this stage, the conditioning, which is an integral part
of the whole procedure, sets in, whether this conditioning
be accidental or by design. With the same easy authority
that Hubbard has used to succinctly analyse communica-
tion, so he takes our newcomer into more debatable areas.
"Life is basically a Static", an assumption which Hubbard
describes as A SELF-EVlDENT TRUTH. He goes on to explain
that "...the life Static has no mass, no wavelength, no
location in space or in time. It has the ability to postulate
and to perceive". This is a neat description of a non-mat-
erial, non-physical universe, life unit. It is a nice piece of
reasoning and may indeed be the self-evident truth that
Hubbard claims, but at no time is the newcomer to Scien-
tology permitted to question these assumptions. He ac-
cepts these assumptions as TRUTH or he is out on his ear.
There is no argument with Hubbard's word. There are hun-
dreds of similar assumptions which one bas to accept as
"fact". It is not that these are necessarily incorrect. They
may well be facts, may well be the purest truth that Man
has ever seen. The danger is that hundreds of thousands
of Scientologists all over the world have an implicit faith
in Hubbard's every word, without ever having compared
his words and actions with those of other teachers.
On one hand Hubbard offers undoubted benefits in terms
of increased awareness, mental calmness, a point to an
otherwise often pointless existence. On the other, he de-
mands strict adherence to an extraordinary set of beliefs,
20
pseudo-science, opinions and folk-lore. He presents a com-
prehensible psycho-therapy that can certainly increase
happiness and self-confidence. From this limited success,
Hubbard predicts and promises the most astonishing fur-
ther benefits. No superman in a pulp comic, no hero of
space-opera, can equal the mental prowess of his Operating
Thetan. No postulated goal of the Eastern Mystic can equal
the assured ability and supremacy of a fully trained Scien-
tologist.
Hubbard outperforms any other science-fiction writer.
Not only are his fantasies more extraordinary and more
carefully worked out, but people actually believe them
There have been many fads of an extravagant nature that
have been believed by many people, often with little more
justification than that it seemed a nice thing to believe in.
Wilhelm Reich's Orgone Energy (or Life Energy) and his
Orgone Box: Pyramidology and its pseudo-archaeological
determination of the sacred Cubit and the sacred Inch;
Dr. S. C. Hahnemann's Homoeopathy and his Law of
Similia: Iridiagnosis, in which all physical ailments can be
diagnosed by inspection of the iris of the eye; Count Al-
fred Korzybski's General Semantics: Naturopathy; Phre-
nology; these and many more, people have believed in,
have accepted "proofs" with an astonishing naivety. Most
of these subjects have contained a basis of factual observa-
tion upon which a superstructure of wild assumption has
been built.
Scientology bears striking similarity to most of the other
pseudo-sciences. It has been developed and firmly control-
led by one man whose words are regarded by followers as
sacrosanct. The attitude to criticism is that the critic is
either supported by a vested interest with aims to keep the
human race at a primitive level, or he is insane, or perhaps
both. Successes are loudly claimed: failures are Ignored or
studiously explained away. The originator is openly des-
cribed by his followers as a genius of supreme stature and
divine inspiration and he obviously regards himself in the
same way. The subject is the ONLY way to resolve difficul-
ties and it does so with an ease that makes other researchers
in the same field appear as bone-headed dolts. The leader
and his followers assume an authority for judgement of
human affairs which is not borne out in reality.
Unlike all the other fads and eccentricities, Scientology
21
is not purely a comic subject that appeals to those who need
to have something in which to believe. It is a far more com-
prehensive subject touching every aspect of life. Perhaps
the early success of Dianetics rested mainly on L. Ron
Hubbard's confidence and salesmanship but no such con-
fidence trick can sustain itself for twenty years and attract
hundreds of thousands of dedicated followers without there
being a real value. There is definite value in Scientology,
even if it is only a form of self-delusion or the result of
a carefully constructed mental conditioning. Scientologists
are happy because they feel themselves to be doing a vital
job in saving the qualities of humanity and civilisation
which they, and many others, see being eroded by materi-
alism and selfishness. Take Scientology from these people
and they will join the frustrated crowd. Take away their
raison d' etre and you take away their faith.
But, although Scientology does have a more profound
impact than, say, Theosophy, and although it probably does
produce results of a worthwhile though limited value for
its followers, there are two aspects of Scientology which
make it unique.
Although Hubbard claims that Scientology is a practi-
cal philosophy without attachment to any political move-
ment and ideology, he appears quite willing to "accept
responsibility", as he puts it, for the destiny of mankind in
a very political and ideological sense. For instance, he has
constructed his worldwide organisation in such a manner
as "...to pull the society under us". Meaning that his long-
term goal is for the entirety of the human race to be
controlled, albeit benevolently by him and his followers.
Having had fourteen years' experience of the chaos existing
in Scientology organisations, because of the rigid and im-
practical structure into which they have been fitted (L. Ron
Hubbard's famous "Org. - short for organisation, not Orgy
or Orgasm - Board"), I can only say that if the world is
ever blessed with this miraculous system, it will have justly
earned it.
The second feature which makes Scientology unique is
Scientology Ethics. Claimed by Hubbard to be essential for
the correct working of the therapy, his system of Ethics
ranges from a code of behaviour for Scientologists through
to ways of dealing with those antagonistic to Scientology.
This latter has brought much public comment.
22
"Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in
a God, but never without belief in a devil. Usually the
strength of a mass movement is proportionate to the vivid-
ness and tangibility of its devil."*
The "devil" of Scientology is the Suppressive Person -
the S.P.
Anyone antagonistic to Scientology is obviously antag-
onistic to himself and the whole human race since Scien-
tology is the only way for humanity's problems to be
solved. By "labelling" someone a Suppressive Person, so
goes the theory, that person is shown how the astute Sci-
entologists are on to him. If he knows what is good for
him, he will mend his ways, pay his fees and get on the
Road to Total Freedom. Usually it does not work out
this way but it is a good theory to feed to the believers. It
makes the inhumanity of "Disconnection" and "Fair
Game" seem humane.
It also makes potential enemies of everyone. The most
reliable Scientologists can become S.P.'s, given the right
stimuli. In the eyes of Scientologists, only L. Ron. Hub-
bard is 100 per cent reliable. The whole world is inhabited
by "devils" or potential "devils". Only Hubbard is depend-
ably on the side of progress, humanity and love. Follow
him, do exactly as he tells you and there is every chance
that you will make it in the end. Do not believe anyone else.
An S.P. can be very devious.
People who believe this sort of thing, and there are hun-
dreds of thousands who do, will believe anything. Such a
belief is not a rational thing. It is a need. L. Ron Hubbard
has satisfied a need for a lot of people with his Dianetics
and Scientology. They are grateful to be led. Grateful to
be obedient. Their critical faculty is missing with regard to Hubbard.
Such people have always been at the core of the mass
movements.
Hubbard does not preach a message of racial intolerance,
although there are strong hints in many of his lectures that
he considers the negro races, in particular, to be spiritu-
ally inferior to the whites. Of course, like many another
of his statements, his admiration for the Anglo-Saxons, of
whom, curiously, he is one, is backed up by proofs of his
*Eric Hoffer: The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of
Mass Movements; London, Secker & Warburg; 1952
23
attitude. He cites the technological, political, artistic and
social achievements of the British and Americans, and stu-
diously ignores their failures in these areas. But colour or
racial prejudice is not a strong factor in Scientology. If a
coloured person has enough money to afford therapy and
training in Scientology then he is welcomed with open
arms.
What is most ominous is that Hubbard has analysed
various aspects of existence into gradient scales. For in-
stance, with emotions there is a Tone Scale which, stated
simply, lays down a semi-mathematical guide to the quality
of emotions. A person in a state of Boredom is at a higher
emotional state than someone who is Angry, who again is
in a better state than someone in Covert Hostility on down
through Propitiation, Fear, Grief, Apathy and Death.
Leaving aside any considerations that this scale is purely
and simply the opinion of Mr. Hubbard and does not have
any statistical basis in reality, the individual in a state of
Boredom is BETTER THAN the individual in Grief. Better in
a moral, ethical, reliable, health-wise and general worth
sense. Used in the ambivalent world of Scientology such a
distinction is not solely used to assess the individual and his
ability to cope with the environment, which if the Emo-
tional Tone Scale were based on reality, would be of value
in many fields outside Scientology.
Scientology uses it to judge. If an individual, group or
country is low on the Emotional Tone Scale it is NOT
WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION.
This is very close to the type of philosophy which can
regard people as "not quite human". Taken to extremes it
can justify any action against another who is regarded as
unworthy of rights. That this is part and parcel of the whole
of Hubbard's approach is seen in his withering description
of non-Scientologists as "WOGS". His declaration that a
Suppressive Person is "Fair Game". As Sir Elwyn Jones,
Q.C., said in the recent Scientology libel case, S.P.'s "could
be deprived of property or injured by any means by any
Scientologist. He could be tricked, sued or lied to, or des-
troyed". There are reports of ex-Scientologist Suppressive
Persons being beaten up by "heavies" from the Sea Org.
though these are not substantiated by any police action or
reports. A photograph appeared in The Auditor - the
worldwide tabloid news magazine of Scientology, pur-
24
ported to have a copy circulation of five million - during
1968, showing an erring Suppressive Person being thrown
overboard from the "Royal Scotsman" by two brawny
Eithics Officers. I assume the victim was fished out again,
but it's a long drop from the deck of a 4,000-ton ship!
Of course all of these things, and many more, are justi-
fied within the weird philosophy of Scientology. They are
shrugged off as being a means of "getting Tech. in", or, in
straightforward language, "making the therapy work!" If
such measures are needed to make Scientology work there
is something terribly wrong with it.
So why Scientology? Why are there millions of people
who receive the magazines? Why are there hundreds of
thousands who think that Scientology is the only possible
way for the human race to find itself and to survive the
threat of an Atomic Bomb, the Population Explosion, the
eroding of standards, or any of the other multitude of prob-
lems we live with? Why, after all the radical philosophies
down the ages and the trouble and misery they have caused,
do people still throng to yet another magic wand that will
solve all their problems and make the world a place of sun-
shine and love?
This must surely be the reason. The world is not full of
sunshine and love. We all wish it were. When someone
comes along who says he has the formula and can back up
his claim with boasts as to the efficacy of his methods, this
man will be followed. If he is careful to always hold a juicy
carrot just in front of the noses of his followers, enough
will think it worthwhile to follow. If he can, at the same
time, talk grandly of the worth of his followers, their in-
tegrity and ethical superiority, that it is they who will in-
herit the earth, he will appeal to both the shallow and the
profound natures of his followers. If he can display a mag-
netic personality and a pretence of humility, many will love
him and follow no matter where he goes.
The following chapters outline the main things that
Scientologists believe and do. It is my personal interpreta-
tion of the curious world of Scientology, based upon my
experiences during some fourteen years of very close con-
tact. Very few people outside of Scientology know what
goes on inside it and those inside it are the very last to speak
frankly on their life. It is a strange world of insubstantiali-
ties, hopes and achievements, happiness and misery, of
25
hero-worship and degradation, of intolerance and conceit.
I think Scientology could herald a new form of mental and
moral tyranny to a world already obsessed with a large
number of enslavements. It could be the deadliest of all as
it deals with the spirituality of the individual and when, in
the past, religions have been intolerant, their pogroms have
been bloody, sickeningly self-righteous and degrading to
human self-respect.
Many governments around the world are taking half-
hearted steps to limit Scientology. One, the State of Vic-
toria, Australia, banned it. The British Government is
holding an inquiry but at the rate of growth of Scientology,
particularly in the United States, by the time any concer-
ted effort is made to control it, Scientology will be uncon-
trollable.
This book is an attempt to tell people the truth about
Scientology and what it is trying to do. I fervently hope it
will be effective!
26
Chapter Two
ASSUMPTIONS
The major sources of basic assumptions in Dianetics and
Scientology are the Axioms, Prelogics and Logics.
Scientology Axiom One is the assumption upon which
the rest of the subject stands.
"LIFE IS BASICALLY A STATlC", and this is further defined-
"a Life Static has no mass, no motion, no wave-length, no
location in space or in time. It has the ability to postulate
and to perceive".
Hubbard has redefined in modern, scientific-sounding
terms the ancient Hindu Vedanta concept of a soul or spirit
that whilst appearing to inhabit the physical universe is of
a distinctly separate order.
This static is called Theta (eighth letter of Greek alpha-
bet 0). Individual units of Theta, such as people, are called
Thetans. Theta could be regarded as God, Infinity, the
Supreme Being. An analogy could be made with an ocean
of Theta, each drop of which is a Thetan. The explanation
of what provides the animation of lesser creatures such as
parrots or boll weevils is a little hazy but it is suggested that
degenerate Thetans "run" one or more such creatures,
which is similar again to the Hindu beliefs.
The physical universe is inferior since not, of itself, ani-
mate. The presence of Thetans within it is explained by the
fact that in the beginning of the universe, variously stated
by Hubbard to be seventy-six trillion, 142 trillion and 320
trillion years ago, we were all "young" Thetans who had
nothing better to do than construct a universe for our-
selves in which to have a game. Hubbard explains at great
length, but with no great lucidity, in his version of "Games
Theory" that there must be barriers, freedoms, rules, in-
tentions and willingness to participate for any game to
exist. Ludo, for instance, has these ingredients and is there-
fore a compact version of life as Hubbard sees it.
Axiom Two states: "The Life Static is capable of con-
siderations, postulates and opinions." By thought and
thought alone, life can adopt or relinquish any role,
27
situation or environment. Whilst it is, by definition, at total
and permanent cause over its own situation, by the same
definition it can be at varying levels of effect - it can CAUSE
itself to be at effect. This is an important fundamental of
Hubbard's reasoning.
Axiom Three: "Space, energy, objects, form and time
are the result of considerations made and/or agreed upon
or not by the Static, and are perceived solely because the
Static considers that it can perceive them." This extends
the properties and capabilities of the Life Static to god-like
dimensions. The physical universe exists essentially because
life considers it to exist and by co-operative effort, life is
able to introduce reality into it. (Axiom Twenty-six: Real-
ity is the agreed upon apparency of existence.) Thus whilst
Scientology contains the mystic concept of life being an
illusion - being primarily a matter of thought - by an
agreement between life units that the physical universe is
ordered and arranged such and so, it becomes "Real". Such
enigmatic questions as: "If a tree falls in the forest and
there is no one there to hear it, does it make a noise?" are
thus handled. As also the fact that if someone leaps from
the top of a cliff whilst "considering" that all is illusion and
in the mind, that someone's neck will still be broken in a
painfully "real" manner.
Obviously a Tbetan is immortal. Each of us has been
around since the outset of the universe. We made it or at
least helped to make it. We are not able to make universes
now though. We are not even able to "hurl a few planets
around" as Hubbard says. We have lost these abilities and
live now in a shallow and fearful way. Potentially, we still
contain the abilities of Gods and by the grace of Hubbard
through Scientology, we have the opportunity to regain
these abilities. It would appear that all Theta existed in a
state of total knowingness prior to the creation of the
universe. This creation occurred because of the perverse
desire on the part of Theta - to experience. Why some-
thing in a state of total knowingness needs to experience
anything, or even if it is possible for it to experience any-
thing, is not very clear but presumably total knowingness
was extraordinarily trying without any thing to experience,
since in the state prior to the universe there was no THING.
Such profound information as Hubbard has uncovered
would appear to be of intense interest to cosmologists and
28
astronomers since they might as well give up and go home -
all their work has been done for them. Yet they persist in
squabbling amongst themselves about expanding or static
or pulsating universes, and they will keep discovering those
quasars.
Axiom Four: "Space is a viewpoint of dimension."
Again one sees that life, by looking, creates dimension and
space. There is no space until one adopts a viewpoint and
looks.
Axiom Five: "Energy consists of postulated particles
in space." Thetans, a long while ago, said the equivalent of
"Let there be light" and, lo, there it was. At the same time
we created the laws whereby energy operates. "These as-
sumptions or considerations are the totality of energy" as
Hubbard coyly puts it. Why Einstein and many others
worked so hard to establish a Unified Field Theory when
Hubbard could have told them all about it is further proof
that scientists are crazy.
Axiom Six: "Objects consist of grouped particles in
space."
Axiom Seven: "Time is basically a postulate that space
and particles will persist."
Axiom Eight: "The apparency of time is the change of
position of particles in space."
Axiom Nine: "Change is the primary manifestation of
time."
Axiom Ten: "The highest purpose in thls universe is the
creation of an effect."
The remaining forty eight Scientology Axioms consist, in
the main, of enlargements of the ways in which life handles
itself in relation to the physical universe environment. It is
apparent from all of the Axioms that Theta is at total cause
over the universe. Only by a series of errors, probably
deliberate at the outset but now accidental - since we have
reduced our abilities to such a degree that "accidents"
can occur - and over a vast span of time, have we been re-
duced to our present level of spiritual unawareness. From
our original state of total awareness and power we must
have postulated unknowingness for ourselves and have
ever since been descending into greater unknowingness.
Almost the entirety of Scientology consists of the dis-
covery and refinements of methods whereby the Thetan
can be persuaded to relinquish his self-imposed limitations.
29
The concept of the individual being only a shadow of his
true state, the result of a fall from grace, is not original
since all major religions contain something along this line.
Hubbard has placed this assumption on a factual basis and
claims it is not purely a matter of faith to re-establish sup-
remacy but is a problem resolvable by scientific proced-
ures.
Although Hubbard claims his Axioms are self-evident
truths, one is at a loss to put them to any direct tests for
validity, Certainly at this time, subjective faith and convic-
tion play a more important part than scientific tests,
analyses and statistics. This is not a major criticism since to
attempt to validate any of the material of Scientology, let
alone such awesome points as the creation of the universe,
is objectively impossible now, if it ever will be possible in
the future. One is dealing exclusively in subjective im-
pression and probably the least reliable evidence is that
given by a Scientologist.
A non-Scientologist, no matter how closely he observes,
will not be able to appreciate the full subjectivity of a Sci-
entologist. He must become a Scientologist in the full sense
of the word and by so doing be automatically barred from
objectivity. Hubbard's Axioms are self-evident truths to
Scientologists although not at all self-evident to anyone
else.
It is claimed that the validity of Hubbard's words are
apparent in the successes achieved by the publication of
Scientology theory and practice. Even if there be real suc-
cesses, which is open to some doubt, one is still left with
the question of whether the success is by Scientology or
for Scientology. Surely no Scientologist would admit his
philosophy is anything less than Hubbard claims for it. Be-
yond anything else, he would not be allowed to remain a
Scientologist if he doubted any of the material. Only by a
total faith can a person expect to "gain" anything from
Scientology. His own opinions are worthless and harmful.
An astronomer can hold doubts as to the validity of much
of the sacred cows of astronomy - this is, in theory at least,
a healthy attitude in a science - but his is an essentially ob-
jective pursuit. Scientology is a highly subjective pursuit
and thereby involves aspects of personal motives and de-
sires.
Strangely, under the circumstances, the Scientology
30
Axioms, by stating, "fundamentally all is thought", give the
clue to much of the successes of Scientology and unexpect-
edly invalidate the entirety of the remainder. If considera-
tion be the major ability of life and if Scientology is
presented as one of sufficient power and attractiveness that
one considers it to work, then and only then will it work.
Although this may Indeed invalidate the claimed objec-
tlvity of Scientology it does not necessarily make it less
valid. Psychology, psychotherapy, medicine and many an-
other authoritative subject would find it difficult to claim
objectivity. If Scientology can better the state of the in-
dividual in a real, pragmatic and applicable sense then the
reasoning behind it matters little. The question then be-
comes one of quality of result rather than method. The
end, perhaps for once, could justify the means but that
end must be a superlative improvement.
It is claimed for the Scientology Axioms that they are
unique. No other subject has commenced operations with
as complete a set of assumptions. This is true, but from the
outset the Axioms limit objective analysis and as in so
many subjects which are the brain child of one man,
personal preference limits the application of analytical
techniques. If a Scientologist other than Hubbard were to
discover and establish an error in these assumptions he
would have to set up another sect apart from Scientology.
Also, if he were a true believer, he would be pathologically
incapable of even questioning Hubbard's pronouncements.
Various splinter groups from Scientology have appeared
from time to time but these have been so bizarre as to make
Scientology appear the height of rationality.
By the construction of a set of assumptions from which
further conclusions may he drawn, a methodology can rap-
idly he built for ascertaining these further conclusions.
This is fair enough, provided the factors of which the fun-
damentals consist are indeed fundamentally true or are
sufficiently fluid as to allow change. Truth would always
appear to be comparative. Yet Hubbard claims his assump-
tions to be TRUTH and offers no further proof. In other
words, he, unique amongst men, has established absolute
truth and graciously offers, or rather sells it, to mankind.
Scientology is not a science because its assumptions are
stated as truth from the outset and no further inspection
is permitted. It may be of worth but it is not a science.
31
The seven Prelogics are concerned with self-determinism
as regards the life unit or static as opposed to the overall
concept of Theta. The Prelogics add nothing to the axio-
matic definitions of life units except to show self-determinism
as the motivation for all life units. This contradicts Axiom
Three, and other Axioms which state agreement be-
tween life units is necessary for the creation of a real
universe.
Hubbard stresses in earlier material the concept of an
individual in a state of "Other-determinism", that is, his
considerations, postulates and opinions are overruled by
another agency, will, through the application of Scientology
techniques, regain Self-determinism to such a degree as to
be able to practise Pan-determinism, which means his con-
siderations, postulates and opinions take into account the
best survival for all aspects of life and the environment.
This pleasing statement is more easily said than achieved.
In recent years, Hubbard has relied less on Pan-determin-
ism in his own approach to his followers, than on simply
telling them what's what.
The twenty-four Logics are adaptations of Alfred Kor-
zybski's "General Semantics" and contain a curious
mixture of Aristotelian and what Korzybski called "non-
Aristotelian" logic. Hubbard appears to have read Kor-
zybski's 800-page "Science and Sanity" and to have taken
the most sweeping and simply stated "Logical Facts" there-
from. A major factor in Scientology, which gives it the
appearance of a technology, is the aspect of relativism
derived directly from "General Semantics" and called by
Hubbard "Gradient Scales". In Hubbard's Gradient Scales,
human characteristics are given arbitrary values in rela-
tion to each other as can be seen from the brief example
of the Tone Scale given in the last chapter.
Although these scales may be valid within known realms,
Hubbard extends them to absolute points, even though
Logic Six states "Absolutes are unobtainable".
Korzybski's theory of logic says thought arrives at in-
correct answers by considering there to be only the alterna-
tives of Black or White, Good or Bad, Right or Wrong
(claimed to be Aristotelian!) and he propounds a theory of
semantic usage which would precisely indicate the shad-
ings of greyness, the degree of goodness or badness, right-
ness or wrongness. The Scientological adaptation of this
32
theory shows typical Hubbardian enthusiasm by taking
the Gradient Scales to absolute points. The Tone Scale is
extended from the known levels of Fear (1.0), Anger (1.5),
Boredom (2.5), Enthusiasm (4.0), to take but a few of the
arbitrary values, and extends it to Serenity of Beingness
(40.0) and states this to be an attainable absolute. Hubbard
also states Tone 40.0 to be such an exalted state as to be
unreal within the physical universe, e.g. the player in the
game of life would have such superior abilities as to be
unable to play.
At the same time, the Logics of Scientology contain as-
sumptions of very great value to Scientology itself. Logic
Five: "A definition of terms is necessary to the alignment,
statement and resolution of suppositions, observations,
problems and solutions and their communication." If one
reads the books of Scientology or listens to Hubbard's
taped lectures, one wonders that the same man had orig-
inated this "Logic", for even the numerous glossaries of
terms in his books do nothing to clearly define his terms
or their parameters. The Scientology Dictionary probably
reduces understanding of Scientologese.
Lastly on the subject of the Logics, number Seventeen
states: "Those fields which most depend upon authorita-
tive opinion for their data least contain known natural
law." Surely there can never have been a subject that con-
tains more authoritative opinion than Scientology? Even
when Hubbard states a Natural Law, he does it with an
authority which changes it from a Natural Law to a peculi-
arly Hubbardian Law!
In addition to the Axioms, Prelogics and Logics of Scien-
tology, there are 194 Axioms of Dianetics. As with all of
Hubbard's pronouncements as to the way in which things
are arranged throughout the Cosmos, the Axioms of Dia-
netics are a mixture of established fact and convenient
assumption. Mind-boggling though the universe may be,
all 10,000 million observable light years' radius of it, con-
taining about 100,000 million galaxies each composed of
about 50,000 million stars, Hubbard's easy summation of
it all is even more stupefying in its audacity.
The Dianetic Axioms cover some of the same ground as
those of Scientology even though Hubbard describes Dia-
netics as purely a psychotherapy and claims that all of the
spiritual matters belong in Scientology. Dianetics is
33
supposed to cover Dynamics One to Four: Scientology cov-
vers the lot.
Dianetic Axiom One: "The source of life is a static of
peculiar and particular properties" is only another way to
say "Life is basically a static" - Scientology Axiom One.
Much of the theoretical matter of Scientology is outlined
in the Dianetic Axioms. "That part of the Static of Life
which is impinged upon the physical universe has, for its
dynamic goal, survival and only survival" - Dianetic Axiom
Three. This introduces one of the major assumptions of
Scientology. The urge towards survival is regarded by Hub-
bard as the most generalised motivation of life. This urge
is divided into Eight Dynamics: "First - is the urge toward
survival of self; Second - is the urge toward survival
through sex or children; Third - is the urge toward survival
through a group of individuals or as a group: Fourth - is
the urge toward survival through all mankind and as all
mankind: Fifth - is the urge toward survival through life
forms such as animals, birds, insects, fish and vegetation
and is the urge to survive as these; Sixth - is the urge toward
survival as the physical universe and has as its components
Matter, Energy, Space and Time from which is derived the
word MEST; Seventh - is the urge toward survival through
spirits or as a spirit; Eighth - is the urge toward survival
through a Supreme Being or, more exactly, Infinity. This is
called the Eighth Dynamic because the symbol of Infinity
stood upright makes the numeral "8".
The eighth letter of the Greek alphabet is Theta, which
must mean something too!
The Eight Dynamics demonstrate a neat expansion from
singularity to infinity or at least that is what they are
supposed to demonstrate. An individual could be assessed
as demonstrating a greater or lesser degree of ability to
survive - survival potential - by the number of these dyn-
amics on which he is operating. The fullest life would be
the one which includes all of the eight. This fortunate in-
dividual would be vastly superior - would be Homo novis
rather than Homo sapiens or "Homo sap", as Hubbard has
expressed his opinion of the current norm of human being.
In the Tone Scale mentioned earlier and illustrated be-
Iow, the level of 2.2 between boredom and antagonism is
a mid-point between survive and succumb. The urge to
survive is the essential motivation but when aberrated in
34
---------------------------------------------------------
|
| 40.0 Serenity of Beingness
| 8.0 Exhilaration
| |----------------
| THETAN | 4.0 Enthusiasm
| TONE | 3.0 Conservatism
| SCALE | 2.5 Boredom
| | 2.0 Antagonism
| Well below | THETAN 1.8 Pain
| body death | PLUS 1.5 Anger
| at `0' down | BODY 1.2 No-sympathy
| to complete | 1.1 Covert Hostility
| unbeingness | 1.0 Fear
| as a Thetan | 0.9 Sympathy
| | 0.8 Propitiation
| | 0.5 Grief
| | 0.375 Making Amends
| | 0.05 Apathy
| |
| |----------- 0.0 Death
|
| -1.0 Punishing Bodies
| -1.5 Controlling Bodies
| -2.2 Protecting Bodies
| -3.0 Owning Bodies
| -3.5 Approval from Bodies
| -4.0 Needing Bodies
| -8.0 Hiding
|
--------------------------------------
THE EMOTIONAL TONE SCALE
spirit and mentality, the individual works towards suc-
cumb. In the Awareness Scale illustrated below, those
points descending from Need of Change (-4) down to Un-
existence (-34) are diminishing awareness - the individual
is succumbing to a greater and greater extent - and those
points ascending from Need of Change up to Power on All
Eight Dynamics (presumably +22 to infinity) demonstrate
an increasing awareness and desire to survive. As the indi-
vidual progress further from the points of 2.2 (Tone Scale)
and -4 (Awareness Scale) direction, the urge to survive or
the urge to succumb increases proportionately.
Simple this may seem at first sight. Difficulties arise when
it is applied to life as it is, rather than to life as viewed by
Scientology. The aim of Scientology is to first establish
the self-determinism of the individual which is another way
to say, to get him living and surviving as himself and fully
on the First Dynamic. Since the mental state of EVERY
individual with the sole exception of Scientologists auto-
matically means he is not living self-determindly and there-
fore cannot be on the First Dynamic, it means that all
activities towards survival on any other Dynamic are in-
verted and unreal. No matter how much pride the
35
21 SOURCE
20 EXISTENCE
19 CONDITIONS
^ 18 REALIZATION
/ | \ 17 CLEARING
| 16 PURPOSE
| 15 ABILITY
| 14 CORRECTION
| 13 RESULT
| 12 PRODUCTION
| 11 ACTIVITY
| 10 PREDICTION
| 9 BODY
| 8 ADJUSTMENT
| 7 ENLIGHTENMENT
| 6 ENLIGHTENMENT
| 5 UNDERSTANDING
| 4 ORIENTATION
| 3 PERCEPTION
| 2 COMMUNICATION
| 1 RECOGNITION
|
| -1 HELP
| -2 HOPE
| -3 DEMAND FOR IMPROVEMENT
| -4 NEED OF CHANGE
| -5 FEAR OF WORSENING
| -6 EFFECT
| -7 RUIN
| -8 DESPAIR
| -9 SUFFERING
| -10 NUMBNESS
| -11 INTROVERSION
| -12 DISASTER
| -13 INACTUALITY
| -14 DELUSION
| -15 HYSTERIA
| -16 SHOCK
| -17 CATATONIA
| -18 OBLIVION
| -19 DETACHMENT
| -20 DUALITY
| -21 SECRECY
| -22 HALLUCINATION
| -23 SADISM
| -24 MASOCHISM
| -25 ELATION
| -26 GLEE
| -27 FIXIDITY
| -28 EROSION
| -29 DISPERSAL
| -30 DISASSOCIATION
| -31 CRIMINALITY
| -32 UNCAUSING
|
| -33 DISCONNECTION
-34 UNEXISTENCE
--------------
LEVELS OF AWARENESS SCALE
36
non-Scientologist Husband or Wife may take in marriage or
children (Dynamic Two); no matter how successful the
business man, union leader or pop star may be in relation
to groups (Dynamic Three): no matter how helpful to
humanity at large the statesman may be (Dynamic Four);
no matter how good at growing his crops or tending his
herds the farmer may be (Dynamic Five); all is set at
naught and is delusion and pretence unless Scientology is
present and has made sure the individual is operating as him-
self, first and foremost. Only with Scientology can the in-
dividual be sure to operate as himself through the other
Dynamics.
Further complexity is introduced when one sees that in
real life an individual could be successful on some Dynam-
ics and unsuccessful on others. On Dynamic Eight, he
could be in total Apathy (0.05) and Unexistence (-34) on
the subject of God and Religion. He could be at Enthusiasm
(4.0) and Understanding (+ 5) as regards his new o.h.c. twin
carburettor GT car, Dynamic Six. On Dynamic Two he
could be in a state of Boredom (2.5) and Need of Change
(-4) as regards his marriage. His ability to keep goldfish
alive for more than a few days could be low and he may
not be able to tell the difference between a Sweet Pea and
an Oak Tree which probably means he is at Grief (0.5)
and Disaster (-12) on the Fifth Dynamic. Strangely though,
he has a magnificent Alsatian dog about which he again
feels Enthusiasm (4.0) and Energy (+7). All this makes life
very difficult. People will refuse to obey the rules!
The Tone Scale levels below 0.0 are those in which
non-Scientologist human beings are found at this time.
Having lost the awareness of operating a body as a non-
material static with no mass, no motion, etc., the majority
of people have descended into extremely degraded Tone
and Awareness Levels from which they just about manage
to energise sufficient mental mechanisms to maintain the
body at levels of apparent tone. We, poor degraded things,
think we are our bodies. We do not know we are immortal
and beautifully separate entities who joyously play the
game of life like a puppet master. If we demonstrate Anger,
Fear or Enthusiasm through our bodies this is purely a
dramatisation and it is not the true us, the awareness of
awareness units, who are feeling it. A mental mechanism
causes our bodies to enact the part whilst we cower deep
37
down inside wondering what on earth is going on and
"Needing Bodies"! And Hubbard accuses psychiatrists of
having a degraded view of their fellow man and claims he
has an elevated and loving view.
Dianetic Axiom Eleven: "A life organism is composed
of matter and energy in space and time, animated by Theta.
Symbol: Living organism or organisms will hereafter be
represented by the Greek letter Lambda (^)." Beyond the
fact that Lambda is not used to represent the living organ-
ism or organisms thereafter either in the rest of the Dianetic
Axioms or the remainder of Dianetics and Scientology,
the following Axioms sound rather like a Readers Digest
style introduction to biology and mysticism. For in-
stance, Axiom Forty-two: "The virus and cell are mat-
ter and energy animated and motivated in space and time
by Theta" which one would have assumed from Axiom
Eleven in any case since it is not a heavily guarded secret
that complex organisms are quite often composed of viri
and cells. Evolution is lightly discussed, Axiom Sixteen:
"The basic food of any organism consists of light and
chemicals. Organisms can exist only as higher levels of
complexities because lower levels of converters exist. Theta
evolves organisms from lower to higher forms and sup-
ports them by the existence of lower converter forms."
And so on. Throughout Hubbard's pronouncements as
to the inter-relationships between the spirit, bodies, minds,
thought and psychical universe, there is lip-service paid to
currently accepted scientific opinion linked to his personal
interpretation as to how life, as he sees it, manipulates its
environment to fit the rules.
It is a pleasing and somewhat flattering outlook since it
means that every living creature has the opportunity to
regain immense powers over the implacability of the uni-
verse. It is the same message, though in very different terms,
as has been purveyed by all other major beliefs in the es-
sential spirituality of the human race. The greater part of
Hubbard's opinions remain as opinions even though he
claims scientific objectivity. This must surely he the great-
est error in the whole of his subject. If he claimed to have
introduced a new variation on the theme of religion and
was honest in his approach by stating that by faith alone
could a man gain the blessings of Scientology, he would
attract those who agreed or found comfort in his faith. By
38
stating that Scientology is the ONLY truth, the Road to
Total
Freedom, and so on and by mixing his credo with pseudo-
scientific mumbo-jumbo, the faith is reduced to the level
of
a cheap confidence trick. There are many very admirable
points to Scientology and it deserves more than this
treat-
ment.
If Scientology is a science, then there are some
enormous
gaps in the reasoning, gaps which should be filled before
any further assumptions are made.
Even if one grants that there is some totally separate
and
distinguishable essence or elan which animates matter,
energy, space and time, to produce, for instance, people,
it
would have been a better use of all the pompous and repet-
itive words had Hubbard explained, in precise and observ-
able terms, exactly how this is done. It is much too easy
to
say that Theta controls the physical universe by
considera-
tion and postulate. Even if one grants the current
examples
of life on this planet to be too degraded to postulate or
consider in a positively creative sense, in his wisdom,
Hub-
bard must know HOW it is done. Unfortunately he is care-
ful not to claim any such powers for himself or for his
most
highly trained followers, on the justification that if one
were
to lift his body six feet above the ground or to mentally
move objects without any contact with the body, it would
drive all non-Scientologists insane. The only reason why a
non-Scientologist cannot naturally demonstrate mental
power over his environment is that he is too degraded by
his experiences with the physical universe and has lost
all
knowledge and confidence in his superiority. Hubbard
and his closest followers certainly should be able to
demon-
strate their ability to make changes in their environment.
They do not show any such abilities and one can only con-
clude they do not know how to do it and the entire theory
structure is erroneous.
If the Thetan is the primary cause which energises the
mind through the brain to the body to the outside
universe,
where does he get the energy from? Does he create it out
of thin air and if so how does he create it? If he uses
an-
other source of energy, how does he utilise it? Since it
is
such an important function of whatever one thinks or does
and is so intensely personal, most Thetans should know
how it is done. Hubbard would claim that the source of en-
ergy is the Thetan who creates it but being in a state of
39
unconsciousness, he has placed even this primary function
on to a mechanical basis. Even it this also be true, there
must be a point where even such an automatic function is
given impetus, energised and the question still comes down
to HOW?
This question is not unique to Scientology. It is
probably
the concern, or should be, of many branches of science.
There IS a difference between living and non-living
things.
What is this difference and how does it animate matter?
That Scientology does not know the answer is not seri-
ous. That it acts and claims to know is sad for so long as
it
thinks it has the answers to everything, it will not even
look.
40
Chapter Three
THE THETAN
"Who Are You?
"What Are You?
"Why Are You?
"Deep down inside; down where you are free to dream,
free to know - down there you aren't a casual event.
"You are not the result of a few millennia of accidental
blendings of chemicals. You know with a keen awareness,
your life is a beautiful and exotic continuance.
"You are a fine and a true being, capable of love, wis-
dom and beauty.
"An immortal.
"A man fearless.
"A being who can look and see. An awareness of aware-
ness.
"Down in the deepest recess of your being you know
and need nothing but to know.
"You are a THETAN.
"No longer need you hide your true self even from your-
self.
"Scientology is here to rescue you."
So might read an advertising blurb for Scientology. Cut
away all the pseudo-science, the conceit and the
exaggeration
and this is what Scientology is all about. The fundamental
aim is to produce true people from fearful half-people.
We are all living at but a fraction of our true potential.
When we discover Who we Are, What we Are and Why
we Are, we assume again our true identities.
The I, the Soul. the Elan Vital, the spirit, the
motivation
of life, life itself, this is the Thetan and the concept is
not
unique to Scientology. What is unique is the level of
importance given to the Thetan. No Western religion or
philosophy gives quite this degree of responsibility to
the
individual - the true, immortal, all-cause individual -
that
Scientology does.
All Thetans are potentially equal. Obviously
Scientologists
41
are better than other Thetans, by implication, for they
have shown the good sense to join the only possible move-
ment that holds the key to their salvation. Rather like
Jehovah's Witnesses, every soul is worthy but some are
favoured more than others.
There are powerful Thetans. Hubbard, obviously one,
has described himself as a Meteor. My meetings with him
bear this out - an incredible dynamism, a disarming, mag-
netic and overwhelming personality. Once I met him early
in the morning at Saint Hill Manor on a Sunday when
there were few people about. He was then at the age of
fifty-
three (he was born at Tilden, Nebraska, U.S.A., in 1911)
and radiated health and good will. We spoke for some
thirty minutes about Scientology generally and a breath-
taking stream of ideas and new projects poured from him
with youthful enthusiasm. His brilliant red hair and broad
smile, his benign authority, made it not difficult to
believe
that here was the new Messiah. The twentieth-century,
science-orientated, super genius on whose broad shoulders
and intellect the fate of the world rested. Yet not so far
removed from the plain man as to be unable to stand and
gossip while taking snapshots with his Leica.
There are also degraded Thetans.
These poor souls are probably well-intentioned and nice
enough but they lack "Theta Energy" - whatever that
might be - due to a mysterious and particularly revolting
event on their Past Track, prior to this life, that makes
them
pretty useless until they have had a lot of high-level
Scien-
tology therapy. Hubbard probably invented degraded The-
tans, or sometimes "Weak Thetans", to explain failed cases
who yet kept trying.
Most Thetans one comes across nowadays are closely
associated with a human body. If any of them ever give
much thought to it, they probably reckon they are their
bodies. Yet interestingly they will say: "My Brain", "My
Hand", "My Body", thereby giving the secret away. Of
course it also happens that one says: "My Soul" and, crime
of crimes, a new Scientologist may well say: "My Thetan!"
Having said it once, he never says it again.
Thetans as badly off as human beings do not feel partic-
ularly distinct from their bodies. This is a subject of
amuse-
ment to L. Ron Hubbard. He regards anyone who is not
thoroughly aware of being a totally distinct entity as
being
42
something not quite up to the level of a village idiot. In
Scientology though, thank goodness, a goodly proportion
of us can readily find out that we are not our bodies.
"Be three feet back of your head", commands the Scien-
tologist, and over 50 per cent of people sail out of their
heads and adopt a position three feet behind their cran-
iums. This is known as the "One-Shot Clear" technique
and is so routinely effective as to make the task of
saving
the world very simple. People actually do it. They don't
just imagine they are three fed back of their heads. They
don't just adopt a viewpoint as if they are three feet
behind
their heads. They are actually in a position exterior to
their
heads. At least, according to L. Ron Hubbard they are.
How one can demonstrate where a Thetan is at any par-
ticular moment when he is a nothingness is not very clear.
One can ask the Thetan - "Are you three feet hack of
your head?" and, of course, Scientologists will answer -
"Yes". Through their bodies, you understand - a newly
exteriorised Thetan can hardly be expected to demon-
strate a high level of telepathy or to have perfected the
technique of talking without a larynx, mouth, wind-pipe
and so on. Nevertheless, it is not very convincing that
Sci-
entologists, who invariably know about exteriorisation and
who are always prepared to co-operate in proving Sciento-
logy right, seem to be the only people who can do this
magical trick. It is also confusing that Hubbard has more
recently described the relationship of the Thetan and his
body to be like a wooden splinter in a thumb. The splinter
is the body and the thumb is the Thetan. If this be the
case,
then how can the Thetan exteriorise from the body when
the Thetan is bigger than the body? The Thetan is occupy-
ing, in all probability, a volume with a radius much
greater
than three feet from the body, so it is a mark of pure
genius
for the Thetan to be able to exteriorise therefrom. Addi-
tionally, and according to Scientology Axiom One: "...
A Life Static (Thetan) has no...location in space..."
The whole thing becomes more and more mysterious.
Nevertheless, Thetans are capable of all manner of won-
drous things and this is probably one of them.
Most religions and therefore the majority of people pay
lip-service to the spirit or soul as being immortal. Even
if
at no other time, at death, the soul must detach itself
from
the body to do whatever the particular religion says it
does.
43
Hubbard has not been content to leave his ideas at the
somewhat vague level of other religions. He more or less
follows the Buddhist and Hindu belief in eternal reincar-
nation and has attempted to give some sort of rational
basis for this. A Thetan runs a body though he is poten-
tially capable of a quite distinct existence without one.
The
body is used as a communication terminal - it being easier
to locate and communicate with a body than a nothing-
ness. Dependence on a body is a very low-grade pursuit.
As a symbol of oneself it is quite a good idea but one has
a
tendency to become the symbol. Ideally, a well-off Thetan
would be able to have one or more bodies, or not, as he
thought fit. In Scientology there is a revulsion and con-
tempt for bodies and indeed, all materiality.
Hubbard speaks scathingly of our types of bodies as:
"Meat Bodies!" There are also Robot, Metallic, Doll (stuf-
fed with Kapok?), Vegetable, Gaseous and Amorphous
Bodies and probably many more besides. One hopes that
these other types of body are not on this planet right now
but one should always be very careful. Whatever they are
made of, all bodies are a trap.
Thetans treat them badly, give them psycho-somatics,
break them and kill them off and, after feeling remorse
and
guilt, become them. Despite the superhuman potential
abilities of Thetans, they seem to fall for some of the
corni-
est traps in the vicinity. In the mentalities of the
beings
who constructed the physical universe and responsible for
all the wondrous parts thereof, including the human body,
there seems to be a perverse desire to get into deep
trouble.
If one can follow Hubbard's reasoning, this fits the
desire
of Thetans to experience and to create effects -
"Scientol-
ogy Axiom Ten: The highest purpose in this universe is the
creation of an effect".
One way of looking at it is to see Thetans as very bored
with being super-stars all the time and so they decide to
get
mixed up and involved. Even from the limited view of a
poor old Homo sapiens, one can perhaps understand that
to he the epitome of efficiency, effectiveness, happiness
and
success with everyone smiling the whole time could drive
one, after a few trillion years, to desire above all else to
be
a miserable, ineffectual, stuttering, bent, bitter and
twisted
mortal with sinus trouble and B.O. Just to introduce a
bit of variety.
44
Hubbard's justification for Scientology, which will ruin
our self-deception by making us into those boring super-
stars again, is that we have all embedded ourselves so
tho-
roughly as to be unable to extricate ourselves. We so
threw
ourselves into the whole concept of self-entrapment that
we
did not bother to leave the combination of the lock to let
ourselves out again. At least, not until Scientology came
along.
It is analogous to a Monopoly player who becomes his
Battleship or Smoothing-Iron and really Goes to Jail, Goes
Directly to Jail, Does Not Pass Go and Does not Collect
$200!
This is an observable trait in people. They throw them-
selves into events and situations "just for the hell of
it".
Young people, in particular, want to experience life
whether the consequences are good or bad. Children want
to try things for themselves. They do not put much cre-
dence in advice. They want to experience. Bravado is an
admired trait. None have it to the degree of Hubbard, ac-
cording to Hubbard. He, without more than a passing
thought for the consequences, took his sanity in both
hands,
nay his very spiritual existence, and sailed out into the
storm-tossed and uncharted waters of the stuff of life.
Into
the realms of insanity he ventured, head high, eyes nar-
rowed...and so on and so on. Some might say - "Was
your journey really necessary?"
Thetans show their genius by the ways in which they so
deny their own existence and god-like capabilities as to
end
up as human beings. A shrewd self-negation is necessary to
turn a being at total cause over the physical universe
into
us.
Progress in sociological, political, medical and techno-
logical subjects is meaningless. Scientology sees such
pro-
gress as Orwellian but vastly more subtle and insidious
than outlined in "1984". NASA'S Apollo programme may be
an admirable achievement technologically and within a
limi-
ted framework but it does not expand human awareness.
In fact all "progress", with the sole exception of Scien-
tology, is a step to make the individual less self-reliant
and
confident whether purposeful or accidental. If only the
re-
sources used to develop a biological detergent or a better
can for brown ale were used to help the desperate cause of
freeing the Thetan from his self-imposed hell, we would
45
not now be facing a future of horror from atomic war,
overpopulation/starvation, pollution, dwindling natural
re-
sources, social unrest, racial intolerance and so on.
Political
systems and solutions which ignore the individual are des-
tined to failure or to remove the thing for which they are
designed - the individual.
Hubbard bases this conclusion not solely on observation
of this civilisation but also on memories of other planets
which surged ahead materialistically at the expense of re-
cognition of the spiritual needs of the individual, only
to
destroy themselves. Earth is apparently following the same
course at a vastly accelerated rate and has little time to
save
itself.
His answer to these problems is Scientology. Only Scien-
tology recognises the paramount worth of the individual
for only Scientology knows what the individual really is.
Only Scientology acknowledges the true worth of the indi-
vidual and counts all else as of lesser import to the free
expression of the individual. This is not anarchy. Very
much the opposite.
Freedom is earned. Justice is not a natural law. Truly
free individuals will choose always the optimum course and
in such choice will often relinquish their own personal
de-
sire in the cause of the overall good. This is not at all
the
similar sounding concept of Marx and Engels' Dialectical
Materialism, in which limited personal freedoms must be
cast aside in the greater cause of the full freedom of the
State - the true organism. Marx and Engels postulated that
human evolution would be given freedom to occur in their
socialist state.
Hubbard says that human evolution with the aid of
Scientology is necessary before any political system can
be
expected to work. Once this evolution has occurred, limit-
ing political systems will not be necessary and the
breadth
of the newly acquired comprehension of every individual
will be so great as to make any system so far devised ap-
pear absurd. This is understandable since politics now
seems absurd, even without the benefits of Scientology.
Lenin demanded revolution as the only way to free hu-
manity for a more worthwhile future. Hubbard demands
evolution. Revolution is meaningless destruction since the
people are not changed. If the people are not changed,
then
the society emerging from a revolution will not be
changed.
46
Only by an evolutionary process can the people so change
as to alter the basic assumptions of their society. The
only
possible worthwhile evolution for the human race is up-
wards towards self-awareness. "Know Thyself" is an in-
junction which finally carries some practical hope.
Each individual must be aware of himself as a Thetan -
an actual individual free of the only limitations that can
enslave him, his own self-constructed limitations. It is
not
enough to pay lip-service to the concept of the immortal
and all-powerful individual. Only by a direct experience
through the application of Scientology techniques can the
true picture be discovered - that each of us is unique,
totally
responsible for ourselves and there is only one way out,
and
that is through.
Mental aberration makes individuals act in destructive
ways; mental aberration held in common by groups and
nations causes wars, riots and, more tragically, apathetic
acceptance. It is the sum total of frustration, apathy,
grief,
anger, bitterness and fear of the individuals comprising a
society that makes up the aberration of the society. The
society does not have an entity of itself. Depending on
the
form of the aberration will depend the actions of the na-
tion. A society without aberration would move rapidly
forward rather than as now two steps forward and four
back. Leaders, statesmen, politicians are but reflections
of
or catalysts for their nation. It is not enough to instal
better
systems or leaders. To avert catastrophe, the individuals
must be given the opportunity for freedom. Personal, indi-
vidual, mental and spiritual freedom.
Free individuals will work constructively towards
height-
ened survival for all life and do not need systems to tell
them arbitrarily what to do. This is heady stuff. Given a
new meaning in Scientology by the assurance that evolu-
tion of human mentality is available. The evolution is
very
definitely upward to a grander and more humane state. All
else but striving for the greater awareness of the
individual
is absurd or worse. A free and aware Thetan has good,
practical and achievable intentions. He has no unknown
blocks to the implementation of these intentions. He will
work co-operatively for the overall good but will retain
and strengthen his own individuality.
To try to establish a sociological standard at thls time
when human mentality is so open to the unpredictable
47
whims of aberration is pointless. Nothing will work unless
humans are free to look and see. When they are, they can
be relied upon to sort these problems out for themselves
with a cool and rational comprehension of the true situa-
tion.
The future is indeed rosy with Scientology.
It is the most important single power on this planet to
resolve the immense difficulties of the human race. Just
get
enough people cleared of their mental hang ups and every-
thing will be reversed to an upward trend.
In 1950, Hubbard wrote: "One sees with some sadness
that more than three-quarters of the world's population
will become subject to the remaining quarter as a natural
consequence and about which we can do exactly nothing."
Every religion, political ideology and dictator, no
matter
how degrading, has propounded a theory "for the good of
Mankind". All Scientologists believe and utter with the
gleaming eyes of the proselytiser: "Scientology is the
only
thing that can save Mankind."
Having seen, worked with and intimately known large
numbers of Scientologists who have been cleared, the
future
proposed by Hubbard is at once ludicrous and terrifying.
These people are no longer in control of their own minds.
Their outlook and contact with reality is so limited as to
be absurd. Yet they are convinced with a deep-down cer-
tainty that they are supermen. They are convinced as no
other religious adherents can ever have been convinced of
their infallibility.
They intend to "save the world from itself" whether the
world wants to be saved or not.
The very thought of such a fate for the poor old world
is horrifying.
48
Chapter Four
THE MIND
Plato introduced the idea of the mind as being completely
separate from the physical body. Wundt, Freud and other
psychologists continued this convenient concept. It has
been the subject of massive tomes and has certainly become
the dumping ground for all the perverse and inexplicable
phenomena of human conduct.
None of the people who spoke of the mind bothered to
explain where or what it was. With Dianetics and later
with Scientology, there has been an attempt to state in
more than meaningless abstractions the composite of the
mind.
The mind exists as a measurable entity. It consists of
energies and masses that are part of and obey the same
laws as the physical universe. Under ideal conditions, it
can
also obey the laws of the Thetan. It is a halfway house
be-
tween the Thetan and his body. It is at once coarser than
the Thetan and finer than the gross composition of the
brain. It occupies space but not necessarily in the brain
or
the body since it extends from the body for anything up
to twenty-five feet. It is the property of the Thetan and
not
an extension of the body, since in his mind the Thetan
stores all memories of his experiences. The energies of
which the mind is composed are of the same family as 230-
volt alternating current or sunlight but they are of such
fine wavelength as to be unmeasurable at this time.
Four bands of mental energy have been discovered by
Hubbard - Aesthetic, Analytical Thought, Emotion and
Effort. Aesthetic wavelengths are estimated at
0.000000000-
00000000000000002 cm.; which is very fine indeed and cer-
tainly not measurable, with any accuracy, by normal means
Hubbard does not specify how he came to measure it);
Analytical Thought is given as 0.0000002 cm.; Emotion is
given as 0.02 cm.; and Effort would appear to be either
0.0 cm. or Infinity, which is curious.
The conclusion to be drawn is that the Aesthetic wave-
lengths are nearest to the Thetan in being so tiny and
Effort
49
being an obvious part of the physicality of the universe
is gross and therefore 0.0 cm. (which is non-existent)
or Infinity (which is meaningless as a wavelength except
as
a mathematical convenience) are, by some odd quirk, op-
posites. To further confuse things, Hubbard states: "What
most closely approximates Theta? It would be one of nearly
infinite length, and that wave is found to be Aesthetic,
the
wavelength of the arts." Nearly infinite length would
hardly
be 0.(25 noughts)2 cm.; or would it in Hubbard mathem-
atics?
Leaving aside these discrepancies, the Axioms state
energy to consist of postulated particles and objects to
con-
sist of grouped particles. In just such a way does the
energy
of the mind condense into matter or masses under certain
conditions. The mind is a collection of masses.
The energy of the Thetan is used in the main to make
Facsimiles (a mental copy of one's perceptions of the
physical universe sometime in the past, and also known as
a mental image picture). These mental image pictures con-
tain much more than would normally be understood by
memories. They are precise mirror images containing over
sixty sense impressions (Hubbard does not list what they
all are), together with the emotions, thoughts and conclu-
sions of the Thetan. They are recorded at high speed
rather
after the style of cine film and have limitless
durability.
Presumably, the very earliest facsimilies are some 320
tril-
lion years old!
There are three divisions of the mind - the Analytical
Mind, the Reactive Mind and the Somatic Mind.
"Analytical Mind - The `Computer', or the part of the
mind which perceives and retains data, analyses them, and
uses the answers thus received to resolve problems and
direct the organism along all the dynamics. The analytical
mind, as a computer, is incapable of error as it thinks in
differences and similarities; given accurate data, there
would
be perfection in every conclusion. Each iota of
information
picked up by any of the senses is filed in the memory
banks,
where it is accessible to the analytical mind.
"All these data are scanned by the analytical mind
before
it makes a computation on any problem, no matter how
minor that problem may be. When not aberrated by false
data, the analytical mind, which has full charge of the
or-
ganism's functions, can control or change all muscular,
50
glandular, rhythm and fluid functions of the body
instantly
and for the optimum benefit of the organism concerned."
By contrast with the Analytical Mind -
"Reactive Mind - This was once called the `subconscious
mind'. It is alert during any moment of life, even when
pain
or emotion is so great that the analytical mind
temporarily
is not functioning. The analytical mind reasons; the reac-
tive mind acts only on a stimulus response basis. The ana-
lytical mind records the fact that a pain exists; the
reactive
mind records the pain itself, together with all perceptics
of
the environment.
"When a person is below 2.0 on the Tone Scale, he is a
product of his aberrations, constantly stimulated by his
engrams, and under the command of his reactive mind.
Man at this stage is operating under a decision to
succumb,
because his mind no longer considers him to be a proper
tool for Theta's conquest of the Physical Universe."
The Somatic Mind is that portion of the mind in closest
contact with the physical organism. It is subservient to
the
Thetan and to the other sections of the mind and holds
automatic psycho-physical mechanisms within it. These can
be either pro- or anti-survival. The Somatic Mind contains
no ability to reason. It translates mental instructions
into
physical actions.
The human mind is thus comparable to an electronic
computer of vast and specific functions. Each of the three
divisions has memory storage banks but the only one
which has consciously accessible memories is the
analytical
mind. It is the unconscious or semi-conscious memories
which cause all the trouble. These are recorded in the Re-
active Mind and, as with conscious memories, can be re-
stimulated by analogous stimulations occurring in the
environment in present time.
If one sees a green car, one is reminded of other green
cars and may compare with, or differentiate from, other
information already held on green cars to form an opinion.
These will be conscious analytical observations. At the
same
time, memories may be restimulated from the Reactive
Memory Bank of the time when one was knocked uncon-
scious by a green car. If the present time situation is
suffi-
ciently analogous to the reactive memory, i.e.: wet roads,
smell of exhaust fumes, humid atmosphere, traffic noises,
etc., then the reactive restimulation may be so great,
even
51
though completely hidden from conscious awareness, as to
cause the PAIN of the accident to recur. One could get a
headache or other pains corresponding to the experiences
of the accident. Even more seriously, one could start to
obey or feel the command phrases of the accident. People
would have gathered around: "He's dead", "Don't move
him", "Careful now", could well have been said. Such
phrases are accepted as sounds only by the Reactive Bank.
They are not understood or analysed by the Reactive Mind
- they are items of information to be met with during
serious threats to survival.
Essentially, the Reactive Mind is a survival mechanism
since it was designed to contain data on traumatic situa-
tions in order to protect the organism from getting into
similar situations. Because of its uncontrolled ability to
affect the organism, it very often becomes a threat to
sur-
vival. The areas of its reference are extremely wide for
it
doubtless would be able to dredge up data on any sub-
ject and to thereby "warn" the organism against anything.
Hubbard considers the entirety of the human race to be
permanently under the influence of the Reactive Mind to a
greater or lesser degree and it is the command phrases
such
as "He's dead", "Don't move him", "Careful now", which
cause the greatest contra-survival effect.
These sounds are brought forward as part of the inci-
dent unanalysed for meaning. Therefore, by seeing a green
car, the individual could unaccountably feel he is dead
and
not want to move - he may say he wants to go and lie down
for a while - and he may start to be very careful.
Analytic-
ally, he will rationalise these feelings: "The day is so
muggy, I've got my headache back again and I think I'll
just go and lie down for a few minutes" Unwittingly, he
gives in to the restimulation.
The memory recording of the period of unconsciousness
is the Engram - "A recording of what occurs during a
period of pain and unconsciousness, which is not available
to the analytical mind as experience or memory that can
be contacted and resurveyed at will. Engrams, since they
are stored only in the reactive mind, act like hidden com-
mand posts, and force the individual into patterns of
think-
ing and acting unguided by reason".
However, to make the Engrams operable, there must
also be a Secondary Engram - "Mental image pictures
52
containing misemotion (encysted grief, anger, apathy etc.)
and a real or imagined loss. They contain no pain - they
are
moments of shock and stress depending for their force on
earlier engrams which have been restimulated by the cir-
cumstances of the secondary".
The Primary and Secondary Engrams make a core upon
which other lesser incidents build. There can be an inde-
finite time lapse between the formation of the Primary
Engram and the addition of the Secondary. Once the Sec-
ondary occurs, the chain can be built up by a "Key-In" -
"The first time a similarity or duplication of environment
activates a period of unconsciousness which was brought
about by pain or emotion is called a Key-In. An engram
never enforces itself upon the body until it has been
keyed
in; therefore, a person might live a lifetime and never
have
cause to know he has an engram, or if his environment is
sufficiently restimulating, he could live in a constant
state
of semi-consciousness (`dopey' or `dull'). This shutting
down of the analyser permits other engrams to be keyed
in more easily, and a decline may be so rapid and sure
that
the person suddenly may find himself seriously ill, dead
or
in an institution".
With each Key-ln, of which there could be millions in
any Engram chain, a reactive memory recording is made
called the Lock - "An experience during consciousness
that approximates the perceptics of an engram can cause
one of two types of locks: those that merely restimulate
and cause the individual to dramatise the engram, or those
which break the dramatisation demanded in the engram.
The second is more severe, since it causes a physical pain
to turn on and results in psychosomatic illness. A third
type of lock is formed any time affinity, reality or
commu-
nication has been inhibited or enforced.
"Locks can be received only when the person is in non-
optimum condition, such as weary or upset by reverses or
emotion. During a lifetime a person picks up thousands of
these locks, but they are not aberrative in themselves,
only
as they encyst the underlying engrams, usually, it is
neces-
sary to remove some of this encystment before the engram
itself can be contacted, but on a real low-toned person,
the
lock itself must be run as an engram".
The Locks diversify the scope of the underlying Engram.
Whereas the original Engram contains a specific number of
53
elements which can cause restimulation, i.e.: Green Car,
Wet Road, Exhaust Smell, Humid Atmosphere, Traffic
Noises, etc., the Locks may be created by only one or two
of these being similar and may also introduce elements
which were not present in the original incident thus
widen-
ing the overall scope. For instance, on a day when the
roads are wet and there is a strong smell of exhaust
fumes,
one may see a red bus and a beautiful blonde. One could
thus get a beautiful blonde involved in the Engram.
The Engram group becomes encysted energy - matter or
mass of an admittedly minute energy potential but capable
of wreaking a strong psychological and/or psycho-physical
effect on the organism. Many millions of such groups exist
within the mind. A few are in constant restimulation
producing the adverse effects of most human illnesses,
general low emotional state and awareness, neuroses, psy-
choses, marital breakdown, discontent, wars and accidents.
Someone classified as accident-prone, and there are such
people, denies and is totally unaware of causing his acci-
dents since he is not aware of causing them, they stem
from his Reactive Mind.
Chronic psycho-somatics are caused by the incessant re-
stimulation of an Engram. Acute psycho-somatics are
caused by the sudden and heavy restimulation of an En-
gram.
The attempt to free the individual from these stimulus-
response influences is what Dianetic and Scientology
auditing is all about. All contra-survival actions on the
part
of human beings, no matter how reasonable the justifica-
tions may be, are directly blamed on the content and hid-
den nature of the Reactive Mind. When the entire content
of the Reactive Mind is examined and thereby transferred
from the Reactive to the Analytical Mind, then the
individual is dependably rational at all times and free of
auto-generated limitations.
Since Hubbard discovered that Engrams could be pro-
duced as early as conception many of the most destructive
phrases concern references to sexual intercourse, rape,
sex-
ual deviations and attempts at abortion. Pain,
unconscious-
ness and general stress on the foetus is caused by its
mother
belching, suffering from constipation and banging herself
and "junior" against furniture. Extraordinary powers of
hearing and sight are even accorded to a foetus of a few
54
weeks old. From its mother's womb, a foetus is reported to
see and hear the unwelcome advances of its father and to
pick up the revulsion of its mother. Hubbard's ideas on
this subject appear to stem directly from Dr. Alfred C.
Kinsey's "Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male".
The Birth Engram was regarded for a while as the basic-
basic - the resolution of which would resolve the entire
structure of the Reactive Bank. Every Dianeticist tried to
"Run Birth" - a Scientologist expression for erasing mem-
ories of birth.
An Engram phrase: "Don't look at me" could make it
very difficult to contact and examine the Engram. "You're
just like your father (mother, brother, Aunt Cynthia, an
ele-
phant, etc., etc.)" could cause a "Valence" - "the unwit-
ting assumption by one individual of the characteristics
of
another individual". Such phrases are known as Valence
Shifters - they shift the individual from his own identity
or
valence to another.
Until 1952, Dianetics was concerned with trying to re-
solve the Reactive Mind and its recordings of this life.
With
the advent of Scientology and the discovery we had all had
an endless stream of lives going far back to the beginning
of the physical universe, the problem expanded enor-
mously. Since unfortunately we had all carried our
Reactive
Banks with us from life to life, the total number of En-
grams and the impossibility of examining each made it
necessary to develop other techniques. Now there were un-
told millions of lives incarnate, robot, doll, spider,
cat,
snake and other mysterious and bizarre bodies. The mun-
dane incidents of this life were as nothing to the impact
on
our personalities of all these lives which, according to
Hub-
bard, were like an incredible science-fiction adventure
with
Zapp Guns, Fifth Invaders, Cavemen, Weepers, Galactic
Federations, Flying Saucers, Space Wars and everything
else possible to an uncontrolled imagination.
There were Implant Stations, and still are - one is in
the
Pyrenees, another in Northern Sweden, yet another on
Venus. These are run by Thetans who have become so de-
graded and tricky as to be incapable of running a body.
When a body dies, the Thetan often gets drawn to these
Between Lives Implant Stations and is given a very vicious
form of mental conditioning. The mental image pictures of
his just-ended life are taken by the Implanters and
jumbled
55
about and made to appear worse than they actually are. In
their place are put images of angels complete with wings
and Irish harps, Athenian columns holding up the roofs
of marbled halls, choruses singing hosannas and the pan-
oply of primitive Christian symbolism. This imparts the
belief in a benign God with the overlay that the
individual
is not obedient enough to join the righteous host and must
return to the worldly vale of tears to work out his own
sal-
vation. Aleister Crowley first thought up a theory very
like
this.
The Thetan returns and takes over a baby body at about
the time of birth and generally feels the sooner he
forgets
even to think of himself as an immortal being, the
healthier
for everyone. This is one of the main reasons why the sub-
ject of reincarnation is taboo. Whether the 1,000 million-
odd humans who believe in Hinduism and Buddhism and
therefore openly subscribe to reincarnation do not for
some incomprehensible reason go to Implant Stations is
not explained. Precisely why these Stations exist and why
Thetans, no matter how degraded, should bother to run
them is also not explained.
ÿWPCY
ÿÿ
However scary these Implanters may seem they are as
cuddly as teddy bears by comparison with some of the
ghoulish characters "down the Track" ("Time Track - The
consecutive mental image pictures or facsimiles recording
the consecutive moments of `now' through which the indi-
vidual has lived"). These playful individuals wouldscramble
and destroy the whole mind by bringing super-cold objects
into contact with it. The intense cold - absence of heatand
energy - would suck all of the mental energy away from the
Thetan, leaving him a mindless zombie who could be mani-
pulated for devious ends. Only with the aid of Scientology
can the individual overcome such traumatic experiences
and regain the memories rightfully his; though if all the
energy has disappeared into a super-cold object, it isdiffi-
cult to see how they can be regained, remarkable though
Scientology be. Hubbard explains this by claiming that the
Thetan is superior to the mind and is capable of anything
no matter how wondrous and no matter how much it con-
tradicts other statements.
However, of much greater impact than all of the fore-
going is the major cause for the Thetan ever to have got
himself into a state where be could be implanted, receive
56
Engrams or any of the other grim things that have caused
him to devolve from a shining superman to his present
level of inability.
The Thetan started his career through the physical uni-
verse with basic goals. These goals were creative andwell-
intentioned. Good intentions are a mark of a Thetan and
only become bad by the influence of the Reactive Mind.
Analytically, the Thetan will justify his reactive and bad
actions in an attempt to make them good. Perpetrators of
the most heinous crimes justify their actions tothemselves
if no one else. The Nazi ideology was justified in theeyes
of its followers since the purity of the Aryan race could
only be preserved by the "Final Solution of the Jewish
Problem" at Auschwitz and such camps. The path to Hell
is paved with good intentions.
The Thetan, full of happy and buoyant goals early in his
career through the universe, and potentially capable of
achieving his goals, lacks experience of the wrinkles and
pitfalls to be met. Hubbard uses as an example of a goal
"To catch a Catfish", not that it is one of the basicgoals
but since it is a non-restimulative subject. The actualgoals
would obviously be more comprehensive but if he gave
them out to uninitiates, the degree of restimulation would
be so great as to cause violent sickness, and possible in-
Ô
Thus our Thetan starts out into the physical universe in
the role of a catfish catcher. Such roles are known asTer-
minals - "anything that can receive, relay or send a com-
munication (most common usage); also, anything with mass
and meaning". Eventually he fails in some way to come up
to his own expectations as a catfish catcher and due tothe
quantity of encysted energy which has built up on the sub-
ject of this goal in the form of Engrams and opposition,
he finds it expedient to join the opposition. He then be-
comes an opposition terminal or OpTerm in Scientologese
and assumes the role of, perhaps, a catfish protector.After
a while, he fails at this too and adopts the role of anop-
poser to his catfish protector but does not revert to the
original role of catfish catcher since the mass oraberration
remains on this original goal and prevents him from reus-
ing it. He becomes, maybe, a catfish hook maker; this goal
being similar to but much less than the original goal.When
he fails at making catfish hooks, he again opposes thisby,
57
say, becoming a catfish line cutter, and so on. Eachswitch
from Terminal side to OpTerm side reduces the strength
of the goals. It is comparable to sliding down a spiral.
The masses acquired reactively in trying to achievethese
goals are called GPM's - "Means Goals Problem Mass. A
GPM is composed of mental masses and significances
which have an exact pattern, unvarying from person to per-
son, whose significances dictate a certain type ofbehaviour
and whose masses, when pulled in on the individual, cause
psychosomatic effects, such as illnesses, pains or feelingsof
heaviness and tiredness".
Thus the Engram of Dianetics has expanded in Scien-
tology to the GPM. It is larger and involves multipleinci-
dents over a long span of time. The real difference liesin
the goal at its core. This goal being of immense value to
the Thetan, it is of immense significance when it becomes
invalidated. Just as the goals shrink in importance and
buoyancy so the confidence of the Thetan in his approach
to the universe shrinks. He starts to lose the game oflife.
Everyone is currently enacting a portion of a goal chain
- trying to achieve something of which he has no conscious
awareness at this time.
Ô
albeit cursory, of children who set up goals, e.g. to be a
fireman, to be a nurse, and who then, through invalidation
from adults and the environment, turn these goals intoless
hopeful ones. It is not very often that they become anti-
firemen or anti-nurses, but they certainly change theirgoals
and very often they end up doing something lesssatisfying.
The child plays out his tragic life in the micro-existence
of threescore years and ten. This is only an insignificant
part of the whole existence of the Thetan which stretches
over a span of hundreds of trillions of years.
Though no one has ever had the opportunity to question
Hubbard on this theory or any other, he would explain the
fact that some people who are very successful, happy and
stable are still caught up in this depressing downwardspiral
but they lacked the wit and awareness to realise success,
happiness and stability are just illusion and quiteimpossi-
ble without having been freed by Scientology.
Hubbard's view of the mind started off being not toodif-
ferent from the standard psychological view - he describes
Dianetics as being only a psychotherapy. As Scientology
58
has progressed, his view has changed very radically. Cer-
tainly the results obtained by the more standard and ac-
ceptable mental sciences - psycho-analysis, various other
psycho-therapies and psychiatry - do not give much con-
fidence as to the validity of their view of the mind.
If one adopts an objective view of humans, life, theuni-
verse and all the other incredibilities, one is forced to
conclude that there must be explanations for it all thatare
so "unacceptable" at this time that perhaps a fertile im-
agination is the best way to arrive at some sort ofanswer.
Hubbard does not lack imagination but his claim to know
the totality of the human mind and the position ofsentient
life in the entire universe would hold more validity if he
explained HOW he had arrived at it.
59
Chapter Five
PAST LIVES
"Have You Lived Before This Life?" asks the title of one
of L. Ron Hubbard's books.
The question is soon answered. From the "Case His-
Ô
each other's past lives during the six weeks of the 5thLon-
don Advanced Clinical Course of 1957, it is obvious that
everyone has lived billions of lives before. Q.E.D.!
Q.E.D. - Quad erat demonstrandum - Nothing!
Those students were Scientologists who knew what was
expected of them. I was one of them. I knew past lives tobe
a proven fact - Hubbard has so stated it. I knew thatunless
they could bring forth a past life with full recall, pain,emo-
tion, full perceptions, the lot, they would be regarded as
something less than real Scientologists.
No one even bothered to verify, or not, the recent past
lives, which should be traceable from extant records. Hub-
bard had mentioned Zapp Guns, Tractor and Repeller
Beams, Flying Saucers and Mother Ships and Galactic
Empires in his lectures. His son, L. Ron Hubbard, Junior,
nicknamed "Nibs" and no longer a Scientologist (rumour
has it he is looking for a Flying Saucer that crashed inthe
Gulf of Mexico), was one of the instructors on this memor-
able course. When a student was having a lot of difficulty
in making his story or, rather, Past Life gel, Nibs would
helpfully fill in bits. Amazingly, many of the Past Lives
sound like pulp comic "Flash Gordon meets The Brain
from Galaxy X", complete with Zapp Guns, et al.
"Have You Lived Before This Life?" is palpable non-
sense as far as a proof of Past Lives is concerned. It can
probably be put down to seventy-odd vivid imaginations
and the very prevalent habit on the part of Scientologists
to "prove" Hubbard right. What would happen to them if
they proved Hubbard wrong?
Nevertheless, some interesting questions are raised.
Scientology is not the only psychotherapy to have uncov-
ered phenomena on Past Lives. Unlike the ultra-caution of
60
other psychological subjects, Scientology is only tooeager
to accept the unpopular since it proves the truly revolu-
tionary nature of the subject and gives Hubbard the oppor-
tunity to criticise other philosophies for their lack of
imagination. Whilst it is probably true other philosophies
would reject Past Lives without full inspection since itis
unacceptable and would raise too many questions of a
spiritual nature for those who are trying to prove their
scientific materialism. Yet Hubbard has given no checkable
proofs. Admittedly, it is nigh on impossible to prove Past
Lives one way or the other. It has been the subject of
hoaxes and a lot of pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo, yet if
Hubbard had mounted a procedure to attempt to verify
his claims and had been able to show hundreds of checked-
where-possible case histories, his claims would haveÔ
some weight with some people. One can only conclude that
either it cannot possibly stand up to any inspection orhis
contempt for the human race is so complete as to not re-
quire him to verify anything. Probably both.
He explains that in 1950 he gave no thought to spiritual
immortality. He was forced by the techniques of Dianetics
to finally admit Past Lives did exist and were ofparamount
importance in the resolution of the mind. This is probably
nonsense since Hubbard claims to have lived and travelled
extensively in India and China where reincarnation is an
accepted element of life, or rather of death. Even in the
West, reincarnation is a word in most dictionaries
Hubbard has stated that his discovery of memories from
before this life was a logical extension of Dianetic tech-
niques. One of the methods to uncover hidden memories
is to take a clearly recalled memory and to "back track"
along the chain of Locks with a similar content until the
basic Engram is located.
Certainly, I have experienced many memories appa-
rently inexplicable by accepted theory phenomena, both
when undergoing Scientology therapy and when applying
it to others. Doubtless, they can be comfortably explained
away, but having seen Past Life incidents being run, I was
left with the distinct impression that they are asdistinct
as any memories from this life.
To compare two incidents: Neither of the subjects was
particularly interested in Scientology as a philosophy,nei-
ther had read anything on the subject and was only
61
interested in resolving problems which did not appear re-
solvable by standard medical treatment. Both were aware
that their problems could be psychogenic in origin though
they obviously were not sure and did not know the how or
why of this. Due to lack of time for applying Scientology
therapy and also since both were fairly stable mentally, I
determined to go for the more surface manifestationsrather
than digging for the root causes. Scientology has never
seemed to me to be effective for deep analysis, if anythingis.
A nurse, seemingly happy in her work, kept getting more
and more frequent and severe attacks of bronchitis. Shehad
not had bronchitis or more than slight colds before be-
coming a nurse, as far as could be determined. I traced
each time she had had bronchitis - each time she had had
difficulty breathing - back and back into the half-remem-
bered times and into the completely occluded areas of
early childhood. Under the particular Dianetic technique
I was using, a state of "Reverie" was induced. Hubbard
placed some importance on the originality of this state,
Ô
more than a relaxed, receptive and co-operative state
which people experience every time they concentrate on
something. Hubbard states the difference to be that a per-
son in reverie has his eyes closed and is free to inspect
memories. This state of "Reverie" must be experienced by
anyone being psychoanalysed, hypnotised or any of the
forms of psychotherapeutic suggestion.
In this magical state, one is able to dredge up Mental
Image Pictures - Facsimiles - in fair detail, even from
formerly completely forgotten incidents. Continuing inthis
way, back and back there it is - the basic Engram.
At the age of four, she had been given anaesthetic for a
tonsilectomy. The gas had not worked right away. Strug-
gling wildly, half breathing from the mask, half breathing
air, she was convinced she was being suffocated, and had
finally gone under and into the full Engram. Quite adistres-
sing experience which, understandably, would not bereadily
recalled. It is not difficult to imagine it leaving a formof
mental scar. And not difficult to see that the smell ofether,
bright lights, white-coated and masked nurses, could re-
stimulate, quite unconsciously, at the age of twenty, the
terrifying events in the operating theatre sixteen years
before. As soon as mental buoyancy and resistance fell
62
through tiredness, worry or any of the dozens of things
that happen in any day and especially any nurse's day, the
feeling of being unable to breathe could recur. Eventu-
ally, bronchitis could set in to give a physical backingto
the reactive fear. The Reactive Mind is performing itspart
in giving a warning that danger is associated with allplaces
that smell of ether and so on. The stresses became intense
since the Reactive Mind was "advising" leave this placeand
the Analytical Mind and presumably the Thetan could not
see that there was any threat in an environment in which
the individual was happy. A fairly standard variation on
the psychotherapy theme so far.
In the second case, a man of about thirty-five had suf-
fered slight and intermittent attacks of asthma. Hisnormal
breathing was slightly strained and despite many types of
treatment, nothing had seemed to effect more than a pass-
ing relief.
After scanning down through the chain of Locks relating
to difficulty with breathing and, interestingly, only themore
intense instances seemed to come forward unbidden, we
Ô
gram would be one of the famous Birth Engrams. Yet
suddenly, the preclear was describing a totally different
situation from either birth or early babyhood.
He was lying in a shallow pool of water, semi-conscious.
He had landed in the water having been thrown from a
horse which had refused, at the last moment, to jump a
hedge. It took a long time for him to finally drown. The
date given was 1768! We could not discover the common
denominator which had caused the Key-ln in the present
life.
BUT in this case and in the nurse's, the breathingtroubles
cleared up IMMEDIATELY and remained out of the way for at
least some years, though they could now have recurred, of
course.
Imagination? If so, then a psychotherapy dealing exclu-
sively in imagination should be developed.
A desire to please the Auditor and fit in with his ideasof
Past Lives? Hypnosis? Mental conditioning? Suggestion?
Or perhaps Hubbard is right?
Who knows? The whole field of psychiatry, psychology,
psychotherapy and probably all subjects that try to heal
are fraught with imponderables. Unfortunately, Hubbard's
63
opinions seem only to make the imponderables more im-
ponderable. Unless one is prepared to credit that a divine
inspiration motivates his every word. As an example of the
type of divine inspiration upon which he relies, thefollow-
ing examples of Past Lives are taken from his books and
tape-recorded lectures.
The Markab Confederacy - a group of planets in the
region of the Great Square of Pegasus - contains a human-
oid civilisation, the main preoccupation of which is driv-
ing racing cars at very high speed around tracks. Because
they go so fast and have a Freudian "Death Wish" going
at full blast too, they crash and mangle themselves invast
numbers. Surgery is very advanced in the Markab Confed-
eracy. They can patch up practically any body and get it
back into the driving seat again. This only makes the
drivers go faster and more recklessly to try to finishthem-
selves off. One gets the impression that a largeproportion
of this curious civilisation is engaged in this pastimeand
why someone does not stand up and say - "There must be
some better way of running a Confederacy than this" is
difficult to imagine. This weird set-up is responsible for
The Motor Car, apparently.
The explanation for the Population Explosion - 2.000
million in 1930; 3,500 million in 1970; estimated 7,000mil-
Ô
Earth. They are packed in "Ice Cubes" and dropped into
the oceans from Flying Saucers. How a Static "with no
mass, no motion, no wavelength, no location in space or in
time" can be packed into anything is not explained. The
arrival of all these new beings also explains ourtechnologi-
cal revolution, since they bring skills and knowledge with
them from technically sophisticated planets. The reason
why they are shipped here in such vast numbers is that the
Galactic Federation is crumbling apart with wars. The
newcomers to this planet are political prisoners and men-
tally unbalanced types who are shipped to this arm of the
Galaxy to get rid of them. This explains the degree ofpoli-
tical unrest and insanity here.
Hubbard also implies that it explains Scientology. Ob-
viously the monolithic Galactic Federation would not want
some genius popping up with a better way of doing things.
They want to maintain the status quo. Hubbard is quite
categorical that Scientology does not exist anywhere else
64
in the universe. They, poor bone-headed things, are not
bright enough to have thought out all the clever Scien-
tology stuff. Which makes Hubbard not just the greatest
person to have ever lived on Earth but the greatest person
to have ever lived in the physical universe in all 320trillion
years of it. We are indeed living in a truly remarkableage.
A further indication of Hubbard's greatness is his casual
understatement of the most astonishing Past Life facts. He
says: "With one body in a trance and another body here
on Earth, trouble occasionally occurs." Trouble Occasion-
ally Occurs! If in this Double Body situation the body on
Earth becomes unconscious, the Thetan will transfer to his
other off-Earth body. Strangely, this other body oftendies
of shock at suddenly being reinhabited, thereby forcingthe
individual back to his Earth body. Vast interstellar dis-
tances are involved in all these transfers but these donot
daunt any Thetan worthy of the name for it can all occur
in the passage of a few minutes.
"This incident leaves a patient very, very disturbed",com-
ments Hubbard with a nice appreciation of the types of
events that upset people.
The written history of this planet is nonsense, ofcourse.
Historians, in order to make everything reasonable and
not to give children nightmares, have studiously ignored
the various bands of invaders to have hit poor old Earth
during the last 40,000-50,000 years.
The most recent of these were the Fifth Invaders.Ô
like creatures, six feet tall with horrible mandibles and
crawly claws who came to this planet some 2.000 years ago
in, presumably, Flying Saucers and scared the living day-
lights out of all the poor humans who met them. Why they
came is not explained although it is obvious they were upto
no good These Fifth Invaders explain the aversion which
many of we primitives have towards spiders, insects and
all creatures with mandibles and claws. Presumably the re-
vulsion was so intense no one could get around to writing
it down and so it was lost to historians until the adventof
Scientology.
The Fourth Invaders, between 10,000-20,000 years ago,
brought a piece of electronic wizardry with them, known
as the Coffee Grinder and produced Facsimile One. This
incident was called Fac One since it was the firstaberrative
incident. This is curious since Hubbard has implied thereto
65
have been quite a lot of aberration in all of us fortrillions
of years. Nevertheless, Fac One is a very importantincident
because "asthma, sinus trouble, chronic chills [sic] and a
host of other ills" stem from it.
"The Coffee Grinder...is levelled at the preclear and a
push-pull wave is played over him, first on his left side
then on his right and back and forth from side to side,
laying in a bone-deep somatic which cannot be run unless
you recognise it as a vibration, not the solid board itseems
to be. When this treatment is done, the preclear is dumped
in scalding water, then immediately in ice water."
"The Coffee Grinder is a two-handled portable machine
which, when turned, emits a heavy push-pull electronic
wave in a series of stuttering `baps'." This machine ex-
plains the high mortality rate amongst construction work-
ers who use pneumatic drills. "The sound is notdissimilar."
Uncomfortable Fac One may have been but it was not
efficient for brain-washing we natives and was replaced by
the Halver incident..."a half-light, half-black gun which
shot out a wave. Half of this wave, usually the black, hitthe
right side of the victim's body, the other half, in thesame
explosion, usually the light side, hit the left side of thevic-
tim. This had the effect of causing him to be two people.
...The Halver was rigged up with religious symbols and it
truly lays in religion...it gave him a conflict, one side
with the other, one being good, the other being bad. It
gave him sexual compulsion, all mixed up with religious
Ô
And so on. The Past Track appears full of simple-minded
Baddies giving the even simpler-minded Goodies a going
over with various electronic devices. Hubbard has not even
bothered to make his ramblings seem believable and one
is left with the feeling that most Thetans have been only
too willing to have a con man take them for a good long
ride. This habit seems to have come forward through the
millenia.
On the first page of History of Man, 1952, Hubbard says:
"This is a cold-blooded and factual account of your last
sixty trillion years." By page forty-nine: "The wholetrack
seems to be about seventy trillion years ago." By page
fifty, he is talking about the cycles of life throughwhich
Thetans have lived and says: "The first big cycle would be
at its probable longest seventy-six trillion years." Such
66
carelessness does not increase faith in the accuracy ofthe
rest of the book.
An earlier book which is claimed to be even more reveal-
ing and terrifying than History of Man was Excalibur. In
1948, according to Hubbard, whilst undergoing an opera-
tion for injuries received during World War II in the U.S.
Navy he died for eight minutes (perhaps he did the old
Double Body trick!). He received a tremendous inspira-
tion - all the secrets of the universe. In eight minutes?
"He sat at his typewriter for six days and nights and
nothing came out - then Excalibur emerged." Dianetics-
The Modern Science of Mental Health is a diluted version
of one chapter.
The description of Excalibur makes fascinating reading:
"Mr. Hubbard wrote this book in 1938. When four of
the first fifteen people who read it went insane, Mr. Hub-
bard withdrew it and placed it in a vault where it has re-
mained until now. Copies to selected readers only and then
on signature. Released only on sworn statement not to per-
mit other readers to read it. Contains data not to bereleased
during Mr. Hubbard's stay on earth. The complete fast
formula of clearing. The secret not even DIANETICS dis-
closed. Facsimile of original, individually typed formanu-
script buyer. Gold bound and locked. Signed by author.
Very limited. Per copy...$1,500.00."*
Judging by History of Man which contains some start-
ling Secrets of the Universe, Excalibur could beintriguing
reading, but at $1,500...!
On the theoretical side, Hubbard gives some credence to
the genetic memory as a possible explanation of PastLives.
With still no greater justification than opinion to backup
Ô
"Although the GE has no real personality, it has a re-
cording of the entire genetic line - from the originalcell
through all strata of evolution to its present stage ofde-
velopment - including a transfer of somatics from past
theta beings, for seldom will the GE have the same thetan.
A GE, located in the area of the stomach, stays with the
body awhile after death - long after the thetan has aban-
doned it - and takes residence in another body two orthree
days before conception."
*Martin Gardner: Fads and Fallacies in the Name ofScience.
1957. Dover Publications.
67
The Genetic Entity has a past track which can become
confused with the past track of the Thetan who is inhabit-
ing the body of the GE. Apparently all bodies ranging from
unicellular to complex organisms such as mammals have
a Genetic Entity. It is this which learns from experienceto
produce more appropriate evolutionary forms. Hubbard
claims this GE concept to correspond precisely with Dar-
winism and Lysenkoism. The latter postulates a near-
conscious motivation for evolution - which is what
Hubbard is saying - and is regarded as nonsense outside of
the Soviet Union where Lysenkoism fits party ideology.
The Genetic Entities - and there must be zentrillions of
them if every plankton, microbe, ant, rose bush and pine
tree has one - are a degraded form of Thetan, so there are
lots of Thetans a good bit worse off than us, which is acom-
fort.
In various places, Hubbard refers to the Genetic Entity
as being the Somatic Mind but has not spoken of either in
recent years. It is easier to talk and pontificate onpurely
spiritual and mystical planes since logic and rationalityare
less easily brought to bear.
Until about 1962, there was a great deal of attention
placed on Past Lives. Since the advent of more all-embrac-
ing techniques for resolving the individual's problems,Past
Lives have attracted less attention from Scientologists.
Until that time, there was a good deal of rivalry as towho
could dig up the most gruesome notable, infamous or ex-
traordinary Past Lives. One popular personality, and not
only Scientologists try to claim a kinship, was Jesus of
Nazareth. At least three Scientologists in London uncov-
ered incidents in which they were crucified and arose from
the dead to save the souls of all the world. Hubbard,Ô
dentally, in the past has been extremely scathing towards
Christianity. He has described Jesus as having been toIndia,
learned a little of Buddhism and then having brought back
a very adulterated version to the Middle East. In recent
years though, it has become expedient to compare the
beauty of the Scientology ethic with that of Christianity.
Strangely, Queen Elizabeth I was popular at times
amongst Scientologists. So was Sir Walter Raleigh and The
Venerable Bede. Understandably, I never met anyone who
claimed to know anything about Attila the Hun, Genghis
Khan or Pontius Pilate. Hubbard claimed to have found
68
Karl Marx working in the Scientology organisation in Mel-
bourne, Australia. Since Marx is regarded byScientologists
as one of the really evil people to have inhabited a bodyon
this planet, this new incarnation of Marx was not keen to
be detected but Hubbard dug him out and forgave him for
writing "Das Kapital", which was nice of him.
Science-fiction writers could get a lot of new ideasfrom
Scientologists. Scientologists have been GalacticEmperors,
doll-body slave drivers, ray-gunners and captains of Z-
velocity space cruisers that save the Planet of theBeautiful
Maidens from the Super Nova. Annoyingly, my own Past
Lives seem to have been an endless succession of sloshing
about paddy-fields as a Chinese coolie, but I suppose
someone had to do all the boring jobs.
Past Lives are probably popular in Scientology because
they permit an escape from reality and responsibility.
With the failure of Dianetics to produce superman, an ex-
cuse had to he found to explain the resistance of thehuman
mind. The excuse was Past Lives; billions of them. No
wonder supermen had degenerated to our present contemp-
tible level. With billions of lives deprived ofScientology,
what could you expect?
As an exercise in inventiveness, they are good fun. Per-
haps indeed there are Past Lives. Only when takenseriously
are they pathetic and ominous for some cannotdifferentiate
between fantasy and reality. For these souls, theirrespon-
sible talk and deadly seriousness given to Past Lives can
have a tragic result.
69
Chapter Six
Ô
AUDITING
Auditing, also known as Processing, is defined as: "The
application of Scientology processes and procedures to
someone by a trained auditor. The exact definition of
auditing is: The action of asking a preclear a question
(which he can understand and answer), getting an answer
to that question and acknowledging him for that answer."
It is applied to individuals or groups by an auditor - one
who listens and computes.
The action of auditing was, in the years 1950-52, some-
what comparable to psycho-analytic techniques. This was
the time of Dianetics and Hubbard has claimed his method
to be a more logical development from Sigmund Freud's
than the multitude of "schools" which sprang out of the
original pronouncements of the founder of psycho-analysis.
Though the methodology of auditing was a good deal
different from more mainstream psychotherapies, the mo-
tives were similar - to take the unknown or partly known
areas of past experience and by inspection to let the
patient redetermine his earlier conclusions. An identical
theory lay behind these forms of psychotherapy - that a
mechanistic cause and effect predetermined human thought
processes. The same mystical outlook was present when it
was decided that a life force existed in each individual
organism capable of causing or erasing psychosomatic dis-
ease. To Hubbard's credit, he has, albeit crudely,attempted
to give full validity to this mystic concept rather than
brushing it under the nearest carpet as an embarrassing
side issue.
The imprecise nature of psycho-analytic free associative
techniques, in which the patient is permitted to take his
own time and make his own judgements as to what he will
inspect (and it is an error of magnitude for the analystto
direct his attention to any area), was replaced inDianetics
by a specific directing of attention. At the same time,the
evaluation with which the psycho-analyst attempts to in-
crease his patient's understanding and tolerance ofhimself
70
and his mental mechanisms - in its crudest form, thelabel-
ling of attitudes to make it seem to the patient that atleast
someone knows what is going on inside his head - was
replaced by a stated categorical refusal to evaluate orin-
validate in any way whatsoever the material, attitudes,
thoughts and conclusions of the preclear. "This term
covers anyone who is not a clear; however it isprincipally
Ô
cessing, is finding out more about himself and life."
The refusal to evaluate and invalidate the data of thepre-
clear is one of the fundamental tenets of auditing. Theonly
conclusion which is right is the one arrived at by thepre-
clear. Evaluation and invalidation of the preclear'soutlook
renders him less capable of reaching right-for-him conclu-
sions and such conclusions are ultimately the only right
ones. To indicate the importance placed on this, Hubbard,
from time to time, has issued Codes of Conduct for Scien-
tology Auditors. The Auditor's Code of AD 18 (After Dia-
netics 18 = 1968!) gives:
(1) I promise not to evaluate for the preclear or tell him
he should think about his case in session.
(2) I promise not to invalidate the preclear's case orgains
in or out of session.
These two primary promises are followed by twenty-six
more, the majority of which are more specific definitionsof
how not to evaluate or invalidate, e.g.: (10) I promisenever
to walk off from a preclear session; (22) I promise never
to use the secrets of a preclear divulged in session forpun-
ishment or personal gain; (27) I promise not to permitsex-
ual liberties or violation of the mentally unsound.
Although so great an importance is placed on these fac-
tors, there is, of course, a generalised evaluation andinvali-
dation of the individual from the moment he comes in
contact with Scientology. In addition, as will be seenlater,
there is a very definite and arbitrary standard ofbehaviour
placed on anyone in contact with Scientology which canhave
the effect of being evaluative or invalidative of hispersonal
attitudes.
Despite the differing emphasis placed on sections of the
mind and the differences of approach towards therapy,
Dianetics could be regarded loosely as a radical form of
psychoanalysis. It is quicker and more shallow but itfalls
within the same bracket.
71
With Scientology, these differences widened. Auditing
became more precise and the attempt to reclaim specific
memories and to derive understandings of present conduct
from them was replaced by an attempt to find basic causes.
Ô
an Engram in order to relieve the stresses, but toestablish
the basic reasons why the individual got the Engram in the
first place. The example given earlier of the invalidated
goal being the only portion of the mental anatomy which
it is necessary to contact in order to resolve vastquanti-
ties of incidents. It could thus be regarded as dealingmore
with the spiritual being and placing ever less importanceon
the mental state. By raising the abilities of theindividual,
the spiritual being, not only would the aberrativeinfluences
from the past die away and become unused but the present
and future resistance to future aberration would be in-
creased. The assumption is that reactive mechanisms are
useful to the Thetan from the time that he has lost self-
confidence in his ability to face up to life. With thedecline
of his abilities, he substitutes mental mechanisms to dohis
living for him. He is perfectly capable of handling all
aspects of his own life without substitutes or pre-pro-
grammed postulates and the only thing which stops him
from doing so is that he considers he cannot do it.
The emphasis of psychotherapies is upon the eradication
of mental aberration and to bring the patient to a stateof
"normal" or "acceptable" within our current social mores.
Scientology is a break with this tradition since mental
aberration is shown to be only the result of lessened spiri-
tual awareness, certainty and ability. The ultimate goalof
Scientology is to produce a being with vastly improved
capabilities far beyond anything previously envisaged as
possible for human beings. To re-establish the Thetan in
his rightful position of superiority and freedom and not
dictated to by out-of-present-time conclusions.
The Thetan is the only portion of the living unit which
can effect changes in the organism. In auditing, theThetan
is addressed exclusively. If mental problems are inspected
on a specific basis it is only because they aredistracting
from the main purpose of the auditing. If a preclear has a
Present Time Problem in his session such as the arrivalthat
morning of a huge tax demand or his girlfriend telling him
the previous evening that she was pregnant, or even if he
72
wants to use the toilet, then these are handled only sofar
as to enable the preclear to devote his full attention toÔ
auditing. If auditing concentrated on the day-to-day prob-
lems the preclear runs into, it would be a never-ending
procedure and would not equip him with the ability to
handle his own problems. A situation would develop like
the "pet psycho-analyst". Spiritual self-sufficiency isthe
goal, not never-ending dependence on Scientology.
This is one of the reasons why hypnosis, psychiatricsur-
gery, drug therapies and electro-convulsive therapy arere-
jected by Scientology since these are dealing with effects
rather than causes and usually render the Thetan incapable
of controlling his own mind because control is taken over
by an outside agency.
The Thetan made the mistakes which have reduced him
to his present level. He is the only one with the ability toget
out of his self-constructed trap. Only he can change his
mind.
To detail all of the processes which were tried duringthe
period 1950 to about 1966, when Hubbard considered he
had established a sufficiently reliable and rapid set oftech-
niques, would require an enormous book. Hubbard has
never described, in any detail, his research methods. From
observation, it seems that he used a fairly pragmatic ap-
proach to gradually refine his work. Over the years, the
number of Scientology organisations around the world has
increased. Every auditing session report form, detailingthe
process used and the results, was forwarded to him for
analysis. From two or three years' experience of being a
staff auditor at the organisation in London, I can vouch
that he read carefully every word I had written down. His
comments were extremely perceptive! This inspection of
every report must be a colossal job in itself. Add to this
the writing of books, hundreds of hours of lecturing,writ-
ing Technical Bulletins and Policy Letters, detailedpersonal
management of every Scientology organisation in the
world, answering within a few days some 600-1,000 person-
al letters a week AND getting married and having fourbeau-
tiful children. If nothing else could ever be said aboutL.
Ron Hubbard, he could never be accused of shirking!
If the first goal to be achieved was the separation of the
Thetan from his Reactive Mind and then the strengthen-
ing of the Thetan's independence, it follows that
However scary these Implanters may seem they are as
cuddly as teddy bears by comparison with some of the
ghoulish characters "down the Track" ("Time Track - The
consecutive mental image pictures or facsimiles recording
the consecutive moments of `now' through which the indi-
vidual has lived"). These playful individuals would
scramble
and destroy the whole mind by bringing super-cold objects
into contact with it. The intense cold - absence of heat
and
energy - would suck all of the mental energy away from the
Thetan, leaving him a mindless zombie who could be mani-
pulated for devious ends. Only with the aid of Scientology
can the individual overcome such traumatic experiences
and regain the memories rightfully his; though if all the
energy has disappeared into a super-cold object, it is
diffi-
cult to see how they can be regained, remarkable though
Scientology be. Hubbard explains this by claiming that the
Thetan is superior to the mind and is capable of anything
no matter how wondrous and no matter how much it con-
tradicts other statements.
However, of much greater impact than all of the fore-
going is the major cause for the Thetan ever to have got
himself into a state where be could be implanted, receive
56
Engrams or any of the other grim things that have caused
him to devolve from a shining superman to his present
level of inability.
The Thetan started his career through the physical uni-
verse with basic goals. These goals were creative and
well-
intentioned. Good intentions are a mark of a Thetan and
only become bad by the influence of the Reactive Mind.
Analytically, the Thetan will justify his reactive and bad
actions in an attempt to make them good. Perpetrators of
the most heinous crimes justify their actions to
themselves
if no one else. The Nazi ideology was justified in the
eyes
of its followers since the purity of the Aryan race could
only be preserved by the "Final Solution of the Jewish
Problem" at Auschwitz and such camps. The path to Hell
is paved with good intentions.
The Thetan, full of happy and buoyant goals early in his
career through the universe, and potentially capable of
achieving his goals, lacks experience of the wrinkles and
pitfalls to be met. Hubbard uses as an example of a goal
"To catch a Catfish", not that it is one of the basic
goals
but since it is a non-restimulative subject. The actual
goals
would obviously be more comprehensive but if he gave
them out to uninitiates, the degree of restimulation would
be so great as to cause violent sickness, and possible in-
sanity in many cases, so "hot" are they.
Thus our Thetan starts out into the physical universe in
the role of a catfish catcher. Such roles are known as
Ter-
minals - "anything that can receive, relay or send a com-
munication (most common usage); also, anything with mass
and meaning". Eventually he fails in some way to come up
to his own expectations as a catfish catcher and due to
the
quantity of encysted energy which has built up on the sub-
ject of this goal in the form of Engrams and opposition,
he finds it expedient to join the opposition. He then be-
comes an opposition terminal or OpTerm in Scientologese
and assumes the role of, perhaps, a catfish protector.
After
a while, he fails at this too and adopts the role of an
op-
poser to his catfish protector but does not revert to the
original role of catfish catcher since the mass or
aberration
remains on this original goal and prevents him from reus-
ing it. He becomes, maybe, a catfish hook maker; this goal
being similar to but much less than the original goal.
When
he fails at making catfish hooks, he again opposes this
by,
57
say, becoming a catfish line cutter, and so on. Each
switch
from Terminal side to OpTerm side reduces the strength
of the goals. It is comparable to sliding down a spiral.
The masses acquired reactively in trying to achieve
these
goals are called GPM's - "Means Goals Problem Mass. A
GPM is composed of mental masses and significances
which have an exact pattern, unvarying from person to per-
son, whose significances dictate a certain type of
behaviour
and whose masses, when pulled in on the individual, cause
psychosomatic effects, such as illnesses, pains or feelings
of
heaviness and tiredness".
Thus the Engram of Dianetics has expanded in Scien-
tology to the GPM. It is larger and involves multiple
inci-
dents over a long span of time. The real difference lies
in
the goal at its core. This goal being of immense value to
the Thetan, it is of immense significance when it becomes
invalidated. Just as the goals shrink in importance and
buoyancy so the confidence of the Thetan in his approach
to the universe shrinks. He starts to lose the game of
life.
Everyone is currently enacting a portion of a goal chain
- trying to achieve something of which he has no conscious
awareness at this time.
This theory is obviously based upon the observation,
albeit cursory, of children who set up goals, e.g. to be a
fireman, to be a nurse, and who then, through invalidation
from adults and the environment, turn these goals into
less
hopeful ones. It is not very often that they become anti-
firemen or anti-nurses, but they certainly change their
goals
and very often they end up doing something less
satisfying.
The child plays out his tragic life in the micro-existence
of threescore years and ten. This is only an insignificant
part of the whole existence of the Thetan which stretches
over a span of hundreds of trillions of years.
Though no one has ever had the opportunity to question
Hubbard on this theory or any other, he would explain the
fact that some people who are very successful, happy and
stable are still caught up in this depressing downward
spiral
but they lacked the wit and awareness to realise success,
happiness and stability are just illusion and quite
impossi-
ble without having been freed by Scientology.
Hubbard's view of the mind started off being not too
dif-
ferent from the standard psychological view - he describes
Dianetics as being only a psychotherapy. As Scientology
58
has progressed, his view has changed very radically. Cer-
tainly the results obtained by the more standard and ac-
ceptable mental sciences - psycho-analysis, various other
psycho-therapies and psychiatry - do not give much con-
fidence as to the validity of their view of the mind.
If one adopts an objective view of humans, life, the
uni-
verse and all the other incredibilities, one is forced to
conclude that there must be explanations for it all that
are
so "unacceptable" at this time that perhaps a fertile im-
agination is the best way to arrive at some sort of
answer.
Hubbard does not lack imagination but his claim to know
the totality of the human mind and the position of
sentient
life in the entire universe would hold more validity if he
explained HOW he had arrived at it.
59
Chapter Five
PAST LIVES
"Have You Lived Before This Life?" asks the title of one
of L. Ron Hubbard's books.
The question is soon answered. From the "Case His-
tories" of approximately seventy students who investigated
each other's past lives during the six weeks of the 5th
Lon-
don Advanced Clinical Course of 1957, it is obvious that
everyone has lived billions of lives before. Q.E.D.!
Q.E.D. - Quad erat demonstrandum - Nothing!
Those students were Scientologists who knew what was
expected of them. I was one of them. I knew past lives to
be
a proven fact - Hubbard has so stated it. I knew that
unless
they could bring forth a past life with full recall, pain,
emo-
tion, full perceptions, the lot, they would be regarded as
something less than real Scientologists.
No one even bothered to verify, or not, the recent past
lives, which should be traceable from extant records. Hub-
bard had mentioned Zapp Guns, Tractor and Repeller
Beams, Flying Saucers and Mother Ships and Galactic
Empires in his lectures. His son, L. Ron Hubbard, Junior,
nicknamed "Nibs" and no longer a Scientologist (rumour
has it he is looking for a Flying Saucer that crashed in
the
Gulf of Mexico), was one of the instructors on this memor-
able course. When a student was having a lot of difficulty
in making his story or, rather, Past Life gel, Nibs would
helpfully fill in bits. Amazingly, many of the Past Lives
sound like pulp comic "Flash Gordon meets The Brain
from Galaxy X", complete with Zapp Guns, et al.
"Have You Lived Before This Life?" is palpable non-
sense as far as a proof of Past Lives is concerned. It can
probably be put down to seventy-odd vivid imaginations
and the very prevalent habit on the part of Scientologists
to "prove" Hubbard right. What would happen to them if
they proved Hubbard wrong?
Nevertheless, some interesting questions are raised.
Scientology is not the only psychotherapy to have uncov-
ered phenomena on Past Lives. Unlike the ultra-caution of
60
other psychological subjects, Scientology is only too
eager
to accept the unpopular since it proves the truly revolu-
tionary nature of the subject and gives Hubbard the oppor-
tunity to criticise other philosophies for their lack of
imagination. Whilst it is probably true other philosophies
would reject Past Lives without full inspection since it
is
unacceptable and would raise too many questions of a
spiritual nature for those who are trying to prove their
scientific materialism. Yet Hubbard has given no checkable
proofs. Admittedly, it is nigh on impossible to prove Past
Lives one way or the other. It has been the subject of
hoaxes and a lot of pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo, yet if
Hubbard had mounted a procedure to attempt to verify
his claims and had been able to show hundreds of checked-
where-possible case histories, his claims would have
carried
some weight with some people. One can only conclude that
either it cannot possibly stand up to any inspection or
his
contempt for the human race is so complete as to not re-
quire him to verify anything. Probably both.
He explains that in 1950 he gave no thought to spiritual
immortality. He was forced by the techniques of Dianetics
to finally admit Past Lives did exist and were of
paramount
importance in the resolution of the mind. This is probably
nonsense since Hubbard claims to have lived and travelled
extensively in India and China where reincarnation is an
accepted element of life, or rather of death. Even in the
West, reincarnation is a word in most dictionaries
Hubbard has stated that his discovery of memories from
before this life was a logical extension of Dianetic tech-
niques. One of the methods to uncover hidden memories
is to take a clearly recalled memory and to "back track"
along the chain of Locks with a similar content until the
basic Engram is located.
Certainly, I have experienced many memories appa-
rently inexplicable by accepted theory phenomena, both
when undergoing Scientology therapy and when applying
it to others. Doubtless, they can be comfortably explained
away, but having seen Past Life incidents being run, I was
left with the distinct impression that they are as
distinct
as any memories from this life.
To compare two incidents: Neither of the subjects was
particularly interested in Scientology as a philosophy,
nei-
ther had read anything on the subject and was only
61
interested in resolving problems which did not appear re-
solvable by standard medical treatment. Both were aware
that their problems could be psychogenic in origin though
they obviously were not sure and did not know the how or
why of this. Due to lack of time for applying Scientology
therapy and also since both were fairly stable mentally, I
determined to go for the more surface manifestations
rather
than digging for the root causes. Scientology has never
seemed to me to be effective for deep analysis, if anything
is.
A nurse, seemingly happy in her work, kept getting more
and more frequent and severe attacks of bronchitis. She
had
not had bronchitis or more than slight colds before be-
coming a nurse, as far as could be determined. I traced
each time she had had bronchitis - each time she had had
difficulty breathing - back and back into the half-remem-
bered times and into the completely occluded areas of
early childhood. Under the particular Dianetic technique
I was using, a state of "Reverie" was induced. Hubbard
placed some importance on the originality of this state,
claiming it to be unique to Dianetics. It seems nothing
more than a relaxed, receptive and co-operative state
which people experience every time they concentrate on
something. Hubbard states the difference to be that a per-
son in reverie has his eyes closed and is free to inspect
memories. This state of "Reverie" must be experienced by
anyone being psychoanalysed, hypnotised or any of the
forms of psychotherapeutic suggestion.
In this magical state, one is able to dredge up Mental
Image Pictures - Facsimiles - in fair detail, even from
formerly completely forgotten incidents. Continuing in
this
way, back and back there it is - the basic Engram.
At the age of four, she had been given anaesthetic for a
tonsilectomy. The gas had not worked right away. Strug-
gling wildly, half breathing from the mask, half breathing
air, she was convinced she was being suffocated, and had
finally gone under and into the full Engram. Quite a
distres-
sing experience which, understandably, would not be
readily
recalled. It is not difficult to imagine it leaving a form
of
mental scar. And not difficult to see that the smell of
ether,
bright lights, white-coated and masked nurses, could re-
stimulate, quite unconsciously, at the age of twenty, the
terrifying events in the operating theatre sixteen years
before. As soon as mental buoyancy and resistance fell
62
through tiredness, worry or any of the dozens of things
that happen in any day and especially any nurse's day, the
feeling of being unable to breathe could recur. Eventu-
ally, bronchitis could set in to give a physical backing
to
the reactive fear. The Reactive Mind is performing its
part
in giving a warning that danger is associated with all
places
that smell of ether and so on. The stresses became intense
since the Reactive Mind was "advising" leave this place
and
the Analytical Mind and presumably the Thetan could not
see that there was any threat in an environment in which
the individual was happy. A fairly standard variation on
the psychotherapy theme so far.
In the second case, a man of about thirty-five had suf-
fered slight and intermittent attacks of asthma. His
normal
breathing was slightly strained and despite many types of
treatment, nothing had seemed to effect more than a pass-
ing relief.
After scanning down through the chain of Locks relating
to difficulty with breathing and, interestingly, only the
more
intense instances seemed to come forward unbidden, we
reached very early babyhood and it looked as if this En-
gram would be one of the famous Birth Engrams. Yet
suddenly, the preclear was describing a totally different
situation from either birth or early babyhood.
He was lying in a shallow pool of water, semi-conscious.
He had landed in the water having been thrown from a
horse which had refused, at the last moment, to jump a
hedge. It took a long time for him to finally drown. The
date given was 1768! We could not discover the common
denominator which had caused the Key-ln in the present
life.
BUT in this case and in the nurse's, the breathing
troubles
cleared up IMMEDIATELY and remained out of the way for at
least some years, though they could now have recurred, of
course.
Imagination? If so, then a psychotherapy dealing exclu-
sively in imagination should be developed.
A desire to please the Auditor and fit in with his ideas
of
Past Lives? Hypnosis? Mental conditioning? Suggestion?
Or perhaps Hubbard is right?
Who knows? The whole field of psychiatry, psychology,
psychotherapy and probably all subjects that try to heal
are fraught with imponderables. Unfortunately, Hubbard's
63
opinions seem only to make the imponderables more im-
ponderable. Unless one is prepared to credit that a divine
inspiration motivates his every word. As an example of the
type of divine inspiration upon which he relies, the
follow-
ing examples of Past Lives are taken from his books and
tape-recorded lectures.
The Markab Confederacy - a group of planets in the
region of the Great Square of Pegasus - contains a human-
oid civilisation, the main preoccupation of which is driv-
ing racing cars at very high speed around tracks. Because
they go so fast and have a Freudian "Death Wish" going
at full blast too, they crash and mangle themselves in
vast
numbers. Surgery is very advanced in the Markab Confed-
eracy. They can patch up practically any body and get it
back into the driving seat again. This only makes the
drivers go faster and more recklessly to try to finish
them-
selves off. One gets the impression that a large
proportion
of this curious civilisation is engaged in this pastime
and
why someone does not stand up and say - "There must be
some better way of running a Confederacy than this" is
difficult to imagine. This weird set-up is responsible for
The Motor Car, apparently.
The explanation for the Population Explosion - 2.000
million in 1930; 3,500 million in 1970; estimated 7,000
mil-
lion in 2,000 - is that new Thetans are being dumped on
Earth. They are packed in "Ice Cubes" and dropped into
the oceans from Flying Saucers. How a Static "with no
mass, no motion, no wavelength, no location in space or in
time" can be packed into anything is not explained. The
arrival of all these new beings also explains our
technologi-
cal revolution, since they bring skills and knowledge with
them from technically sophisticated planets. The reason
why they are shipped here in such vast numbers is that the
Galactic Federation is crumbling apart with wars. The
newcomers to this planet are political prisoners and men-
tally unbalanced types who are shipped to this arm of the
Galaxy to get rid of them. This explains the degree of
poli-
tical unrest and insanity here.
Hubbard also implies that it explains Scientology. Ob-
viously the monolithic Galactic Federation would not want
some genius popping up with a better way of doing things.
They want to maintain the status quo. Hubbard is quite
categorical that Scientology does not exist anywhere else
64
in the universe. They, poor bone-headed things, are not
bright enough to have thought out all the clever Scien-
tology stuff. Which makes Hubbard not just the greatest
person to have ever lived on Earth but the greatest person
to have ever lived in the physical universe in all 320
trillion
years of it. We are indeed living in a truly remarkable
age.
A further indication of Hubbard's greatness is his casual
understatement of the most astonishing Past Life facts. He
says: "With one body in a trance and another body here
on Earth, trouble occasionally occurs." Trouble Occasion-
ally Occurs! If in this Double Body situation the body on
Earth becomes unconscious, the Thetan will transfer to his
other off-Earth body. Strangely, this other body often
dies
of shock at suddenly being reinhabited, thereby forcing
the
individual back to his Earth body. Vast interstellar dis-
tances are involved in all these transfers but these do
not
daunt any Thetan worthy of the name for it can all occur
in the passage of a few minutes.
"This incident leaves a patient very, very disturbed",
com-
ments Hubbard with a nice appreciation of the types of
events that upset people.
The written history of this planet is nonsense, of
course.
Historians, in order to make everything reasonable and
not to give children nightmares, have studiously ignored
the various bands of invaders to have hit poor old Earth
during the last 40,000-50,000 years.
The most recent of these were the Fifth Invaders.
Insect-
like creatures, six feet tall with horrible mandibles and
crawly claws who came to this planet some 2.000 years ago
in, presumably, Flying Saucers and scared the living day-
lights out of all the poor humans who met them. Why they
came is not explained although it is obvious they were up
to
no good These Fifth Invaders explain the aversion which
many of we primitives have towards spiders, insects and
all creatures with mandibles and claws. Presumably the re-
vulsion was so intense no one could get around to writing
it down and so it was lost to historians until the advent
of
Scientology.
The Fourth Invaders, between 10,000-20,000 years ago,
brought a piece of electronic wizardry with them, known
as the Coffee Grinder and produced Facsimile One. This
incident was called Fac One since it was the first
aberrative
incident. This is curious since Hubbard has implied there
to
65
have been quite a lot of aberration in all of us for
trillions
of years. Nevertheless, Fac One is a very important
incident
because "asthma, sinus trouble, chronic chills [sic] and a
host of other ills" stem from it.
"The Coffee Grinder...is levelled at the preclear and a
push-pull wave is played over him, first on his left side
then on his right and back and forth from side to side,
laying in a bone-deep somatic which cannot be run unless
you recognise it as a vibration, not the solid board it
seems
to be. When this treatment is done, the preclear is dumped
in scalding water, then immediately in ice water."
"The Coffee Grinder is a two-handled portable machine
which, when turned, emits a heavy push-pull electronic
wave in a series of stuttering `baps'." This machine ex-
plains the high mortality rate amongst construction work-
ers who use pneumatic drills. "The sound is not
dissimilar."
Uncomfortable Fac One may have been but it was not
efficient for brain-washing we natives and was replaced by
the Halver incident..."a half-light, half-black gun which
shot out a wave. Half of this wave, usually the black, hit
the
right side of the victim's body, the other half, in the
same
explosion, usually the light side, hit the left side of the
vic-
tim. This had the effect of causing him to be two people.
...The Halver was rigged up with religious symbols and it
truly lays in religion...it gave him a conflict, one side
with the other, one being good, the other being bad. It
gave him sexual compulsion, all mixed up with religious
compulsion."
And so on. The Past Track appears full of simple-minded
Baddies giving the even simpler-minded Goodies a going
over with various electronic devices. Hubbard has not even
bothered to make his ramblings seem believable and one
is left with the feeling that most Thetans have been only
too willing to have a con man take them for a good long
ride. This habit seems to have come forward through the
millenia.
On the first page of History of Man, 1952, Hubbard says:
"This is a cold-blooded and factual account of your last
sixty trillion years." By page forty-nine: "The whole
track
seems to be about seventy trillion years ago." By page
fifty, he is talking about the cycles of life through
which
Thetans have lived and says: "The first big cycle would be
at its probable longest seventy-six trillion years." Such
66
carelessness does not increase faith in the accuracy of
the
rest of the book.
An earlier book which is claimed to be even more reveal-
ing and terrifying than History of Man was Excalibur. In
1948, according to Hubbard, whilst undergoing an opera-
tion for injuries received during World War II in the U.S.
Navy he died for eight minutes (perhaps he did the old
Double Body trick!). He received a tremendous inspira-
tion - all the secrets of the universe. In eight minutes?
"He sat at his typewriter for six days and nights and
nothing came out - then Excalibur emerged." Dianetics-
The Modern Science of Mental Health is a diluted version
of one chapter.
The description of Excalibur makes fascinating reading:
"Mr. Hubbard wrote this book in 1938. When four of
the first fifteen people who read it went insane, Mr. Hub-
bard withdrew it and placed it in a vault where it has re-
mained until now. Copies to selected readers only and then
on signature. Released only on sworn statement not to per-
mit other readers to read it. Contains data not to be
released
during Mr. Hubbard's stay on earth. The complete fast
formula of clearing. The secret not even DIANETICS dis-
closed. Facsimile of original, individually typed for
manu-
script buyer. Gold bound and locked. Signed by author.
Very limited. Per copy...$1,500.00."*
Judging by History of Man which contains some start-
ling Secrets of the Universe, Excalibur could be
intriguing
reading, but at $1,500...!
On the theoretical side, Hubbard gives some credence to
the genetic memory as a possible explanation of Past
Lives.
With still no greater justification than opinion to back
up
his conclusions, he postulates a Genetic Entity.
"Although the GE has no real personality, it has a re-
cording of the entire genetic line - from the original
cell
through all strata of evolution to its present stage of
de-
velopment - including a transfer of somatics from past
theta beings, for seldom will the GE have the same thetan.
A GE, located in the area of the stomach, stays with the
body awhile after death - long after the thetan has aban-
doned it - and takes residence in another body two or
three
days before conception."
*Martin Gardner: Fads and Fallacies in the Name of
Science.
1957. Dover Publications.
67
The Genetic Entity has a past track which can become
confused with the past track of the Thetan who is inhabit-
ing the body of the GE. Apparently all bodies ranging from
unicellular to complex organisms such as mammals have
a Genetic Entity. It is this which learns from experience
to
produce more appropriate evolutionary forms. Hubbard
claims this GE concept to correspond precisely with Dar-
winism and Lysenkoism. The latter postulates a near-
conscious motivation for evolution - which is what
Hubbard is saying - and is regarded as nonsense outside of
the Soviet Union where Lysenkoism fits party ideology.
The Genetic Entities - and there must be zentrillions of
them if every plankton, microbe, ant, rose bush and pine
tree has one - are a degraded form of Thetan, so there are
lots of Thetans a good bit worse off than us, which is a
com-
fort.
In various places, Hubbard refers to the Genetic Entity
as being the Somatic Mind but has not spoken of either in
recent years. It is easier to talk and pontificate on
purely
spiritual and mystical planes since logic and rationality
are
less easily brought to bear.
Until about 1962, there was a great deal of attention
placed on Past Lives. Since the advent of more all-embrac-
ing techniques for resolving the individual's problems,
Past
Lives have attracted less attention from Scientologists.
Until that time, there was a good deal of rivalry as to
who
could dig up the most gruesome notable, infamous or ex-
traordinary Past Lives. One popular personality, and not
only Scientologists try to claim a kinship, was Jesus of
Nazareth. At least three Scientologists in London uncov-
ered incidents in which they were crucified and arose from
the dead to save the souls of all the world. Hubbard,
inci-
dentally, in the past has been extremely scathing towards
Christianity. He has described Jesus as having been to
India,
learned a little of Buddhism and then having brought back
a very adulterated version to the Middle East. In recent
years though, it has become expedient to compare the
beauty of the Scientology ethic with that of Christianity.
Strangely, Queen Elizabeth I was popular at times
amongst Scientologists. So was Sir Walter Raleigh and The
Venerable Bede. Understandably, I never met anyone who
claimed to know anything about Attila the Hun, Genghis
Khan or Pontius Pilate. Hubbard claimed to have found
68
Karl Marx working in the Scientology organisation in Mel-
bourne, Australia. Since Marx is regarded by
Scientologists
as one of the really evil people to have inhabited a body
on
this planet, this new incarnation of Marx was not keen to
be detected but Hubbard dug him out and forgave him for
writing "Das Kapital", which was nice of him.
Science-fiction writers could get a lot of new ideas
from
Scientologists. Scientologists have been Galactic
Emperors,
doll-body slave drivers, ray-gunners and captains of Z-
velocity space cruisers that save the Planet of the
Beautiful
Maidens from the Super Nova. Annoyingly, my own Past
Lives seem to have been an endless succession of sloshing
about paddy-fields as a Chinese coolie, but I suppose
someone had to do all the boring jobs.
Past Lives are probably popular in Scientology because
they permit an escape from reality and responsibility.
With the failure of Dianetics to produce superman, an ex-
cuse had to he found to explain the resistance of the
human
mind. The excuse was Past Lives; billions of them. No
wonder supermen had degenerated to our present contemp-
tible level. With billions of lives deprived of
Scientology,
what could you expect?
As an exercise in inventiveness, they are good fun. Per-
haps indeed there are Past Lives. Only when taken
seriously
are they pathetic and ominous for some cannot
differentiate
between fantasy and reality. For these souls, the
irrespon-
sible talk and deadly seriousness given to Past Lives can
have a tragic result.
69
Chapter Six
AUDITING
Auditing, also known as Processing, is defined as: "The
application of Scientology processes and procedures to
someone by a trained auditor. The exact definition of
auditing is: The action of asking a preclear a question
(which he can understand and answer), getting an answer
to that question and acknowledging him for that answer."
It is applied to individuals or groups by an auditor - one
who listens and computes.
The action of auditing was, in the years 1950-52, some-
what comparable to psycho-analytic techniques. This was
the time of Dianetics and Hubbard has claimed his method
to be a more logical development from Sigmund Freud's
than the multitude of "schools" which sprang out of the
original pronouncements of the founder of psycho-analysis.
Though the methodology of auditing was a good deal
different from more mainstream psychotherapies, the mo-
tives were similar - to take the unknown or partly known
areas of past experience and by inspection to let the
patient redetermine his earlier conclusions. An identical
theory lay behind these forms of psychotherapy - that a
mechanistic cause and effect predetermined human thought
processes. The same mystical outlook was present when it
was decided that a life force existed in each individual
organism capable of causing or erasing psychosomatic dis-
ease. To Hubbard's credit, he has, albeit crudely,
attempted
to give full validity to this mystic concept rather than
brushing it under the nearest carpet as an embarrassing
side issue.
The imprecise nature of psycho-analytic free associative
techniques, in which the patient is permitted to take his
own time and make his own judgements as to what he will
inspect (and it is an error of magnitude for the analyst
to
direct his attention to any area), was replaced in
Dianetics
by a specific directing of attention. At the same time,
the
evaluation with which the psycho-analyst attempts to in-
crease his patient's understanding and tolerance of
himself
70
and his mental mechanisms - in its crudest form, the
label-
ling of attitudes to make it seem to the patient that at
least
someone knows what is going on inside his head - was
replaced by a stated categorical refusal to evaluate or
in-
validate in any way whatsoever the material, attitudes,
thoughts and conclusions of the preclear. "This term
covers anyone who is not a clear; however it is
principally
used to describe a person who, through Scientology pro-
cessing, is finding out more about himself and life."
The refusal to evaluate and invalidate the data of the
pre-
clear is one of the fundamental tenets of auditing. The
only
conclusion which is right is the one arrived at by the
pre-
clear. Evaluation and invalidation of the preclear's
outlook
renders him less capable of reaching right-for-him conclu-
sions and such conclusions are ultimately the only right
ones. To indicate the importance placed on this, Hubbard,
from time to time, has issued Codes of Conduct for Scien-
tology Auditors. The Auditor's Code of AD 18 (After Dia-
netics 18 = 1968!) gives:
(1) I promise not to evaluate for the preclear or tell him
he should think about his case in session.
(2) I promise not to invalidate the preclear's case or
gains
in or out of session.
These two primary promises are followed by twenty-six
more, the majority of which are more specific definitions
of
how not to evaluate or invalidate, e.g.: (10) I promise
never
to walk off from a preclear session; (22) I promise never
to use the secrets of a preclear divulged in session for
pun-
ishment or personal gain; (27) I promise not to permit
sex-
ual liberties or violation of the mentally unsound.
Although so great an importance is placed on these fac-
tors, there is, of course, a generalised evaluation and
invali-
dation of the individual from the moment he comes in
contact with Scientology. In addition, as will be seen
later,
there is a very definite and arbitrary standard of
behaviour
placed on anyone in contact with Scientology which can
have
the effect of being evaluative or invalidative of his
personal
attitudes.
Despite the differing emphasis placed on sections of the
mind and the differences of approach towards therapy,
Dianetics could be regarded loosely as a radical form of
psychoanalysis. It is quicker and more shallow but it
falls
within the same bracket.
71
With Scientology, these differences widened. Auditing
became more precise and the attempt to reclaim specific
memories and to derive understandings of present conduct
from them was replaced by an attempt to find basic causes.
In other words, not to necessarily inspect every aspect of
an Engram in order to relieve the stresses, but to
establish
the basic reasons why the individual got the Engram in the
first place. The example given earlier of the invalidated
goal being the only portion of the mental anatomy which
it is necessary to contact in order to resolve vast
quanti-
ties of incidents. It could thus be regarded as dealing
more
with the spiritual being and placing ever less importance
on
the mental state. By raising the abilities of the
individual,
the spiritual being, not only would the aberrative
influences
from the past die away and become unused but the present
and future resistance to future aberration would be in-
creased. The assumption is that reactive mechanisms are
useful to the Thetan from the time that he has lost self-
confidence in his ability to face up to life. With the
decline
of his abilities, he substitutes mental mechanisms to do
his
living for him. He is perfectly capable of handling all
aspects of his own life without substitutes or pre-pro-
grammed postulates and the only thing which stops him
from doing so is that he considers he cannot do it.
The emphasis of psychotherapies is upon the eradication
of mental aberration and to bring the patient to a state
of
"normal" or "acceptable" within our current social mores.
Scientology is a break with this tradition since mental
aberration is shown to be only the result of lessened
spiri-
tual awareness, certainty and ability. The ultimate goal
of
Scientology is to produce a being with vastly improved
capabilities far beyond anything previously envisaged as
possible for human beings. To re-establish the Thetan in
his rightful position of superiority and freedom and not
dictated to by out-of-present-time conclusions.
The Thetan is the only portion of the living unit which
can effect changes in the organism. In auditing, the
Thetan
is addressed exclusively. If mental problems are inspected
on a specific basis it is only because they are
distracting
from the main purpose of the auditing. If a preclear has a
Present Time Problem in his session such as the arrival
that
morning of a huge tax demand or his girlfriend telling him
the previous evening that she was pregnant, or even if he
72
wants to use the toilet, then these are handled only so
far
as to enable the preclear to devote his full attention to
the
auditing. If auditing concentrated on the day-to-day prob-
lems the preclear runs into, it would be a never-ending
procedure and would not equip him with the ability to
handle his own problems. A situation would develop like
the "pet psycho-analyst". Spiritual self-sufficiency is
the
goal, not never-ending dependence on Scientology.
This is one of the reasons why hypnosis, psychiatric
sur-
gery, drug therapies and electro-convulsive therapy are
re-
jected by Scientology since these are dealing with effects
rather than causes and usually render the Thetan incapable
of controlling his own mind because control is taken over
by an outside agency.
The Thetan made the mistakes which have reduced him
to his present level. He is the only one with the ability to
get
out of his self-constructed trap. Only he can change his
mind.
To detail all of the processes which were tried during
the
period 1950 to about 1966, when Hubbard considered he
had established a sufficiently reliable and rapid set of
tech-
niques, would require an enormous book. Hubbard has
never described, in any detail, his research methods. From
observation, it seems that he used a fairly pragmatic ap-
proach to gradually refine his work. Over the years, the
number of Scientology organisations around the world has
increased. Every auditing session report form, detailing
the
process used and the results, was forwarded to him for
analysis. From two or three years' experience of being a
staff auditor at the organisation in London, I can vouch
that he read carefully every word I had written down. His
comments were extremely perceptive! This inspection of
every report must be a colossal job in itself. Add to this
the writing of books, hundreds of hours of lecturing,
writ-
ing Technical Bulletins and Policy Letters, detailed
personal
management of every Scientology organisation in the
world, answering within a few days some 600-1,000 person-
al letters a week AND getting married and having four
beau-
tiful children. If nothing else could ever be said about
L.
Ron Hubbard, he could never be accused of shirking!
If the first goal to be achieved was the separation of
the
Thetan from his Reactive Mind and then the strengthen-
ing of the Thetan's independence, it follows that
Certainly a wondrous state. The Yogis and Zen-Budd-
hists have always aimed for something like this. If they
achieve their Nirvana (presumably, in Scientology terms, a
Thetan, uninfluenced by the Reactive Mind) in forty years
of hard contemplation and mind-training and one thing
and another, they count themselves very lucky. Scientology
can clear someone in about six months of full-time work
and for about L1,500. That's known as real progress!
Assuming the individual preclear starts out in Sciento-
logy and goes straight to Clear, the price of about L1,500
is
made up as follows:
Various books (30p to L2.50 each) ...................
L15.00
Hubbard Apprentice Scientologist Course
(Communication Course) ..............................
L6.00
Hubbard Qualified Scientologist Course ..............
L15.00
Hubbard Dianetic Auditor Course (HDA) ...............
L156.00
E-Meter (Tone-Arm counter and Case are optional
and extra) .,........................................
L50.00
Release Grades - Sub-zero (Dianetic) to Triple
Flow - total seven grades ...........................
L210.00
Power Processing to Grade V Release .................
L360.00
Power Processing to Grade VA Release ................
L72.00
Solo-Audit Course to Grade VI Release ...............
L275.00
Clearing Course .....................................
L275.00
Assuming that an average of five hours of Review Auditing
is needed at L5 per hour and one S & D (Search and Discov-
ery) at L36, the price of getting Clear is about L1,500.
As an aside, I hope that not too many preclears on their
route to Clear read this book because they will all have
to
have S & D's afterwards, and at L36 each...!
These steps and items are known as the Preclear or Non-
professional Route to Clear. The accent is on attention to
the individual's case and other than the HAS, HQS, HDA
and Solo-Audit Courses, there is only the barest attention
105
to theory. On the Solo-Audit and Clearing Courses, the
student audits himself and so he needs to know how to do
this and why. He is not qualified to audit anyone else.
The Professional Route to Clear is much more thorough.
In addition to the steps listed already, the student takes
the
Academy Courses to qualify him to audit on Classes 0-lV
and the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course. These cost an
additional L650 but the Solo-Audit Course is incorporated
in the Special Briefing Course and as a graduate from the
Special Briefing Course, the student gets the Power V and
VA processing at half-price. The real cost is therefore
ap-
approximately L1,700 for the Professional Route. It takes
be-
tween twelve and eighteen months to complete.
These prices may seem exorbitant. Power Processing, for
instance, at L432 may only take five hours of actual
auditing
That's L86.20 AN HOUR, which is good money by any stand-
ards. Scientologists justify these prices by saying that
(a)
the benefits are priceless; (b) a student passing through
uni-
versity costs the country about L2,000 a year; (c) a
Rolls-
Royce Silver Shadow costs L8,000 to L12,000 and it's just
a
brainless machine on four wheels; (d) the organisational
and research costs have been enormous over the last twenty
years and people should pay for all this work.
Maybe so but L86.20 is still good money.
The Clears produced prior to and during 1950 by Hub-
bard appear to be ignored nowadays. Considering the
priceless gift Hubbard had bestowed on them, their disap-
pearance demonstrates a distinct ingratitude - but that's
people for you. There also was a short period of about
eight months during 1958 when a number of people were
cleared on a process group known colloquially as "Help
and Step six". A bracket on Help was tried on the preclear
since it was assumed his main hang-up was on the ability
to
recognise, receive and give help. The term "bracket" is
fairly
common in Scientology auditing and Is an adaptation of
the military usage: the interval between the ranges of two
rounds of artillery fire, one over and the other short of
the
target, used to find the correct range. The Help bracket
was
run as follows: "How could you help me?" " How could I
heIp you?" "How could you help another?" "How could
another help you?" "How could another help another?"
These questions were asked one after another, cycling
round and round, until the preclear had thoroughly
106
inspected the entire subject of help and was free from any
compulsions or inhibitions on it. This was followed by
Step
six: "Mock-up (imagine) a...(mother, tax-collector, horse-
chestnut; whatever the preclear had an E-meter reaction
to), now make it more solid." The theory behind this pro-
cess seemed to make sense. If the preclear could be
brought to cause an effect upon his mental imagery, he
could gain an ascendancy over it and therefore no longer
be at the mercy of it. What in fact happened though was
that the mock-ups were not imagined but were mental
image pictures from the Reactive Mind and when these
were made solid, it beefed up the entire power of the
bank.
There were some very unfortunate results from this form
of clearing
The first of the current crop of Clears was John McMas-
ter, a South African, who was checked out Clear in Febru-
ary 1966 at Saint Hill Manor. A few more made Clear in
the following months and by the fall of 1966, between five
and ten were coming off the production line a week. Hub-
bard himself was not Clear for some months after John
McMaster made it. In conversation with him at Saint Hill,
he told me that he was not 100 per cent sure that the
present
Clears would not drop Scientology to attempt to achieve
their previously frustrated goals. Before getting Clear
him-
self, he wanted to be absolutely sure that it was indeed a
stable state with no influences from the past. Since the
frus-
tration of goals is the major item that holds the thetan
down, it was essential to establish that the removal of
this
frustration was not accompanied by a desire to achieve the
goal. Hubbard was checked out as Clear number 54.
When an individual is checked out Clear, he is given a
beautifully printed certificate that states he is Clear
num-
ber -. He is permitted to wear a Sterling silver bracelet,
on
the disc of which is engraved, "John P. Smith - Clear
No.: 22578" or whatever, and he is acknowledged.
As when a preclear achieves each level of Release, a
Clear is given a very thorough acknowledgement. On Fri-
day afternoons at Saint Hill (Clearing is now done at the
Advanced Organisations at Edinburgh, Scotland, Los An-
geles, California, and Sjaelland, Denmark, but the same
form applies), most of the entire staff and students,
some-
times 300 people, would assemble in the Chapel.
The week's Clears would each come on to the stage, be
107
handed their Clear certificates, usually by the Technical
Secretary, and then give a speech. Sometimes these
speeches
were profound, sometimes moving, sometimes hilarious but
more often than not they were, to me, confused and there-
fore sadly ominous.
Usually the speeches were an exuberant eulogy to the
wonders of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. Never did
I hear a Clear speak in concrete terms of real life
advance-
ment. They spoke of money and of devoting their life to
Scientology and of how they were sure they would never
revert to their old ways of self-doubt. Yet it always
seemed
that a set formula was coming out from the smiling face.
The speeches seemed contrived. "Now I am a Clear, I must
be enthusiastic, happy, grateful and, above all, a true
blue
Scientologist." Thus, I felt, the Clears had persuaded
them-
selves before their speech. Very sad.
There was humility - to L. Ron Hubbard - but never
true humility. A humble Scientologist does not exist. Hu-
mility is equated with weakness, mediocrity and
humiliation.
These were not humane people. These were programmed
computers.
In order to become Clear, it is essential to be able to
audit oneself. On the Solo-Audit Course or the Class VI
section of the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, one
learns
the theory of the Goals Problems Mass, how to dismem-
ber this mass by extracting and examining the underlying
goals and how to audit oneself. The G.P.M. is so trickily
constructed that only by self-auditing can one get
sufficient accuracy with speed to be able to take it
apart.
Built into every mechanism of the mind is a
self-preserva-
tive factor. Only by precise actions can this be bypassed,
thus the precision of all auditing. When dealing with the
goals that lie behind the mental aberration of the mind,
it
is not possible for an auditor to detect accurately or
rap-
idly enough the minute changes that distinguish correct
handling from incorrect handling. Only the individual in
direct contact with his own mind can detect these and take
the requisite actions fast enough. There must be no self-
doubt or uncertainty. Hubbard has described the attitude
of the preclear in successful clearing to an express train
travelling at 90 m.p.h. It is unstoppable and not in any
way
reticent.
The Solo-Audit is completed with the first direct attack
108
on the Goals Problems Mass. The End-Words of the set of
goals that comprise the G.P.M. are taken out and exam-
ined. All G.P.M.'s and their composite of goals are the
same
for each individual. For instance, if "To catch a Catfish"
were indeed a component of the G.P.M., it would be com-
mon to all people. Its End-Word would be "Catfish". In the
first auditing the individual does on himself in order to
take
apart his G.P.M., he "calls" the End-Words such as "Cat-
fish" to himself. He uses a pre-selected list of these
End-
Words.
To "call" the End-Word is done verbally, out loud. As
he locates each End-Word, there is an immediate yet slight
E-meter reaction. If he runs through the entire list with
the
correct reaction on each, he has started to weaken the
soli-
dity of the G.P.M. If he should find a block, a non-read,
when he "calls" the End-Word, he should inspect his audit-
ing just prior to the non-read. He will find that some
self-
invalidation, self-doubt or uncertainty has crept in to
make
his auditing imperfect. If he cannot locate where or how
he went wrong, he should have a Review session with an-
other auditor.
With the charge removed from the End-Words, it is then
a matter of "calling" the entire wording of each of the
goals
in order to discharge the binding energy that holds the
G.P.M. together. This is done in the Clearing Course. When
completed, and if the student is running well, it need
only
take two or three hours, the G.P.M. has no further power
to affect him. The foundations of the Reactive Mind are
discharged, causing a collapse of the entire structure.
The
Thetan is then unrestricted by the influences of a
Reactive
Mind.
Habitual patterns of behaviour may well persist but they
are not any longer supported by aberration. To reach the
state of Clear does not replace the value of experience. A
Clear is more able to learn French, but he does not im-
mediately start to talk fluent French. As Hubbard puts it:
"A refuse-collector who is cleared is a Clear
refuse-collec-
tor, not a Beethoven." Which is probably just as well.
Owing to the restimulative nature of the materials com-
prising the Solo-Audit and Clearing Courses, there is a
heavy security clamp on it. When a student enrols on these
courses he signs a declaration not to divulge to any non-
Clear any of the data which are given to him. Insanity,
109
severe illness and possible death is foretold for anyone
who
is not yet ready for it, who happens to even glance at the
Solo-Audit or Clearing Course worksheets.
Incredibly, only one severe breach of this ruling has
oc-
curred to date. Peter Goodwin, a Clear from Hampshire,
England, felt that the Clearing Course did not contain
such
information as to be worth L250 and so offered it to
anyone
interested for L50. A plagiarised version was shown to in-
experienced Scientologists, non-Scientologists and even
children, all of whom, disappointingly, continued to live
with rude good health and sanity. Perhaps his version did
not contain the real essence of the Word of the Master.
For his trouble, Peter Goodwin was selected for one of
the most viciously destructive "Ethics Orders" to ever
have
been issued. L. Ron Hubbard himself issued it, which is
enough to turn any normal self-respecting and God-fearing
Scientologist a sickly shade of purple. Dear old Ron,
self-
declared lover of humanity that he is, withdrew any future
help from Goodwin and his associates (presumably for
eternity), and threatened the most dire retaliations. If
there
was any justice in this universe, Peter Goodwin should
have
died agonisingly and begging for mercy when he read this
"Ethics Order", but he did not. In retrospect, it looks
very
much as though someone had successfully restimulated
Hubbard by playing the same game. For the greatest living
being in the whole universe to descend to such cheap
histri-
onics is very worrying. What are we lesser mortals likely
to
do when shown to be fallible?
It is very difficult to establish precisely what the state
of
Clear is. Obviously, it is almost entirely a subjective
exper-
ience. To test a subjective state, objectively, is very
difficult
and always open to personal interpretation. Scientology's
image is so tarnished in the eyes of rival psychotherapies
that an objective view would be very difficult to achieve
for a non-Scientologist investigator. It is even extremely
difficult to persuade someone from another school of
thought to consider the subject, theories and results of
Scientology. This is very interesting since it implies
that
these others who are most adamant in their condemnation
of Hubbard for his closed-mind attitude are themselves
trapped in the same state.
Something happens im Scientology auditing.
110
Something happens to a man's outlook when he becomes
Clear.
Probably the things that happen are not the pseudo-
scientific magic that Hubbard claims. Whatever it is that
happens needs to be investigated. Not because it is likely
to contain the Road to Total Freedom or any of the other
Scientology gobbledy-gook, but because Scientology is a
power in the world. Its end result, Clear, produces people
who are confirmed Believers following the Flaming Sword
to a greater destiny.
111
Chapter Nine
OPERATING THETAN
One might think that with the production in 1966 of the
first true Clear - a never-before imagined state of ability
-
and with the systematic output of some 3,000 more by mid-
1970, Hubbard would rest on his laurels.
This masterly gift to the human race is surely as much
as
can be expected of any one man. Surely, he would be justi-
fied to put down the reins of high office - there can be
no
higher office imaginable than to be the saviour of the hu-
man race - and leave the rest of we poor shuddering hu-
mans to make what we will of our destiny.
His magnanimity, like everything else about him, is
greater than all the rest of the world's magnanimity
rolled
into one.
Clear was a great gift. It promises peace, heaven on
earth, creativity, a relaxed assumption of each
individual's
true and mighty status. It promises this to every man,
woman and child - and presumably, in due course, every
cocker spaniel, ant-eater, mollusc, bed-bug and dahlia
tuber; they are only degraded Thetans after all. But even
Clear is not perfection.
We were all Clears trillions of years ago and because of
our well-known perversity, we gave up our shining lives of
self-satisfaction to become people. This must not happen
again. If every few trillion years, Hubbard has to come
back to save us, he may well get cross, impatient and low
in Havingness, and then we would be lost for eternity. We
must be made to turn into super-Clears. Whether we like
it or not, we must be forced, screaming and kicking, to be
as superior to Clears as Clears are superior to plain old
human beings.
Looked at in the cool light of rationality, a Clear is
merely a Thetan released from the shallow confines of his
Reactive Mind. He floats about outside his body with a
feeling of well-being and an air of amused condescension
towards such things as fish-forks, refrigerators,
mountains,
suns and galaxies, but he cannot do anything about such
material objects.
112
Oh, he can cause some sort of effects on material
objects
with his body but he is still impotent as a Thetan to DO
any-
thing. He cannot grab a star cluster in the Orion Nebula
and hurl it with a gay laugh at the Andromeda Galaxy
M31. He cannot rearrange the stars in the Milky Way to
spell out "Scientology is here to rescue you". He cannot
even remove the fleas from the back of his pet dog without
using Keating's Powder. Really, he is extremely useless.
He
is a parody of a true Thetan. He is a dead loss when com-
pared to how real Thetans - Operating Thetans - are.
"Operating Thetan: a Clear who has been familiarised
with his environment to a point of total cause over
matter,
energy, space, time and thought, and who is not in a
body."
A Thetan is Clear when so familiarised with his own mind
as to be at total cause over it. By communication to his
mind, reaching it, he is able to have it. When he has it, he
is
able to control it. When full control is established, he
can
dispense with it. Clearing is a First Dynamic pursuit. It
concentrates on removing obstacles and resolving prob-
lems in order to get the individual to be truly himself.
It
increases the dynamic urge to survive as Self.
When this dynamic urge to survive is extended to em-
brace one or more of the other Dynamics, he is an Operat-
ing Thetan.
As an OT, he is not suddenly at a God-like ascendancy
over the entirety of creation. He must be gradually made
familiar with his own ability and potential to assume con-
trol over his environment beyond the personal,
self-created
environment of his mind.
The Eight Dynamics are a scale of expansion from indi-
viduality to infinity. The individual fixated upon
survival
for self tends to assign other-determinism to all else in
the
environment and to elect all else as inimical to his
purpose
of self-survival (First Dynamic).
Someone with a more pan-determined view will, if the
circumstances demand it, reduce personal survival for the
overall good. Thus a parent will risk or lose his life to
save
his child's life (Second Dynamic). Thus a pilot will risk
his
own life by flying his burning plane away from a populous
area (Third Dynamic). Thus a soldier will die in battle in
the Second World War to save mankind from oppression
under Nazism (Fourth Dynamic). Precisely how this
illustration can be carried through the rest of the
Dynamics
113
is difficult to see. Conceivably, the owner of the Supreme
Champion at Cruft's Dog Show could give his life for his
pet (Fifth Dynamic), but no matter how pan-determined
someone may be, he surely would not die for an inanimate
object (Sixth Dynamic). Or would he?
Such behaviour does not mean that the parent, pilot or
soldier is an OT. He is not truly pan-determined until he
is first self-determined. The only way to become truly
self-determined is to get Clear. A person cannot be an
Operating Thetan until he has first become Clear.
To quote from L. Ron Hubbard - "Today through Scien-
tology we have a different being than the theoretical be-
ing or theoretical stab of the individual who existed at
the
beginning of the universe. That individual was totally po-
tential and had no experience. He could potentially have
*all* experience but he didn't have any. He could
potentially
know everything but didn't. So he socked himself down-
scale and eventually fell out the bottom.
"When you put somebody back to the level of Operating
Thetan you are putting somebody back who is different
than any being who has ever been on the track - there's
never before been an OT *with* experience.
"Never before in the history of the universe has there
been anything but a *released* OT, a being who is tempor-
arily exterior and feels great but sooner or later -
within
minutes or centuries - his bank catches up with him and
he falls on his head.
"Our definition of an Operating Thetan is that of a
*Clear*
Operating Thetan. This is a proofed-up being who no
longer has a bank or an impulse to make one *and* who has
experience. This is a completely stable state - a being
who
won't hit the banana peel."
There are eight OT Courses to be taken at a total cost
of
L1,470 if one wants to avoid "Hitting the banana peel". To
bring oneself to the state of the Compleat Scientologist,
one
need just add the Class VIII Auditor's Course at a cool
L625 ("He arrives on course and a few weeks later he's a
class VIII...." Merrill Mayo, Clear 179, Class VIII Super-
visor) and the Organisational Executive Course at L275
("Find out the secrets of how to run an organisation. Make
a million without ulcers. Take the Org. Exec. Course"),
and for the very reasonable total price of about L3,500,
one
114
is transformed from a hopeless human being into a Class
VIII Auditor and an Operating Thetan VIII.
One does not even need brains. Just L3,500 (if you pay
in
advance, you get a 5 per cent discount), about two years,
spare time to devote to becoming one of the world's super-
men and an unending and indivisible gullibility.
An OT VIII is a superman. More than a superman,
really, be is a God. He is: "...total cause over matter,
energy, space, time and thought..." and if that is not a
God, a total cause over the physical universe, a being who
can gaily hurl galaxies about, then there is something
badly
amiss somewhere.
Hubbard is, of course, head God and as head God, he
takes a paternalistic responsibility for all the others.
He
tells them what to do, and generally makes their life very
easy by merely demanding total obedience. By the time a
person reaches OT VIII, he is so indoctrinated with the
idea he is a God (having paid L3,500 is one of the most
con-
vincing arguments) that obedience to L. Ron Hubbard's
wishes is not difficult. Mostly, his instructions are
dished
out in a similar vein to that of the quotation given
earlier
in this chapter. A light,
we're-all-buddies-in-this-together,
incomprehensibly confused style. It is like pearls before
Scientologists though. It "Communicates" to them. It is
the
Word of the Master. To them, it is not the deranged rav-
ings of a paranoid megalomaniac. It is "dear old Ron com-
municating to us again". If it were not so sad it would be
hilarious.
The realms of Clear and more particularly the eight
levels
of Operating Thetan are secret. The material which brings
an individual to Clear and then expands him into dizzy-
ing heights of OT is so "hot", so dangerous to mortals
who are not right on the Scientology wavelength, that
great
pains must be taken to ensure it is secret. To make it
secret,
to speak of it only in hushed whispers of reverence, makes
it attractive - "As soon as I've taken all the courses and
saved up enough, I'll be able to go on the OT courses and
then I'll really know all about everything". Another way a
Scientologist might think of it - "I can't see much to
shout
about in the courses I've taken so far but maybe the OT
courses will be the answer". It is a matter of policy in
all
Scientology organisations that an air of mystery and magic
should cloak the OT levels and the Sea Org. This air of
115
mystery extends over nearly all of Scientology. It is
almost
impossible for an outsider to find out what Scientology is
and more especially what makes Scientologists tick. The
image of the Secret Organisation - insiders and outsiders
-
is cultivated by Hubbard. Only information of the most
simple nature must be given to the general public and the
news media. This explains to a degree the mystification of
many newspaper and TV men. They visit Saint Hill Manor,
for instance, and see many people slaving away with a deep
air of conviction and deadly purpose. They speak to the
Press Officer and Public Relations department only to find
that all this deep concern is about trying to get people
to
communicate with each other. It does not add up.
Whilst this aspect has brought much derisive press com-
ment, it also gives the impression that Scientology has a
lot
more of value that is so esoteric as to be uncommunicable
to the uninitiate. Even Scientologists believe this to
some
extent. Hubbard spoke once of having developed his own
particular brand of super-mathematics, the formulae of
which, when applied to any problem in working out new
processes in Scientology, solved them. A whispered ru-
mour had it that Hubbard had built a Flying Saucer and a
Ray Gun, based on Past Track memories, of course, but
due to his love for humanity, he would not release such
advanced technology until everyone was Clear and there-
fore use it to benefit rather than destroy. Such works as
Excalibur and History of Man are obviously designed to
give the impression of vast stores of knowledge held in L.
Ron Hubbard's head; these to be gradually released to
Scientologists as they become responsible enough - and as
they pay for them.
the OT III course (L365) involves the student in break-
ing through something called "The Wall of Fire". In an
incredible tape-recorded lecture called Ron's Journal '68
Hubbard, speaking from one of his ships out in the
Mediter-
ranean, describes "The Wall of Fire" as the major incident
or consideration which keeps Thetans as "humans". Ap-
parently some unspeakably gruesome event occurred some
trillions of years ago which convinced us all to be like
we
are now, hopeless and helpless.
Hubbard explains in Ron's Journal '68 how he almost lost
his life and sanity in the manful struggle to resolve "The
Wall of Fire". He went through the "Wall" without
116
anything but a grim determination. He realised that the
en-
tirety of Scientology and his life's work would be set at
naught if he could not find some way to make this incident
confrontable to the ordinary Operating Thetan II. Hubbard
announces the development of the technique to a grateful
world in his "Journal". Scientologists listen to this
extra-
ordinary tale of heroism undertaken solely for their
benefit
and the benefit of every other living thing in the rest of
the
known and unknown cosmos with enraptured gratitude. So
unctuous is Hubbard's appreciation of his own altruism
that one would think Scientologists would develop a trace
of scepticism but they don't. Scepticism is a sign of
deep-
rooted psychotic aberration and is, very understandably,
frowned upon by Hubbard and all Scientologists who know
what they are at. To be sceptical of politics, business,
re-
ligions, sciences, the Venetian glass-blowing industry,
trade
unions, sex and the Pill, East Grinstead Urban District
Council, police, student "demos", baked beans and Gen-
eral Motors is a sign of healthy disbelief. It
demonstrates
a cool appreciation of reality.
One cannot disbelieve Scientology though. It is a con-
tradiction to even think disbelief could be applied to a
sub-
ject so purely and disinterestedly based upon self-evident
truths. If a Scientologist should become sceptical and,
as-
tonishingly, it happens very rarely, he is thrown out or
is
processed to the point where the contagious disease or
dis-
belief is erased. Under the ambivalent reasoning used by
Hubbard, the fact that scepticism of Scientology can be
processed out of an individual proves that such scepticism
is founded on reactive aberration. To be critical of
Scien-
tology is proof that one is denying the true and essential
goodness of oneself. Such contradictory, insane and self-
destructive behaviour should obviously be processed out of
someone with the greatest efficiency and speed. If this
in-
dividual is so far gone as to refuse processing, that is, to
re-
fuse to be liberated from himself, then, regrettable
though
it may be, he is a danger to the only movement on earth
which is capable of being an answer to the Atomic Bomb,
the Population Explosion, Wars, the Onward March of
Technology, Dandruff and all the other threats that gloom
the horizon. He is slung out.
Suspicion between lesser Scientologists is encouraged by
Hubbard. It is in his interest for his followers to have
but
117
one truly reliable source of information and wisdom - him-
self. It would weaken Hubbard's influence if another
Scien-
tologist gained wide influence and respect for originality.
In
the earlier days of Scientology, until about 1960, a few
Scientologists tried to do original work. A few tried to
write
books - This is Life by Reg Sharpe; Creative Education
by Muriel Payne; Scientology: Its Contribution to Know-
ledge by U. Keith Gerry; This is Scientology by Jack Hor-
ner - tried to put their interpretation, without the
slightest
hint of criticism, on Hubbard's work. These were
published,
with the exception of Creative Education, by the Scientol-
ogy organisation but were soon withdrawn when the au-
thors received too much attention or stepped out of line
with Hubbard's changeable and perverse policies.
The story of Muriel Payne's Creative Education is an
illustration of Hubbard's unwillingness to allow anyone
else to gain approbation. Muriel Payne was a highly
respec-
ted educationalist who had worked with the authorities in
India and Israel. She became interested in Scientology as
a means to improve the effectiveness of teaching methods
and wrote Creative Education to promote and describe
these. Using her influence, there was a good chance that
Scientology could have gained wide acceptance BUT she
had incorporated ideas and techniques that, although not
critical or contrary to Scientology, were not original to
Scientology. In the eyes of Hubbard any idea not of his
creation is evil. It comes under the heading of "mixed
prac-
tices" - something mixed with Scientology that diminishes
its purity.
In more recent years, Scientologists have become more
"on policy". Hubbard has made it so clear that he is the
only person around who knows what is going on that no
one else ever tries to be original in any way. One of the
larger and more cunning aberrations that people have is
that they do not like to be told what to do. In order to
over-
come this obvious weakness, there are processes (the
CCH's mentioned earlier, for instance), and organisational
policies to ram the point home that the only use Hubbard
has for a follower or staff member is as someone who can
follow his word with slavish devotion. He wants to hear of
people getting better with Scientology. If someone does
not
get better in the correct, party-approved manner, then
that
person is maliciously going out of his way to make a fool
118
of Hubbard and Scientologists. He is rejected as being so
stupid as not to realise that here is the Road to Total
Free-
dom.
Anyone with only a vague amount of sense would want
to jump on the Road to Total Freedom, wouldn't he?
Even though that road looks like one of the most total
enslavements to have been seen around for some time.
The OT Courses are self-audited as is the Clearing
Course. Based upon observation of Hubbard's earlier rea-
soning, the OT I Course consists of repetitions of the ma-
terial of the Clearing Course. The subsequent levels are
based on the Route 1 series of processes.
These are exteriorisation processes and start with R1-4:
"Be three feet back of your head." This command is prob-
ably audited slightly differently since the command is ad-
dressed to oneself. "I must now be three feet back of my
body's head" could well be the way one gives this order
to oneself, out loud of course. R1-5: "Whatever the pre-
clear happens to be looking at (do not direct his
attention
to anything), have him copy it one at a time, many, many
times. Then have him locate a nothingness and copy it
many, many times." R1-6: "Locate the two upper back
corners of the room, hold onto them and don't think."
R1-7:
"Now find a place where you are not." R1-8: "What would
it be all right for you to look at here in this room?" This
is
done with the body's eyes closed (obvious really!) and
then "Now find something it is safe to look at outside
this
room." R1-9: "Be near Earth"; "Be near the Moon";
"Be near the Sun"; "Be near the Earth"; "Moon"; "Sun";
"Earth", and so on. This is called the Grand Tour. "Be
near Mars"; "Be at the centre of Mars" and so it con-
tinues.
An exteriorised Thetan, being composed of nothing, finds
little difficulty in any of these exotic commands, except
only when he *considers* he is a body or a locatable
object.
Thus an exteriorised Thetan is given confidence, stabi-
lised outside of his body, by these processes. He also
gains
that all-essential Broad View of life, the universe in
which
the game of life is played and the supreme importance of
Scientology in giving this Broad View to one and all. Only
by this approach will people ever regain their true
station
in life. They will become less involved in the day-to-day
trivia. Will learn to be pan-determined. Ants, bees and
119
termites are pan-determined. They work with an admirable
self-abnegation for the overall good of their colony.
The queen-bee must be protected. All other bees are dis-
pensable. There is an astonishing similarity between these
insect colonies and Scientology.
Surely Hubbard isn't the Scientology Queen-Bee?
120
Chapter Ten
ETHICS
To build a new civilisation requires new laws.
Laws with a greater purpose than to maintain the status
quo or to remove offenders from public view.
To get the best out of people, the new laws must be ap-
plied with scrupulous fairness. Justice must not only be
done but must be seen to be done, as the saying goes. The
new laws must protect the accused from injustice and must
protect the new civilisation from wrongdoers.
The new laws must be so magnanimous, mighty, dealing
with trivia and weighty problems with equal concern for
the individual's welfare, so as to eventually draw the
masses, wide-eyed with joyous relief, towards them. They,
the plain people, beset with exploitation, injustice, a
crumb-
ling civilisation headed by leaders incapable, incompetent
and uncaring, will reject phoney standards and turn to-
wards that which gives hope to the individual, puts
decent,
clean-living people where they belong - at the pinnacle of
all that's best - and puts justice where otherwise there is
in-
justice
The mind-bending prattlings of a bookish utopian, div-
orced from the realities of how people act?
Not a bit of it. This is what Scientology is doing. As
part
of its make-this-world-a-decent-place-to-bring-kids-up-in
programme, Scientology is making laws and thus laying the
foundations for the first civilisation of which Mankind
may
be proud.
Millions already believe the Ethics of Scientology carry
more weight and honesty than the traditional and confused
laws of nations. These are becoming the new Citizens of
the
World. They are giving up narrow nationalism, mere ethnic
barriers for the greater cause of all life. There is a
distinct
leaning towards the Anglo-Saxon ethos but this is
subsidiary
to that of Scientology. For the first time, there is a
genuine
and strongly organised movement to convert all peoples to
a creed which, though godless itself, does not argue on
religious grounds but claims to enhance all forms of
121
religious experience. A philosophy, moreover, which brings
practical and realistic benefits in this life rather than
in
some vaguely defined afterlife.
Hubbard has stated: "All that Ethics is for - the
totality
of the reason for its existence and operation - is simply
that
additional tool necessary to make it possible to apply the
technology of Scientology.
"Man does not have that purpose for his law or his
justice. He wants to squash people who are giving him
trouble.
"That is not the case with Scientology Ethics which hav-
ing the above purpose is a fabulously successful activity.
"...the systems of disciplinary actions which are
employed on earth today are incapable of doing more than
worsening an individual."
Hubbard has defined his Ethics as: "reason and the con-
templation of optimum survival".
In other words, the laws of Scientology enhance the sur-
vival of all. Existing laws threaten or inflict lowered
survival
and by fear lower the survival of even non-criminals.
Scientologists willingly accept these heady assurances.
"The greatest being in the 300 trillion years of history of
the
physical universe says this is the way to get things done,
so
who am I to argue?" type of willing acceptance.
If one follows through on the reasoning behind all of
Scientology, one sees that humanitarian and creative laws
are possible. A Thetan cleared of all mental aberration is
a good person. Not just well-intentioned but good in
action.
Such good people will act for the overall welfare. If they
have a code of conduct which is at once clearly under-
standable, applicable to all circumstances and guaranteed
to produce the optimum results, then good people will turn
to that at all times. There is a code of conduct and laws
which not only provides for a clear, happy, sparkly-eyed,
joyous world but which has the truly unique advantage of
being based upon untold trillions of years' experience. It
is
as if an the civilisations down through incomprehensibly
long aeons have been proving-grounds for the culmination
of laws, the quintessence of which is SCIENTOLOGY ETHICS.
Scientology Ethics; the very name stirs the heart, mind,
soul and stomach with renewed hope. Man's travails, in-
deed the travails of all beings, including purple-furred,
seven-eyed, methane breathing, sexually divergent
occupants
122
of the Lesser Magellanic Cloud galaxy, are at an end.
Every being in the cosmos now has a perfectly straight-
forward and essentially therapeutic code whereby he can
order his life and his social systems.
For "advanced thinkers" and proponents of the "Per-
missive Society", Scientology Ethics will come as something
of a shock. As it is a mixture of Barry Goldwater's Repub-
licanism, Nazism, the less esoteric elements of Commun-
ism, the sickly sweetness of television Christianity and the
philosophy of Soldier Termites, it does indeed have a
uniquely embracing quality but, regrettably, it makes no
allowance for people "to do their thing". Still, life is like
that. Thousands of people think for years to find a more
satisfactory way of getting things done only to find they
have wasted their time.
Hubbardian Ethics is not in the great tradition of
Socrates and Aristotle. It contains the brutality of
Fried-
rich Nietzsche, the absolutism of Immanuel Kant, the ro-
mantic impracticality of Benedict Spinoza and the denial
of self of Existentialism. A wildly improbable admixture.
It is essentially a series of injunctions from the Master.
Do's
and don't's on how to be a good Scientologist.
As may be imagined, Scientology Ethics consists to a
great degree in a protection of Scientology.
L. Ron Hubbard, being the most important Scientolo-
gist, amongst his other remarkable qualifications, is pro-
tected most thoroughly. Mary Sue Hubbard, his present
wife, comes next. Then his family, with the exception of
his
son by some other marriage - L. Ron (Nibs) Hubbard,
Jnr., who is not spoken of nowadays. Then senior Scientol-
ogists and lesser and lesser Scientologists. The
non-Scien-
tology general public - "Wogs" - is not protected much at
all. Ex-Scientologists, particularly those who take
overtly
reactive actions against Scientology, such as writing a
book
on it, are regarded as so far gone as to be a menace to
the
welfare of the human race. They must be quietened by
intimidation, blackmail, physical threats, mental coercion
(Hubbard has stated, as if invoking a Voodoo curse, that
anyone rash enough to take action against Scientology is
guaranteeing unto himself an incurable insanity followed
by a painful death. Most ex-Scientologists I know appear
in excellent physical shape and, if anything, somewhat
saner. Nevertheless, just in case old Ron is right, I
always
123
keep in mind that these poor unfortunates may suddenly
be possessed of an indescribably horrible insanity and may
keel over shortly afterwards. It gives an air of
excitement
and delicious anticipation to meetings with ex-Scientolo-
gists).
The system of awards and penalties contained within the
Conditions of Existence which forms the backbone of the
practical application of Scientology Ethics is based upon:
"We reward production and up-statistics and penalise
non-production and down-statistics." A statistic - "A
number or amount compared to an earlier number Or
amount of the same thing. Statistics refer to the quantity
of work done or the value of it in money" - is compiled
for
all jobs, posts and organisations within the Scientology
complex and is computed each week to determine the
Condition of Existence to be assigned.
Hubbard cites the Welfare State of Britain and other
western countries as examples of Rewarding Down-Statis-
tics, as if the only people who ask for welfare handouts
are
lazy, good-for-nothing layabouts. Everyone in a
Scientology-
controlled society would work hard and long for his daily
crust in order to push his "stats" up and up. It sounds
very
boring.
The Conditions of Existence from highest to lowest are:
Power, Affluence, Normal Operation, Emergency, Danger,
Non-Existence, Liability, Doubt, Enemy and Treason.
When a Scientology staff member first assumes his post,
whether it be as a transfer from another post or as a com-
pletely new member of staff, he is declared in a Condition
of Non-Existence. He must apply the formula for Non-
Existence in order to pull himself up to the next
condition:
"(1) Find a Communication line; (2) Make yourself known;
(3) Discover what is needed or wanted; 4) Do, produce
and/or present it." Once having successfully applied this
formula, the staff member is assigned a Condition of Dan-
ger.
The formula for Danger: "(1) Bypass [ignore] the junior
normally in charge of the activity - handle it personally:
(2) Handle the situation and any danger in it; (3) Assign
the
area where it had to be handled a Danger Condition; (4)
Handle the personnel by Ethics Investigation and Commit-
tee of Evidence; (5) Reorganise the activity so that the
situ-
ation does not repeat; (6) Recommend any firm policy
124
that will hereafter detect and/or prevent the condition
from recurring". In the case of a staff member newly on
post, much of the Danger Formula is applied in a very
fleeting way. It is applied more thoroughly when a staff
member or department slips into Danger from a higher
condition.
Once out of Danger, a Condition of Emergency is as-
signed, the formula for which is: "(1) Promote. That ap-
plies to an organisation. To an individual you had better
say produce; (2) Change your operating basis; (3) Econo-
mise; (4) Then prepare to deliver; (5) Stiffen
discipline."
If the Emergency formula is applied successfully, one
goes into Normal Operation: "(1) The way you maintain
an increase is when you are in a state of Normal Operation
you don't change anything; (2) Ethics are very mild, the
justice factor is quite mild, there are no savage actions
taken particularly; (3) A statistic betters, then look it
over
carefully and find out what bettered it and then do that
without abandoning what you were doing before; (4) Every
time a statistic worsens slightly, quickly find out why
and
remedy it."
Exactly how one goes from Normal to Affluence when
there is a heavy injunction to change nothing is difficult
to
see but it does happen that the statistic will suddenly
shoot
up and then one applies the following formula: "(1) Econo-
mise; (2) Pay every bill; (3) Invest the remainder in
service
facilities, make it more possible to deliver; (4) Discover
what caused the Condition of Affluence and strengthen it."
If one can strengthen the Condition of Affluence for a
long enough period of time, a Condition of Power will be
achieved. "(1) The first law of a Condition of Power is
don't
disconnect; you just can't deny your connections, what
you have got to do is take ownership and responsibility
for
your connections; (2) The first thing you have got to do
is
make a record of all of its lines. And that is the only
way
you will ever be able to disconnect. So on a Condition of
Power the first thing you have to do is write up your
whole
post; (3) The responsibility is write the thing up and get
it
into the hands of the guy who is going to take care of it;
(4)
Do all you can to make the post occupiable."
This formula for Power may seem extremely confusing
as it mentions "don't disconnect" and later suggests that
the
person in a Condition of Power is going to leave his post.
125
This is something to do with an obscure state known as
Power Change which is the condition in which one moves
on to some new post by going out of the top.
The rates of pay in Scientology organisations are ex-
tremely poor. A new staff member at some organisations
is paid a flat rate of L8.00 per week. With experience
this
can go up to about L30 per forty hour week. In the
majority
of organisations, there is a unit system, akin to a
commis-
sion, whereby each staff member is paid a proportion of
the
total takings of the organisation for any week. This can
vary widely from nil to L30 or L40 per week, usually on
the
lower side.
Depending on the Condition of Existence, the pay is ad-
justed. At Normal Operation, the staff member is paid his
set wage or set number of units, low for a filing clerk or
copy typist, high for a divisional secretary. In a
Condition
of Affluence, there is a 33 1/3 per cent increase; in Power,
a
66 2/3 per cent increase. In Emergency, the staff member
re-
ceives 33 1/3 per cent less: in Danger, 66 2/3 per cent less,
and in
Non-Existence and all of the lower Conditions of
Existence,
he receives nothing.
If the staff member is unfortunate enough or, as Hub-
bard would put it, is maliciously foolish enough to sink
below Non-Existence, he enters a most uncomfortable area
known as the Condition of Liability.
"The being has ceased to be simply non-existent as a
team member and has taken on the colour of an enemy.
"It is assigned where careless or malicious and knowing
damage is caused to projects, organisations or activities.
It
is adjudicated that it is malicious and knowing because
orders have been published against it or because it is
con-
trary to the intentions and actions of the remainder of
the
team or the purpose of the project or organisation.
"Such a person, assigned a Condition of Liability, may
not wear any insignia or uniform or similar clothing to
the
group and must wear a DIRTY GREY RAG tied around the left
arm.
"The formula of liability is:
"(1) Decide who are one's friends; (2 Deliver an
effective
blow to the enemies of the group one has been pretending
to be part of despite personal danger; (3) Make up the da-
mage one has done by personal contribution far beyond
the ordinary demands of a group member; (4) Apply for
re-entry to the group by asking the permission of each
126
member of it to rejoin and rejoining only by majority per-
mission, and if refused, repeating (2) and (3) and (4)
until
one is allowed to be a group member again."
It is a truly illuminating experience to be assigned a
Con-
dition of Liability (it happened to me about twelve
times!).
Colleagues whom you regarded as friends, seem suddenly
distant and distrustful. They won't talk to you. They
don't
offer you cigarettes or suggest you take a swig out of
their
Coke bottle. In some really Eager Beaver cases, they even
refuse your cigarettes when you offer them! It is amazing.
In addition to the above degradations which everyone
takes great delight in heaping on your bowed and shamed
head, you are not supposed to eat and drink more than
stale cheese sandwiches and water and you are barred from
sexual relationships with your wife. (In Scientology, you
are
either married or single and chaste.)
When you come out of your Condition of Liability
(which is supposed to last only forty-eight hours maximum
but which I experienced for fourteen days at one point),
other Scientologists begin smiling at you again, a little
wanly maybe but the effect is electrifying. You are back
in
the Land of the Living, even though you have not slept
during the entire period of the Condition of Liability.
Once
having been in a Condition of Liability, you resolve never
to go near it again but it does not always work out that
way.
The Condition of Doubt is even worse. "When one can-
not make up one's mind as to an individual, a group,
organ-
isation or project a Condition of Doubt exists.
"The formula is:
"(1) Inform oneself honestly of the actual intentions
and
activities of that group, project or organisation,
brushing
aside all bias and rumour; (2) Examine the statistics of
the
individual, group, project or organisation; (3) Decide on
the basis of `the greatest good for the greatest number of
dynamics' whether or not it should be attacked, harmed or
suppressed or helped; (4) Evaluate oneself or one's own
group, project or organisation as to intentions and objec-
tives; (5) Evaluate one's own or one's group project or
organisation's statistics; (6) Join or remain in or
befriend
the one which progresses towards the greatest good for the
greatest number of dynamics and announce the fact pub-
licly to both sides; (7) Do everything possible to improve
127
the actions and statistics of the person, group, project
or
organisation one has remained in or joined (8) Suffer on
up through the conditions in the new group if one has
changed sides, or the conditions of the group one has re-
mained in if wavering from it has lowered one's status."
In other words, if you doubt that Scientology is all it
claims to be, get rid of the doubt or get out.
The additional penalties when in a Condition of Doubt
are exotic. The doubting Scientologist must wear a hand-
cuff on his left wrist. Since handcuffs are expensive and
difficult to obtain, a symbolic handcuff is worn, made up
of
paper-clips. One is either thrown off the premises or is
locked up in the most dungeon-like part of it. It is ru-
moured that the major executives at Saint Hill were
hurled into the swimming-pool fully clothed in the middle
of winter because Hubbard felt they must have been in a
Condition of Doubt. It is also rumoured that some really
bad cases of Doubt were lowered to the bottom of the well
at Saint Hill to help them sort things out in cool and
quiet
surroundings.
Below Doubt comes the Condition of Enemy: "When a
person is an avowed and knowing enemy of an individual,
a group, project or organisation, a Condition of Enemy
exists.
"The formula for the Condition of Enemy is just one
step:
"FIND OUT WHO YOU REALLY ARE."
Someone in a Condition of Enemy and the next lower
Condition of Treason is a Suppressive Person: "One who is
battling constantly in covert ways to make others less
pow-
erful and less able because of imagined danger to
himself."
Hubbard, revealingly, has spoken and written a great deal
about the S.P. Apparently, only some of the 2 1/2 per cent
of
the population are truly suppressive. They influence
another
20 per cent and make them Potential Trouble Sources:
"Any person who, while active in Scientology or a
preclear,
remains connected to a Suppressive Person or Group. (A
person `roller coasters', i.e., gets better, then worse,
etc.,
only when connected to a Suppressive Person or Group, in
order to cease roller-coastering he must either handle the
source of suppression or disconnect from it)." Because an
S.P. destroys the case gains of other Scientologists by
making them into Potential Trouble Sources, people in the
128
Conditions of Enemy or Treason are shunned by any self-
respecting Scieotologist.
The Condition of Treason is brought about by a betrayal
of trust or faith which Scientologists have had in an
indi-
vidual. Should a Scientologist give evidence at any of the
government enquiries into Scientology, should he write a
critical book, then he has betrayed the trust invested in
him
and he is in a Condition of Treason.
"The formula for Treason Condition is:
"(1) Deliver a paralysing blow to the enemies of the
group one has worked against and betrayed; (2) Perform a
self-damaging act that furthers the purposes and or objec-
tives of the group one has betrayed; (3) Inform the group,
project or org. one has betrayed of one's previous
betrayal
and (1) and (2) above and petition each member for for-
giveness; (4) Abide by their reaction or decision."
Anyone in a Condition of Enemy or Treason is classed
as Fair Game. Scientologists have claimed this to mean
that the individual is not protected by the codes of
Scientology, when pressed on this point by television
inter-
viewers and reporters. Yet Hubbard in his book Introduc-
tion to Scientology Ethics, 1968, states: "A Suppressive
Person or Group becomes `Fair Game'."
"By FAIR GAME is meant, without right for self, posses-
sions or position, and no Scientologist may be brought be-
fore a Committee of Evidence or punished for any action
taken against a Suppressive Person or Group during the
period that Person or group is `fair game'."
Would a Scientologist who takes it into his head to
murder a declared Suppressive Person be regarded by
Scientologists as fully within his rights? That murder has
not
occurred as far as is known is not to the credit of L. Ron
Hubbard's Ethics but more to the credit of police and
courts
of the old-fashioned, repressive type.
"...it is a very interesting fact that a far greater
propor-
tion of people in Scientology today favour a decent (!)
ethical law and favour ethics actions than have reacted
against it, because they see that it will make things go
right."
Doubtless Adolf Hitler might have expressed very similar
sentiments about the actions of the band of thugs
attracted
to his "philosophy". It is astonishing and very
disquieting
that many ordinary and apparently law-abiding people
129
should directly or indirectly subscribe to this form of
vio-
lent extremism.
As religious zealots, Scientologists exceed any that
have
gone before. They have not simply a deep faith that theirs
is The Way. They can present a comprehensible whole;
an all-embracing answer to many of the problems that beset
humanity. Normal procedures of democracy, socialism,
capitalism, religions, laws and social standards seem
incap-
able of saving us from a future, pointless and
dehumanised.
Hubbard does not bother to justify the inhumanity of his
Ethics. If families are broken up, if friends are turned
against friends, if suicides occur, if an entrapment of
the
very spirit that makes humans human should occur, then
that is subsidiary to the aim to prove Hubbard right.
After
all, as he is careful to instil into the outlook of his
follow-
ers, anything that happens to anyone is fully and totally
that person's own responsibility, they pull it in on them-
selves, don't they?
Hubbard's Ethics are applied in each organisation by
Department of Inspection and Reports, and specifically
by Ethics Officers. These individuals, one for each TWELVE
staff members and students, carry short wooden batons.
They carry out routine Ethics inspections of work and
conduct of the people assigned to them and often act in an
officious and interfering way. They can assign low Con-
ditions with no more reason than that they feel low Con-
ditions are needed, for the good of the victim's
everlasting
soul, of course. For instance:
I was working at a drawing-board one day in the spring
of 1968. It was a complicated layout for a booklet. It
took
a lot of time and concentration to get the Letraset
exactly
as I wanted it.
A thump came on the drawing-board, making the board
tilt, my arm jerk and cracking the Letraset.
Thirty-minutes'
work up the spout.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I said turn-
ing to see Con Whitlock, Ethics Officer.
"I'm doing a comm. inspection. You'd better watch your
language. Which are your baskets?"
"Buzz off and take your funny comm. inspection with
you. I'm too busy to fool with you right now."
"What did you say?" he asked, a look of incredulity in
his eyes.
130
"I said buzz off. B-U-Z-Z-O-F-F. You've just ruined a lot
of
work and if you're not careful I will apply my own brand
of
personal Ethics on you, mate."
"Do you know what the penalties are for obstructing an
Ethics Officer in the performance of his legal duties?"
"No, but I can guess. Something degrading and sadistic
like being publicly flogged in front of the window of L.
Ron
Hubbard's office in the Manor."
Con seemed to have lost his sense of humour since be-
coming an Ethics Officer. "No," he said. "But you will be
assigned a low Condition."
He didn't exactly buzz as he strode away but there was
an
air of self-righteous incredulity about him which was
almost
audible. About fifteen minutes later another Ethics
Officer
brought me a little slip of paper. It was a hastily
scribbled
Ethics Order on the H.C.O. Old Gold paper. It said:
"Cyril Vosper, Director of Promotion, SH is hereby as-
signed a Condition of Liability for obstructing an Ethics
Officer, Con Whitlock, in the performance of his legal du-
ties."
It didn't say anything about Con Whitlock obstructing
me in the performance of MY duties. I suppose I asked for
it
though. I took out my own special dirty grey rag and tied
it
around my left arm. I took the white carnation out of my
buttonhole and threw it away.
This police state system of constant checking of the
work
and conduct of a staff member cannot be justified in terms
of greater efficiency. In the admittedly extreme example
cited above, about three days were lost in my work in
scrambling up from the Condition of Liability to the state
of Normal when I could resume the layout I had been on.
It certainly cannot be described as "that additional tool
necessary to make it possible to apply the technology of
Scientology". Since the vast majority of Scientology staff
members are in their jobs not for money or personal gain
but because they are convinced they are doing the only
truly worthwhile job in the world, it is obvious that they
need little of the Scientology brand of Ethics, correc-
tion and punishment. By some strange alchemy, Hubbard
has induced his followers to believe implicitly in him.
What-
ever may happen in any Scientology organisation, and al-
most everything that does happen is a direct result of his
policies, Scientologists believe that no possible wrong
can
131
stem from Hubbard but must stem from the inadequacies
of the people whose job it is to apply his policies. It is
a
curious experience to read a Policy Letter issued and
writ-
ten under L. Ron Hubbard's copyright (for instance, one,
issued in about 1967, stated that ANY falling statistic
was
caused for no other possible reason than that a
Suppressive
Person was causing it to fall); to mention to other
Scientol-
ogists that Hubbard's statement seemed a bit extreme (one
would obviously not say - "He must be out of his mind!");
to see the policy applied with gusto and a total lack of
sane
judgement (since there is a feeling amongst Scientologists
that policy applied wrongly is better than policy not ap-
plied); to see utter chaos reign; to see further policies
is-
sued by Hubbard not so much admitting his earlier policy
was incorrect (one would be prepared to then put his earl-
ier statement down to research or some such) but blaming
Ethics Officers for going on witch-hunts among his beauti-
ful and valued staff. To cap it all, there could well be
an-
other instruction from Wise Old Ron a few months later
saying that Ethics Officers must dig out the horrible
S.P.'s
with utter ruthlessness, and the whole idiotic thing
starts
over again. Perhaps it is that Hubbard is full of boyish
fun
and gets immense malicious glee from the discomfort of
his slavish followers. If this be so, then he also gets a
bonus
of totally uncritical adulation. Some people have all the
luck!
Though Ethics Officers take their hard or soft line at
the
whim of L. Ron Hubbard - maybe it's a hard line when his
teeth are aching and soft when they are all right, because
he
refuses to go to the dentist from fear of aquiring Engrams
from the anaesthetic - the assignment of the Conditions of
Enemy or Treason and their attendant declaration of Sup-
pressive Person is usually carried out by a Committee of
Evidence.
Such Committees are composed of four or five ordinary
staff members and the proceedings are tape-recorded. The
recording is used in the case of an appeal being lodged
against the findings of the Committee of Evidence. This
sounds fine in theory but in practice if one is assigned
the
Condition of Enemy or Treason, one is not allowed to ap-
peal until the Conditions Formulae have been applied, at
which there is only academic interest or point in the
appeal
(in my own case, they also mislaid the tape recording).
132
Committees of Evidence are convened by the HCO
Area Secretary, head of HCO Division 1 under which
comes Department 3, the Department of Inspections and
Reports (Ethics amongst other things). There are four
general classes of crimes and offences upon which a Com-
mittee of Evidence may be called to ajudicate - Errors,
Misdemeanours, Crimes and High Crimes.
A Comm. Ev. may not be called solely to judge guilt or
innocence of an Error, since these are minor unintentional
omissions or mistakes which are usually handled by direct
actions by the senior or Ethics Officer.
There are three classes of Misdemeanour - Technical,
General and Ethical.
Under Technical Misdemeanours, of which there are fif-
teen listed, come: "Knowing and repeated departures
from standard technology, procedures or policy" and "Any
other answer to a student's demand for verbal technical or
unusual solutions than the permitted: `The material is in
(HCO Bulletin, Policy Letter or tape)', `What does your
material state?', `What word did you miss in the (HCO Bul-
letin, Policy Letter or tape)?' and requests for unusual
aud-
iting solutions: `What did you actually do?'" Technical
Misdemeanours are therefore applicable to auditors and
instructors.
Amongst the twenty-six General Misdemeanours listed
comes: "Continued association with Squirrels (Squirrels:
Those who engage in actions altering Scientology, and off-
beat practices)." As additional information on Squirrel
groups, the most infamous in the U.K. is "The Process"
which seems to be an unlikely mixture of Para-Scientology,
Mein Kampf, The Cult of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft,
John Lennonism, Anti-Christianity, Make War AND Love
and "Doing your Thing, Man". The word "Squirrel" has
something to do with Nuts.
Another General Misdemeanour: "Refusing auditing
when ordered by a higher authority."
Under the nine Ethics Misdemeanours comes: "Failure
to appear before a Committee of Evidence as a Witness or
Interested Party when personally given summons or receiv-
ing summons by registered post." (Interested Party is Hub-
bard's charitable term for The Accused.)
There are four classes of Crimes - Non-Compliance and
Neglect, Financial, Technical and General.
133
Under the seventeen Non-Compliance and Neglect
Crimes come: "Omissions or non-compliance requiring
heavy intervention by seniors, consuming time and money,
with Dev-T (Developed Unnecessary Traffic)" and Neg-
lect of responsibilities resulting in catastrophe even
when
another manages to avert the final consequences.
Under the fourteen Financial Crimes come: "Juggling
Accounts" and "Selling auditing hours or training courses
for advance which are not then delivered as to hours and
time in training (but not results or subject-matter)."
In the twenty-one listed Technical Crimes come: "Be-
ing or becoming a Potential Trouble Source...without
reporting it or taking action" and "Any Supervisor teach-
ing or advising any method [not] contained in HCO
Bulletins
or on tapes, or slighting existing HCO Bulletins, Policy
Let-
ters or tapes".
Amongst the twenty-two General Crimes come some
truly remarkable activities: "Mayhem", "Organising or al-
lowing a gathering or meeting of staff members or field
auditors or the public to protest the orders of a senior"
(the Trades Union Congress will have something strong to
say about that one, when Scientology takes over!) and
"Impersonating a Scientologist or staff member when not
authorised". (The mind boggles at the idea of being auth-
orised to impersonate a Scientologist or even a staff
member.)
High Crimes are divided into four categories: A.
Attacks on Scientology and Scientologists; B. Disavowal,
Splintering, Divergence; C. Technical High Crimes; D.
Criminal Issue of Materials. Within these categories come
the most revealing fears and phobias of their author. Here
are shown the true pressures exerted on Scientologists and
those who attack it or try to make it more rational in its
approach to the world of men as opposed to the fearful
and jealous world of L. Ron Hubbard.
Amongst the twenty-two High Crimes listed as Attacks
on Scientology and Scientologists come: "Proposing, ad-
vising or voting for legislation or ordinances, rules or
laws
directed towards the Suppression of Scientology", "Writing
anti-Scientology letters to the press or giving
anti-Sclen-
tology or anti Scientologist evidence to the press",
"Testi-
fying as a hostile witness against Scientology in public",
134
"Being at the hire of anti-Scientology groups or persons",
"Mutiny", "Receiving money, favours or encouragement to
suppress Scientology or Scientologists", "Delivering up
the
person of a Scientologist without defence or protest to
the
demands of civil or criminal law", "Spreading false tales
to
invalidate Clears", "First degree murder, arson, disinte-
gration of persons or belongings".
Within the fourteen High Crimes in the sub-heading of
Disavowal, Splintering, Divergence, come: "Announcing
departure from Scientology (but not by reason of leaving
an organisation, a location or situation or death)"
[Death?], "Seeking to resign or leave courses or sessions
and
refusing to return despite normal efforts", "Continued ad-
herence to a person or group pronounced a Suppressive
Person or Group by the Hubbard Communications Of-
fice" [such as a wife who stays with her husband who is a
declared S.P.], "Failure to handle or disavow or
disconnect
from a person demonstrably guilty of Suppressive Acts"
[I received about 200 letters dated 5-9-68 all saying the
equivalent of: "Cyril Vosper: I hereby disconnect from
you. Eileen Shapiro." I did not know who Eileen Shapiro
was but it was very civil of her to let me know she had
dis-
connected from me. Another said: "I disconnect from you
completely. Barbara Chandler." Again, I did not know who
Barbara Chandler was and that savage little "completely"
was a little unnecessary, I felt], "Dependency on other
mental or philosophic procedures than Scientology (except
medical or surgical) after certification, classification
or
award" [could the Roman Catholic Confession be regar-
ded as a mental or philosophic procedure? If so, so much
for Scientology's stated non-interference in other
religious
faiths], "Continued membership in a divergent group"
[could the local Tennis Club be regarded as a Divergent
Group?], "Seeking to splinter off an area of Scientology
and deny it properly constituted authority for personal
profit, personal power or to `save the organisation from
the
higher officers of Scientology'".
Of the two items classed as Technical High Crimes, the
first concerns Star-rated Checkouts on the auditors em-
ployed by Scientology organisations. The second is: "Pre-
tending to have an organisation but have no technical per-
sonnel on staff in Tech or Qual."
135
There is one item classed as Criminal Issue of
Materials:
"Public Dissemination of false or forbidden or dangerous
data."
The findings of any of the above subjects of a Committee
of Evidence, are published in pseudo legalistic jargon as
an
HCO Ethics Order,* upon the approval of the HCO Area
Secretary or the HCO Executive Secretary, for and on be-
half of the Board of Directors of the Church of
Scientology
of California, Incorporated. The Chairman, Secretary and
Members of a Committee of Evidence are not trained in
legalistic or judicial matters and base their findings
upon
the copius Policy Letters that Hubbard has issued about
Scientology Ethics.
If Scientology can be regarded as a professional body,
it
is justified to issue a set of ethical standards whereby
its
name and the names of its practitioners and members may
be kept clean in the eyes of the public. With Hubbard's
ability to reduce complexities to simplicities, there is a
reas-
onable chance, or rather there was before he came to re-
gard himself as the greatest thing to have hit the
physical
universe in 300 trillion years, that a new ethos could
have
evolved. Certainly those standards of behaviour social,
political, scientific, religious, seemingly based upon
tribal
and ethnic values, are no longer appropriate for Today's
Changing World".
Presumably, after much struggling there will evolve a
comprehensible and comprehensive ethic, upon which can
be built a more profound and humanitarian system for hu-
mans to live with humans. It will owe nothing to Scientol-
ogy.
Hubbard devised his Scientology Ethics to give guidance
to Scientologists as to the conduct expected of them and
to
control the excesses of zeal which could bring the whole
movement into disrepute and in for ridicule. His Ethics
has had the precisely opposite effect. With the
development
of Scientology Ethics as a codified system under the
justi-
fication that such a system was desirable to give a wider
therapeutic value to the whole of Scientology, zeal has
expanded, doubtless very flattering to Hubbard, at the ex-
pense of tolerance and sanity. For all the pompous ver-
bosity and self-importance, there is not the slightest
trace
of self-criticism and therefore not one iota of humour in
*See Frontispiece.
136
the whole absurd edifice. Scientologists are right; all
others
are wrong. Not simply wrong from ignorance but in a
malignant, creepy, sordid, intentional way.
Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, who made the
amazing space opera film 2001: A Space Odyssey, were
probably ignorant on a conscious level of using very re-
stimulative past track symbols. Yet deep down inside,
where they, as scared Thetans, reside, they must have used
these images - which *seem* no more than highly
imaginative
extensions of space ships and gadgets and the colours and
forms experienced in Cannabis "Trips" - from a malicious
motive to enslave the very souls of the audience. At
least,
one would assume so, since the Ethics Officer of the Hub-
bard Scientology organisation in London issued an Ethics
Order which was circulated to all other organisations in
the world and placed on public view on the notice board,
banning Scientologists from seeing the film. Presumably,
that Ethics Officer did not think much of 2001 when he saw
it and decided that since, in his elevated position, he
knew
best, he forbade all his "flock" from seeing it too.
Astonish-
ing though this may be, the most absurd part of this affair
is
that it was taken with deadly seriousness by other Scien-
tologists and presumably by L. Ron Hubbard since all
Ethics Orders are sent to him for information.
The editor of Truth newspaper, J. Mahoney of Welling-
ton, New Zealand, was declared "to be in a condition of
Enemy and a Suppressive Person for condoning the print-
ing of articles detrimental to mankind...". Fifteen
charges
against Truth are listed: "1. Which is seeking, by
printing
articles which are totally untrue, to turn people away
from
Scientology when this organisation provides at this time
the only means man has to free himself from a cycle of
warfare and insanity which has been prolonged for an in-
sufferable amount of time" and "9. Which seeks to destroy
maliciously and with lies a philosophy like Scientology
[surely, to God, there aren't others!] which is aiming to
bring spiritual, mental and physical freedom to man and
seeks to free mankind from complete spiritual oblivion"
and "10. Which seeks maliciously to conceal from man the
truth about the mind which has been available for years
since the evolution of Einstein's theory of relativity [so
that's where it all started!] which established
conclusively
that energy has mass and thereby provided further data
137
directly related to the mind that thought created energy
and therefore produces mass, mental mass, and has enabled
further research to produce the exact structure of the
sub-
conscious or reactive mind". Poor old Einstein has been
blamed for the Atomic Bomb and the hideous rise of tech-
nology, but to blame him for Scientology as well seems a
bit much! "15. Which by insistence on printing only one-
sided reports on Scientology whilst knowing full well that
there is another side to the story and whilst knowing that
Scientology is one of the fastest growing organisations in
the world, which fact has obviously only come about
through the fantastic results obtained by hundreds of
thou-
sands of individuals throughout the world. Therefore be-
cause this newspaper considers it only worth while to
print
the opinion of a fractional minority to the exclusion of
the
majority a full public apology is required." Mr. Mahoney
was graciously informed that the formula for the Condi-
tion of enemy was: "Find out who you really are." If he
applied this formula based on the charges of this Ethics
Order, he probably found out he was the Devil Incarnate.
The Ethics Order is signed, Pat Bloomberg, HCO Secre-
tary, Auckland, and has a sweet tail-piece: "If you find
yourself critical of this - look for a misunderstood
word."
One wonders seriously whether it is Auckland, New Zea-
land, *Earth*, or Auckland, Mars!
This illustration of Scientology Ethics at work is taken
from the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the
Hubbard Scientology organisation in New Zealand which
was issued in Wellington, N.Z., in June 1969.
The report makes fascinating reading and its conclusions
are drawn with care. "...the activities, methods and prac-
tices of Scientology in New Zealand have contributed to
estrangements in family relationships"; "...the attitude
of
Scientology towards family relationships was cold,
distant,
and somewhat uninterested"; "...the commission is again
definitely of the opinion that Scientology has affected
the
custody or control of children or persons under the age of
twenty-one years..."; "...the commission's clear opinion
that the activities, methods, and practices of Scientology
did result in persons being subjected to improper or un-
reasonable pressures", nevertheless, the Commission de-
cided not to ban or restrict Scientology activities in New
Zealand.
138
This conclusion was based as much upon the Commis-
sion's unwillingness to add to "the body of statute law
which restricts personal activities for social reasons",
as
upon the apparent change of heart of the Scientologists in
New Zealand resulting in a letter from L. Ron Hubbard to
the Commission: "With regard to the practice of discon-
nection, I have taken this up with the Board of Directors
of the Church of Scientology, and they have no intention
of reintroducing this policy, which was cancelled on the
15th November, 1968." This letter is dated 26th March,
1969 and purports to come from Saint Hill Manor, East
Grinstead, Sussex, though at this date Hubbard was
cruising
around the Mediterranean with has flotilla of ships and
yachts. His statement to "have taken this up with the
Board
of Directors" is laughable. He is a law unto himself. He
issues edicts.
One remark by the commission is relevant: "Because of
the hierarchical structure of Scientology and the extent
to
which policies and directions were issued from above, it
seemed to the commission that, if practices which had been
regarded as objectionable could be cancelled by fiat, they
could also by the same fiat be reintroduced."
This is the essence of the danger of Scientology. Its
actions
are determined solely and completely by one individual.
It does not have the moderating influences of a dem-
ocratic structure. The mind of Hubbard seems composed
of genius and an insensate lust for power. This unique
combination has brought distress to large numbers of peo-
ple already and if the lust-for-power aspect should again
grow in prominence and with the vastly greater wealth
and influence that Scientology commands, all Hell could
be let loose.
If Hubbard were just one individual, he would be
pathetic
but avoidable. There are 5,000,000 Hubbards and in that
quantity are not pathetic but menacing and very difficult
to avoid.
139
Chapter Eleven
PROMOTION
"Be a Scientologist."
"Buy a book."
"Get trained."
"Attend...", "Join...", "Go to...", "Take...", "Come
to...".
The advertising of Scientology services does not credit
its audience with much intelligence.
"Don't be reasonable", Hubbard has said and the adver-
tising is duly unreasonable.
Also it is often incomprehensible, facile, boring,
boastful
(always), tasteless, inaccurate, uninformative, absurd,
hypo-
critical, pretentious, undiscerning, rude, sugary,
ludicrous,
self-centred, blatant, overdone, unimaginative, in fact,
fairly typical of all advertising.
Scientology promotion is churned out in vast quantities.
A sadly comic reflection though it may he on the
discern-
ment and judgement of we humans, advertising works when
it ignores any faint glimmerings of intelligence on the
part
of its audience, when it is unreasonable, when it boasts
and
goes in for some of the more unattractive of human traits
and when it repeats all of these things, over and over
again,
to the point of a mind-bending mental conditioning.
Non-Scientology advertising men - are they truly men
in the Homo sapiens sense or are they alien invaders from
some distant star out to reduce us to mindless jelly
before
their saucer-shaped battle fleets arrive? - justify their
pres-
ence in human society by the claim to be necessary for
economic health.
Scientology does not justify its promotional methods
with any such trivial excuse. Humans need to be forced to
be free. They need to be taken out of themselves,
painfully
if necessary. They need to be expanded beyond the con-
fines of their shallow and meaningless lives. If that
means
doing a hard sell on them, beating them mercilessly with
mostly unwanted and incomprehensible words, then that
140
is how it must be done. No one has ever claimed this to
be a perfect world and for the good of mankind's ever-
lasting soul, it is necessary to give him a very hard time
so that he will be able to enjoy the good time to follow.
It
is the
so-delightful-and-refreshing-when-one-stops-banging-
one's-head-against-the-wall sort of reasoning.
If ever there is an accurate history of the twentieth
cen-
tury written in the future - and if Scientology gains the
upper hand it is doubtful if historians will exist let
alone
accurate historians or even a future - Scientology will
surely gain recognition, amongst its many other remark-
able features, for having brought human ideals, philos-
ophy, religion and wisdom to the status of a Baked Bean.
For that is the status of the most sought for goals of hu-
manity in the eyes of L. Ron Hubbard.
Packaged truth; merchandised wisdom; hard sell sanity
with a five per cent discount; sexy birds smiling
invitingly
over the top of an E-meter; "Ron's Journal 1968" a brand
leader; maximised shelf-space for Dianetics: the Modern
Science of Mental Health; give away offers; special dis-
counts for just YOU; "six months' free membership for your
name and address"; Extra; New; FREE; convenient; "try
our free course", money back guarantee; easy; bold type
faces; screaming invitations; "Don't give your prospect
a choice - tell him!" - the whole gamut of modern
marketing, salesmanship and advertising. To Hell with the
customer: get his money.
It goes without saying that Scientology improves the
effective impact of anything yet seen in the way of
illustra-
tion and product presentation. Your actual advertising
agency, for all its market research statistics, depth
analyses,
psychological motivational research, subliminal sexual
tit-
illation and the rest of that ponderous jazz, does not
have
the key to 300-odd trillions of years of what makes the
cosmos go round.
In his researches into the OT III materials, Hubbard
came across a reputed 10,000 mental image pictures which,
if seen by anyone not yet at the level of being an OT III,
have a truly remarkable effect. They are magical. They
apparently engender an uncontrollable desire in anyone
looking at them to have them. They bring peace, quietude
and serenity. They make people feel happy. Because of
this remarkable feature, Hubbard had the brilliant idea
that
141
if these pictures could be reproduced on the jackets of
his
books, people would be so keen to look at them, they
would buy the books. This demonstrates, if further proof
were necessary, Hubbard's good will towards all men. He
doesn't keep these pictures to himself, but graciously al-
lowed them to be displayed for all to see on the covers of
his
books.
Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health, first
published in 1950, and one of the world's best sellers in
its
field, has a full-colour illustration on its dust-jacket of
a
volcano erupting, complete with huge fiery rocks hurtling
into the sky, lava cascading down the mountainside and a
general impression of nature at its most virulent
disregard
for peace and harmony. You can almost hear the mind-
shattering roar.
At the other extreme, The Phoenix Lectures, derived
from the curriculum of the Phoenix, Arizona, Professional
Scientology Course in July, 1954, has a picture of a
Chris-
tian cleric with distinguished white hair and a Walt
Disney
expression of peace humanity and good will, dressed in
maxi-length black habit and with a silver crucifix around
his neck. His arm is around an inscrutable Chinese gentle-
man. This caricature of Confucius crossed with Lao-Tse
has an extremely long left arm - his fingertips would
easily
reach below his knees - is dressed in a blue-green flowing
robe, clutching a long staff in his right hand, has a
black
hat on his head, and disporting one of those long white
beards that denote patience and wisdom of the Eastern
variety. Presumably this peculiar picture is meant to
signify
that Scientology is a unifier between Eastern and Western
philosophies, though what Chairman Mao's thoughts would
be on the whole thing is open to speculation.
Scientology: the Fundamentals of Thought, Scientology
8-80 and The Findings - on the U.S Food and Drug Agency
display the head of a hirsute and venerable old gentleman.
For The Findings, this head has been placed incongru-
ously on the shoulders of a judge-like figure sitting at a
bench. The effect is startling and hilarious. The other
two
books have "Scientology is here to rescue you" written
under this illustration. Many people on seeing this
drawing
assume it to be L. Ron Hubbard who is portrayed, but it is
not.
Problems of Work shows a colossal black figure of a man
142
towering about mountains in the distance. The Evolution
of a Science shows three men in white spacesuits loading
cardboard boxes into a spaceship. Child Dianetics shows
something along the lines of a black and white wire-haired
terrier staring reflectively from the front cover. Science
of
Survival shows a solitary, leafless, windswept tree
against
a desert background.
Scientology: A New Slant on Life displays a muscular
male figure hanging from a cross. At first this may be
taken
to imply some connection with the crucifixion of Jesus of
Nazareth but on closer inspection it can be seen that the
nails go through the unfortunate man's elbows.
How to Save Your Marriage - which is a particularly de-
pressing title as well as a derisory and worthless
exposition
of Hubbard's opinions on marriage and children - shows
the stern features of a young reclining woman in profile
and
the pudgy and neckless head and shoulders of a twelve to
eighteen months old curly-haired baby, all surrounded by
a gold ring.
Presumably there are a good many more of these pictures
to come. Richard Gorman is the artist of these immensely
forgettable pictures. He submits the roughs for the
pictures
to Hubbard for approval. Therefore whether it is Gorman
or Hubbard who is finally responsible for the lack of even
elementary draughtsmanship and the weak colouring is not
known.
Perhaps it is the irrelevance of most of the pictures to
the
contents of the books they grace that is the attraction,
for
since these new covers have been introduced, since about
mid-1967, sales of Scientology books are claimed to have
risen markedly. This is probably explained more accur-
ately by the fact that there was, in 1968, a hard-sell
pro-
gramme introduced to place Scientology books in retail
outlets throughout the world. Previously, Scientology
books had been sold directly from the bookstores of every
Scientology organisation or through mail order.
With the new sales programme, it was felt that status
could be achieved for the books and Scientology generally
by placing them in every bookshop and quite often all
sorts
of other shops. Every staff member of every organisation
in the world was given a suitcase full of books and told
to
place them in every retail outlet in a specified area. For
normal sales there was a 33 1/3 per cent discount from
recom-
143
mended retail prices; for quantity sales to important outlets
-
the major bookshops in cities and towns, multiple
retailers
like W. H. Smith & Sons or John Menzies - a discount of up
to 40 per cent could be allowed. If these methods proved
im-
possible, small stocks could be left on a sale or return
basis.
The staff member cum salesman was given a maximum of
three days to dispose of his books through the trade, or
be
assigned a Condition of Liability. It worked; sometimes
with
hilarious results, but it worked.
A frail lady of about sixty, staggered about Sutton and
Cheam, a south-west suburb of London, with her case of
books and managed to place a few in a BUTCHER'S shop.
Such superlative saleswomanship should not go without
recognition.
A Scientology book is the policy-approved means of in-
troduction for a newcomer to Scientology. Beyond the fact
that his books contain the unsullied word of the Master,
L. Ron Hubbard's books let the purchaser in for the main
promotional activity of Scientology. Buy a book and you
become a NEW NAME. Your name and address is added to
the Addressograph plates of your nearest organisation. A
file is opened in the Central Files in Dissemination
Division
II, with as much personal information in it as possible.
Ad-
dress stickers derived from the plates of all the
Addresso-
graph installations throughout the world are used to mail
The Auditor - the tabloid monthly journal of Scientology.
These same plates are used for weekly local mailings of
advertising blurb, such as the announcement of a new book,
a local Scientology Congress, a lecture tour by John Mc-
Master or some other notable Scientologist, New EXTRA
100 per cent Standard training or processing developed
espe-
cially with "the English CASE" in mind by L. Ron Hubbard
(he seems to think there is something particularly
peculiar
about "the English case", so do most other people) or to
promote any brand leader. The plates are also used for
mailings to specific groups, such as those people who have
not taken professional training and who are urged, or ra-
ther given an unarguable Tone 40 command, to GET TRAINED
(it can only be a matter of time before OR ELSE is added
to
these commands).
The Central Files folder is used by Letter Registrars to
send personal letters to everyone in the record. These
let-
ters are not the photo-litho reproductions of set letters
and
144
signatures favoured by mail order firms and sometimes
euphemistically described as "A personal letter from the
Chairman, Mr. Z. William Winklebaum". Letter Registrar
letters are individually written or typed to YOU, with but
You in mind and sneakily try to make You think You are
something more than a name on a file.
"Dear John,
How are you getting on, John?
I would love to hear from you soon, John.
You are important to me, you know. I want you to
get on the Road to Total Freedom right now, John.
Write to me soon and let me know when we can look
forward to seeing you here, the best possible place for
you to be. Right here among all these beautiful Clears
and beautiful people all helping themselves to make the
world a better place.
With all my love,
Letter Registrar, Clear No.: 12345."
Or less gushing but equally unlikely is the following
letter
from the Advance Organisation for the United Kingdom,
in Edinburgh, sent to someone who has repeatedly stated
in letters to the various Scientology organisations that
she
has no possible interest in Scientology:
",, March 1970
Dear___,
How have things been for you in 1970?
At AOUK we offer higher levels of awareness and
ability.
If you have any questions or comments, do write.
I'd certainly like to hear from you.
My best wishes,
Alex Macrae
(for) Bill Wood
Letter Registrar."
All hand-printed in blue ballpoint in a very untidy and
immature script.
Insincere though these letters may be in the main -
after
all they are written to all and sundry and the only
justifica-
tion is that the recipient must have bought a book - they
145
work in a sufficient number of cases to make the Letter
Registrar operation a highly successful one. It does
person-
alise the Scientologist's contact with his local
organisation.
Until the end of 1967 when Saint Hill Manor, East Grin-
stead, Sussex, was the world centre for Scientology
training
and processing, it had a remarkable effect on someone liv-
ing in the backblocks of Queensland, Australia, or Van-
couver, Canada - the far-flung outposts of the Scientology
Empire - to receive a bright and breezy letter of hope and
encouragement from the mystic centre of all Scientology.
These letters also have the practical advantage that the
prospective customer of Scientology can refer his problems
or queries to an actual person rather than to an
impersonal
organisation. Hubbard has laid great stress upon the func-
tion of the Letter Registrar as THE most important single
promotional activity after selling books. It is compara-
tively cheap and highly effective in persuading people to
act rather than to simply think of acting. A Letter Regis-
trar; is rarely successful at persuading someone to take a
stronger interest in Scientology but is highly effective
in
persuading those who have a strong interest to put their
interest into practical form. Amongst the instructions
fol-
lowed by a Letter Registrar is to ignore or make light of
real world difficulties.
Someone could, reasonably, reply saying that they had a
house, job, family, etc., in Wellington, New Zealand, and
they could not see their way to throwing all of this over
to
spend a year in England on Scientology courses, much as
they might like to. A Letter Registrar would be criminally
"Off Policy" to agree that these difficulties looked
insur-
mountable. Instead she must take the view that his dif-
ficulties are basically motivated by the Reactive Mind. No
matter how good his life seems now, it will be anything
from
ten to one hundred times better once he has some Scien-
tology courses under his belt and it is his duty for the
sake
of the survival of the human race to get to England, post
haste, and start pitching it with all these beautiful and
worthy Scientologists. "Do it for me", the Letter
Registrar
might well say, and an astonishing number of people do.
Each letter written by a Letter Registrar must be
uniquely addressed to that individual. Form letters or
para-
graphs are shunned. In at least one instance, a Committee
of Evidence was convened, with a Letter Registrar as
146
"Interested Party", to determine whether form wordings had
been used in her outgoing letters. Because of the
difficulty
of writing a letter, with an adequately personal slant, to
someone who has only bought one book, questionnaires
are used a good deal to try to determine what the individ-
ual's goals in Scientology are. These questionnaires ask
"How did you learn about Scientology?", "On which as-
pects of Scientology would you like more information?"
"Have you had any training in Scientology?" and so on, as
well as questions about age, marital status, occupation.
The
individual who sends this back in good faith, indicating,
for
instance, that he has not had any Scientology training,
will
soon be bombarded by letters and leaflets telling him to
GET TRAINED.
The great bulk of material of a promotional nature
which flows from every Scientology organisation is not
designed to be educational about Scientology. If one
wants to be educated there are books, tape-recordings,
long
playing records and courses. These, and auditing, are what
make the money. The organisations of Scientology headed
by The Church of Scientology, of California, Inc., are
non-profit-making organisations. All income is distributed
according to a set formula between wages, running ex-
penses, property and promotion. There are no dividend-
receiving stockholders - Hubbard has claimed Scientology
to be the only mankind betterment movement with no
vested interest pressure groups - and despite the constant
accusation by press and television commentators that
Hubbard has made himself a multi-millionaire from Scien-
tology, it is probably impossible to distinguish between
which funds are his personally and which belong to the
org-
anisations. Various guesstimates have been made as to the
money he has made out of Scientology, anything between
$5,000,000 and $30,000,000 - he was reported in the Daily
Mail to have $7,000,000 in LRH Personal Account No.:
272'893-2 in the Pictet Bank, Geneva - though Hubbard's
claim, believed by all Scientologists, is that he inherited
a
large fortune in oil-yielding land in Montana. He has also
gaily claimed to be a director or shareholder of some 200
U.S. Corporations, the names of most of which he cannot
remember. He bought the buildings and thirty-five acres
comprising the Saint Hill Manor estate from the Maha-
raja of Jaipur in 1959 for L14,000. During the following
147
ten years various additional buildings were erected,
includ-
ing the Chapel, the Lower Hall and the Castle, and the
whole lot, sold as a going concern and including "good-
will", was sold to the Scientology organisation in
residence,
The Hubbard College of Scientology, for a reported
L100,000, some time during 1969-70.
In an article entitled Why Feel Guilty? which appeared
in
Coronet magazine in 1969, Hubbard states: "Concerning
my critics: I am accused of making a fortune from Dian-
etics and Scientology. Yet over $13,000,000 of unpaid
royal-
ties and moneys owed to me I foregave and let be spent
on helping Man." I can only reply: "Maybe so; but how
much did he take if he can forgive $13,000,000?"
The major point though is that the very nature of the
structure of Scientology makes it impossible to determine
Hubbard's financial situation. Saint Hill Manor was not
only the international centre for Scientology until about
1967, but was also Hubbard's home. Presumably, maids
and butler, food and cars, ponies for his children, rates
and
electricity were paid for by the Scientology organisation.
Now that he lives on the Sea Org., a fleet of yachts and
ships
with hundreds of Scientologists as crew, servants, cooks,
shoe-polishers, etc., he, again, would have little need
for
actual money.
If Hubbard has not made a large personal fortune out of
Scientology, he certainly should have done. He has
developed
a commercially viable system almost entirely from his own
genius and efforts and, whether his methods have been al-
ways beyond reproach or not, he is fully entitled to take
his
rewards. If he places a price of L3,500 plus for anyone to
participate in his ideas and these people are prepared to
pay it, then it is their decision - caveat emptor.
The promotional techniques used may smack of unpro-
fessionalism, they may shock the tender sensibilities of
those who feel "truth" to be beyond commercial exploita-
tion, yet Hubbard, with a typical disregard for the
opinions
of others, has used proven methods of marketing and ad-
vertising to sell his product. Scientology is changing the
entire outlook of the human species and is reformulating
the structure of human society. It is not purely a
religion
for belief and faith but a technologically oriented method
of changing people. To do this with the optimum result re-
quires stringent control, a precise and orderly
organisation
148
and money - lots of it. On libel suits alone, Scientology
must spend thousands of pounds every year - at one point
there were over forty libel suits against newspapers in
the
United Kingdom. Hubbard stresses the idea that Scientol-
ogy is in a state of siege against the powers of
destruction
and evil in the world. Scientology is pure truth and
integ-
rity; all else is reactive aberration. This justifies high
prices
and produces, as a bonus, that "holier than thou and we're
the top 10 per cent of the world's population" attitude of
Scientologists.
Scientology promotion works. Hubbard has stated that
the membership of his organisations is doubling each year;
probably exaggerated, since by 1982 the entire population
of the world, plus a few million Martians and Venusians,
would be members at this rate. David Gaiman, the Scien-
tology spokesman, was reported in the Daily Telegraph
of 19.5.1969: "Despite the ban on students from abroad,
Scientology in Britain is recruiting more than 100 members
a
week." Even if these figures are exaggerated, there are
over
200 students on the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course in
Los Angeles and this is one of the senior training courses
in
the entire range and takes approximately four months to
complete: over 5,000 Scientologists attend the weekly
Clear
declaration presentations in Los Angeles; there are some
forty Scientology organisations dotted around the world as
well as probably 200 semi-official Franchise Centres; the
worldwide membership is claimed to be 5,000,000 as of
1970; if only 1 per cent of this total takes its training and
pro-
cessing all the way, it represents a staggering
L175,000,000
income; from my observations of conversion from mild
interest to active participation on the part of Book Buyers,
it
is reasonable to expect an incredible 8-10 per cent which
would delight any non-Scientology mail order operation,
and
represents a total near to L2,000,000,000 income over the
next
few years. Hubbard once told me that more money could
be made from Scientology than anything else. If these pre-
dictions are wildly exaggerated and assuming that, with
this
sort of money, Scientology will be able to expand more
rap-
idly in future, then it makes General Motors, Standard
Oil,
IBM, Dupont and the national budgets of the majority of
countries look like very small operations.
It also makes governmental actions to try to stop or re-
strict Scientology, such as in the State of Victoria,
149
Australia, where Scientology is banned (although it is now
claimed that a Scientology organisation is flourishing in
Melbourne under the direction of John Bellmaine); such as
the one-man governmental enquiry being conducted by Sir
John Poster in London; such as the Food and Drug
Agency legal actions taken unsuccessfully against the
advertising and descriptions of the Hubbard E-meter in
Washington, D.C.; such as the Republic of South Africa's
Commission of Enquiry appointed in Pretoria by Dr. Carel
de
Wet, Minister of Health, on February 2nd, 1969 to investi-
gate Scientology, described as "a cancer, like communism,
which could destroy South Africa"; the growth of Scien-
tology makes these attempts seem half-hearted and very
much too late. Add to these the fact that Scientology is a
truly pan-national movement not subject to any laws except
its own and actions taken by individual nations, even if
they can dredge up any instances of proven illegality, can
only hinder in a small degree the forward progress of
the movement. It also makes martyrs: see Kangaroo Court:
an Investigation into the Conduct of the Board of Inquiry
into Scientology, Melbourne, Australia - a swingeing re-
buttal of the charges and findings which led to
Scientology
being banned in the State of Victoria and subsequent gov-
ernment actions being taken in the States of Western and
South Australia: The Findings: on the US Food and Drug
Agency, mentioned earlier and citing instances of the
FDA's "Big Brother" operations; and A Report on the
Conference of Health Ministers - a strange document with
a large red "SECRET" printed on the front which claims to
report on the meeting of the Health Ministers of the Aust-
ralian States in Darwin, 1968, and suggests that there is
a
Smersh-like conspiracy against Scientology in Australia.
Scientology promotion works because it uses the proven
methods of advertising. Its product is health, wealth,
beauty, superiority and everlasting life. Its "salesmen" -
meaning every Scientologist, and he carries his "product"
in his smiling, confident and agressive attitude to life -
are
totally convinced of their own rightness. Any criticism
must always seem like petty fault-finding. Theirs is the
right. They know where others doubt. They are unstop-
pable.
Such conviction, backed up with modern marketing
techniques, cannot help but produce results. Hubbard has
150
stated that Scientology will best gain support in those
areas
in which older standards are eroded. It will step in to
sub-
stitute the older order.
Scientology may seem to be a too highly sophisticated
system of beliefs to gain wide acceptance but because of
the ultra-simplicity of its message, the material spoken
of
in its promotional literature, the newcomer to Scientology
does not learn much of the underlying message for some
time.
As a religion, it contains a more rational story than
other
beliefs.
As a science, it seems to be based upon statistical evi-
dence of overwhelming substance.
As a way of life, it claims, with a good deal of
evidence,
to be better than any other.
BUT as an appeal to the hopes and dreams of the plain
man, it takes over where communism and socialism have
failed. It offers not just welfare and security but mental
and
spiritual superiority. It is a new and exciting appeal.
When Coca-Cola advertise, they show happy, virile
CLEARS. When some firm wants to sell its dried mashed
potato, it shows happy CLEAR children munching away with
sparkling eyes as their adoring and CLEAR parents laugh-
ingly munch away too, in a bright CLEAR world. All of them
are super-people.
Scientology promotion promises "YOU TOO CAN BE A
SUPER-PERSON".
You can be a CLEAR!
151
Chapter Twelve
THE ORGANISATIONS OF
SCIENTOLOGY
Hubbard has written millions of words on the subject of
organisation. These have been in the form of HCO Policy
Letters and have laid out in minute detail the function
and purpose of every post, section, department, division
and organisation in the international complex of Scien-
tology organisations
There is a Policy Letter called "The Three Basket Sys-
tem", which makes it imperative that every staff member
should have a "Beanstalk" of IN, PENDING and OUT baskets
through which all communications are routed - there are
only written communications. "If it isn't written, it
isn't
true." At the other extreme, there is a Policy Letter
called
"The Purpose of Organisation", which gives the philosoph-
ical basis upon which all Scientology organisations are
structured. Rigid though the channels of communication
may be, through and between Scientology organisations,
Hubbard claims his Comm. System and Org. Board to be
based upon ultimate truth. He has investigated the systems
used by various Galactic Federations, Empires, and one
thing and another, many of which have used the same pol-
itical, social and governmental structure for billions of
years, and has discovered the weaknesses which cause the
eventual breakdown of the most complex and apparently
long-lasting of these.
The Scientology organisational structure has improved
upon any previously devised system. It therefore will last
not for a few billion years but for eternity. It can be
ap-
plied to a few individuals "trying to get the show on the
road", or to a vast planetary, galactic or presumably cos-
mos-wide population. These are exciting times we are
living
in!
Hubbard theorises, or rather his "researches" lead to
the only possible true and final conclusion, that a stable
group consists of no more than five individuals. More than
five splinter and form sub-groups of five. Therefore a
sec-
tion leader should have no more than four staff beneath
152
him. This section leader is part of the next higher group
in the hierarchy which again consists of four plus a
leader.
And so on. It may sound, and in fact works out, as the
most
top-heavy bureaucratic system ever devised, with the pos-
sible exception of the British Government, but Hubbard
insists it works. So, in the eyes of Scientologists it
does
work.
The Nine Division Org. Board, currently in use in all
major Scientology organisations, is divided into three ma-
jor parts - HCO (Hubbard Communications Office), Org.,
and Public. The senior executives of these are the HCO Ex-
ecutive Secretary, the Org. Exec. Sec. and the Public
Exec.
Sec., which, together with the LRH Co-ordinator and the
Guardian, form the Executive Division 9, of which De-
partments 25, 26 and 27 form the top levels of the Scale
of Awareness - Conditions, Existence, Source. Under
Department 27, Source, the LRH Co-ordinator carries out
L. Ron Hubbard's express wishes and instructions as apart
from the following of his broad politics, which is the
duty
of every staff member. Under the Guardian comes Legal,
Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence functions, Public
Relations and Press Officers and the Archives.
Executive Division 9, HCO Division 1 and HCO Dissem-
ination Division 2 come under the overall direction of
the HCO Exec. Sec.
HCO Division 1 "puts the Org. there". Department 1,
Recognition, is the Department of Routing, Appearances
and Personnel. Department 2, Communication, is the Dept.
of Communications and handles incoming and outgoing
mail, communication flows throughout the Org., address-
ing, enclosing and franking machines. Department 3,
Perception, is the Dept. of Inspections and Reports -
Ethics.
HCO Dissemination Division 2 handles the sales
function. Department 4, Orientation, is the Dept. of
Promo-
tion and handles design and printing of advertising
material, news items and features for The Auditor and
other
Scientology publications. Department 5, Understanding, is
the Dept. of Publications and handles books, E-meters and
insignia (there are many badges, car stickers, ties and
scarves to show that one is a Scientologist). Department
6, Enlightenment, is the Dept. of Registration in which
comes the Body Registar (face to face, body to body),
153
the Letter Registrars, the advanced Scheduling Registrars,
typists, filing clerks, and whose purpose it is to sign
people
up for training and processing.
Under the direction of the Org. Exec. Sec. comes Trea-
sury Division 3, Technical Division 4 and Qualifications
Division 5.
Treasury Division 3 handles all economic and financial
matters for the entire organisation. Department 7, Energy,
is the Dept. of Income. Department 8, Adjustment, is the
Dept. of Disbursements. Department 9, Body, is the Dept.
of Records, Assets and Material. Money is equated a en-
ergy. The correct handling of its energy makes it possible
for an organisation to survive and expand.
Technical Division 4 is the production division, the
fac-
tory floor, and is usually the largest division.
Department
10, Prediction, is the Dept. of Technical Services and
han-
dles all matters to make it possible for a student or pre-
clear to receive his course or auditing. It schedules
preclears with their auditors, arranges class- and
lecture-
rooms, keeps records of students and preclears, etc. De-
partment 11, Activity, is the Dept. of Training.
Department
12, Production, is the Dept. of Processing.
Qualifications Division 5 consists of Department 13,
Result, Dept. of Examinations which examines graduating
students and preclear release grades. Department 14, Cor-
rection, is the Dept. of Review in which errors of
training
or processing are corrected. Department 15, Ability, is
the
Dept. of Certification and Awards which gives certificates
of graduation and release pins or brooches and also han-
dles membership.
The Public exec. Sec. has overall responsibility for
Pub-
lic Planning Division 6, Public Activities Division 7 and
Distribution Division 8. In these divisions comes the
great-
est attempt at involvement with the non-Scientology pub-
lic. It is very different to the functions of HCO Division
2,
Dissemination, which deals with existing Scientologists in
order to get them into the org. for training or
processing.
Public Planning Division 6 researches and plans with
regard to those areas in which Scientology will gain
accep-
tance, increase its sphere of influence, and finally take
control. For instance, Scientology considers it can handle
insanity better than psychiatry. It therefore would seek
to
ally itself to any group which was for Civil Rights for
Mental Patients and against the indiscriminate application
154
of psycho-surgery, electro-convulsive therapy and insulin
drug treatments. An incredibly irresponsible publication
called Freedom has been produced and handed out free
on street corners by Scientologists. Amongst a host of
wild
generalisations, Freedom openly accuses psychiatrists of a
foul "1984"-ish plot to enslave the populace, via simple-
minded politicians, through the use of psychiatric tech-
niques. Though its wide and exaggerated conclusions are
based upon a few actual instances of mistreatment of pa-
tients in mental hospitals, its effect could well be to
instil
fear of psychiatry into the minds of potential mental pa-
tients, thus making them more difficult to treat. This is
a
particularly pernicious libel at this time when a good
deal
of effort is going into the improvement of the treatment
for mental illness. It shows that Scientology is not out
for
the general good but is seeking to enforce Hubbard's opin-
ions.
The three departments in Public Planning Division 6 are
Department 16, Acceptability, Dept. of Research and
Reports; Department 17, Rehabilitation, Dept. of Public
Rehabilitation; Department 18, Control, Dept. of Public
Promotion.
Public Activities Division 7 organises public events
such
as lectures, free I.Q. Testing, introductory courses. It
also
requests, logs and distributes success stories. For
instance,
in Hubbard's book How to Save Your Marriage, sixty-five
of the 107 pages are "Success Stories" from Scientologists
about their marriages. Interestingly, at least one of
these
"successful" marriages is now on the rocks.
In Public Activities Division 7 are Department 19,
Decision, Dept. of Facilities and Schedules and Public
Events; Department 20, Participation, Dept. of Activities;
and Department 21, Realisation, Dept. of Success.
Distribution Division 8 covers the range of non-organi-
sational Scientology. This includes FSM's (Field Staff
Members) who are the equivalent of commission salesmen
who, when they introduce a new person who takes a Scien-
tology Course or Processing, receive a commission of 10
per cent of total fees paid. FSM's must not be regular
staff
members of any Scientology organisation. Franchise Centres
are miniature organisations usually run by one or two
trained
Scientologists and give introductory lectures and courses,
sell books, issue FSM Selection Slips and give low-level
processing. They often make a great deal of money. Gung-
155
Ho Groups, introduced in 1969, are designed to unify small
numbers of non-Scientologists in a common purpose, to
achieve these purposes by the use of Scientology expertise
in communication and public relations and to thus bring
all the members round to a realisation that Scientology is
the way to get things done. Gung-Ho Groups sound ra-
ther like a cross between Boy Scouts and Oxfam - the term
is Second World War U.S. marines' slang for "work to-
gether" - but their true purpose is to get people into
Scien-
tology.
Distribution Division 8 also has long-range purposes
with regards to humanity. "...Scientology government,
civilisation, direction, supervision, or assistance...."
The three departments of this Division comprise Depart-
ment 22, Purpose, Dept. of Field Recruitment, Establish-
ment and Records; Department 23, Propagation, Dept. of
Field Training; and Department 24, Expansion, Dept. of
Field Services.
When Hubbard first released his Org. Board to a star-
tled world, there were seven divisions. The Public
Divisions,
6, 7 and 8, were classed as the Distribution Division
under
the Org. Exec. Sec. The twenty-one departments of the
seven-
division Org. fitted neatly into the twenty-one positive
levels
of the Scale of Awareness. With the addition of two extra
divisions (six departments), acceptability,
rehabilitation,
control, decision, participation, propagation and
expansion
were added as awareness levels. The Org. Board does not
now fit so neatly the levels of the Scale of Awareness,
though
it still remains as the greatest contribution to the field
of
organisation ever seen in the physical universe.
Beneath the Executive Secretaries come the Divisional
Secretaries, Departmental Directors, Officers, In-Charges,
Section Leaders and ordinary staff. Each portion of the
Org. may have its own Org. Board to represent the termin-
als (posts) and communication channels. An Org. Board
gives a stable structure, places each portion and post in
a
set relationship with every other and describes communi-
cation routes through the Organisation.
If a typist in Department 6 finds that a letter has been
forwarded to her, in error, by the Dept. of Communication,
Department 2 - since it is not from an existing
Scientologist,
but from someone not on the Dissemination records - she
should address it to the Info Pack Mailing In-Charge as
follows:
156
Info. Pack Mailing In-Charge, Div.6, Dept.18,
Info. Pack Officer, " " " "
Director of Public Promotion, " " " "
Public Planning Secretary, Div.6,
Public Executive Secretary,
HCO Executive Secretary,
HCO Dissemination Secretary, Div.2,
Director of Registration, Div.2, Dept.6,
Letter Registrar Officer, Div.2, Dept.6,
Typists In-Charge, Div.2, Dept.6,
Typist, Div.2, Dept.6,
c.c. Info: Director of Com- Div.1, Dept.2,
munications,
Comm. Flow Officer, " " " "
Dear Bill,
This letter was routed to me, in error.
Send this guy an info pack - sounds like he could do
with "Modern Science", so send him that groovey new
leaflet.
Love
Janet,
Typist, Div.2, Dept.6
"Janet" would make three copies of this communica-
tion. The original would be placed in her OUT basket with
a large arrow indicating Typists In-Charge, Div.2, Dept.6.
The first carbon copy would be arrowed to Director of
Communications, Div.1, Dept.2, and also placed in her
OUT basket. The other would be placed in her PENDING bas-
ket.
The Comm. Flow In-Charge, Div.1, Dept.2, who de-
livers communications to IN baskets and empties OUT
baskets every thirty minutes, would take these messages to
the appropriate IN baskets. When the Typist In-Charge
Div.2, Dept.6, has read it, she initials and dates against
her
post, places an arrow against the next post, Letter Regis-
trar Officer, Div.2, Dept.6, and places it in *her* OUT
basket.
So the note travels its inexorable way through the Org. It
could well take weeks to get to the Info. Pack Mailing In-
Charge, Div.6, Dept.18.
If "Janet" wished to strengthen the message that the
157
Department of Communications had boobed, she might well
issue an Ethics Chit to the Comm. Flow In-Charge, Div.1,
Dept.2. One copy would go to this staff member "through
the lines", one would go to the Ethics Officer for action
to
be taken or to be filed in the Comm. Flow In-Charge's per-
sonal Ethics folder - after five Ethics Chits have accumu-
lated or if the staff member is in a Condition of
Emergency
or lower, an Ethics Hearing is automatically convened -
and one copy would be retained in her records.
It can be exceedingly tiresome to be a Divisional Sec-
retary. Piles of memos of this type arrive in the IN
basket.
Each has to be read, initialled and routed with an arrow.
No wonder many never arrive at their ultimate destina-
tions.
So that a lowly staff member has some idea of which
staff are in which departments, it is an imperative policy
that an enormous wooden Org. Board be displayed in the
reception area of every Org. This is a colourful piece of
furniture. Each division has a distinct colour flash;
"Janet"
would have written her note on Dissemination's
lilac-tinted
paper; anyone in Tech. Division uses green.
The keen staff member can increase his knowledge of the
organisation by learning those Policy Letters which apply
to the general principles of organisation and to his own
division. When he first comes on staff, he is known as a
Temporary and an 0 is placed against his name on the Org.
Board. When he has learned some elementary policies and
passed a simple test, he becomes a Provisional Staff Mem-
ber and a 1 is put on the Org. Board by the Org. Board In-
Charge, HCO Div.1, Dept.1. To become Permanent, he
learns many more Policy Letters and takes a searching
examination and has a 2 placed against his name on the
Org. Board.
He now is eligible for a 2 1/2-year contract. If his stats.
are
satisfactory and his Ethics file is clean - anyone can
clean
his Ethics file by doing an Amends Project to make up
for the trouble he has caused - he can enter into an
agree-
ment with the Org. for 2 1/2 years. This benefits the staff
mem-
ber by giving him Power Processing to Grade VA free
(price to anyone else is L432), half-price and credit on
all
courses and E-meters, a free Minister of the Church of
Scientology of California Course (he reads Hubbard's
Ceremonies of The Church, a paperback book on
158
comparative religions, and The Gospel according to St.
John), and a free Org. Exec. Course (normally L275). As a
contracted staff member, he is now eligible for promotion
to
senior posts.
The Org. Exec. Course is a fascinating examination of
ALL the policies and directives ever issued by Hubbard on
any matter related to his organisations. There are thou-
sands of items involved. Some of the earlier policies have
been superseded, yet to understand evolution of the Scien-
tology organisations, it is necessary to read all of this
material. The sheer quantity of these policies is more
impres-
sive than the result. It represents an unstinting search
for
perfection in the construction of an organism that will
sur-
vive against all odds In its application it appears
top-heavy
with administration as against productive staff. At the
same
time, Hubbard's organisational policies are so specific as
to
not require trained accountants to run the Treasury Divi-
sion, solicitors or barristers to run the Ethics or Legal
de-
partments, or experienced administrators to occupy any
senior post. If the staff member sticks to Hubbard's
policy,
every letter of it, he will succeed. At least, that is the
theory
behind it
This represents Hubbard's greatest error in all of his
im-
mense work. He assumes there to be a final perfection in
all things. He seems incapable of seeing that
unpredictable
events can cut across the most well-ordered systems. He
says, in effect: "Stick to my policies. Don't get
imaginative
or clever. Do your job by the book and we'll all win
through." Like Procrustes and his Bed, he cuts the feet
off
variables too long for his policies and stretches the ones
that are too short. If his policies will not encompass all
events, then the events must be adjusted to fit his
policies.
Though the unpredictable world often confounds the neat
world as seen in Hubbard's Policy Letters, it is an
incredible
achievement that these have been originated. Hubbard
pays little heed to the traditional management methods.
Instead he has devised original systems from acute
observation. Very often these are too simple but they
communicate to Scientologists, they can be understood and
followed. In the vast majority of jobs in Scientology
orgs.,
a staff member with no prior experience of business pro-
cedures can, by following Policy Letters, be successful.
The
gross turnover of money, the effectiveness of sales tech-
159
niques, the happiness and willingness on the part of staff
to work for the overall good of their Org., vastly
outweigh
the disadvantages of the system. Other management de-
vices may be cleverer but Hubbard's policies work in the
situation for which they are designed.
The best example of the simplicity and workability of
Hubbard's system is the Hat. Every staff member when he
takes a new post is given two folders by the Personnel
Officer of HCO Div.1, Dept.1, Dept. of Routing, Appear-
ances and Personnel. These are known as his Hat. One
contains general policies; the other has Policy Letters
spec-
ific to his new post and a Hat Write-Up from the previous
staff member who occupied the post. The first duty of the
new staff member is to read this Hat Write-Up since it
gives
his predecessor's hints on peculiarities about the job.
When
the new staff member has his Hat thoroughly on, he is
aware of the relevant Policy Letters and has additional
descriptive data from someone with experience of the job.
"Put your own Hat on", says a senior to a junior meaning
"keep to your own job and don't wear other people's Hats".
In the Ethics Codes it is a General Misdemeanour: "12.
Consistent and repeated failures to wear their Hat regard-
ing Dev-T", to create unnecessary Traffic by interfering
in another's job instead of simply wearing one's own Hat.
This Hat system is a very simple action but in most
organi-
sations outside of Scientology immense confusion is caused
by the fact that no one knows the extent and limitations
of his own job. The Hat avoids this and therefore makes
for greater efficiency.
The organisational pattern of the Scientology Org.
Board is applied in exactly the same way throughout all of
the forty-odd orgs. throughout the world. Obviously with
a large and wealthy org., greater precision may be
applied.
More of the posts may be filled. In a small org., one
staff
member may hold a number of Hats.
The senior Scientology organisation, since about 1967,
has been the Sea Org. The structure of Hubbard's standard
land-based orgs. has a distinctly military or naval air.
His
Sea Org. is directly comparable to the U.S. Navy, at least
in titles and posts. In the orgs on terra firma, Hubbard
is
called the Founder. At sea, he is called the Commodore.
The particular craft on which he is resident is called the
Flag Ship or Flag. There are Captains, Mates,
Supercargoes,
160
Engineers, Deckhands, etc., all of whom occupy positions
on Org. Boards similar to those used by ordinary Scientol-
ogy orgs.
Beyond the fact that Hubbard has always had a yen for
the nautical life - he was an expert yachtsman long before
the idea of Scientology entered his head and served as an
officer in the U.S. Marines in the Pacific theatre during
World War Two - the purpose of the Sea Org. is ostensibly
"to get Ethics in on the planet". It has also been
suggested
that the Sea Org. is a private navy that could intimidate
small local opposition - many Sea Org. staff members
are trained in Karate and unarmed combat - but whether
the craft are openly equipped with fire power is not
known.
Even amongst Scientologists there is a deal of mystery
and speculation as to details of the Sea Org. It is spoken
of
with reverence. It is the mecca of all Scientologists. This
is
where the real future of the world is being shaped. This
is
the pure environment where Clears can be clear and OT's
can extend their true god-like powers. It is also where
Hub-
bard lives.
The major part of the Sea Org. - the "Royal Scotsman",
approximately 4,000 tons and renamed in 1969 "Apollo";
"Avon River", approx. 1,000 tons and renamed "Athene",
and "The Enchantress", approx. 40 tons and a sea-going
luxury yacht - chugs around the Mediterranean. Another
base for the Sea Org. is on the West Coast of America. The
Mediterranean fleet has been asked to leave a Spanish port
and an island in the Aegean and it was rumoured that Hub-
bard and his Sea Org. were in league with the junta of the
Greek Colonels, but this seems unlikely.
Hubbard has repeatedly professed since 1969 that he has
finished his work with Scientology and is using his ships
to investigate ancient civilisations. This is nonsense
since
he still issues Policy Letters, HCO Technical Bulletins
and
is still very much in control of all Scientology
activities.
And, unless he has made one of his remarkable break-
throughs, there cannot be many remains of ancient
civilisa-
tions in the San Pedro area of the U.S. West Coast!
Scientology Ethics on the Sea Org. is really something,
by all accounts. An early student of the OT Courses who
took her training when the "Royal Scotsman" was based
off-shore from a Spanish port told me that staff and stu-
dents were often assigned Conditions of Enemy or Treason
161
and in order to get them out of the company of others,
they were locked in the anchor-chain compartment or low-
ered into the bilges to cool off.
An early Captain of the "Royal Scotsman" rammed his
ship against a quay and totally wrecked a brand new L2,500
Sea Org. launch in the process. He was assigned a Condi-
tion of Treason by the Commodore, there and then
evicted from the ship with nothing but the clothes he was
wearing, less any badges, and was told to repay L17,000
be-
fore being allowed back into Scientology. He has not been
heard of again to this day.
Probably the most idiotic event happened when the
"Royal Scotsman", the entire ship, earned the Commodore's
displeasure. He assigned every living thing aboard a
Condi-
tion of Liability. It meant the ship's mascot, a Corgi
dog,
went about with a dirty grey rag tied round its neck, as
well as every human with a rag on his or her left arm. In-
credibly the poor ship, which one must assume had not
actually *done* anything of its own malicious free will,
had
a huge dirty grey tarpaulin tied round its funnel. The
poor
brainless thing had to sail around the Mediterranean,
laughed and jeered at by all the other ships and even row-
ing boats, for over a week like this. How the poor simple
thing applied the formula in order to get upgraded will
always remain one of those sea mysteries comparable to
the Marie Celeste and the Flying Dutchman.
The Sea Org. does not train anyone but its own staff.
These are fabled to be the most highly proficient
operators
in the entire range of Scientology expertise. After a
staff
member has been on the Sea Org. for three months and has
not had himself thrown overboard too often or otherwise
put himself on the unhealthy side of the numerous Ethics
Officers, he is expected to sign a 1,000,000,000 year con-
tract. That's an American BILLION! A Billion-Year Con-
tract. In a billion years from now, astronomers reckon the
Sun will be a little cooler than now in the twentieth
century.
The Solar System will also be on the other side of the
Milky Way and all manner of other interesting changes
will have occurred. Of course, Thetans, and especially
Sci-
entology Thetans, will be struggling manfully (or is it
Thetanfully) to conquer the forces of evil and destruction
that are rife throughout the cosmos. Scientologists with a
BILLION YEARS of experience will be of remarkable value,
no
162
doubt, even though well out of their minds when they first
embarked on this unbelievable contract.
The Sea Org. make a great deal of money. Hubbard
has devised the perfect money-making scheme - infallible,
unlimited and the people who pay it, love it!
Ethics Missions, Efficiency Missions, Public Relations
Missions and many other types of missions are sent out
from the Sea Org. These, travelling by first-class jet,
driv-
ing around in chauffeured limousines, staying at the Ritz-
iest hotels, suddenly arrive at the front door of an outer
ore., such as London, Saint Hill, Sydney, Paris or which-
ever org. needs a bit of wisdom, and go to work to
straigh-
ten the poor natives out.
The experts from the Sea Org., anything from two to six
of them, are dressed in the navy blue full-dress uniform
of
the Sea Org. which makes them look like admirals from the
Pomeranian Navy. They have an On-Policy, tight-lipped,
no-nonsense, amongst everything else we are efficient ap-
proach. Whilst they are at the org. they are in charge.
They are empowered to do anything, inside or outside of
policy, to get the org. straightened out. They are like
man-
agement consultants with the supreme powers of almost
life and death that standard management consultants must
dream of having. They stay at the org. for as long as it
takes to "get the show on the road".
The Sea Org. bills the victim org. at the rate of L250
per day per person PLUS all expenses.
Hubbard graciously explained the hefty charges (though
no one would ever have the temerity to ask him to explain
himself) in this wise. "If an Outer Org. is so bone-headed
as to allow its stats. to fall in spite of the fact that I
have
given it ample policy whereby it can be totally successful
all the time, and since this means that I have to concern
my-
self with its paltry affairs by sending one of my
extremely
valuable missions to straighten it out, then, by all their
cotton-pickin' fingers, they will pay for it and pay hand-
somely."
To add a piquant touch of additional lunacy, nearly
every
mission I ever saw at Saint Hill and London made a
bloody nuisance of itself and failed to get the stats. up
for
more than a week or two. Nevertheless, the orgs. paid at
the rate of L250 per day per person PLUS all expenses!
At one point, Saint Hill owed L65,000 to the Sea Org.
163
There are various projects set up under the aegis of the
Sea Org. Commander Yvonne Gillham is the Sea Org. Dir-
ector of the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, Calif. The
Centre's purposes are: "1. To provide a safe environment
for all artists to expand in. 2. To enable the public to
enjoy,
appreciate and understand the Arts. 3. To co-ordinate the
able people in the Arts so that each can expand without
compromising his own reality."* Concert pianist Mario
Feninger, a Class VIII auditor, pop groups - "The People".
"Orange Coloured Sky" and "Sound Foundation" - Hol-
lywood film star in the grand manner Stephen Boyd, a
Clear, and most surprising of all, poet, pop-folk singer
and
composer Leonard Cohen. Another Celebrity Centre has
been set up in New York City. Sweet but corny though the
stated purposes may be, they are not altruistic. The
Celeb-
rity Centres and every other activity of Scientology are
designed to get people into Scientology.
Next in seniority after the Sea Organisation come the
Advanced Organisations (AO's). At Edinburgh, Scotland
(AOUK); Los Angeles, California (AOLA); and Sjaeland,
Denmark (AODK), the very highest levels of training and
processing are administered - Class VIII Auditor, Clearing
and OT Courses.
Prior to the ban on entry into the United Kingdom of
British Commonwealth and alien citizens for the purpose
of Scientology studies, Saint Hill Manor had been the
centre for the Clearing Course. The British Labour Gov-
ernment's action in July 1968 - just before the House of
Commons went into Summer Recess and without one item
of evidence being put forward as justification - looked
very
like a panic move. It was as if the Right Honourable James
Callaghan, the Home Secretary, had suddenly realised
there were thousands of Scientologists arriving from all
parts of the globe and they presented a very real threat
to
the peace and tranquillity of the United Kingdom. This
unconstitutional action in selecting Scientologists out of
all
the other threats to the peace and prosperity of the U.K.
that fly in and out of London Airport every day gained a
great deal of valuable publicity and sympathy for Scien-
tology.
The Right Honourable Iain Macleod wrote a stinging
article in the Daily Telegraph; the Rt. Hon. Quintin Hogg,
*Commander Yvonne Gillham, The Auditor, Number 52.
164
QC, became their legal advocate, and the editor of the
Daily Telegraph wrote a leader regretting the final demise
of democracy in the British nation after 600 years. These
worthy gentlemen were careful to point out that they held
no brief for the principles of the movement and were
solely
concerned that justice be done and be seen to be done.
This
self-righteous ploy was not so much inspired by a genuine
concern for the U.K. constitution as the fact that these
Conservatives were able to take a swing at the Labour Gov-
ernment.
Scientology gained the doubtful prestige of being a pol-
itical issue.
Plans had been made to charter Boeing 707's to bring
hordes of Scientologists from America and Australia. TWA,
with a nice eye to commercial exploitation, found that
Sci-
entologists were the second largest users of their flights
across
the Atlantic and set up special Scientologists'
Information
Booths at U.S. international airports. East Grinstead
businesses boomed, especially taxi services; rents for
accommodation soared; the East Grinstead police force were
equipped with high-speed sports cars; the Urban District
Council had long meetings to try to find out what was
happening to their sleepy little town, and the ordinary
natives
felt besieged.
Jim Callaghan finished all that. Within a few weeks of
his
ban, Scientology had opened an Advanced Org. in Los An-
geles to serve North and South America and the Common-
wealth, Shortly afterwards the AO at Edinburgh opened
for U.K. residents and those aliens who managed to squeeze
through the immigration controls at British air and sea
ports. AODK opened a few months later to serve continen-
tal European Scientologists. The British ban probably
helped the expansion of worldwide Scientology in more
ways than any other single action. It did not even affect
British recruitment.
At the same time as the AO's were spreading, so it be-
came necessary to follow up with the Saint Hill Organisa-
tions, in order to complete the training and processing
services. Thus there is now an American Saint Hill Organi-
sation in modern glass and concrete luxury premises at
Los Angeles; another in the business centre of Copenhagen,
Denmark, and near to the SAS skyscraper; and the original
Saint Hill at East Grinstead. the Saint Hill Special
Briefing
165
Course is run at these three centres to produce Class VI
auditors and is regarded by Hubbard as the course which
sorts the men from the boys, and, presumably, the women
from the girls. The price in sterling is L275 or U.S.
$775.00,
which is a rate of exchange of approximately $2.804 to
the L Stg., which is original.
World Wide (WW) is the senior administration centre of
international Scientology and operates from Saint Hill,
East Grinstead. Here there are the nine divisions of the
Org Board manned by experienced executives who receive
reports from their equivalent opposite numbers in the
Outer Orgs. Copies of all weekly statistics for all major
posts in every org. in the world go to make up the WW
statistics. It is therefore very much in the interests of
WW
staff that they should get their Outer Orgs. to be
successful.
If, for instance, the Public Exec. Sec. of Miami, Florida,
should find that by advertising Scientology books in the
baseball programmes locally, the response is good, the
Pub.
Exec. Sec. WW (sometimes abbreviated even further to
PES WW) would order all other PES's to advertise in pro-
grammes of local sports events.
If the findings of a Market Research survey conducted
in Bloemfontein, South Africa suggest that people would
more readily go to a free lecture on Scientology if coffee
and biscuits were available, then this information will be
distributed to all orgs.
The Publications Organisation World Wide is the De-
partment 5 of HCO Dissemination Division 2 of WW. Pubs
Org. as it is fondly called is a totally separate entity
of
WW situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. It produces
books in many languages, promotional material such as
bookstore display stands and leaflets and acts in much the
same way as its parent Org. WW, by unifying and standar-
dising all promotional activities.
For instance, should it be found that a particular
symbol
is highly effective in selling Scientology: A New Slant on
Life, perfect, camera-ready artwork will be supplied from
Pubs Org. to every Outer Org. so mat photo-litho printing
of the book symbol can occur locally. Pubs Org. charges
for these services but the expense to an Outer Org. is
much
lower than if it had to employ its own layout and typo-
graphical artists.
Most of its money comes from the sales of books
166
throughout the world. Some of Hubbard's titles must be
amongst the most consistent best sellers. A policy which
ensures this and makes a stable income for Pubs Org. is
that every Outer Org. must take a hefty minimum quan-
tity of books each year. In the summer of 1968, there were
over 500,000 copies of various Scientology books in store
in the basement of the Castle at Saint Hill. Maybe they
are
still there!
The bread and butter source of new people for Scien-
tology comes from the Hubbard Scientology organisa-
tions which are dotted across the free world. HSO's are
local organisations and provide services up to Grade IV
processing, Class IV Auditor training, they sell books,
run
local congresses, dish out leaflets, "Freedom" magazine
and invitations to "GET YOUR IQ TESTED FREE", and
generally
manage to keep Scientology alive on a grass-roots level.
HSO's are the most commonly visited by Sea Org. Mis-
sions. They are ordered about mercilessly by WW. They
have to run the advertising projects that Pubs Org. dishes
out to them. They keep smiling though, even when their
units are so low it does not even pay their fares to and
from
work.
Finally, there are Scientology Foundations. These op-
erate during evenings and weekends to duplicate the ser-
vices of their daytime parent organisations. Some of the
staff from the daytime may work for the Foundation too.
Foundations are very often more efficient than the parent
orgs. since they run with a more profitable ratio of
admin-
istrative to technical staff. They often are more popular
with students and preclears since they are open during
leisure times.
Expansion of Scientology occurs through more and more
local Hubbard Scientology organisations and their Foun-
dations opening in cities and territories throughout the
world. A certain percentage of people who walk through
the front door of a Scientology organisation continue to
go all the way to OT VIII and Class VIII Auditor. Place
enough of these front doors around the world and Scien-
tology is guaranteed to be the biggest, wealthiest and
most
successful movement of its kind ever to have been seen.
It has absolutely nothing to do with whether Scientology
is right or wrong.
Perhaps if the United Nations General Assembly were
167
somehow able to ban Scientology, it might crush the move-
ment. But it is unlikely that they would succeed.
Religious
movements with the dynamism of Scientology seem to
flourish under adversity.
Official actions against Scientology always seem to be
motivated by fear. It is an unknown element in any soci-
ety. It seems so pathetic and ludicrous, yet men of judge-
ment and integrity give it their allegiance and, by
inference,
take their allegiance away from the society.
There are errors in Scientology and the way it conducts
its affairs but most of these can be put down to over-zea-
lousness. It is not a criminal movement. Nor is it openly
hostile to the existing order as are most Communist Par-
ties. It is unique.
Since most news and TV commentators cannot under-
stand what makes Scientologists tick; since government
officials do not even bother to try to find out whether
Scien-
tology is hostile to them or not; since the only way to
thoroughly get the "feel" of Scientology is to become a
Scientologist, it is most unlikely that any official will ever
be
able to encompass what Scientology is, in order to do any-
thing about it.
If the expansion of Scientology subsequent to the ban
placed on it by the Victorian Government in Australia, the
Food and Drug Agency's unsuccessful legal actions against
it in Washington, D.C. and the British Government's ill-
conceived ban on overseas students entering the U.K. is
anything to go by, then Scientologists should welcome gov-
ernment intervention.
But most of all - they are organised.
Organised to do battle with opposition at such a fero-
cious level as to intimidate.
It will be interesting to see what they do about this
book.
168
EPILOGUE
"Find out who you really are?"
That is what the Ethics Order told me to do.
"Vosper is to apply the Enemy formula which is: `Find
out who you really are.'"
No good writing to Ken Urquhart and telling him "Look,
Ken, I've known you for years. You know who I am".
Hubbard and all his peculiar extensions - Scientologists
- wanted me to say, "I AM A SUPPRESSIVE PERSON!"
I wrote it down on a piece of paper, trying to get
convic-
tion into the very ink. I was sitting on a bench in Hyde
Park, near Speaker's Corner. People were walking up and
down. They did not know there was an Enemy of all Man-
kind in their midst. I felt quite famous.
It was not sufficient to just write down, "I AM A
SUPPRES-
SIVE PERSON" and send that in. Oh, no. These
Scientologists
want a total confession of all the dreadful things you
have
done in your life. If you know any, they want dreadful
things from earlier lives too! They want you to completely
degrade yourself. To admit you are one of the Enemies of
Mankind.
I started writing. I've done lots of really lousy things.
I
cheated at school once. I thought L. Ron Hubbard was an
idiot, often. I got angry with my children, sometimes.
When
I was seven, I had fired an arrow at a cat.
There were dozens of things like this and when I read it
over, I realised what a tame life I had led. I hadn't made
any mountains of skulls like Attila the Hun, not even a
small pile of skulls. When I was twelve I had smoked some
cigarettes that had been stolen by another boy. Maybe
that was "Receiving Stolen Property".
I felt much better when I had finished my long list. I
really was not an Enemy of Mankind.
Should I send it in? Or was it all such complete
nonsense
that I would be wiser to ignore the Scientologists? But
the
children; what would they think of me if I didn't try to
get
back into Scientology? I posted it to Ken Urquhart.
Over the following six weeks, I sent in another five of
these applications of the Enemy Formula. I got more and
169
more imaginative every time. In the end I was able to pic-
ture myself as one of the most evil beings ever to have
in-
habited the physical universe. It did not do any good,
though.
I kept getting extraordinary letters from Peter Warren,
telling me to "Find out who you really are". They were not
going to up-grade me. But, by now, I really did not want
them to.
In the end I decided that I would not act out this
idiocy
any longer and went back to see my children.
170
APPENDIX
The London Times Law Report: Court of Appeal
November 19, 1971
Hubbard & Another v Vosper & Another
BAN ON BOOK ON SCIENTOLOGY IS LIFTED
Before Lord Denning, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice
Megaw and Lord Justice Stephenson.
The court allowed an interlocutory appeal by defend-
ants, Mr. Cyril Ronald Vosper, of Inverness Terrace, W.,
and Neville Spearman Ltd., publishers, and set aside an
injuction granted to Mr. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard and
the Church of Scientology of California, of Saint Hill
Manor, East Grinstead, Sussex, by Mr. Justice Kilner
Brown in chambers on October 4 restraining the defen-
dants for a period not exceeding 28 days or further order
from distributing disseminating, selling or parting with a
book entitled The Mind Benders and restraining Mr. Vos-
per from further imparting any information the subject of
confidence between the plaintiffs and himself. The injunc-
tion had been granted in similar terms ex parte by Mr.
Jus-
tice Griffiths on September 9, when the book was to be
published.
Mr Leonard Caplan, Q.C., and Mr. Mordecai Levene for
the defendants; Mr. Peter Pain, Q.C. and Mr. Alan New-
man for the plaintiffs.
The MASTER OF THE ROLLS said that when on Sep-
tember 9 Mr. Vosper published The Mind Benders, which
was critical of the cult of scientology, the Church of
Scientology of California issued a writ seeking to
restrain
its publication. Mr. Hubbard was added as a plaintiff a
little later.
Scientology was a word invented by Mr. Hubbard and he
had produced a number of works advocating that philos-
ophy or cult, including a dictionary and an Introduction
to
Scientology Ethics. Many courses were held at Saint Hill
for those wishing to study scientology. The court had be-
fore it documents containing warnings about the effect it
171
had on the mental health of those who dabbled in it un-
trained.
The books were plainly the subject of a literary copy-
right in Mr. Hubbard. The injunction was sought to be
maintained on the ground that Mr. Vosper had taken sub-
stantial parts of those books and also of papers called
"Pol-
icy documents and bulletins" issued by the Hubbard Course
of Communications.
Mr. Vosper had apparently been engaged at Saint Hill
for some 14 years. In 1967 he signed a document under-
taking to pay the fee for a Saint Hill special briefing
course
and to refrain from divulging Level VI materials to those
not entitled to receive them or discussing them within the
hearing of such persons. He paid Ll50 - 50 per cent of the
fee for the course, which he said he did not complete.
It was also sought to maintain the injunction by saying
that Mr. Vosper had broken the confidence under which
he was given special information about the Level VI mat-
erials.
On copyright, the first question was whether Mr. Vosper
had taken a substantial part of the copyright work. In
many cases that could not be said: he had only taken two
definitions from the dictionary. But it was plain that he
had
taken as much as a tenth from the Introduction to Scien-
tology Ethics and in particular phrases and quotations
showing the nature of scientology and that anyone who
spoke against it was condemned as a "suppressive person"
and that a suppressive person might become "fair game".
In the edition before the court "fair game" was described
as meaning "without right for self, possessions or
position,
and no scientologist may be brought before a committee
of evidence or punished for any action taken against a
sup-
pressive person or group during the period that person or
group is `fair game'". After Mr. Vosper had left the in-
stitution he was declared to be in a condition of enemy
and
fair game for scientologists.
It appeared that he did take a substantial part of that
work and use it in his book. It was said that he was pro-
tected by section 6 (2) of the Copyright Act, 1956, which
said that "no fair dealing with a literary, dramatic or
musi-
cal work shall constitute an infringement of the copyright
in the work if it is for purposes of criticism or review,
whe-
ther of that work or of another work, and is accompanied
172
by a sufficient acknowledgment". Mr. Vosper certainly set
out an acknowledgment; so the question was whether his
dealing with Mr. Hubbard's works was fair dealing.
There was little help in the law books, but his Lordship
thought that whether there had been a fair dealing or not
must be looked at as a matter of degree. Quotations could
be made when accompanied by comment or criticism. In
Mr. Vosper's book there were quotations, sometimes long
and sometimes short, from Mr. Hubbard's books followed
by explanations, elaborations, and eventually criticism
and
condemnation. His Lordship would call it a fair dealing,
but Mr. Pain said that the criticism had to be of the
literary
work itself and not of the thought underlying it.
But his Lordship thought that a fair dealing with the
work
could deal not only with the words but with the thought
underlying them, as distinct from criticism of the conduct
of
the individual himself. There was evidence to support the
plea that here was a fair dealing.
His Lordship also thought that the inclusion of some of
the bulletins circulated only to the people who took the
courses was not "unfair dealing" when the bulletins were
sufficiently widespread as they were in the present case. So
there was a reasonable answer to the copyright claim.
On breach of confidence Mr. Pain had pointed out that
in his book Mr. Vosper had summarised parts of the spe-
cial advanced courses and spoken of the heavy security
clamp on them and that "when a student enrols on these
courses he signs a declaration not to divulge to any non-
Clear" - one of Mr. Hubbard's words - "any of the data
which is given to him".
Those words showed that Mr. Vosper realised that Mr.
Hubbard, for better or for worse, was claiming secrecy on
the advanced courses. That raised the public interest as-
pect of the matter. In Fraser v. Evans (1969) I Q.B. 349:
- The Sunday Times case - his Lordship had said that
though the court would always intervene to restrain brea-
ches of confidence in proper cases such as trade secrets,
thy were not prepared to carry that restraint to the point
of preventing the disclosure of matters which it might be in
the public interest to disclose.
His Lordship saw that there was a big risk of danger to the
mental health of people who undertook the course, and
concurred with Mr. Caplan that the books indicated medical
173
quackery of a type which might be dangerous if practised
behind closed doors and that the public interest demanded
that people should know what was going on.
On the material before the court there were matters
capable of such danger that it might be well in the public
interest that the public should know what went on, and his
Lordship would not be in favour of using the doctrine of
breach of confidence to restrain their publication.
In granting the injunction the judge seemed to think it
sufficient that the plaintiffs should have an arguable case
and he had relied on two authorities on the basis of which
practitioners had apparently gone before judges for injunc-
tions where questions of infringement of copyright arose.
That was contrary to anything his Lordship understood
about the way the courts proceeded in granting injunc-
tions. The right course was to look at the whole case, both
claim and defence, and then see whether there was a good
prima facie case for believing that the plaintiff would
succeed at the trial, and if on the whole that was so, an
injunction might be granted where damages would not be an
adequate remedy. The present was not a case where at the
trial the plaintiffs were likely to succeed. Mr. Vosper had
good ground at the present stage for saying that there was a
fair dealing in The Mind Benders in criticising scientology
and that it was in the public interest to investigate and
disclose.
The appeal should be allowed.
LORD JUSTICE MEGAW, concurring, said that here
was an organisation that laid down a criminal code of its
own. Although the provisions of "fair game" had been re-
moved from the 1970 edition of Mr. Hubbard's book, Mr.
Caplan was more than abundantly justified when he said
that there was evidence that the plaintiffs were or had been
protecting their secrets by deplorable means and so did not
come to the court with clean hands when they asked the
court to protect those secrets by an equitable remedy.
Lord Justice Stephenson gave a concurring judgment.
Solicitors: Davidson, Doughty & Co.; Lawrence Alkin
& Co.
174
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Quotations are used from the following books by L. Ron
Hubbard:
Scientology Abridged Dictionary
Creation of Human Ability
Axioms and Logics
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health
A History of Man
How to Save Your Marriage
Scientology: 8-80
Introduction to Scientology Ethics
Other quotations are taken from The Auditor magazine,
pamphlets and Policy Letters.