THIRD PLACE WINNER
2000 LITERATI
CONTEST
To "Peter
Smith" for an insightful and disturbing essay entitled "Doubletalk:
Orwellian Reversal of Meaning in Scientology." His Scientology
comparisons to 1984's "Ministry of Truth" and "Ministry
of Justice" will ring true to anyone familiar with Scientology's
totalitarian, extremist doublethink. Congratulations to "Peter
Smith" for third prize winnings of USD 1,000.00.
Doubletalk: Orwellian Reversal of Meaning in Scientology1
by "Peter Smith"
Scientology, A "Multifaceted Transnational"2
A schoolchild attending a public school in California receives from a teacher a booklet offering "The Way to Happiness," which contains a series of moral recommendations and ethical precepts.
A college student walking in a metropolitan area encounters a bright-eyed smiling man who looks like a salesman, carries a clipboard, and eagerly offers a free personality test.
A dentist has a discussion with a colleague who glowingly recommends a new "management technology" that will, he is promised, expand his practice beyond his wildest dreams. The courses seem expensive, but his fellow practitioner assures him that he will make back any money he puts in many times over.
A drug addict desperate for recovery finds a recovery program that offers a one-of-a-kind purification process designed by a humanitarian who has discovered a cure for addiction with a claimed recovery rate of over ninety percent.
Parents with a problem child enroll their child in a "ranch school" which offers a study methodology from a world-renowned expert in education in an environment that guarantees to instill ethics and responsibility into their child and raise him to his full potential.
An insurance agent at a major insurance company attends a seminar held by his firm which offers a new "admin tech" and employs an odd, choppy jargon. The seminar discusses ethics, stats, "org charts" and "ethics conditions."
A late-night TV viewer wondering about her life responds to a television ad with a toll-free number to order a copy of the book in the ad, which proclaims to have the solution for life's problems in a modern science of mental health.
In each of these cases, the subject has met with an unexpected but promising turn of events which seems to offer a potential for profit, for handling a problem, or self-actualization. There is one similarity in all of these cases.
They have all had their first encounter with the Church of Scientology.
While these initial approaches appear to be for entirely different things, they all share common aspects. All offer glowing promises of increased profits, help with emotional distress or personal problems, solutions to organizational challenges, answers to questions about oneself, and ultimately, total freedom. All of them are also associated with the name L. Ron Hubbard, and use his "technologies" whether these are presented as "spiritual technology," "management technology," "study technology" or other form of "technology."
Initial representations aside, all lead to the same desired outcome: membership in the Church of Scientology. All methods of induction into Scientology eventually lead to the same concepts and beliefs.
Dianetics, Engrams, Rights and Responsibility
The central thesis of Dianetics is that most if not all humans are controlled by "engrams." An "engram" is defined as "a mental image picture which is a recording of an experience containing pain, unconsciousness and a real or fancied threat to survival." 3 The most basic engrams are often prenatal. Examples given are of attempted abortions and usually acts of cruelty by the father on the mother. A specific case is of a fetus that received an engram from a father beating the mother and yelling "Take that! Take it, I tell you. You've got to take it!"4 This engram could cause the subject to become a kleptomaniac.
Dianetics separates the mind into two parts, the analytical and the reactive mind. The analytical mind is the thinking, conscious part of the mind, while the reactive mind is essentially a reworking of Freud's concept of the "subconscious."
Hubbard's "reactive mind" can only interpret literally and mechanistically, with a stimulus always getting an automatic and identical response. The "reactive mind" is what reacts to the contents of the "engram bank" which is defined as the "single source of human aberration and psychosomatic ills."5
The reason the "engram" containing the phrase "Take it" would result in kleptomania and cause the subject to become a thief is that the reactive mind, according to Hubbard, can only interpret the contents of the engram bank completely literally, thus resulting in the person resorting to theft without even thinking about it or willing his own actions, acting on the command "Take it!"
This touches on the Scientology notions of responsibility specifically in that ordinary people without benefit of Dianetics are controlled by engrams and thus not responsible for their actions. Hubbard states: "While responsibility for his actions is necessarily demanded of him by an aberrated society, antisocial activity is the result of engrams which dictate it. The patient is not responsible for what he himself has done."6
Rights depend on responsibility, so it is not too far of a logical leap from Hubbard's statement to the conclusion that only those not controlled by engrams should have rights, and indeed Hubbard shortly expresses that view explicitly, stating: "Perhaps at some distant date only the unaberrated person will be granted civil rights before law. Perhaps the goal will be reached at some future time when only the unaberrated person can attain to and benefit from citizenship. These are desirable goals and would produce a marked increase in the survival ability and happiness of Man."7
These hints of totalitarianism in even the early phases of Scientology induction are the thin wedge which opens the mind to the insertion of the even more explicit calls for totalitarian rule by Scientology over the individual which come to dominate the internal materials of Scientology. If one accepts these seemingly innocent redefinitions of honesty, responsibility, rights, freedom, reality, communication and sanity, the rest of Scientology's totalitarianism is entirely logical and reasonable, following as they do directly from these slight deviations from standard morality.
The Way to Happiness
Under the guise of The Way to Happiness Foundation, Scientology distributes to schools a booklet called The Way to Happiness by L. Ron Hubbard.8
The public relations facade presented by The Way to Happiness is a flimsily- disguised watering-down of traditional morality meant to lead the reader down a slippery slope of pleasant platitudes that lead to the dark world of Scientology "ethics."
While the phrases of the work echo the language of the Ten Commandments, they introduce dodges and almost legalistic language into the clear and stark pronouncements of the Bible in order to allow justifications for virtually anything. "Do Not Murder " states L. Ron Hubbard, substituting a legal term for "Thou shalt not kill," and one suspects that Hubbard intends that some killing is perfectly all right. "Do not tell harmful lies," says L. Ron Hubbard, implicitly condoning "harmless" lies by the structuring absence outlined in his adage. Hubbard offers "Do Not Harm a Person of Good Will," also with the implication that harming any other person is perfectly fine.
While this work of Hubbard's seems on a first glance to be a banal but harmless work of commonplace morality, it so vitiates and perverts the Ten Commandments and other sources from which it derives as to lay the groundwork for the more thorough eradication of morality introduced steadily, "on a gradient," with further indoctrination into Scientology.
After all, who is to determine what is a "harmful" lie and what sort of lie is "harmless?" Who is to determine who is a "person of good will" and should therefore not be harmed?
Is this the way to happiness, or the way to total immorality?
Perhaps a quote from L. Ron Hubbard in later Scientology materials would be enlightening: "Never fear to hurt another in a just cause."9 Again, it is presumably Scientology who decides what a just cause is, and as we shall see, a "just cause" is any cause which profits Scientology.
Dianetics: The Modern Art of Bait and Switch
In Dianetics the "pre-clear" is promised the ultimate state of "Clear."
The Dianetics "Clear" is promised a variety of spectacular results in return for the time and money spent in "auditing" which is the method of treatment presented by Hubbard for these "engrams" which have all humanity squirming in their all-pervasive grip. "Auditing" by its definition is a very simple process. "The exact definition of auditing is: The action of asking a person a question (which he can understand and answer), getting an answer to that question and acknowledging him for that answer."10
A common auditing action is to find an engram causing distress, then track a "chain" back to the "basic" or original engram which has caused identical responses to similar situations since then. A "pre-clear" receiving Dianetics auditing might discover prenatal engram chains including "masturbation chains" from the mother masturbating, "attempted abortion" chains from the mother attempting to abort the fetus with paste or even Lysol, "coitus chains" from the mother having sexual relations, "fight" chains from the father and mother fighting, "constipation chains" from the mother being constipated and other similar engram chains often involving violence.11
An engram "chain" is a series of similar engrams, with the "basic" engram in the chain being the first of the series. Auditing attempts to erase entire chains of engrams by examining each in turn until the "basic" is located, and after the "basic" is located and erased, the other engrams in the chain will be erased more easily.12
The ultimate engram, on which all others are based, is called "basic-basic" and is "the first engram of the first chain of engrams."13 "Basic-basic" is the first engram after conception, the first moment of pain experienced by the being.14 Once "basic-basic" has been found and handled, the other engrams and chains of engrams should according to Dianetics then "swiftly resolve."15 The auditor then progresses upward through the case, erasing the remaining engrams with greater ease afterwards, until the entire engram bank has been emptied and filed in the standard memory bank, which contains conscious memories.16 At this point, the final result is the Dianetics Clear. This sounds simple.
However, in actual practice, auditing becomes quite complex, with the involvement of a primitive lie detector called an "e-meter," short for Hubbard Electrometer. Essentially based on a Wheatstone bridge, the e-meter acts as to measure galvanic skin response, which is represented to a Scientologist as measuring alleged spiritual phenomena such as "mental masses, pictures, circuits and machinery."17
Serving as electrodes for the reading are two cans, which earlier in Scientology history were actual soup or asparagus cans, though now specially made cans are used. The measurements are displayed on a gauge by a needle, and a potentiometer called the "Tone Arm" is used to adjust the meter's sensitivity.
While it is beyond the scope of this essay to detail in full the arcane terminology relating to actions on the e-meter, three of the basic responses for which an auditor looks when auditing are the LFBD, the R/S and the F/N, short for "long fall blow down," "rock slam" and "floating needle." A "long fall blow down" is a swing of the needle to the left which requires adjustment of the Tone Arm in order to keep the needle on the dial. A "Rockslam" or "R/S" is a jerky motion of the needle back and forth, and is seen as a sign of "evil purposes" that will lead to committing "overts" or harmful actions. An F/N is a "floating needle" in which the needle moves slowly back and forth on the dial, indicating that all the mental mass being addressed in that particular action has been erased. Combined with VGIs or "Very Good Indicators" such as smiling, being happy or laughing, an F/N signals the end of an auditing action. Sometimes the two occur together, an "LFBD F/N."18
While the "pre-clear" is learning these Dianetics procedures and the operation of the e-meter, he or she also encounters "Scientology ethics" and other key Scientology concepts. Dianetics predates Scientology, but they are currently only separate in name, with clearing through Dianetics or Scientology auditing leading to Scientology processing and the OT levels.
The Dianetics "Clear," having erased "basic-basic" and emptied the reactive bank, is expected to arrive at the "Clear Cognition" that "I mock up my own reactive mind," at which point he or she "attests to Clear."19
Note that it is no longer common for a preclear to study and practice only Dianetics, in which one must eventually accept the existence of prenatal engrams in order to progress to the state of the "Dianetics Clear," though accepting prenatal engrams is a step in coming to accept further Scientology processing. (Indeed, the preclear later discovers that it is necessary to contact "past lives" before one is allowed to move on to higher levels of Scientology processing. There is even a "Past Life Remedy" for those recalcitrant preclears who refuse or are unable to find any past lives.) Generally one is also exposed to Scientology concepts almost immediately upon induction to the group, including seemingly innocuous concepts such as "ARC" (for Affinity, Reality and Communication), "KRC" (for Knowledge, Responsibility and Control), and the "Eight Dynamics" which lead to other less palatable ideas, although even in their early forms they already bear the earmarks of totalitarian concepts.
Many advertisements, in fact, now no longer advertise Dianetics but instead advertise Scientology directly.
The Purification Rundown
Scientology presents to the newcomer as absolutely necessary to their further spiritual improvement a ritual known as the Purification Rundown, commonly called the "Purif" in Scientology's odd, clipped jargon.20 While this is presented as a secular drug rehabilitation through Narconon21, on other pages of the Church it is presented as a means of clearing barriers to "stable spiritual advancement."22 It is considered a vitally important prerequisite to getting gains from further Scientology processing.23
Based on the rather slap-dash theories contained in L. Ron Hubbard's Clear Body, Clear Mind, the "Purif" consists mainly of exercise, sauna and extreme overdoses of vitamins, mainly niacin, in potentially liver-toxic doses. The premise of Clear Body, Clear Mind is that drug residues, whether from legal or illegal drugs, as well as environmental pollution and radiation, continue to exist in the body and is stored in fat. For example, L. Ron Hubbard blames LSD flashbacks on LSD stored in fat cells which is released at moments of physical or spiritual stress.24
Other pseudoscientific theories contained in this volume include the patently ludicrous notion that "radiation is water-soluble" and that high doses of niacin grant resistance to radiation. Niacin is also a vasodilator, which often causes a flushing of the skin in high doses. L. Ron Hubbard's explanation for a niacin flush is that niacin "runs out radiation."25 An example given is the case of an old sunburn which flushes more brightly when the subject takes an overdose of niacin.26 Hubbard's explanation that this is "running out radiation" is overshadowed by the obvious explanation, which is that tissue which has been sunburned and healed contains a larger concentration of small blood vessels, therefore anything which causes flushing will cause more flushing in such areas.27
The Purification Rundown materials indicate that niacin in the nicotinic acid form is to be taken at increasing doses, starting at 100mg and ending up potentially as high as 5000mg.28 The toxic dose of niacin in the nicotinic acid form is considered 1000mg/day. Hubbard's recommendations are at least five times the toxic dose, as even doses as low as 750mg/day can result in severe jaundice and irreversible liver damage.29
Needless to say, this is at best dangerous quackery. Surgeon-General C. Everett Koop said of the procedure, "My recommendation about detoxification is to keep away from it. You don't need it. I'm not sure it does what this book describes. It's dangerous. I don't think L. Ron Hubbard has credibility in the scientific world. The author's suggestions about detoxification can be detrimental to your health."30
Since Hubbard's reasons for creating the Purification Rundown (and the "Sweat Program" the Purif replaced) are evidently not based in factual data or medical knowledge, one could speculate in fact that the process, which is physically stressful and involves high doses of a chemical causing a relatively spectacular physical effect, as well as many hours in a sauna at high temperatures,31 is intended as an ordeal to bring the subject into a state of exhaustion and suggestibility in preparation for the introduction of Scientology ideology.32
Affinity, Reality and Communication
Central to Scientology's iconography is the "Scientology Symbol" which consists of a stylized "S" interlinked with two triangles. The upper of the two triangles symbolizes KRC and the lower symbolizes ARC. This symbol is often reproduced in Scientology literature and promotional materials. ARC is the so-called "ARC triangle," "ARC" standing for "Affinity, Reality and Communication" and "KRC" standing for "Knowledge, Responsibility and Control."33
The Official Scientology and Dianetics Glossary, available from Scientology's website, defined the ARC triangle as a symbol of affinity, reality and communication acting together as a whole, with consideration of one alone being impossible without consideration of the other two. Affinity is defined first as "degree of liking or affection or lack of it" and reality as the solid objects, the real things of life; the degree of agreement reached by two people," and communication as "the interchange of ideas across space." Notably, the definition of reality includes the clear implication that reality is an agreement, and Hubbard elsewhere explicitly states "Reality is basically an agreement."34
The concept of the ARC triangle is rooted in the idea that each aspect of the triangle is equally important and that none is possible without the other two. This is central to the Scientology belief system, and so important to Scientologists that it is often used as a complimentary closing in internal memoranda.
A simple application of the Scientology concept of the ARC triangle to communication is that a Scientologist will believe that communication can not occur without affinity between a "source" and an "end-point" and "reality," or agreement between the two.
While the notion that reality is agreement can seem harmless as a philosophy and is indeed shared by other philosophies, in the case of Scientology it is used as leverage in order to manufacture agreement to other less benign ideas.
Closely associated with the notion of ARC is the Tone Scale, a means by which Scientology puts the "emotional tone" of a person on a scale, with some emotions being "higher toned" than others.35
Specific low-toned activities include "perversion," which Hubbard defines as including "homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual sadism, etc. and all down the catalogue of Ellis and Krafft-Ebing."36 Hubbard states that these low-toned activities derive from "hundreds and hundreds of vicious engrams" which are "on the order of kicking a baby's head in, running over him with a steam roller, cutting him in half with a rusty knife, boiling him in lysol and all the while with crazy people screaming the most horrifying and unprintable things at him."37
The Tone Scale is directly related to ARC, in that "wherever you find an individual on any of the following scales, that is his level of ARC."38 Under 1.1, "covert hostility," Hubbard places gays, lesbians, "perverts" and critics of Scientology, stating that a critic is a "Suppressive Person" who can't stand the idea of anyone being helped, and "answers this by attacking covertly or overtly Scientology."39 It should be noted that "covert hostility" is at 1.1 on the Tone Scale and anger or "overt hostility" is 1.5.
Knowledge, Responsibility and Control
Senior to the ARC triangle is the KRC triangle, standing for Knowledge, Responsibility and Control, which stand in the same relationship to each other as Affinity, Reality and Communication stand in the ARC triangle. As with the definitions of terms in ARC, so are the definitions of those in KRC subtly altered with a Scientology slant.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines responsibility as "the quality or state of being responsible: as a: moral, legal, or mental accountability." The definition of being "responsible" includes moral considerations, also defining the word as "1a: liable to be called on to answer" and "2b: able to choose for oneself between right and wrong." The Scientology definition of "responsibility" begins, containing the portion of the standard English definition relating to causation, stating that responsibility is "the concept of being able to care for, to reach or to be; the ability and willingness to be cause." However, the Scientology definition then specifically excludes moral considerations as "lower-level," stating: "It should be clearly distinguished from such lower-level considerations as blame or praise, which include the further evaluation of the goodness or badness of the thing caused."
This exclusion of consideration of right or wrong represents a redefinition of the term, which has profound implications for the nature of KRC and ARC itself, which is the "lower triangle" of the two and depends for its application on the senior triangle, ARC. However, once one has agreed to the definition of ARC, "reality is basically an agreement," and therefore this redefinition of "Responsibility" is itself "Reality." To a Scientologist, responsibility has nothing to do with right or wrong, but solely with being willing to cause things.
Similarly important to having either knowledge or responsibility is control, defined as "the ability to start, change and stop things at one's own choice." According to Scientology, one can not have knowledge without responsibility and control. Control is ultimately a defining theme in Scientology, relating directly to its view of freedom.
Even the "secular" introductions to Scientology engage in the same sort of redefinition of spiritual and ethical themes, ultimately divorcing them from all normal moral considerations.
The Eight Dynamics
L. Ron Hubbard defines the eight urges or dynamics of life as "1) self, (2) sex and family, (3) groups, (4) all mankind, (5) living things (plants and animals), (6) the material universe, (7) spirits, and (8) infinity or the Supreme Being."40 The eighth, or God dynamic, is further defined as "the Supreme Being, all Theta, the Life Static itself." 41 "Theta" is the "energy peculiar to life or a thetan" and the core spiritual belief of Scientology is that a "thetan" is "the person himself-not his body or his name, the physical universe, his mind, or anything else; that which is aware of being aware; the identity which is the individual." One does not "have" a thetan in the Christian sense of "having" a soul, one is a thetan.42
The first four of these are detailed in Dianetics. All are presented as principles through which life survives: "The Dynamic Principle of Existence Is: Survive!" More specifically, Hubbard states: "It is new that life has as its entire dynamic urge only survival."43 The four dynamics in Dianetics, and the eight in Scientology, are the ways in which survival is sought. Hubbard states: "The four dynamics were not new forces; they were sub-divisions of the primary force."44
In one sense, these dynamics are presented as all being essential to the "dynamic principle" of "survival" with none more important to the other: "None of these dynamics is necessarily stronger than any of the others."45 However, Scientology presents some of these as later in development than others, with the first coming first. One explanation common in current Scientology is given by Heber Jentsch, President of the Church of Scientology International: "As noted earlier, the dynamics can be conceived as a series of concentric circles in which the first dynamic would be the center and each new dynamic would be successively a circle outside the preceding circle. The individual, then, expands from the first into the other dynamics as his responsibility increases."46
This notion of the dynamics is not necessarily harmful in itself, although it is later applied against the individual in such documents as the "Doubt Formula" in Introduction to Scientology Ethics, in which Hubbard advises a doubting member of Scientology to evaluate the group to which one belongs "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."47
The purpose to which this Doubt formula is put in Scientology is generally as a reindoctrination tool to punish or force compliance in the erring member, who is supposed to "Suffer on up through the conditions in the new group if one has changed sides, or the conditions of the group one has remained in if wavering from it has lowered one's status."48
(Conversely, it can be noted that a proper "Doubt Formula" could indeed result in an evaluation that results in leaving the Church of Scientology, and this is not specifically ruled out as a desirable outcome, although in practice, it is virtually impossible for the loyal adherent.)
The Gradient Approach
A central technique of Scientology induction is introducing their materials to new members or potential members on a "gradient" or in a gradual, step by step manner. Defined as "a gradual approach to something, taken step by step, level by level, each step or level being, of itself, easily surmountable-so that, finally, quite complicated and difficult activities or high states of being can be achieved with relative ease,"49 it in fact amounts to initial deception to get the target to agree first to one seemingly reasonable notion, then from there, slightly but gradually to other conclusions which do not appear obvious at first. One is reminded of the old folk tale about boiling a toad. The toad would leap at once from boiling water, but raising the temperature gradually, "on a gradient," the toad will not even notice what is being done until it is too late.50
Early on in Scientology, one is told that reality is basically agreement. Once one has accepted this idea, then it follows logically that anything one later agrees to is therefore also reality. This is explicitly stated as the common Scientology saying "What's true for you is true."51
The step-by-step progression is presented as a path to self-determinism, the "Bridge to Total Freedom." "Reality is basically agreement" and "what's true for you is true" lead to arrogant self-righteousness and persistence in mistaken ideas; after all, if they are "true for you" they are true, regardless of the consequences or real-world ramifications of the beliefs held to be true.
Later in the induction process, when agreement is enforced by ostracism or even reprisal, Scientology then gains ascendancy over the individual. The "Bridge to Total Freedom" ends in total slavery, with enforced agreement becoming a new reality in which members must exist.
The Bridge to Total Freedom
Freedom is a primary Scientology selling point.
Scientology used to introduce itself in advertisements with the phrase: "Step into the world of the totally free"52 and still advertises itself as a "Bridge to Total Freedom."53 Scientology offers freedom from traumatic memories through Dianetics, freedom from the disruptive influences of other "suppressive" persons, freedom from financial worries, from a host of problems even including the need for eyeglasses and asthma medication.54
Scientology presents itself as a champion for freedom worldwide, boasts of having lobbied for the Freedom of Information Act, tirelessly promotes an image of an uncompromising watchdog against government corruption and oppression, and would have us believe that human rights have no greater friend.
Scientology operates a group called the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), and even the magazine they distribute is called "Freedom." This self-promotion was ordered by L. Ron Hubbard, who stated: "Every win to improve Freedom, we say, 'See what the Scientologists did.' Every back up of corrupt politicians, we say, 'see what the Scientologists did.'"55
However, these self-serving pronouncements do not represent the truth of the matter. Scientology's public relations campaigns largely consist of libeling their enemies, which has resulted in numerous libel lawsuits, as well as the largest libel verdict in Canadian history.56 Their Citizens Commission on Human Rights does nothing but attack psychiatry and psychiatrists with accusations as outlandish as that they were "The Men Behind Hitler"57 and simultaneously, despite the obvious contradiction, that psychiatrists "meet annually with Russian delegates and belong to KGB connected professional institutions."58
Despite their lip service to human rights, in actuality L. Ron Hubbard placed his full support behind apartheid and ethnic cleansing in the form of resettlement, stating in a letter to apartheid architect Verwoerd that it was "probably the most impressive and adequate resettlement activity in existence."59 In Rhodesia, L. Ron Hubbard also offered his services in the interrogation of those the oppressive government found subversive, and L. Ron Hubbard often stated his contempt for non-white races, stating that the South African "native" was the "one impossible person to train in the entire world - he is probably impossible by any human standard."60 Even in public issue material like Dianetics he states that "the Zulu is only outside the bars of a madhouse because there are no madhouses provided by his tribe."61
Their attacks against government corruption in the United States were typified by a decades-long battle with the IRS, in which Scientology joined forces with other critics of the IRS and launched vitriolic attacks on the presumably criminal IRS, until arriving at a secret settlement with the IRS for their tax-exemption, whereupon their opposition to the IRS ceased utterly. Terms of the settlement included forbidding their members from continuing private legal actions against the IRS, the establishment of a "Church Tax Compliance Committee" and cessation of all other hostilities.62 Apparently their contempt for IRS corruption only extended to their own organizations receiving exemption, and the IRS became snow white once it capitulated and agreed to play ball.
Freedom is lauded in the official Scientology Creed, which states "That all men have the alienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon opinions of others."63 This of course contradicts the more central statements in Dianetics that only the "unaberrated" should have civil rights, as well as further statements by which people are classified as "Suppressive Persons" by the content of their speech and targeted for eventual extermination.
The Problems of Work
In The Problems of Work, subtitled "Scientology Applied to the Work-a-Day World,"64, Hubbard expands on his notions of control and its benefits, in a manner which can only be described as self-serving and self-contradictory. Introducing his notions of "control," Hubbard states authoritatively: "There is GOOD control and BAD control."65 However, shortly afterward, he contradicts himself, stating "The fallacy is that there is such a thing as `bad' control. Control is either well done or not done."66
Hubbard specifically states that if a person objects to being controlled, this is the result of having been badly controlled in the past, or by his second criterion, not controlled at all. "People who have been `badly controlled,' which is to say, who have been merely shaken up and have not been controlled at all, begin to believe that there is something bad about control but they would really not know what control is since they have not been controlled in actuality."67 In fact, Hubbard even makes it a characteristic of sanity that one is willing to submit to control, stating: "Control is so far from being bad that a person who is sane and in very good condition does not resent good, positive control and is himself able to administer good, positive control to people and objects."68
Obviously Hubbard intended his own commands and proclamations to be considered "good control" and others to be "bad control." Incidentally, one of Hubbard's more famous statements about "control" is in a document called "Technique 88" in which Hubbard states: "THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTROL PEOPLE IS TO LIE TO THEM." Making it clear that it was intentional to put this in capital letters, he goes on: "You can write that down in your book in great big letters. The only way you can control anybody is to lie to them." Later, he states "Conversely, if you see an impulse on the part of a human being to control you, you know very well that that human being is lying to you. Not `is going to', but `is' lying to you." In a strange and telling underlined sentence, he states, further, "Organised religion tries to control, so therefore must be lying."69
As with much Scientology material, the technical material and the public issue material disagrees on basic issues central to Scientology beliefs in a manner that can only be described as directly self-contradictory. One can speculate that the purpose of these contradictions is to confuse, or to require a great deal of mental effort to reconcile the cognitive dissonance created by such ideologies and policies which, "on a gradient," turn into their opposite at a later time. This oddly parallels the Jungian concept of enantiodromia, in which something turns into its opposite. This will be examined further in conclusion.
In Dianetics, Hubbard states that "Man is intended to be a self-determined organism."70 In The Problems of Work, Hubbard states that one must submit to control, so long as it is the "good" kind, then states that "good control" is in fact the only kind of control. "Bad" control is a kind of "not-control."71 Those unwilling to submit to "good" control, presumably Hubbard's, are in a later policy letter described as "degraded beings." Hubbard states: "Alter-is is a covert avoidance of an order." "Very degraded beings alter-is. Degraded ones refuse to comply without mentioning it."72 An example of an alter-is is a lie. "One of the basic manifestations of alter-isness is a lie or deceit: when someone lies he changes the truth into a lie in order to maintain the existence of the lie."73
Science of Survival
In another central book of Scientology, Science of Survival, Hubbard's totalitarian tendencies become more pronounced, with a marked emphasis on power and control.
In Science of Survival Hubbard employs his "Tone Scale" in a chilling manner, describing the preferred treatment of those in the low numbers. Hubbard opens his statement with a generalization about these people, stating "The reasonable man quite ordinarily overlooks the fact that people from 2.0 down have no traffic with reason and cannot be reasoned with as one would reason with a 3.0."74
Since these people are defined as incapable of reason, Hubbard then logically follows this by stating that there are only two ways of "handling" them. "The first is to raise them on the tone scale by un-enturbulating some of their theta by any one of the three valid processes. The other is to dispose of them quietly and without sorrow." He also states "The sudden and abrupt deletion of all individuals occupying the lower bands of the tone scale from the social order would result in an almost instant rise in the cultural tone and would interrupt the dwindling spiral into which any society may have entered."75
To complete the example and make clear his intentions, he gives an apposite example of this kind of "handling." "A Venezuelan dictator once decided to stop leprosy. He saw that most lepers in his country were also beggars. By the simple expedient of collecting and destroying all the beggars in Venezuela an end was put to leprosy in that country."76
Creation of Human Ability
Dianetics presents the idea of the "clear," stating: "The clear, then, is not an `adjusted' person, driven to activity by his repressions now thoroughly encysted. He is an unrepressed person, operating on self-determinism."77 Self-determinism is presented as the natural state of the unaberrated person, with engrams from past experiences repressing and subsuming the conscious mind and indeed, seizing control from it in moments of stress, and effectively determining the state and actions of the individual. Dianetics clearing is supposed to remove the weight of these engrams and restore the person to their natural self-determined state. Scientology, however, goes past this to a state of "Pan-Determinism," defined as "The ability to regulate the considerations of two or more identities, whether or not they are opposed."78 A specific example is given: "The practicality of Pan-Determinism is immediately seen in an elementary, if uncommon, situation where one is being robbed. If one continues to be solely one's self, the determinism of the robber is left entirely free. The way to combat a robber is, while one is being robbed, be the robber, and go away."79
Essentially, "Pan-Determinism" means being able to play both sides of a game, or any number of sides. The purpose of Dianetics is to restore self-determinism, and the purpose of Scientology to play a Pan-Determined game. Pan-Determinism is offered as a solution to the self-determinism which in Dianetics was the desired result. "The recovery of Pan-Determinism is necessary to get somebody out of the rut of obsessive Self-Determinism."80
"Under the heading of Self-Determinism and Pan-Determinism we have, also, the subject of Control. The necessity to predict with actual force or energy the future course of an object is a refusal to have something As-is."81 To "As-is" is "to view anything exactly as it is, without any distortions or lies, at which moment it vanishes and ceases to exist.82
In an attitude reminiscent of Nietzschean philosophy, Hubbard believed that Scientology had risen above moral considerations, and indeed, by the definitions of responsibility given in relation to the KRC triangle, this follows directly. Hubbard stated: "We are not here concerned with moral values, we are only concerned with the workability of processes, and whereas it might be said of Scientology that it is attempting to sell fighting and war, this would only be said by those who were themselves badly defeated and afraid of force."83 Again, any objections to this Scientological conception of "workability" are defined to the benefit of Scientology as a deficiency in the person doing the questioning. "Workability" rises above morality, "responsibility" is divorced from any consideration of right and wrong, and the ultimate goal is to be "responsible" by being willing to be at "Cause" and create an "effect."
Whether the "effect" is morally good or bad is essentially dismissed as an irrelevant "lower-level consideration."
Scientology Ethics
Scientology often touts itself as "the most ethical group on the planet."
However, they are using their own definition of "ethics." In its simplest form, this is defined as "specific moral choices to be made by the individual in his relationship with others." Ethics is defined as a "personal thing" and as "the actions the person takes on himself."84
However, that is the definition used on Scientology's public web site. In the important volume Introduction to Scientology Ethics, the glossary gives a definition which seems entirely different although it does follow from Scientology principles: "Ethics is reason and the contemplation of optimum survival."85 Recall that survival is the dynamic principle first introduced in Dianetics and hence ethics is primary to Scientology and to the dynamics, and "optimum survival" should presumably be achieved on all eight dynamics. Introduction to Scientology Ethics presents optimum survival strategies on all the dynamics, with a peculiar emphasis on the third. This would be the "group" dynamic, and the group third dynamic of a Scientologist would be Scientology.
Introduction to Scientology Ethics includes the important Scientology policy of assigning "Conditions." "Conditions are declared on the basis of statistics" states Hubbard, and in fact these "ethics" conditions are based on one's performance within Scientology measured by one's "statistic" or "stat" which is a measurement of one's production for Scientology. Hubbard states: "The declaration of a condition is something new in the universe."86
The conditions are Power, Power Change, Affluence, Normal Operation, Emergency, Danger, Non-Existence, Liability, Doubt, Enemy, Treason and Confusion.87 Anyone familiar with totalitarian institutions can realize quite quickly that declaring people traitors and enemies is nothing new in the universe.
"Non-Existence" is the condition one is in when one first joins a group or takes a position, and as with all "ethics conditions," Hubbard has a step-by-step formula for what to do in this condition. 88 Innocuous in and of itself, this formula has as its outcome the result of ending up in a "Danger" condition, followed after hard work by an "Emergency" condition.89
The lowest of the higher conditions is "Normal" which is characterized by a slowly rising statistic; "Danger" is when "Emergency" persists for too long or when "A statistic plunges downward very steeply."90 With "ethics" defined by statistic, one wonders what the statistics represent. To Hubbard it is simple. "Statistics refer to the quantity of work done or the value of it in money."91
One could say that the central core of Scientology ethics is the statistic, representing the money that a person brings in to the Scientology organization, or the human resources they devote to the organization, with an ever-greater amount of devotion necessary even to maintain a condition of "Normal Operation." Hubbard states: "We award production and up statistics and penalize non-production and down statistics. Always."92
The ramifications of this should be obvious, and indeed it instills a ruthless and conscienceless version of ethics as the determining factors of the Scientology organization. If it creates an "up statistic" for Scientology, it is ethical. For example, a sick person is a "down statistic."
"Take health taxes. If an average man adds up what he pays the government he will find his visits to medicos are very expensive. The one who benefits is only the chronically ill, whose way is paid by the healthy."93 According to the preceding, a person is penalized for being sick, as a "down statistic" is "always" penalized for "non-production."
An up statistic arrives at Power, in which Hubbard lets slip a teling example of his view of Power and what it involves: "When you move off a point of power, pay all your obligations on the nail, empower all your friends completely and move off with your pockets full of artillery, potential blackmail on every erstwhile rival, unlimited funds in your private account and the addresses of experienced assassins and go live in Bulgravia and bribe the police."94
Note that Hubbard uses this as an example of Power, a "higher" ethics condition.
This is Scientology ethics. It begins by promising a society "without criminals, insanity or war."95 Then it redefines "criminals" to mean those who disagree with Scientology, "insanity" as those with the "lowest statistic in society"96 and "war" as something Scientology itself could be accused of promoting, but only by those "who were themselves badly defeated and afraid of force."97
Freedom is Slavery
Thus, we arrive by degrees, on a "gradient," in a topsy-turvy world where to take "responsibility" is to disregard entirely the good or evil of one's actions, "ethics" is making money and producing, and "freedom" and "rights" belong only to those who produce an "up statistic" and continue doing so despite the personal cost.
Here in Hubbard's world, where an ethics condition of Power can easily consist of having the addresses of "experienced assassins" and a need "to bribe the police" we find ourselves to have gone in a direction diametrically opposite that which Scientology advertises in glossy public relations material, as a peaceful religion seeking the greatest good for all mankind.
Scientology has an odd dual nature, in which everything by enantiodromia becomes its opposite as one progresses further in and examines more material. In enantiodromia, an openly revealed characteristic is paired with a hidden opposite which is suppressed, and which while present remains latent until it suddenly bursts forth.
This enantiodromia is paralleled in Scientology's own scriptures and conceptions, as if Scientology itself has the "reactive mind" postulated in Dianetics, where engrams are blamed for stimulus-response mechanisms by which a stimulus always results in an identical action. Later, after graduating into Scientology, the preclear is given formulas by which to react to a stimulus by an identical response, and by rotely following a formula based on a statistic for the most basic actions.
Hubbard presents in Dianetics the concept of the reactive mind, which acts on the language in engrams directly, without interpretation and literally. Then in Scientology, he creates a world filled with words, in policy letters, bulletins and directives, in which the recipients are expected to act on the language directly, without interpretation and literally.98 It is as if the reactive mind of Dianetics is "Cleared" and then replaced with the reactive mind of L. Ron Hubbard enacted in his millions of words of Scientology materials.
Ministry of Justice
Naturally, it could only be expected that such a drastically altered view of ethics, responsibility, reality, truth and communication would result in actions reflecting the central philosophy, and throughout Scientology's history this has in fact been the case.
By redefinition, repetition and indoctrination, the Scientologist eventually internalizes these new views of reality and of ethics, and acts accordingly. The structures created reflect Hubbard's organizational policies. Scientology is multi- tiered, with varying levels of involvement by its members, from the lower level of involvement represented by "public" Scientologists, who pay to receive Scientology courses in which the preceding concepts are taught, to the involvement of "staff" Scientologists directly subject to the ethics conditions laid out in Introducion to Scientology Ethics, to the deep and all-consuming level of involvement represented by those in the Sea Organization, Scientology's uniformed paramilitary elite, who have ranks and costumes based on those of the United States Navy. L. Ron Hubbard styled himself the "Commodore" and went to sea with his own personal Navy, where he developed his notions of ethics and refined them by experimentation.99 While it is beyond the scope of this essay to present a full examination of the actions these philosophies motivate, a few illustrative examples should show what follows from such inverted ethics.
Hubbard and his Scientology organization, regimented and codified in their behavior, believe the "anti-Scientologist" to be an "anti-social personality."100 Opposition to Scientology is defined as a "high crime" and even being doubtful about Scientology is a "lower ethics condition" punished by assignment of a Condition of Doubt. Further recalcitrance leads to declarations of "Enemy" or "Treason" or "Confusion" with similar formulas.101
Exercise of free speech, praised in the Church's creed, is also defined as a "high crime," that of "Writing anti-Scientology letters to the press or giving anti- Scientology or anti-Scientologist evidence to the press."102
Hubbards promise to fight for a world "without criminals, insanity or war" in fact means a world without critics of Scientology, its methods, and its practices. The actions which such beliefs surely motivate are best typified by Scientology's relentless attacks on Paulette Cooper, author of The Scandal of Scientology, which included forging a bomb threat in her name with stationery bearing her fingerprints, which resulted in her indictment on charges of terrorist threats, which were only dropped after protracted legal proceedings and after Cooper submitted to a truth serum test. In documents seized in a later raid by the FBI, Scientology was shown to have meticulously plotted further attacks against Cooper, including an attempt to have her thrown into a mental institution by having a Scientology agent dress in clothes similar to Cooper's and simulate a mental breakdown in public.103
Other actions these philosophies have led to include burglarizing government offices, wiretapping IRS officials, and obstruction of justice in a vastly complex scheme called "Operation Snow White." This illegal scheme consisted of shocking infiltration, wiretapping, and routine burglaries of government offices, as even Scientology's own attorneys admitted.104
Another notorious Scientology policy which follows entirely logically from Scientology ethics is the "Fair Game Law," another application of penalties for lower conditions. Scientology will generally claim that "Fair Game" has been cancelled, but there is an interesting history behind this, and indeed, the policy letter cancelling "Fair Game" was itself cancelled in another policy letter. Jon Atack has examined the issue fully.105
The declaration of Suppressive Persons or Groups allows for special actions to be taken against those, and indeed such actions are encouraged and even explicitly ordered, as in the case of the Snow White criminal convictions. The most obvious penalty is that a Suppressive Person or Group is "Fair Game" and Hubbard's recommendations for the treatment of a Suppressive Person or SP are quite stark and simple: "By FAIR GAME is meant, without rights for self, possessions or position, and no Scientologist may be brought before 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'."106 There is no exception for this whether the "SP" is a policeman, a lawyer, a judge, a journalist, an elected official, or is acting in any other capacity, as long as that person is committing the "High Crime" of costing Scientology money ot hindering the growth of Scientology's power.
According to another document, a Suppressive "May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."107 This HCOPL was purportedly cancelled by another letter which states that the words "Fair Game" may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations." However, Hubbard also states that this "does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP."108 In short, SPs are still to be "tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed," but putting the words "Fair Game" on the orders to do this is considered "bad public relations."
However, even this halting gesture at reform of the Fair Game policy was itself cancelled in yet another policy letter.109 So Fair Game is alive and well, although it may not be called that.
Fair Game follows directly from the notion that anyone who opposes Scientology is a criminal bent on the destruction of mankind; destroying such a person serves the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics.
Even with these explanations, it may seem that such a seemingly simplistic scheme of control, domination and elimination of opposition could not possibly be successful. However, even despite the convictions for burglarizing IRS and other government offices and the conspiracy which could very well constitute the largest domestic espionage case in American history, the IRS granted the Scientology organization tax-exempt status in 1993, even granting them a special exemption granted to no religious body, that of being able to deduct "fixed donations," for courses and auditing packages. This exemption was specifically denied by the US Supreme Court in Hernandez v. Commissioner as a quid pro quo transaction.110 This choice evidently followed the sheer volume of litigation Scientology brought against the IRS, involving literally thousands of suits, and ceaseless "Fair Game" and harassment of IRS officials even following the conviction of Scientologists including L. Ron Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard. This can be inferred from the final settlement terms, which were intended to be secret but which were leaked to the Wall Street Journal and subsequently distributed on the Internet in their entirety. Records indicate that Scientology was spending roughly $30 million a year in litigation for the desired result, and they made a $12.5 million one-time payment111 for a tax debt estimated by Scientology's own counsel as possibly over a billion dollars.112
Evidently, regardless of the ethics or morality involved, these tactics pay off, and Scientology is also often able to portray these victories as legitimate recognition of its nature as a bona fide religion.
Ministry of Truth
In 1984, George Orwell presented a chilling vision of a totalitarian future, which has seemingly come to fruition in Scientology, with its mechanization of human ethics to measurement by statistic, its assignment of ethics conditions such as "Enemy" or "Treason," its declaration of members of Scientology as well as society at large as "Suppressives" who should be "disposed of quietly and without sorrow" or "tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." Orwell promised in language which has the same clang of finality: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever."
This is the world Scientology wants, as strange and science-fictional as this may seem. If government agencies oppose Scientology, Scientology seeks to overwhelm or control them through Hubbard's proposed "Department of Governmental Affairs," which has been realized in Scientology "Office of Special Affairs." Hubbard states: "The goal of the Department is to bring the government and hostile philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the goals of Scientology. This is done by a high level ability to control and in its absence by low level ability to overwhelm. Introvert such agencies. Control such agencies."113
This sounds grandiose and unrealistic as a goal. However, even the United States IRS was brought into a state of complete compliance with Scientology's goal of receiving tax exemption. They were even able effectively to control the truth; from a maligned organization denied exemption as a Church, they went overnight to being a _bona fide religion_ as they trumpet forth in press releases to anyone who will hear. The IRS has even mailed foreign governments press releases including publications of the Church of Scientology, granting them the legitimacy that Scientology sought, in short, complete compliance.114
Successful Actions
These philosophies, pernicious and detrimental to the individual, are nevertheless taken very seriously by those who hold them, and the actions taken on behalf of the Scientology organization have, at least within the United States, been disturbingly effective in achieving the goals of the organization, which will, however, not be satisfied with mere tax-exemption, but will always seek to expand its influence, and limit criticism of its conduct and behavior to a greater and greater extent by their relentless litigation and willingness to be ruthless and even recklessly unconcerned with their own welfare or the possibility of prosecution.
Even after they "lost" in "Operation Snow White" by having several high level Scientologists convicted, and after the death of L. Ron Hubbard in January 1986, they nevertheless relentlessly forged ahead to ultimate success in their war with the IRS in 1993.
Following this, in 1996 they roundly defeated their other greatest foe, the Cult Awareness Network, after bankrupting it in litigation and purchasing its assets, including its name, so that now the "Cult Awareness Network" is in fact an organization run directly by Scientologists for the benefit of Scientology, trading on the former good name of the organization.115
With this, they had, they believed, consolidated their victories, and now of their two former largest foes, the IRS and the Cult Awareness Network, one of them was sending out propaganda at their behest to foreign governments, and the other was directly under their control and owned by them in entirety, including the formerly confidential records of thousands of cult victims who had given personal stories, requests for assistance and other personal information to the Cult Awareness Network in expectation of confidentiality.
Who Can Stop this Juggernaut?
Any person or group which attempts to oppose this group can expect to be subjected to the most relentless harassment, litigation and attempts at personal destruction that can be imagined. However, in a sense, there is a great deal of hope for individual members of Scientology and those who oppose Scientology from outside.
The set of beliefs which constitute Scientology are often contradictory, and the behavior of the organization toward its own members creates a high rate of turnover, with the excessive demands placed on members resulting eventually in them leaving, and often becoming vocal critics of the organization after their involvement.
One could say that Scientology is directly involved in producing its own enemies at all times. As soon as it has dealt successfully with an external enemy, it is busy creating its own enemies from within. It should be noticed that Scientology has often thrived in these conditions of conflict, and considered that this odd focus on conflict and "enemies" holds the organization together in the interplay of countervailing tensions, rather like a suspension bridge.
It is nothing new for a totalitarian organization to require conflict, an external enemy to demonize and fight, and internal distrust and paranoia to keep the members in line. What is new is for such an odd amalgamation of a self-help group, psychoanalysis, spirituality and commercial activity to be presented to the world as a new religion. Whether or not Scientology as a set of beliefs is religious in nature is a debate which seems to favor the acceptance of the belief-set, with thetans, and codified rules of conduct, and past lives, as a religion. However, it is nevertheless highly questionable whether the structure of corporations should be considered to be solely religious and charitable in nature, as it is within the United States, when the primary source of "donations" is in fact "fixed donations" which the Supreme Court has found to be taxable quid pro quo transactions of a commercial nature, with monetary value exchanged in return for services represented as being of value, both psychologically and even in terms of increased financial abilities.
Such a status being granted to an organization which has shown such ruthlessness, willingness to commit crimes, and lust for secular power seems to grant an unfair advantage to Scientology. It grants to this organization with highly suspicious motivations the imprimatur of religious legitimacy, and indeed the status of religion creates a situation in which those who criticize the religion are easily painted as "religious bigots" or "hate groups," adding much legitimacy and weight to Scientology attacks against their declared enemies. After all, in Scientology, reality is agreement. If Scientology can get agreement that they are purely religious in nature, then of course those who criticize it are similar to those who criticize Judaism or other minority religions: that is to say, they are bigots, and that agreement carries the weight of reality when social institutions act based on such beliefs.
The primary problem in addressing the abuses of the Scientology organization is to avoid accusations of bigotry while still bringing to light the criminal conduct of the organization, which is easily seen to be motivated directly by the Hubbard policies which are the very core of the religion.
At the moment, the pendulum of public opinion is swinging toward increased religious tolerance, which is a direction no reasonable person could oppose; however, when this increased religious tolerance also allows any criticism of any conduct of an organization seen to be religious to be labelled "bigotry" out of hand, the otherwise laudable goal of tolerance carries with it unavoidable drawbacks.
The crux of the problem is this: how does one deal with the abusive conduct of an organization motivated by beliefs which are arguably religious in nature, and which are sincerely held by its members, while at the same time not infringing to any degree more than absolutely necessary the rights of the members to hold those beliefs?
The Cult Awareness Network ultimately failed, because it was ultimately viewed by a court as having stepped beyond the bounds of legitimate conduct, whether or not this view was correct. Any other organization opposing Scientology will have to face similar challenges, and to survive them must remain strictly within the boundaries of mainstream morality. Only this will prevent a similar fate.
The difficulty is to abide by these constraints while still being successful in opposition. Without this purity of unassailable legality, and perhaps even with it, any individual alone, or organization standing in opposition, will face a difficult task.
There are no easy answers to these difficult problems.
"Peter Smith"
Footnotes:
1 The notion of Scientology as Orwellian is explored extensively by Robert Vaughn Young in a series of Usenet posts joinly titled "The Scn/1984 Parallel - Big Brother/LRH" which are available online with an archive of other Robert Vaughn Young Usenet posts and articles at http://www.islandnet.com/~martinh/rvy/22.htm. Also recommended and a primary motivation for this article is Robert Vaughn Young's article "Scientology from inside out," from Quill, November-December 1993, available online at http://www.rickross.com/reference/quill.html
2 The phrase "multi-faceted transnational" is taken from Stephen Kent, "Scientology: Is this a Religion?", Marburg Journal of Religion, Volume 4, No.1, July 1999.
3 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
4 L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Bridge Publications, 1975 paperback edition, p. 255
5 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
6 Dianetics, p. 473
7 Dianetics, pp. 492-493
8 All quotes not otherwise noted are from L. Ron Hubbard, The Way to Happiness
9 "Code of Honor," introduced in L. Ron Hubbard, PAB 40, 26 November 1954
10 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
11 Dianetics, pp. 362-363. All examples of chains given are from these two pages, though references to attempted abortions occur regularly throughout the text as if they are almost universal in human experience. References to abortions occur on pp. 158-160, pp. 189-193, p. 218, p. 225, p. 237, p. 253, p. 259, pp. 294-299, pp. 325-326, pp. 330-331, pp. 347-348, , pp. 362-363, p.382, p. 390, p. 406, pp. 451-454, p. 457, p. 459, p. 462 and p. 476. Attempted abortion methods including knitting needles, lysol, gauge #12 copper wire, douche bags and others.
12 Dianetics, p. 395
13 Dianetics, p. 154
14 Dianetics, p. 538
15 Dianetics, p. 212
16 Dianetics, pp. 247-248
17 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
18 Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary, The American St. Hill Organization, 1975. An introductory Scientology volume to the e-meter is L. Ron Hubbard, The Book Introducing the E-Meter, The American Saint Hill Organization, 1966. These go into far greater detail. Other information on auditing and interpretation of the e-meter from Robert Kaufman, Inside Scientology/Dianetics, Olympia Press, 1972.
19 Dianetics, pp. 211-212
20 In Scientology's jargon, dubbed "Scientologese" by Robert Kaufman in Inside Scientology/Dianetics. In this jargon, Scientology centers are called "orgs," short for "organization," an "ev purp" is an "evil purpose," "SPs" are "Suppressive Persons. Acronyms and abbreviations abound. Scientology has its own Technical Dictionary but for a non-Scientological dictionary of Scientologese, see Martin Hunt's "ARS Acronym/Terminology FAQ v3.5" or the latest version available online at http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~av282/terms.htm. Interestingly, the term "Scientologese," coined by a critic, is used by Scientology itself in its "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics" under the definition for "Q and A."
21 Scientology's website at http://www.narconon.org
22 Scientology's Purification Rundown website at http://purification.scientology.org
23 "Materials Grade Chart" from "The Bridge of Knowledge," Bridge Publications
24 Citations from a comprehensive analysis of Hubbard's pseudoscientific pronouncements, Chris Owen's, "Hysterical Radiation and Bogus Science," available online at http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~cowen/essays/radiation.html
25 L. Ron Hubbard, "The Purification Rundown Replaces the Sweat Program," HCOB 6 Feb 78RB Purif RD Series 1, reissued 31 July 1985
26 L. Ron Hubbard, "Purification Rundown Case Data," HCOB 21 May 80
27 General information on niacin from F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd. website at http://www.roche.com/vitamins/what/hnh/basics/niacin.html
28 L. Ron Hubbard, "Purification Rundown Case Data," HCOB 21 May 80
29 F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd. website (see 27)
30 Surgeon-General C. Everett Koop cited in Ron Judd, Diet for a Poisoned Planet (review), Seattle Times. The book Diet for a Poisoned Planet by David Steinman covertly advertises Scientology's Purification Rundown in Chapter 18.
31 L. Ron Hubbard, "How to Build a Sauna," HCOB 30 Dec 79 Purif RD Series 2
32 Bob Penny, Social Control in Scientology, available online at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/xenu/scs.html, especially Chapter 8, "The Defeat of Street Smarts"
33 All definitions in quotes relating to ARC and KRC from the "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics" which is available online at http://www.scientology.org/gloss.htm as well as in What is Scientology?
34 L. Ron Hubbard, Phoenix Lectures, Church of Scientology of California, Edinburgh, 1968, p. 175
35 The Scientology Tone Scale is explained in Scientology 0-8: The Book of Basics, Church of Scientology of California Publications Organization, 1976, p. 101
4.0 Cheerfulness
3.0 Conservatism
2.5 Boredom
2.0 Antagonism
1.5 Anger (Overt Hostility)
1.1 Covert Hostility
1.0 Fear
0.5 Grief
0.2 Apathy
36 Dianetics, p. 123
37 Dianetics, p. 124
38 Scientology 0-8, p. 100
39 L. Ron Hubbard, "Handling the Suppressive Person, The Basis of Insanity," HCOPL 5 Apr 1965
40 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
41 L. Ron Hubbard, The Creation of Human Ability, A Handbook for Scientologists, The Publications Organization World Wide, 1954, p. 278
42 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
43 Dianetics, p. ix
44 Dianetics, p. 37
45 Dianetics, p. 38
46 This explanation or visualization of the dynamics is often cited in Scientology promotional materials. This material is from an official Scientology FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file on their website at http://faq.scientology.org/ref_1.htm. This concept is explored at greater length by Hubbard in the "Clearing Congress" lectures at Shoreham Hotel at Washington, DC July 4 and 5, 1958, in the third of six taped lectures, entitled "The Freedom of Clear," in which he explained the dynamics by drawing concentric circles. The passage is too extensive to reproduce here, but the explanation that Scientology uses today is representative of Hubbard's original explanation.
47 From the "Doubt Formula" in L. Ron Hubbard, Introduction to Scientology Ethics, 1968, revised and reprinted Bridge Publications, 1989
48 "Doubt Formula" from Introduction to Scientology Ethics
49 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
50 A good analysis of the introduction of material "on a gradient" is included in Bob Penny's Social Control in Scientology, particularly Chapter 4.
51 L. Ron Hubbard, "Story of Dianetics and Scientology," taped lecture, 1958, cited by Jon Atack, "Possible origins for Dianetics and Scientology," available online at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/j/origins6.html
52 Subway posters cited in Women's Wear Daily, Vol. 117, No. 26, 7 Aug 1968 and ads cited by Paulette Cooper in The Scandal of Scientology with the wording "Step into the exciting world of the totally free."
53 The phrase "Route to Total Freedom" is peppered liberally throughout Scientology publications, including their websites at http://www.smi.org, and http://www.scientology.org. Scientology is called a "Bridge to Total Freedom" at http://www.lronhubbardprofile.org and as the "only certain road to total freedom" at http://www.whatisscientology.org
54 Scientology's medical claims from Dianetics into the secret materials are analyzed in Jeff Jacobsen, "Medical claims within Scientology's secret teachings," available online at http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/essays/jacobsen_claims.html
55 L. Ron Hubbard, "Policy of Freedom and Pamphlet Publications in the U.S"
56 Canadian Supreme Court decision in Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto 20 Feb 1995
57 Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler
58 L. Ron Hubbard, "Intelligence Actions," 2 Dec 1969
59 L. Ron Hubbard, letter to S. African PM H. F. Verwoerd, 7 Nov 1960 (cited by Chris Owen as reprinted in K.T.C. Kotze, Inquiry into the Effects and Practices of Scientology, p. 59, Pretoria 1973)
60 L. Ron Hubbard, "Professional Auditor's Bulletin No. 119," 1 September 1957
61 L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Bridge Publications, 1995 edition, p. 195
62 Douglas Frantz, "The Shadowy Story Behind Scientology's Tax-Exempt Status," New York Times, 9 March 1997; Chris Owen, "Scientology vs. The IRS," available online at http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~cowen/essays/irs.html with all corroborating documents including the formerly-secret settlement itself
63 The Creed of the Church of Scientology is available from its website at http://www.scientology.org/p_jpg/wis/wiseng/33/33-cree.htm as well as from commonly available volumes such as What is Scientology?
64 L. Ron Hubbard, The Problems of Work, The American Saint Hill Organization, 1956, 1972 (15th printing, 1974), title page.
65 The Problems of Work, p.25
66 The Problems of Work, p. 40
67 The Problems of Work, p. 40
68 The Problems of Work, p. 45
69 L. Ron Hubbard, Technique 88, "On Control and Lying"
70 Dianetics, p. 277
71 The Problems of Work, p. 40
72 L. Ron Hubbard, "Alter-Is and Degraded Beings," HCOB 22 Mar 1967
73 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
74 L. Ron Hubbard, Science of Survival, Bridge Publications, 1978, p. 157
75 Science of Survival, p. 157
76 Science of Survival, p. 157
77 Dianetics, p. 19
78 The Creation of Human Ability, p. 284
79 The Creation of Human Ability, p. 91
80 The Creation of Human Ability, p. 93
81 The Creation of Human Ability, p. 93
82 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
83 The Creation of Human Ability, p. 114
84 "Glossary for Scientology and Dianetics"
85 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, Glossary
86 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "Conditions"
87 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "Table of Conditions"
88 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "New Post Formula" is given as
1. Find a communication line
2. Make yourself known
3. Discover what is needed or wanted
4. Do, produce and/or present it.
89 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "New Post Formula"
90 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "Danger"
91 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, Glossary
92 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "Rewards and Penalties"
93 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "Rewards and Penalties"
94 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "Third Dynamic Power Formula" which is a reworking of a prior issue, HCOPL 12 Feb 1967, "The Responsibility of Leaders," commonly known as the "Bolivar PL" after Simon Bolivar.
95 L. Ron Hubbard, "The Aims of Scientology"
96 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, 1989 edition, p. 170
97 Creation of Human Ability, p. 114
98 Inside Scientology/Dianetics, citing Solo Packs A-D, stating: Instructors at the Hubbard College may not interpret or evaluate Hubbard Bulletins or Policy Letters. When a student asks a question it is permissible only to refer him or her to whatever document contains the correct data. Any other action will land the Instructor a Condition of Liability and Ethics punishment.
99 Explanations of the organizational structure as described by outsiders as well as insiders used but not directly cited include but are not limited to:
Russell Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard, Penguin, 1987
Jon Atack, A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics, and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed, Lyle Stuart, 1990
Robert Kaufman, Inside Scientology/Dianetics, originally published as Inside Scientology by Olympia Press, 1972
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100 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "The Anti Social Personality / The Anti-Scientologist"
101 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "Condition of Doubt," "Condition of Enemy," "Condition of Treason," "Condition of Confusion."
102 Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "High Crimes (Suppressive Acts)"
103 General details of these and other schemes against critics by Scientology are most succinctly explained by Richard Behar in "Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power," Time Magazine May 6, 1991 although they are widely documented elsewhere and especially on the Internet
104 "Stipulation of Evidence," United States v. Mary Sue Hubbard, Cr.No. 78-401 (D.Ct., D.C.). Available online at http://www.rickross.com/reference/stipul.html
105 All citations on Fair Game taken directly from Jon Atack, "The cancellation of Fair Game," available on the Internet at http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/essays/atack_fairgame.html
106 L. Ron Hubbard "Suppressive Acts, Suppression of Scientology and Scientologists", HCOPL 23 Dec 1965, re-revised 8 January 1991, reprinted in The Organization Executive Course, volume 1, pp.873-889, 1991 edition.
107 L. Ron Hubbard, "Penalties for Lower Conditions," HCOPL 18 Oct 1967
108 L. Ron Hubbard, "Cancellation of Fair Game", HCOPL 21 Oct 1968
109 Church of Scientology International, "Cancellation of Issues on Suppressive Acts and PTSes," HCOPL 8 Sep 1983
110 Hernandez v. Commissioner, 490 U.S. 680 (1989), available online at Chris Owen's website at http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~cowen/essays/irslegal/050689.html
111 Chris Owen's "Scientology vs. the IRS" has a legal archive with material from over fifty of these lawsuits, representing the merest smattering of the massive litigation, available at http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~cowen/essays/irslegal.html
112 Monique Yingling, quoted in Elizabeth MacDonald, "Scientologists and IRS settled for $12.5 million," Wall Street Journal, 30 Dec 1997
113 L. Ron Hubbard, HCOPL 15 Aug 1960, The Organization Executive Course 8 Volumes, Scientology Publications Organization, 1972
114 A letter written to a branch of the German government by the IRS, including a description of the "Scientology religion" written by Scientology, is available online at http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~cowen/essays/irsletter.html
115 The Scientology organization runs a "Cult Awareness Network" site at http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org. The takeover of the Cult Awareness Network is extensively detailed in Ron Russell, "Scientology's Revenge," LA New Times, 9 Sep 1999, available online at http://www.newtimesla.com/issues/1999-09-09/feature.html