Rose-Colored Glasses

By "Christina Wilson"

In this writing I will try to be as fair to Scientology as I possibly can.

It is my intention to just relay the truth as I see it without any prejudice. I have no real vendetta against Scientology although it will seem by what I write that I do. I'm only trying to speak my truth. If there is good to be had out of Scientology, may it become unscrambled from the current Scientology culture and find its way into the world. Also, I will not attempt to quote LRH exactly in his words (unless I specifically indicate that I am quoting him). Instead, I will refer to his teachings solely how my mind recalls them and put them into my own words and my own interpretation.

This will hopefully keep me out of any legal troubles with copyright laws etc. So know that if I interpret any piece of Scientology or LRH writings wrongly, it's due to my imperfect recall or understanding. In other words I am not attempting to relay any part of Scientology teachings or LRH writings exactly as it is written in Scientology.

My subject matter will center around three essential frameworks of Scientology: Responsibility, Control and Freedom.

Responsibility:

Responsibility is a big word in Scientology and used often.

In fact it's used in the acronym, KRC (Knowledge, Responsibility and Control). The Concept is, if you increase any one of these three (K, R or C) the remaining two will increase. Like many of the many other basic Scientology Tidbits of potentially workable technology, this KRC acronym in actual practice is used very little and thought of very little. On staff or Sea Org, you aren't expected to use this. All your time, attention and energy is continually focused, funneled and pounded into making it go right to get the stats up come hell or high water. It's just a whole ramrod atmosphere, using the premise, "You already know it from one of your past life experiences -- so just get it done and get the stats up. Now you are considered fully (Underlined) responsible for anything that goes wrong with getting your stats up, even if the reason was totally due to something out of your sphere of control.

Say for instance, if the electricity shuts off due to a storm and this prevents you from doing your job, it is construed as your fault. That you must have so much counter-intention on getting your job done that you wished for or conjured up something bad to happen to prevent you from doing your job and getting your stats up. If the results of your inability to do the job affected the overall gross income of the organization, it is very likely that you will be severely penalized and accused of being in doubt of Scientology.

I've seen this taken so far as to declare someone to be "in doubt of Scientology" for having a near fatal accident. This is because the accident could have caused embarrassment for the church or caused important stats to somehow go down or caused a great sum of money in hospital bills. This is because he/she is considered fully responsible for having that accident along with its damaging effects on Scientology. When you get declared, "in doubt", you lose any privileges you had (which are very few). You lose the camaraderie of the other staff. You have to do extensive amends projects. You also have to do something that will be an effective blow to the enemies of Scientology Then you have to get each staff member to sign your petition to allow you back into the group and back into their good graces.

So, as you can see they take this word Responsibility to the far extreme.

Control:

Control is another word that is used very often in Scientology. In fact it is so much part of their culture, it could be considered a religious word or a word that's held at the utmost of importance. The degree which you have good control over others is truly the degree in which you are respected. Not only is it part of the acronym KRC (Knowledge, Responsibility and Control), it is taught in a couple of their most basic classes. As with many things, this probably has the potential of being useful and helpful.

I really don't mean to rag on Scientology. But the kind of control that they continually revert to (for the most part) is force, intimidation, degradation and threats. It's odd, because the kind of people that are on staff, especially those that have been on for several years are usually extremely devoted and dedicated to Scientology And it's stated goal of "Freeing mankind." These people can be worked to a fervor of dedication in only minutes of time, at which point they would be willing to walk to the ends of the earth if asked to do so in the name of their purpose. So it goes without saying that they are very cooperative people and could be controlled easily with calm and encouraging words. So why all the screaming, yelling and chastising??????? Very good question! I can only guess. Your guess is probably every bit as good as mine. But I gotta say, it does seem to be a reflection on the personality of the top leadership of Scientology (Who do, by the way, encourage this kind of leadership in their lower ranks as well as practice this type of leadership themselves, far more often then the softer reasonable type of using inspiration and soliciting cooperation.)

In LRH's bulletins on "Control", he describes "good control" and "bad control", with the adage that any control is better than no control. (not a direct quote). I will describe from my memory how he described good and bad control. (I apologize if my interpretation doesn't go along with yours.

Again, this is such a sacred word in Scientology, I feel I need to tread lightly and make it clear, I'm not attempting to say this is the definition.

It's merely my interpretation based on how I recall it after having studied it very often in the past. Plus I'm using regular English words versus Scientology coined words.)

Good control would be getting people to do something by using good public relations to illicit cooperation. Using encouragement with good understanding of the controllee. Behind all this add the intention to have the controllee accomplish exactly what you want to have done without even the slightest doubt that it will not be accomplished forthwith. If the controllee does accomplish that which you intended, then you can be considered to have had "good" control. Bad control would still be getting the controllee to accomplish your intention but only after he has been yelled at in some demeaning way and oppressed. Bad control isn't nearly as effective, as it often leads to blundering mistakes which causes the controllee to not get your intention done fully as you wanted and leads to having to continually harass the controllee to get anything done (or so thinks the bad controller). Again, I'll comment that the dedication level of staff is such that they are willing to continually submit to this type of bad control just for having the honor of being on staff and working towards "the freedom of Mankind", in the only (underlined) group (they believe) that can free mankind. This leads us to our third subject called, "Freedom".

Freedom:

Again, I've got to make it clear, I will be describing Freedom in accordance to how I interpreted it when I was on staff and how I interpreted LRH's writings on the subject. Freedom for the individual was something accomplished slowly but surely as you took the various step by step therapies in Scientology It involved, starting from the basic therapy and going to the higher steps. These steps in very summarized form starting from the lowest to highest involved:

A) The feeling one could control his own self by feeling what it's like to be completely controlled by another.

B) Freedom of Communication.

C) Freedom from problems.

D) Freedom from past upsets.

E) Freedom from the need to make another person wrong (as in putting another person down in some way).

F) Freedom from certain aspects of "hang ups" common to all people.

G) Freedom to hold your own space in relation to other people and objects.

H) Freedom from mental implants given to you and all people hundreds of thousands of years ago.

I) Freedom from the results of a huge major disaster and implant many millions of years ago.

J) More freedom from the results in "I" above.

K) Complete freedom from the results from letter "I" above, along with freedom from a major incident in one of your vastly distant lifetimes.

The result of all this would be someone who had the kind of total love, compassion and understanding that could be considered Godlike. This individual would have complete joy of creation and total power and control with no mental blocks to ever pull him down again. When I thought of Freedom for mankind, my main concept was they could all be free from those mental implants and resulting hang-ups that held people down in a fog and made him basically, a lost soul, not knowing who he was and being led to believe a lie for the last trillium. I imagined a world that was peaceful and happy due to all humans ridding themselves of all that made him less than whole and purely himself. I believed strongly the concept that man is basically good. Therefore if you take away the mental things that made him incapable of just being his own basic self -- you would truly have a wonderful culture.

My interpretation of one of LRH's bulletins was that Scientology was mankind's only chance to ever become free and no one else has ever figured out how to guide him out of his entrapments until now. And if Scientology fails their mission, mankind will never have a chance ever again. I along with hundreds of other staffers believed this fully, hook, line and sinker.

This will give you a clue why these people are so passionately dedicated and dead serious about their purpose.

Unfortunately those people that I knew who were going up into those highest therapy steps -- the higher they went, the worse off they seemed to get.

They often became quite irritable. Definitely less compassionate. They often just seemed to get colder towards others. Part of their good sociable and caring self was still there definitely but there seemed to be a deep sadness in each one of them that would not go away. This does not make me happy one bit to be saying this because I wanted so much for Scientology to be all that it was cracked up to be. Once doubt started taking hold of my heart, I forced myself to take off my rose-colored glasses and see things as they are -- good or bad. I was determined to see the truth. I would purposefully seek out those that made it to the highest level of Scientology I am not lying to you when I say that in every single case, these individuals were less stable then they used to be (in my opinion).

One for one they seemed to be annoyed within and very little desire to relate with others and let any real friendship in. Or in some cases their life caved in around them. Several got diseases or just extremely ill. I know of at least one that died of cancer. I know another that went out of his way just to say cruel comments to people at every chance he could. I can honestly say this individual was the closest to insanity that I've ever witnessed. He seemed to always suspect the worst of intentions in others.

He was the epitome of what I would call a lost soul. To be fair- I have to say, I only had the opportunity of meeting or getting to know about 10 OT VIII's, (the top level) and about 200 or less of people who were on those higher levels -- not having achieved the top yet, and out of these only about 50 I knew before and after their travel into the higher levels. There are thousands that have done these levels so maybe some of them got some real good out of it. I honestly hope so.

Before I allowed my mind to evaluate these people, I always justified and made mental excuses for why these people were not becoming the type of people LRH had described. These justifications involved things like, "He's always irritable because it's hard for him to be surrounded by people who are so less aware and capable as he is." "There's no common reality he feels with others now." "He feels such a tremendous responsibility to free mankind now that he knows the truth, that it's a huge burden." "He's only pretending to be angry so he can light the fire under people and get them hopping and producing more." "Something went wrong and he just needs to get the repair therapies and he'll be fine."

Probably, the scariest thing for me was realizing that there wasn't even one higher level person that I didn't have to make mental excuses and justifications for. (Actually, there was one person who even though had manic depressive mood swings, seemed extremely capable, powerful and had a whole lot of compassion, before and after his higher levels. He seemed to have a deep love and understanding for people. But he later confessed to me that he had just skirted through and around those higher levels, never allowing any of the therapist to ever really know the true answers to the therapy questions. He lied his way through because he was afraid to dig up his past and look at it.)

I also noted that the most powerful, successful , and effective staffers and executives were the people who had not made it to those higher steps in Scientology yet. I saw many a capable exec go to these higher levels and later being removed from their job due to loosing his competency level.

Any Scientology's reading this will say I'm lying through my teeth. I challenge any of you to compare the competency, stability and general happiness level of any individuals before and after those higher levels. It's truly sad and disappointing.

Conclusion:

I could oh so easily still be in Scientology had I not been willing to take off my rose-colored glasses and allow myself to consider the possibility of Scientology not being exactly what it is cracked up to be.

There is a whole system within Scientology that is designed to keep you from daring to take off those rose-colored glasses and to make you promptly put them back on with extra glue any time you got brave and took them off for a short while. As you will see, the system has everything to do with the subjects at hand: Control, Responsibility and Freedom. The system centers around the "Condition Formulas".

You were taught over and over that each part of your life was in a particular condition and there was an already made formula (created by LRH) to get you out of that condition and move up to a higher condition. So, for instance if you viewed your personal life and saw you were making decent headway with getting the step by step therapies or classes in Scientology And it was slowly but sure, you could say your personal condition was in "Normal".

If you applied the "normal" formula you should find yourself in "Affluence". Now if ever you disclosed in some way any doubts you were having on Scientology, or if by your actions (i.e.: messing up on your job), you were seen to be in doubt of Scientology, you would not be able to have any more Scientology advancement until you did the doubt formula and found that Scientology was indeed the only thing that is helping people in truth. Then you do amends and get accepted back with the true believers and you continue, if you are lucky to get your therapies and advancement of the Scientology steps.

With this in mind -- and believe me it is in your mind due to your having done the doubt formula on so many occasions -- you don't want to dare to let your mind stray onto those nasty doubting thoughts, because you don't want to halt that greatly desired enhancement again. Also you know from certain LRH writings that if you lie to the therapist about having doubts or lie or withhold anything in your mind, you will not be able to make any advancement mentally at all, no matter how much therapy is given.

So your only recourse to real mental and spiritual advancement is to never have any doubts or bad deeds so there is nothing "bad" to reveal and you can continue successfully to advance up those Scientology steps. Provided no one writes reports on you saying, essentially, that you aren't performing well on your job and you don't seem wholly dedicated so you must be in doubt. The staff are encouraged on a regular basis to take responsibility for their fellow staff members and write reports on them for any and all "wrongnesses" so that their fellow staff member can be corrected and not worsen into even lower standards or conditions. In fact, if you get found not have written a report on someone whom you witnessed having wrong behavior or speech, you are subject to the same consequences as the guilty party. This keeps everyone on their toes.

It also keeps everyone from ever trusting anyone else with their inner feelings about what they feel isn't right about the goings-on in Scientology or within the Organization.

But all is well without too many hitches as long as you keep those rose-colored glasses on and justify fully anything you see or perceive as being wrong. And keep reminding yourself of your purpose to free mankind and fully submerge yourself into your job for all it's worth and give it all you got. Be very cooperative and polite to management. Show your subservience and respect at every opportunity. Always be willing to do all that's asked of you and always find ways to do way more than what is asked so those around you can be continually reassured you are aboard for the long haul so of course have no flickerings of doubt whatsoever.

The sad part is, there were very few Scientology therapists on staff so it was a rare opportunity when you were the lucky staff member to be chosen to get some therapy steps. When those opportunities came around, you'd better have good statistic records to prove you were producing more and more each week. Without those good stat records, the window of opportunity closes and you have to wait for God knows how long for the next window to open. Believe me, this -- plus not being able to have any time off if your production statistics aren't higher than the previous weeks -- gives you a whole lot of incentive to bust through every barrier and dance through any hoops just to get your statistics higher each week.

As you can see, LRH and those using his teachings in management have neatly sewn a water tight method for

a) keeping staff loyal and diligent.

b) keeping staff working at their utmost abilities and pulling on their creative powers to keep the areas of their responsibility producing ever more higher production statistics each week.

c) keeping staff and Scientologists always on their best behavior, knowing any of their comrades are likely to write a report on them for any deviant behavior outside of what was considered acceptable.

So not only is the individual's mind always correcting itself, but staff reports correct him where his mind failed to, and the desire for getting the therapeutic steps and getting time off take care of the rest.

Brilliant!!!!!!! I would say this is the work of a genius! But the truly magical key to all this and behind all this is maintaining and feeding the flame of the individuals purpose to free mankind. This in part was achieved by some key LRH bulletins that were required reading before each new class or step in Scientology One of these bulletins in particular had the ability to fully replenish my fire for freeing mankind. I can only assume it in turn did so for 100's of others. Since you must read it before each step (tiny or large) and get someone to ask you questions and pass you on your understanding of it, most Scientology's or staffers will have read it thoroughly, anywhere from 20 to 100 times a year, more or less, depending on his circumstances.

To be fair to Scientology, I must say that most religions and even businesses have various methods of mental compliance (which I'm sure insures the overall success of our society as a whole), None that I've seen however, have such a tightly knitted package. A package that has a built-in self-correcting mechanism at every corner.

I have an old friend who departed from Scientology and the Sea Organization several years ago. He had been on staff in the Sea Organization for over 20 years. I asked him if he would be willing to tell me any of his personal experiences. He was reluctant at first, but as we talked, he opened up, and a very interesting story unfolded. His story shows how the group used these factors of Control, Responsibility and Freedom to manipulate him into submission and agreement to do the RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force). This story took place well over 10 years ago, so there's no way of knowing if this kind of thing is still going on. He spent many years in the RPF. Here is his story in his own words.

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