OK, so they have not been able to get 10,000 onto or through Solo NOTs in 40 years, so they have come up with a new plan.
Half as many through OT VIII.
The 10,000 is derived from some obscure Hubbard statement about 10,000 people being able to control the destiny of earth. Here is how Clive Rabey put it back in 2014:
ORIGIN OF THE 10,000 TARGET
This campaign was primarily based on the following LRH quote:
“At any one time on Earth there were not more than about 10,000 people of a caliber that was sufficient to do a little steering or leading. There’s only about 10,000 of them, really.” – LRH, How to Talk to Friends About Scientology, lecture of 18 December 1952
If 10,000 non-Scientologists could do a little steering or leading then 10,000 OTs would be able to do a heck of a lot of steering or leading! This is already being demonstrated in almost all Scientology activities where OTs lead the way and are the backbone of expansion activities, plus in A.B.L.E., W.I.S.E., S.M.I. and as Class V Org staff.
At the time the target was originally set, Solo NOT’s WAS the top of the Bridge.
They did not shift to 10,000 on OT VIII as they were already so far short of the Solo NOTs target that it would have been ridiculous.
There are probably no more than 1,000 people who have completed OT VIII. Perhaps 20% of those who complete OT VII actually make it through and likely 50% of those who complete VIII then fall away from scientology. This target of half the number onto OT VIII is as unattainable as the target for OT VII. And let’s not forget, when Hubbard talked about 10,000 people in 1952, the population of earth was 2.5 billion or about 1 in every 250,000 people. Today it is 7.8 billion. 3 times as much. So, to maintain the same ratio their target should be 30,000 just using simple math. They’re going backwards. The population is increasing at a faster rate than they are able to get people onto OT VII — even at a ratio of 1 to 250,000 — so the target is never going to be attained (I suspect they will never attain even the 10,000 on Solo NOTs target).
But after promoting the 10,000 target for decades, it became very tired and gets little mention any more (like St. Hill size orgs). So they needed something to spark things up.
Their new target SHOULD be 30,000 onto OT VIII. Even for the deluded hypsters that come up with this stuff, that was too much.
In a year/month/week this will be forgotten. The only thing that stays constant in scientology is the demand for money.
5,000 through Oat Tea Ate? There aren’t near than many Solo Nuts completions still standing to make that number. But anything to keep the sheeple minds off of the fact that no higher OT levels exist.
Sort of related… I was reading about Chick Corea, who sadly passed away last week from cancer, and I was curious if he was still involved in the group. I read that he was a *double* OT VIII — that he’d done it twice. What is the reason for doing it twice?
Is it considered a huge flunk to get cancer as an OT VIII? I got very sad thinking that he may have died thinking he’d done something wrong and blaming himself 🙁
I do agree with some observers here, that, sadly, after all that investment, drilling, and backbreaking sacrifice to get to “the top,” OT 8’s are largely unremarkable. To encounter one in regular life, you would likely see them struggling with the same ol’ stuff as anyone, such as remembering where they left their car keys. Normal stuff. Too, like anyone, this person may develop cancer or Parkinson’s disease, and have to do the same intensive level of care and medical investigation as anyone to try to sort it out.
What can be “standout” about an OT 8 is their steady devotion to being in the org, or helping sell books, and participating in non-stop fundraisers. But even then (I wonder if anyone else observed this), few will join staff. Or if they do join staff (such as in a “Join Staff” push that accompanies an ‘Ideal Org’ opening), they quietly route off when contract finishes and do NOT re-sign.
That always seemed like an odd thing. Knowing what they know, and “being briefed” constantly as a member of the “in” crowd of OT 8’s on the planet, how can such a powerhouse senior type OT individual not take on a substantial org staff position to help lead a “boom” in their area? Nah, they pretty much avoid that, just like most in the group.
The notion that C of S public would NOT be noticing phenomena such as this is another instance of “being in the bubble.” Sea Org members and COB himself do not realize what non-optimum PR this is when an OT 8 returns to a local org who does not, necessarily, foster others’ confidence in: “Gosh, I’d like to be just like this person. (Look at them go!)” If all they are doing is “fostering” more fundraising and demanding people show up to fundraisers and donate more money, then, no.
Here and there, an OT 8 I have encountered who is really sane, calm, and good–when probed, I find out: there were sane, calm, and good BEFORE they got into Scientology. They were already, from a young age, pursuing and doing good in the world. Their actions in Scientology possibly amplified these traits, but this person already, at their core, was quite a decent, compassionate, and helpful individual. They (and the families who raised them) can take credit for that!
Great comment.
There’s massive massive pressure on OT VIIs and VIII’s to contribute.
Over the years that push comes and goes, but ever since the Ideal Org push, the OT Committee involvement is no longer optional.
You nailed it with OTs coming back and not joining staff, or finishing a contract and not re-signing.
We never had a lot of OTs on staff.
The staff were always the most un-audited, untrained lot about. Except for Admin training maybe.
(and we all had thick ethics files) (back then, public rarely got reported, and staff of course were always getting KRed)
(that’s why you always find the SPs on staff, right?)
To Rip Van Winkle: Indeed, indeed. Org staff are truly un-sung. I wonder if others in this blog community have seen or been one of these dedicated staff who is a full-time staff member for two, three, or four decades, and makes Bridge progress that is minor or near non-existent. Scientology’s true sentiment toward labor and people who are doing the work is something to observe. How are these individuals are treated? They are treated abysmally. Thank goodness, now, for those who get out, they have an option of appealing for help from The Aftermath Foundation to re-start and get on their feet.
A staff member lives on a feast and famine diet of “Gung-Ho”.
and once you’re OT you’re left with no mystique, a big status, and a pocket full of reasons.
It works best if you keep them un-audited those first few decades on staff. The “full of vim” years.
Hubbard, 1952: “At any one time on EARTH [emphasis mine] there were not more than about 10,000 people of a caliber that was sufficient to do a little steering or leading.
Rabey, 2014: “If 10,000 non-Scientologists could do a little steering or leading then 10,000 OTs would be able to do a heck of a lot of steering or leading! This is already being demonstrated in almost all SCIENTOLOGY ACTIVITIES where OTs lead the way and are the backbone of expansion activities,”
Note this additional moving of the goal posts: Hubbard, being the ceaseless daydreamer of his own importance that he was, wanted to steer the earth. He wanted to “smash my name into history” although he had to settle for slapping around wives 1 and 2 (giving him the benefit of the doubt on #3 for lack of evidence, even though spousal abusers left to their own devices seldom reform) and making up the difference with tall tales of being courted by the powerful and influential for his “tech.”
Rabey, on the contrary, talks about how OTs are leaders in the echo chambers of the cult itself. A much more modest goal. A fairly masturbatory one in fact, as these OTs may bask in their own importance relative to the less indoctrinated marks in the cult while having ZERO impact on the culture, let alone the earth that Hubbard was gunning for.
Quite a down-shift in ambitions over 62 years of relentless and unstoppable growth, 47x, ideal campaigns and the golden age of fundraising!
Todd,
To go along with Hubbard’s 1952 PDC tapes I recall where he commented: “You may wonder why there are only 26(or so) here when there should be hundreds… well, there are only that many of you who are ready to take in this material’.
Slippery con that Hubbard.
This is disinfo, he never had a second wife. 😀
What would 5,000 OT8s do for mankind?
5,000 people who have spectacularly diverged from reason.
5,000 people who paid half a million bucks for a god complex.
Who paid to blame their hangups on ancient space sagas and their micropsiome.
Who believe the “greatest good” is any action that supports/funds their church.
Because Hubbard defined human worth as the ability to pay for scientology.
Destructive actions that aid scientology are “above the overt motivator sequence.”
And an overt is only an overt if the individual considers it to be.
Financial crimes, medicare fraud, bankruptcies, broken families and cancer are the real “OT phenomena.”
5,000 cleared cannibals would steer the world towards mass human harvesting.
5,000 OT8s would steer the world into ruin.
At that level of awareness – on OT8 – saying “It’s what you need” is really funny. At that level one should be harmony and consciousness not finally realizing that this is “something you needed”.
By the way if 5000 OT 8 would really start helping others outside the bubble through real charitable activities who is truly in difficulties (instead of calling them DBs – degraded beings) and contributing actively with others groups to improve the community (not thinking with stupid stats) then maybe they would finally be somehow useful and do something appreciated and needed.
But this is just an utopia, like scn is.
Based on work by Pooks and Kristi I did a project to find “where are the OT’s now”. That was waaaay back, in 2012.
Results at that time are here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KTq41-3rbSBe2xMWHGwZ-dn4BKDYx6kn13G3p2y9fug/edit#gid=0
Of course that’s 9 years ago and it hasn’t been updated since.
The WWP thread where I posted my research results is here: https://whyweprotest.net/threads/ot-viii-project-where-are-they-now.103693/
Lots of spam from page 5. I requested that a mod delete the rubbish, I hope it gets done.
If anyone feels like updating, please contact Pooks to get the password to be able to do so. 😉
Trev, I see a figure of 2,400 OTVIIIs cited, so I assume that is the total count as of then, at least according to whatever information and accounting is represented in that thread you linked to. From what I’ve seen Scientology appears to be adding about 100 per year, so the count could be around 1,000 higher at this point, though as always there’s the question of how many are re-dos.
However, quite a few of those will have died by now – some even leaving behind prepayments for OTIX – and many seem to blow after reaching that level; I think I’ve seen figures of around half dropping away, which probably says a lot about how people feel once they’ve reached the supposed (current) pinaccle of attainment in the CofS.
Wasn’t there a former OT VII D of P who left who told us on Mike or Tony’s site that there was a flash color coded system so you could see at a glance who was actually auditing on OT VII and who wasn’t? Colors were purple, goldenrod or yellow, red, green, black. He said many were off the level due to illness, PTSness, and other reasons, so that the actual number auditing on OT VII was not very many. I’d love to see a reprint of that article and s re run the whole article about that.
Also the pool of potential people who could be moved up to OT VII is shrinking, so there isn’t that many prospects to reg for OT VII. And then there is the money it costs to get on the level, huge amounts, and in this economy and having already been fleeced by the C of S, not many can afford it now, And of course there are those who leave the church and those who die, which also means less people on the level.
In the 1970’s I recall some people walking around ASHO (American Saint Hill Organization) with a note pinned to their shirt or blouse saying,
I’m on POWER
Don’t talk to me
(Power was a level on the Scn Grade Chart)
This added to the mystique of the subject.
mystique
1. a framework of doctrines, ideas, beliefs, or the like, constructed around a person or object, endowing the person or object with enhanced value or profound meaning:
the mystique of Poe.
2. an aura of mystery or mystical power surrounding a particular occupation or pursuit:
the mystique of nuclear science.
………………………………………………..
There was a lot of mystique in Scn and who doesn’t love solving a mystery?
For an Organization that claims to have millions of members, the target of 10,000 is a ridiculously low one.
And then to fail miserably to meet it even after more than 30 years is laughable.
This is a group going no where.
Last night I caught the last half of Codes and Conspiracies, deadly cults (something like that). Anyway, I think the one was in Japan and how amazing it was that extremely intelligent, well educated people were lured into the cult. The part that really caught my attention though was their leader had them wear these helmets that seemed to be wired. He had one on also and the whole thing was meant to connect them to his brain so they would think like him. His goal was to take over their ability to think for themselves, be independent, and gradually take over the world. Also it was ok to destroy anyone who said anything bad about the cult.
Just seemed like I’ve read about a cult like this that operated very similar – maybe here? 🙂
Also there was a short blurb about why it’s so easy for cults to operate in the US. The Deceleration of Independence separating church and state and if they could call themselves a religion then they wouldn’t have to pay taxes or answer for their actions.
Great point. The USA actually generates cults. Recently I have noticed a complete acceleration in the trend. When I was in my youth, there was a great fear of Communism and it held attention. Now even average people can get involved in cults.
Cults and conspiracy theories plus of course
in the political arena the cult-leader. Nowhere
else have I encounter more conspiracy theories
than in Scientology. Hubbard was the leader to
make his followers going down this road. No
wonder scientologists are leaning far right.
Hello George,
Your statement that “10,000, 50,000 or 10,000,000 OT VIII completions would do nothing for Scientology”…..Welll….. it would fill their coffers with quite a bit of CASH.
Good point
If you cannot meet your targets, then I suppose the next best thing is to “adjust” the targets.
The 5 thousand OT 8s are just another meaningless number that can never be reached. That way all ‘failures’ are the fault of the OT 7 and under who didn’t jump up the bridge of Lies.
This promotion of OT VIII by Scientology is starting to really irritate me. I have a certificate at home showing OT VIII completion and I have retained all of the receipts for the level. They have refused to listen to anything I ever said about the level. I told them that Miscavige’s analysis was a joke. At least fifty former Scientologists have contacted me in regard to the level. Scientology get it straight. You people are totally confused. There are three major points you need to deal with:
1. Original OT VIII in 1988 was an attempt to forward the word of Hubbard and it failed.
2. There are actually many OT VIII completions but Miscavige is clueless about what the level really does. OT VIII completions recognized the farce of Scientology which was Hubbard’s original intent when he wrote the 1989 Student Briefing.
3. The physical manifestation of OT VIII completion is the production of dopamine which leads to mental calm. This dopamine is a natural beneficial chemical. The mental manifestation of OT VIII completion is the reversal of the natural cult mechanism found extensively is Western Civilization.
10,000, 50,000 or 10,000,000 OT VIII completions would do nothing for Scientology.
Hubbard wrote the Student Briefing used in OT VIII in June, 1980 before he died. This document was a feeble attempt by a below average mind to consolidate all religion. Hubbard fails to cover Islam and various forms of Christianity. He joked about Jesus as a “pedophile”. Hubbard’s knowledge of Theology was non-existent. Hubbard also reversed the scripture of Buddhism. Hubbard was in a rush to outline a theological basis for Scientology with no skill in real theology! Hubbard did not understand the Occult as outlined by Blavatsky. With basic knowledge of the Occult, he could have fashioned some usable theories. Hubbard’s subjectivism prevented him from being a real researcher.
If that’s all OT VIIIs can do my auditor was apparently confused. He told me in 1989 that I no longer had to worry about nuclear war because there were too many OT VIII’s out there. And he must have been right, there has not been nuclear war, no doubt due to the number of OT VIII’s out there. So hopefully Scientology will produce even more OT VIII’s so I continue to not have to worry about nuclear war.
LMAO!
In 1989 were you worrying about nuclear war?
Only until I learned that the OT VIIIs would stop it from happening.
LOL!
George in reading your post I came up with a story I witnessed. It was late 80s or 1990. I was sent for recruitment to an org or mission.
That day there was a Flag event with Tito Mazza. Special guest was Paolo Melis, it seems to me, one of the first Italian OT 8.
At one point one of the two made a comment like “after OT8 there is more” and the other said that it wasn’t like that and that it was the top (I think Paolo). And each kindly continued to insist on his own idea.
I found this strange. But now based on what you wrote on your comments it starts to make sense what he meant.
Thank you! So many people look to OT VIII and think about OT XXV. Paolo was more in my point of view. OT VIII was the end. It is just a matter of interpretation.
Thanks George.
A few ex scientologists on the blogs have said they studied Aleister Crowley’s “Thelema” before they entered scn. Unless the NOI gets into high gear Scn might become as little known as the current O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis) although I don’t know if, like Scn, there are any reliable stats of the number of current Thelemites.
Crowley, like Hubbard, trashed formal religion although maybe just for fun or attention he sometimes referred to himself as “the beast 666”. lol
The wiki article about Crowley says that in his later years he sent anti-Christmas cards to his friends. Unlike Hubbard I guess Aleister retained his sense of humor.
Crowley promoted free love in Thelema and he was quite the stud so I heard. Victorian girls were against him so he sought freedom.