Some follow up to the earlier post about hype expansion news.
Lots of amazing expansion that has never come to pass… what Captain Miscavige was saying in 2014.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, the Golden Age of Tech Phase II is described this way on the scientology website:
So, this “47X” expansion occurred between November 2013 and June 2014.
47 times expansion in just 8 months. OMG…
I did a posting about this in August 2014: Massive Expansion of Lies
Then in February 2016, the claim was 60X in the last 2 years — this GAT II was a real watershed apparently!
Except — as I noted back in 2014, the 47X expansion had not been visible to anyone in the real world. And 8 YEARS later, still no visible expansion. In fact, many indicators of CONTRACTION.
There is still not a single org in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
There are plenty of large cities that have no org: Houston, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Charlotte, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Baltimore, Louisville…
And as for the world, as I remarked at the time:
Asia: From Pakistan to Indonesia and all the way to Mainland China there is not a single org. Nothing has changed.
There is an org in Taiwan and ONE in Japan. That is all.
China: Remember the hype about “Dianetics is taking China by storm” and how “the government of China has welcomed Dianetics”? That was more than 20 years ago now. There is still not even a mission. 1.4 billion people – nearly 5 times as many as in the US. And NOTHING. In fact, scientology is not welcome there.
India: Oh, the hype about India. David Pomerantz was over there “opening the gates” struggling to meet the “huge demand” for dianetics and scientology “from the 1.2 billion people of India”. Nothing still. Half the missions that had opened are now closed. Not a single org for 1/7th of the world’s population.
Indonesia: IAS Freedom Medal winners took the country by storm. Drug Rehab. Prison rehab. VM activities. Dianetics seminars. Now, not a word.
Malaysia: Remember, this is a country brought into the 21st century by “LRH tech” through some “admin tech consultant” who was featured at an International Event. Crickets.
Thailand: With great fanfare, pomp and circumstance Rhon Walker opened a Mission there and VMs supposedly established massive safepoints. Thailand, being a predominantly buddhist country, was on the verge of being the first clear country they claimed back then. Now — nothing.
Philippines: More IAS bs. David Pomerantz opened a mission there. VMs “flooded the area to fill the demand for LRH tech” blah blah blah. Nothing. No org.
The majority of Africa, a continent with 1.2 billion people has orgs ONLY in South Africa and two shells in Zimbabwe. This only represents 75 million people — about 7% of the continent. There has not been a new org opened in the entire continent of Africa since the 1970’s other than the phony AO in Joburg.
These claims of massive international expansion are simply LIES.
Well, this article was timed perfectly, when you take it along with the article Tony Ortega published the following day with a clip of Miscavige talking about “Golden Age of Administration,” where they have discovered that “Admin Dreck” is the key to driving “eternal expansion.” So now that they are releasing “Admin Dreck,” we’ll see even more orders of magnitude growth.
What is the new “Admin Dreck,” you might ask? Well, Captain Miscavige has discovered that the current Green Volumes are wrong because the policies are ordered by publication date. But to really understand them, you have to order them and study them in order by the date they were actually written. Otherwise, apparently, your head will explode, almost like you got a peek at the OT III materials before you were ready, or something.
He put off fixing Admin Dreck until they had Ideal Orgs and 100% standard tech. Never mind that any business continually evolves its internal administration processes as it grows. Apparently, in Scientology, it’s OK to grow with all that straight up and vertical expansion without having competent administration, and then you can add that at your leisure when you are at the pinnacle of success.
The new “Golden Age of Administration” is weak sauce for the membership, but a terrifying new tool to keep the staff members wrapped up in new training that will keep them from blowing because they’ll all have to come to Flag for many months if not years of indoctrination.
Here is something I honestly do not understand:
All these reports of various Scientologists “attempting” to open orgs or missions in these above mentioned countries and continents.
Now there are plenty of wealthy Scienology celebs. Why this struggle?
These are very poor countries. There is plenty of land. Certainly American dollars for land would be welcomed in such places. Buy some land!
Certainly, labor is cheap in most of these countries. Hire the native people and build some orgs!
Furniture? The cult has the Sea Org for that?
I mean, like, what IS the big deal?
Buy some land – there must be all kinds of land for sale at good prices.
Use the local cheap labor to construct the buildings.
Done!
And probably quite cheaply too.
There would be – could be – so many orgs constructed throughout the world – mostly on the cheap – that Miscavige could have an opening / ribbon yanking once a month. He’d be hopping from one country to another for years. The illusion of expansion would be so strong that Miscavige would we literally worshipped. Orgs opening like this would convince EVERY Scientologist that expansion was occurring at a fast clip. They could blast the fly-throughs of all these orgs at events. Miscavige could have an org in every country in the world which would allow one to be built. Endless bragging, endless event fly throughs, endless regging possibilities. Ideal Org openings are now THE index of cult expansion – proof positive to these idiots that their religion is expanding. They don’t know the difference between an organization and a building. In their so called minds, a structure, a building is of itself, expansion of their organization. They ARE that stupid. So why not pander to this stupidity by putting 1 org in every country of the world and in every state in the USA? Why not do it?
I don’t get it.
Aqua … Because … While you are correct in how a PHYSICAL CoS could be constructed, Scientology is DIFFERENT from other religions/churches in one major way (well, two, but hold on a moment). A CoS CHARGES MONEY FOR ITS SERVICES, and that is a big BIG stop in getting people in, especially in a poor country, but really any country.
Also, though Christianity asserts that you can only be saved through ITS religion (and we have Christian churches in different parts of Thailand where I live ) Scientology early on in a person’s involvement, reads the seven page policy, Keeping Scientology Working, which not only heavily asserts it’s dominance over local religions as the only way to salvation, but DEMANDS that all adherents who join up, even early on, be completely dedicated to its mission …. “rather have you dead than incapable” …
And in most parts of the world that is a VERY BIG NO GO. Thus no orgs or even the possibility of such.
Joe, totally agreed on every point! No argument from me on any of them. MY only point was/is that “Number of Ideal Morgues Opened” is apparently THE “sub-stat” upon which the cult’s expansion is based! Of course this is insanity; an organization is NOT a building, a building HOUSING and organization is NOT the organization, BUT somehow, in some inexplicable way, Miscavige has convinced these jerks that the two are one and the same. Ergo, if THAT is how they evaluate expansion, why worry about profitability? Except for Flag (I’m assuming) no Scientology org is profitable anyway, so why not perpetuate the public’s delusions about what constitutes expansion by giving them lots more of the same? Scientologists have been operating on Estate “stats” as indices of expansion since 2003!
Most people under 50 years old would have no idea about how scn was run while Mr. Hubbard was still trekking Teegeeak No organization wide solicitation of money, no outright donations and no demand for money for noble causes and crystal chandelier and marble floor buildings. Even so he still made lots of money.
Someone said Mr. Miscavige enjoys doing the interior decorating of the Ideal Orgs. He could have been an interior decorator. Mahvellous Dahling! (When I left LA about 30 years ago Mahvellous was worn out and the interior decorators had switched over to “Smashing!” I don’t know what they’re using now.)
Richard, as usual, LOL. “Mahvellous, Dahling”. Yes, that would be amusing, watching Monsieur Pompadour in an Ideal Org fly thru, flitting around with cloth swatches, comparing wood grains and tile, matching up curtain fabric and conferring with his assistants as whether to go with deep burgundy-and-mushroom or olive-and-gold in Reception…that would be cute.
Except for one problem:
The little plug-ugly from Philly has the WORST taste. Demonstrably THE worst!
How do I know this? You might well be asking, and fair enough.
Here’s how I know: His Int Events. That scenery in back of him, surrounding him. That stage he stands on delivering his ShermanSpeak. OMG.
The clouds, the fake marble pillars, the swirls of brilliant scarlet, the della robia blue back ground, ornate gold and silver etching everywhere…how can this “decor” be described…let me try…
How about Long Island Low Level Mafioso Fantasy meets Going-Out-Of-Business-One-Day-Sale- Imitation Italian Renaissance?
Seriously, those Int Event sets are awful. No one with taste would stand up there and give a 3 hour speech on a set like that. Normal people would be quite embarrassed. I would DIE of embarrassment to give a speech on a set like that. (No reflection on any former Int Event Sea Org set builders btw. The Dwarf’s bad taste was not YOUR fault.)
I can just imagine what his home looks like. Jesus.
Laughter!! It never occurred to me before that the garish decorating obscenities at many scn events were Davy’s creations. Now I know. LOL!
Richard, the sets are actually designed by folks working for Dave. He couldn’t draw a set design if his life was at stake. But your point is well taken just the same.
In the early 90s we were just getting started with the big broadcast events. Every event was a complete circus to get set up. The set designers would put something up at great expense. using slave labor and 24 hour a day schedules. Dave would look at it and say it was bovine excrement.
Not “I think there is too much beige in the background” or “it needs better lighting on the backdrop to make a three dimensional effect”. Just “This is crap. Do it over.”
He loves to see creative personnel just frantically scrambling around. Makes him feel like a god or something.
The worst one was “This looks just like the last one! Not original at all!” Of course, once they got something actually approved within minutes of the curtain call they had a great tendency to try it again.
Honestly there was no real esthetic consistency to his criticism so it was impossible to create something truly artistic that would get approved. Kitsch is king with Dave.
Finally he gave up on the originality crap and it settled down into the absolutely over-the-top styrofoam Greek columns and printed backdrops that you see today. They even bought a huge transparency printer so they could print a new backlit background once in a while and keep the rest of the set pretty much the same.
This background is vitally important to Dave because that is what you see in all his close-ups. It MUST somehow show up his brilliant blue eyes.
Wish you could have been there one time when the video guys tried to explain to Dave that his blue eyes would never look like brilliant sapphires in his face when the camera is in a mid or long shot. His eyes were more like flame throwers that day. Fortunately these guys were hired guns, not Sea Org. They’d be on the RPF in minutes if they were!
Book designs, set designs, CD cases, Scientology TV, everything that needs an esthetic sense in Scientology is poisoned by Dave’s tendency to insist that they emulate Spinal Tap and turn it up to 11.
Mike! Would there be any way tosomehow put this comment below Bruce’s comment just this once? I want to respond to what he said! I feel rather badly that I might have hurt his feelings.
@Bruce,
It was I, not Richard who just trashed Miscavige awful taste in Int Event sets. The key word here is “his”. HIS taste – not yours or any other Sea Org member involved in set design or construction.
Thank you for sharing what you did.
Please don’t think I was criticizing you or any Sea Org designers or builders. HE was the decision maker!
He didn’t give you much to go on; his guidelines were huge generalizations; he made you guess and then be wrong and have to do it all over repeatedly; he witheld his ultimate approval until the very last minute.
Out of his own inability to communicate and/or out of sheer cussedness and sadism he did not articulate his own vision to his staff – his designers, builders, painters, etc.
My ONLY point was that ultimately what went out there was HIS taste – not yours! HE approved what was offered, after giving his people practically no guidelines.
What a freaking monster, putting you all thru hell cruelly, unnecessarily and I might add, wastefully and expensively.
That Miscavige loves the gaudy and garish is bad enough – actually, its kind of funny to me, if you want the truth.
What’s unforgivable is how he made his staff suffer in their earnest laboring to make his horrific taste manifest.
Landlordism is all that Miscavige is good at. He’s not good at the “spiritual” pseudo-therapy and exorcism practices of the movement.
He’s only good at landlordism and getting things built up to put those “orgs” there.
Not the practice of the faux religion.
And, remember, this is quackery anyways, that is, the Hubbard quackery is this pseudo-therapy and exorcism. Since it is fundamentally bogus, no one is going to be ultimately good at it.
It’s a huge futile faux operation, people get conditioned to fake results, and be satisfied with their faked results, and accept and applaud their faked results of each other.
It’s not a winning strategy.
So landlordism is “real” in that renovated old buildings do at least look solid and better than they used to, relatively.
So Scientology’s only winning strategy is the landlordism strategy.
The world’s not obviously on fire wishing to do the pseudo-therapy and exorcism parts of Scientology, and no amount of great practitioners of the quackery pseudo-therapy and exorcism have made any dent in public demand.
It’s a futile false promising operation. Unwinnable.
@Chuck,
I hear you. Yes, he is good at getting orgs bought and built with other peoples’ money! We’ll give the devil his due. Too bad Hubbard didn’t post him at Int as Head of all Estates Worldwide, or whatever the name is for such a post.
Aqua, a mission still requires staffing. The CofS can’t even manage that any more; most of the existing missions are hollow shells, and are dying off.
It reveals how truly shrunken and hollow they are. Outside of their old bases in California and the Tampa Bay area, they are an almost completely spent force.
Its true, and I hate to cavil, but apparently the Scientologists themselves consider a building, a structure bought and renovated and opened by Miscavige, however empty of public it ends up being after the ribbon cutting – an index of Scientology’s expansion! But I agree with your point as regards staffing – there aren’t enough Sea Org members to create (however briefly they last) the “Ideal Scenes” of fully staffed orgs in that kind of volume.
They abide by the monkey see monkey do rules. If Miscavige accepts their applause of his definition of expansion, then they have caught on to things, and that’s acceptable, so the play along to whatever makes Miscavige happy.
It’s a huge pretend multi levels conditioning monkey see monkey do.
Thanks – I think I know what you mean…I think. Yes, I think I get it. “Monkey see monkey do”…yeah. That’s what it is, alright!
Aqua – I agee! Build an Ideal Org and the people will come!
Supposedly when the Buddha sent out acolytes to spread the word he told them, “Some will listen. Some will come.” Similarities and differences. haha
Richard, your humorous sarcasm is appreciated. That said, it STILL manages to drive me somewhat crazy that Scientologists – at least a goodly number of die hard Still Ins have “buildings” and “organizations” fused together in their so-called minds. They think a building is an org and vice versa. An Ideal Org is an Ideal Building. An Ideal Building is an Ideal Org. I’m telling you it still – well, forget driving me “somewhat crazy” – forget that – quite candidly it STILL blows my mind, this lack of distinction they cannot or will not make between the two very different concepts! A building is a structure, an organization is composed of people. I mean, DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!. Thanks for letting me rant 🙂
If it weren’t for lies, scientology would have NOTHING to say. It’s been that way since the beginning — and before: in Book 1.
Reading this article I had a “cognition of magnitude” I’d like to share with you.
As regards all of these lies about the expansion of Scientology:
If these Still Ins, these “Opinion Leaders”, Miscavige himself, lying like this about their religion’s expansion whilst at the same time they believe Hubbard’s tech, they will NEVER “go free”.
Never!
All the great teachers from ancient times to the present have stressed the concept that only the truth grows a free being, only the truth enables the person to attain the higher potential within.
Implicit within this concept is KNOWING the truth.
Now, lying because one does not know the truth will cause a person to innocently entrap himself. This isn’t so bad. This can be easily corrected without much damage usually.
BUT!!! knowing very well the truth and lying about it – well, that’s stepping DOWN the rung to freedom as a being!
This is Hubbard’s tech, people!
And supposedly, they believe it. And its also what many, many philosophers. teachers, artists, poets, etc. down the ages have said as well. Phrased differently perhaps but the concept is the same.
Truth sets you free; lies “plough you in” (entrap you).
Yo! I’m looking at you, Greg Capazorio, Cruise Bro in Law and BS artist. And all the rest of those in Scientology who knowing or unknowingly, lie about their religion.
According to Hubbard’s own tech they are “plowing themselves in” to their “banks”. Must make them feel awful, believing that “the greatest good” is for them to lie. Sad, actually.
Such an easy lie to disprove. When I was drinking from the source cup I would attend events and wonder why our Class IV org had not expanded like ‘everywhere’ else on the planet. Maybe we were being held back by an SP?
But no, everywhere else was not expanding…it was all lies and razzle dazzle graphs and hype. Same crap year after year, bait and switch to the new ‘thing’ that would guarantee the rapid expansion of the church.
I’m sad that it took me so long to figure the scam out, and even sadder for the sheeple still in.
@Zola,
It took me 24 years to figure it out.
That’s how gullible and unsuspecting I was.
Don’t beat yourself up.
You believed.
You trusted.
Did you suspect and then deliberately twist away from the truth?
Doesn’t sound like that’s what you did.
You trusted, and your trust was betrayed.
Theirs is the shame, not yours.
Yes, you were fooled.
But one day you happened to LOOK, and knew the truth.
Far more importantly, once you KNEW the truth, you ACTED.
Think about it: how many Still Ins today long ago figured out the truth, realized that all talk of expansion was bullshit, and yet, still stayed in? I’m not talking about the UTRs keeping a low profile who are actually on their way out. I’m talking about the ones who know very well that expansion is all a lie, yet they repeat that lie, with full knowingness that it IS most definitely a lie!
I’m talking about the craven ones who found out and then stopped their own thoughts, suppressed their own analytical abilities. .
Give yourself plenty of credit for confronting and handling and acting on your own observations. You are head and shoulders above those who KNOW and yet, knowing, steep themselves in lies – their own and the lies of others.
Must really suck to be them, no? I think so.
Is the IAS tax-exempt? I can’t imagine why it would have a tax exemption, but then I also can’t imagine why anyone would donate to the IAS unless they got a tax write-off. Elron’s most successful “tech” was the creation of the “International Association of Scientologists” to which members’ money flows, with no accounting of where it gets spent.
Miscavige’s success came when he turned IAS donations into a game of Status for members, with certificates, trophies, fanciful names for upper levels, yet still no accounting of where the money is spent.
THE IAS HAS no purpose other than to line dwarfenführer’s pockets. Thus there’s no NEED for accounting for the IAS’s (meager) outlays for other fundraising events.
There is a Scientology building in Florence, Ky. I think it is referred to as the Cincinnati org. (Florence is about 10 minutes south of Cincinnati.) I don’t know too much about it. It’s been there for several years and it doesn’t seem to have a noticeable following.
It’s a bit like the likes of Netflix and Facebook discovering that explosive growth can only last so long (except for the fact that their growth was real): As early as 1970, the cult stated to reporters (including the NYT) that they were 15 million strong. Later on, lesser but still significant numbers were floated: 6, 8, 12 million. And then there are the 15,000 scilons the Tampa Bay area is teeming with.
Things get real real fast when you take these BIG numbers and try to compound them significantly and repeatedly. Just like the companies mentioned may have reached a saturation point recently, the cult’s lies have long reached a point of utter absurdity.
Take a number–any of the numbers offered–and multiply it by 47 in 2014, and by 60 again two years later, a total factor of 2820. Also, it would be safe to assume that similar growth would have to have occurred in between these marker years and since. After all, the “tech” never takes a break working wonders, and elron was perfectly clear that stats can only go up. And he was never wrong.
To pick just one example among many: Even if in 2014 there were a mere 120,000 US scilons (MAGNITUDES below any number EVER offered), and even if inexplicably zero growth occurred outside of these two time frames, by now every man, woman and child in the US would be a scilon!
A simple question ,have they ever fill an auditorium/ hall/stadium/ gym/play ground of 3000 capacity ?
Can they march with atleast 500 on any street of Clear Water, or any city of their choice, on any special occasion ?
Have they ever held a press conference or press briefing ?
Forget all above, have they ever visited any University for intro?
Ahhhh 50,000 years of wisdom cannot answer question of 17 year old freshman…🤓
Mark, the Shrine Auditorium in LA which seats up to 6,300 was long used for events prior to the pandemic, though in recent decades they struggled with attendance and may only have really filled about the first floor for their one big New Year event, accounting for about half the capacity. The big IAS event Saint Hill in England also appeared to have attendance of a thousand or more, in an extremely large tent. And several of the opening events for large orgs in the decade appear to have had attendance of one to two thousand, though maybe not quite as high as three thousand – though the CofS might have claimed that.
In the past they’ve had even larger events, though it’s not clear that they will ever again have, or be able to have, events as large as even three thousand, as they shrink and as their core membership passes on.
It’s a Final Count Down….
2025 , begining of Age of Extinction ,after the end of current state of Age of Paranoia.
It’s not me it’s written.on.the wall.
At this point there are probably more former Scientologists than there are actual Scientologists.
That’s been true for a LONG time, and has only accelerated when the Tiny Tyrant goes on a tear and declares people wholesale.
It saves a BUNCH of bucks that he gave up printing and mailing those declare notices to the actual SPs concerned. At most, they might handwrite something and post it on a small bulletin board somewhere for a few days before filing it someplace appropriate — like the circular file.
I think its hard for normal honest people to understand that there are individuals that proudly and openly lie non stop without the slightest conscience. I’m talking completely, over the top, no tie to reality even attempted, pure BS like what can be seen with both Hubbard and Miscavige. It’s like a mental illness. They seem to believe that anything they say is “true” just by saying it and they actively work to remove or destroy anyone that doesn’t buy into the lies. The naked “emperor” doesn’t just claim to have clothes, he claims to own and have personally designed all the clothes that has existed for the last 30 trillion years, in all universes, known and unknown. Why hold back? P.S. WHERE IS SHELLY?
“I think its hard for normal honest people to understand that there are individuals that proudly and openly lie non stop without the slightest conscience. ”
…So true, Mat. Ironically, this phenomena acts as a kind protective armor for serial liars everywhere. An excellent book on this subject is “The Sociopath Next Door” by psychologist Martha Stout.
Thanks for the tip.
Superb comment. Right; who would have the utter NERVE to lie so largely, so blatantly and with no conscience? Its true, most decent, honest people will reason to themselves, “Well, this HAS to be true! Who would or could lie like this? Its unthinkable!”
Shelly MUST be sleeping in at her palatial vacation resort, having sweet dreams of sabotaging Davey by having his work done before he wakes up from his drunken stupor and realizes it’s yet to be completed.
When a Class 4 org, in the West US, some 30 years ago, we sat in an Executive meeting reviewing our stats as well as the US Birthday Game results. We were number 2 in the US, and Miami was #1! Woo hoo, right?!?
What was funny was witnessing all the faces of the executives as we knew the truth…our org was basically empty and barely surviving. if we were #2 in the US, how the hell was everyone else doing?
I believe most of the folks in that meeting either started or accelerated their paths of leaving. That was one of my first big awakening moments.
I absolutely agree with you. Everyone was secretly aware of the state of affairs. You just couldn’t say it out loud or you’d be punished somehow or frowned upon for having counter intention. I always wondered what was wrong with me in these moments. The cult mindf–k at work.
Jimbolito: Did those “stats” you were counting up contribute to actual bodies in the shop? Or were they more on the order of “Inches of gold thread sewn into the snow-white Persian rugs carpeting the idle morgue”?
My impression is that it was closer to the latter, since NONE of the Birthday Game Winners ever became self-supporting the way Hubbard described.
It was easy to manipulate the birthday game “stats.” You got the most points in Affluence so one just had a continuous flow of non-existence numbers followed by affluence…up, down, up, down, never increasing over longer periods of time…almost always starting at near zero.
You could really rack up the birthday game numbers when starting near zero. I think everyone knew about this manipulation in the game, but no one cared. It was basically a game of lying and cheating, where everyone played.
Re: Massive Expansion — Of Lies (August 29, 2014)
Thank you, Mike, for today’s posting and for referring us to your earlier blog from August 2014, the same month I escaped from Scientology. Your blog followed my escape by two weeks, but I probably have never read it (there’s just so much to read between your blog and Tony Ortega’s blog).
One of the first things I noticed is a response posted by Cindy: “If only we could get this to the KA [Kool-Aid] drinkers.” Here it is, eight years later, Cindy; your wish became a reality in my universe. In addition, her Declaration of Independence (from Scientology) helped me find the strength to write my own declaration.
In that blog, you turned David Miscavige’s lies into truth that I can digest. As I scrolled through the Comments section, I noticed one (by Sejanus) that translated Miscavige’s claim of “47x global expansion” into “47x the lawsuits,” and “47x as many defections.” That statement forecasted Scientology’s current state of affairs, what with the upcoming Danny Masterson trial, etc. When I got down to the comments by Swampland4Sale and Foolproof (regarding LRH tech concerning ARCXs, O/Ws, blow offs, etc.), I found myself quickly scrolling through it, until I got to your reponse to what they said: “This is the sort of ‘technical discussion’ that goes round in circles.”
When I wrote my Declaration of Independence from Scientology in 2014, I did so under the delusion that I would be continuing in Scientology as an Independent. Fast-forward eight years. L. Ron Hubbard no longer controls my life or destiny, thanks in large part to your wisdom, Mike.
I was hearing all the hype about the ‘demand for dianetics and scientology’ when I was ensnared in the cult in the late 70s. Back then, the mission I was at was a fairly busy place but it was located in a somewhat remote city. At the time I thought that scientology was a new religion and new movements always take time to acquire some momentum. I was hearing about long waiting lists for people to get into scientology schools like Delphi. Fortune 500 companies (unnamed) were using Hubbard’s ‘admin tech’. It was all spreading like wildfire. None of this was actually happening, but this was before the internet and it was difficult to fact check any propaganda the cult was spewing to its members.
In hindsight, with the Kool-Aid excreted from my system, things look much different. The fact is, if scientology was able to deliver even a fraction of what it promised, people would be breaking down the doors demanding the ‘tech’. There would be no need for ‘body routers’ or any kind of promotion or advertising. Word of mouth would suffice. Bottom line: scientology can’t deliver what they promise because the ‘tech’ doesn’t work, ‘ethics’ doesn’t work, ‘admin’ doesn’t work. Period. Why? There is no basis for any of it, no research, no products, no ‘clears’, no ‘OTs’ no nothing but promises from the cult and money coming out of one’s pockets and into their coffers.
I spoke with a friend that has been on Atlanta staff now for 32 years. He was excited about the “real progress” that is now happening. There are more people on otvii now than ever before in the area. (I think there might be 5 people). He is sure that people everywhere will cognite and look for answers. I listened to him talk on for about five minutes. It really is kind of spooky to listen to it. It sounds like the data was inserted into him for replay, and I was listening to it. It’s sad to see him wasting so many years. Anyone in now is so deeply cemented in, that any tiniest fragment of doubt you may make is met with several concrete trucks full of Backfire Effect which is immediately dumped on the fool, trapping them even more.
“Cemented in”. That’s a good way of phrasing how trapped they are. And the irony is that by dumbing down their abilities to observe, they cemented themselves in. They immersed themselves in wet cement and the very first time they twisted and turned against what their own common sense told them was true that stuff began to harden. The more they refused to confront, the harder that cement got.
They truly are trapped in their own individual, self made Prisons of Belief ( thank you Lawrence Wright) . Its very sad. They’ll never “go free”. The paper certificates they have on their walls will mean nothing. Their tin trophies and pins and Commendations from COB will mean nothing. They’re actively imprisoning themselves. Going free as beings? Won’t happen. They’re busily going in the opposite direction. Very sad indeed.
I agree.
It’s soooo easy to see, isn’t it?
I believe, for those willing to look at what I am about to say, there is something here that begs a little look.
A tin-horn of a “snake-oil” salesman ensnared and continues to ensnare a number of people (A small number as far as the world is concerned, but a big number when YOU are one of the the ones being trapped.)
Look at the covert style of imprisonment being successfully carried out, well after death, of Ronnie the Limper. I know, I know, the little guy is doing his own pushing now. He is in “hold on a little longer” mode before he has his own personal Waco.
The old man wasn’t THAT smart, and see what he did with the fragile humans? We all have a tough enough time on our own, who knows? We are a fairly suggestable lot, aren’t we? And who knows, there may be mental mechanisms in play here intended for the survival of the group, back when it was necessary to have such mechanisms where the difference between pre-humans and no more pre-humans was on a razors edge.
What if there was somebody smarter than the old man? I’m sure there have been some. Who taught them? Are there other groups trapped in something they do not see but mildly complain to themselves about?
I doubt it.
“the IAS is the only group ACTIVELY guaranteeing the future of Scientology.”
That’s because no-one else wants the job.
Also with the crush regging for status awards they are guaranteeing nobody new will want to join or hang around for long.
The only person GUARANTEEING scientology’s future is the Tiny tyrant. Before he’s done nothing and no one of the scientology that Ron & Co built will exist. And Davey will be ensconced in his palace in [wherever], his pockets filled with cash.
Africa. Hmmmmm. I wonder why no Scientology except in partly white (and until fairly recently, Apartheid) South Africa. Hmmmmm. Does anyone else see an extremely obvious reason? Hmmmmmm.
A legend in their own minds selling the impossible dream.
time and time again all I see is scientology accusing the world of doing what it does every day, it would be almost laughable if it wasn’t so blindly dangerous
drug abuse, psych brutality, propaganda, human trafficking, failing marriages……..honestly come on that’s scientology
47X or 60 X of what? No mention of what exactly has expanded – students?, clears? orgs?
Doesn’t that make the statement a generality, and isn’t that a sign of something according to PTS/SP tech?
What exactly expanded….the SIZE OF DAVID M’s BANK ACCOUNT………
And that cash came with no suggestion of anything in return: such as services or goods.