People are asking for our thoughts regarding recent tragic events. We can only offer facts about scientology teachings and our opinions on them — we don’t have firsthand information concerning the details of Kelly Preston or Benjamin Keough’s deaths, though, when it comes to scientology and scientologists, there are other factors that come into play – factors that are contained in the “scripture” of scientology that give a particularly dark tint to these terribly sad events.
The heartbreakingly unfortunate truth is people commit suicide every single day, and people die of breast cancer every single day.
Scientology goes to great lengths to claim they don’t offer medical treatment or diagnosis and have people sign legal waivers to this effect. But anyone who has ever sat before a scientology registrar (what they call organizational salespeople) knows the waivers are just a way of avoiding lawsuits and government investigations. When you get into scientology beyond the surface appearances, you soon find they claim they can cure all diseases and people pay tens, hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars, based on the belief this is possible.
Unsurprisingly, scientology has a jaundiced view of the medical profession. Though they again pay lip service to avoid legal liability, they follow the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard who said that other than setting a broken bone (they acknowledge some utility of doctors for this), there is little value in the medical profession. Why would one need medicine when you have scientology that can supposedly cure almost anything? Hubbard packaged scientology as something real and tangible (a “technology”), far advanced beyond anything else available to man – medicine included. Scientologists believe that this “technology” is thoroughly researched and proven fact. They call real medicine “wog-medicine.” “Wog” is a derogatory term L. Ron Hubbard coined to refer to any non-scientologist. Scientologists believe they are far superior to wogs simply by virtue of being scientologists – that they are, in fact, a new and more advanced species, dubbed homo novis (“new man”) by Hubbard.
For some additional understanding why L. Ron Hubbard had such scorn for the medical profession, one needs to look back to the formative years of the subject. Hubbard shared his early writings with medical doctors, hoping for their endorsement as a way to gain credibility and boost sales. Rather than offering support, doctors from both the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association debunked his theories and stated his “discoveries” were quackery. In response, Hubbard declared them to be enemies, and wove their enemy status into the scientology belief system. Scientologists are routinely taught and operate under the belief that physicians and psychiatrists are evil people responsible for everything bad and wrong in the world – including the Holocaust, modern wars, racism, ethnic cleansing, terrorism, apartheid, and 9/11.
Hubbard called psychiatry the sole cause of decline in the universe.
Scientologists are taught not to take “mind-altering” medications. This includes anything prescribed for depression or other “non-physical” conditions. Scientologists do not believe the functions of the brain can be addressed by any means other than through the spirit. And the spirit can only be trained to do so with scientology “technology.” It is man’s ONLY hope. Chemical imbalances in the brain are a complete hoax perpetrated by doctors and Big Pharma to sell drugs. It would be in keeping with scientology belief and practice for seizure medications for someone like Jett Travolta to be dismissed as useless. Scientologists with epilepsy have been told to wean themselves off their prescribed medication in order to continue in scientology. Sometimes with tragic consequences. There are stories of Scientology parents who decided they would rather have their child “pick up a new body” than taking “psych drugs.” If a scientologist loses a child, they are told to “just have another,” with the idea that the deceased spirit of the child will be born again to you, the scientologist, and simply start again.
So, while seeing a medical doctor is not strictly forbidden in Scientology, it is seen as a last resort or for emergency cuts or bone breaks. And often scientologists seek out either scientology doctors or alternative medicine practitioners rather than more mainstream medical professionals. Scientologists generally believe they are above (as in having a greater understanding of the cause of disease and illness) than “wog-doctors” and “wog-treatments.” They don’t typically get regular check-ups by real medical doctors because they are taught to believe that they are impervious to even the common cold unless they come in contact with someone or something critical of scientology. In fact, in Hubbard’s first book, he emphatically claimed “Clears do not get colds” (a Clear is someone who has progressed up the scientology levels of “spiritual awareness”).
If anyone remembers Tom Cruise on TV saying he has not had so much as a cold, you will likely remember what a bizarre statement that seemed to be. This statement only makes sense within the context of him being a scientologist. Tom Cruise is considered the epitome of scientology success, as he is professionally successful which reflects well on scientology and gives him a high profile and great influence. A good scientologist, according to scientology principles, should never become ill. So Tom Cruise of course promotes the story that he is superhuman and never struggles with health issues.
Contact with Suppressive Persons (SPs) makes one vulnerable to illness. An SP is anyone who does not agree with scientology. In fact, Hubbard says this is the ONLY reason for sickness and illness. So, the solution to illness and sickness is to sever any relationships with SPs, and study Hubbard “technology” and get scientology counseling. Consultation with doctors is often a last resort and often it is too late for real medicine to help.
The same goes for children: scientology parents commonly do not seek appropriate healthcare for their children because of their beliefs. If it were not occurring within scientology, this could be labeled a form of child abuse and neglect, as failing to provide a child’s necessary medical and mental health care falls within the category of neglect. (See the American Academy of Pediatrics for more information: https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/120/6/1385).
If you do become physically ill as a Scientologist, you are labelled “PTS” which stands for Potential Trouble Source. As a PTS, you have the potential to be trouble to yourself and other scientologists, and you need to be “handled” by scientology.
Handling starts with Scientology telling you that you are only sick (PTS) because you are connected to a suppressive person or group. And that is your fault. You did something “bad” to get yourself sick.
What is a suppressive person or group? Anyone or anything that opposes or even questions Scientology.
So if you are sick, rather than recovering in bed or seeing a doctor, scientology requires you to report for interrogation on their version of a lie detector (E-Meter) to find out what “source of suppression” you are connected to. These are the sorts of questions they may ask:
Have you gone on the internet and looked at anything negative about Scientology?
Have you watched Going Clear?
Have you watched The Aftermath?
Have you read a news article about Scientology?
Have you clicked on any website that is anti-Scientology?
Have you spoken to any friend or family member who is opposed to Scientology?
And this interrogation does not stop until you come up with an acceptable answer as to who has been “suppressing” you. You WILL find a source and name a name eventually because they will make sure you do. You don’t get to leave the room until a source has been identified – being involved in a conversation with a co-worker who questions scientology, seeing an advertisement for some anti-scientology media, looking at a blog that is critical of scientology, anything at all. A source must be found.
If you struggle to come up with an answer, you will continue to be asked these questions repeatedly until you provide an acceptable answer. If you continue to come up with nothing, you will then be interrogated about past lives.
In a previous lifetime, have you ever been opposed to Scientology?
In a previous lifetime, have you ever thought a critical thought about Scientology?
In a previous lifetime, were you ever connected to someone who opposed Scientology?
In a previous lifetime, have you ever read something critical of Scientology?
And on and on.
You are hooked up to the E-Meter, (scientology’s version of a lie detector) which is being watched by the scientologist interrogating you. You are directed to answer in ways that cause the E-Meter to respond, even if you fabricate a story to make this happen. The belief in scientology is that you are discovering a true fact from your past — rather than what is really happening, which is that you are creating any story that will serve the purpose of getting you out of the interrogation.
Following this, you are required to resolve the issue “in the physical universe,” which might mean severing a relationship or promising to cease reading the “bad” media. As a result, you are even more likely to remain ignorant of reality as potential sources of real information on Scientology are cut off from you.
But you are not done yet. You must write down all your “sinful” behavior (according to scientology’s rules) and begin an “amends project” for your transgressions in order to be allowed back into the fold. You must ask for forgiveness and get signatures from your fellow Scientologists indicating that they agree to accept you back into the group.
Only by following these protocols will you recover from your sickness, the story goes.
Scientology not only fails to acknowledge medical science and practice, it also refuses to acknowledge the reality of mental health. For example, it denies the existence of depression as a mental condition. Even using the term “depression” results in being accused of “wog-think.”
Since depression and other mental health issues are real, scientology has had to find a way to account for them by assigning its own names and concepts to those conditions, removing them from the realm of science and shifting them into the realm of the cult. If you exhibit any signs of a mental health condition, you are instructed to continue your scientology study and auditing. You are just told to continue and the condition will be resolved. Because the spirit is senior to the mind and body and scientology addresses and heals the spirit. In fact, the final line of the Creed of the Church of Scientology is:
And we of the Church believe that the spirit can be saved and that spirit alone may save or heal the body.
With this as a fundamental, believers are convinced scientology solves everything. Scientology rejects depression as a diagnosis and directs you deeper into the controlled world of scientology rather than the world of mental and medical health where appropriate help is available.
If you are depressed and talk to your scientology friends and family, you are just directed to continue your scientology progress. They say, “You are not depressed. You just need to continue up the bridge” (the bridge is the series of steps one must follow in scientology to attain spiritual freedom – known as the “Bridge to Total Freedom”). “One day, you will figure it out with Scientology Technology,” they say. You are strung along with unfounded hope that continuing to devote yourself to scientology will heal you.
Children of scientologists are commonly sent to the scientology organization to deal with mental health struggles. Rather than even the basics of modern mental healthcare, the “treatment” consists of scientology “tech.” Though scientology claims to be the experts in the field of mental health, this is an empty, unfounded claim.
Of note, scientologists also specifically look down on autism. Anyone on the autism spectrum is seen as spiritually damaged, in a bad body, and living a “degraded“ existence. Scientologists “manage” the person’s condition with vitamins and scientology “technology.”
The approach to mental health needs within Scientology is problematic on multiple levels:
It fails to identify and address the issue, leaving you with the mistaken belief that something else is the root of your problem and that scientology has the cure (which can be a form of treatment trauma, which is when the treatment for a problem not only fails to help but hurts you and becomes its own traumatic problem).
You are taught that having any issue is always your own fault, so you lose trust in yourself and become increasingly reliant on Scientology to guide you.
You are told that your experience isn’t real and that Scientology has the correct version of the story to feed you, so your true sense of things is denied and you lose your bearings on reality (this is called invalidation, and it can be deeply traumatic). If you are a child, it means having your emotional needs rejected by your parents and your emotional landscape invalidated. This can also be a very traumatic type of invalidation. See the Boston Child Study Center’s definition at: https://bostonchildstudycenter.com/ptsd/).
It can make it nearly impossible to ever again trust in the availability of real and meaningful help.
It makes you less likely to be healthy in your own life and therefore less likely to be there in the right ways for others.
Your sense of who you are, the world you live in, and the possibility of hope for the future becomes distorted (these are called core beliefs). See more information about them at the Centre for Clinical Interventions: https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/-/media/CCI/Mental-Health-Professionals/Depression/Depression—Information-Sheets/Depression-Information-Sheet—12—What-are-Core-Beliefs.pdf).
This can all cause lasting damage.
You never get real help. Your true condition is ignored, twisted into something else, and treated as a scientology issue. And you become increasingly caught up in the web that is scientology. Because everything can be reframed this way, you become increasingly caught up in the prison of belief that is scientology.
At its lower levels, Scientology teaches that all emotional upsets and conditions, along with many physical ailments, are caused by something called your “reactive mind” – a basic version of your mind that is not the real you and responds automatically to certain stimuli. You are taught that only with scientology can you eradicate this reactive mind that is the cause of your problems. Scientology treats the problem by essentially ignoring it because it’s not the real you and therefore doesn’t need to be addressed – you simply need to “erase” your reactive mind. Of course, this tends to ensure you never actually get better because you don’t seek to understand yourself and improve your life. You become split off from parts of yourself or issues within yourself that need help – they’re not considered “you” and, as a result, aren’t real and worthy of healing.
Scientology tells you to look the other way when what you really need is help to look more deeply, to understand, and to get better.
See the article “Toward Integration: Mental Health Defined” by Victoria Dunckley, M.D., in Psychology Today for an overview of this idea: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201703/toward-integration-mental-health-defined
In “erasing” the reactive mind, you address things like prenatal incidents where your mother hit her belly while you were in the womb, childhood accidents, illnesses that you weren’t even aware of – all of these are explained as things that can cause your reactive mind to act up. While any of these occurrences might have a true psychological or medical impact, scientology uses them to minimize and ignore the issues rather than properly addressing them. The fundamental premise is that these sorts of incidents are the things that are causing you to be sick, irrational, nervous or unhappy. You are fed the idea that the things that are stored in your subconscious mind are the cause of everything bad. Not only do you never deal with anything real, but you end up having fictitious stories blamed for your problems.
When you attest to the first major milestone in Scientology, called CLEAR, this means you have eradicated your reactive mind. And the only way to attest to this level being completed is to have the realization, that you mocked up (made up) your reactive mind yourself. So, all the hours spent, all the money spent… was all just you, making it up. You are told that you were in fact imagining the whole reactive mind scenario — which, you may remember, you were taught to see and work on. Yet you are held responsible for this rather than scientology admitting they got you to believe something that is not real — and took your time and money to deal with it.
If you advance beyond Clear and make it to confidential upper levels, called the Operating Thetan (OT) Levels, the story suddenly changes. (Thetan is the scientology word for spirit.)
You are now taught that your body is composed of disembodied spirits called Body Thetans (BTs). You are told that your problems are the result of being infested with these BTs that cause all upsets and illnesses. They are considered the cause of problematic conditions – the true source of cancer, headaches, infections, etcetera. These spirits can be vanquished by scientology auditing. All you have to do is find the spirit and audit them away. Once you have done this, you are told that the upset, depression, headache, high blood pressure, cancer, or other ailment will be gone. This process is touted as a miracle cure for all things by scientology. (See the earlier article here L. Ron Hubbard on Cancer)
From this point on in your scientology involvement, you are dealing exclusively with BTs.
Back to the example of depression: if you say you are depressed, you are hooked up to an E-Meter. You are directed to pay attention to your body and find where you can perceive some kind of “mass” (which is in fact a BT). Once you identify a location (for example, in your head), you are directed to ask this mass what it is. You’ll likely tell the auditor that the mass’ response is something like, “I am depression” or “I am a headache” or “I am cancer.” You are directed to continue to question this mass about what it is, then to ask it who it is, until you report to the auditor that the mass has given the answer, “I am me.” Auditing continues until you arrive at this answer. Once this occurs, Scientology’s story is that the mass realizes that it is a spirit stuck inside or on you and acting as if it is an issue of yours (for example, a headache). Once it realizes that it is its own being, it “blows” – meaning it exits your body and is born into the body of a newborn to inhabit a body of its own, no longer needing to take on the role of a problem in someone else’s body. And now you are cured. Your depression, lung cancer, diabetes, etcetera is now gone.
But one only gets to eradicate the “depression” if they are lucky enough to get the OT levels. Most Scientologists spend a lifetime trying to get to the OT levels, going into Scientology daily, spending hundreds of thousands to try to get there and most never do.
This of course sounds crazy. But, by the time you are taught this in scientology, you have read thousands of times, that the E-Meter is 100 percent accurate, and if it shows up on the meter, that’s all the proof you need to know that these entities exist, and you have already invested so much time, money, and effort that you do not want to doubt or question it. Read about the sunk cost fallacy to understand more about how strongly this can impact your decisions in Arkes & Blumer’s article, “The Psychology of Sunk Cost”). https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-20101-001
Often family and friends are also scientologists. The most important and meaningful parts of life are woven into the world of scientology, and you’ll have to sever ties and lose loved ones if you leave. And you’ve been taught that scientologists are on the side of good and everyone else is either ignorant/uninformed or on the side of evil, so you’re not properly oriented to the non-scientology world. L. Ron Hubbard also claimed that people who leave scientology get ill and die. So it’s frightening to imagine leaving, and you’re very unlikely to call bullshit and walk out. There is too much at stake, so you just swallow it and continue moving along. It’s the only option that seems livable. And you spend enough time in this made-up world that you end up having little choice but to start believing it.
When, after spending hundreds of thousands you finally arrive at the level of OT VII, you may remain on it for 10 or more years. You audit yourself using an E-Meter — meaning that you are expected to spend all day (at least 5 times each day) talking to BTs. By investing this much time (and the money that goes along with it), you are being set up to have much more difficulty ever seeing beyond the mental confines of scientology. This is classic cognitive dissonance, which is very likely to cause you to be more firmly entrenched in scientology beliefs, despite them being fantastical. See the American Psychological Association’s book, Cognitive Dissonance, Second Edition: Reexamining a Pivotal Theory in Psychology; for a sample of the book with some relevant information included, visit: https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/Cognitive-Dissonance-Intro-Sample.pdf
On OT-8, you are supposed to have complete control over your body and life, meaning that you cannot die unless you choose to die, which is to say that you choose to discard your body and to return later in a new body. You might choose to do this if your current body isn’t serving you anymore – if, for example, your body is riddled with cancer. But why is it sick and not fixable through Scientology? This goes against all of Scientology’s teachings. You are never given an answer for this inconsistency (because, of course, there is no logical answer for this). However, you accept it because you’re in too deep, and it’s too hard to get out now.
And beyond the outrageous claims Hubbard makes for scientology, he also claims that when you reach the top of “The Bridge” you can die and be born into a new body and have full recall of your previous life.
Because of Scientology’s claims that these confidential levels give you the ability to cure yourself of medical and mental health issues, Scientologists become less and less likely to ever seek appropriate medical or mental health services as they progress through Scientology, even if they are in desperate need of healthcare. This is exactly why scientology should be investigated for practicing medicine without a license.
Scientology treatments are obviously fictional. They have no basis in science. There is no real-world research to support them, and they fly in the face of fields and practices rooted in evidence – fields and practices that work extremely hard to find safe and reliable ways of helping people. Scientology teaches that those fields, those practices, and those helping professionals are wrong, bad, and dangerous.
Perhaps all of this could be more tolerable if scientology, rather than being a cult, was truly faith-based and made it clear to everyone that its approaches are rooted in faith and not in science. L. Ron Hubbard, however, sold his teachings as science, and they continue to be sold this way today. Scientologists believe that Hubbard’s teachings are science-based. They are not, and this lie can prove dangerous.
Even worse, scientology is a false science, masquerading as a religion, but operating as a business. It is run as a business, and scientology’s followers are loyal customers who are taken advantage of and are often deeply injured by the business schemes they devote their lives to following. Scientology even requires that you prepay for participation in their services. It should be regulated as a business, not granted tax exempt status and cloaked in the protections afforded by the First Amendment.
Scientologists do not view death like others. They believe, “Oh, my mom is off getting a new body, so I will see her soon.” Scientologists often offer the helpful advice to the bereaved person that they get pregnant, so the person they just lost will be born again to them, which further inhibits any kind of healthy grief process. Read Parkes’ Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life, Worden’s Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy: A Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner, or Kübler-Ross’ On Death and Dying
In addition, scientologists believe the only reason they can’t remember prior lifetimes is because when you die, your spirit is compelled to go to what Hubbard referred to as “implant stations” in the “between lives area” hidden away somewhere here on Earth or on Mars or Venus (yes, Hubbard actually said that) so you can be spiritually hypnotized and made to forget everything that has happened to you before. This happens to everyone on Earth between each lifetime and was totally unknown until Hubbard “discovered” it. He expanded on this whole science fiction story with the infamous Xenu story so-well-described on South Park and in Going Clear.
It is a science fiction story, but Scientologists accept it. If you say to a scientologist this is nonsense, their pat response is: “You don’t have to believe it, the meter doesn’t lie, just do it”. Scientologists accept it even though L. Ron Hubbard has not come back in a new body. Scientologists accept this by stating that he (as a spirit) is off doing more “research” and will reinhabit a body when he is done. Scientologists accept this narrative even though not a single person has ever reported that they are a reborn scientologist and are able to remember everything from previous lives having completed the OT levels. It is nothing but a story. But it is easy to see how an appreciation for life and the desire to take good care of this current life is diminished by this casual, blasé belief system.
Given all this, scientologists are negligent when it comes to physical and mental health. Even abusive. Hubbard’s teachings bring about a neglect of their own health and well-being and this is compounded by the abusive techniques used on scientologists in the auditing processes they submit to. Scientology parents often fail their children on the most fundamental levels, substituting scientology for real education and care. This has had catastrophically sad, even tragic, results. This kind of child abuse should not be allowed to continue.
To any scientologist who might be reading this: ask yourself the hard questions. How is someone who completed OT-8 dying? Isn’t that person supposed to have complete control and choice over life and death? Why are you devoting your entire life to become “cause” (have total control over) a “meat body” (the unimportant body that you are inhabiting in this lifetime)? Why did L. Ron Hubbard die and why couldn’t he follow his own teachings? And where is he – wasn’t he supposed to be back by now?
The truth is that Scientologists get sick and Scientologists die. It is unfortunate, but it is the reality of life. And, while it is sad, it also gives this life some meaning. If this is all going to end without our control, we ought to live more fully and take better care of ourselves and our loved ones.
Ultimately, everyone realizes they are human – not a superhuman, homo novis with fantastical powers and cause over life and death. This is not a bad thing. In fact, that realization might save more lives than just your own. Get out. Your children will thank you for it.
Please take this as a wake-up call: take back your children, take back your lives.
If you are child of Scientology parents who forbids you to get real help and you find yourself needing it, I beg of you to go against all that your scientology parents have taught you, and reach out to get real help.
For anyone in pain and not receiving support, if you start to think that your life is not worth living, please call: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 for real and immediate help. There is real help there.
And if you are a current scientologist, know that we understand how hard this is to accept. We have been there. We are here for you and we can help you. Please click on the CONTACT ME button on the home page or reach out to The Aftermath Foundation.
Leah Remini and Mike Rinder
(With some help from a very smart mental health professional)
Note: The new episode of Scientology: Fair Game podcast is now available.
IMO, the “freedom” at the top of the “bridge” is the freeFALL of jumping off a cliff.
THEN there’s the sudden stop.
So do you think Kelly Preston was labeled a PTS and forced to undergo these interrogations when she was diagnosed? Or is it different for celebrities? This breaks my heart!
Also with John Travolta mentioning the cancer center where she was treated – does that mean they weren’t really true Scientologists or aren’t believers because they sought medical care? I hate to think that she may have delayed treatment waiting for the Scientology “technology” to kick in.
wow, it’s like you’ve done zero research whatsoever on this.
Cancer, if caught EARLY ENOUGH, can be treatable. Breast/skin/brain/pancreatic. If metastasising through out the body, in the lymph nodes, or developed, the chances of survival drop DRAMATICALLY.
“mainstream religions” like Christianity, don’t tell people to not get cancer treated.
The ones that do, have zero right in calling themselves a religion.
You should be ashamed of yourself for not taking time to investigate FOR YOURSELF and believing what you clearly paid to be put in front of you on a blase basis.
It’s Hubbard who did no research, Annoyed, but I get the sense of what you’re saying. 5 of my friends are survivors; passed their 5 years “clean” anniversaries (YAY!!!) and are “healthy as horses”, [Not that any of my friends are at all horse-like.]
WHAT??
Who ARE you?
You have no idea what you’re talking about, let alone criticizing Mike for not having a full knowledge of cancer when it appears you don’t?
Do you know how many OTVIII’s I’ve seen with cancer? And they have control over, supposedly EVERYTHING? Including their bodies?
Scientologists DIE. They get divorced. They are PEOPLE, not superhumans as I was told I was…geez…it doesn’t take PI Lubow to verify that.
I KNOW about cancer. God poured all of his love into me and gave me a new life. And Mike and Christy helped with that. SCIENTOLOGY deceived me..and they will do that to the detriment of many.
My dad published 10 books. He was a Doctor of Theology. He said, “Cathy, if L. Ron Hubbard could read anything why can’t you?”. (There is a point where you are restricted in your participation in ‘other practices’ or beliefs).
Freedom is not dictated, it is chosen. Power is never given, it is TAKEN
TAKE BACK YOURS.
When I heard Kelly Preston had died, I cried. She was every bit of lovely when I met her, and it was a personal loss as well.
I was misdiagnosed with breast cancer Stage 11, incorrectly treated, ending up at Moffitt being correctly treated for Stage III. It was horrendous.
The Scientology “think” never puts you in charge: the catch-22 is that in some way YOU are at fault, you are the cause…omg..geez…who did I do wrong?
Being ‘at fault’ does not help you, in a battle where your life is at stake — being mentally strong does:. SO HOW DO YOU DO THAT???
You have no idea what it’s like to be in the hospital with NO WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT and your son has been systematically ‘audited’ to believe his diabetes is because you have been declared, and then he disconnects…Hey Taylor!..
SCIENTOLOGY:. If you think in any way we’re over,…well…look at your track record….
PATHETIC. You can’t even make textbook Clears.
I was told Scientology could cure anything — so what’s the story with all the DEATHS????
Oh, yeah, look me up:. I’m in the Flag Mag, talking about Flag being the “Mecca of technical perfection”….what is you definition of ‘perfection’? A Correction list? Hold on, I can’t stop laughing.
I hold you accountable.
I admire all of you who have held your ground, as have I..and will.
Cathy: CONGRATULATIONS on beating that evil disease. remember to treat EVERY day as the hard-won gift it is and LIVE life to the fullest.
While breast cancer is one of the more beatable cancers, it is possible even with the best treatment to die from it. I know a woman with no connections to scientology, who did everything possible and still died four years ago. The survival rate varies wildly depending on stages, hormones, other factors, etc.
A lot of mainstream religions including many forms of Christianity play games with people’s health though. They tell people birth control is evil, and other lies usually centered around reproductive issues.
How shocking it is to find out that touch assists and auditing couldn’t help your ex, Kelly Preston, or possibly Jett Travolta. I found it somewhat ironic that when John Travolta made the point to mention the name of the hospital that cared for Kelly. I thought scientologists didn’t believe in conventional medicine. Why didn’t Tom Cruise swoop in and do a touch assist like he said he would do if he came across a person hurt in a car accident.
As for LRH’s son and Lisa Marie’s son untimely death by suicide, it is too bad that they didn’t get the psychological help they needed.
You and Leah keep fighting the good fight. You have mine and an army of WOGs backing you up.
Janice, would YOU permit Tom Cruise to touch YOUR loved one with breast cancer??
I wouldn’t, just by his track record with women. Slimy little toad.
No, but I wouldn’t do very much that is encompassed and used in Scientology, especially Tom Cruise.
You know, I used to enjoy his movies and now I can’t stand to look at him, it’s a visceral reaction. What a shame, what a waste.
I would like say that that the correct or preferred term is “died by suicide” rather than “committed suicide”. Committed implies that the person who died by suicide did something wrong, ( like committing a crime) rather than their death being the result of a true medical condition, such as, clinical depression. I believe using “died by suicide“ helps reduce the stigma of suicide and helps promote open discussion of a still taboo topic. I realize that both yourself (Mike) and Leah didn’t say this intentionally but some may take offence. It’s something to be aware of especially since you are both public figures and doing a podcast. Your words to have power. Thank you.
I am also supposed to be off getting a new body so that I can “Return to duty as soon as possible next lifetime” as it says in my Fitness Board.
So that basically means that I am a blown Sea Org member because I am still alive 18 years after the only right arm Captain in the Sea Org told my ex wife that my death was imminent. He was correct, my death was imminent, he was making sure of it by sending me to a Scientology Chiropractor to be treated for AIDS.
But my point is that I am an Out-Ethics cockaroach because I went against Command Intention and decided to live when it was clear that the Greatest Good For the greatest Number of Dynamics was to die and return to duty as ordered. I hereby apologize to you all for committing this High Crime. I will do. My A-E but have to wait until next lifetime, thereby compounding the overt. I would appreciate any advice from any of you who are Ethics Trained. I would run R2-45 but all I got is a 44 Magnum and that would be another High Crime.
I am really enjoying the podcasts so much. Keep them up!
Great podcast so far, and an excellent episode this week. I was wondering, can you shed any light on how Scientology is treating COVID-19? I found some great articles from March on the Daily Beast and the Tampa Bay Times (a favorite from when I lived in Tampa), but nothing updating these stories. They indicated that Scientology has its own cleaning formula, that Miscavige is a Covid denier, and that anyone who says Miscavige is a denier will receive lots of angry letters.
Links:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/scientology-chief-david-miscavige-is-a-coronavirus-denier-says-top-critic
https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-asked-the-church-of-scientology-how-theyre-combatting-coronavirus-this-is-their-wild-response
https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/03/30/scientology-stays-open-but-says-its-virus-prevention-is-the-best-on-earth/
Thanks so much,
Bess from RI
I’ve listened to the 2nd episode and so far I like it less than the first one.
I agreed with pretty much everything there was said about health issues in scientology. It was a bit abstract though, I wish Leah and Mike would add a sense of directness by giving a bit more specific examples of scientologists they knew (not just celebrities). I don;’t think people need last names, but specific stories of specific people would help to illustrate the point and give it more of an impact.
What I did not hear (and I believe is important) is how scientology treats pregnancy and old age. These are probably the most disgusting things inside:” abortions and offloading of the elderly who served faithfully all their lives.
But maybe both of these topics deserves its own episode (hint!)
Last but not least, there was one side-theme mentioned in a way that I want to approach critically. The theme was scientology parenting. The major issue with this episode. that I had is that Leah is making a sweeping generalization and state that “all children who are raised in scientology” are not raised by their parents, but given to scientology who becomes their primary caretaker.
As a 2nd gen kid raised in scientology myself, I can tell you that not all parents do this. Claiming otherwise is simply nonsense (sorry Leah, but someone needs to say this). I understand that it was probably your experience Leah, but it was not what all kids raised in scientology experienced.
I’ve experienced both extremes of scientology “parenting” If you want you can read my story at the exscn2.net forum.
A) When my grandfather was head of the household, me and my sis were raised 99.5% by him. I’ve never been sent to ethics in this time, never been sent to any sort of handling. I had maybe half a dozen hours of auditing. I’ve not been forced to the the purif. I didn’t have to use scientology study tech. Scientology was pretty much fun and games, invader forces, the matrix, my gramp’s past lives and so on. “8 hours plus” of scientology a day? More like 8 hours of scientology per year.
B) When he died and my mom became head of the household, she gave us to the nannies and we were living in a scientology facility 24/7 while she was off to join staff and stay on the other side of the country.
So not all kids of scientologists “are spending their days and nights” at scientology. That is what only shitty, horrible parents/guardians do to them. The decent parents/guardians have enough brains and enough willpower to just say “no thanks” and raise their kids their own way and giving scientology only as much access to them as they see fit and proper.
The good and bad parents/guardians need to be clearly distinguished and the bad ones should not be given any excuses. My message to the bad ones (including my mom) is: “No, not all parents in scientolgy are as lousy as some of you guys. It is just you. It is your damn fault if you let them do this to your kids. No go and at least take some fucking responsibility for it!”
… I’m sorry if this reply is a bit on the emotional side, but that was a very personal and important point for me to make.
Thanks, appreciate your comment. It’s a valid criticism. Not everyone’s experience is the same. There are enough tragic stories to support saying this does happen, but it does not mean it happens to everyone.
Thank you for your reply Mike.
I know that when you are talking like like during the podcast, it is easy to overlook something or go too far with a topic, I get that. I just felt that saying that this happens to all Scientology kids was a gross generalization.
Again, I appreciate your reply and I’m also sorry for all the typos in my previous post.
Sidenote:
poor health & dental issues are part of what I’m trying to recover from all these years later. It’s tough to overcome the “indestructible” mindset scn instills to those who accept the ‘scripture’. What cemented it in was the usual 20-something’s usual mindset I had.
As a “never in” this is MY personal perspective. There cannot be any greater burden of guilt & shame to carry then to KNOW that “you willingly put your kids into this”…… because at the time they themselves believe this “religion” was the most wonderful thing in the world because you were doing good for the world.
Then the realization hits you…sometimes slowly over years or decades of involvement, when the blinders & rose colored glasses are removed & placed aside…that you can see clearly now just what the HELL is/was going on.
By then your children & extended family may themselves be so deeply involved, brain washed, hypnotized that they are still “drinking the Kool Aid” of belief & they won’t leave. I’ve had friends involved with the Moonies, Hari Krishna, Children of God, etc who finally woke up & got out ONLY to come to the realization that their family were NOT going to go with them.
Then of course, the disconnection …shunning….disassociation…”cut off policies”…YOUR FAMILY CANNOT have anything to do with you…..ever. YOU are DEAD to them…worse yet is that IF they are found to BE in contact with YOU…they themselves get EXPUNGED like an old useless piece of trash
. The PAIN & HEARTACHE a parent must feel…. I cannot imagine how a parent who has “blown…escaped…gotten out….through ANY possible means….only to have to leave their children & extended family behind & be considered A RAT, A DISGUSTNG PIECE OF SHIT….all too horrible.
Hearing Mike pour his heart out about how “he got his children into this”…..at his GREAT REGRET…to know that his OWN children “hate him”….”speak out against him”….NO DEEPER PAIN CAN BE FELT. To hear Mary Kahn & so many others WISH that they COULD have ONE LAST HUG & a VISIT with their OWN CHILD OR PARENT(S)…..so heartbreaking.
Take time to consider that many of the same people on this BLOG are bearing the GUILT & SHAME of unknowingly at the time HAPPILY BRINGING THEIR CHILDREN INTO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE FOR WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS THE GREATER GOOD…..THEN AFTER THE TRUTH CAME TO LIGHT….having had to leave their children behind………………….
my heart aches for ALL OF THEM
Rachel Wilkinson was on Staff at the St Louis Org. Google her name and find her tragic story.
She killed herself by hanging herself in her garage. She had been kicked out of her “church” and was overwhelmed with mistakes she made, no money and lots of debt. Her house was getting foreclosed on.
No funeral, no obituary. Family was told “she looked at the internet and read confidential information”.
They made it look like she died in Florida. The sneaky and covert DSA Ellen Forney may have had something to do with that.
I just finished the podcast on death and suicides and it was really informative. But, it raised a lot of questions for me. I read that John Travola thanked MD Anderson for their help in treating his wife Kelly. Was she receiving tradtional treatment for her breast cancer and also as a Clear person, was she perceived to have something wrong in her spirit that caused her cancer? Also, I had read that their son Jett had been taken off of his seizure medicine and that he had a seizure where he hit his head and this caused his death. Given these two very tragic situations, I am curious if John Travolta’s faith has been challenged concerning Scientology and if he might “defect”. It’s all very sad. Life is difficult enough without having to live it in a bubble of misinformation and deception.
I would be surprised if John did decide to leave Scientology. Despite the deaths of two family members I think he is too committed to it to take that second look and wonder if it is what it claims. But you never know.
Kelly Preston was more than just “Clear.” She was on or through Solo Nots, a high OT level.
Brilliant coming together article.
The scientology “modern science of mental health” beginnings in the Hubbard “dianetics” and then engulfed within Hubbard’s decades long add-ons of scientology, is brilliantly major points touched upon.
The “auditing” (I prefer to call it exorcism when it comes to body-thetans communication and causing these supposed body-thetans to flee one’s body, that to me is rather exorcism and Hubbard’s “auditing” in this case when addressed to body-thetans is more like exorcism due to the body-thetans supposedly fleeing and exiting off of one’s body) on OT 7 description by Leah in the article, is just so welcome.
So welcome is the mental health professional’s links to excellent papers and current “modern” understanding in the mental health field.
I hope this is a sign of more mental health professionals’ interest to take on Scientology’s “mental health” theory.
I donate monthly to the Aftermath Fdn and I hope the Fdn grows and grows as needed.
Thankyou so much especially the “mental health professional”.
I hope the podcast in the future has on some mental health persons.
scientology/dianetics/offshoots are FAR from science. Not only is there no reliable (repeatable) research, but there is darned little anecdotal “evidence”, only LRH’s bald statements of such-and-such happening; NOTHING which can be fact-checked. It could all be, and probably is, just a story-teller’s story made out of whole cloth, not a lick of truth to any of it. IF he’d spent nearly that amount of effort writing real fiction, he could have supported his considerable self AND his families in grand style instead of having to run and hide from the authorities and debt collectors for the bulk of his life.
For persons desiring mental health assistance they can get professional counseling at BetterHelp.com
There is a page of the registration to adjust your rate according to current income.
Also there are free online Mental health classes and you can correct yourself as you learn to help others.
There is also Positive Physiology you can learn about.
You can also do the Yale class The Science of Well-being. Free 😀
Listening to Episode 1 of Scientology: Fair Game and just wanted somewhere to comment! Scientology claiming their addiction programs have an over 80% success rate is a ridiculous lie. VERY ridiculous. Keeping someone off drugs or alcohol in the short term is simple… keep them in an inpatient program, where no drugs are available… so, if a program keeps someone off drugs in the mid- to long-term is the useful information, to compare the results different programs or treatments get, versus baseline.
People are often surprised by this because we spend so much on rehab and drug abuse/alcoholism addiction services as a society but, most programs have no detectable success rate in the mid- to long-term, when compared to the baseline of people you would expect to stop using without intervention.
AA and NA do have minuscule success rates, but they are still the best programs we know of, because no other therapy or treatment or program has ever been shown to do any good, at all… this is the reason most state-funded programs will have AA/NA as a mandated part of doing their program… the state demands they at least include the one thing known to work, in their big ball of nonsense.
All that said, Scientology’s programs can be assumed to have the same undetectable success rate as every other program, treatment, and therapy extant. It would have been groundbreaking and read about by professionals the world over if they ever had the least bit of success, simply because addiction is such a special case in it un-treatability. We still go through the motions but, we don’t accomplish anything.
an important side note is for opiate addicts, replacement therapy does actually keep a ton of people off of their opiate of choice… replacing one opiate with another opiate, or partial opiate… i’m not talking about that here, I mean going from addiction to abstinence when I mention “success.” Which isn’t to say it’s not a partial success to become stable on a less-harmful drug when you used to be shooting dope or whatever.
BigBadDad420,
A few observations on your comments from a former credentialed addiction counselor:
I disagree with your assertion that 12 Step (AA/NA) participation has “minuscule success rates ”- a 2014 AA survey gave these stats:
27 percent of AA members stay sober for less than a year.
24 percent of AA members stay sober between one and 5 years.
13 percent of AA members stay sober between 5 and 10 years.
14 percent of AA members stay sober between 10 and 20 years.
22 percent of AA members stay sober 20 or more years.
The average length of AA member sobriety is nearly 10 years
The primary reasons addiction treatment facilities incorporate 12 Step program education/encouragement in their outcome-based treatment modalities are:
*Worldwide availability/low cost to addict post-rehab
*Mentor-based sponsorship model & non-judgemental group support
*Emphasis on continuing sobriety & self-examination
*Helping others as a key element of recovery
While controversial for the “spiritual angle,” AA/NA offers a wide doorway belief-wise, the goal being shifting the fatal selfishness/self-obsession so characteristic of addiction.
As a counselor also certified in Medically Assisted Treatment, I recommended diversionary Opiate Agonist medication for severely addicted heroin users to ease withdrawal and enable them to begin participation in fulltime therapy, gradually reducing the medication under an Addiction Physician’s supervision to total abstinence.
“we spend so much on rehab and drug abuse/alcoholism addiction services…” – Nope…the priority our country gives to treatment for addiction versus much more costly incarceration is drastically skewed…this imbalance led me to leave the field after all but one of the ten treatment facilities in my area closed due to lack of funding.
Finally, after my own investigation of the Narconon criminal operation, you’re correct that it offers no sustained recovery, using ineffective Scientology “tech” branded as “treatment” to fleece the hapless addict and distraught family of as much money as possible. My numerous entreaties as a professional to State and Federal licensing/regulating bodies about Narconon’s unethical, life-threatening criminal enterprise came to naught. I can only hope the increasing spotlight shined upon the evil, victimizing cult of Scientology drives them and Narconon back to the nether region of hell from whence they sprang.
Hi, thanks for the reply. Miniscule success rate over baseline might have been an overstatement, “modest” might have been the right word. it’s been a long time since I’ve looked at the numbers. The fact that AA/NA, the 12-step “spiritual” programs are the only programs or therapies or anything that has been demonstrated to have any measurable success rate over baseline was the important point.
We still waste billions of dollars on rehab programs and counseling sessions that have been shown to have no effect on people’s behavior was my point… if Narconon had ANY success rate over the baseline of people who just decide to stop using without intervention, it would have been revolutionary. The entire world would have stood up and paid attention to what they were doing, if they had found a new treatment that gave even a 1% enhanced chance of recovery to addicts.
Since that never happened, we can infer they have nothing at all, just a black hole to throw your money down, while they try to sell your loved ones on Scientology when they are at their weakest.
BigBadDad, their numbers on recovery rate are just lies not actually based on anything.
Seemingly some fake studies were done in the last 10 years or so, but before that they were claiming the same bogus numbers. Going all the way back to the 80s.
Of course, in Scientology you can’t leave a course or counseling action of any kind without writing a “Success Story” that tells how great it was for you in detail. If you’re not willing to at least lie about having a great result, you literally can’t leave.
In this situation, it is a wonder they don’t claim a 100% success rate. Minus the small percentage that actually die on the program…
You can imagine what the “success rate” would be at any rehab program if success just means they are thoroughly ready to get the heck out of there.
They DO have a 100 percent success rate. The ones that die on the program are the best successes of all. Just show me one who ever reverted to drugs. I should know, this is the main End Phenomena I received from Scn.
And, in my Success Story, I would like to thank our dwarfenfuehrer and his mentor Reichmarshall Himmler for their unparralled dedication to achieving this product.
Heil Miscaviage!
Danke, your needle is floating.
As a child , visiting Flag Land Base , I remember a child in a wheel chair .
He was young and obviously disabled .
I befriended the family and said boy in the wheelchair and they told me that Scientology would heal him .
I was young myself and prayed and hoped for the best outcome .
Soon after I left for Delphi in Oregon .
I was back at Flag that December and heard he had died .
I think that was when I realized what a horrible place Flag was . BTW , whatever happened to LRHs daughter that was living at the Top Floor of FLB ?
You’re asking about Diana Hubbard (Horwich)? Still at the Int Base as far as anyone knows, last seen in public in the early 2000s I believe. Her daughter Roanne is out.
If Dianna is at Int Base, isn’t that like being incarcerated? Was she banned to Int base by DM?
Cindy, sad to say Diana is at the Int Base more or less of her own will.
Briefly, I think in the 80s, she tried to start a music career in Hollywood. But Dave got her back to the Int Base during the time that it was thought that Hubbard would soon reside there. Probably thinking to return to her former high status as Commodore’s Staff 6 (in charge of the Public area) or something similar, she ended up doing menial roles at Gold.
For years she was the Rushes Projectionist, showing the day’s shots to the crew and Dave as shooting went on for the Technical Training Films. She spent lots of her own money (well, her inheritance from Hubbard really) on the Rushes Theatre.
I am told that later on she was involved in script writing for events, Similar to polishing a certain smelly item while under constant threat from Dave. A living nightmare.
At any rate, she was firmly under Dave’s thumb. As a true Hubbard believer she probably thought that Dave would eventually lose power, possibly even leaving the option open for her to rise as Hubbard’s daughter and mother of his grand-daughter.
When I was there she had a little pickup truck and could drive around at will, pretty much. But she hasn’t just driven out of there. Another example of the “prison of belief”.
Bruce Ploetz, thanks for the info on Diana Hubbard. Wow, having that little car of hers could have been her ticket out maybe similar to how Ron Miscavige got out. Scn truly is a prison of belief. I wish Diana would stop waiting for dad to return and would just high tail it out of there.
Both Scientology and Collectivism provide clear evidence for one of Voltaire’s assertions: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
One might as well pin one’s hopes of continued physical and mental health on Mary Baker Eddy and a hypothetical pot of Weapon Salve, as on Hubbard’s claptrap.
Great post. Looking forward to hearing the podcast tonight.
This thread is so beneficial!
Thank you for all your work. Keep going!
Amy
Great post. Before I was found to have AIDS and sent off to die I had been suicidal after not being allowed to go to my parents 50th wedding celebration. ( I ended up going but that is a long story.)
I had been pulled into Dept 3 (Ethics) for a metered interrogation by the Dir I and R. CMO personnel were watching (and directing, as evidenced by notes being shoved under the door telling him what to do) Without warning the door opened and a CMO person ordered the I and R out and took over the interrog. I was being interrogated because I had wanted to see my family of which I had seen no member for 7 years. When it came up on the meter that I had determined that the only solution was to self-terminate they took no action to prevent it. No one talked to me about it or even told me not to do it. The COCMO Ship made reference to it to the Chief Engineer in front of me so she certainly knew about it. This was the same COCMO (Pilar Saldariaga) that told my wife while I was dying that “Bill will be fine”. What she meant by that was not that I was going to live; but that the execs were happy with me. I was a martyr for the cause.
I did not object to blowing my own head clean off with a 45, but I did object to being told that my death was acceptable to them and I should just go along with it an not try to see a doctor.
Perhaps that was a good thing because I am still alive 18 years after the Captain and 6 doctors told my wife I was going to die.
Bill, I have also witnessed this KA drinking nonchalance to death by members of the church. I had one SO member say to me about a recently deceased person, “Don’t worry about it, so and so will be fine and will be back.” So if they believe all this, then of course suicide or death in general is OK with them.
I have always felt Scientology killed my grandmother. My grandparents were early, early Scientologists, in fact I have a photo of my grandfather in the ‘50s, outside of the Hubbard Professional College at 403 Roosevelt Road in Phoenix AZ and another taken of him and several “classmates”. My grandparents were both in England at Saint Hill as well. My grandmother had breast cancer in the mid-‘60s and much as you’ve stated here, chose not to see a doctor but relied on LRon and the tech for her cure. Unfortunately for me, my grandmother died when I was 6. I have other issues with first hand abuses of the church but this is one of the big ones I can never forgive them for.
Rad, your story is sad. The fact that your grandmother didn’t see a doctor falls in with many people crowing about how auditing was the only solution and doctors were ‘uneducated’ about the ‘nature of the being.’ I remember listening and not processing how wrong it was. I see in hindsight, with a sharp clarity missing in my dazed days in the cult.
I’m sorry you were deprived of her time and love.
You know what is really strange? I was in a Charismatic Christian Ministry for DECADES and although we didn’t have L Ron Hubbards teaching and E-meters and such…..it was pretty much the same. You are a Spirit….you live in a Body. Just believe and have faith and you will be healed. The Same Power that raised Jesus from the Dead is Alive in You to Heal You! Your kids grew up there. All of your friends and community are there. If you go to a doctor you didn’t have “Faith”. And don’t dare leave because the protection will leave you as well. Well I’ve “Blown” that place too! Mike…… I have been reading your blog and Tony Ortega for a long long time. Not only are you helping Scientologists…..you are helping Spiritually Abused Christians as well. Thank you sir! Keep It Coming and Don’t Give Up!
How do we hear this..
Ex Church Guy, that church you were in was not Christian. It may have started out Bible based, but what you describe is New Age and dangerous. Look up Steven Bancarz on YouTube. Steven was a highly recognized New Age leader until he saw what the truth is and now is a true Christian. I think you would find his information very interesting. Also, check out Defecting From Bethel.
Mike I can tell by the length of this piece and the detail that this has been bothering you for some time.
Some kids need so much more help than others, and it breaks my heart thinking about those difficult kids and what their parent’s involvement in scientology is going to mean for them.
Mike and Leah you have written an excellent summary of Scientology. Anyone thinking about joining should read your work first.
My pet issue with Scientology goes back to 1972 before the internet. Hubbard posted his tone scale in the New York Mission with his picture at the top. No one in the entire mission could answer simple questions about the bridge because it was all secret. The mysteries are hidden in policy which must be paid for as you advance. Had your article been available I never would have joined.
In my opinion, Hubbard was a simple minded fool with a criminal mind. In his con tape “Universes” with Mary Sue, he really blurted out that he is following the demons, Targs, entities and Body Thetans reported by King Solomon over 3,500 years ago. Why did he not just make that the first thing you read in Scientolog?. Well, no one would join. He needed to hide his fundamentals. He spends all of his time weaving lies around his basic beliefs. He called Crowley a fool but in reality he follows him.
So for a while Hubbard convinced me that I was composed of Body Thetans. I could have understood that if he just allowed me to read Zoroaster who he also unconsciously followed. He formed his religion in the United States where no one could ever touch him because of the Constitution. So I paid $120,000 for nothing.
George M. White said, ” Anyone thinking about joining should read your work first.”
I would add to that by saying, ” Anyone thinking about joining should read your work first and then skidaddle the Hell out of there. Get out just as fast and as far away as your feet will take you. There is nothing that will degrade the quality of your life worse than getting into a cult – especially this cult because it is one of the very worst cults of them all.
Thank you Mike and Leah!💖💖 I thought about a conspiracy, maybe about Benjamin. It was not so. He definitely struggled with mental illness. In most of his picture, there’s so much sadness in his eyes.😞 It takes one to know one. I struggle with anxiety and depression and yes, I take psych meds. I was a Scientologist for over 20 years. I left 18 years ago. I got sick and had to make a choice. My children were young than and I was the only provider as my ex is a hard core Scientologist and didn’t help me. He was ‘punishing’ me.🙄 I had to work for my children. Let say it was a nightmare. So, it took me over 2 months before making my decision. It was not ideal but it was the best solution under the circumstances. I’m not going to get into all the details or it will be a very long message but I decided I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to provide for my children. I wished I didn’t get sick. It’s not a walk in the park and it’s a daily struggle but I have wonderful children that have succeeded.🤗💞 One is a musician. My daughter works in the movie and TV industry and I have my smart and nerdy one who have his own business. I accomplished what I wanted. I am not a perfect mom but I have always let my children be who they are. I can’t ask for more. If Benjamin had got the help he really needed, he might still be with us.😞 There’s no guarantee even with psych help but the chances are better. When you have a mental illness, the last thing you need is someone making you feel guilty. You already do it to yourself. The stigma is still there. That’s why his suicide really touched a chord in me. I understand what he was going through. Scientology just screw him more.😢💔😠. Thank you again for addressing the subject. And thank you again for all you are doing. 💖💖
If these sec check questions were posed in respect to the true and correct identity of the Church of Scientology, being that they are a Mafioso crime syndicate, the questions would be modified as follows:
As anyone can plainly see, there is nothing to run/audit here.
Yes, it’s been my experience the OT levels eradicate ‘extreme negative think’ and ‘depression’, but Miscavige has barricaded the bridge so only a few whales ever get there.
And you sure as Hell will be depressed by how in debt you are (unless you’re a Whale) by the time you finally get there.
No longer any need to do the OT Levels at the CO$ — in fact it’s the last place in the world you want to do them. They couldn’t pay me to walk through their front door. OT Levels are better delivered by Independent Scientology — without all the bullshit.
Plus the OT levels are pure BS as is all of Hubtard’s “tek”. There are still idiots or evil intentioned people (choose one) like Formost running around trying to dupe people.
The more I read about scientology, the more I find a lot of what he wrote is “borrowed” from Spiritism, based on the teaching of Allan Kardec, which is a religion that has its doctrine (they are christians) centered on:
-Reincarnation: everything we go through on earth is an account balance from prior lives. Exemple, people who are born with disabilities chose to come this way in this life as a means to undo some prior evil (but unlike the cast system in India, this does not give anyone the right to mistreat the person. you have to help them).
-Spirits that harm the living: they believe there are spirits that have not crossed over and they harass the living causing diseases, ailments, and mental health issues
-Schizophrenia: a lot of times the auditory hallucination is, in reality, the fact the person is a medium and therefore can hear the dead
-The more reincarnations you have, the more enlightened you become. The main goal is to be a better person, clean and resolve issues with loved ones to avoid more karma in the future
But the main differences are: although this is a checks and balances planet of tests, charity starts with you. You do not and should not give your money away, you give what you can and charity to the community is a huge part of what they do (food for the poor, support for poor mothers, clothes, emotional support, etc.All free)
Mental health issues generally only come to them after ALL other venues have been exhausted. Psychiatrists, psychologists, medication and are given in addition to, as a spiritual guide, that reframes their pain. Once case I know was of a girl who heard voices and had abandoned school. Once medicated and in therapy, she also reframed her experience as a medium, where she had a role. She graduated nursing school a couple of years ago.
Everything that is done is free. from spiritual counseling, to energy prayer to remove any negativity etc.
My mom has been a practitioner for over a decade and I am amazed of how much he basically stole from other religions, that have reincarnation as a concept.
But he added the pyramid scheme and isolation aspect/
Please note the spiritist movement in the US is COMPLETELY different from the Spiritism movement in South America, especially Brazil, as taught by Allan Kardec.
Very well written. Bravo to both you and Leah (and the mental health professional who helped as well). This is an article that needs to be tagged in your “Important Articles” section in my opinion.
I was going to comment that this had to be in Important Articles too. Happily, Mick beat me to it.
This powerful article by you, Leah and the mental health professional is magnificent. I appreciate your focus on mental illness, which is a non-reality in the cherch. Your offer of a phone number for suicide prevention and link to the Aftermath Foundation are very helpful. Your words to people on the fence are moving.
Your writing of claims versus reality, is a great way to strip away any residual bullcrap left in the mind of an ex scientologist.
This article could be a turning point for someone hanging on to their scientologist in good standing status to keep the status quo in their life and not really living. I was there. I’m delighted to be out.
Mick, I concur. This is so concise and damming of what scientology(tm) is practicing in present time that I am repulsed. If I had been reading this article from 1967, I would have said that it was a compilation of the worst that could ever be made of Hubbard’s mental constructs. And here I am in 2020 and scientology(tm) is even worse than I could have imagined.
The the worst that could ever be made of Hubbard’s mental constructs are what Hubtard wrote and said in lectures.
For anyone interested there’s a list of Scientology related suicides here:
https://whyweprotest.wikia.org/wiki/Scientology_Suicides
Great article!
This exposes the lies and deceit perpetuated by this evil cult masquerading as a religion.
This article needs to be disseminated far and wide. Unfortunately, those that need to read and understand it the most (public Scientologists and Sea Org members) will keep their minds closed and dutifully avoid it.
Please, more articles of this nature are needed. Serious talk about how Scientology practices are negativity affecting their unsuspecting members. This evil cult needs to be destroyed and the memories of L. Ron Hubbard need to be upheld beside those of Hitler.
Much thanks to you & Leah for this concise summation of the complex delusional matrix that is the Co$ cult of criminality. Certainly recomended reading for anyone unacquainted with the inner workings of this horrific bastion of depravity masquerading as a “religion.”
A fitting nautical metaphor for experiencing Co$ Fair Game consequences is being given “A taste of the Cat” whilst strapped to the mast…Experiencing it, I gained a far deeper realization of the organizational psychotic paranoia hard-wired by ElRon’s Torquemadian “scripture” that so clearly illustrates his descent into madness.
To paraphrase the words of a songwriter friend, “Scientology…where the faces change but not the scars…”
Re: Clears never get colds. I supposedly went Clear many many years ago. I then went up to OT V (also many years ago now). After I supposedly went Clear I joined the SO and was in the SO for many many years. I had many colds when supposedly clear, and OT III and OT V, while in the SO. I finally left the SO and Scientology. About 5 years after leaving, 5 years spent decompressing, and attending to my physical needs with good nutrition (which I researched and programmed for myself), exercise, clean food I stopped getting colds, any sort of upper respiratory condition, and any sort of illness at all. I have now not been ill – at any time – for the past 5 years at least. I guess that means I either went Clear years after I left Scientology – or, I “dePTSed” myself by leaving the SP Sea Org (and it is Suppressive, no question) and extricating myself from any lingering effects of the SP Sea Org. Either way….
I have been following Scientology news for at least 10 years, and I have to say that this post IS THE BEST explanation of Scientology that I have ever read.
For those who are newly interested “never-ins” and for those who are thinking of leaving, THIS IS REQUIRED READING.
Totally agree , this is the best article I ever read. Well written and as batsh** crazy as it sounds it’s all true. Been following this subject for over 10 years and I still look like a deer in headlights when I read this stuff. .. I can’t beleive Kelly Preston never got treatments for her breast cancer… she was 57 and it would have been treatable.. 💔
Do we know that she didn’t? JT thanked a Texas hospital on his remarks after KP passed.
Great article. I love you both Mike and Leah. Very very very inspiring. Can’t say more. Thank you.
Yes one of your best and so important to know this stuff.
I had heart trouble and come to find out that I’d been born with a birth defect of the heart that was never uncovered until my early 50’s. By then the damage was done and I needed a heart valve replacement for the main artery of the body. It wasn’t just nice to get, it was how soon can you come to the hospital so we can save your life? I made the mistake of telling a Scn KA drinker I was going in for surgery and she literally screamed at the top of her lungs at me to NOT go let them cut you and to instead go to this Ulan doctor who was a Scn woo woo doctor who didn’t use any kind of operations, but just prescribed supplements. She said he would save me and that it would be a sin to go in for surgery and an artificial heart valve. She was literally screaming at the top of her lungs at me. Even though I was firmly a Scn at that time, I knew insanity when I saw it and I saw her as whacked out. So I ignored her advice, had the surgery and never called her again. It was a success and I’m happy they saved my life.
Oh and P.S. Ron didn’t “decide to drop his body.” He didn’t want to die and wasn’t in control of anything about himself or his condition at the end. So that myth is debunked. Yet all the KA drinkers think that they will be able to decide when to die and will do it causatively and it will be a wonderful experience etc. Lots of luck with that.
You must be referring to Freddie Ulan. Yes, he worked on me when I had a very brutal case of shingles (actually I had AIDS too but did not know it.
And a friend of mine who was also a patient of Dr Gene Denk, LRH’s last doctor asked him if this (the story about him going off to do research) was true.
Denk’s eyes rolled back in his head and he said” He had a stroke. He died. End of story”. That is what he put on LRHs Death Certificate.
This was very well written. I enjoyed the expert information.
Now I realize more than ever that Scientology performs, not a paradigm shift, but a paradigm mind f#$&. That explains the cognitive dissonance after blowing.
I have never been one to shoot down others benign religious beliefs. In the Book of Mark, it says that with God all things are possible. When religious beliefs lead to violence or self-harm, I have an issue and feel a need to speak up. For example, religious wars or cult mass-suicides. If you impinge on others religious beliefs, there should be a very good reason. I believe this expert article outlines very well why and when it is OK to do that for Scientology and intervene. You can believe your upstart nature prevents you from getting a disease, but if you are coughing and violently ill get the proper medical care, damn!
Bingo.
Even in the era before science discovered that a vaccine made of cowpox could prevent smallpox, in the days before antibiotics were known to control certain infections, in the days before ‘laughing gas’ made a trip to the tooth-puller bearable, the village shaman knew to brew willow bark tea to ease pain, and to use other natural substances, since duplicated by chemistry, for relief of various disease symptoms. The shaman knew the value of bed rest, and of a cold compress on a fevered forehead. Scientology hasn’t evolved even to the knowledge level of an ancient village shaman. Not by a long shot.
This is one of the most important blog entries ever made here. I only hope Mike and his family, and all families, follow the important values shown here today, rather than reverting to the old ways of LRH – or even the old ways of trying to re-invent the wheel yourself rather than consult a person specializing in the problem. If parents would actively reach out to learn well-researched science, and apply it to their own lives and the lives of their children, all would benefit.
Thank you Mike, Leah, and the professional supporter for today’s post.
“In a previous lifetime, have you ever been opposed to Scientology?” – Oops, born before 1950/1952 when Hubbard wrote Dianetics and founded Scientology? Sucks to have been born after those dates when they can use this against you.
I hadn’t realized how much of a scam it was to first tell people they have a reactive mind, and then when they reach “Clear” tell them they made up their own reactive mind.
I am curious to find out from the readers of this blog who are former Scientologists whether or not your experiences of PTS handlings match the way Mike is describing it in this post. I ask this because the PTS handlings I received because of catching a cold were different than the way he describes it here.
First, I was not always ordered to get a PTS handling because of catching a cold. I think this was mostly in my earlier days, even when training at Flag, where I would get a cold and just be told to suck it up and get on post because getting sick was said to be a result of my “case” and of course, there is “no case on post”.
Were you ever treated the same way when you got sick, or did you always have to get a PTS handling?
Second, when I did get a PTS handling after catching a cold, although the professed reason for my getting sick was because of being connected to a Suppressive Person, an SP did not necessarily have to be someone who was opposing or questioning Scientology. It could have just been someone who was suppressing me personally, and it didn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with my involvement in Scientology.
Usually, the first person who would come to my mind when I would be asked who was suppressing me would be some senior or executive in the org, or an Intern Supervisor at Flag, who was giving unrealistic targets or quotas and then publicly humiliating me to other staff members, and making me feel like a lowlife scumbag. But knowing that that would not be an acceptable answer, I would come up with someone from my childhood, like a neighborhood bully or a friend who was mistreating me in some way. And then the assumption would be that something in the present reminded me of that person from my childhood, and that I had been mistakenly associating someone from the present with that person from the past. And this was “verified” by the fact that after a day or two I would no longer have a cold (so what, colds usually last only a few days anyway).
So, did you ever have PTS handlings similar to mine, or was yours always where you were were required specifically to come up with someone who was critical or opposed to Scientology and your involvement in it?
For me, I never experienced nor witnessed a PTS handling where the SP was required to be a person opposed to Scientology. It definitely would have been an acceptable answer if that would have been what I came up with, but it was not required. It could just have been someone who was suppressing me in any way at all.
How about you?
Dave Fagen your recollection is very accurate, while the post went a bit off the track on this particular topic.
Thanks TT.
Actually, for what it’s worth, I was not checking to see whether or not I was recalling correctly. I knew what had happened in my case, and others that I had witnessed.
I just wanted to know if others experiences matched the way Mike was describing it, because I have never seen it where the only acceptable version of a “Suppressive Person” that was acceptable in a PTS handling was someone who was in disagreement or critical of Scientology specifically.
I was wondering how many people had that restriction put on them in a PTS handling.
Leaving the cult was my last PTS handling.
Haha, likewise, great line!
Having “been in” from the late 80s to early 00s, I have seen this handling change. This probably confuses the matter even further.
In the 80s and early 90s, it was pretty hands-off on PTS handlings unless some exec went apeshit, you were very downstat, or you might be questioning whether to remain on staff. Then you’d get the questions (either a PTS-A handling verbal interview, or a CS-79 metered interview).
However, “revisions” came out in the late 90s to the whole of the PTS materials, after the first Golden Age of Tech, and it was heavily pushed (at least at ITO/CTO) that any illness took someone off course, waiting for Ethics to give you a metered PTS handling. This would eventually go to OW writeups, which then bogged, then it was forgotten… until the next time you’d get sick from 20 hour days or having to deal with some puffed up DCO(letter) deciding to make your week a living hell.
If you named an org exec or upstat, they would then start “Rollback” ethics interviews, and possibly put you on confessionals (which were basically a death sentence for any course progress, or any sort of Bridge progress). You’d also get assigned lower conditions and it went pretty much as Mike stated.
If by that point you hadn’t given up entirely, don’t forget your org would likely be found “downstat” per a random Messenger inspection, and you’d get “Group Lower Conditions”, which basically took away any liberties, immediately assumed you were an “SP” if you spoke against the harsh working conditions, and put you on “Reduced Rations” if things got bad enough (the old “Rice and Beans”, but salad was cheap enough that they added that so it couldn’t be stated as such verbally).
Only one PTS handling I ever had seen performed, or performed in the nearly 20 years (and I worked in Div 5), had any lasting effect. It was also one of the rarest to be assigned to a “PTS person”. The Clay Table De-PTSing. I to this day think that she recovered because she was able to just sit and make clay people for 3 hours a day for a couple of months, instead of being harassed 24/7 by her insane senior (who was moved off shortly before she finished). She wasn’t sick for a good five years and seemed to totally change her demeanor.
You must be referring to Freddie Ulan. Yes, he worked on me when I had a very brutal case of shingles (actually I had AIDS too but did not know it.
And a friend of mine who was also a patient of Dr Gene Denk, LRH’s last doctor asked him if this (the story about him going off to do research) was true.
Denk’s eyes rolled back in his head and he said” He had a stroke. He died. End of story”. That is what he put on LRHs Death Certificate.
Dave, what you described in the last paragraph was also what I had experienced in the 80ies/90ies (then I left).
Maybe the factor that Leah and Mike grew up in Scientology has to do with that they didn’t experience it this way.
What Gat.Child experienced, I can also confirm. There’s also the “Pretended PTSness” which was installed. ( http://suppressiveperson.org/1985/05/21/hcob-two-types-of-ptses/ )
It would be too complicated to convey all the ramifications if somebody is not familiar with the subject. It’s difficult enough to get the concept across.
Dave,
I had a PTS Rundown done on me in 1991 after I had nearly bled to death in 89 (and was saved to die later from HIV contaminated blood products) from a bad bleeding ulcer.
The stomach had been burning very badly and a stomach specialist had examined me and said that I had all that was needed to get stomach cancer. The Rundown saved my life. In the last 30 years I have had no stomach trouble though when I got the rundown it was obvious that another ulcer was imminent.
If the tech has changed ( a euphemism for squirreled) I can only imagine that DM (improved) it so that no-one would spot him as the SP he is.
He does not care how many die due to his sabotage of this tech. The dead ones also will not spot him as an SP.
My wife literally lost 15 years of her life. While on staff she had some kind of breakdown – she became a zombie to use an unprofessional term. We used scientology for six years during which she only got worse, a numb shell of a human being. Eventually, I left scn, recognising it had no answers (after the Introspection R/D and endless PAB 6s) taking my family with me. I was still blinkered and wouldn’t seek professional help. It took a few more years to do so. She was clinically diagnosed with two personality disorders and prescribed medication. I was still secretly anti-medication and so left the taking of the actual medication to her (so I could be all self-righteous). It took fully five more years and an attempted suicide by her for me to finally boss up, having realised she hadn’t been consistently taking the medication and was not to be trusted ever to do so. I now give it to her every night, and the change in personality is absolutely astounding. Nonetheless, there’s a 15 year gap where she should have been living a life.
Luckily we can cherish the present time as best as we can, enjoy every moment of our lives, be grateful for still being here and feeling something. I am glad she is doing so much better now.
Hey Mike…
I find it quite amusing that COS claims”when you die, your spirit is compelled to go to what Hubbard referred to as “implant stations” in the “between lives area” hidden away somewhere here on Earth or on Mars or Venus (yes, Hubbard actually said that) so you can be spiritually hypnotized and made to forget everything that has happened to you before. This happens to everyone on Earth between each lifetime and was totally unknown until Hubbard “discovered” it. He expanded on this whole science fiction story with the infamous Xenu story so-well-described on South Park and in Going Clear
Seriously…what a PERFECT PLAN…….PONZI SCHEME IT SEEMS…
if your memory “data banks are wiped completely clear of all past lives”….YOU CANNOT CLAIM THE PRE PAYMENT FOR FUTURE COURSES BECAUSE YOU’D HAVE TO REMEMBER WHO YOU WERE IN YOUR PAST LIFE….& IF YOU CAN’T RECALL..THEY KEEP YOUR MONEY.
DENY DENY DENY……
Good people will die and decent people will suffer as a result of the lies.
Mike and Leah, what a great article. I sure wish I could have read this article in the mid 70’s……
The ONLY comment I have is that when I look over the scamologists I’ve known and the non-scamologists, throughout the years. A FAR higher % of the scamologists have died. By a factor of about 10… Similar age ranges too. Except for one thing, in the age range of those born from 1980 to ~ 1995 only scamologosts have died out of the people I know.
I would guess the cult really doesn’t care that so many of their slaves die at an earlier age than most.
Once they have bled people dry by getting them to donate all the money they can beg, borrow or steal, they have no use for them anymore.
In the Book of Mark, it says that with God all things are possible. If that is true, I have always had a dream that one day this criminal cult will be eradicated and all its leaders (presumably that means the one person who calls himself the “Pope” of this cult will be given a life sentence in a penitentiary.
I hope that comes to pass too Skyler. Evil A-holes that they are.
O/T. “Highly Commended” Scientology Field Staff Member Nation of Islam Sister Renata Muhammad again tweets about “#ImposterJews” and promotes the anti-Semitic book series, “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews.”
This is new since my last post yesterday.
ESMB Redux:
https://exscn2.net/threads/scientology-field-staff-member-and-scientology-commendation-winner-nation-of-islam-sister-renata-muhammad-attacks-imposter-jews.1574/page-2#post-48231
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDHT35-J6jb/
If it seems like I post something almost every day about an anti-Semitic statement by a Scientologist who is also a member of the Nation of Islam, that is because a Scientologist who is also a member of the Nation of Islam makes an anti-Semitic statement almost every day.
And the Church of Scientology doesn’t say, much less do, anything about it.
My strongly held belief is that this is newsworthy, and is indeed news, each and every time it happens.
It needs to be recognized, memorialized and called-out each and every time it occurs.
This should never become “normal.” This should never become mere background noise or “not really news.”
I absolutely agree with you.
I do too.