Scientology
Created by one fellow named Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911 – 1986), both Scientology and Dianetics have amassed a very powerful following, becoming very popular amongst Hollywood with superstars Tom Cruise and John Travolta as they are high-ranking members of this “religion” created by a science fiction writer who was somewhat bankable in the 60’s – 80’s. In the 1950’s, Hubbard wrote Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health; this work described the process of “auditing,” an affair where a trained professional would put the subject through painful memories which would result in, according to Hubbard, the elimination of everything that makes us ill and holds us back from using our true potential. Emotional distress, diseases and faulty intelligence would all be but eradicated if people subjected themselves to these “auditings.”
The book wasn’t gaining much interest from the mainstream public so he went to publish the work in Astounding Science Fiction, published by John W. Campbell. The polarized rift between the science fiction community only helped fuel the interest in this Dianetics thing, with established authors in the medium such as Isaac Asimov saying that the concept of actually taking it seriously was dumbfounded and downright ridiculous. On the other hand, there were other authors and Campbell himself embracing the practice; so much so that author A. E. van Voght, convinced that his wife’s health dramatically improved since the inclusion of Dianetics in her therapy, he volunteered to run the very first Dianetics center in Los Angeles. The attention it was getting made the media dig in a little deeper in who was L. Ron Hubbard and what he wanted to accomplish with Dianetics, a practice so popular that despite there not being any cold, hard evidence that the procedures actually did anything it gained cult status in an impressively accelerated rate. With the boom of Dianetics, Hubbard quickly opened the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in New Jersey, also opening branch offices in other big cities by 1950’s end; the foundation (nor it’s other offices) lasted long, though. Soon enough Hubbard left the foundation under allegations that his partners in the venture were communists… as his Dianetics success came tumbling down, Hubbard’s skeletons came creeping out of his closet. As it turns out, his second wife Sara Northrup filed for divorce citing that his husband was still married to his first wife when he married her, and also that he had kidnapped their daughter Alexis. Of course, the allegations of torture, crazy experiments and physical abuse didn’t help Hubbard’s case to clean up his image of a crazy old coot and a liar. After this he went into hiding to hone his philosophy (or run away from the problem, depending of where you’re standing with this whole thing) and in 1952, he returned with what is known as Scientology. From the awesome Wikipedia:
In mid-1952, Hubbard expanded Dianetics into a secular philosophy which he called Scientology. That year, Hubbard also married his third wife, Mary Sue Whipp, to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. With Mary Sue, Hubbard fathered four more children—Diana, Quentin, Suzette and Arthur—over the next six years.
In December 1953, Hubbard declared Scientology a religion and the first Church of Scientology was founded in Camden, New Jersey. He moved to England at about the same time, and during the remainder of the 1950s he supervised the growing organization from an office in London. In 1959, he bought Saint Hill Manor near the Sussex town of East Grinstead, a Georgian manor house owned by the Maharajah of Jaipur. This became the world headquarters of Scientology.
Hubbard claimed to have conducted years of intensive research into the nature of human existence; to describe his findings, he developed an elaborate vocabulary with many newly coined terms. He codified a set of “axioms” and an “applied religious philosophy” that promised to improve the condition of the human spirit, which he called the “Thetan.” The bulk of Scientology focuses on the “rehabilitation” of the thetan.
Hubbard’s followers believed his “technology” gave them access to their past lives, the traumas of which led to failures in the present unless they were audited. By this time, Hubbard had introduced a biofeedback device to the auditing process, which he called a “Hubbard Electropsychometer” or “E-meter.” It was invented in the 1940s by a chiropractor and Dianetics enthusiast named Volney Mathison. This machine, related to the electronic lie detectors of the time, is used by Scientologists in auditing to evaluate “mental masses” surrounding the thetan. These “masses” are claimed to impede the thetan from realizing its full potential.
Hubbard claimed a good deal of physical disease was psychosomatic, and one who, like himself, had attained the enlightened state of “clear” and become an “Operating Thetan” would be relatively disease free. According to biographers, Hubbard went to great lengths to suppress his recourse to modern medicine, attributing symptoms to attacks by malicious forces, both spiritual and earthly. Hubbard insisted humanity was imperiled by such forces, which were the result of negative memories (or “engrams”) stored in the unconscious or “reactive” mind, some carried by the immortal thetans for billions of years. Thus, Hubbard claimed, the only possibility for spiritual salvation was a concerted effort to “clear the planet,” that is, to bring the benefits of Scientology to all people everywhere, and attack all forces, social and spiritual, hostile to the interests of the movement.
Church members were expected to pay fixed donation rates for courses, auditing, books and E-meters, all of which proved very lucrative for the Church, which paid emoluments directly to Hubbard and his family. In a case fought by the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C. over its tax-exempt status (revoked in 1958 because of these emoluments) the findings of fact in the case included that Hubbard had personally received over $108,000 from the Church and affiliates over a four-year period, over and above the percentage of gross income (usually 10%) he received from Church-affiliated organizations.However, Hubbard denied such emoluments many times in writing, proclaiming he never received any money from the Church.
Now, the church of Scientology is regarded by most as one of the most elaborate scams in recent history, hunting people down on the streets not unlike a Jehova’s Witness, finding out where you live and work, your phone numbers, emails and every other bit of information only to try and convince you for an “auditing,” only to try and lure you into their church. It only gets better from there: taking a page from your run-of-the-mill pyramid scheme, as soon as you’re in, you’ll have to keep paying in order to move up in the chain, claiming that the more you move up in the ranks of the church the more enlightened and clean you’d be. In order to give you a better idea of just how ridiculously expensive this mock-up religion really is I looked around the net and found this, courtesy of Operation Clambcake. This is the processing file list for the CoS, with prices attached:
========== ========== ========= ===== Processing Intensives Cost per Total Step Required Intensive Cost or Course (IAS) ========== ========== ========= ===== Life Repair 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 Purification RD ----------- $2,560 $2,560 TRs & Objectives 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 Scn Drug Rundown 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 ARC Straightwire 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 Grade 0 3 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $16,800 Grade 1 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 Grade 2 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 Grade 3 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 Grade 4 2 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $11,200 New Era Dianetics 3 x 12.5 hr $5,600 $16,800 Clear Certainty RD 1 x 5 hr $2,800 $2,800 SUB-TOTAL TO CLEAR $128,560 *Solo Course Part 1 ----------- $3,200 $3,200 *OT Preparations 2 x 12.5 hr $3,300 $6,600 *Solo Course Part 2 ----------- $1,900 $1,900 *OT Eligibility 2 x 12.5 hr $3,300 $6,600 *OT I ----------- $2,000 $2,000 *OT II ----------- $3,800 $3,800 *OT III ----------- $6,500 $6,500 OT IV ?2 x 12.5 hr $6,500 $13,000 OT V 4 x 12.5 hr $7,400 $29,600 OT VI set-ups 2 x 12.5 hr $9,250 $18,500 OT VI ----------- $12,800 $12,800 Pledge Intensive 1 x 12.5 hr $9,250 $9,250 OT VII ----------- $3,500 $3,500 OT VII C/Sing (per year) over 2 years $3,200 $6,400 OT VIII ----------- $10,000 $10,000 OT VIII auditing ?2 x 12.5 hr $7,400 $14,800 TOTAL BILL FROM RAW MEAT TO OT VIII $277,010 ========
Alright, so if you round this up to $300,000 (even though that, as the article says, these prices are with special discounts already in place) and become a high-ranking OT (OT VIII) you’re expected to “disseminate,” or in other words recruit other non-believers to come into the church. There’s a ceiling once you hit OT VIII; OT IX and X cannot be reached unless all branches of the church reach the massive levels of the Saint Hill faction in England, which was the one Hubbard was involved the most in the 60’s… but it gets better:
Further, all of a sudden the Processing and Training Routes have merged at the (current CoS) “top” of the Bridge. Before you can qualify for OT IX, you will have to take the mammoth “Saint Hill Special Briefing Course” – training to become an Auditor – and buy its associated course materials. Alternatively, you must take all the lower-level training courses from Level 0 to Level V Graduate plus five other “specialist” courses.
Chances are high that, on your way from Clear to OT8, you will have succumbed to the temptation to do the three most expensive and “prestigious” rundowns in the CoS arsenal – the “L Rundowns” (there are plenty of extra rundowns for you to take that are not specifically “on the Bridge”.) You will very probably have done the “Key to Life” and “Life Orientation Course” too.
So to bring you right up to date, let’s add these on to the $250,000 which you have spent so far:
========== ========== ========= ===== Step/Course/ Intensives Cost per Total Materials Required Intensive Cost required or Course (IAS) ========== ========== ========= ===== To OT VIII (with mass discounts) $250,000 Saint Hill Special Briefing Course ------------ $25,600 *Briefing Course materials (including 30% discount when all bought at once - if you can afford to)------------ $18,390 SHSBC Total $43,990 ======= [ALTERNATIVE: Lower "Levels" and Specialist Training Courses. (see below for price breakdown) $56,000] ======= Key to Life and Life Orientation Courses ------------ $11,500 $11,500 L10 min. 2 x 12.5 hrs $10,000 $20,000 L11 min. 2 x 12.5 hrs $10,000 $20,000 L12 min. 2 x 12.5 hrs $10,000 $20,000 REVISED TOTAL - NOW READY FOR OT IX (if/when) $364,490 - $376,500 ============ Let's just say $365K - 380K ============ ================================================================== Lower Bridge "Levels" and "Specialist" training if taken instead of Saint Hill Special Briefing Course ================================================================== Yearly IAS membership, say seven years at $300 per annum (or Lifetime membership) $2,100 Mark Super VII E-meter $3,780 Student Hat Course $960 * The Study Tapes $425 New Hubbard Professional TR Course $2,400 * Clay Table Processing Picture Book $100 * Dianetics 55! Book $40 * Technical Dictionary $90 * PRO TR Course Lectures (on cassette) $240 Hubbard Professional Upper Indoc TR Course $1,000 * Freedom Congress Lectures (on cassette) $590 Academy Level 0 Course $2,400 * Level 0 Lectures (on cassette) $240 * Self Analysis Book $18 [Full Set of Tech Volumes] $2,025 Academy Level I Course $2,400 * Level I Lectures (on cassette) $375 * Problems of Work Book $18 Academy Level II Course $2,400 * Level II Lectures (on cassette) $590 * Fundamentals of Thought Book $18 Academy Level III Course $2,400 * Level III Lectures (on cassette) $240 * Scientology 0-8 Book $18 Academy Level IV Course $2,400 * Level IV Lectures (on cassette) $240 * Handbook for Pre-Clears Book $40 * Advance Procedures & Axioms Book $40 Academy Level IV Internship $1,600 Class V Hubbard New Era Dianetics Course $3,600 * NED Lectures (on cassette) $180 * Dianetics Book $21 Class V NED Auditor Internship $1,600 Hubbard Class V Graduate Auditor Course $3,600 * Class V Graduate Auditor Lectures $300 * Science of Survival Book $52 * Case Remedies Book $40 * The Troubleshooter $700 Class V Graduate Auditor Internship $1,600 Sub Total $40,880 =======(Special note: Those taking the co-audit Training Route to Clear to avoid the prohibitive processing costs, note that in addition to the above you will have to purchase 1) Purification Rundown, 2) Method One Co-audit, 3) E-meter Course, 4) TRs and Objectives, 5) Scientology Drug Rundown Co-audit Course, and all associated materials. You will also need to fork out for expensive Review Auditing to correct any mistakes made in your co-audit. Approximate total additional cost = $10,000)
So, the CoS takes away all of your money and everything you own just so you can be that much closer to enlightenment. Oh, and what enlightenment is it, you say? This is where Scientology really spreads its wings. I’ll let Wikipedia talk to you about Xenu. Mind you, this guy is supposed to be the guy who started it all, our messiah and savior. Seriously, I can’t make this stuff up:
In Scientology doctrine, Xenu (also Xemu) is an alien ruler of the “Galactic Confederacy” who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living, and continue to wreak chaos and havoc today.
These events are known to Scientologists as “Incident II”, and the traumatic memories associated with them as The Wall of Fire or the R6 implant. The story of Xenu is part of a much wider range of Scientology beliefs in extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described as space opera by L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer and founder of Scientology.
Hubbard detailed the story in Operating Thetan level III (OT III) in 1967, famously warning that R6 was “calculated to kill (by pneumonia etc) anyone who attempts to solve it.” The Xenu story was the start of the use of the volcano as a common symbol of Scientology and Dianetics from 1968 to the present day.
They try to keep this whole Xenu incident under wraps (and by them I mean the CoS) but it’s been the symbol for Scientology ever since the information was leaked out. The mere idea or a half-baked science fiction story such as this being one of the great stories the church has going for themselves is ridiculous. And I’m not the only one that thinks that way, it seems…
There you have it. From space aliens and volcanoes to $5,000 auditing fees and silent births, Scientology sure looks like it’s a piece of trash. Even though it blatantly brainwashes celebrities, allegedly tortures and hurts people who defy them or criticize them and rip people off their money and ruins their lives, hearts and minds the CoS still thrives on thanks to Hollywood celebrities with the extravagance, money and power to keep stuff like this afloat. There’s a lot more info and on Scientology from both sides of the fence online; I suggest using the links provided in this article, since they’re a good place to start (at last they were for me).
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