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Scientology! I found out for myself!
I first became aware of Scientology in the late 1960’s through an older cousin. He introduced me to their drill TR-0, Bullbait, at my mother’s kitchen table. I was 16. To do this drill, I sat across from him, straight faced, while he tried to make me laugh. Soon I was enrolled in the Scientology communications course.
At the time, the cult had only existed for 15 years or so. It claimed to be a new science that would soon be widely accepted. I considered this possible. After all, change was in the air. Men were about to walk on the moon. Paranoia was in the air too, because of the Viet Nam War and nonsensical drug laws. To distrust the advice of adults seemed like good sense. Given all that, a branch of science that laid down the precise characteristics of the human soul didn’t seem so far fetched.
I took some courses from the cult but I didn’t complete my last one, because I found the other members impossible to work with. It was the avarice and foolishness of the more established members that troubled me. I was also suspicious of the scientific claims of the cult because they would produce no evidence. Even asking a clear about his abilities was considered to be bad manners. Still, many seemed to be enamoured with Scientology and I did not want to jump to harsh conclusions. When I left, I reasoned that since Scientology claimed that everyone in the world would be a scientologist within four years, scientific validation, if it were ever to come, would be just around the corner. I could wait.
Back then, as today, most people took one look at Scientology and saw it to be a transparent fraud. I gave it more of a chance than most because, by that time, seven family members were involved in it and it would have been impossible for me to reject Scientology without offending them. It also gave me hope for solving personal problems, interactions with a group of people who seemed to like me, and a fresh direction in life when my education at university seemed to be stagnating.
Scientologists tell people to find out about their religion for themselves. Regrettably, I did. I am not a bigot, a criminal or a paid tool—merely someone, who years ago weighed the available evidence. I am sure that a few scientologists will read this. I don’t expect to convince any of them to believe what I believe. I expect that they are aware of many of these things, but have weighed the evidence differently.
It actually took several years after leaving before I came to any firm conclusion about Scientology. After all, if I were wrong, denouncing them would mean turning my back on immortality. And then there was the problem of alienating my family. But in time I had to admit to myself that some of the things I had seen were more than troublesome; they indicated that Hubbard was misleading his followers and that his followers would believe anything he wrote or said.
Big problem--It bothered me that I didn’t see any Scientologists, back then, from the 1950’s or even the early 1960’s. I didn’t know if they had quit or been thrown out or moved to LA for higher training. With all they claimed to offer, quitting would be worse than suicide. Being thrown out would be unthinkable because of the high ethics claimed by the organization and the super-sanity of the individuals in it. That left the higher training option and sure enough some did leave for that reason. But as time went on I saw that people were regularly turning their backs on the cult. In fact, today there is no one working for the local cult office that predates me. People are turning away from their promise of immortality faster than you could write a cheque. And a bit of research will show that in the United States L .Ron Hubbard’s personal auditor David Mayo left, his son and right hand man L. Ron Jr. left, the first clear John McMaster left, and recently high-level scientologists Warren McShane, Marty Rathbun, and Mike Rinder left too. Overnight these individuals changed from the most ethical people on the planet to the most wicked. It is hard to shrug this off with “Scientology isn’t for everybody” as I was told on the street by an OT3 who was handing out leaflets.
Another big problem-- Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, which is the first book of Scientology, makes claims that can’t be backed up. Hubbard claimed the book to be the result of 15 years of research involved 270 subjects and that the process of Dianetics produced results as consistent as physics or chemistry. Dianetics claims that it will give a person 20/20 vision once he or she reaches the level of clear. Why then does former cult president Heber Jentzsch wear glasses? Why do other clears wear glasses? I have to conclude that Hubbard just lied. He claimed that clears get “complete recall of everything which has ever happened to him or anything he has ever studied”. In fact, he made this claim in Dianetics, twice. I have met many clears. None of them have perfect memory or anything approaching it. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Hubbard made many other claims of unusual characteristics for clears in Dianetics.. I have seen no evidence for the existence of any of these characteristics.
Another big problem—While I was a member two Canadian OT8’s who were married to one another, died simultaneously in a car crash. At the time, OT8 was defined as someone who had “control, knowingly and at will over matter, energy, space, time, life and thought”. I couldn’t imagine why they would want to die in a car crash.
Another big problem-- In 1971 I was told that the local cult office would be employing 100,000 people by 1975. Sometimes I don’t mind estimates being off, even by a factor of a thousand, but I do mind it when the person making the prediction claims to control time. Back then Scientology claimed 15,000,000 adherents worldwide. Today they variously claim eight or ten million followers and to be the world’s fastest growing religion. Why did representatives of the cult claim 100,000 followers in Canada in the Globe and Mail and 200,000 followers in Canada a few months later on Global television? If that were true they would likely be the world’s fastest growing religion. However the last census brought in their number at only 1525. The cult offices I have seen are small and I have never seen many people at their events. It seems obvious that the scientologists have just made up numbers without any basis in reality.
Another big problem-- Four friends and family members, all OT’s, have left affirming soon after that OT’s have no special powers. I have never seen an OT phenomenon though they were talked about even while I was taking my very first course almost forty years ago.
Another big problem-- I was told back then that if I even heard the name of the Galactic Overlord that started all the problems on Earth I would die of pneumonia within two days-- L. Ron Hubbard said so. The story of Xenu is out. Instances of pneumonia have not increased. It costs, in most cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars before a scientologist gets to the point where he hears about Xenu. If recruits heard about Xenu earlier on, Hubbard wouldn’t get their money.
When I mention my experiences to scientologists the usual reaction is, “That was then this is now” or a version of that, followed by a pitch to return to the fold. But over the years, far more evidence has come out through books, magazines and the internet, showing that the cult is far, far worse than I ever thought it to be.
I must conclude that there is no more need to find out about Scientology for oneself then there is a need to join the neo-Nazi’s, a biker gang, take crystal meth or jump out a window. A wise man learns from his mistakes. A smart man learns from other people’s mistakes. I can only claim to be wise.