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If Scientology is said to have a heart, the essay “Keeping Scientology Working”(KSW) must be very close to it.
“Keeping Scientology Working” is the throbbing muscle that drives Scientology members to work ever harder. In order to achieve their stated goals of world domination. It’s vitally important to Scientology. Each time a student takes a course he or she must sign and attest that they understand and agree with the precepts of this document.
But what exactly is KSW?
KSW is little more than Hubbard proclaiming that his Scientology materials are to become the center of one’s life. If Scientology is a religion, the precepts detailed in KSW are its sacraments. Following KSW makes one a Scientologist. It is their creed. Without it, Scientology is just a harmless - funny sect. Like thousands of others, their beliefs are singularly unimportant. With it, Scientology becomes a threat to every man; woman and child who is not a member and more than a threat, a clear and present danger to those who dare speak out against it. KSW is something else, its part of the engine that threatens Scientology itself. They don't understand this, they can't.
How it is followed defines one as a Scientologist. Taken at face value to a non-Scientologist, KSW seems like a mass of paranoid, narcissistic mutterings. To a Scientologist, this is supreme truth coming from “Source.” Source is the very words of their guru L. Ron Hubbard.
Hubbard issued this directive several times; here is one of the addendums
[THE FOLLOWING POLICY LETTER MEANS WHAT IT SAYS.
IT WAS TRUE IN 1965 WHEN I WROTE IT. IT WAS TRUE IN 1970 WHEN I HAD IT REISSUED. I AM REISSUING IT NOW, IN 1980, TO AVOID AGAIN SLIPPING BACK INTO A PERIOD OF OMITTED AND QUICKIED FUNDAMENTAL GRADE CHART ACTIONS ON CASES, THEREBY DENYING GAINS AND THREATENING THE VIABILITY OF SCIENTOLOGY AND OF ORGS. SCIENTOLOGY WILL KEEP WORKING ONLY AS LONG AS YOU DO YOUR PART TO KEEP IT WORKING BY APPLYING THIS POLICY LETTER.
WHAT I SAY IN THESE PAGES HAS ALWAYS BEEN TRUE, IT HOLDS TRUE TODAY, IT WILL STILL HOLD TRUE IN THE YEAR 2000 AND IT WlLL CONTINUE TO HOLD TRUE FROM THERE ON OUT.
NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN SCIENTOLOGY, ON STAFF OR NOT, THIS POLICY LETTER HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH YOU. ]
Hubbard’s words are absolute and suggestive that the points detailed in KSW are to be taken as they are applied, ruthlessly and completely. There can be no twisting, no spin here. Acording to Hubbard, KSW is FACT and MUST be followed to the letter.
If one has any doubts that this is the policy of the Scientology organization, the addendum should dispel that notion. Changes in society, attitude, customs technology are notwithstanding. KSW is to be a universal solvent for, not only ensuring the survival of Scientology. it is to be utilized to but getting it into every organization, every religion, every government and every household on Earth. KSW is used to justify any act, ethical or unethical.
Your life, my life, everyone’s life is threatened by this directive should Scientology be allowed to thrive - so long as Scientology adheres to it.
The essay begins this way;
["ALL LEVELS
KEEPING SCIENTOLOGY WORKING
HCO Sec or Communicator hat check
on all personnel and all new personnel
as taken on."]
[" Getting the correct technology applied consists of:
One: Having the correct technology.
Two: Knowing the technology.
Three: Knowing it is correct.
Four: Teaching correctly the correct technology.
Five: Applying the technology.
Six: Seeing that the technology is correctly applied.
Seven: Hammering out of existence incorrect technology.
Eight: Knocking out incorrect applications.
Nine: Closing the door on any possibility of incorrect technology.
Ten: Closing the door on incorrect application."]
“Having the technology means having Hubbard’s scripture. Knowing the “technology” is followed by (in so many words) “knowing and believing in the scripture.”Once you believe in the scripture you can go out and teach others to believe in the scripture. You may also apply the scripture in your own life. You are directed to ensure others are applying the scripture correctly. You should actively discourage competing scripture and the applications thereof (like other religions or philosophies.) You must close the door on other belief systems and close your mind to other ways of thinking.
Hubbard continues in KSW;
["On the other hand there have been thousands and thousands of suggestions and writings which, if accepted and acted upon, would have resulted in the complete destruction of all our work as well as the sanity of pcs. So I know what a group of people will do and how insane they will go in accepting unworkable "technology." By actual record the percentages are about twenty to 100,000 that a group of human beings will dream up bad technology to destroy good technology. As we could have gotten along without suggestions, then, we had better steel ourselves to continue to do so now that we have made it. This point will, of course, be attacked as "unpopular," "egotistical" and "undemocratic." It very well may be. But it is also a survival point. And I don't see that popular measures, self-abnegation and democracy have done anything for Man but push him further into the mud. Currently, popularity endorses degraded novels, self-abnegation has filled the Southeast Asian jungles with stone idols and corpses, and democracy has given us inflation and income tax."]
Here Hubbard declares that Scientology should become a political movement and that it is superior to any other philosophy or government that has come before including the ones he grew up in. Hubbard admits that his movement is undemocratic but states that this is OK because (he feels) that it is the only philosophy that will survive. Despite the fact that not a single Scientologist has made a notable contribution to society (please correct me if I’m wrong,) Hubbard is proclaiming here that Scientology should not only supplant all other religions, but all forms of government as well.
Hubbard continues;
["Our technology has not been discovered by a group. True, if the group had not supported me in many ways, I could not have discovered it either. But it remains that if in its formative stages it was not discovered by a group, then group efforts, one can safely assume, will not add to it or successfully alter it in the future. I can only say this now that it is done. There remains, of course, group tabulation or coordination of what has been done, which will be valuable -- only so long as it does not seek to alter basic principles and successful applications"]
Here Hubbard reiterates, “this is MY tech and MY tech alone!”
["The contributions that were worthwhile in this period of forming the technology were help in the form of friendship, of defense, of organization, of dissemination, of application, of advices on results and of finance. These were great contributions and were, and are, appreciated. Many thousands contributed in this way and made us what we are. Discovery contribution was not however part of the broad picture. We will not speculate here on why this was so or how I came to rise above the bank. We are dealing only in facts and the above is a fact -- the group left to its own devices would not have evolved Scientology but with wild dramatizations of the bank called "new ideas" would have wiped it out. Supporting this is the fact that Man has never before evolved workable mental technology and emphasizing it is the vicious technology he did evolve -- psychiatry, psychology, surgery, shock treatment, whips, duress, punishment, etc., ad infinitum."]
Hubbard slams home his idea that only he has ever formed a workable opinion on how the human mind operates. In Scientology, it is not allowed to research or learn anything about the history of the mental health fields other than Hubbard’s concept of it being destructive and sadistic.
According to Scientology, All mental health facilities are full of evil-mad Doctors jabbing ice picks into people’s heads and shocking them with electricity. Failing this, victims (especially children) are willfully drugged into insanity in accordance with some fiendish plot by "the Psychs to take over the world. A world that which would consist (according to Scientology) of insane, drugged out lobotomized people and their fiendish masters, the Psychologists.
What is ironic is Scientology does not offer any solutions about what to do with truly mentally ill people, other than one final solution. Scientology only works (apparently) with well adjusted people who have some money.
This is a bit like someone developing a new band-aid that only works if a person is not bleeding.
Hubbard continues in his KSW essay about Scientology dedication.
["The finest organizations in history have been tough, dedicated organizations. Not one namby-pamby bunch of panty-waist dilettantes have ever made anything. It's a tough universe. The social veneer makes it seem mild. But only the tigers survive -- and even they have a hard time. We'll survive because we are tough and are dedicated. When we do instruct somebody properly, he becomes more and more tiger. When we instruct half-mindedly and are afraid to offend, scared to enforce, we don't make students into good Scientologists and that lets everybody down. When Mrs. Pattycake comes to us to be taught, turn that wandering doubt in her eye into a fixed, dedicated glare and she'll win and we'll all win. Humor her and we all die a little. The proper instruction attitude is "You're here so you're a Scientologist. Now we're going to make you into an expert auditor no matter what happens, We'd rather have you dead than incapable.""]
We would rather have you dead than incapable, read this as “Scientology or death.” Is this an organization that anyone other than the most deranged would want to join? And they really mean this too! This is why people should think very carefully before taking any Scientology course. Expect to be hounded by a fervent believer who would rather see you dead than quit.
["This is a deadly serious activity. And if we miss getting out of the trap now, we may never again have another chance. Remember, this is our first chance to do so in all the endless trillions of years of the past.
L. RON HUBBARD®
FOUNDER
Adopted as official
Church policy by
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
INTERNATIONAL "]
In my opinion, the sacraments of Scientology should be read and exposed for what they are. It is nothing short of a call to arms by the Scientology management against the rest of the world. It’s a declaration that a true believer in Scientology
That may sound melodramatic and I suppose it is. However if Scientology continues to use this document as its basic creed, it presents a danger to all non-Scientologists. The religion argument no longer apples – if it ever did. If I were to write a creed which says “my religion is to walk up to every 10th person and punch them in the nose,” I would be locked up. Punching people in the nose is an unacceptable behavior in polite society.
What if my followers believe they will go to heaven? How about I create a religion where anyone who punches people gets twenty doe-eyed virgins in heaven? What if I get people to believe that.
You can see where I’m going with this. There can be no excuse for criminal activity. There needs to be a clear line of demarcation between belief and acceptable behavior. Not everything is allowable by virtue of it being a “religions activity.” If Scientology is to survive, it as an institution must begin purging itself of this kind of destructive rhetoric. The precept of KSW and other similar writings of Hubbard must be purged from the rest of Scientology. This is why people protest them. They must begin to understand that free and democratic societies cannot tolerate this kind of rhetoric.
It is likely that this will never happen. A greater part of Scientology takes its identity from such writings. So it is unfortunate that Scientology will very likely go down because of “scripture” like KSW. The people who so fervently believe in Scientology would do well to begin a long overdue house cleaning.
Before it is too late, before someone does it for them.
More information on KSW can be found here
http://www.xenu-directory.net/practices/ksw1.html