[religious brainwash] A Piece of Blue Sky Scientology, Dianetics, and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed #7/189

Scientology usually pays a 10 or 15 percent commission for recruitment. I was already too involved in Scientology to realize I had been working for the Mission for several weeks without pay.

The Hubbard Qualified Scientologist (HQS) Course packages many of the basic ideas of Scientology. The student does the Comm Course Training Routines again, and four additional Training Routines called the "Upper Indoctrination TRs." These drill the student to maintain control of someone through physical contact, but more so through "intention," or sheer will power - really by having a very determined approach.

On the HQS course I learned about several of Hubbard's many "Scales," among them the key Scale of Scientology: the "Emotional Tone Scale." Hubbard believed that there is a natural progression of emotional states, and that any individual can be led through these simply by conversation. The purported idea of Scientology counselling is to permanently raise the Preclear on the "Tone Scale."

The scale rises from Death through Apathy, to Grief, to Sympathy, to Fear, to Hostility, to Boredom, to Cheerfulness, to Enthusiasm. Scientology seeks to take someone who is apathetic, miserable, anxious, or antagonistic and make of him someone cheerful and positive.

While on the HQS Course, I had my first stab at "auditing," or counselling. A friend and I drilled the procedures using an over-size rag doll as the Preclear receiving counselling. One of us would be the "Auditor," and the other the coach, making verbal responses on the rag doll's behalf.

Despite painstaking drilling, my first Auditor collapsed while giving me a session. He was asking me to touch objects in the room, one by one, and suddenly crumpled against the wall, sinking to the floor in uncontrollable laughter. The artificial atmosphere of auditing was too much for him. I was unprepared for this, and felt dizzy and confused. A seasoned Auditor gave me a "Review," asking questions about the session and "earlier similar incidents." After 20 minutes I felt better. To me it seemed to prove Scientology's validity.

Considering myself a Zen Buddhist, I readily accepted Hubbard's ideas about reincarnation. He said that during counselling so many people had spontaneously volunteered "past life" incidents that he had had to accept it as a reality. Auditing is virtually impossible without such a belief.

By the time I became involved in Scientology, "Clear" was no longer the ultimate attainment; now there were levels beyond. Hubbard used the word "thetan" to describe the spirit, the "being himself," and beyond "Clear" were the "Operating Thetan" (OT) levels. Here the individual would purportedly break away from the limitations of human existence. Having completed the "OT levels" one would be able to remember all of one's earlier lives, to "exteriorize" from the body at will and perform miraculous feats.

Such ideas were completely foreign to me. Interest in psychic abilities is frowned upon in the Zen community as a distraction from the road to wisdom. What I wanted from Scientology was emotional equilibrium, so I could win my girlfriend back, make a successful career in the Arts, and concentrate on achieving Enlightenment. But gradually I was absorbed into the pursuit of the state of "Operating Thetan."

By this time I had a fairly well developed picture of Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. His voice on tape was rich and jocular. Photographs of Hubbard in Scientology magazines and on the walls of the Mission showed a smiling man, not a dry philosopher, but a man of action with a tremendous love for humanity, who had devoted his life to the solution of other men's ills. Hubbard seemed to be a true philanthropist; a learned man with a grasp of science and a comprehension of the mysteries.

Hubbard had a sense of humor, and was given to anecdotes. He was not trying to impress anyone with his intellect, instead he wanted you to help yourself, and all mankind, by using the subject he had developed. This view of Hubbard is shared by all devoted Scientologists.

By the summer of 1975 I was coming back onto an even keel. My life revolved around Scientology, and I had put my ex-girlfriend out of mind, although the subject had never been addressed in my counselling. I had abandoned those of my friends who were not interested in Scientology, because my lifestyle had changed so much, and I had made new friends - all of them Scientologists. I had a powerful feeling of comradeship for the Mission staff, and wanted to become one of their number. I knew that they took only a day off each week, and worked all the weekday evenings too.