That is a question I have been asked several times the past year.
When I was in the Church of Scientology I never allowed myself to look at the negative aspects of Scientology. I did read a lot of criticism on the Net as I was working for OSA (the church’s KGB). But I was quick to dismiss, play down, justify or explain away any negative viewpoints on Scientology, Hubbard and even the church.
In 2007, when I started my two-year research that led to my official resignation, I allowed myself to take a good hard look at what was wrong with the church. But I still did not dare to really look at what could be wrong with the Scientology philosophy or with Hubbard.
After I left and started blogging in late 2009, I criticized openly the church, but defended the philosophy and dismissed criticism of Hubbard as “Argumentum ad Hominem” and “irrelevant”.
After blogging and discussing and allowing myself to freely look at every viewpoint on the church, Scientology and Hubbard, I stopped defending, justifying and dismissing criticism.
During the past year I have allowed myself to also take a good hard look at what is wrong with Scientology itself and with Hubbard. After not letting myself honestly look at these for almost 30 years, I had a lot of catching up to do. I can finally look at and criticize Scientology without any knee-jerk reaction prompting me to defend or explain away shit. I am freeing my viewpoint on the whole thing.
It is a process. I am as usual following what tickles my fancy. And these days I am looking closely at what the root causes of the detrimental sides of Scientology really is. And that is what I am posting. How long with that last? Who knows.
I blog not to teach or convert. I blog to free and evolve my own views on various things in life. I appreciate that people follow me on my path to be free of Scientology. I appreciate all the comments by all the participants on this blog. I read the comments, even when it gets really busy here with more than 100 comments per day. I may not answer all the questions that I should. Because I also have a life outside the blog. A life I enjoy immensely these days.
Geir Isene - uncut 
I think that in general, once indoctrinated, it can take quite a bit of time spent free of reinforcements of cult thinking to be able and willing to experience the expression of whatever views another may have or express, let alone recover one’s own viewpoint, free of dogmatic knee-jerk rejection after having surrendered unbiased inspection and viewpoint in submission to the methodical instilling of “what to think, what to say, what to do”.
It is of course, perfectly OK to honestly express anything, through the passive means of the internet (as opposed to ringing doorbells, stopping people in the street, bending others’ ears over the phone or any other aggressive or enforcing means of imposing on others).
I have my own Facebook group that focuses non-critically on whatever means of enlightenment or case gain resonates for one, for the most part bearing some relation to some Scientology principles, although utterly free of enforced “KSW”, including techniques and principles developed or shared by some of those who contributed to the development of Scientology before the day when Hubbard clamped down with firmly with authoritarian control, and falsely claimed to have come up with every important point all by himself the day in 1965 that he first issued “Keeping Scientology Working”; it is a sort of free expression think tank on such subjects. The few rules include the abstinence from discussing Scientology politics, i.e., who is ‘ok’ and who is “bad”, the “evils” of David Miscaviage/C of S, the latest defections, the various “Freezone” and “Independent” factions, etc, etc. This is for a few reasons, one being that too many forums are more populated with those with agendas, turning people against other people “to get ethics in”, “root out the SP’s and sociopaths”, etc, insisting that everyone must be in lockstep with their thinking, and another being that I felt there was a need to have a place in which those interested in this sort of thing can freely share their ideas and their enthusiasms to develop or enhance processing techniques, for those inclined to glean from these discussions whatever resonates with them, to have a place of support and encouragement without enforcive “correction” and rejection.
It is not that I don’t think the abuses of the C of S (and of C of S mentality, wherever it is dramatized) should be exposed for the benefit of others, its that while this can and should go on, there are in fact positives that can and should be freely pursued and supported, without being drowned out and hijacked by crusaders and campaigners.
This is the internet, in which if one is not interested in what is posted or commented, we are all free not to go to that site. Unless some hatemonger ties us to a chair and forces us to listen to them rant, we needn’t get our panties in a bunch over what another expresses, and while we might disagree with what another expresses, its perfectly ok to just let them be.
You simply never fail to deliver a great comment.
Please add link to your FB group.
Thanks Geir, and Chris, my Facebook group, “Free Scientologist”, has been in existence since around January 2012, and has over 100 members, many of some of you know. In order to protect from disconnection the identities of members who have friends/family,employer/business connections in the C of S, the group has “secret” status, nothing about it can be viewed on Facebook by non-members. There are Facebook groups with very similar names, which can create confusion. Due to how things are configured on Facebook, the only method of entry is to be added to the group by a group member with whom you are Facebook “friends”. I have a mission statement for the group that I won’t take up further space on Geir’s blog with, but if anyone would like to be part of the group, email me at Dextergelfand@yahoo.com and I’ll send you the mission statement, and if you can support that, I’ll be happy to enjoy your presence in the group 🙂
🙂
Maybe it’s useful for you, guys…Another one is out from Sci, I’ve saw it 2 minutes ago. Here is the link: http://www.mail.com/entertainment/celebrity/2209088-actress-leah-remini-breaks-with-scientology.html#.4138-rightcolumn-mostviewed1-4
Great comment Dexter. Good luck with the blog.
Welcome home Geir and thanks for all you are doing
🙂
Welcome here, DMSTCC.
“Welcome home”? Please elaborate.
Reality. 🙂
Who knew the Great White left their fossilized remains in Northern Norway? These look to be at least 8,000 years old, having been put there by God to test my faith in the Bible.
LOL. Cute! This was the remains of a very friendly whale shark. 😆
You know during all my years in Scientology, I never got in trouble for “joking and degrading?” Seriously, I never did!
you were never in the SO?
Gib: you were never in the SO?
Chris: Hi Gib! Nice to meet ya. hehe, yes I was in the SO! No, I meant I didn’t get in trouble for it because I didn’t do it… But if you know me from here and now, that might seem a trifle unreal. Ask my buddies here.
I can’t believe that!
I got almost an intensive of sec check for smiling when I accidentally tripped on the stage beside the Senior C/S ANZO.
…and you were sent to the Ethics Officer where you handled your PTS situation by paying $50,000 to the IAS?
I got off that one 😛 They had already marked me as “impossible to get donations from”, I guess.
Lucky you! 😛 Unfortunately, I was NOT fundraising-proof. And they marked me as such. I gave up everything, but my dogs. Extorted to the last dime, and more. They own no shame.
oh, that’s not good…
So at least there’s something good to focus on!
hahaha! I knew no one would believe me, but I used to not be like this. . . you and your damn blog and bloggers helped me get back my sense of humor.
Interesting post — I see many of the concepts of Scientology as good AND bad — often simultaneously depending on how you view it and what you do with it. For me, the question has become more and more what tendencies it results in, contradictory principles and ambiguities that open the door to all kinds of mischief. I suppose these could all be classified as “bad” although, I think a better word would be false or misleading or disingenuous.
well, stats come to mind. I don’t think anything bad with keeping stats, I do it.
But when you got the church claiming millions of members and it keeps increasing year after year, which is a lie. How can one apply of of those ethics conditions formulas. And I believe it was hubbard himself who said stats don’t go down on membership.
When I was on staff, I busted a fellow staff for false reporting, and we had won the birthday game. What a lie, the wind got taken out of my sails. And nothing really happened as far as int management, we were still considered the birthday game winner. So much for being truthful. I should have walked but I was still sitting in the mindset that the tech worked and people screwed it up by not following KSW. that was 20 years ago.
So, I don’t know, when one has encountered so much “bad” (outpoints) that we weren’t able to talk about before, we could only talk about the “good”, I guess there is more “bad” than “good”. Of course this would depend on whether public, or staff, or combo.
I like your blog Geir, although I don’t post too often.
Not to derail, but I noticed Alanzo took down his blog just recently and I know he posted here often. Don’t know where else to ask this question, but do you know why he took down his blog?
You’d have to ask him that.
He did post here just a few days back. Let’s see if he drops buy and sheds some light on this.
ok, thanks. So you don’t know. I thought his blog had some great writings.
Enjoying your comments as well Gib.
Hey Gib!
I am swooning with giddy arrogance that someone noticed that I took down my blog.
I’m actually re-arranging Internet resources at the moment and this is probably just a temporary downage. I’ll see.
Alanzo
Drop me an e-mail. I got a bounce on the address I have.
alright thanks for the update. You have fans, if you will & don’t let it go to your head LOL, and folks at the ESMB, which I have posted a lot, were welcoming you to come back there and post. But whatever.
I am newly out, since the debbie cook email, and I do follow all the blogs on the internet.
Gib: I am newly out, since the debbie cook email, and I do follow all the blogs on the internet.
Chris: Welcome out Gib. Hang with us and have some fun.
I tried to follow your blog but was unable to subscribe or something, because it wasn’t on WordPress, something, embarrassed that you’ve noticed that I didn’t notice… my bad.
Don’t be embarrassed. My blog is embarrassing enough for both of us.
Alanzo
Alanzo, I hope you don’t burst now – but I noticed it too. As I had the feeling you were lessening in your activity here ( 😀 ), I remembered that you have a blog and wanted to stroll around there a bit. And …. it was down (I am missing the emoticon with the face of being appalled now).:)
I’m still alive and doing quite well.
Thanks for noticing that I have disappeared!
I’m doing very very well.
Thanks.
Alanzo
Alanzo, I too noticed. Good to hear that you are doing well. Look forward to your blogging soon, since I miss reading you.
I’m sorry to say my personal net result from Scientology is negative. The more positive gains I have from my Scientology experience is meeting many cool people from all over the world. And best of all meeting Geir! That made the entire journey worth it. ♥
Enjoying a trip to the most distant outposts in Norway with Geir – far away from Scientology beggars and noise – is priceless! 😉
http://anetteiren.com/norwayvesteralen-pearl-white-beaches-and-stockfish/
I’m happy for you two.
I guess “exchange in abundance” wasn’t quite true with the scientology organization(s). LOL
Thanks, Gib!
I’ve never seen Scientology deliver anything in abundance. Scientology is over-promised and under-delivered. The church survive on life-support. They beg and they cheat. Wouldn’t survive a month in the real world. 👿
I hear yah. It’s amazing. Hubbard implies a lot.
Of course I had some wins and gains. Who wouldn’t. But like you say, what is the “net” benefit. If the yahoo just said you might get some benefit, well that would a different story. But promising the pie in the sky?
“I’ve never seen Scientology deliver anything in abundance. Scientology is over-promised and under-delivered.”
This was not always true. But that is water under the bridge. No pun intended
Anette, I sure can relate to some of your experiences and particularly of the best thing to happen, was in meeting my mate too. We had a fulfilling life for 22 years and in spirit, infinity. 😎 You both are in my ❤
♥
Geir, thank you for allowing me to express my views. I know they are not subtle and probably irk some. But I agree with you, it is more about the freedom of speech, freedom of press, free to be free.
Freedom to express will always have diverse views. It is in civil dialog that we are truly human. The issues matter not as much as the civility and respect we give to those we disagree.
Thank you for sharing you process with us. I am new to this blog and have to say there is a respectful tone here.
I hope my lightning strike views of Ron have not disturbed too many. But that is the nature of civil dialog. That is the nature of free and authentic expression. Sharing hearts and ideas with passion.
Thank you Geir:-)
Recovery from cults is always a long process, one that takes years. Some people never allow themselves to leave the cult’s mindset. These people will spend the rest of their lives ignoring contradictory facts and justifying painful discrepancies. See, for example, Rio DiAngelo: http://www.laweekly.com/2007-03-22/news/rio-s-statement/full/.
In my opinion, full recovery from Scientology means no longer thinking about Scientology. It means accepting that one has been wronged and moving on to find peace. Full recovery is not going onto message boards and flagrantly bashing Scientology or trying to persuade other recovering ex-Scientologists that Scientology is complete trash (note: I’m not suggesting anyone here in particular does this). Full recovery comes when one simply lets go of the subject and moves on with his or her life. It comes when you decide to make friends who have never heard of Scientology and go barbecuing with them and don’t think of Scientology the entire time. It comes when you take a family vacation to the beach and don’t think about Scientology for the entire trip. Yes, a lot of processing and thinking has to be done before one is able to reach this step. But the truth is that the process of recovery is a decision. Choose to let go of the beast altogether. Go out. Make new friends and talk with them. Join a club. Go skiing. Have fun. Over time, you will find yourself thinking about Scientology a lot less and smiling a lot more.
Useful and timely post.
OMG. I so agree with this!
Well said, I agree, ExKane! For me, going back to the university, taking dancing classes, joining a new band, etc. blew up the cult mindset. The most powerful cult recovery was going back to my roots, yeah! 😉
Love you Geir. Love your intelligence and love your bravery.
A few times, and in particular during the last two days I had proposed to extricate the GOOD from Scientology, assuming that there is some. And I realized that there is not really interest in making this a subject or little project.
Today I see that Geir has created a new thread with the subject:
“Why don’t you focus on the GOOD in Scientology”?
Just to say this in order to prevent misunderstandings: It had never been my idea that Geir should FOCUS on the good in Scientology. I just thought it could be one of many discussions which he initiates.
Geir: When you spent a week in the US your and Anette’s blogs were inactive. Now, while you are explore the nature of north Norway you keep the blog discussions rolling. Why don’t you switch the rest of the world off for a couple of days and enjoy your days without discussions about Scientology?
I am sure this would find the consent of everyone of your bloggers.
Whatever you decide – I wish you both very sunny days !
I simply do what I feel like doing. I always do that which I feel is the most fun. Perhaps that would be my own advice to the world; Follow the Fun 😀
US was a race, we hardly had time to sleep. Now, we’re on vacation, chillin’, playing games, blogging, sharing our memories with family and friends, having fun and relaxing. I needed this trip so much! I haven’t been on a vacation (without working during the vacation) in 10 years!! ❗
I’ve been working my ass off for years in order to pay interests on my Scientology related debts. Interests only. The debts have been the same since years now. I sacrificed everything for Scientology, and I though I did it for the greatest good. WHAT A F#%#ING TRAP. Extortion and begging. And it was ALL scam! Boy, this will backfire on the church and the small men, big time!!
… and as a consequence from the experiences we all have made the doors of the C$S need to be closed asap.
I have not seen any result in scientology which impress me!
so I have nothing to focus on! But if you have seen good results in scientology are you sure that it is replicable, in example it repite itself when you desiminate it to your fellow man?
Peter: “I have not seen any result in scientology which impress me!”
Me: That is an interesting angle. When we remove all our preferences for philosophical ideas or what Scientology did for ourselves, did we see anything produced by Scientology that impressed us?
…hmmm, well I did see a few things that impressed me. Dan Koon’s chill and wisdom is one. David Miscavige’s intensity is another. Then there is the very impressive Church PR … trying to think of more … I will ponder this and get back to you.
It impresses me that they continue on maintaining all the abuses and false PR. Even when confronted with truth in the outside world. Also from those who have experienced much loss and pain. Education is key to change. 🙂
Yes, an interesting angle. Another angle which I wonder about is whether people would have found their way to make any gains that they’ve made regardless of any particular Scientology process. The answer would be hypothetical since it seems the this would involve a reconstruction of the past.
Nevertheless, would Dan as you say be chill, would you have lost your shyness and nightmares?
For me, the answer is not so simple. I didn’t enter Scientology to fix or otherwise repair or particularly improve my life. I was just curious about life and the meaning of my existence. No more or less than that and Scientology seemed to duplicate that desire and promise a resolution. As I scan over my last 60 years, there just seems to be this continuum of seeking, looking, listening, adventuring . . . etc.,. I cannot point to a momentous event and say, “Ah, that was the fork in the road which made all the difference.”
I was always pleased with my Scientology services, however, I always intended to be. I invested a lot of preparation emotionally, mentally, and so forth, the way one might prepare for a sporting event. I stayed studentable and sessionable 24×7 with very few breaks even in and out of Scientology, and as you remarked recently, I had no expectations, save maybe that the experience was going to be fabulous in some way, and I never failed myself in that regard.
I am quite curious now that Peter has made this comment to see if due to the excuse of unknowing placebo, I’ve always had just the experiences that I wanted?
I saw immediately plenty of wrong in the Scientology organizations, but I found plenty of good in Scientology, not kwoing anything similar I had to swallow the bad which was in plain sight. My wife did not swallow anything and preferre to wait at the window because could not accept the bad indicators … When I could not swallow anymore I left the “Church” while on OTVII in 2005 (I disoverd lately that I had completed the level at least 2 years before). I could not stand anymore these expensive and useless sec checks and when I came to know that “confessionals are forbidden to oTIII and above, I refused to continue and was hallily declared (happily because I was out of suppression forgood.
I saw immediately plenty of wrong in the Scientology organizations, but I found plenty of good in Scientology, not kwoing anything similar I had to swallow the bad which was in plain sight. My wife did not swallow anything and preferre to wait at the window because could not accept the bad indicators … When I could not swallow anymore I left the “Church” while on OTVII in 2005 (I disoverd lately that I had completed the level at least 2 years before). I could not stand anymore these expensive and useless sec checks and when I came to know that “confessionals are forbidden to oTIII and above, I refused to continue and was hallily declared (happily because I was out of suppression forgood.