Category Scientology

The (in)validity of the OT3 story

Geir Isene 140 Comments

Note: To not scare off true believers and to make this distributable to more people, I will include no confidential material in this blog post. There are however links to confidential material provided.

I have been discussing a lot on several forums lately and would like to share a conclusion regarding the background story for Scientology’s secret level called “OT 3”. While there are plenty of evidence that Hubbard’s story is untrue, many Scientologists tries to offer a counter-proof. And the “proof” they offer is that the e-meter does in fact react to the incidents Hubbard describes. That would constitute the proof for Hubbard’s take on what happened on this planet some 75 million years ago.

So, in short, there is no proof for the ot 3 story beyond the e-meter reads – except a subjective belief in the incidents.

What if i told you that according to Hubbard, e-meter reactions does not constitute proof of any incident. That’s right, Hubbard wrote about false incidents from a person’s past, and that these can indeed run as usual – complete with e-meter reads and all. Let me quote from “HCO BULLETIN OF 24 JULY 1978, DIANETIC REMEDIES”:

Sometimes a pc cannot confront the actual incidents that are keyed-in by life or auditing. Such a pc will not go backtrack. In this case the running of imaginary incidents is quite productive. Sometimes the preclear will run them, quite astonishingly, with somatics.
…
All the PC’s responses to this question, with their meter reads are noted by the auditor. He then takes up the best reading incident or picture and runs it out R3RA narrative quad, first checking interest. Lesser reading items are then taken up.

Technical Scientology-stuff in there, i know. But the main thing is that imaginary incidents do run like real ones, and the e-meter does read on these types of incidents.

So the “proof” that the OT 3 story is real because the e-meter reads is blown to bits. What is left? Religious belief.

Belief can move mountains – and belief in a story from your Guru may well make that story “true for you”, and you will be able to “run it” in session as though it was real. There is even support for this on OT 7 where one of the questions on a correction list asks if you are “mocking up” what is run in session.

There is nothing wrong with religious belief. At all. But to pass it off as “objectively proven” is dishonest.

Do i believe the OT 3 story? No.

Did i get gains from the auditing on OT 3? Yes, very much so. The reason for this is covered elsewhere on this blog.

From Wog to Scientologist and back to one’s own path

Geir Isene 26 Comments
  1. This Scientology thing may be interesting. But there is a lot of bad press about this. I will give it a try.
  2. Wow! This communications course really works. Scientology makes a lot of sense. The media has got this one wrong.
  3. Scientology really has got the answers! Hubbard was a genius. I am a Scientologist.
  4. Everything I have experienced so far is 100% right. The rest of Scientology must surely also be right
  5. Scientology is the One True Path to Total Freedom, the only hope for Man.
  6. The Church of Scientology is saving Mankind. David Miscavige is the most dedicated, brilliant leader there is. I follow Command Intention to the letter.
  7. There is something wrong in the Church that I can’t quite put my finger on.
  8. The Church is not applying Hubbard’s policy correctly. And there is out-tech. This is a local phenomenon.
  9. There seem to be global issues with the Church. It is not expanding even though Miscavige says it is expanding like never before.
  10. Scientology is the Only True Path, but the current management is not on that path. It has betrayed Hubbard.
  11. I am a dedicated Scientologist, and I can no longer support a suppressive Church. I’m out!
  12. I am an Independent Scientologist. I practice my religion outside of the confinement of the CoS.
  13. There sure are lots of diverging viewpoints among independent Scientologists. But I have my own unassailable trust in Hubbard.
  14. Maybe the insanities in the Church did not start with Miscavige. Maybe, just maybe some of the problems originated with Hubbard.
  15. Hmm… maybe Hubbard wasn’t right about everything. Maybe there actually are other valid spiritual paths
  16. Heck, Hubbard was wrong about a lot of things. Crap! My stable data are experiencing an earthquake.
  17. Scientology is a tool like so many tools out there. It’s got its good and its bad. I will use whatever works.
  18. I don’t really care one way or the other. I am on my own path toward my own goals.

Not exactly my journey, but close. Although some flip to the opposite and go from fanatic to anti-fanatic, I see most people go through a similar list to the above. It may serve as a useful prediction.

http://ergocakes.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/the-path/

Hubbard would recommend Eastern Philosophy

Geir Isene 66 Comments

Looking at the current scene of Scientology, I see no one reaching a high level of spiritualistic serenity. I see bankruptcies, torn families, even suicides. People enter Scientology with some idea or hope of more spiritual freedom or serenity. Had it been possible to reach such a state in, let’s say fourteen or eighteen years, I think most would jump at the possibility. But no, in fourteen or eighteen years in the Church of Scientology, you’re most probably sucked dry for both time and money.

Hubbard should have torn out whatever hair was left had he seen what the Church of Scientology was accomplishing these days. And I believe he would have recommended that people moved to India for their spiritual progress.

In the book “Dianetics 55!”, he wrote about his travels to the East and of people studying Eastern Philosophies:

“..I saw individuals taking fourteen or eighteen years in order to get up to a high level of spiritualistic serenity.”

That would be quite something. I will take Hubbard’s hint and check it out myself. Besides practicing hug-ology, of course.

Why ideologies can make you stupid

Geir Isene 380 Comments

I planned to write a blog post titled “Why Scientology makes you stupid”, but then one of the contributors on my blog beat me to it. I am honored to be blessed with many very intelligent people commenting here – it makes my job real easy. I was planning to write the blog post and release it today, but Alanzo did a better job at it than I would have done. While I planned to center my post on Scientology, Al broadened the scope to ideologies or belief systems in general:


A “belief system” is a cognitive structure, a way to see the world where your moral choices, your attitudes, and your feelings, are all pre-wired and structured ahead of time for you.

Here’s a made-up example of a belief system I will create for you as an example: “Reaganism”.

The Axioms of “Reaganism”:

  1. The government destroys everything it touches. Any time the government gets involved, whatever activity was supposed to happen that was useful becomes corrupted, over-priced and useless after the government gets done with it.
  2. Private enterprise can always do a better job of anything than the government can. The attempt to turn a profit always makes an activity more efficient and productive for everyone.
  3. Therefore, government should be run by businesses because businesses can always do a better job at anything than the government can.

So when you adopt Reaganism as your belief system and become a Reaganologist, you look out onto the infinitely big, wide world that actually exists out there, and you have the pre-wiring and the cognitive structures of Reaganism interpret and categorize the infinity of all you see into simple little chunks for you.

Government run road projects are filled with people who just stand around all day and never get any work done. Even though you are driving on a road ( a road built by a government run road project) you never notice that. You sneer and become resentful at all these lazy bums working on this road. Your belief structure has filtered out some things that do not conform to it and accepted others that do conform to it, and given you attitudes and emotions to feel per its dictates.

The Titans of Industry are heros to you, because they embody all the values that you have adopted as a Reaganologist, You swell with pride every time you see a CEO of Goldmann Sachs on TV and you can’t believe that any government bureaucrat at the SEC would ever question his business practices. Government oversight is criminal in your mind, and suppressive to the upstats in society.

As a Reaganologist, you see the world in the way that Reaganism dictates.

The advantage of a belief system, or an ideology, is that it takes the infinite world around you and breaks it up into bite-size chunks, with all of it pre-understood ahead of time. It makes things simpler.

This, once you have adopted a belief system, is also its disadvantage. You don’t see the world as it is any more. You see it only as your ideology dictates that you see it.

No ideology can match the infinity of life, or the infinity of you. The stronger you hold on to an ideology, the smaller, and more fixed, you become.

As more and more of the infinities of life hit you that do not fit into your ideological helmet, the more tightly you pull it down onto your self. Until at last, you become fixed and pinheaded.

This is the problem with belief systems.

Clear as Master Eric

Geir Isene 28 Comments

I wished I could have summed up my previous post as well as Master Eric. But then again, maybe it comes with the territory of being a master at martial arts. He captured the essence of my post nicely and added his own questions at the end:

“I am a 5th dan in Ryu Kyu Kempo. A form of Martial Arts. In it we have, like all modern martial arts a belt system. White belt and all the way up to Black belt and beyond to the so called secret moves of the upper levels 🙂

Yes, the upper black belt classes were not viewable by anyone under the black belt level. Considered too dangerous for the students who were not ready. Sounds familiar 🙂

Now, in the past, before the 19th century. There were no belt systems in martial arts. You only had a belt to hold your pants up 🙂

The only rule you had was that when you started you were given a very thick and strong white cotton belt that you did not ever wash. The reason for this was so that others knew how long you have been training and so they were careful not to hurt the lower level or inexperience students. The more and longer you trained, the belt will change colour from the sweat and so others will see the time of training you have had and know how skilled you would or should be.

So there were no Levels or grades in the old days. You progressed slowly by learning more and more and being more CLEAR about how to BE a MASTER of the ART.

Now the above is my way of trying to explain the concept of CLEAR. You never become CLEAR. You become CLEARER and CLEARER and CLEARER. Along the way you have AHA moments that help you move a big step forward but you are not CLEAR just CLEARER than before…..There are no states that are the same for everyone. Each will progress and get CLEARER as they work on themselves. There are NO ABSOLUTES…

To me I find the more I work on myself, the LESS MIND I have and more of ME expanded. Difficult to put in to words. I find that this thing called MIND is less and MORE of ME is HERE. But if I let go of my self work and focus on life only, then, I feel this thing called MIND more and more and I feel Less and Less expanded.

So what this thing called is or if it actually IS anything is an interesting subject. Maybe the MIND is the GLUE that holds our attention to this Creation that we apparently agree on altogether. Maybe, no MIND means total freedom… Just sayin 🙂”

Conclusion: There are no Clears

Geir Isene 585 Comments

I have come to the conclusion – through discussions on this blog and otherwise – that there is no such thing as a “reactive mind“… and that leading people to believe there is such may get them to “create it” it and dramatize it.

WHAT A BOMB SHELL. An OT 8 That Does Not Believe In The Reactive Mind!

I now believe there is an almost infinite gradient of consciousness – from being “in the zone” (as athletes express it) to “everyday life” to “tired” to “drunk” to “sleepy” to “asleep” to “sound asleep” to “unconscious” to “almost dead” to “dead”, etc. And that we create everything we experience at all levels of consciousness. We also create our worries and traumas etc in present time. Some of this can be grouped into a model and be called “a reactive mind” if one likes. But, I hold that this is merely a model and that there is no such “thing”. This opens the door to a gradient handling of a person consciousness rather than attacking a “thing” that doesn’t exist. So, there are no Clears, just “clearer people” who have increased “awakeness”. This would explain the constant trouble in the Church of Scientology regarding Clears – they try to pin down an impossibility. David Mayo described this in the early 90’s.

I see the level of consciousness paralleling the level of free will in a person.

The quest then, is how to increase the consciousness, the free will of the person and the clarity of the mind.

random event?

Working with people with drive

Geir Isene 38 Comments

Just got off the phone with a nice guy. We talked about helping people, and particularly about helping brainwashed people inside the Church of Scientology. And I told him what people I prefer to help these days.

Just a few months ago, I would get fired up about trying to help people “see the truth” or “wake up”. No longer.

While I appreciate other’s effort in helping a person wake up from a brainwashed daze, I find my own interest in such waning.

I prefer to work with those who have a drive rather than those who try their best to keep the status quo.

And it doesn’t matter where that “drive” leads – as long as the person really wants to change and reach some goal, I am all in. My interest and ability to help people with a drive is high, and that’s where I will focus.

The FACK

Geir Isene 129 Comments

It’s a cross between a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Fuck It!

Having noticed that my recent blog posts gathered lots of comments around the Net and on e-mail lists, I have decided to answer a bunch of them here. Rather than answering on the various sites, I think it’s better for people to find a collection of some of my views here… regarding Scientology, Hopefully this will be the last blog post on that subject for at least a little while.

Here’s some relevant and some weird statements that I will answer:

  • Geir has abandoned Scientology altogether?
    I have basically abandoned all methods in favor of doing what is right to deliver value in a given circumstance. Goal is senior to method – always.
  • You are ditching the best mental technology known to Man
    I don’t know if Scientology is the best mental technology. I am open to any tool that may help a person reach his own goals.
  • All you want to do is to prove Hubbard wrong
    I don’t care about Hubbard. But I am interested to find out where the root cause of abuses perpetrated by the Church of Scientology comes from. It seems to me they are rooted in the writings of Hubbard – and locating these root causes may help prevent recurrence.
  • He is influenced by some SPs (Suppressive Persons)
    I am influenced by all sorts of people. But my main influence is my curiosity and relentless quest for my own truth.
  • Geir is still stuck in the cult mindset
    I am not stuck. I am a work in progress. Hope you are too.
  • He will eventually wake up and realize that there is NOTHING good in Scientology
    I think absolutist statements about a subject as big as Scientology is stupid – whether the claim is that it is absolutely perfect or absolutely useless. I prefer tolerance and respect for other’s views.
  • He will soon understand that he didn’t have any real gains in Scientology
    It’s like saying I will soon wake up and understand that my childhood education didn’t give me anything after all. I gained what I gained in Scientology and it was great – even though some would love that not to be true.
  • Geir has an annoyingly haughty writing style
    I am curt on my blog and on forums and have been labeled “the champion of conciseness”. That may come across as haughty. I am a fan of Winston Wolf. I have limited time. I prefer to spend my quality time together with my family and friends face to face. I so love personal contact. You will find having a coffee with me quite different than discussing with me on the Net. You are hereby invited.
  • He has gone over to the dark side
    I am on nobody’s side. I am on a quest for my own truth and I bring my own torch.
  • You need an L1C on Scientology (an auditing action to handle a person’s upset)
    I am not at all upset with Scientology or with Hubbard. Scientology has been a good stepping stone for me on my personal quests.
  • Geir wants people to have lofty goals. It’s akin to Scientology’s “Clearing the planet”
    I don’t want any goals for others. people should find their own paths and goals (or not). I want to help those who have a burning desire to reach some goal – whether that is a small personal goal or a goal to make the World a better place.
  • Geir is only focusing on “a person’s own goals” – that’s so first person oriented, so Scientological
    I don’t care what goals people have. But I am always ready to lend a hand if anyone needs it. And I do help a lot of people do things they didn’t think possible. I love to see others succeed.
  • Geir is setting himself up as another guru
    No thank you. The one thing I hated about having reached OT 8 in the church was to be treated as someone’s Personal Jesus. Let’s do away with guruing altogether.
  • He wants to take over as the leader of the Church of Scientology
    What have you been smoking? I am done with organized religion.

That was some of the statements that I picked up. I am sure I have missed plenty. Got more questions or statements for me? Feel free to post a comment.


(Hugh at Gapingvoid.com)