Scientology: The root cause of the harm

2013-07-012013-07-05Geir Isene 273 Comments

…is repetitive “Duplication“.

Yesterday I wrote a blog post titled, “Defending the detrimental makes you an accomplice“. I indicated there must be some root cause in the basics of Scientology that allows for the harm we see perpetrated by the Church of Scientology.

Today Marty Rathbun wrote a post where he writes what he thinks is the root cause in a blog post titled, “Why Bother?“. He believes it is the induced Certainty that is the reason why scientologists misbehave. He points to the work of Ken Wilber where he says that when people experience great spiritual exaltation, they tend to believe they have found “the only way”. It creates Certainty. In some cases even fanaticism.

But is that the real reason for the Certainty scientologists harbor? Could there be an earlier root cause?

One answer comes from Hubbard himself in a technical bulletin from 8 May 1969 titled, “Important study data”. It is studied as part of an early Scientology course called “The Student Hat”. He writes, in caps:

NUMBER OF TIMES OVER THE MATERIAL EQUALS CERTAINTY AND RESULTS.

The stress on duplication is also prevalent in the counseling (called auditing in Scientology). Hubbard sees the ability to “duplicate” a trauma as the key to removing it. This is based on one of Scientology’s axioms (#12) that says:

The primary condition of any universe is that two spaces, energies or objects must not occupy the same space. When this condition is violated (a perfect duplicate) the apparency of any universe or any part thereof is nulled.

Cryptic? Well, it means that if you are able to fully duplicate a trauma, it will cease to exist as a trauma. While the axiom itself is false and the fact that auditing does not need this explanation of duplication for it to work, we can see that duplication is stressed, not only in training, but in counseling as well.

The act of duplicating in an auditing session begins very early on in Scientology with the level called “Objectives”. At this level, the person receiving the auditing is asked to duplicate the actions of the practitioner (auditor) again and again. The same is done in the early communications training in Scientology.

Brendan pointed this out last Friday. I felt myself reject his view as a sort of knee-jerk reaction since I have had so much gain doing the communications training and the auditing. Aside from getting massive, real and objective gains from both, I do see that the repetitive stress on duplication does mold a person to be more easily controlled. It sets a person up for swallowing Scientology wholesale as it corrodes the person’s critical thinking skills and hence his free will.

On one hand it can produce great gains. On the other, it blunts his ability to question.

Our resident commenter, Harper, puts it this way:

The core “evil” is Repetitive Obedience with an increasing intolerance for free action and choice in the materials application. That is all. That is the core evil.

“Give me that hand.”

“Thank you.”

“Give me that hand.”

“Thank you.”

*** OR ***

“Start …. FLUNK! You smiled … Start.”

In “A Beginner’s Guide to L. Ron Hubbard” Hardeep pointed this out. “If there is any claim of Scientology about brainwashing this is it. Repeat … repeat … repeat …”

Yes Hardeep. Why? Because …

If you control what someone DOES, you eventually control how they think. Look at prisoners who over time cannot function in society because they have been institutionalized. They are forced into a living mold of repetitive acts that SHAPE the person into something they were not before.

If you want freedom, control your repetitive acts.

The TV show by Hardeep is available here: A Beginner’s Guide to L. Ron Hubbard

There are often multiple causes for an effect. Such can be explored in what is called a “fishbone diagram“.

In the case of Scientology and the harm perpetrated by the church, I believe there are several causes. But my view is that the stress on duplication and repetition is a root cause of the Certainty that we see in so many Scientologists. More so then the exalted states pointed to by Wilber. Repetitive duplication is also used in schools, very much so in communism and other patriotic ideologies, in certain types of meditation, tribal chantings, etc. It molds controllability. The Golden Age of Tech (a regimen released in the Church of Scientology in 1996 and version 2 released just now) takes this to new heights. It enforces obedience.

Rebels get into trouble. Conformists are created. They survive.

This is my current view, subject to future revisions.

Another interesting angle on this comes from another commenter on this blog, freebeing.

Wikileaks: Scientology

2013-07-012013-07-05Geir Isene 3 Comments

If you are looking for interesting material on Scientology, here’s a good starting point:

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Scientology

Defending the detrimental makes you an accomplice

2013-06-302013-06-30Geir Isene 933 Comments

No beating around the bush here.

Read Anette’s post on her blog, then consider this:

Lives are ruined in the Church of Scientology. Every day.

The root cause of the harm done in the church lies within Scientology itself. No matter how you want to twist and justify what’s going on in the church, there is no way that the church could end up doing this much harm while it has in its possession the ultimate tool to do everything right. There simply has to be one or more root causes within the teachings of Scientology itself to make this cult evolve as it has. And the root cause(s) is not “misapplication”, “lost Scientology knowledge or tools”, “bad management”, “bad policy” or “a faulty ethics system”. There is something very wrong with the basic Scientology mentality. The mindset. The fundamental approach and principles.

Because if the fundamental principles, approach and mindset was sound and right, the decent people in Scientology would have straightened out the scene a long time ago.

So, if you are knowledgeable in Scientology, it lies within your powers to help uncover the damaging root cause(s). To convince others there are none or to defend the infallibility of Scientology makes you an accomplice to the crimes committed by the church.

And if you have gotten gains in Scientology. If you know it can do good, you harbor the motivation to uncover the reasons within Scientology that perpetrates the damage to people’s lives. Because if you want to save the good before the subject becomes dreaded beyond repair, you need to be quick on your feet to find the evil within and root it out before the good suffocates.

Let’s get to the bottom of this, let’s dig out the harmful parts to help stop the harm, save the good within and again focus completely on helping others.

Why does the Church of Scientology continue to repeat its mistakes?

2013-06-272013-06-30Geir Isene 124 Comments

It continues to harass its critics. And it continues to backfire.

It keeps on trying to stifle free speech. And it keeps on backfiring.

It perpetually lies in public. It perpetually comes back and bites them.

Why is the organization not learning from its mistakes? Why does it have the learning potential of a gold fish?

I think the short answer is that it is ingrained in their very makeup. When Hubbard created Scientology, he sealed the deal by ensuring the subject was engraved in stone. He wrote the policy “Keeping Scientology Working” that made sure no one could alter or improve upon what he had created. And it is this fixed mentality that runs through all of Scientology. Hubbard created Scientology, its policies, its modus operandi and there could be nothing wrong with it. So the church continues to do the same thing over and over again expecting better results.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. (Albert Einstein)

I do not think the church is capable of learning from its mistakes. I think it is doomed for this very reason. Because when it are up against the Internet, Wikipedia, Anonymous and the modern, morphing, learning world, the Church of Scientology’s antiquated policies will ensure an epic fail.

Church of Scientology and their Internet war

2013-06-262013-07-05Geir Isene 21 Comments

It’s been a busy afternoon here as my first video from my interview with J. Swift at Karen’s hit the Net. It was first featured at Tony Ortega’s blog. Then it got Slashdotted. Here’s the video:

FYI: The OSA meeting in LA where they first used me as a strategic advisor on Internet matters happened in late Autumn 2001. There will be more on my work for OSA in videos to come, including my proposal on how they should have handled the Wikipedia bar in 2009.

Report from the US Tour

2013-06-252013-06-30Geir Isene 48 Comments

OMG! Brendan, Anette and myself did a US race in one week, with two days in New York City, one day in Phoenix/Grand Canyon and four days in Los Angeles. We met with more than 35 people in more than 20 meetings covering anything from business to Scientology, HP calculators, art and music. We had a blast!

A picture tells more than a thousand words. And this time I will let the pictures do the reporting:

New York City

Times Square – New York City is like the real Bladerunner

Anette & Geir kissing as part of the “making out in front of churches”-series

Beautiful Central Park

Two squirrels in the park

Brendan and Geir trying hard to follow the rules of the Soup Nazi

Had a late coffee with Tony Ortega. Intriguing talk with a highly intelligent man. And way too interesting to remember taking any pictures… so here’s his official FB pic.

Zana – we had an interesting chat 🙂

Meeting Victoria and her wonderful and loving family.

Meeting Dave in Little Italy talking about Life, the universe, everything.

Martin the genius DJ

A taste of Martin’s music (he’s half of the duo CLMD):

Phoenix & the Grand Canyon

Visiting Chris (our resident blogger) and his gorgeous family. Love’em to bits.

Chris took us to Grand Canyon… OMG!

Got real close to an elk up there.

Saw the outside of Hubbard’s home in Phoenix (he lived there for about a year back in the early 50’s). No one answered when we rung the bell.

The almost staff-less but huge and beautiful Church of Scientology in Phoenix.

Los Angeles

Making out in front of Celebrity Centre International (Scientology’s VIP church).

Meeting Jeff and Karen – what a wonderful, energetic and creative couple. The planning of some counter-OSA-ops was fun.

I did a series of videos at Karen’s detailing my various experiences in Scientology – from my work with OSA Int to my meeting with David Miscavige. I will do a blog post for each of these videos as the are produced and released on Karen’s channel. Karen has done lots of videos, like this one:

Attending a show on Scientology at the Silent Theater (Cine Family). Got invited by Karen and Spanky. Winged it… got on the panel and did a demo session. Awesome fun!

Here’s Tory and Mark’s video on what went down that night:

Doing a demo session with the organizer of the event, Hadrian. He was a good sport and as funny as they come. He even said he had some gain out of the two auditing questions he was asked.

JD Shapiro talking about his script writing for the movie Battlefield Earth. Some interesting insight right there.

Meeting the lovable Tory Magoo 🙂

Spanky and me in the garden behind the theater. You just gotta love that energy and compassion.

The happiest place on Earth 🙂

Doing the “Star Tour” at Disneyland.

Boat trip down at the wonderful Newport Beach with Mike and Betsy. Great couple. Very interesting talk.

I’d take it if someone had begged me to live there.

…especially with this pelican outside the door.

Jason the Writer and Video Producer with Brendan looking over Newport Beach.

Tom and Anette on Venice Beach. Tom’s a cool chap.

Meeting Garth and Joe at our “mini HHC” (the yearly HP Handheld Club is in the autumn). Great to meet with some fellow geeks and talk HP calculators. Yeay!

Talking Incas and her upcoming book and TV series with Theresa. Fascinating stories!

At Aida and Dave’s. The powerhouse Mexican served authentic food from her home country – all made from scratch. Oh yummy.

The view from Aida’s is not bad… not bad at all…

Jason the Writer invited us to the Magic Castle with a really fun show 🙂

Spent hours with Jason – but with him and us being so much into the conversations, we forgot all about taking pictures together with him and his family…

…but Anette did take a picture of me kissing one of Jason’s bunnies…

…and his duck. After which Angie took us on a Black Widow safari around their house. That woman’s got balls of steel.

Flying home

There are so many pictures we didn’t take in all our awe and rush. It was a week we will never forget. And with people we will have many years ahead with great friendship and lots of fun. Next time we’ll go to…

Scientology and mindfuck

2013-06-232013-06-30Geir Isene 86 Comments

“He will eventually turn around.” “He’s just going through a phase.” “He’s still a kool-aid drinker – give him a couple of more years and he will wake up.” Etc.

You may cringe at the arrogance of the ex-Scientologists and Anonymous when they condescendingly belittle you with statements like the above. Like they somehow “know” what you are all about. Like crack pot tarot card readers. Even when they themselves never even set a foot inside a Church of Scientology.

I used to cringe. Because that arrogance does nothing but create animosity. It serves only to prolong any recovery from the Scientology mindfuck.

But, they are more than half-right.

What I find in common among the majority of scientologists – in or out of the church – is a worrying introspection. A tendency to look inward, find faults with themselves, worry about being PTS, about committing overts, about having missed withholds, about being restimulated, about their postulates (not) coming true, about being effect (of SPs), about what might have caused that ulcer, etc. Much looking inward and toward the past. I used to do the same – but oddly enough it was OT 8 that got me out of that. Ironic it is. (Google the terms above if you need to)

Scientology is the opposite of the Fuck It ideology. It makes for over-serious people wrought with emergencies and nervous anxiety about not having control or “being cause”. In my experience, it tends to make people less productive.

When I recently assessed what could or even should have been a tailored and compacted Scientology route for me, it would have gone like this: TRs, OT 2, OT 5, OT 7, OT 8. Interestingly, these are among the least introspective levels in Scientology. Although I did get gains from looking into incidents in my past and querying my inner mind, the more outward looking processes did the most for me. And I believe they make for less of a mindfuck.

One thing that helped me a lot during my 25 years in Scientology was that I never had much expectations of what to gain from the various levels. I was curious and open to what they could bring. Not having expectations means not being prone to disappointments. Looking back, I believe this was my saving grace.

I have been pondering this for a while now and just had to get it off my mind. Having said that, I think most of you are waiting for a report from our US trip.

Yes, it will come. After I have collected the pictures and found the time to structure a report. As a teaser, I can tell you this; It was one hell of a ride. We got to meet with so many wonderful, exciting and hugable people and lots of amazing places. Like Chris and the Grand Canyon, making 10 videos at Karen De La Carriere’s (soon to be published), meeting a world class dj in NYC, doing a demo auditing session in front of 200 people in LA, and much more. I will leave you with a picture I took overlooking the Grand Canyon:

Grand Canyon

The Scientology Matrix

2013-06-07Geir Isene 110 Comments

I have been thinking about my changing viewpoints on Scientology. How I started out back in 1984 when I first encountered the subject, how I became a Scientologist, when I discovered the church management was corrupt, and how it went south from there. Being a fan of simple models, it dawned on me that this can be easily represented in a simple matrix.

Although the model is simplistic and harbors several issues, it seems to serve well to explain my own path from a wog to a scientologist to an independent scientologist and to being me (with some viewpoints on it all).

I thought of a simple matrix where the X-axis represents a person’s sentiments on the subject of Scientology, while the Y-axis represents his sentiments toward the Church of Scientology and it’s management. I boxed it all in so that we get a 100% positiveness regarding Scientology to the right and 100% positiveness toward the church management at the top. Conversely, we get a 100% negative viewpoint on the subject to the left and 100% negative viewpoint on the church at the bottom. We end up with four quadrants that I have labeled:

Scientologist
Independent Scientologist
Critic
Hired gun

In the middle, we find people that do not identify themselves with the quadrant where they reside, and remain fairly neutral in their views – somewhat positive or negative along either axis.

A Scientologist would be someone who are in the Church of Scientology, supporting it to a lesser or greater degree. An independent Scientologist thinks Scientology is great, but objects to the church and how it is run. A critic dislikes both the subject and the church, while a hired gun would consist of lawyers, PR personnel and the like who don’t have much good to say on the subject but likes how the church management give them money for the job they do.

At the edges of the matrix we find fanatics.

Scientology Matrix

People move inside the matrix. They can move fast or slow, often or seldom, erratic or smooth. But as the person discovers new information on Scientology, he moves one way or the other.

A fairly typical path could be something like this:

Scientology Matrix - usual

Here the person starts off as somewhat critical to Scientology – both the subject and the church. He gets in contact with the church, gets convinced that there is something positive about it, experiences some personal gains and end up as a Scientologist. He then experiences some mismanagement, questions how the church is run, discovers that the church management is corrupt and ends up rejecting the church. At this time he becomes an Independent Scientologist. He is all of a sudden free to question everything Scientology. He start thinking for himself. This gets him gradually over to protesting elements in the subject itself until he protests quite a lot of it, ending up as mildly critical to the whole lot.

But people travel their own path in this diagram – and they end up at different places. It all depends on what information they acquire and how unafraid they are to question their beliefs, how willing they are to experience Scientology first hand and many other factors.

My path in the matrix is something like this:

Scientology Matrix - me

I already see improvements that can be made to the model, but I have decided to present it like this for simplicity.

It would be interesting to hear your own journey in this Scientology Matrix. If you want to draw your own path, you can use this template:

Scientology Matrix - template

If you’d rather just spell it out in words, we can use numbers to represent the axises. Each axis goes from -5 (left or bottom) to +5 (right and top). The numbers are (X,Y) – or (Scientology,Church). In this way you can indicate where you are at a given year or period of years, like my journey represented in numbers (rounded to integers):

1984: 0,0
1985-2006: 4,3
2007: 4,1
2008: 4,0
2009: 4,-1
2010: 3,-2
2011 – 2013: 2,-3

Want to share your journey? Want to improve the model? Leave a comment.

Gödel and the complete and consistent Scientology bubble

2013-06-062013-06-30Geir Isene 133 Comments

Was playing around with Xtranormal:

Peter: “Hello, I am a Scientologist. Have you heard about Scientology?”

Jane: “Oh! Isn’t that the weird science fiction cult created by that Blubbard guy?”

Peter: “No-no. Scientology is an applied religious philosophy which contains tools that anyone can use to improve their life. These are workable tools that have been proven to be uniformly successful if they are applied correctly. It provides a bridge to total freedom. It is complete and consistent. Complete and consistent.”

Jane: “Have you heard about the incompleteness theorems by… Gödel?”

Peter: “I missed that part of Scientology. Is it part of the class twelve course?”

Jane: “It’s part of the world outside the Scientology bubble.”

You can create a free account and submit a video if you like 🙂

Scientology: My Top 5 List

2013-06-06Geir Isene 99 Comments

I have mentioned my gains in Scientology several times. Time for a a Top 5 list of what did it for me. No lengthy explanations, just a concise summary. Note: You can find explanations for the various Scientology services here.

OT 8: I got free from my past, from shame, blame or regret. And since OT 8 I’ve had no nightmares.
Communication training routines (TRs): From a shy geek to a social outgoing geek − from socially hiding to a radio show host in a couple of years.
OT 7: Freedom from stress. Composure in almost any situation (I was nervous and awkward before Scientology).
OT 2: Boost in my artistic abilities − started creating music and digital artwork.
Method 1 word clearing: Had lost my interest in astronomy (a very important subject for me) a few years before. I believe I would not have regained it without M1.

The list could easily be extended with more tangiable and lasting gains from other Scientology services. I am aware of, and cull gains that can equally well be attributed to other factors in my life. The list above shows gains that can only be attributed to that specific service done.

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