WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SCIENTOLOGISTCritics of Scientology will probably never grasp how important Scientology is to a Scientologist. And in pointing out LRH’s personal faults, in an attempt to invalidate Scientology, critics seem unable to accept that we Scientologists are well aware LRH was no god, that he was just a man, one who lived life from the bottom up as he put it, which is another way of saying “I have been there and done it.” LRH has told us as much himself, told us he had fights as a kid, got married, divorced, went through a tough marriage co-audit with Mary Sue much like you or I might, and even crashed his car one day because his head was turned by a pretty redhead crossing the street. He was after all human.
But LRH was a human being that gave and left to us something truly special. And unless you’ve seen real Scientology in action or experienced it firsthand you are not likely to appreciate it or grasp its importance.
But loving LRH or the tech and experiencing Scientology doesn’t make you a Scientologist, that’s not even close to the definition. Perhaps it makes you a church member or a supporter. A Scientologist is something entirely different.
By LRH’s own hand, a Scientologist is: 1. One who betters the conditions of himself and the conditions of others by using Scientology technology (Auditor Magazine 73). 2. One who controls persons, environments and situations. A Scientologist operates within the boundaries of the Auditor’s Code and the Code of a Scientologist (Professional Auditor Bulletin 137).
So receiving auditing (improving your own condition – assuming there is no out-tech) and donating large sums of money no matter how stressful that might be does not qualify someone to be a Scientologist. A Scientologist, by definition, is someone who takes responsibility for people, situations and the environment, and works to better those conditions all while staying within the bounds of the Auditor’s Code and Code of a Scientologist.
So if I say to you: there is an extreme situation within Scientology that has caused deteriorating conditions which have heavily and adversely affected its people, Scientology and the world at large, it is your duty, if you consider yourself a Scientologist, to look into it, and if you find there is a valid situation it is your responsibility to help handle it. To just ignore the claim as “disgusting entheta from some disgruntled critic” or dismiss it as some “horrible attack from SPs” is to relegate yourself to being something less than a Scientologist.
I know by the laws of the KRC Triangle that taking such a responsible step (as looking into the state of Scientology today) is not easy, because to gather such knowledge with the view of having to control any situation uncovered would first require that you take responsibility for Scientology itself. You would have to assume a viewpoint of responsibility for the whole of Scientology as if you were its leader. A tough ask perhaps, but NOT doing that has put us where we are today. Not doing that allowed a tyrant to step in, grab the power and pervert Scientology. Not taking responsibility for Scientology but blindly and obediently following orders allowed him to stay in power.
The problem lies in the fact that it seems much easier to continue to follow those orders no matter how costly and painful they might be than to take full personal responsibility for Scientology, but it just looks that way.
And on the subject of the Internet, what are you so afraid of? The truth? How can you go PTS to the truth? If you are afraid to look, afraid to reach, then I say you are PTS to the person telling you that you MUST NOT look, you MUST NOT reach, or those telling you that it’s an offense to look which will cost you more money, more sec checks and probably more trouble than you care to deal with. Well, deal with it. If you want to call yourself a Scientologist you have to deal with it.
I am not saying it will be easy. It takes quite some confront to wade through the vehement objections to Scientology on the Internet and sift the wheat (valid situations) from the chaff (anything from general natter to calls for Scientology to be burnt to the ground and utterly destroyed as the most evil invention this planet has ever seen). But it is doable and you are capable of doing it. I know, I’ve done it. So have many others before me.
And when you’ve completed the sifting process and discerned the truth, or as much of the truth as you can stomach, don’t think it is easy to face up to the fact that there is something seriously wrong with Scientology today. I know many a grown man and women, including myself, who have plunged down into a grief charge when the inevitable truth dawned. But it passes, you rise through it and realize that what is wrong with Scientology bears a person’s name and, in addition to our own irresponsibility, the things that person has done explain the trouble we’ve been having. And it becomes the most refreshing, rejuvenating and exciting experience one can undergo. Your true self determinism returns and you feel alive. Ask anyone who has gone through the process. There are already thousands of them; they are very easy to find if you look. They now go by the name of Independent Scientologists (a member of the Worldwide Independent Network of Scientologists, dedicated to living by the Auditor’s Code and Code of a Scientologist).
Now, if you simply wish to continue to be subjected to your own personal brand of slavery, if you wish to continue paying money time and time again for the dubious privilege of being one of the elite that receives the expensive, out-tech riddled auditing or training then please don’t let me stop you. I utterly believe in the power and freedom of choice. But please don’t call yourself a Scientologist. That description should be reserved for those that live by the Auditor’s Code and Code of a Scientologist, those looking into or doing something about the situation in Scientology or helping the people and environment affected by it.
If you wish to continue to be handled by people who are not Scientologists (they do NOT live by the Auditors Code and the Code of a Scientologist), be my guest. But you and I both know it’s no fun and there is no real worth or joy in it.
Let me remind you of point 23 of the Auditors Code (I promise never to use the secrets of a preclear divulged in session for punishment or personal gain). I know for a fact this point is being ruthlessly violated, at Flag as well as elsewhere in the world. W/Hs gotten off by PCs in actual sessions are being divulged to Ethics for the purpose of discipline and punishment. I have the stone cold evidence sitting on my desk as I write this. And that’s just one of many examples, so the Auditor’s Code is not in. Fact.
And let me remind you of point 2 of the Code of Scientologist (To use the best I know of Scientology to the best of my ability to help my family, friends, groups and the world). The evidence is overwhelming; “Scientology” has been used to harm thousands of families and friends. There have been countless enforced divorces and abortions in the Sea Org. Children have been mistreated. People have died. Families have been split apart. Many of you are barred from speaking to a friend or a loved one. Oh, I know the reason you were given sounds plausible enough but if you look on the Internet you will see there is far too much of it going on to make any sense at all.
And if you care to check out a website set up by ex-Scientology kids and have the courage to read what they have to say you will think “but what occurred, how they were dealt with, that’s not Scientology” and you may well be right, but that’s not how they see it because they lived it. Realize that if this point of the Code of a Scientologist had been applied by David Miscavige, it wouldn’t have happened and similar injustices wouldn’t be continuing now because Scientology would have been used to help families and friends not destroy them and our group.
Anyone who has ever audited another knows that with some discipline and application, the Auditor’s Code can be kept in for the duration of the session. But they also know that to live by the Auditor’s Code, using it 24/7, along with the Code of a scientologist is something else entirely. But that is what it means to be a Scientologist my friend and there are precious few around these days. And that’s what’s really wrong with Scientology.
I am reminded of a chance meeting I had with a complete stranger many decades ago. I was so impressed with the way this person conducted himself, how he was in communication with the world around him and continuously granted it the right to exist (that’s the only way I could describe it) that when I found out he was a Scientologist I immediately looked into the subject and I’ve been trying to help it along all I could ever since.
I know now of course that my stranger was the very definition of a Scientologist. Yet, by comparison, recently I found the conduct of a New OT 8 so poor that a colleague began to hate Scientology even though she knew nothing about it. When I intervened she asked me “but why are YOU so different?” and I felt shamed because it was only recently that I had decided to work hard at living by the Auditor’s Code and Code of a Scientologist (following the example of my mystery stranger and countless people I have met since who left Scientology over the years to maintain their integrity and honor and who apply these codes as part of life, the ones who have truly flown the flag for Scientology).
With these two crucial codes so far out, I say to you that the situation in Scientology today is that David Miscavige (no matter how polished his public persona might seem) is something far less than a Scientologist (that is the mildest way I can put it) and we have allowed him to set himself up as a god and make us all in his own image.
And I say to you that it is your duty as a Scientologist to look into this claim and to act on what you find. Because that’s what it means to be a Scientologist. By definition, that’s what a Scientologist would do.
If Scientology is being damaged and perverted and you fail to act, what kind of Scientology will your children get, or their children, if any at all? Don’t think you can ignore it now and hope your kids or their kids will handle it, it might be too late by then, Scientology might be too far gone, with these two codes out it’s already virtually unworkable. Besides, do you really want to leave it to your kids to deal with? That far down the line there is no possible chance they’ll have a clue what real Scientology looks like.
But no one can force you to take responsibility. As LRH points out:
“In order to make up one’s mind to be responsible for things it is necessary to get over the idea that one is being forced into responsibility. The Power of choice is still senior to responsibility.”
And as LRH also points out, what you do here and now, whether you take responsibility or not, determines what you get when you come back next lifetime. By the time next lifetime comes around you may not be able to find Scientology or at least anything resembling it.
Ignoring these appeals while remaining a card carrying member of the club of “I’m alright Jack” will just prolong the situation and cause more damage and believe me, you don’t want that damage on your conscience. I assure you, in the end you will thank the people that brought this to your attention.
Look into it -- that is what I ask of you as a Scientologist because that’s what it means to be one. But I warn you in advance, it might make you weep.
Written by T Paine
A member of the Worldwide Independent Network of Scientologists, dedicated to living by the Auditor’s Code and Code of a Scientologist
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