The ideal Dianetics society
Jeff Jacobsen

...if anyone wants a monopoly on Dianetics, be assured that he wants it for reasons which have to do not with Dianetics but with profit. (1)

"Perhaps at some distant date only the unaberrated person will be granted civil rights before law. Perhaps the goal will be reached at some future time when only the unaberrated person can attain to and benefit from citizenship. These are desirable goals." (4) Would pre-clears have any rights whatsoever? And what indeed would be the fate of those unfortunates who rejected Hubbard's ideas, or even spoke out against him?

These questions can be answered to some degree by looking at the organizations that Hubbard built, and the status of people within and without these organizations. Non-Scientologists are referred to by Scientologists normally as "wogs" (5) or "raw meat," (6) depending on whether they were being considered generic outsiders or potential members. The judicial system in outside society was referred to as the derogatory "wog law". Outside society was an evil place surreptitiously controlled by psychiatrists, who ran the media and governments. Psychiatry had been attacking dianetics from its inception, claimed Hubbard, "because they feared that as our power increased they would lose their easy appropriations and fail in their plan for a 1984 World." (7) It was to be a fight to the finish between the evil outside world and the valiant crew of Hubbardites.

The goal of a Clear Planet was always the important thing. If someone got in the way, they could be smashed. Hubbard wrote the famous "Fair Game Policy" in 1967 in which he declared that anyone caught disturbing Scientology's mission could be "tricked, sued, or lied to, or destroyed." (8) Another process called R2-45 involved making a person "go exterior" (i.e. leave his body) by shooting the person in the head with a .45 pistol. Hubbard did not say to use this process, however, because "its use is frowned upon by society at this time," (9) but there have been some disturbing incidents relating to R2-45.

Hubbard created a Guardian's Office, whose members were responsible for bulldozing anything or anyone that may stand in the way of Scientology. After the G.O. was disbanded when Mary Sue Hubbard and other G.O. officers were sent to prison for infiltrating federal offices, the Office of Special Affairs took over the G.O.'s duties.

Within the organization, ethics took on strange meaning. The purpose of ethics was "TO REMOVE COUNTER INTENTIONS FROM THE ENVIRONMENT," (10) which could be interpreted to mean to remove those obstructions to the church's accomplishing its goals. A member stayed in good standing, not by being a good and moral person, but by making sure he was producing for the church - "a staff member can get away with murder so long as his statistic [i.e. work record] is up and can't sneeze without a chop if it's down."(11) If the goal of a cleared planet was getting closer, and all nay-sayers and critics were silenced, then all was well in Hubbard's world, regardless of how these were accomplished.

Hubbard ruled the organization of the church like a dictator with an eye for detail. Every structure and action of every Scientologist was covered by some policy order or writing by Hubbard. These had to be strictly followed. If someone was not producing as much as was expected, he may be sent for a security check on the E-meter (a crude lie-detector) to see if he may be a subversive or suppressive person. If a member seemed to be hindered by critical parents or a spouse, he would be ordered to "disconnect," or cut off communication with, those people seen to be impeding the work of the church. Most outside interests and activities were given up to devote all possible time and energy to the church's goals. In fact, members of the Sea Org, the innermost unit of the church hierarchy, sign a form pledging to devote themselves to Scientology for the next billion years.

The church has its own penal system known as the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF). Those who have gone through the RPF describe a system similar to conditions in a gulag, where there are scraps for food, little sleep, constant physical labor, and intense degradation. (12)

In short, what Hubbard created was one of the closest replicas of George Orwell's 1984 world in existence.

Notes:

1. DIANETICS, p.226
2. DIANETICS, p.411
3. DIANETICS, p.209
4. DIANETICS, p.534
5. DIANETICS AND SCIENTOLOGY TECHNICAL DICTIONARY, p.471
6. ibid. p.335
7. "What Your Donations Buy" church of Scientology handout, p.3
8. HCO Policy Letter October 16, 1967
9. L. Ron Hubbard, THE CREATION OF HUMAN ABILITY (Sussex, England; Department of Publications Worldwide, 1954) p. 120
10. HCO Policy letter of 18 June 1968
11. HCO Policy letter of 1 September AD15 (i.e. 1965)
12. A PIECE OF BLUE SKY, p. 206

Toward the end of my research on this booklet, I was contemplating whether I really needed to read Korzybski's Science and Sanity, the gnostic Pistis Sophia, and to listen to about 40 more hours of Hubbard's taped lectures I had access to before I could call my research done. I decided that this was a case similar to the nuclear arms race; you don't really need 30,000 atomic bombs if you already have 300. In other words, there is a point of diminishing returns in gathering the lies, distortions, errors, and wacky ideas Hubbard promulgated. After you have so many, there's really no reason to keep gathering. Fortunately for both of us, I decided that I had compiled enough evidence already for my purpose, which was mainly to show Hubbard a fraud for claiming that his ideas were his invention and the only hope for mankind.

I understand, however, that there are people who say "so what if he was a fraud, the tech. works!" To this I respond, what do you mean by "works"? Do you mean that you feel better after auditing? Do you mean that you can actually leave your body? That you can alter the physical universe? That your IQ was increased tremendously, that you never have colds, that you are now more confident? Just what do you mean? I think what these people mean is it makes them feel better. To that I would agree. But I also hasten to add that just feeling better is not all there is to life. In that case a lobotomized drunk might have the ideal life, since he is not burdened by any worries and always has that alcoholic high.

I would submit that our goal should be not just feeling good but also learning about and learning how to live in the Real World. There is a Real World that we all share (except, perhaps, for lobotomized drunks). In this world, both of us will die if hit by a bus doing about 60 mph, even if one of us thinks that by positing a world where he survives such an encounter that he thereby will survive. In this world, neither of us can control street lights just by our will so they will turn green before we get to the intersection. And in this world, Scientology takes you away from the common sense and actuality of the Real World by taking you to a Fake World where you sacrifice reality for a sense of belonging and well-being.

So, yes, Scientology works, so long as you wish to live in the Scientology World. But if you want to live in the Real World, it doesn't. I was in a cult myself for 6 years in my own Fake World. From that experience I can say that I prefer the Real World with its uncertainties and problems to my Fake World where I knew all the answers and felt the bliss of my mystical experiences. The Fake World is an easier world to live in, but what's the point? What is gained by living like some kids today so deeply involved in Dungeons and Dragons fantasy that they loose sight of food, sleep, jobs, family, friends? The Emperor in his new fake clothes was quite happy amongst people who also "saw" his wonderful robes, but when confronted by a child from the Real World, his Fake World disintigrated. Is living in a Fake World really worth anything? I think not.

There is much more evidence that has been presented by others on the history of Scientology, the biographical data on L. Ron Hubbard, and the horrible experiences that many Scientologists have had. It was not my goal to even touch any of the above, and it was not even my goal to comprehensively cover my selective topic. It seemed to me that there was little written on the ideas of dianetics and Scientology and their evolution. This is what I attempted to uncover. My hope is that this will be useful for those who have left the church so they can better understand the illusion that caught them, for those who are investigating the church with thoughts of joining, and for those with a curiosity about one of the most dangerous organizations on earth today. I also hope that this may be useful by suggesting an approach to the study of other cults and movements in the religious marketplace today.

For further reading:

• Russell Miller, Bare Faced Messiah (New York; Henry Holt and Co., 1987)
• Stewart Lamont, Religion, Inc. (London: Harrap, Ltd., 1986)
• Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman? (Secaucus, NJ; Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1987)
• Jon Atack, A Piece of Blue Sky (Carol Publishing Group, NYNY, 1990)

Reprinted with permission from The Hubbard is Bare by Jeff Jacobsen. Copyright © 1992 by Jeff Jacobsen, P.O. Box 3541, Scottsdale, AZ 85271.