Hi

[Zoe]

So it was actually during a doubt condition (a BS assigned doubt, iirc) that I realized I needed to go. I looked around and everybody was working so hard, putting in so much time and effort, we had someone around who in particular was stopping anybody from getting anything done and no matter how much I reported it up-lines nobody gave a damn (and I got in trouble with that person for reporting their rampant off-policy, destructive BS). I looked around and realized nobody was getting anywhere, CoS was shrinking, the members I knew were doing poorly (or severely ill), I had to put on a pretense around all my "friends" because nobody cared who I was, only that I fit a mold, etc.

LRH said somewhere that even applying the tech someone is going to improve someone, and applying it totally right is going to improve them FAST. Well, I was applying the tech correctly (as were people around me) and I didn't see anyone changing fast. Just people overwhelmed with the time and $$$$ commitment and struggling.

I still believed at that point the tech works, but I was questioning admin. The biggest thing I questioned was how LRH could put the orgs there and have them not succeed. The orgs are a representation of his work, and if his tech is so miraculous, they shouldeasily succeed. But they were struggling, short-staffed, run-down, and in trouble. How could this be? How could the admin tech be so great if the people using it were doing so poorly? I concluded, eventually, that most of the people using it were giving it a good shot and applying it fairly well (where possible, as policies written for large orgs were being pushed on small orgs by Int Mgmt), so it was just not possible that the error was all those people and therefore it must be the admin tech. And if the admin tech was wrong, all the tech was wrong. It's just not possible for his work to be right when everyone applying it was having so much trouble in all aspects of life.

I didn't read anything bad about it for another several years. It didn't take any kind of external evaluation of CoS' statistics to decide they weren't so hot -- it was right there in front of my face. I still thought (and still think now) that the vast majority of people who were in and are still in have good intentions. That was the doubt formula where my declared group of people I was joining was something like "successful people who are able to make good things happen around them." Everyone was like "oh, great" -- they just didn't realize they weren't the group I was talking about. I am pleased to say I have succeeded in joining those members of society who are successful and who contribute to society.

 

[JustSheila]

Thanks, Zoe. That was smart and brave.

I like the point you brought up about policy for larger orgs used on small orgs. It's the whole "one size fits all" of scientology. One grade chart for everybody. One set of organizational management policies for all orgs. One right religion and group. One way of looking at things (Hubbard's/DM's) way.

Or as J.R.R. Tolkien would put it:

"Ashnazgdurbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, aghburzum-ishikrimpatul"

"One [STRIKE]Ring[/STRIKE] TECH to rule them all, One [STRIKE]Ring [/STRIKE]TECH to find them, One [STRIKE]Ring[/STRIKE] TECH to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them"

It's so nice to see you're free of all that now, Zoe. Best wishes for love, success and happiness to you.

 

[TheOriginalBigBlue]

Thanks, Zoe. That was smart and brave.

I like the point you brought up about policy for larger orgs used on small orgs. It's the whole "one size fits all" of scientology. One grade chart for everybody. One set of organizational management policies for all orgs. One right religion and group. One way of looking at things (Hubbard's/DM's) way.

Or as J.R.R. Tolkien would put it:

"Ashnazgdurbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, aghburzum-ishikrimpatul"

"One [STRIKE]Ring[/STRIKE] TECH to rule them all, One [STRIKE]Ring [/STRIKE]TECH to find them, One [STRIKE]Ring[/STRIKE] TECH to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them"

It's so nice to see you're free of all that now, Zoe. Best wishes for love, success and happiness to you.

LOL!LOL!LOL!LOL!

Most excellent dear! Got my heart pumping and serotonin levels up with that one!

In this analogy the Missions and lower level orgs would be like The Shire - that kind of works.

 

[JustSheila]

Thanks, BB.

The uniformity of scientology and its cookie cutter solutions always makes me think of that quote from Lord of the Rings. Yes, the little missions and orgs, naive and unaware, feeling safe in their little corners until they are taken over by management, like the sleepy folks in the Shire.

And how stupid is it that the same organization policies would apply to small orgs? No allowances for differences in small town or big town cultures, ethnicity, economic levels, social structures, etc.

Kind of like the Democrats assuming that what the big city folks wanted was the same as everyone else in America. (Boy, did they get that wrong... )

 

[Enthetan]

In my experience staff were usually broke. Sometimes they couldn't eat and pay rent. On several occasions I had to lend staff money out of my own meager resources so they could get something to eat so I could audit them. How the f**k could they afford to pay auditors?

When I was on staff (early 80's), I held a full-time regular job during the day, and worked in the org on foundation hours. Yes, I did get very tired after a while, but the way I survived was by knowing LRH's "Foundation" HCOPL, which said explicitly that Fdn staff were not to be held past standard end time, since they had day jobs. So when 10pm rolled around, I was out the door, and didn't give a damn about anybody wanting to call an after-hours "all-hands" anything.

Several day-org staff women supported themselves as strippers in the evenings. Yes, the GO knew, and was OK, because it was a way for them to earn enough to live on, in just a few hours per night.