How to Leave?!

[afaceinthecrowd]

XenusChild,

Welcome.

You've received a plethora of good, solid advice. So glad to see that you are walking away from Scn.

I knew El Ron personaly and all the Hype and Hyperbole the Cof$ puts out about Hisself is a pack of lies...I assure you...it's all bunk.

Face

 

[Helena Handbasket]

Hi, XC.

There's very little I can add to the flood of good advice here, but that's never stopped me before.

My main issue is the constant asking for more money. I don't make a lot of money, and am still in college too ... . This is a lot of money for me, especially since I'm also paying for school!

Their goal is to get it all and then some (meaning, they want you to borrow money and give it to them). The usual excuse is that with all that "charge" gone you can make even more money. Even if that were true the return on your investment would be so slow that at some point you've got to stop and pay off your bills, pay down your credit card balances, spend some on yourself, and maybe even buy a car or a house.

After a while it became clear to me that my auditing program was designed around the amount of money I had to spend.

Granted, I do think it makes sense that stress can exacerbate illness, but does this mean that every single time I get sick I'm connected to an SP?

My experience has been as I got more auditing, I got sick less and less often -- but this is a gradual thing. You can't take a newbie and suddenly declare "it's all due to an SP".

I think I made a lot of stuff up during Life Repair whenever there was a read and I couldn't think of anything/no image "popped up"/etc.

I'm sorry to hear that. If there was something there, you missed out on your chance to handle it. You could have said you don't see anything and let the auditor help you find the real reason for the read.

I also signed up for staff (I was kinda coerced into doing so), but haven't started yet since I have a very busy schedule with school and work (plus Scn courses/services). They're trying to get me on as soon as possible, but I've kinda been resisting, luckily due to my schedule mostly.

Big problem! Once they've gotten all your money, they'll want all your time. A staff job is not something you can do while leading a normal life (like going to college). They'll always come up with some reason to skive off your classes to work some more for them -- all in the name of the greater good, of course!

I know you said you're not going back to them, but now that they've got you signed up, they'll keep after you. Some may disagree with this, but I would send them a registered letter (don't call or go in) saying you're resigning. Then, if they keep hassling you, say you've quit as of (the date on the letter).

They have this little trick called the freeloader debt. It's supposed to be for people who join staff, take free services as part of their staff contract, then run away as soon as they've gotten what they wanted. But even those who've worked hard for years for very little pay have been asked to pay back for "free" courses they've taken since day 1.

If you do show up to begin working for them, the first thing they'll give you is the "Staff Status 1" course. The skills you learn there are absolutely NOT transferrable to the outside word, but they'll be added to your freeloader debt just the same.

I hope they wouldn't resort to showing up at my home

That happened to me!

If you should change your mind and do want to get more services, do consider the Freezone, but beware: some independent auditors out there are just as bad as the church, or worse. Ask around and try to find out who's good and who's not so good.

In particular, beware of the "ARC Break Session". This is done after you're pissed at them, but it's goal is to make you feel good about being taken advantage of, not to keep it from happening again. I was once offered an ARC break session after some abysmal auditing, but I simply said first I wanted an apology and a promise never to do that again. This I did not get. Now I don't talk to this particular auditor any more.

I hope you have an excellent life!

Helena

 

[Freeminds]

thinking about how much money I've spent on Scientology, in a 4-5 month period:

With PE, BSM, STCC, Life Repair (2 intensives), HQS, Basics books, 2 basics lectures, a couple DVDs, Annual Membership, some money on account, I spent around $4000-$5000, maybe more! Then would come Purif and TRs/Obj for another $1650, then $1500 for basis courses, then another $2000+ for the rest of the basics lectures, then apparently when you're doing the training route to co-audit the Grades, you need to purchase an E-meter, and apparently a back-up E-meter too (so I was told by the reg), which would total over $6000...WOW! At least I don't have to worry about going into the negatives and maxing my credit cards anymore...

It never ceases to amaze me, just how expensive Scientology is becoming nowadays. I mean, obviously there are half as many Scientology victims as there used to be, so each one has to pay at least double for their services, or David 'Dwarfenfuhrer' Miscavige will notice that his organization is shrinking... but still!

Imagine if you were still trying to sell a computer that hasn't been changed since its inventor went senile in 1982, and died in 1986. It would have to be a bargain basement give-away!

Imagine is Scientology were the product of a pop group that split up in the early 1980s, and the front man died in 1986: their hit records would be a bargain bin job, if you had to pay for them at all.

Look at all the crazes that have come and gone since the 1980s. Skateboards. Leg-warmers. 'The A Team'. The Rubik Cube. Cabbage Patch Kids. Break dancing...

Scientology, for some reason, is still the same old shit... and yet the price goes up, year on year. (And they think that people should repurchase it, for reasons that are more than a little spurious.)

I have a proposal: how about you keep your money... and they keep their tired, oft warmed-over 1950s UFO cult?

 

[Claire Swazey]

It's insanely pricey. It always was pretty bad, but I think it became worse in the past 15 years.

It's all about the money.

 

[This is NOT OK !!!!]

Hi XC,

one thing to consider:

Why not ask for ALL your donations back?

Here you are a college student with $5 k-$10k in cc debt because of the cult.

I think you're entitled by cos agreements to get the $ back for the services you received, not just the on account $.

I forget whether it's 6 weeks or 6 months, but their policy is you can get it back if you were not satisfied.

There's thousands of us out here who wish we had woken up in time to get back the auditing / training $ back that didn't do what was promised.

Ask for it all back and pay off those cards!

I think you have the backbone for it.

And you will be waking those fucks up too!

 

[DagwoodGum]

It's insanely pricey. It always was pretty bad, but I think it became worse in the past 15 years.

It's all about the money.

One of the things I realized when I left Scientology in the late 70's was that if they had any sincere intention of clearing the planet they wouldn't have priced the tech out of reach of the majority of the world. Think of poorer cultures, there was no way these people could afford services when American's couldn't. That and I didn't see people any better off when they came back from Flag. I knew an OT3, L10-12 who turned out to be an active child molester who told me that on other planets it was OK to have sex with children!?! I had dated his daughter and she and his son broke the news to me as he had been some sort of hero to me, OT worship I guess. I was soooo late for the door and gone for good after all of this!!!!!

 

[This is NOT OK !!!!]

You took courses/auditing very recently.

Ask by letter and e-mail for All of it back.

Don't delay, that 6 weeks, 6 months is ticking.

 

[Claire Swazey]

One of the things I realized when I left Scientology in the late 70's was that if they had any sincere intention of clearing the planet they wouldn't have priced the tech out of reach of the majority of the world. Think of poorer cultures, there was no way these people could afford services when American's couldn't. That and I didn't see people any better off when they came back from Flag. I knew an OT3, L10-12 who turned out to be an active child molester who told me that on other planets it was OK to have sex with children!?! I had dated his daughter and she and his son broke the news to me as he had been some sort of hero to me, OT worship I guess. I was soooo late for the door and gone for good after all of this!!!!!

Yes, tha's my take on it, too.

 

[dchoiceisalwaysrs]

thinking about how much money I've spent on Scientology, in a 4-5 month period:

With PE, BSM, STCC, Life Repair (2 intensives), HQS, Basics books, 2 basics lectures, a couple DVDs, Annual Membership, some money on account, I spent around $4000-$5000, maybe more! Then would come Purif and TRs/Obj for another $1650, then $1500 for basis courses, then another $2000+ for the rest of the basics lectures, then apparently when you're doing the training route to co-audit the Grades, you need to purchase an E-meter, and apparently a back-up E-meter too (so I was told by the reg), which would total over $6000...WOW! At least I don't have to worry about going into the negatives and maxing my credit cards anymore...

yes, it is like walking out onto the street and looking for a conman who promises you the best business in the world. Then getting out your wallet, and giving him all you have, then pulling out your check book and signing all the checks leaving them blank. Then feeling guilty when the checks bounce.

Don't put yourself at risk. Stay away from conmen.

 

[Enthetan]

I think the advice to simply stop talking to them is bad advice - it leaves the door wide open for visits, letters, emails, calls, etc. It's better to get yourself blacklisted and make yourself off limits, especially if you have trouble saying no in the first place.

If someone can't stand the idea of a direct confrontation, then write a letter. But make sure you pull out all the stops and communicate in no uncertain terms that you want no part of Scn and don't want to be contacted again.

One technique which can successfully be used to stop calls, was to tell the caller "I want you to listen carefully to the following LRH lecture".

Then play the OT-3 lecture where he discusses Xenu.

[video=youtube;DwfxuQtgGE0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwfxuQtgGE0[/video]

(It's a game of whack-a-mole, they keep having the tape taken down, and somebody else posts a fresh copy. Don't know how long this will stay up. You might want to download it using something like DownloadHelper.)

 

[Gottabrain]

...or you can reply all excitedly with, "OMG, I am SO glad you called! I've been wanting to ask someone from COS some questions all day long!"

Then proceed with questions about lawsuits, RPF, Narconon, Independent Scn, L Ron's death... until the caller hangs up.

If you're lucky, you'll get dead-filed.

 

[Krautfag]

One technique which can successfully be used to stop calls, was to tell the caller "I want you to listen carefully to the following LRH lecture".

Then play the OT-3 lecture where he discusses Xenu.

[video=youtube;DwfxuQtgGE0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwfxuQtgGE0[/video]

(It's a game of whack-a-mole, they keep having the tape taken down, and somebody else posts a fresh copy. Don't know how long this will stay up. You might want to download it using something like DownloadHelper.)

Listening to that again, one must admire how he always managed to evade the straight jacket. Come to think about it, it is obvious that his fear of "they are out to get me" was probably not without reason.

 

[Free Being Me]

I think the advice to simply stop talking to them is bad advice - it leaves the door wide open for visits, letters, emails, calls, etc. It's better to get yourself blacklisted and make yourself off limits, especially if you have trouble saying no in the first place.

If someone can't stand the idea of a direct confrontation, then write a letter. But make sure you pull out all the stops and communicate in no uncertain terms that you want no part of Scn and don't want to be contacted again.

I agree, I stated a similar idea earlier. $cientologists are trained to TR3 you into submission. It's POLICY to salvage and recover blown members. The quicker you make it explicitly clear that you're a permanently tainted pariah in the eyes of $cientologists, is that much sooner you are back to your life without them constantly intruding.

 

[DagwoodGum]

There is one way only to get them to leave you alone and that is to "threaten to embarrass them in the press and/or take legal action against them" as these are the only conditions that these programmed robots are allowed to let you "ask off" per LRH's directives in the policy letters as told to me by a former staff reg friend of mine years ago. Once I did that I never received another communication from them of any type. Don't be baited into a Q and A because they've dealt with countless others just like you whereas you've probably never dealt with the likes of them before as a newbie. Don't fuck around, take the upper hand and you tell them, don't let them tell you. Your very future survival depends on getting them off your ass.

 

[Adam7986]

I am so sorry this is the first time I have seen this!

Your doubts are exactly the same as the ones I had when I was a child, but I was bound to Scientology by my family. You are a lucky man for leaving right now when you are. College is much more important than Scientology and so is everything else in your life.

I'm glad you sought advice from the board here instead of just becoming trapped in the cult like so many people.

Getting sick is normal, having accidents is normal. You are normal. No one needs a PTS handling or to do an O/W Write-up or get sec checked for getting sick or having an accident. We are only human and those things happen. No one is immune to all diseases.

One of the biggest problems I had with the illness/accident are only because of PTSness idea is the black plague and the Spanish flu. The percentages (20%) just don't add up.

I hope you turn your back on them now and walk away because you have already wasted too much time and money on the useless pursuit of super powers that the cult promises you.

I am assuming you are young. I am 26. Get out while you can before you have wasted years and tens of thousands of dollars.

Hi everyone. I've only been a member of the Church of Scientology for a couple months. In that short time, I've noticed a lot of things that I like, and a lot of things that I don't about Scientology. A lot of it makes sense to me, and most of the people at the Org are nice. However, the more I read about Scientology, and not just the pro stuff, the more I see that things aren't as they seem, especially the OT levels, and the fact that the Bridge to Total Freedom isn't even complete, so how can I have "Total Freedom"?

My main issue is the constant asking for more money. I don't make a lot of money, and am still in college too. Yet, they want me to sign up for all these services, the Basics, Basics courses, etc. So far, I've only done the BSM, PE, STCC, Life Repair, and am midway thru HQS. I've also paid for an annual IAS membership, all the Basics books, and two lectures so far (in addition to a bunch of DVDs and classic lectures). Now I'm being asked to get all the lectures (I told them I can't buy a package so I'd have to do it one by one, even if it costs more in the end), all the basics courses, and sign up for Purif/TRs and Objectives. This is a lot of money for me, especially since I'm also paying for school! I let them know that this is a lot of money for me, but they still ask for donations, and say that this is really more important than school, etc (and when I mention my career goals, they say that being an auditor would be much better/helpful).

I hated when I got sick during Life Repair, I had to do another PTS Handling, even though the weather was changing, I was out in the cold a lot, etc. Granted, I do think it makes sense that stress can exacerbate illness, but does this mean that every single time I get sick I'm connected to an SP?

I think I made a lot of stuff up during Life Repair whenever there was a read and I couldn't think of anything/no image "popped up"/etc.

I also signed up for staff (I was kinda coerced into doing so), but haven't started yet since I have a very busy schedule with school and work (plus Scn courses/services). They're trying to get me on as soon as possible, but I've kinda been resisting, luckily due to my schedule mostly.

So at this point, I feel like I just want to be done with Scientology. I did like it at the beginning, during BSM/PE/STCC, and I did get some things out of Life Repair, some of the books. But I just can't handle the constant asking for donations ("regging"?), especially when I'd like to pay off my debts, and pay for school. I don't like spending 3-4 days/week there when I'm already busy. And I know I can't do staff, and tried to get out of it, but they keep trying to get me to stay with it and eventually come on.

I'm assuming I'm not alone in feeling this way. How should I handle it? Should I just ignore all the phone calls/texts, delete/block Scientology Facebook friends, and that's it? I hope they wouldn't resort to showing up at my home (my parents would love that).

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Gib]

thinking about how much money I've spent on Scientology, in a 4-5 month period:

With PE, BSM, STCC, Life Repair (2 intensives), HQS, Basics books, 2 basics lectures, a couple DVDs, Annual Membership, some money on account, I spent around $4000-$5000, maybe more! Then would come Purif and TRs/Obj for another $1650, then $1500 for basis courses, then another $2000+ for the rest of the basics lectures, then apparently when you're doing the training route to co-audit the Grades, you need to purchase an E-meter, and apparently a back-up E-meter too (so I was told by the reg), which would total over $6000...WOW! At least I don't have to worry about going into the negatives and maxing my credit cards anymore...

My Child,

One more thing. You blew it. All those books and lectures can be had for pennies on the dollar by buying them thru ebay. Check out these completed auctions:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/L-RON-HUBBA...681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27ccbd58f1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Scientology...0?pt=US_Texbook_Education&hash=item27cc4ea734

Goes to show you that the Scientology materials are NOT a hot seller on Ebay. If scientology was the greatest, hottest thing on earth, then why do the materials on the second hand market sell for pennies on the dollar from what you pay at the local org or mission, or advanced org? Enter in Hard Sell at your local org or mission.

I wonder how LRH would handle this.

 

[Claire Swazey]

I agree, I stated a similar idea earlier. $cientologists are trained to TR3 you into submission. It's POLICY to salvage and recover blown members. The quicker you make it explicitly clear that you're a permanently tainted pariah in the eyes of $cientologists, is that much sooner you are back to your life without them constantly intruding.

Which is why one should not let them.

 

[Claire Swazey]

There is one way only to get them to leave you alone and that is to "threaten to embarrass them in the press and/or take legal action against them" as these are the only conditions that these programmed robots are allowed to let you "ask off" per LRH's directives in the policy letters as told to me by a former staff reg friend of mine years ago. Once I did that I never received another communication from them of any type. Don't be baited into a Q and A because they've dealt with countless others just like you whereas you've probably never dealt with the likes of them before as a newbie. Don't fuck around, take the upper hand and you tell them, don't let them tell you. Your very future survival depends on getting them off your ass.

I kinda feel, why bother. It is just like being held by the police. Anything one says can be used against the person.

I've done the thing where I told them about my objections. I've been in handlings. I've played it nice. I've played it cool. I've been snarky.

They feed off everything.

If I had it all over to do again- and I've been expelled twice, not once- I would stonewall the fuck out of those people.

 

[Free Being Me]

Which is why one should not let them.

 

[XenusChild]

Well today (don't really care if this "reveals" who I am to whichever OSA agents are lurking, that would only add to my resolve to leave), I received two texts and a call from the extension course C/S, a call and a text from the reg, and a text from someone in the HGC asking if I was attending the holiday party. I ignored all of them. I can't bring myself to reply, at least not yet. I think that the advice to send a letter to the Org is what I'd end up doing, since I don't see myself having a long drawn out conversation with someone, as they try to get me to stay. For now I'm just ignoring everything (I'm busy with school and work at this point anyway).

I also received a card from the extension C/S saying that it is required for me to hand in a lesson a week at the least, as well as some info/donation request for Super Power. More money, more money, perfect timing.