So what if Scn (not just CofS) goes away?
Interesting question. My answer is that it's happening right now. We're living through the end of Scientology. Not just the CofS, but Scientology itself.
LRH fiercely defended his position as the only person who held the keys to Scientology. He was 'source' and anybody else who created something had to either give up all their intellectual property to Ron... or be declared a squirrel and destroyed. This was the pattern throughout Scientology's history.
The notion that only LRH could define the Tech served LRH very well, but as soon as he became unfit to hold the reins, Scientology lost its way. By ruthlessly eliminating any 'threat', Scientology was decapitated from the moment when LRH became unwell, and was doomed when he died. For years, any person who showed initiative or who acquired his own following within the structure was driven out or betrayed, and it was this that would cause Scientology to begin its slide into oblivion.
If Ron thought about that at all, in any lucid moments he may have had in the last months of his life, I imagine it would have pleased him. To see that Scientology wasn't going to survive without him would have buffed his ego: he was essential.
After Ron, and after decades of pruning any author or mission-holder who seemed likely to rise above the pack, Scientology lost its way. When seeking the solution to a problem, what had once been "ask yourself what Ron would do" became "go and find what Ron said". The built-in protection of Ron as sole source of wisdom outlived its usefulness, because it outlived Ron. In effect, any person in management from the mid-80's onwards was a caretaker, or perhaps a curator.
Of course, any move to add to or alter the Tech would have been controversial, and would have led to schism. We have seen a moderate amount of dissent and attempts at several 'reformation' movements as a result... but in choosing to fossilize Scientology as that which Ron wrote, the remaining Scientologists missed a major point that is obvious to anybody once they get out from under the Scientology mindset:
Scientology was always changing. When people were worried about nuclear war, it claimed to have solution for radiation burns. When the populace grew interested in aliens, Scientology's founder told them about his experiences on Mars and Venus. Growing divorce rate? Try Scientology. Increasing drug use? Put Scientology in. And so on.
Scientology was faddy. Ron himself was inconsistent, and diverted himself with a great many different things throughout his life... but when Ron was gone, Scientology ceased to adapt itself in pursuit of relevance to society.
That's why Scientology is going away. In a few hundred years, scholars (and nobody else) will study the paraphernalia of Scientology in much the same way as they would study the cults of Apollo or Mithras. Much of the written work will survive (particularly in electronic form) because modern society likes to preserve things in museums and libraries... but the practice of Scientology will have ceased, long since.
What you have to remember about LRH is his gift for hyperbole. He was a 20th century PT Barnum. Big on promises! It isn't that he had a gift for telling people what they wanted to hear; it's that he told them what he needed them to hear. Whatever was expedient. So, once Scientology acquired its Space Opera mantle, it became "the planet's only hope!" You have to work that 16-hour day, for fifteen bucks a week, because the future of everybody on this world is at stake!!!
It's just Hubbard hyperbole. And remember, it isn't doing him any good anymore. He's dead and gone.
Hubbard had a long, long history of messing things up, and running away. His education. The disastrous Caribbean expedition. The Alaskan Radio Expedition. His Military career. His three marriages. His time at Saint Hill. France. Morocco. In fact, it's hard to think of much that poor old Ron Hubbard actually got right.
He messed up Scientology, too. He did not leave it in a condition where it could survive, both as a result of his hounding out anybody with ability for several decades and because it had far too many in-built flaws and outpoints.
So Scientology is doomed: but once again, Hubbard got what he wanted from it, and he got away Scott Free.
Just like always.
