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The Defining Moment in Scientology

DartSmohen

Silver Meritorious Patron
In 1963-64 a few events were unfolding. Hubbard was working on the Goals Technology. The St Hill Special Briefing Course was running in the Pavilion and Chapel at St Hill, Hubbard was enjoying his bottle of Irish whiskey a day and he was developing his research on plant responses to emotion and stimulus.

What he craved more than anything was acknowledgement and recognition from those he considered his peers. He invited a journalist team to come and conduct a full interview with him, complete with photos. this was going to be a showcase of his studies.

I should say that what he was working on had merit and has been borne out in subsequent times.

However, what came out in the press was a highly derogatory article entitled "Are you a Boo-Hoo" (in reference to his ramblings in History of Man):omg:

Hubbard was devistated. It destroyed him. It certainly coloured his approach to the media from then on.

Up until then the basic premese for processing was handle what the person wants to handle. Hubbard decided that a different approach needed to be taken. He formed the Hubbard Guidance Centre where priocessing would become a primary source of income. This was out of neccessity as he was pretty well broke at the time.

In late 1964 and into 1965, John MacMaster, as one of the lead auditors had piloted an executive review process program that was producing excellent results. It was decided that this should be marketed as Power Processing.

At the same time, Hubbard came up with The Grades processing. This was an arbitary arrangement. After all, why should you handle problems before o/w or before ARC Breaks. There can be many points of view on what should come first, but it is all rather like "Stone-Paper-Scissors".

The one advantage those on the early Briefing Course had was that they had had hundreds, if not thousands of hours of processing. They had run Objective processes until they were blue in the face, o/w, havingness, goals, the lot. They were well prepared for Power Processing.

The next vital step was that the student had to run R6EW. I kid you not, this is a powerful solo processing action.

Hubbard brought in the Solo Auditor's Course for those who wanted to get onto the Clearing Course but did not want to spend the time training first. Personally I thought it was a pity to shortcut matters, but needs must and there was the growing income stream to consider.

In early 1966 Hubbard decamped to Rhodesia. What he got up to there and the outcome ...... well, that is another story. :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

All the while, the orgs were maintaining their integrity by examining and validating each completion as they came up. Qualifications Division was the most important division as it was responsible for review, corrections and results.

Nothing was more important than the procedure for announcing a person as clear. The Clearing Course Seuervisor, Jenny Edmonde, would send the solo processing file to the Qual Sec. It was Anton James. He would review the folder and call the person forward. Together they would walk down the drive from the castle to the Manor. If you saw him walking with a person down that way you knew it was another Clear Check. Word spread like wildfire. It was a really BIG DEAL.

In the Manor basement, in a room with a specially calibrated E-Meter the Clear check procedure would take place. Once the Clear checker, the student and the meter were in agreement that the person had achieved the result, the Clear Checker would say "I congratulate you on achieving the State of Clear".

The two of them would then return on the walk back up from the Manor and in the Qual room the announcement "Now Hear This, XXXXXX has achieved the State of Clear". The place, already being packed, in antcipation would erupt.
Those of us who had been through that procedure will never forget it.

Every time a person completed something, there would be an examination of the work, courses required a written exam with a 100% pass mark, the result
would be announced and a certificate printed and issued.

In late 1966 OT1 was released. Those embarking on it were very disappointed.
The CC required you to run through the materials 10 times. People were often going clear on the first run yet had to complete 1 run at least. OT1 was the instruction to complete the rest of the 10 runs. This met with some groans.

By this time sufficient numbers had completed the Clearing course and done some on OT1 as to allow the release of OT2. The solo auditing techniques were almost the same for this as for the CC.

The first person to actually complete OT2 was Mary Sue. She did it in Las Palmas. I completed shortly after, I was sitting at a table in the open, under a shade and Hubbard came up behind me and watched me solo'ing for about 15 minutes or so and tapped me on the shoulder and told me I had finished the level.It was on my subsequent return to St Hill that John MacMaster carried out the OT2 completion check. It was a very exhaustive test and took about 3 hours. I was announced in Qual.

We were waiting for OT3 to be released. We had purchased the Royal Scotsman with the express purpose of taking students on board, sailing away around the Med for a month or so while they processed, away from any and all distraction.

Now came the moment in time when that integrity and responsibility got thrown away.

Hubbard decided that the org was no longer responsible for theproduct produced. The Attestation Line was introduced.

The first students had set off for Valencia to join the ship, ready for OT3. Within 2 days the stunning news had come back that a South African had attested OT3 complete. Everyone was in shock. All of a sudden there was a stampede of people to get to the ship to sign up for the OT levels. People were signing up and attesting complete on several levels in a single day. One person (who really should have known better and is still in the cult) attested complete on OT1-5, all in a single day.

THE HUGE LIE THAT WAS INTRODUCED WAS THAT THE OT LEVELS WERE WHERE YOU GOT YOUR CASE HANDLED.

The OT levels were never,never, ever intended for case gain. they were for thetan rehabilitation. True, you made case gain whilst going them, but you real case gain was to have been made on the grades and lower levels, on training etc.

It was right after this that we got into the stat psychosis, the rush to bring in money, it didn't matter if the person attested after only a few minutes, they now had the status and we had the money.

When the person fell on their head, one of the first questions asked in a review session was " Did you falsely attest?". ANY read on the meter and the person was assigned Liability and given an amends project.

I remember a very wealthy Jewish lady from N. London, wearing a mink coat, dirty grey rag tied around her arm standing with a bucket and mop, cleaning the ladies toilets. She was holding the mop handle as if she was holding a snake. I happened to be the one who assigned her Liability and as she was a close friend of my mother, both of them never let me forget what I did.:eyeroll:

From there on out, the whole process of Scientology began it's downward track. The whole atmosphere became more and more crazy.

The vast majotity of you out there will have no concept of the enormity of Hubbard's action in dumping the org responsibility for it's product. Floating needles are really an irrelevence. Has the person made the requisite case gain commensurate with the stated aims? Can they adequately demonstrate the abilities that you are supposed to have achieved?

In essence, have you attained the ability to communicate on any subject with anyone else? If you have, then you are a comm release. If you still have ANY communication hangups, there is more work to do.

Quite simple, really.:p :p
 

Emma

Con te partirò
Administrator
Wow! Interesting stuff.

So Hubbard *interrupted* your session to tell you that you were finished??

:omg:

The mind bggles.
 

Div6

Crusader
Dart,


I am really enjoying your contributions to the time line of Scientology.
At some point, could you describe what the clear check entailed at that time? What "took 3 hours: to verify on OT II?

Thanks,
 

Terril park

Sponsor
In 1963-64 a few events were unfolding. Hubbard was working on the Goals Technology. The St Hill Special Briefing Course was running in the Pavilion and Chapel at St Hill, Hubbard was enjoying his bottle of Irish whiskey a day and he was developing his research on plant responses to emotion and stimulus.

What he craved more than anything was acknowledgement and recognition from those he considered his peers. He invited a journalist team to come and conduct a full interview with him, complete with photos. this was going to be a showcase of his studies.

I should say that what he was working on had merit and has been borne out in subsequent times.

However, what came out in the press was a highly derogatory article entitled "Are you a Boo-Hoo" (in reference to his ramblings in History of Man):omg:

Hubbard was devistated. It destroyed him. It certainly coloured his approach to the media from then on.

Up until then the basic premese for processing was handle what the person wants to handle. Hubbard decided that a different approach needed to be taken. He formed the Hubbard Guidance Centre where priocessing would become a primary source of income. This was out of neccessity as he was pretty well broke at the time.

In late 1964 and into 1965, John MacMaster, as one of the lead auditors had piloted an executive review process program that was producing excellent results. It was decided that this should be marketed as Power Processing.

At the same time, Hubbard came up with The Grades processing. This was an arbitary arrangement. After all, why should you handle problems before o/w or before ARC Breaks. There can be many points of view on what should come first, but it is all rather like "Stone-Paper-Scissors".

The one advantage those on the early Briefing Course had was that they had had hundreds, if not thousands of hours of processing. They had run Objective processes until they were blue in the face, o/w, havingness, goals, the lot. They were well prepared for Power Processing.

The next vital step was that the student had to run R6EW. I kid you not, this is a powerful solo processing action.

Hubbard brought in the Solo Auditor's Course for those who wanted to get onto the Clearing Course but did not want to spend the time training first. Personally I thought it was a pity to shortcut matters, but needs must and there was the growing income stream to consider.

In early 1966 Hubbard decamped to Rhodesia. What he got up to there and the outcome ...... well, that is another story. :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

All the while, the orgs were maintaining their integrity by examining and validating each completion as they came up. Qualifications Division was the most important division as it was responsible for review, corrections and results.

Nothing was more important than the procedure for announcing a person as clear. The Clearing Course Seuervisor, Jenny Edmonde, would send the solo processing file to the Qual Sec. It was Anton James. He would review the folder and call the person forward. Together they would walk down the drive from the castle to the Manor. If you saw him walking with a person down that way you knew it was another Clear Check. Word spread like wildfire. It was a really BIG DEAL.

In the Manor basement, in a room with a specially calibrated E-Meter the Clear check procedure would take place. Once the Clear checker, the student and the meter were in agreement that the person had achieved the result, the Clear Checker would say "I congratulate you on achieving the State of Clear".

The two of them would then return on the walk back up from the Manor and in the Qual room the announcement "Now Hear This, XXXXXX has achieved the State of Clear". The place, already being packed, in antcipation would erupt.
Those of us who had been through that procedure will never forget it.

Every time a person completed something, there would be an examination of the work, courses required a written exam with a 100% pass mark, the result
would be announced and a certificate printed and issued.

In late 1966 OT1 was released. Those embarking on it were very disappointed.
The CC required you to run through the materials 10 times. People were often going clear on the first run yet had to complete 1 run at least. OT1 was the instruction to complete the rest of the 10 runs. This met with some groans.

By this time sufficient numbers had completed the Clearing course and done some on OT1 as to allow the release of OT2. The solo auditing techniques were almost the same for this as for the CC.

The first person to actually complete OT2 was Mary Sue. She did it in Las Palmas. I completed shortly after, I was sitting at a table in the open, under a shade and Hubbard came up behind me and watched me solo'ing for about 15 minutes or so and tapped me on the shoulder and told me I had finished the level.It was on my subsequent return to St Hill that John MacMaster carried out the OT2 completion check. It was a very exhaustive test and took about 3 hours. I was announced in Qual.

We were waiting for OT3 to be released. We had purchased the Royal Scotsman with the express purpose of taking students on board, sailing away around the Med for a month or so while they processed, away from any and all distraction.

Now came the moment in time when that integrity and responsibility got thrown away.

Hubbard decided that the org was no longer responsible for theproduct produced. The Attestation Line was introduced.

The first students had set off for Valencia to join the ship, ready for OT3. Within 2 days the stunning news had come back that a South African had attested OT3 complete. Everyone was in shock. All of a sudden there was a stampede of people to get to the ship to sign up for the OT levels. People were signing up and attesting complete on several levels in a single day. One person (who really should have known better and is still in the cult) attested complete on OT1-5, all in a single day.

THE HUGE LIE THAT WAS INTRODUCED WAS THAT THE OT LEVELS WERE WHERE YOU GOT YOUR CASE HANDLED.

The OT levels were never,never, ever intended for case gain. they were for thetan rehabilitation. True, you made case gain whilst going them, but you real case gain was to have been made on the grades and lower levels, on training etc.

It was right after this that we got into the stat psychosis, the rush to bring in money, it didn't matter if the person attested after only a few minutes, they now had the status and we had the money.

When the person fell on their head, one of the first questions asked in a review session was " Did you falsely attest?". ANY read on the meter and the person was assigned Liability and given an amends project.

I remember a very wealthy Jewish lady from N. London, wearing a mink coat, dirty grey rag tied around her arm standing with a bucket and mop, cleaning the ladies toilets. She was holding the mop handle as if she was holding a snake. I happened to be the one who assigned her Liability and as she was a close friend of my mother, both of them never let me forget what I did.:eyeroll:

From there on out, the whole process of Scientology began it's downward track. The whole atmosphere became more and more crazy.

The vast majotity of you out there will have no concept of the enormity of Hubbard's action in dumping the org responsibility for it's product. Floating needles are really an irrelevence. Has the person made the requisite case gain commensurate with the stated aims? Can they adequately demonstrate the abilities that you are supposed to have achieved?

In essence, have you attained the ability to communicate on any subject with anyone else? If you have, then you are a comm release. If you still have ANY communication hangups, there is more work to do.

Quite simple, really.:p :p

Fascinating post! Did OT2&3 standard and then CBR suggestion CC platens on OT2, and thus again OT 3.

I may know the jewish lady, or her friends.

You rock:)
 

Free to shine

Shiny & Free
In 1963-64 a few events were unfolding. Hubbard was working on the Goals Technology. The St Hill Special Briefing Course was running in the Pavilion and Chapel at St Hill, Hubbard was enjoying his bottle of Irish whiskey a day and he was developing his research on plant responses to emotion and stimulus.

Thanks for your stories!
I arrived at SH in 1968, so I missed the earlier events. Yet even then it was such a different atmosphere to anything that could be envisioned today. And now anything LRH uttered is The Law. :omg:
 

Kathy (ImOut)

Gold Meritorious Patron
Dart,

I'm loving your posts. They are very interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing them.

Do you have any stories from the 50s? How was the old man then?
 

The Oracle

Gold Meritorious Patron
Dart,


I am really enjoying your contributions to the time line of Scientology.
At some point, could you describe what the clear check entailed at that time? What "took 3 hours: to verify on OT II?

Thanks,

Yeah! What was the ot II verification check (if you are inclined to say)?

T.O.
 

nw2394

Silver Meritorious Patron
THE HUGE LIE THAT WAS INTRODUCED WAS THAT THE OT LEVELS WERE WHERE YOU GOT YOUR CASE HANDLED.

The OT levels were never,never, ever intended for case gain. they were for thetan rehabilitation. True, you made case gain whilst going them, but you real case gain was to have been made on the grades and lower levels, on training etc.

Yes.

When the HRD came out I remember a lot of people at SH, including the NOTs PCs (sorry I mean preOTs), being diverted on to doing it. There were good success stories off it. Many which included statements to the effect that the person had got their ruin handled. Well, it was great that they had got their ruin handled, i.e. some actual case gain, but it was rather an outpoint that people had to be diverted off NOTs to get something that should have been delivered ages before!

Nick
 

Wisened One

Crusader
great info!

Wow....you've seen a lot. Thanks for the stories!

For me, the defining moments were the stat pushes, the weird practices our ED would make us do...how the Org was never expanding,etc.. but still I was hanging in there...

But one day: A high executive had just come back from OEC/FEBC...a few weeks later, then had to be babysat from trying to repeatedly commit suicide.

:no:

But that STILL wasn't what broke the camel's back:

I was just SO tired..getting little sleep, barely eating, living off of strong coffee, bad food, etc..and NO money!

Then hearing of an OT 3 dying of Cancer....and other OTs having the same problems that 'normal' people have after all that money.....

Geez...it was time to GO!

Wisened One
 

BAYCB

Patron with Honors
From there on out, the whole process of Scientology began it's downward track. The whole atmosphere became more and more crazy.

The vast majotity of you out there will have no concept of the enormity of Hubbard's action in dumping the org responsibility for it's product. Floating needles are really an irrelevence. Has the person made the requisite case gain commensurate with the stated aims? Can they adequately demonstrate the abilities that you are supposed to have achieved?

Quite simple, really.:p :p

Great Stories, thank you for giving us an insight to the past.

My experience of a downward track occurred when the Natural Clear, and Dianetic Clears bulletins came out in the late 70’s. Most of the tech staff couldn’t believe the number of people who came in asserting that they were clear. Prior to that many people spent many hours auditing the lower levels.

After these issues, people were coming in and only after a few hours of auditing were attesting to Clear. Definitely degraded what we had considered to be high achievement.
 

Free to shine

Shiny & Free
Great Stories, thank you for giving us an insight to the past.

My experience of a downward track occurred when the Natural Clear, and Dianetic Clears bulletins came out in the late 70’s. Most of the tech staff couldn’t believe the number of people who came in asserting that they were clear. Prior to that many people spent many hours auditing the lower levels.

After these issues, people were coming in and only after a few hours of auditing were attesting to Clear. Definitely degraded what we had considered to be high achievement.

In my local org there was a literal procession. Every time someone came downstairs after attesting, one of the Execs would snort "here's another one".
 

Leon

Gold Meritorious Patron
Interesting stuff.

That South African guy was Chris Weidemann. He always claimed he was the first guy after LRH himself to do the Wall of Fire.

You must have known Joe van Staden too. Wild character. He was captain of the ship during the Class 8 course.
 

Alan

Gold Meritorious Patron
Interesting stuff.

That South African guy was Chris Weidemann. He always claimed he was the first guy after LRH himself to do the Wall of Fire.

You must have known Joe van Staden too. Wild character. He was captain of the ship during the Class 8 course.

I remember Joe shaking so badly because he was going to audit me on the SHSBC - I had to audit him - to get him to be able do it! :lol:
 

Veda

Sponsor
Fascinating post! Did OT2&3 standard and then CBR suggestion CC platens on OT2, and thus again OT 3.

I may know the jewish lady, or her friends.

You rock:)

Why not read - as completely as possible - the observations and comments of both DartSmohen and Allan?

Auditing went from being "Asking the person" to "Telling the person" around 1964.

Lower levels still "Asked the person," but "upper levels" - more and more - were "Telling the person." ("OT levels" were originally supposed to be about positive exercises, not further introversion into ones "case.")

Granted, some people want to be told their "case," and some claim to get something out of having been told, and along with being told, there is - inevitably - some actual auditing that occurs mixed in with the being told.

But look at the results over 40 years. The Lower levels still have a good reputation for most; the "tell them the contents of their own minds and space" levels have - at best - mixed reviews, with too many physically sick people and too many subtly or not so subtly psychologically overwhelmed people, and some - frankly - crazy people.

It's time to stand back and re-evaluate.

Why can't you see this?
 
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DartSmohen

Silver Meritorious Patron
Dart,


I am really enjoying your contributions to the time line of Scientology.
At some point, could you describe what the clear check entailed at that time? What "took 3 hours: to verify on OT II?

Thanks,

On the Clear Check you had to have a continuous floating needle or Tone Arm. You were told to mock up some mass, hold it and then discharge it. Then the checker called off items from the CC platens to see if there was any reaction. This could take some while. So long as there was no reaction and the needle continued to float uninterrupted then you has passed.

Not all clear checks were successful. This was the great thing, the org took it's responsibility for it's product very seriously. Sometimes the person needed a short review to clean something up, then re-checked.

The OT2 check took a lot longer because there was so much more material. To have run it all would have taken about 5 times longer than the CC. So, what the checker did was to go over platens of GPM's that you may not have run and see if there was any thing reading on them. We were also asked to perform some mental exercises, mocking up huge balls of mass until your TA rose by at least one division, then discharge it, back to it's original position. We also had to direct and project intentions, the meter being observed while this was carried out.

I remember John MacMaster sitting opposite me carrying this out. He was absolutely serene, validative, caring, really wanting this examination to succeed. In the end he said "I concur" (with Hubbard), Congratulations on achieving OT2.
 

DartSmohen

Silver Meritorious Patron
Fascinating post! Did OT2&3 standard and then CBR suggestion CC platens on OT2, and thus again OT 3.

I may know the jewish lady, or her friends.

You rock:)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill had his own ideas about how the upper levels should be run. Personally I think he was trying to achieve honest results for his groups. As to whether or not this was the right course to take, you cannot fault him for wanting people to achieve the stated aims as described on Hubbard's Bridge.

The only trouble was that the materials Hubbard produced are factually incapable of achieving those stated aims at the end of the bridge. Maybe Bill had a point.
 

DartSmohen

Silver Meritorious Patron
Dart,

I'm loving your posts. They are very interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing them.

Do you have any stories from the 50s? How was the old man then?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Hubbard got up to in the 1950's?

Oh, that is going to be a whole new thread!!:pcpunch: :boxing: :stickpoke:
 

DartSmohen

Silver Meritorious Patron
Interesting stuff.

That South African guy was Chris Weidemann. He always claimed he was the first guy after LRH himself to do the Wall of Fire.

You must have known Joe van Staden too. Wild character. He was captain of the ship during the Class 8 course.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, you are right, it was Chris. I didn't want to put his name up in case he was "lurking" and might have volunteered it himself.

Joe is alive and well. He has been in phone contact, via Skype, with some friends in the past week.

Do you know the story of how Joe got into Scn?

In the 50's in Jo'burg, Joe lived in Bramfontein, a rough suburb. One night he was chased by a rival gang and ran into the Scn building and sat down at the back of the PE lecture in order to escape the persuing pack. The rest is history.
 
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