ttamaad
Silver Meritorious Patron
This is a recollection of my time so I trust I have the dates as close as possible to the times they happened.
My life in Scientology is quite different from a lot of the stories I have read. I was in Scientology way back when Adam was a Cowboy... I was still playing Cowboys and Indians (I hadn't yet discovered the intricacies of Doctors and Nurses)
Way down at the bottom of the World, Christchurch New Zealand was a protected little outpost of Scientology or more rightly the Dianetics Counselling Group. Dianetics in Christchurch had been around since the 50's. The group had been quite large at times and I have seen photos of up to 40 people at some of the early events/courses. We were away from the big centers but we were making it happen.
My first recollections are from when I was about 12 years old in 1969. School Holidays always seemed to involve doing the Comm Course. Thinking back it was a great way of getting all the kids baby sat... put them in a group and get them to do TR's and upper indocs. Always a laugh and a good time was had by all. Sometimes were would go out for the day and do the upper indocs in the country. I guess it would have stopped people worrying about abuses to ashtrays but all we knew was it was a good time.
At primary school, I remember doing a talk to my class about the grade chart and the the bridge... I was fantastic although my results were non existent. No one ever came and did TR's with me. I was never ostracised for my beliefs but my Scientology ideas never accepted either. I was a kid and had no idea what the parents thought?
The group was run by Bob Hopper (if my memory serves me right) and John Dalhoff. John Dalhoff had been to Saint Hill and had done the SHSBC back in 1965. When he came back he took over the running of the Dianetics Group. Now John had a penchant for altering things and at some stage he must have taken a step too far. I have a vague memory of being with my old man and Harry Bloomberg standing in Johns driveway and they were discussing the squirrel activities of John. For me, he had done the ultimate sin. Squirrelling. Even I knew that the tech shouldn't be messed with and I was 12 or 13.
It was around this time that Pat and Harry Bloomberg came on the scene. Pat and Harry had taken over control of the Dianetics Group and it had officially become a Mission. Both Pat and Harry had done the Briefing Course and were OT's. I was in awe of them. I had ideas that they knew everything about me.
John Dalhoff was finally declared in 1972. It was such a big thing for me. I was convinced that John was the devil incarnate. An actual SP living in Christchurch. He went on to form ZAP (Zenith Applied Philosophy) which still raises its head in Christchurch these days. He became known as John Ultimate. Funny how things stick in the memory banks.
Now under Pat and Harry, the mission went from strength to strength. I was called in from time to time to do the Comm Course. My parents, Bill and Lesley, were really involved and Pat and Harry became my second parents.
One of their sons, Simon and I went on a camping trip by ourselves when we were 13. We hopped on a bus and went down to the small township of Geraldine, about a two hour bus trip. Just outside of Geraldine, we found a river and camped there for two nights before catching the bus back again. We speared trout and cooked them up for dinner. It was such a big deal for me. Pat and Harry had managed to convince my folks that it was ok. Something that put them on an even higher pedestal. I had taken my air rifle and we had been shooting sparrows but when I got back, I was devastated to learn that Simon had told his folks everything. I was hauled in to get off my withholds.
Now my withholds were different to Simon's... he was concerned about shooting sparrows. I was more concerned that I had lost the sheath of my old mans knife I had “borrowed” without him knowing. So when I found out that I only had to confess to killing some sparrows, I was overjoyed, my real secret could stay safe. The problem was that Pat and Harry were OT's, they would know everything anyway. So I gave it all up, confessed to everything.
Now what I also found, was back then, if you divulged your withholds and quickly made up the damage, you were forgiven, but my old man couldn't handle much without a violent streak coming to the surface and so it was of no surprise when I got a belting back at home. The funny thing about all this was that we had actually perpetrated a crime. Spearing trout was a huge no no, and you would be fined if you were caught. No one made any mention of the trout we speared with eel spears.
The next week was still school holidays and another comm course. I was teamed up with Simon's younger brother, David Bloomberg. We hit it off as friends and within a couple of months were we off tramping around the Mountains of Arthurs Pass in the Southern Alps of NZ. Pat and Harry had made a huge difference to my life as far as giving me responsibility was concerned. I am sure that because Pat and Harry had said it was ok, my folks were also happy to loosen the reins a little. I was convinced that Scientology was the best thing in the world
The next big change in my life was about to happen. My mum was heading to England to do the SHSBC and her OT levels. It was January 1973. She wouldn't get back till May 1974. I was 16, my sister was 14 and my two brothers were 12 and 10...
My life in Scientology is quite different from a lot of the stories I have read. I was in Scientology way back when Adam was a Cowboy... I was still playing Cowboys and Indians (I hadn't yet discovered the intricacies of Doctors and Nurses)
Way down at the bottom of the World, Christchurch New Zealand was a protected little outpost of Scientology or more rightly the Dianetics Counselling Group. Dianetics in Christchurch had been around since the 50's. The group had been quite large at times and I have seen photos of up to 40 people at some of the early events/courses. We were away from the big centers but we were making it happen.
My first recollections are from when I was about 12 years old in 1969. School Holidays always seemed to involve doing the Comm Course. Thinking back it was a great way of getting all the kids baby sat... put them in a group and get them to do TR's and upper indocs. Always a laugh and a good time was had by all. Sometimes were would go out for the day and do the upper indocs in the country. I guess it would have stopped people worrying about abuses to ashtrays but all we knew was it was a good time.
At primary school, I remember doing a talk to my class about the grade chart and the the bridge... I was fantastic although my results were non existent. No one ever came and did TR's with me. I was never ostracised for my beliefs but my Scientology ideas never accepted either. I was a kid and had no idea what the parents thought?
The group was run by Bob Hopper (if my memory serves me right) and John Dalhoff. John Dalhoff had been to Saint Hill and had done the SHSBC back in 1965. When he came back he took over the running of the Dianetics Group. Now John had a penchant for altering things and at some stage he must have taken a step too far. I have a vague memory of being with my old man and Harry Bloomberg standing in Johns driveway and they were discussing the squirrel activities of John. For me, he had done the ultimate sin. Squirrelling. Even I knew that the tech shouldn't be messed with and I was 12 or 13.
It was around this time that Pat and Harry Bloomberg came on the scene. Pat and Harry had taken over control of the Dianetics Group and it had officially become a Mission. Both Pat and Harry had done the Briefing Course and were OT's. I was in awe of them. I had ideas that they knew everything about me.
John Dalhoff was finally declared in 1972. It was such a big thing for me. I was convinced that John was the devil incarnate. An actual SP living in Christchurch. He went on to form ZAP (Zenith Applied Philosophy) which still raises its head in Christchurch these days. He became known as John Ultimate. Funny how things stick in the memory banks.
Now under Pat and Harry, the mission went from strength to strength. I was called in from time to time to do the Comm Course. My parents, Bill and Lesley, were really involved and Pat and Harry became my second parents.
One of their sons, Simon and I went on a camping trip by ourselves when we were 13. We hopped on a bus and went down to the small township of Geraldine, about a two hour bus trip. Just outside of Geraldine, we found a river and camped there for two nights before catching the bus back again. We speared trout and cooked them up for dinner. It was such a big deal for me. Pat and Harry had managed to convince my folks that it was ok. Something that put them on an even higher pedestal. I had taken my air rifle and we had been shooting sparrows but when I got back, I was devastated to learn that Simon had told his folks everything. I was hauled in to get off my withholds.
Now my withholds were different to Simon's... he was concerned about shooting sparrows. I was more concerned that I had lost the sheath of my old mans knife I had “borrowed” without him knowing. So when I found out that I only had to confess to killing some sparrows, I was overjoyed, my real secret could stay safe. The problem was that Pat and Harry were OT's, they would know everything anyway. So I gave it all up, confessed to everything.
Now what I also found, was back then, if you divulged your withholds and quickly made up the damage, you were forgiven, but my old man couldn't handle much without a violent streak coming to the surface and so it was of no surprise when I got a belting back at home. The funny thing about all this was that we had actually perpetrated a crime. Spearing trout was a huge no no, and you would be fined if you were caught. No one made any mention of the trout we speared with eel spears.
The next week was still school holidays and another comm course. I was teamed up with Simon's younger brother, David Bloomberg. We hit it off as friends and within a couple of months were we off tramping around the Mountains of Arthurs Pass in the Southern Alps of NZ. Pat and Harry had made a huge difference to my life as far as giving me responsibility was concerned. I am sure that because Pat and Harry had said it was ok, my folks were also happy to loosen the reins a little. I was convinced that Scientology was the best thing in the world
The next big change in my life was about to happen. My mum was heading to England to do the SHSBC and her OT levels. It was January 1973. She wouldn't get back till May 1974. I was 16, my sister was 14 and my two brothers were 12 and 10...
