Voltaire's Child
Fool on the Hill
IMO, if you really want to understand DM- and this also pertains to other abusive cult leaders of other cult- I really think that there are a couple things that would help you do that.
1) that no esoteric discipline or set of ideas will override a person's own intentions. I don't care how much FPRD the person gets or counselling about warm fuzzies or sacrement of penance/reconciliation- if that person intends to do certain things then those methods won't take hold. Anyway, DM doesn't get auditing, but even if he did...
And if you have disciplines that aren't all they're cracked up to be, then that's also a factor. But I really think the main thing is that the person's own plans and intentions are going to come first. If he or she sees the light after getting counselling, auditing, doing an eval, getting some divine revelation and changes his intentions, boo yah! But for that, you need an open hearted individual. You don't find many of them running cults.
2) People often wonder if cult leaders and other abusive religious leaders really believe in the precepts of the religion they claim they are furthering, or if it's only about the money and power and secretly the cult leader is laughing at the poor suckers.
Well, I think that if you really want to know, then read up on Borgia and Medici popes. Corrupt men linked to murder, sexual scandals, illegitimate children, power plays- not very religious, were they? But I really think that if you could have met those men with a crystal ball or a lie detector (or an emeter! Heh!) and could have looked in their hearts, you would have found that each of them believed in Jesus as the Son of God and the general wonderfulness of the Roman Catholic Church.
I don't think they were laughing on the way to the bank (and these guys were incredibly wealthy) anymore than I think DM is doing so.
I bet DM thinks that auditing and word clearing and TRs and Admin policy are just totally rad. Yeah, he screws with that stuff all the time, but he really thinks he's above the rules. It's obvious that money and power matter to him but I think he's got himself convinced that the cult needs him to be like that.
However, I also think it's rationalization. Because if he truly were objective, he'd see that he's bleeding the organization dry and that "stats are down". But then again if he truly were objective, he wouldn't beat his staff, he wouldn't have OSA running around hurting people, he wouldn't have all those execs in the hall, he would have been broken hearted over Lisa McPherson and would have done everything he could to have brought her isolation watch to a screeching halt as soon as he knew about it.
Never ever underestimate a person's ability for rationalization and fooling him or herself.
Scn execs are perfectly capable of breaking a zillion written policies and even stealing from the organization and still think that Hubbard was a genius and that the OT levels are amazing case changing procedures. After all, Hubbard was like that.
This is NO different from the Borgia and Medici popes or from some of the corrupt and greedy Puritan higher ups who used their religion as a way to get back at people, sometimes because they wanted someone's land.
People compartmentalize. Yes, these people are running all the way to the bank, but I don't think they're laughing at the suckers while so doing. THEY are the biggest suckers of all.
1) that no esoteric discipline or set of ideas will override a person's own intentions. I don't care how much FPRD the person gets or counselling about warm fuzzies or sacrement of penance/reconciliation- if that person intends to do certain things then those methods won't take hold. Anyway, DM doesn't get auditing, but even if he did...
And if you have disciplines that aren't all they're cracked up to be, then that's also a factor. But I really think the main thing is that the person's own plans and intentions are going to come first. If he or she sees the light after getting counselling, auditing, doing an eval, getting some divine revelation and changes his intentions, boo yah! But for that, you need an open hearted individual. You don't find many of them running cults.
2) People often wonder if cult leaders and other abusive religious leaders really believe in the precepts of the religion they claim they are furthering, or if it's only about the money and power and secretly the cult leader is laughing at the poor suckers.
Well, I think that if you really want to know, then read up on Borgia and Medici popes. Corrupt men linked to murder, sexual scandals, illegitimate children, power plays- not very religious, were they? But I really think that if you could have met those men with a crystal ball or a lie detector (or an emeter! Heh!) and could have looked in their hearts, you would have found that each of them believed in Jesus as the Son of God and the general wonderfulness of the Roman Catholic Church.
I don't think they were laughing on the way to the bank (and these guys were incredibly wealthy) anymore than I think DM is doing so.
I bet DM thinks that auditing and word clearing and TRs and Admin policy are just totally rad. Yeah, he screws with that stuff all the time, but he really thinks he's above the rules. It's obvious that money and power matter to him but I think he's got himself convinced that the cult needs him to be like that.
However, I also think it's rationalization. Because if he truly were objective, he'd see that he's bleeding the organization dry and that "stats are down". But then again if he truly were objective, he wouldn't beat his staff, he wouldn't have OSA running around hurting people, he wouldn't have all those execs in the hall, he would have been broken hearted over Lisa McPherson and would have done everything he could to have brought her isolation watch to a screeching halt as soon as he knew about it.
Never ever underestimate a person's ability for rationalization and fooling him or herself.
Scn execs are perfectly capable of breaking a zillion written policies and even stealing from the organization and still think that Hubbard was a genius and that the OT levels are amazing case changing procedures. After all, Hubbard was like that.
This is NO different from the Borgia and Medici popes or from some of the corrupt and greedy Puritan higher ups who used their religion as a way to get back at people, sometimes because they wanted someone's land.
People compartmentalize. Yes, these people are running all the way to the bank, but I don't think they're laughing at the suckers while so doing. THEY are the biggest suckers of all.