3. CRISIS AND TRANSITION

Sources of the crisis

The developments that took place in the ideology and organization
of Hubbard's following emerged partly as the resolution of a
variety of strains and conflicts in the Dianetics community, which
existed between Hubbard and other leaders; between Hubbard's desire
for a strong central organization and the amateur groups keen to
retain their independence; and between Hubbard and other innovators
of theory and practice. They were also, in some measure, a response
to external vicissitudes: a hostile environment, and a declining
market.

The break between Hubbard and Purcell was the culmination of a
series of strains in their relationship and even earlier
difficulties with other coleaders of the movement. Ninter, for
example, had broken with Hubbard over a number of issues, of which
the financial precariousness of the Elizabeth Foundation was only
one. Firstly, Winter found

a difference between the ideals inherent within the dianetic
hypothesis and the actions of the Foundation in its ostensible
efforts to carry out these ideals. The ideals of dianetics, ar I
saw them, included non-authoritarianism and a flexibility of
approach; they did not exclude the realization that this hypothesis
might not be absolutely perfect. The ideals of dianetics continued
to be given lip-service, but I could see a definite disparity
between ideals and actualities.'

He had growing doubts about the possibility of achieving the state
of 'clear', and was concerned at the extent to which the effects of
Dianetic therapy were simply the results of suggestion. He felt
that the effect of the techniques might not always be beneficial to
the pre-clear, and that it might sometimes be positively dangerous
in the hands of poorly trained auditors without adequate medical
knowledge. The increasing disparagement of 'the medical profession
and the efforts of previous workers in the field of mental health'
disturbed him, as well as the absence of scientific research for
the purpose of which the Foundation had supposedly been
established.a The research which was being conducted was

IJoseph A. Winter, A Dottor's eport on Dianctics: heory and hrrapy
(Julian Press, Nevv York, Ig5t), p. 30.

2 Ibid, p. 40 78

 'rHE CULT A-D ITS TRANSrORMAT10:" directed to 'investigating the
possible therapeutic benefits of "recalling" the circumstances of
deaths in previous incarnations'1 and Winter did not regard this as
likely to result in acceptance by the medical profession. Finally,
he objected to the uncontrolled administration of a vitamin and
glutamic acid compound known as 'Guk', as an aid to therapy.2 His
protests concerning these matters met with sharp rebuff 'and I was
led to infer that I was acting as a deterrent to the progress of
the Foundation'.3 Winter resigned from the Foundation and
established a private psychotherapy practice in Manhattan uhere he
combined Dianetics with psychoanalysis and Genera Semantics.4 In
due course, Dianetics dropped from his practice.5

John W. Campbell in retrospect also criticized the increasing
dogmatism and authoritarianism of Hubbard. The relationship between
Hubbard and Purcell followed a similar pattern. After a short
period of co-operation, Hubbard began to feel that Purcell was
constraining his control over the development of ianetics Purcell
attempted to establish the Foundation on a sound business footing,
but Hubbard rapidly began generating new techniques faster than
students could be trained in them. More money was being spent than
was being earned as experimentation continued with vitamin
compounds and later started with electropsychometers.

When Purcell insisted that expenditure be reduced to meet income,
Hubbard began initiating independent fund-raising schemes7 which
were a source of embarrassment to other oundation directors, and a
source of further expense.S Finally, Hubbard insisted on pursuing
the matter of past-lives in spite of the protests of other leaders
of the Dianetics movement, including Purcell.9

Ibid, p. 189. 3 On 'Guk', see L. Ron Hubbard, Science of SurzJival,
1 l, p. 260.

3 Winter, op. cit..p. Igo 4 'Departure in dianetics', 7i1ne, 58,
lo (3 September 1951), p. 39.

S See his later book: Joseph A. Winter, Are Your rroubles
Psychosomatic? (Messner, New York, Igs2).

S Letter in rfe Arc Light, 25 (May 1952), pp. 6-8.

7 Such as the Allied Scientists of the World, discussed in the
previous chapter.

8 Letter of Don Purcell, 19 April 192 in e Diarews 1, 21 (April
l952); Letter of Don Purcell, 21 May r952 in the Dianews 1, 22 (31
Iay 1952), pp. g-12; 'Foundation Story', Dianetics 7oday, 3, 1
(January 1954), pp. 1-3; interviews with leaders of the Dianetic
movement.

8 A footnote in Science of Surviual indicates that past-lives had
been an early source of strain:

'The subject of past deaths and past lives is so full of tension
that as early as last July (1 gso-ed) the board of trustees of the
Foundation sought to pass a resolution banning the entire subject.
And I have been many times requested to omit any reference to these
in the present work or in public for fear that a general impreS-
sion would get out that Dianetics had something to do with
spiritualism.' (Science of SurDiual I, footnote, p. 61). rulrl..r
anc dlllpUtll ululr ll uullu

r. secure sole authority:

Ron's motive has al-vays been to limit Dianetics to the Authority
of his teachings. Anyone who has the ahfrontry Lrsic] to suggest
that others besides Ron could contri bute creatively to the work
must be inhibited '

In the later bankruptcy action, it was alleged that:

...Hubbard completely dominated the a fairs of the corporation
and dominated the meetings of the Board of Directors to such an
extent that only those matters which hc approved were discussed at
the Directors' meetings and other matters were not considered.
During such periods of time, said Hubbard exercised complete
control over the employees of the bankrupt, to the extent that from
time to time he countermanded the orders of the other offieers and
directors and ran the business of the bankrupt according to his own
whim and choosing.S

By the time this action took place, it was clear to Hubbard that
any future organization would have to be based on his sole
leadership.

WhiLc Hubbard was facing chaLlenges to his authority at the centre
of the movement in the Foundations, challengcs v ere aLso appearing
from the grass roots These took a number of forms.

The dispersed amateur groups which formcd the main active body of
support for Dianetics exhibited a considerable independence. They
tended to view with suspicion attempts to create more than a loose
central organization and the possibility of the infringement of
their autonomy. The attitude most prominent in the pubLications was
one of independent, democratic individ ualism. One description of
the movement by a Dianeticist represented it as:

processing of ordinary cases by ordinary people. It means ordinary
people getting together for study and practice. It means little
groups of dianeticists up and down the country.:

While others saw Dianetics as moving towards a professional rather
than an amateur basis they retained a preference for a democratic
form of organization. When Dianeticists proposed to set up a
national organization in Britain, three possible models were
envisaged.

. There might be one central organisation, tending to paternal
authoritarianism,

with individual auditon relatively unqualified...

2. A state of afairs might be reached in which individual members
would be sufficiently highly quahfied to be able to look after 
themselves legally, professionally, etc..rnd so need from thc 
central organisation the minimum of I Dianehcs ·roday, 3, 1 
(January 195.). r Hubrard Dianetic roundation Inc. rn Bankrutcy 
Jo. 37g-B-z, District Court of the United States for the District 
of Kansas. r 'the Dianeticist, I (April 1952), p 3. authority 
compatible with the maintenanee of those standards which the 
individual members would eventually be adopting. Thus Dianetic
would be safeguarded frcm exploitation by any biassed section by 
ensuring the competence of each individual auditor, so emuring 
maximum individual freedom. g. Or there might be a central 
organisation whose functions were so limited that it could not 
claim the authority to take much responsibility, with individual 
members and local groups left largely autonomous to feel their own 
way towards the sort of standards which will eventually become 
necessary if they are to have safety as well as freedom as 
dianeticists.

Model one was totallv rejected, and while model two was seen as the
form of organization towards which Dianetics would eventually move,
three was seen as the only viable interim form of organization. The
Dianetic Federation of Great Britain followed such a model, with no
control over affiliated groups, and little rcsponsibility beyond
the circulation of informahon.

Hostility was frequently expressed in the independent Dianetics
literature for 'authorities' of any kind:

In working with advanced cases we have discovered much that is not
in accordance wih Hubbard's teachings. For example, leality. There
is only one reality for each of us and we destroy it by accepting
the realities of others...Dianetics is Hubbard's reality.
Christianity is Jesus' reality, Theosophy is Blavatsky's reality,
etc. All of these must be given up before a person can go optimum.S
In a healthy and growing science, there are many men who are
recognised as being reality. Christianity is Jesus' reality,
Theosophy is Blavatsky's reality, etc. All of these must be given
up before a person can go optimum.' In a healthy and growing
science, there are many men who are recognised as being competent
in the field, and no one man dominates the work [....] To the
extent dianeties is dependent on one man, it is a cult. To the
extent it i5 built by many minds and many workers, it is a
science.S

Asearlyasmid Igsl,atthetimeofthemuchpublicizeddivorcecasebetween
Hubbard and his second wife, Sara, it was argued that the movement
could well proceed without Ron Hubbard:

...Dianetics no longer revolves wholly around Hubbard. He
developed it, and gave it to the world and the world has taken it
and gone on from there. Other groups besides the Foundation are
carrying on research and processing. As for the Hubbard affair, we
dianeticists do not have to either explain or deny it. Dianetics
does not depend on their actions and if they choose to disqualify
themselves as leaders, we now have others.'

On the occasion of the split between Hubbard and the Wichita
Foundation, a section of the movement took the view that there was
no reason to identify Dianetics with Hubbard, and that as....

' Letter from Secretary, Dianetics Study Group, to Dianeticists
n.d. (probably early 1 952) . sLetterfromJimWelgos, ·thePreclear,
1, 7 (5JUne 1952),p 12S Letter fromJohn W. Campbell, hr Arc Lght,
25 (I ay 1952), pp 6-8' Dianetos, I, 3 (15 April 1951). Hubbard .
..Hubbard is not the onlv onginal thinker in Dianetics many
otherr are thinking and producing ideas, some, elucidations of
Hubbard's ideas, some ideas that Hubbard has never mentioned.

Dianetics would progress, they argued, 'with or without Hubbard'.2
This attitude of independence and indiidualism led many
practitioners to generate new Dianetic techniques and theoretical
rationales. Some felt their innovations to be so far reaching as to
have become a completely new praCtise deserving a separate name and
reCognition, and set up institutes, schools and foundations of
their own to propogate the practice. This diversification was
deplored by some Dianeticists:

The dianebc population, though oEunknown size, certainly is small
compared to the total world population. Even so, there have already
appeared many vectors of effort (factions) among this relatively
small group. Recriminations, name-calling, denials of other's
reality...are a part of the scene. Some of the vectors involved
are Kitselman's Institute of Integration, and Automatic Scan
Clearing; Altman's Examiner Theory and Techniques; Fisher's
Integrator Therapy; iaylor's PCMA techniques, Winter's modificrtion
of 'classical' (1950) dianetics, Home Work techniques, Hubbard's
rg50 theory and techniques, recent developments in theory and
technique now coming from Wichita, and many others; the Hubbard
Dianetic Fovndation, as a commercial institution...HDF as a
school; Power's Function Processing; the HDAA-I, a society of
professional auditors wimh their own individually varying
attitudes; and all the individuals and groups throughout the
country who act to any degree along any of these vectors, or along
one of their own S

It was, however, applauded by others:

Each of these cell-divisioni accomplished something positive.
Hubbard bwlt more wisely than he knew when he insisted on a
prineiple of non-authoritarianism for now

we have dianetics, we have therapy, we haveER,wehaveNaylor'spCM,wehave .
..analytical procedure and nexology, and humanics, and, as an
adjunct, gestalt therapy [Etc]. We have all these things and 1, for
one, believe the whole is worth while. These cell divisions have
made possible our survival. hvlore important, they have made our
potentialities limitless as compared to those of our cousins, the
psycho-analysts because of our essentially non-authoritarianistic
structure.'

Such innovators often believed their own developments to have
greatly surpassed those of Hubbard:

Dianetas, 1, 22 (31 May IgSr p. 2. Ibid..p. 3. ' Editorial,
Dianotts, 1, 5 (December rgSI) pp. 2-3. Art Coulter, 'Cell Division
and Growth', Dianotes, 3, 34 (July 1954), p 9; for an amusing
account of the factionalism in Dianetics, see Vox Populi, 'Origin
and development of Psychoreligion', Dianotes, 3, 3 1 (April 1954),
pp. o-lo. ·..we have rrogressed beyond Dianetics...Now we
are promulgating teaching of greater deprh, 'lgidetic
Psychology....We find agreement with all techniques i part, but it
seems that the higher goals produce greater results while admitting
their basis in Dianetics: only one third or less of the total
process is based on Dianetic Procedure . r

One former Dianeiclst who established his own foundation even had
the tcmerity to offcr for sale a book entitled Dianetics
Perfected.3 Others, while not extensively developing independent
theories and procedures, eclectically combined Hubbardian theory
and practice with those of other psychnlogical and philosophical
schools: Garbon Dioxide Therapy,4 New Thought affirmations,9
nutritional rrgimes, Orgone Therapy, etc.S

A ·videly prevailing view was that any theory or technique which
could help gain thc ends sought through Dianerics should be
employed. Thus one Dianetics nev,sletter cditor rcviewing a book on
Huna (Hawaiian magic), Max Freedom Long's he Secret Scince Behind
Miracles, suggests:

Opcn-minded Dianedciss might do well to consider much of this data
sic in the light of biending some of the suggesed echniques into
our present procedures. If they will simplify and spced up
processing, they are well worth a trial.9

Some practitiOnerS became extremely eclectic, one describing a
technique derived from

Krishnamurti, Henshaw Ward, Gestalt Therapy, Analytical Procedure,
anc Some prachtioners became extremely eclectic, one describing a
technique derlved from Krishnamurti, Henshaw Ward, Gestalt Therapy,
Aralytical Procedure, and

Karen HorneyP'

A few moved towards more occult realms, one group even began
delving into alchemv in order to create gold.ll

For many others, hov.ever, the direction in which they wished
Dianetics to

IJohn B. Lewis, 'A report on the investigation of dianetic
phenomena', the ArG Light 15 April 1952), pp. 5-7

3James Welgos, Dianetics Perfrcted (Human Engineering Ine,
Fairhope, Alabama, 955)

' Dianotes, 3, 26 (November 1953). t Dianotes, 4, 45 (June 1955),
p. 6. For example, 'I will not gain (or lose) weight anymore...
Food can be fattening or not, as I wish it to be...'

; Gllforn)aAssociationofDianeticAuditors Sournal, t, 5 (May 19$).

' theArclight (26January 1952).

5f 21 professional Dianetic auditors in Southern California in a
195s Dianetie publication, 14 were listed as practising and
o8fering other techniques as well as Dlanehcs and Scientology -
including General Semantics, Nutritional Therapy, Gestalt Therapy,
Psvcho-analysis, Rogerian i herapy, Concept Therapy, etc. t ADA
Bulietin, 1, m (1955), pp. 8-s.

9 Dianotes, z, 15 (December 1952).

 Dianotes, 3, 28 (January l9541, p 5.

'l Letter in the Ghost of Scientolog, m (April May lgs3), p. 8.
proceed, ·vas tov ards a rapprochement with the medical and
psychologic. professions. They viewed Dianetics explicitly as a
form of psychotherapy, tendc to reject thc occult and spiritual
aspects of the theory that developed out of ti notion of thta, such
as past lives, and restricted themselves to the form I practice
presented in Hubbard s early Dianetic works. The shift towards mo]
mechanistic procedures of rote processing, on the basis of ists of
auditing commands, alienated them further.

Some of those who possessed a model of Dianetics as a therapeutic
art advocated thc assimilaion of elements of orthodox healing
theory and practise

...we should not hesitate to carefully examine and integrate
into Dianetics, where applicable, any and all of the techniques
which are in common use in psychologica and psvchiatric practise.
Certainly these practices work to a cer ain exrent; in so far as
they are useful and safe, they will have to be integrated into
Dianctics eventually. If they are not, then Dianetics wiLI not
develop into the complete, well-rounded and comprehensive science
of the mind that it now potent2ally is Finally, a number expressed
a commitment to the notion of Dianetics as a science, indepcndent
of the medical or psychological professions, but rejecting Hubbard
s occult developments.

All such views were reported in the independent Dianetics media.
New techniques werc presented and ncw theories discussed with
considerablr tolerance:

Mr Powers has his ideas about this...others have other ideas .
..and Dianetics ha tolerance:

Mr Powers has his ideas about this...others hav other ideas..
. and Dianetics has room for all.e

The newsletters and bulletins reflect the tolerance and electicism
of many of their readers and correspondents:

I feel in dianetics we have a segment of the truth...but in
order to get this segment of truth in perspective, we need to
compare it to other truths. If so indicated, we can then
individually decide whether or not we wish to add to the original
segment.n

What constituted the truth was held to be an individual aflair, up
to each member of the Dianetics community to determine. As one
E-therapist stressed:

In discussing the psychic aspects of E, I wish to state, first of
all, that whatever I may say is only my truth. By this I mean that
what may be true for me, may not be true for anyone else in the
vorld.:

Hubbard himself did not view such attitudes and developments
favourably. From the tume of the Elizabeth Foundation he had called
developments of Dianetic techniques that he did not sponsor
Black Dianetics 5, and declared

Introductovy Butletin of the Central Pennsyluania Dwnehc Gvvup
(August 1951), pp 2-3. ·theDinnews, r, Z2 (ivfay 1952), p. 10.
CelDzl Bulietin, I, 19 (l9ss), p. 18.

' Dianotes, 3, 33 (June 1954), p 4

L. Ron Hubbard, Suggested Changes in the Organisation of the
Eoundation mimeo (Elizabeth, lev Jersey, 195O). the mixing of
Dianetics with some other therapy to be the source of many problems
with students I

A severe challenge to Hubbards standing in the movement came when
independent auditors began to proclaim that they had produced
clears'. Such auditors were eagerly sought for guidance, training
and auditing, and rapidly moved into positions of leadership in the
Dianetics community. However, it was one of those declared 'clear,
Ronald B. Howes, rather than his auditor, who presented the gravest
potenhal challenge to Hubbard's leadership within the Dianetic
community.

Howes was a Dianeticist in inneapolis. Like many others, he had got
into the movement as a result of the article in Astounding. He had
previously been briedy a convert to Catholicism, and was declared
clear in January 1952. A close associate at this time described him
before he had attained the state of clear, as tending to be a
'promoter with his feet off the ground' and having big ideas which
didn't work due to other people's lacks'.

Howes had been audited by a man who had been associated with the
Wichita oundation. As a result of processing and conversation with
this auditor, Howes went through what appears to have been an
intense mystical expenence which convinced him and many others that
he was clear. Many Dianeticists hurried to VIinneapoLis to meet
him, and Later to Colorado Springs where he established the
Institute of Humanics. Tape-recordings and transcripts of his
conversations with other members of the Minneapolis group, and
visitors were widely circulated. They convey an attitude of
considerable awe on the part of his associates, who regarded him as
capable of displaying miraculous powers: U

 nr nnirclllmls nowfrs We have in Ron me validation for me vision
of 'Perfect aan' which has haunted mankind through the centuries.
Ron will demonstrate the absence of galvanic reflexes to the most
extensive and erbaustive questior ing, the absence of body tremors
or other waste motion such as occulomotor jerks. He will be
eompletely relaxed save for the particular activations required for
particular requirements. He can induce cellular proliferation at
any point in the body, grow cancerous or omer tissue and make it
disappear at will. His sleep requirements are reduced to an optimum
for him of four hours to five hours per night, with fLLI alertness
on awakening. His 'psychic' aetivities are phenomenal; he can
read other's thought-feelings as though they were an open-book..
. His mental ealculations are with extreme speed and preeuion.

He was believed to be engaged on projects such as:

further development of his conquest of gravity and space...
explorations into the mechanics and maaipulability of life and
behaviour towards more optimum human beings and societies.a

I L. Ron Hubbard, 'Instruction Protocol, Omcial', mimeo (20
November l950, -r^lizabeth, NewJersey).

' Grace Krausy, ';\leet Mr Ron B. Hov es', Dlanors, I, m (May
1952), p. 11.

S Dwight H. Bulklzy, 'Introduction' to Gordon Beckstead, ed..
Prologw to Suruiual, Part III (Psychological Research Foundation,
Phoenix, Arizona, 1952) . plonouncements durmg this pcriod without
exttnsive quotation,l btt as a sample:

Q. What is your reading speed compared to what it was? A. It s
mighty fast and improving steadily every day. I noticed and my · if
e remarked upon it, that I seemed to be turning the pages about
mree times as fast. My comprehension of printed materia has gone up
enormously eompared to the past. The most difficult paragraphs in
technical reading are very easy now. No confusion, no identity, no
failure. My ability to pick out errors in judgement of other people
on paper is much higher. Q. How do you find the field of physical
chemistry now? A. I have never discovered a cave with aboriginal
drawings in it but when I opened my physical cbemistry text book I
did. The child bas more intuitive knowledge about the world than
the adult scientist, if the child is reasonably bigh toned. At one
time I was in that state for a period of approximately two years.
There were peaks, of course, and there were valleys. There were
moments when I as an individual was hieher than I am right now, and
certainty was absolute. There were no goals impossible to achieve.
I v-as right. My ability to solve a problem was complete. I cou]d
do it. I was me. I was a strong force. My beart sang and the stars
were alive and then I went to school it may sound like a jest,
but it is not. Our educational system is one of

the finest methods of eontrolling society of which I know, and the
most insidious. Q. Can you be affeeted by baeteria? A. I still
believe there are bacteria wbich I can t resist, but there must be
many 
bacteria which I can resist now that I could never resist before.
ous . Q. What do you contemplate as your duration of life ? A. In
chronological years, if my anti-gravity plan works, I would assume
approximately another four hundred years. Under present 
circumstances, one hundred

and a quarter. Q. How much eoncern have you at this time over
income? A.
None.ofear,worry,anxiety.Allmypostulatesonlosingmyjobdisappeared;
about being successful, disappeared. I can do more for any
partieular persor who employs me than any other person possibly
could. And I find it very easy to talk them into giving me money if
I so desire no difficulty. Vhat experiments have you performed on
yourself?

I ve also tried to see if I can regenerate teeth. For the moment I
ve got some very sore gums but no teeth. Perry suggested to me, in
a roundabout way that I sbould regenerate teeth. Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, I got extremely sore gums. Teeth were pulled
out. I ve regenerated tissue to the maximum extent I can. The
soreness is now disappearing. The gums are much more healthy. Next
point is what constitutes a seed tooth? I think it s possible to
construct them again See Appendix 1.

IncidentaDy, I haven't decided what I am going to look like yet.
It' variable and to a large eLtent subject to one's pleasure.l

Although other auditors also announced that they had produced
clears3 non of these was to cause the ercitement in the ficld of
Dianetics aroused by Howes. He rapidly gained a reputation second
only to Hubbard himself His theories and practices vere widelv
taken up, and the question was raised whether with Hubbard
apparently leaving the field, Howes might be 'A new leader in the
making?'3 Whcn Hubbard began publicizing Scientologv, some
Dianeticists felt the community had split into two 'apparently
conflicting camps of "thought": the Howes ideas and the Hubbardian
ideas'.

'vlany Dianeticists pilgrimaged to the Institute of Humanics in
Colorado Springs to receive processing from him, but he made no
attempt to organizc his clientele, and his prestigc received a
shaltering blow when police investigation of the Institute was
widely reported, and Howes was found to have been claiming a
doctorate ·which he did not possess. Howes closed the Institute,
and although a small personal following remaincd associated with
him, his influence on Dianetics was thereafter negligible.5

While the Dianedcs community was splitting into competing factions,
it was also suffering a considerable attrition of membership..SA/I
had, according to its publisher, sold lo,ooo copies during its
first year of issue. Iany thousand people had tried out the
practice, and a proportion had actively pursued their interest in
Dianetics by taking courses at the Foundation, or by joining
amateur groups A tailing-offof interest had appeared, however, as
early as the beginning of 1 95 t . ^lAhe income of the Eliabeth
Foundation had dropped from $28,160 in January to 520,620 in
February of 95 r .t After the initial boom, a slump had begun to
set in. By mid-lgs2 it was clear to one newsletter editor that: r
TA Fl:,.l. FiAn h Irnnlrd lmll 528.160 in

The publie, it would seem, does not want to participate in
Dianetics, but rather they want to benefi by n....They want, in
Dianetics, to be able to purchase the resultant end
productvithout actively doing the eonstructive work that it
requires, liLe buyhlg an automobile without helping the
assemblage.'

I Gordon Beckstead, ed..Prologue to SUTCWtI Part Il (Psychological
Research Foundation, Phoenir, Arizona, 1952), pp. 5 6. r See 'Jack
Horner' in Ibid..pp. 14 15. 3 Dianotes, 2, 14 (November 1952), p
2.

he CommunicttoT, 1, 9 (Sovember 1952), p n

5 Howes appears to have had iess interest in founding a movement,
than in establishing a self-supporting communitv. He continued in
this attempt after his 'eYposure', founding among others the St
Eloi Corporation where a small group of followers worked with him
on various rrscarch and development projects, including a 'rare-
earth' separation plaut. The community appeas eventually to have
foundered, and Howes and some of.ais followers v-ere leceised
fback] into the Catholic Churcb. nterviews . Documems n.adc
available to me by a lormer Foundation director. 7 Dlanrtes, 1, 12
(June-July 19 i2), p. 2. As another Dianeicist observed in
retrospect, 'Whilst dianetics reaclled thc proportions of a
national craze in 195n, by late 195 1 it had largely collapsed'.l A
number of groups had disappeared, and many had c:perienced a
decline in active membership.

Dianeticists had a number of hypotheses concerning this decline.
The most important reason for the loss of inttrest many believed,
was that the promise had been very great but that it had not been
fulfilled:

The promise made in Dianetias: the Aodern Sciente of Msnal ealh was
a very definite and simple one. It was stated that the application
of the approach described m the book would within a fev hundred
hours of auditing time produce a clearcd :ndividual, free or all
aberrafion. It vas alYo stated that as auditing continued, rogress
toward 'clear became consistently more easy. The resson that
dianetics did not retain is oririnal impetus and, in ract, rapidly
lost almost all the ground it had gained dt first, was due simply
to the iact that, when dianetics was put into practice, it as
obselved that none of these statements was correct.

Inny Dianeticists had become 'disappointed because we wcren't
clears after one hundred hours of processing.S This disappointment
was heightened by the apparent failure of those declared clear' to
perform in a manner regarded as appropriate Sonya Bianca, Sara
Betty Hubbard, Ron Howes; and the failure of the two hundred or so
individuals, Hubbard maintained that he had cleared before the
publication of his book, to manifest themselves in any way.
Hubbard's own behaviour between Igo and 1952 had given some cause
to doubt the efficacy of his 'science'. Others had abandoned
Dianetics in the face of attacks upon it by psychiatrists and
psychologists.4 Yet another reason for attrition was the
presentation of Dianetics as a psychotherapy. Whatever their
feelings about the state of clear, many people had gone into
Dianetics to solve relatively specific problems of illness or
psychological handicap. Whether through spontaneous remission, the
hope given them by Dianetics, the attention they reccived as
pre-clears, or the therapeutic validity of the practice, a number
had felt improved in consequence. Having secured what they had
wanted from Dianetics, some discontinued involvement S

l James H. Schmitz, 'What happened to the rens of thousands ?',
Internalional Dianetic Socie(y Leller, r (1957). ' Ibid.

ilt Carland, 'Remember that bridge?', Dianotes, 1, 5 (December 1
95l) p r.

That people had drawn away from Dianetics because of bad reviews of
L. Ron Hubbard's Dianelcs: Ihe .Uocern Science of Menlal Heallh by
psychologists and psychiatrists, was certrinlv belicvcd by
Dianeticists themselvcs Dianoles, 1, 5 (December

ll;t riews with former glCUp leaders and Dianetic 4uditors.
.4daptatiett t

lrom the earliest days of the movement, Hubbard had attempted to
assert control over its direction and development. He first sought
to control the theorv and practice of the movement, attempting to
prevent the submergence of his own ideas under the weight of
synthesis, or ideologicai or technical innovation. While technical
innovations by others were permitted, such developments only
received publici in official media if they were approved by
Hubbard:

Our subject is standard procedure, a routine of auditing devised
byJames E. Hurt in July of 1950. It had become obvious by that time
that many people, who had studied the book only, were running into
problems which their knowledge of dianetic procedure would not
resolve. When this became apparent to Jim, he sat down one evening
and outlined a procedure for dianetic processing which would
eliminate these apparently irresolvable situations. His plan was
studied by Mr Hubbard ard then adopted by the Foundation for
general use.l

Other theoTehcal or technical innovations of which Hubbard did not
approve, or which had not been submitted for his approval, were
attacked in official publications:

E-therapy is an outgrowth of an amalgamation between dianetics and
a system of opinion held by an individual. The advice of the
Foundation is: Don t use it. At best, it is another wi]d variable
in an area which already has too many variables. At worst, it can
be actually dangerous. Dianebcs should not be diluted.

As early as hlSMH, Hubbard had attempted to protect the practice
against compounding:

Don t mix gasoline and alcohol, or dianetics and other therapy
except purely medical...

Crossing Dianetics with an older therapy was considered one source
of troubles with studen s in training and a dangerous practice. The
term Black Dianetics had come into use at the Elizabeth Foundation
with the meaning of any form of, or vanation on, Dianetics, or any
use of it, of which Hubbard disapproved. The dangers of Black
Dianetics became a part of the course

I Anonymous, An Outline of Dianehe Standard Procedure, mimeo
transcription of tape, n.d..probably 195l. For a general statement
of this policy, see L. Ron Hubbard, A definition of standard
proeedure, Appendix Two, Science of surDira st edn (Hubbard
Dianetic Foundation, Wicbita, Kansas, 1951).

2Dianetir Auditor's duttetin, 1, 8 (February 1951). See also L. Ron
Hubbard, A definition of standard procedure, op. cit..p. go8,
where an attack is made on a doctor who can be no other than Joseph
Winter, for his attempts to develop, without facilities or
expenence, eertain techniques of application .

MS.llrl, p. ag8. L. Ron Hubbard, Instruction Protocol, Official,
op. cit. 2 Slil,p. 165curriculum at the Wichita Foundation,
although it was not a widely publicized idea until Scientology was
launched.l

Having established the existence of heresy, Hubbard had also to
establish machinery for locating and managing it. This remained
rudimentary during the Dianetics period. A locrd of Ethics was
established at the Elizabeth Foundation in November 1950 with the
brief of 'checking on alignment with Standard Procedure',s but the
activities of this Board do not appear to have had any great
influence on the Dianetic community at that hme.

An attempt was also made to constrain the free use of the term
'Dianetics' and to exercise some control over independent and
competing professional schools:

Dianetics has encountered its greatest difficulty with those who
have tried to jump on the bandwagon for personal gain. It has had
to resort to legal measures against unqualified persons who stvle
themselves professional d!aneticists, those who rnisreprescnt the
name of dianetics by opening unauthorised schools and clinics and
others who attempt to publish plagiarised or fraudulent dianetic
literature.'

Hubbard and his associates also sought to distinguish Dianetics
from what its detractors in the press had seen as its principal
sources, hypnosis and psychoanalysis. Dianetics was distinguished
from hypnosis by a number of factors. In Dianetic auditing, the
pre-clear retained full consciousness of his environment, and of
what occurred. No form of positive suggestion was used, it was
argued. Indeed post-hypnotic suggestion was regarded as aberrative
in Dianehcs, and a form of engram.4 Hypnosis was held to be
dangerous since while in the trance state, anything said by the
therapist would be engramic.6

Psychoanalysis was held to differ from Dianetics in that the former
was concerned primarily with sex, while this vas only one among
four dynamics in Dianetics Psychoanalysis sought to recover
unconscious memories only from childhood (or in the Rankian
variant, from the birth trauma) while Dianetics returned to the
pre-natal period. While psychoanalysis stressed itight as an

IL.RonHubbard,'Danger:BlackDianetics',ournalofScientoloy, 3G,n.d.
(1952), p. 7. the term had been emploved publicly before in
reference to A. L. Kitselman s E-Therapy. Alan A. Engelbardt 'An
analysis of E-Therapy' in Waldo Boyd, ed..Sulement o. 2 o 'Science
of SUrDiual' (Wicbita, 1951), p. 4n There are, of course, close
parallels between 'Black Dianetics' and 'Malicious Animal
Magnetism' which Mrs Eddy accused her apostate and heretic students
of employing to evil ends.

2John Maloney, 'Organisational Memorandum', mimeo (6 November 1950,
Elizabeth Foundation).

S the Dianamic, 1, 16 (30 March 1951), p. 2. It is unhkely these
'legal measures' ever went beyond attorney's threats, though a
progress report issued by the Foundation in August 1951 indicated
that suit bad been filed against one individual wbo, althougb not a
qualified auditor, was advertising courses in Dianetics, and giving
the degree of Dianetic Auditor upon graduation. Reported in the
Dianews, 1, Ig (December 195-), Pp. 6-7

4 hrSMH, p. 66.

S Ibid..p. 124. 90

 THIS CULT AND ITS TRANSFOrtlATlON

esscntial therapeutic agent, Dirnetics stressed the recounting of
incidents to the point where they were erased. he Dianetic auditor,
unlike the psychoanalyst, never interpreted or eva]uated material,
but only acknowledged it.l

Hubbard's most important reaction to the crisis within Dianetics,
however, was its abandonment, and the promulgation of Scientology
as a separate system of beliefs and practices. It was around this
ideological innovation that all other adaptations were based.2

As early as the Elizabeth Foundation, Hubbard bad found that
pre-clears produced material which seemed to have no relation to
their experienee in this life It appears that he briedy resisted
the notion that this material emanated from past lives,3 but
sbortly became reconciled to this view and began experimentation
on the running of past-life engrams.4 It is not hard to see how a
Convichon of past lives would develop out of Dianetic technique.
Since the loeation of the basic-basic and its erasure would quickly
result in clearing the case, it followed that if individuals were
not cleared there mus necessarily be an earlier ineident to
resolve.6 When pre-elears had returned to conception without
elearing as a consequence, they began to produce material prior to
conception of the 'sperm-dream' variety 6 When even this did not
solvc the problem, some began recalling past deaths. Hubbard had
also early noted the phenomenon of 'exteriorization',' buin
Dianetics this was seen as a matter to be htmdled by releasing
'moments of painful emotion' before turning to the process of
engram running.S In Scientology, extenonzation was a state to be
sought. Both pastlnes and extenorization were predicated on the
assumption of the 'thetan', the entity which could exteriorize from
the body, the essential persistent individuality that formed the
continuity between various past lives.

I Donald H. Rogers 'Dianeties and psychoanalysis', Danetic
Auditor's Bulletin, I, 8 (February rgSI). Hubbard later wrote a
'critique' of psychoanalysis along largely these lines, L. Ron
Hubbard, 'A critique of psycho-analysis', Part One, ceTtainty 9 7
(rg62); Part Two Cerainty, 9, 8 (1962).

: Dianetics again became part of the corpus of Scientological
theory and practice after the return of the Hubbard Dianetic
Research Foundation to Hubbard's control in late 1954. See p. 95
below.

a Students of the Elizabeth Foundahon have claimed that the first
person to 'run a past-life' was expelled from the course. I have
been unable to verify this, although reference is also made to this
story by George v1alko, Scientology, Ihe ,fow Religion (Dell
Publishing Co, ew York, 970), p. j7, and certainly up to and
including August 195: and the publication of Science of Surviual,
Hubbard's public pronouncements on past-lives were extremely
cautious.

' Winter, op. cit..p. 189

L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics: (he Origina/ thesis, Scientology
Publications Organization (Copenhagen, 91), p. 16. First
published HDRF, Wichita, Kansas, 195

. ' Winter, op. cit..p 189.

' A dissociated state in which the individual believes himself to
be outside his body It is a familiar synptom in psychiatry, and
llas had an important role in oceult and religious eYperience as
'astral travel'.

MSM, p. 256.

Scientology ·vas a new revelation entirely transcending the
limitations of Dianetics. While Dianetics had been a form of
psychotherapy concerned with eradicating the limitations on the
achievement of full human potential, Scientology was heralded as
the 'Science of Certainty' concerned with rehabilitating the thetan
to its full spiritual capacity.

Wbile Hubbard's theory and techniques had been moving increasingly
in this direction, it was not until his break with Purcell and the
Wichita Foundation that Hubbard established Scientology in Phoenix,
Arizona. Phoenix had a flourishing Dianetics community, organized
under the auspices of the Psychological Research Foundation, and
an independent auditing practice, which provided an immediate
clientele on which Hubbard could draw. (As the Scientologv
organization correctly point out, however, Hubbard's parents lived
in Phoenix at this time. This may have influenced his decision to
settle there briefly.) In Phoenix, Hubbard established the Hubbard
Association of Scientologists (HAS), and a ,orlraal, which
announced that he had discovered 'The source of life energy'l and
the reason for the existence of matter, energy, space, time and
thought 2

On the basis of his new revelation Hubbard sought to establish
control over the Dianetics community. His publications roundlv
attacked the Wichita Foundation which had continued to operate
under Purcell's ownership. He hinted broadly that receipts from the
sale of his books had found their way into private pockets (other
than his own) rather than into furthering the purposes of the
Foundation. It was asserted that the directors of the earlier
Foundations had been motivated solely by a desire for profit.3 The
Wichita Foundation was classed as an 'unauthorized' group and it
was argued that rm A fnr nr f a Thc Wrchita Folmdation was

the enormous change in Scientology in the last year and the great
advance in its effectiveness...have rendered unimportant
organisations which falsely o6fer certification in Dianetics or
Scientology.'

Purcell found it necessary to defend himself against the charge
that he aimed to destroy Dianetics or Ron Hubbard, and that he had
received half a million dollars from the American qedical
Association to put the Foundation into bankruptcv S Hubbard
appealed to the amateur following, seeking to secure its support

,ournul of Sclentology, 3G ( I gsz), p. n Z Ibid..p. 2 ournal of
Scientoloy, 4G ( rgs2), p. I . Later Hubbard would refer to 'money
mad millionnaires, crooked, dishonest and incompetent management .
..' Professionzl .luditor's Bulletin r (May rg53), p 1. ournal of
Scientolog, gG (rg j2). c Letter from Don Purcell, he Donrus, r, z2
(3r May rgs2), p. r2. On the splil between Hubbard and the Wichita
Foundation, sce also Helen O'Brien, Dianetics in Lirnbo (Whitmore
Publisbing Co, Phiiadelphia, r 966), pp. 49 5 r . against the
Wichita Foundation, placing many Dianeticists in a considerable
dilemma:

While the Foundation has not asked us to renounce Hubbard in order
to work with the Foundation, Hubbard has irsisted that we follow
only him and reject all others. If we do not do this, he replies by
rejecting usP

This appeal was supported by changes in organizational practice.
Those who adopted ScientologicaL theory or techniques were at first
urged to join the HAS, but by late rg,;4 more forceful methods were
employed to secure support.

Amateur groups were notified by the Hubbard Association of
Scientologists International (to which the HAS had been changed)
that:

...only a member...of the HASI or itr amliated organisations
shall have the right to yossess and use the information of
Scientology.

As a result, a new policy for amateur groups was to be enforced. To
qualify as amliated groups all group members were to hold HASI
memberships nnd monthly reports of activihes were to be submitted
to the HASI. Those groups which did not comply would be regarded as
inactive and have their certificates revoked, and would become
ineligible for Scientology materials.

A simiLar policy was also applied to independent practitioners. A
Committee of Examination, Certification and Services had been
established by the HASI to secure conformity from practitioncrs.
Practitioners who had manifesed a consistently independent line of
thought were informed that their right to practice Dianetics and
Scientology, and their cerhficates as professional auditors, were
revoked.5

A former member of the Committee of Examination, Cerhfication and
Services expressed the direction of policy at this time.

A lot of other things came out, ideas and -ologies, and some people
halted at the split and some...took off in their own direction.
..Ron was trying to get a codified procedure and a set of
ethics...and a standard group activity...But this is pretty
hard when there are people calling it psychology, or a guy is still
being a psychologist, or a Rosicrucian, or a 'Mixologist'. We were
trying to be a Scientologist, be a group...It was trying to
define, to differentiate Scientology from other -ologies. This was
the basic effort of that time and it did come out in revocation of
certificates.

These policies aroused protest from those sectors of the Dianetic
community which had not followed Hubbard unquestioningly, and saw
this as an attempt on Hubbard's part to secure a monopoly of
Dianetics and Scientology,s and as authoritarian s

7heDanews, 1, r2 (31 May 1952), p. t. : Letter from HASI Group
Secretary to Group Members, g October 1954. J Dianoes, 4, g7
(October 1954). nterview with former member of CECS. 'Poor Man's
Psychitry', Dianotes, 4, 39 (December 1 g$4). r Bristol Dianehr
Revirw, 3, 3 t (October 1954), pp. 1 70l

Since his removal to Phoeni:c, Hubbard had sought to secure the
support of some of the Dianetic newsletters and magazines, and
through them, of the Dianetic commlmity. In a letter published in
one of these newsletters he expressed his dissatisfaction with
the factional state of Dianetics and Scientology: 'these splinter
groups and copyists are holding back the entire movement of
Dianetics and Scientology .'1 Only one of the many newsletters
responded by adopting a totally Hubbardian line. The editor of 7h
Glost of Scientolog)! attacked deviation from Hubbard's policy, and
supported him in his attempt to gain control of the field:

If you are not a Hubbardian Scientologist, then you are not a
'seientologist' at all, as Hubbard coined that word to fit HIS
Science.t This publication attacked other newsletters which did not
follow the same practice and individual practitioners who continued
to adopt, sponsor, or promulgate non-Hubbardian theory and
technique.3

Hubbard's own publications followed a similar practice, advocating
the harassment of groups which appeared to be engaged in any
activity remotely connected with Dianetics and Scientology, but not
approved by the HASI:

if you discovered that some group calling itself 'precept
processing had set up and established a series of meetings in your
area...you would do all you could to make things interesting
for them. In view of the fact that the HASI holds copyrights for
all sueh material...the least that eould be done...is the
placement of a suit against them for using materials of scientology
without authority...The purpose of the suit is to haras and
discourage rather than to win. 1'hc law can bc osed very easily to
harass, and enough harassment on somebody The law can be used very
easily to harass, and enough haraisment on somebody wbo is simply
on t'oe thin edge anyway, well knowing that he i9 not authorised,
will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. if
potSible, of course, ruin him utterly.g

Independent newsletters were also threatened with legal action if
they persisted in 'defaming' Scientology.5 It was suggested that
one editor had practised fraud6 when he had earlier worked for the
EIASI, and a detective agency was commissioned to investigate
another editor 'to disclose any criminal past or connections..
.'7

An attempt was made to force organizations of independent
practitioners to disband. The California Association of Dianetic
Auditors, for example, was informed that its charters, certificates
and permissions to employ Dianetics

LetterfromL. RonHubbard, theGhostofScientoioy, IO (April-May
Ig53),p 2. J theGhostofScientoloby, 11 (IsJune Ig53),p.4.

Ibid. 1l (15 June 1953), pp lo, 15, 16; 14 (20 November 1953), pp.
5, 7; 17 (25June 1954) passim. : 'Di semination of matenal, Abilily
lajor, 1, n.d. (late Igs4/early 1955), p. 7.

'Aberee [sic] you said it', Abiiity Minor, g, p. 3.

7 'Detective Hired', Ibid..p. 1l; Blistoi Dinetic JieDiew, 4, g7
(April 1955), p. 6; he abertee, 1, 6 (Oetober 1954), p. Ig; the
Abaee, 1, 7 (November 1954), p. 1. were withdrawn.l Since it was an
independent corporation, however, its members declined to disband
and refused to observe the requirement of the HASI that all CADA
members also become members of the HASI.r

Hubbard sought to move Scientology away from the amateur
practitioner basis of Dianetics. Group processing had been
extensively promoted during 1954, but an increasing distinction was
emerging between the certified auditor and the ordinary rnember The
latter was permitted only limmted access to information. Trainh g
became a prerequisite for access to advanced matenais.5 Advanced
training and certification were centralized in the HASI and its
associate schools, and an attempt was made to require practising
auditors to contract to pay a percentage of their fees to the HASI,
and to sign promissory notes for 55000 as a bond of good
behaviour.4 This attempt to control practitioners met with little
success and the policy was abandoned.5

While Hubbard sought to exert control over practitioners and other
followers in the field, he also t!ghtened controi over his central
organization, dismissing officers who failed to perform precisely
in accordance with his requirements.5 Executive officers in
Hubbard's organizations typically enjoyed only brief tenure-in
office. In 19J4 dnring an absence in ngland, for example, Hubbard
directed the leaders o;his Philadelphia Associate School to move
the HASI from Phoenix to Philadelphia; fire various officers; and
hghten up control on the flow of information to members of suspect
loyalty. On his return from America, in the face of a barrage of
protest from followers against the actions of his Philadelpbia
lieutenants, Hubbard disclaimed all responsibility for the actions
they had talten and expelled them £om office.7

Hubbard progressively gained complete control over Scientology, its
membership, ideology, practices and organizations. The
development of those sectors of the Dianetics movement which did
not follow Hubbard was very different. The Wichita Foundation
continued to operate after Hubbard's departure, but its membership
and clientele declined rapidly in the absence of Hubbard. By 1 954
the active membership of the Foundation was down to l r 2 . While
originally aiming to remain within the field of Dianetics, new
theories and techniques were developed at the Foundation, leading
to an increasing diffuseness of its ideological base and a
decline in the immediacy of its appeal.i Don Purcell had become
disillusioned with Dianetics, and increasingly interested in a new
development produced by one of the HDRF members, 'Synergetics':

I Ability Major, u, n.d. (early 1955). t Dunbrr'sARC (1 l April
1955), p..Disseminatmn of material', Ability Mejor, I, p. m . :
the aberree, 3, 1 (April 1955), p. 9. 5 interview wlth former
members of CECS. ' Letter from Reg Gould, e-director, HAS London .
..the Ghost oJ Scientolog, (January 1954), p 1l. 7 Imerviews Also
see Helen O'Brien, op. cit..pp. 68 77. · Dienrtics roey 3, 7 (July
1954). In synergetics Art Couher has created a new scientific
approach to the solution to the problem we are dealine with.
Synergetics includes much that is included in dianetics and a great
deal that is not.l

Late in 1954, Purcell announced that he would support Dianetics no
longer, but would devote his resources in future to Coulter's
Synergetics. After tahng a 'straw voe' among the membership
concerning disposal of the Wichita Foundation, Purcell advised
Hubbard that he would hand over to him the Hubbard Dianetic
Research Foundation whose principal assets were the copyrights to
sl/S..and a mailing list. Hubbard accepted gladly, and announced
that 'the entire and complete control without contest of Dianetics,
as well as Scientology...' was vested in the HASI 2 It was
undoubtedly the return of Dianetics to Hubbard's control which led
to the more rigorous attempts to end fringe practices, exclude
practitioners who compounded Dianetics or Scientology with other
practices, and force critical newsletters to cease publication.

Some of the remaining amateur groups and newsletters allied
themselves with one of the leaders who had emerged from the
Dianetic community to found their own InstitutesCoulter's
Synergetics, Howes' Humanics, Welgos' Institute of Integration.3
Others moved toward an increasingly eclectic position, or shifted
their ideological loyalties to other systems of thought.
Minneapolis Dianetics Inc and the Minnesota Scientology Council,
for example, had united in 1954 as a result of the reuniting of
Dianetics and Scientology in Hubbard s hands. By 1955, however,
they had split again because of conflict between the two groups.
The Dianetic group which controlled the newsletter, / he Dianotes,
moved under the auspices of the Institute of Humanics. It later
pnnted an increasing number of articles promoting the practice of
Yoga. Another prominent newsletter, ·the qtierree, moved
progressively further from Dianetics and Scientology, becoming
after 1956 an open forum in which followers of any cultic belief
could present their ideas. During the following years articles
appeared on astrology, atlantis, Totology, Yoga, ew Thought, mystic
Christiamty, hypnosis, numerology, Subud, etc. By 1961 it bad
become a general occult-metaphysical magazine with only one small
article on Dianetics in its July-August issue.

The founder of E-Therapy, A. L. Kitselman, attempted to found an
eclectic colony devoted to self-improvement:

...the Pyramid Lake Project is a resort-community specialising
in the human mind and its functions.

I Don G. Purcell, 'Special Announcement', Dinnetios oday, 3, m
(October 1954) "Dianetics and Scientology organisations united
again', Grop JewsleUer (September 1954)

S Only Synergetics and E-Therapy appear to have survived through
the 19505, and Synergehcs disappeared early in the 19605.

' See Dlanotes, volume 4, nos 47 (August 195s), 48 (September
1955); and volumc 5, nos 5t (December 1955), 52 (January 956), etc.
The Projeet was started on October Ist of 1956 by A. L. Kitselman,
developer of a form of lay psychotherapy known as 'E-Therapy'. It
was Kitselman's wish, however, to establish a project not
dominated by any one man or doetrine, and, accordingly, the
Pyramid Lake Project is being used by many persons who have little
interest in E-Therapy. Now that the Project has completed its first
year there is nothing spectacular to report. The enterprise is
slowly growing in size, and persons who are strongly interested
in self-improvement are becoming permanent residents at Pyramid
Lake. Others visit the Projeet regularly whenever free to do soP

The project shortly failed, however, although Kitselman continues
to write on, and practice, E-Therapy and appears to have a small,
unorganized Eollowing.2 Only scattered individuals remain in the
United States who maintain a loyalty to early Dianetics. As far as
I can ascertain there are now no full-time Dianetic practitioners
in America practising only the Dianetics of the early years. Only
one independent organization remains to foster the practice of
traditional Dianetics, the California Association of Dianetic
Auditors, with a persistently declining membership.

In England, after the establishment of the Dianetic Association
Ltd, and thc Dianetic Federation of Great Britain, as loose
national organizations to facilitate communication betv een
Dianetic groups, and between them and the American organizations,
Hubbard announced that hc would visit England, and proposed the
establishment of a Hubbard Dianetic Foundation in Great Britain as
a subsidiary of the HAS. Some leading British Dianeticists favoured
the establishment of a Foundation but felt that his 'proposal re
control would not necessarily be acceptable to all British
Dianeticists'.3

Hubbard was not prepared to accept the attempts by some British
Dianetics leaders to limit his authority He approached a
Dianeticist outside the leadership echelons of the movement and
asked her to establish a Hubbard Association of Scientologists in
Britain, as a profit rather than non-profit corporation, and under
his complete control. As he made clear in his letters to her, he
blamed the failure of the Dianetic Foundations on the fact that he
lacked complete control over them, and had no desire for members or
co-directors with voting rights in Scientology organizationS He saw
no virtues in the factional independent groups around which
Dianetics was organized in Britain and sought to establish a strong
central organizatiOn which would eliminate them.4 The HAS vas
established in London When Hubbard made his first visit to England
in late 952 groups rapidly flocked to affiliate with the HAS, and
independent Dianetics

AnonymousmimeosbeetNewsfrompyramidLakec :957.

'Amonghiswntingsare,forexample:A.L.Kitselman, HelloStuid!
(Translator's Press, La Jolla, California, 1962); E-ther:y
(Institute of Integration, New 'ork, 1953); What ntegraton is About
(Inshtute of Integration, La Jolla, California, 1960) .

' British dianetics the present position', icentre: Bullehn of
the Dianetie Federation of Gre:t Britain, z (September 1952), p 1.

L Ron Hubbard, Letters to -D-, August-September 1952. groups almost
cntirely disappeared. The last remaining independent group finally
disbanded and ceased pubhcation of its newsletter in 1955l in the
face of increasing hostility from the HAS.s

The personal paths of those involved in Dianetics during the early
rgSOs provided the pattern for the development of the groups,
organizations, and publications. It is not possible to calculate
how many of the initial following remained with Hubbard during the
transihon to Scientology. A number experienced no difficulty in
making this transition. Some do not seem to have noticed any major
change:

I wasn't too aware of that [the transition from Dianetics to
Seientology]...I went to Phoenix with the idea that I was going
to study Dianetics, but when I came there they gave us some
Dianetics and then it was already Scientology and I just couldn't
see too terrible big a difference behveen Dianetics and
Scientology. It all dealt with communicatioDs and getting a person
to trace back his experiences. I wasn't unhappy about that [thc
notion of past ]ives as a matter of fact I am very fascinated with
it....I found it very absorbing.t

Some lost interest as their own problems seemed to be resolved; as
a result of domestic or occupational pressures on their time; as a
result of alienation from Hubbard's progressively more overtly
metaphysical pronouncements; or through some combination of these
factors. Others left from hoshlity to Hubbard's organizational
changes.

Among the early Dianeticists from whom interviews were obtained,
many ol those who objected to what they thought was a developing
authoritarianism ir Hubbard's organization, passed on from Dianehcs
to other forms of culti belief:

We did a period of research wim something connected with something
they do in California, and also other typei of Dianetic teehniques.
Benefit came when we went on to study Ouspensky e GurdjieE We
became interested in Indian stutf, Hindu and meditations. We've
been interested in meditative techniques. I find meditation of
tremendous benefit. I've gone on to Krishnamurti...I personally
consider I've reached the end with Krishnamurti because the things
he teaches are so true to life...so concrete...I'd come
across Krishnamurti before Dianetics and found him very difficult
to underztand, but after Dianetirs I really began appreciating
him.:

Some continued the practice of early Dianetics, paying little or no
attention to Hubbard's later developments, although introducing
modifications of their own. A number of others made a point of
indicating to me that they had later joined MNSA.s

Bristol Dicneht Reuiew, 4, 40 (August-September 1955). ristol
Divnelit Review, 3, 27 (June rg54); 3, 32 (November 1954). S
Interview: Amencan Dianeticist.

l Interview: English Dianeticist.

5 While MrNsA is not a self-improvement organization it seems to
have a clear status-conferring and ego-enhancing function for
individuals who are convinced they In titutionalfregility and the
strategy of settarianization The origins and early development of
Dianetics bear a close resemblance to those of a number of other
cultic movements. Mary Baker Eddy claimed a new revelation which
led her o move away from the ideas of Phineas P. Quimby which she
had earlier taught under the name Moral Science. Aspects of the
healing practice most closely associated with Quimby, such as
manual manipulation of the patient's bead, were dropped, and new
doctrines such as that of malicious animal magnetism and a
radically idealist metaphvsics were introduced. Mrs Eddy's
developing system drew heavily on Quimby's work as well as owing a
lesser debt to other currents of thought then prevalent in lew
England: Transcendentalism, Swedenborgianism and spiritualism.l
Wben faced by challenges to her authority both from members of her
Church, and from former student who had established their own
Institute and Colleges and had begun developing new ideas of theory
and practice, or combining Christian Science with Theosophy or even
orthodo.Y medical practice, Mrs Eddy dissolved or suspended the
operation of the movement's organization. In their place she
erected thc highly centralized Mother Church, administered through
a personally appointed bureaucracy. She drastically reduced the
authority of local leaders by limiting their duration of office; of
teachers by permitting them to teach only the preliminary levels of
doctrine and by rcstricting the frequency of their classes; and of
practitioners by mahng their continued practice depend on their
good standing with the central organization. Mcmbers were forbidden
to join more than a limited range of voluntary

Members were forbidden to join more than a limited range of
voluntary associations; constrained from seeking medical assistance
or advice; and forbidden to read other occult or metaphysical
literature. Mrs Eddy's preoccupation with the induence of
maliciouS animal magnetism sensihzed her followers to the dangers
of the world outside the safety of the Church S

Bryan R. Wilson, 'The Origins of Chrutian Scienee: a survey', the
Hibbtrt

70urnat, 57 (1959), pp. 161-70.

s Roy Wallis, 'Ideology, authoritY and the development of culic
movements', Sociat cscarch, 4r, 2 (1974), pp. 299-327. Roy Wallis,
'A comparative analysis of problems and processes of change in two
manipulationist movements: Christian Science and Scientology', in
the Contempoavy Metamorphosis of letigion? Ch of the r2th
International Conference on the Sociology of Religion (The Hague,
Netherlands, 1973), pp. 407-22; Ernest S. Bates and John V.
Dittemore, .Uary Baker Eddy: thc

rruth and rhc rradition (George Routledge & Sons, London, 1933);
Edwin Franden Dakin, Mrs Eddy: the Biography of a Virginal .:.find
(Charles Scnbner's & Sons, London 1929); Charles S. Braden,
Chistain Sience roday (Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas,
TeYas, 1958); Bryan R. Wilson, Sects and Soeiety (Heinemann,
London, 1961).

have greater capabilities than their other status attributes would
suggest. It provides a conviction of hidden powers, talents and
abilihes for individuals who lack clear sourcrs of such conviction
in their other achievements It perhaps provides a functional alter-
native for those ·who sought psychological and social improvement
through Dianetics. Science teaching Its founders, Gharles and
Myrtle Fillmore appear to havc been active in the cultic milieu of
Kansas City. Charles Fillmore had been a follower of spiritualism
for many years and had a clear acquaintance with various
metaphvsical schools, as well as having contact with a number of
Christian Science schismatics and teachers in the emerging New
Thought movement. The sources of Unity teaching have been traced in
Nev Fngland Transcendentalism, Theosophy, Christian Science,
spintualism, and New Thought.l

The movement was organized pnmarily through the medium of a number
of magazines produced by the Fillmores. ihile early editions of
their magazines exhibited an eclectic orientation, containing
articles on Christian Science, Theosophy, spiritualism and
Rosicrucianism, they progressively movcd toward a more rigid and
intolerant editorial policy, and a less open doctrinal system.
Flements dcrived trom Christian Science and the New Thought
Movement bccame more prominent, although Unity was disting ushed
from these movements by the extent to which it incorporated
fcatures of traditional Christian doctrine. Unity broke with the
loose International New Thought Alliance because of the
'open-platform' policv ot' that bodv, which permitted lecturers rom
all affiliaed groups to lecture at centres of other members. The
Fillmorcs began to resent this freedom to present ideas at vanance
with their own at Unity centres, particularly when they discovered
that in some centres teachers were holding spiritualist seances and
practising numerology.t

A 'Statcment of I'aith' W1.3 drawn np, to which followcrs werc
required to subscribc, mld grcatcr controls ovcr millisers and
centrc Icadcrs implcmcntcd.

A 'Statement of Faith' was draun up, to which followers were
required to subscribe, and greater controls over ministers and
centre leaders implemented. Formerly autonomous centres were
required to use texthooks and other literature published by the
central organization, and to eliminate all literature and teachings
not approved by the leadership.3

Dianetics, Christian Science and Unity illustrate in their early
years the problem of institutional fragility faced by the leaders
of cultic movements. Their belief-systems were precarious in that
thev were liable to selective acceptance and synthesis by seekers
recruited often from other cultic groups. Authority within the
movement was open to challenge by practitioners, teachers and
leaders of local followings. The commitment of members was limited
because the doctrine and practice offered was not seen as having
anv unique salvational efficacy, and hence the loyalty of members
was often shared with other groups and practices.

James Teener, 'Unity School of Ghristianity', Unpublished Phr)
dissertation,

J. Shllson udag, 7 k Hislory ard Philosohy oJhe .fetallys)cal
lforemer5 ir .merica (Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1967), p.
z44.

Roy Wallis, 'Ideoloy, authority and the development of cultic
mosements', op. 100

THE CULT AND ITS TRANSFORMATION

These features of cultic movements provide a set of environmental
and structural contingencies with hich the movement leadership i5
faced. They pose a threat to the persistence of the collectivity.
In the face of such a threat, a strategy of sectarianizatiOn, the
arrogation and centralization of authority and control, appears to
have had a considerable appeal to cult leaders. If successfully
implemented as in the cases of Dianehcs, Christian Science, and
Unity such a strategy may result in the emergence of a distinct
ideology which only the leadership may interpret or ctend; a
reduction in the autonomy of members and prachtioners; and the
emergence of a stable and cohesive collectivity organized around
the leader. 4. THEORY AND ITS

TRANSMISSION Several million words have been written on the heory
and practice of Scientology, for the most part by Hubbard
himself. While the basis of the theory has changed relatively
little since 1952, the techniques employed to secure the ends
specified by the theory have changed frequently as one thing after
another was tried in an effort to find the set of techniques which
would routinely achieve these ends. A full account of the theory
and practise of Scientology and their vicissitudes over the past
twentv-two years or so would be tiresome and unenlightening,
perhaps even to the committed adherent. Moreover, much of the
matenal to provide such an account consists of confidential
documents and tape-recordings available only to the thoroughly
initiated. However, published materials do permmt the presentation
of an outline of the theory of Scientolog and a description of some
of the techniques that have been prominently employed It is hoped
that the following account will convey the 'flavour' of both
practic and doctrine, although it must necessarily fall short of
being a complete set o recipes for the attainment of the state of
'Operating Thetan'.

Cos7nologic Cos?lologictt The theory and practice of Scientology is
underpinned by a eosmology. Hubbard's notion of 'theta' began life
as 'thought' or as an impersonal life-force, but became in the
course of several re-workings an animate entity, the 'thetan'. The
thetan according to Hubbard is

A Static with the ability to eonsider, postulate, and have
opinions, that has, through postulates and considerations,
developed a differentiation from the static theta. The thetan is me
'I' the individual that force, not a part of the physical universe,
which is direeting the organismB The thetan is immortal.
'omniscient and omnipotent'.t the true self of each individual,
which has ecisted since before the beginning of matter, energy,
space, L. Ron Hubbard, 'the Creation of Humon Abiiity (Scientology
Publications, London, ), p. 286.

2 Robert H. Thomas, Guardian of the Church of Scientology in the
l;SA, quoted in Omar V. Garrison, 'the Hdden Story of ScientoloFy
(Arlington Books, London, 1974), P-53 104

TtlE SECT: SCIE:'ITOLOGY

and time. These latter are merely the creations of thetans bored
with their existence. 'Life' Hubbard assures us, 'is a game'.1 To
enliven the game, thetans permitted limitations upon their
abilities They began to create matter, energy, space, and time
(MEST), to form universes and worlds with which, and in which, they
could play. These worlds might take any varietv of forms, but
gradually the thetans became increasingly attracted by the
universes they had creatcd. ProgTessively they became absorbed into
the games they were playing, permitting further limitation of their
abilities, imposing limitations upon other thetans, forgetting
their spiritual nature, and becoming more dependent upon the
matenal universes that they had created. While the MEST universe
began as the postulation of thetans it gradually acquired an
overwhelming sense of reality. The thetans became so enmeshed in
thcir creation they forgot their origins and true status, lost the
ability to mobilize their spiritual capacities, and came to believe
that they v ere no more than the bodies they inhabited.S

Hubbard therefore claims that each thetan has taken on many
millions ot MEST bodies dunng the tnllions of years of its e
tistence. During this time it has been subjected to many traumas,
such as the loss (through death) of the MEST body with which it has
come to identify itself entirely; attacks by other thetans or other
life forms (in which 'implants' are received); and the psychic
damage to itself which accrues when the thetan, or the body which
it w-as inhabiting, harmed or sought to control another. 'lhe
techniques of Scicntology aim to harmed or sought to control
another. The techniques of Scientology aim to restore to the thetan
his original capabilities:

Almost the entiretv of Scientology consists of the discovery and
refinement of methodr whereby the Thetan can be persuaded to
reinquish his self-imposed limitations.a

Having relinquished them, the individual achieves the state of
'Operating Thetan', a state, the exalted nature of which, is
indicated by the following:

Operating Thetan has not before been known as a state of being on
Earth. Neither Lord Buddha nor Jesus Christ were OTs according to
the evidence. They were just a shade above Cleal.'

The methods emploed in the process of achienng the states of clear
and OT, have taken a number of forms,

Incidents on the whole track' or the recordings of events possessed
in the forrn of 'facsimmles' or mental image pictures by each
thetan, may be 'run' (that is, audited or processed) as engrams.
Have 'rOu Lived Before his Life? is a collection

L Ron Hubbard, Seientoloy 8-8aoe3 (Hubbard College of Scientology,
East Grinstead, Sussex, 1967), p. m7.

Christopher Evans, Cults of Unrezson (Harrap, London, 1973), pp.
43-5; Cyril Vosper, The hrind Benders (Neville Spearman, London,
1971), pp. Z8-31; Garrison, op. cit..pp. 49-s3 3 Vosper, op. cit..
p. 31. Ability, 81 [c 1959], p. 6. of reports by auditors and
pre-clears of the processhsg of whole-track (or past-life) engrams.
For e:cample: Scientolrir's e,bort Located the incident with the
command 'Have you ever died?' The F-meter needle dropped. 'Was it
more than mo years ago?' ,eedle dropped..Carried on like this
and finally located it at ss,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo years ago..
. 'Be in that incident'. 'Whrt part of that incident can you
confront?' and we were away. First picture that came was of the
sea, great deal of unreality but by discussion and conbnuing the
question 'What part of tha incident can you confront?' various
other pictures and sensations uncovered which eventually added up
to a section of the incident concerning a giant Manta Ray type of
acquauc creature which the preclear had seen while underwater...
the engram started on [a] spaeeship. The ship had needed an
outside repair. On going outside, the preclear had been hit bv a
meteorite particle which had not punctured the suit. At this point
an acute pain undt r the arr . where the meteor had struck,
occurred. The Pc clambers back into the space-ship. Later the
atomic engines of the ship break down and the Pc has to repair
these and apparently receives radio-acti-e burns. He finds that he
has to leave the ship and so falls from a ladder into the sea where
he encounters the Manta Ray.l

...Pc, after a period of 440 years without a body, arrives in
error on a planet which ir being taken over by 'Black Magic'
operators who are very low on the ethical scale and using
electronics for evil purposes. HaviDg come originally from a 'good'
plane he battles for a long, long time againSt the forces of 'blaek
magic', which, like a mfth column, are subverting the originally
'white magic' populace. It is a losing battle, implant after
implant gradually weakening his ability and control by causing
hallucinated perception..Eventually after a period of spiritual
torment and grief he abandons his former high goals and goes over
to the 'Black Magic' faction, not having entirely given up the
idea of outwitting it from within. This occurs some 74,ooo years
after his first arrival on this planet. He now goes to another
planet by space ship. A deeeption is accomplished by hypnosis and
pleasure implants (rather like opium in their effects) whereby he
is dece-ved into a love affair with a robot decked out as a
beautiful red-haired girl who receives all his confidences for a
period of 30 vears [EtC.t

The other incidents reported in this work range across lives as a
supporter of the Pretender after the '45, a Tibetan nobleman in the
sitteenth century, the captain of a space-ship, a space pilot with
a robot body over a million years ago, etc.

I L. Ron Hubbard, leue rOu Liurd Before r/is Life?, A Scirntiic
Suruey (The Department of Publications World Wide [Church of
Scientology, East Grinstead], 1968), PP 53-4

2 Ibidpp. 156-7

TIE SECT: SClEtTOLOCY

Running past-life incidents as engrams is not, however, typical of
contemporary Scientology technique. Un ike Dianehcs, Scientology
does not seek to crase the causeS of limitadons on the individual's
full capacity, since with the development of the belief in the
whole-track, this would be far too lengthy and arduous a process.
The aim of Scientology is therefore to free the thetan from the
limitations of vlEST and the control of the facsimiles be has
rccorded, and to increase his awarencS5 of his spiritual capacities
to such an extent that he becomes the cause and not merely the
effect of his environment and his life (and of course, his past
lives) I

Centrol therles in Scientoogice theory While Scientological theory
is underpinned by a cosmology and extensive metaphysics little of
this is initially transmitted to the following in an overtly
dogmatic fashion. There is a recognition that the theorv of the
origins of the universe and the space-operatic scenarios of some of
the more distant past-lives may have very little reality' for some
adherents. These aspects of the ideology are referred to as
'para-Scientology', a category variously defined for example:

that large bin which includcs all greater or lesser uncertainties.
Here are the questionable things, the things of which the common
normal observer cannot be sure wlth a little study...Some of
the classified bodies of data which fall in ParaScientology are:
Dianetics, incidents on the whole-track', the immortality of \Ian,
Scientology are: Dianetics, incidents on the 'whole-track', the
immortality of Man, the existence of God, engrams containing pain
and unconsciousness and yet all perceptlon, pre-natals, clears,
character, and many other things which, even when closely and
munutely observed, still are not certain things to those who
observe them. Such things have relative trum. [..] Also under the
heading of Para-Scientology one would place such things as past-
lives, mysterious induenees, astrology, mysticism, religion,
psychiatry, nuclear physics and any other science based on theoryd

The para-Scientological is held not to be required belief, and
indeed Hubbard has frequently expressed the view that new followers
or potential converts should not be exposed to it at too early a
stage. 'Talking whole track to raw meat is frowned upon,

Nov, in talking to a group, steer off from para-Scientology. Lay
off the whole traek

stuff,
huh?Layofflhefantastic.lfyouhavesomechaparoundwhoinsistsontellin
people about these thmgs, just note him down; he isn't working for
us, fellahs. Th quickest way to lose a beset peson or group is to
load him down with phenomena Talk, instead, abot I the fact that
there is a spiritual side to Man. Talk about th fact that
Scientology solves social problems, When they are very initiate and
it's a

I L. Ron Hubbard, Dianehrs 55! (Department of Publications World
Wide, Eat Grinstead, 968) p. 18. S L Ron Hubbard, the Creation of
urlan Abiliy (Scientology Publications, Londor

), pp. 188 9. in good fun rnd they've also got theh HPA or HCA, do
what you like with the whole track. Or use it in private sessions.
Don't hand it out to the public ra-v. Ids too strong '

This policy is also redected in the relative dearth of published
information on this aspect of Scientological belief. Past-lives are
discussed in only three of the movement's books in any detail, and
there is no systematic account of the cosmological doctrine in any
publicly available documents.

Most published work deals with those aspects of the doctrine which
have practical relevance, and it is to these that Scientologists
themselves seem to havt strongest commitment. i\Iany of these
derive directly from earlier Dianetic practice. The notion of ARC
and the tone-scale, for example, were carried over into Scientology
with only minor modification. With the transition to Scientology,
hov-ever, a number of new elements were added or differently
stressed. While exteriorization' had been seen as a state in need
of remedy in Dianetics, it was now seen as a state to be aimed for:

The usual residence of the thetan is in the skull or near the body.
A thetan can be in one of four conditions. The first would be
entirely separate from a body or bodies, or even from this
universe. The second would be near a body and knowingly controll-
ing the body. The third would be in the body (the skull) and the
fourth would be an inverted cPndition whereby he is compussively
away from the body and cannot approach it....one of the many
goals of procersing in Scientology is to 'exteriorise' the
individual ald place him in the second condition above, since it
has beeP discovered that he is happier and more capable when io
situated 8

Recovering the thetan's ability 'to confront' his environment is
also an important goal.

That which a person can confront he can handle. The first step of
handling anything is gaining an ability to face it.3 Problems
start with an inability to confront anything.

Not eonfronting things one has done leaves one 'in mystery' about
them and subject to their impact Being able 'to confront', to face
up to, and take responsibility for, things one has done would
erase their power. One might illustrate this as follows: a man who
causes an accident which injures others might repress his part in
the incident and in his future interactions with these others
behave in an aberrated fashion for example, attacking them for
their clumsiness and causing further trauma out of fear of being
found out. Were he able to confront

IL RonHubbardPofessionalAuditorsBulretin,Sl (t6Septemberrgss),p 2.
: L. Ron Hubbard, 'The Funlamentals of 7 hought (The Publications
Organisation World Wide, Edinburgh, tg68), pp. 57-8. t L. Ron
Hubbard, Srienolog A .Stew Slant on Life (The American St Hill
Organisation, Los Angeles, California, 196s), p. 85 9 Ibid. his
part in the incident and take responsibility for it, the situation
might improve rather than continue to deteriorate. The theory of
'confionting' has a number of ramifications. In this life and in
past lives we have all performed a number of 'overt acts'.5
Generally we justify such acts by means of a 'motivator'S and they
become 'withholds'.3 Having withholds against some person or group
leads to guilt and fear about being found out which in tt rn leads
one to perform further overt acts against them. It is by means of
this theory that Scientologists explain attacks upon them by press,
politicians, doctors, and psychiatrists, and other ' enemies' of
Scientology. I The notion of the w.thhold became parhcularly
prominent in the practice of 'Sec thecking'.5

A further fundamental concept in Scientology theory is that of
communication. The individual spends most of his time out of
communication with his environment (out of present time). He is
held at some point on the 'time-track' as a result of trauma or '.
isemotion' and lives out his present involvements from a point of
view in the past. Scientology aims therefore to bring the
individual 'up to present time'.

When we say that scmebody should be in present time we mean that he
should be in communication with his environment. We mean further
that he should be in communication with his snvironment as it
exists not as it existed.'

Many psychosomatic ailments are held to be the result of the
individual, the thetan, beihg out of communication with a
particular part of his body, and living, in relation to that body
part, at some point in the past when it suffered pain. Tecbniques
have been developed which seek to bring him into communication in
present time with that body part.7 mumcanon Wlth hlS envuonment as
it exu ts, not as it existed.5

I 'OVERT ACT (Overt): Harmful or contra-survival act. Preeisely, it
is an act of commisslon or omission that harms the greater number
of dynamics', Anonymous, Scientology Abridged Dictionary
(Scientology Publications Organization, Copenhagen, 970-

Z'The consideration and dramatisation that one has been wronged by
the action of another or a group, and which is charactensed by
constant complaint with no real action undertaken to resolve the
situation'. Ibid. 'WITHHOLD: Undisclosed contra-survival act; a no
action after the fact of action, in which the individual has done
or been an accessory to doing something which is a transgression
against some moral or ethical code consisting of agreements to
which the individual has subscribed in order to guarantee, with
others, the survival oi a group with which he is coachng or has
coacted towards survival'. Ibid. See Chapter 8, below. 5 For the
practice of 'Sec Chechng', see Chapter 5, below; Paulette Cooper,
h9 Scandal of Scisntology (Tower, New York, 1971), pp. 85-92. 9 L.
Ron Hubbard, Dianstics 55! (The Department of Publicahons World
Wide East Grmstead, 1968), p. 62. These techniques of an informal
kind are known as 'assists, on which see L. Ror Hubbard, Jr..
George Richnrd Haipern and Jan Halpern (compilers), CC Preara

Improving the individual's ability to communicate therefore
improves his ability to handle his body and his environment,
bringing him to present time, and releasing him from points on the
time track at which he has become stuck. Improving communication
therefore means improving the individual's abilities in general.

The notion of control is important in Scientology theory. The
thetan has permitted itself to become 'an effect' of the universe.
It has allowed itself to believe that it has no spiritua powers and
that it is merely the body it inhabits. Having denied its spiritual
powers it has become prey to its creation, suffering the traumas
and injuries of its bodies, the guilt and fear of its overt acts,
reacting tc. its environment on a stimulus response basis,
obsessively holding on to MEST and facsimilcs out of confusion and
insecurity. One aim of Scientology processing is therefore to
increase the thetan's ability to control the body it inhabits and
its environment, to be willing to have and 'not-have' MEST,
postulates, facsimiles, etc. That is, to overcome the
stimulus-response reaction and increase the self-determinism of the
thetan; to restore its ability to be 'at cause' over its
environment.

CLEAR: (noun) A thetan who can be at cause knowingly and at will
over mental mattcr, energy, space and time as regards the First
Dynamic (survival for self).l O.T. (Operating Thetan': A Clear who
has been familiarised with his environment to a point of total
cause over matter, energy, space, time and thought, and whr ls not
in a body.'

The final aspect of the theory of Scientology whmch I wish to
discuss is that of its metatheoretic assumptions. Hubbard has
defined Scientology in a variety of ways. In his early
formulations, he stressed the scientific status of the enterprise.

Scientology is defined as the science of kmowing how to know.a

Hubbard developed the principle that in contrast to the fields
generally termed 'sciences' which were full of 'maybes' Scientology
was 'the science of certainty'.

You aren't a scientist, and you don't have to be wishy washy and
indefinite about what you say.5

Scientology was the study of knowledge, dealing in 'stable data'.
'Knowledge is certainty'5 and moreover 'Certainty is saniZy'.7 This
conception of what issued

Anonymous, Scientology Aoridged Dictionay, o p. cit. ' Ibid. ' L.
Ron Hubbard, Scientolog 800ed, znd edn (HASI, London, :gj3), p. 5.
' ournal of Scientology 166, n.d.

5 Professional Auditor's Buaetin, r6 (September rgS5) p. 3.

' L. Ron Hubbard, 'The three universes, Certainty, unnumbered
issue, n.d. (transcription of a lecture delivered by Hubbard at
Birmingham Town Hall in 1953), p. 5.

7 Ibld..p 4.

tory .Iqanualfor dDanced Students in Scientolog (The Academy of
Scientology, [Washington DC], 1957), pp. 30 45110 TIE SECT:
SCIENTOLOCY

from the mouth of Hubbard as certain knowledge seems to stand in
contradiction to the distinction drawn elsewhere between
Scientology and para-Scientology, and the principle often quoted to
show the non-dogmatic nature of the movement, that 'If it's trle
for you, then it's true.' Since Hubbard's science is a matter of
knowledge and certainty, certainty is sanity, and reality is
agreement, it would seem to follo-v that those who decline to agree
with Hubbard's conception of ·what COnStilutes knowledge are out
of touch with reality; and that those who reserve their judtement,
or who retain some uncertainty as to the truth of his claims, are
insane.

This impression is strengthened elsewhere. In his volume Sciertooey
t-o, for example, Hubbard argues:

Ncither you nor a prtclear need accept 'whole track' or the
identity of the thetan as described fully in Wt o tdit. Not to
begin. You'll very rapidly make up your own mind about it when vou
start to process 'Black and Wbite' I As for 'whole track' and
thetans, I wouldn't dare say n word if 'Black and White' didn't
show them up with alarming velocity.S

In the same volume Hubbard provides a technique 'to separate the
preclear from bodies and discover rohy he thinks he is only the
current body...13 and in one of his recorded lectures he states:
Those who do not believe in past lives do not have to believe in
past lives...bm

don't get audited !4

There can, therefore, be no doubt about how Hubbard intended bis
followers to make up their own minds.

Inutnces on Scientoloiv theory A number of sourcethave been
suggested for aspects of Hubbard's theory and presentation. George
alko suggests that Hubbard may have found some inspirahon in an
early work by R. Buckminster Fuller, called Jint Chains to the
Moon. Apart from one passage in which Fuller argues that 'the
sum-total of human desire to survve is dominant over the sum-total
of the impulse to destroy' . and his propensity to utilie
upper-case type for emphasis, I can discover nG convincing links
behreen the work of Fuller and that of Hubbard.; Dr A.

L. Ron Hubbard Scientology 8-ho (The Distribution Center, Silver
Springs aryland, 195Z), p. 2t. 2 Ibid. ' Ibid..p 31. 4 L. Ron
Hubbard, 'The skills of clearing', Leeture 2 of the Lectures on
Clearing London Congress, 1958 (Hubbard Communications Office,
London, 1958. R. Buckminster Buller, Vine Chains to the

oon (Southern Illinois l.niversitv Press, rg38); George alko
Scientology: the Now ReligioN (Dell Publishing Co..New York, 1970),
pp. I l9-21. IIEOEY ND ITS TUNSMISSIUN

...Nordenholz, whom Malko rlso suggests as an important influence
on Hubbard, secms an initially more plausible candidate.

Nordenholz, in a thoroughly opaque work of philosophical
speculation published in 1 934,1 presents the notion of
'scientology' as a science of knowledge to be developed on the
basis of a set of axioms. Apart from the name of the 'science', its
concern with knowledge and how to grasp it, and the idea of erect
ing a set of axioms as the basic formulation of the science, it is
not evident that ordenholz provided much that became incorporated
into Hubbard's Scientology.a

It has also been suggested that Hubbard secured some of the
material incorporated into Scientolo y fromJack Parsons, a
follovver of Aleister Crowley and briefly the head of a Lodge of
Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis in Pasadena.3 That Hubbard was
associated with Parsons early in 1946 is not in doubt, although a
press release issued by the Church of Scientology after the appear-
ance of Alexander Mitchell's article offers a different
interpretation of the facts, ' claiming that he was sent to live
with Parsons by 'certain agencies [wbicb] objected to nuclear
physicists being housed under the same roof'.5 There is no evidence
that Hubbard's system of Scientology owes any gTeat debt to that of
Crowley, Parsons or the O.T.O. Indeed none of the four members of
Crowley's order whom I have contacted in 13ngland and America has
been able to confirm

' A. Nordenholz, Saentologle, Wissenschaft uon der seschaJenheit
und Der rauglich,teit des IVissens (Ernest ReinhardE Munich, 1934).

It i also a mvtterv how ubbard could have come into contact with
Nordenbclz's

I A. Nordenholz, Saentologie Wissenschaft von der Beschaf enheit
und Der rauglicheit des Wissens (Ernest Reinhardt, Munich, 1934).

' It is also a mystery how Hubbard could have come into contact
with Nordenholz's work. Hubbard did not, as far as I have been able
to discover, read German, nor have I been able to locate a
translation of this hook by Nordenholz prior to the version
produced by a former Scientologist in 1968 (A. Nordenholz,
Scientologie rg3.f, trans. Woodward R. McPheeter, Causation Press,
Lucerne Valley, California, 1968). It is on the basis of this
translation that Malko suggests Hubbard was indebted to Norden-
holz (Malko, op. cit..pp. m6 19) but McPheeters was a
Scientologist of many years standing who left the movement for a
schismatic offshoot, and in an atmosphere of mutual hostility. It
is at least a porsibility that this may have induenced the trsnsla-
tion. An independent translation which I commissioned, of some
pages from the original, seems to bear this out. The possible
parallels with Hubbardian formulations are very much less evident.

9 Although he does not refer to Hubbard by name, I think there can
be no doubt that this is the implication to be drawn from Kenneth
Grant's remark that an unnamed associate of Parsons after the death
of the latter 'is still at large, having grown wealthy and famous
by a misuse of the secret knowledge which he had wormed out of
Parsons'. Kenneth Grant, the hagica Reriral (Muller, London, 1972),
p. 107. The context makes it quite clear that Hubbard is the man
referred to. The same implication is to be found in a newspaper
feature by Alexander Mitehell, 'The odd heginning of Ron Hubbard's
career', Sunday rimes, 5 Oetober 1969, p. m .

' Which are mmsreported or misunderstood in some particulars by
Mitchell.

5 Thms press statement was for the most part reproduced in the
Sunday rimes 28 December 1969. The newspaper also paid the Church
of Scientology a small sum in settlement of an action initiated by
the Church in respect o Mitchell's article. (Parsons was a research
chemist working at the California Institute of Technology.) any
significant points of similarity.3 The only apparent simmlarities
are those which are common to a number of systems of magical and
occult practice for example, the belief that the individual has
supernatural abilities such as telepathy, teleportation, and
telekinesis, which can be achieved or regained through mental and
spiritual exercises. In the case of many magical and occult systems
these practices and their goals have been absorbed from Yoga.

In Yoga a number of parallels with Scientology are evident. Yoga
offers a system of metaphysical knowledge leading to 'rebirth to a
non-conditioned mode of being'.3 The aim of the earliest philosophy
of Yoga, sumkhya, was to dissociate the spirit from matter.3 In
Yoga the world is real not illusory, but its endurance is the
result of the ignorance of spint. When 'the last self shall have
found its freedom, the creation in its totality will bc reabsorbed
into the primordial substance.' The source of the soul's suffering
is held to be man's solidarity with the cosmos, his participation
in nature (the enturbulation of theta and MEST?).s

The conception of Snirit in Yoga is remarkably close to that of the
thetan:

Vedanta...regards Spirit as a unique, universal and e-ternal
realitv, dramatically enmeshed in the temporal illusion of creation
(maya). Samkhya and Yoga deny Spirit (purusa) any attribute and any
relation; aceording to these two 'philosophies', all that can be
affirmed of pututa is that it is and that it rous..Y

Elements of the cosmolog, appear similar (although Yoga seems to
have only a very rudimentary cosmology).

From all eternity Spirit has found itself drawn into...illusory
relation with psychoall that ean be affimmed of putusa is that it
u and that it knou s..Y

mental life (that is, with 'matter') This is owing to ignoranee..
.7

While Yoga accepts the existence of God, the work of Patanjali,
like that of Hubbard, did not accord him very much importance.S
Yoga also contains the notion of the transmission of the
'subconscious' through Karmic transmigration . t fter penetrating
normally inaccessible areas of consciousness and reality, the yogin
was believed to acquire siddhts, or miraculous powers knowing
one's previous existences, invisibility, great physical power, the
power of nsing in the air, of controlling and dominating any being,
etc..l although wanton use of

I The author, John Symonds, also paid a sum in settlement after his
book on Crowley, hc Great Beast, suggested a connexion between
Crowley's 'tenet's of black magic and 'the prirciples of
Scientology' (the Guardian, 22 Novemher 1974). S lircea Eliade,
rOga · Immortaldy and recdom (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London,

8), p. 4. 3 Ibid..p. 8.

Ibid..p g r Ibid..p. Io. Ibid..p. t6. 7 Ibid..p. 27.

S Ibid..p. 29 God or the Supreme Being is mentioned in
Sciertological works, (see, for exampie, ha Background and Ceremanl
s of Church of Scenology of Ca(ifornia, World Wide Church of
Scientology, East Grinstead, 1970), p. 2, but does not figure

7 ibid..p. 42. 10 Ibid..pp. 85, 129.

TElEOrtY AND ITS TStANSMlSSlON

113

them was believed to preclude further advance to the ultimate goal
of yogic practice, immortality.

Eliade even gives some ground for believing that the nature of the
praChCe, while updated and elaborated in Scientology, may have had
common features with Yoga:

The scholastie Buddhist texts give us some details of the technique
employed. It is the faculty that consisb in retracing in memory the
days, months and years until one arrives at one's time in the womb
and finally at one's past lives...'

This is, however, clearly more reminiscent of carly Dianetics than
of current Scientology practices. Hubbard has credited the Vedic
Hymns as one source of his inspiration3 and the claim that
Scientology has been most strongly influenced by such ancient
eastern sources is one that might perhaps be taken more seriously.
Certainly on the basis of Eliade's account of the theory and
prachce of Yoga, impressive similarities are to be found with the
theory and practice of Scientology and Dianetics.

Auiting Thousands of techniques to be used in auditing have
appeared, although many are no longer in use and only a practising
Scientologist would be able to say what currently constituted
'standard technology'. Many techniques are

Hubbard has also counse led agains the misuse of occult abilities
regained on the

Hubbard has also counselled against the misuse of oeeult abilities
regained on the th to operating Thetan TheSfe harier progreSS to
'tzkb2* (NiTT2ns)

'1. Knowledge of previous hfe (that is, total recall of all of his
existences and of 2. Power of great sight (not only to see great
distances hut also to see through,

over, and under objects. To see anything in the world at any time)
. 3. Complete absence of sexual desire indieating fulfillment and
eomplete 4. Ability to change his size (to any largeness or
smallness). 5. Power of great hearing to hear any sound anywhere at
any time). 6. Power to cause events (if he wants a thing to happen,
to will it) . 7. Power to be where he wants (hy an act of will to
transport himself to where

he wishes to be). 8 Power to be invuible 9 Power to walk on air

m. Power to know all that is known Manning Nash, 7:he Golden ltozd
to ModeTnity (Wiley, New York, 196S), p. 149 Seientologists have
claimed all but items 3, S. and m I have not kmown Scientologists
anxious to achieve item 3, and since Scientology is the science of
knowing how to know, the achievement of Item lo must ultimately be
a goa], although I have not known any Scientologist to claim that
he possessed this ability.

2 Eliade, op. eit..p. 184.

t L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology 8-eoo, op. cit..'Foreword'. Eliade,
(op. cit..p. 102) suggests, bowever, that 'only the rudiments of
classic Yoga are to be found in the Vedas...' directed to the
goal of giving the pre-clear a 'subjective reality' on his
abilities as a thetan. One of the most basic is that of asking the
pre-clear (the thetan) to give up the (self-imposed) need to be in
a body, by 'extenori:cing' from that body:

Ask preclear to be rhree feet behind his head. If stable there,
have him be in various pleasant places until any feeling of
searcity of viewpoints is resolved. Then have him be in several
undesirable plaees, then several pleasant places; then have him be
in a slightly dangerous place, then in more dangerous places until
he can sit in the center of the SunP

A development along these lines was known as the 'Grand Tour',

The commands of the Grand Tour are as follows'Be near Earth', 'Be
near the Moon', 'Be near the Sun', 'Earth', ' vloon', 'Sun', giving
the last three commands many times. Each time the auditor must wait
until the prec ear signifies that he has completed the command. The
preclear is supposed to move near the bodies or simply be near
them, it does nor matter which. The Grand Tour continues with 'Now
f nd a rock', Be inside of it', 'Be outside of it', 'Inside',
'Outside', 'Insidc', 'Outside', 'Be in the centre of the Earth',
'Be outside of Earth', 'Inside', 'Outside', and back and forth
until the preclear is able to do this very rapidly. Then the Grand
Tour contir.ues, 'Be near Mars' EtC] r

Another purely mental technique much employed in Scientology's
early days was a technique known as 'holding anchor points'. The
purpose of this technique was held to be that of enabling the
thetan 'to tolerate or make space'.t' The preclear while seated
would be told

...'Close your eyes', 'Locate an upper corner of the room behind
you'. When he has done so, 'Now locate the other upper corner
behind you', 'All right, hold on to these two corners, and don't
think'...At the end of 15 minutes the auditor says, 'Now, find
the third corner behind you',...When the auditor is assured the
preclear has done this, he says, 'Now hold on to the same two you
had before and the new one'. When the preclear has all three
corners at onee, the Auditor says, 'Noq hold on to those three
eorners and don't think'....The auditor then has the preclear
locate all eight corners of the room and says, 'Now hold on to all
eight corners of the room, sit hack and don't think'...the
Auditor has the prec]ear do this for at least fifteen minutes.'

Some thetans have allowed themselves to become so overwhelmed that
they are no longer even able to control their bodies. A series of
processes was designed to put the thetan back into communication
with and CODtrol of his body. The first of these processes, known
as CCH 1, involves the auditor and preclear sitting

I L. Ron Hubbard, 'This is Scientology: the science of certainty',
70urnal of Scientologv, issue 16G, n.d. (some time in 1953), p.
12. L. Ron Hubbard, i he Creation of luman Ability (Scientology
Publications, London, ), p. 37, emphasis omitted

' Ibid..p. 93. Ibid..pp. 93-6. facing each other. The auditor
commands, 'Give me that hand'. If the preclear gives him the hand
the auditor givcs it a slight pressure then returns it to the
preclear's lap. If the preclear does not proffer the hand, the
auditor takes it and does the same. This process may be run for
several hours.

CCH 6 took the following form:

(auditor takes a book and bottle, placing them some distance apart
on tables so that the preclear doesn't have to bend) . 'With that
body's eyes look at that book'. 'Thank you'. 'Walk that body over
to that book'. 'Thank you'....'With thac hand pick up that book'.
'Thank you'. 'Put that book down in e:cactly the same place'.
'Thank you'. 'Turn that body round'. 'Thank you'. 'With that bodv's
eyes look at that bottle'; etc.:

A further technique of some prominence in the 19505 was known as
'Waterloo Station' (or 'Union Station' in America).

In a populated area (park; RR Station, etc) have pc tell auditor
something he wouldn't mind not-knowing about persons or the persons
not-knowing about him which auditor spots for him. Commands:
Auditor: 'Do you see that (man, woman, described slightly) ?' Pc:
'Yes'. [...] Auditor: 'Tell me something you wouldn't mind
not-knowing about that person'. [...] the pc selects things he
already can know to not-know. He does not give things he ioes not
know anyway. This stress is the willingness to Not-Know things one
already knows [sic]. Otherwise pc will become confused. [...]
When...run Rat or to a dope-oRf, reverse to :1 Auditor: 'Tell
me something you wouldnt mind that person not knowing about

[...] When...run flat or to a dope-off, reverse to :'
Auditor: 'Tell me something you wouldn't mind that person not
knovring about you' .

[...] Run one side for hours then the other side in ordinary use.
[...] The goal of Waterloo Stahon is not to make the pc make one
thing vanish. That phenomenon is just the start. Auditor's have
been quitting when the pc made somebody s hat disappear When the pc
can make the whole universe wink on and offat hls comideration to
know or not know it, you're getting somewhere so don't stop at a
hat.'

One basic aim of Scientoloey auditing is therefore to make the
preclear aware that rea ity is a matter of his considerations, and
changing ms considerahons will change the nature of reality. The
theory and practice of Scientology is radically idealist in
orientation.S L. Ron Hubbard, 'Procedure CCH', Professional Auditor
s Bullehn r33 (r Apnl 8)

S L. Ron Hubbard, 'Procedure CCH continued', Ptofessional Auditor's
Bulletin, 135 (l May 1958)

a That is, a process is flat when it no longer produces change;
dope-off is a sensation

of drowsiness.

' L Ron Hubbard, 'Six levels of processing', Professional Auditor's
Bulletin 69 (6 January I ga6) .

5 L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetes 55! (The Department of Publications
World Wide, East Grinstead, 1968), p. 67. he E-Afeter Most current
auditing (or processing, the terms are synonymous) is conducted
with the aid of the E-meter.l The E-meter is a tcchnological aid
which has been developed to assist tte process of auditing. It is a
form of skin galvanometer operating on the principle of the
Wheatstone Bridge which measures resistance to a current passing
between two terminals. The terminals usually employed in
Scientology auditing and training are ordinary tin cans. In the
auditing situation, a slight current is transmitted through the
pre-clear from one terminal to another, the resistance being
measured on a dial. The needle on the dial moves in response to a
variety of factors such as an increase in skin salinity resulting
from sweat, skin surface area in contact with the terminals,
pressure, etc. It is the view of rlle Scientologists that they are
able to detect what are known to them as 'body-reads', and
therefore are able to isolate readings which reflect changes in the
state of the thetan. The E-meter is held to be infallible. It 'sees
all, knows all. It is never wrong.'S A complex terminology is
associated with 'needle action' on the E-meter 'theta bop', 'rock
slam', 'floahng needle', etc..each of which indicates particular
characteristics of the pre-clear, his mental and spiritual state.s
Although the E-meter was first introduced into Dianetics by Volney
G. lathison in IgSr, it has little employed until the emergence of
Scientology in 1952. vlathison continued to mix Dianetics and
Scientology with other practices. For a ime he formed an alliance
with the leaders of a therapeutic movement known as Concept
Therapy, and marketed his meters to Concept Therapists and
Chiropractors. Later Electropsychometry seems to have become an
independent, if rather insignificant, movement in North America.4
Mathison's incorriaible eclecticism led to a break between him and
Hubbard, after which, for some time, the E-meter fell out of use in
Scientology. By 1957, however, Hubbard and his associates had
developed their own transistorized version of the machine and it
returned to favour.5

"The E-meter is essential for all modern auditing vrith but a few
exceptions'. Cyril Vosper, the 8fmd BendErs (Nenlle Spearman,
London, rg71), p. 83.

' L. Ron Hubbard, Electroprychometric Auditing Operator'r Manual
(HASI, London, n.d. [c. rg53-41), P 57

' On the E-meter, sce: L. Ron Hubbard, E-Meter Essntials rg6r
(Hubbard Communications Office, East Grinstead, rg61); L. Ron
Hubbard, the Book Introducing the E-'vleter (The Publications
Organisahon World Wide, Edinburgh, 1968); Mary Sue Hubbard
(Compiler), the Book of E-,fetet Drills (Hul:.bard College of
Scientology, East Grinstead, 1967). Also see Kevin V. Anderson,
Report of the Board of Inquiry irta Scientology (Govemment Printer,
Melbourne, 1965), Chapter 4; Cooper, op. eit..Chapter 18; Evans,
op. cit..pp. 6g-6.

' See John A. Lee, Sectarian Healers and ypnotherapy (Queen's
Printer, Toronto, 1970), Chapters 5 and 6.

3 Anonymous, the Story af Dianetics and Scientology rraining, ( the
Auditor, Supplement 6), SPO A/S, Copenhgen, 1969. Processing or
auditing is organized on the basis of a strict progression of pro-
cedures. Each level or 'grade has set processes associated with it
which aim to produce different abilities. Passing through this
progression of levels is known as 'getting your grades'. The first
of these, Grade O, seeks to release the pre-clear from inhibitions
about communication. When successfully completed, one becomes a
'communications release'.3

the auditing commands (questions) are: 'What are you willing to
tell me about?'; 'What are you willing to tell me about it?' The
pre-clear, holding the cans of the E-Ieter, answers each of these
questions in turn until the auditor spots a 'floating needle'. This
indicates that the pre-clear has achieved a 'cognition or insight
concerning communication (or whatever he is being audited on) and
should be accompanied by 'good indicators', a bright, aware, happy
expression. In the course of such a process the pre-clear may offer
many hundreds of answers to the auditing question. As may readily
be seen, the nature of these answers may become very inhmate,
personal, even obscene. This feature of auditing bas sometimes
disturbed investigators of Scientology practices,3 but in this
respect, opposition to the techniques would seem to be no more
rationally based than earlier opposition to Freudian revelations,
particularly with respect to the seuality of ehildren and infants.3

Grade I is Problems Release. The auditing eommands are, 'Tell me a
problem' and 'How would you solve it?'4 Grade II is Relief Release,
which deals with 'Overts' and 'Withholds', with the commands: 'What
have you done?'; 'What haven't you said?'. Several further levels
have to be negotiated before the pre-clear can undertake clearing
and then the processes for the OT levels. Since some of these more
advanced levels are self-audited (the pre-clear, employing a
specially designed E-meter attachment, hmmself reads the E-meter
and gives himself the auditing commands, or undertakes the other
technical requirements for the process), the pre-clear who wishes
simply to achieve the goals of auditing for himself has to
undertake only the minimum amount of training required for mm to be
able to conduct self-auditing. This is known as the 'Processing
Route'. The pre-clear is, however, strongly encouraged to take the
'Training Route', that is to become an expert auditor, able to
carry out auditing upon others as well as himsel£ By this means,
the pre-clear is encouraged to seek clearing, etc..not only for
himself but also for others. The client of Scientology

' L. Ron Hubbard, 'flassificahon gradation and awareness chart of
levels and certificates' (Athena Publications, Denmark, 1970).

or example, Anderson, op. cit..passim.

' lor a reconstruction from his own experience of auditing session.
see Robert Kaufman, Insid3 Scuntororg (Olympia Press, London,
1972), passim. Grade O may sometimes be preceded by 3traight Wire
Release in which Ihe audihng commands are: 'Recall a communieahon';
'Recall something real'; 'Recall an emotion; repeated (or ·run )
unhl a 'floating needle' appears. See Malko, op. cit, p. 133. '
Kaufman, op. cit

p. 14 et seq. u thereby transformed into an agent of the movement
whose personal goals i Scientology become closely bound to his
successful dissemination of the beliei system to others.l The lower
levels of both audlting and training can be secure at a 'Franchise'
or 'Mission' of the movement. These are semi-autonomou
organizations which may be run by a single professional auditor, or
in partnership. After completion of Grades I to IV, more advanced
auditing (and all but the lowest levels of traiming) must be
secured from a central organization. A fixed price-list exists for
auditing and training. A franchise is not permitted to charge
lessthanthecentralorganizationInlg72theGradescostatotalofaround£2oo
for the levels from 0 to IV.5 Addihonal auditing may be purchased
as a block of hours typically twenty-five hours at a time.
According to a price list issued in 1972, twenty five hours of
auditing could be bought for £so with reductions for larger blocks
purchased at one time and with discounts for various kinds of
member (for example, someone both an International and local member
could secure a discount of 20 per cent).a

mining Training in Scientology usually begins with the HAS (Hubbard
Apprentice Scientologist) Course With this, as with most other
levels of training, successful completion of the course is
signified by an impressive certificate, and members often affect
the initials of the successfully completed courses as hononfic
appelations to their names John Smith HPA, for example. It is
not unknown for individuals who have been awarded a Book Auditor's
certificate, after reading and successfully applying the principles
and practices indicated in one of Hubbard's texs, to employ the
style B.A. after their names.' At one time 'degrees' were issued
permitting the individual to employ the styles B.Scn, D.Scn, D.D..
and even 'Freudian Analyst' after their names,

The HAS or Communications Course mculcates the basic training
routines (TRs) wmch a successful auditor should employ. A
well-trained auditor will always 'have his TRs in'. The purpose of
the TRs is to train the student to confront the pre-clear without
extraneous behaviour or habis getting in the way; to direct
commands at the pre-clear in a clear and authoritative manner; and
to ensure that the pre-clear replies or follows the command without
allowing him to distract the auditor from carrying out the process;
to acknowledge the pre-clear's communications, etc.

The first rouhne, TR 0 requires the student and the coach
(typically a fellow student, each taking turns at the two roles)
simply to sit facing each other, neither

' This is taken up in detail in Chapter VI S rhAuilor, 77 (1972) S
Leaflet sent to book purchasers. See the letter si5ned Frank E Wa
ker B.A. (sork Auditor) in Crninly, 1, 9 (n.d.), P-l3making any
conversation or effort to be interesting Have them sit and look at
each other and say and do nothing for some hours. Students must not
speak, fidget, giggle or be embarrassed or anaten. It will be found
the student tends to confront with a body part, rather than just
confront, or to use a system of confronting rather than just be
there. The drill is misnamed if Confront means to do something to
the pc. The whole action is to accustom an auditor to being there
three feet in front of a pre-clear wimout apologising or moving or
being startled or embarrassed or defending selL After a student
has become able to just sit there for two hours 'bull baiting' can
begin I

'Bull baiting' involves the coach seeking to provoke a reaction
from the student by actions, other than touching the student, or by
'treading' on the students 'buttons', that is referring to subjects
about which the student is likely to be sensitive and to which he
might react. Kaufman details amusingly a bull baiting session.

Most coaches found it most convenient to try to make the
auditor-in-training laugh. Morton described to me one such session.
He and his coach sat in chairs facing each other, the coach almost
on top of him, with his knees tightly pinning Morton's. The coach
then set out to find Morton Morvis's 6uttors subjects which broke
him up and diverted his attention from his auditing. He began by
investigating the possibility that Morton had a 'Jewish button'
which neededfattsning (the majority of Jewish people happened to
have such a button). 'Mishter Morvish' crooned the coach, 'mosht
pipple leff et me ven I tzing but you von't leff et me ven I
tzing will you, Mishter Morvish?' With that he cleared his throat
and went into repeated ehoruses of rzum golly golly golly. Other
Seientologists took up the refrain until ttte tune reverberated in
various voice registers throughout the room. An ingenious girl
added as counterpoint rhomt ftom l:rodus: 'Dai dam..dai dai..
. dai dai dai dai dai DAIEE...'. The org resounded with the music
and Morvii's gasps of laughter. Juit as he had calmed down a
stranger stepped into the room and announced 'I've just come from
the planet Sholom in the galaxy of Sheket. Did you ever see a
thetan wearing a yarmulka?' and they were off again. All told it
took six hours to 'flatten' Morvis'sJewish button.5

The more advanced training courses require the reading of 'packs'
of bulletins and policy letters by Hubbard, duplicated and stapled
in folders. Each course has a particular pack. There are also
voluminous tape-recordings of Hubbard's lectures to which the
student must listen. The student may also be required to
demonstrate his understanding of the material by producing a model
in clay at the Clay Table, which illustrates the point of what he
has learned. Students on courses are normally paired oft to test
each other in their knowledge of the course materials and to carry
out training in auditing techniques. Each Course pack has a
'check-sheet' indicating what has to be done to complete the course
successfully. Each item on the check sheet has to be initialled by
the coach or course instructor when the student has acquired the
knowledge or skill required.

L. Ron Hubbard, 'Modernized training drills', HCO Bullstin, 29
April 963, cited in Anderson, op. cit..p. 8m

' Kaufman, op. cit..pp. 4-j.

At each level in training, the student acquires the ability to
audit pre-clears on the corresponding processes. An auditor may
only process pre-clears up to the level for which he has received
training. Part of the course requirement is therefore to find one
or more pre-clears to audit through the necessary levels to
demonstrate one's proficiency.l In this way, training further
mobilizes the student as an agent Sor the dissemination of
Scientology. While one may find one's pre-clears among friends,
since the pre-clear goes to a central organization for training he
may otten not know anyone whom he can ask,S and he therefore ilas
to secure 'raw meat' through dissemination on the street, or at his
lodgings.

On commencing t. course the student is introduced to the others en
masse, wllo warmly applaud him. Similarly, on the completion of any
level of auditing or training the indiidual is congratulated by his
auditor or his classmates. At the central organizations a student
or pre-clear will be brought to the room where study is in
progress. The instructor tells the students to stop work and
announces the individual's achievement. The student/pre-clear then
gives a short speech indicating his 'gains' from auditing or from
the course, and is applauded by those present. On completion of
auditing the pre-clear is taken to the Qualifications Division of
the 'Org' where he is briefly checked on the meter to make certain
that he has been released on the grade. At more advanced levels,
'attestation that one has achieved the grade is generally all that
is required. Similarly, having completed training, the student will
'attest' to his successful completion, He is then taken to the
Success Department, where he is asked to write a 'success story', a
few Gnes indicating his gains from the auditing or the course.
These success stories are frequently pnnted in Scientology
pubGcations and provide an indication of what various levels of
training and auditing meant to those who had umdertaken them.

I am no longer afraid of causing an unwanted effect on Inother
being. This Grade has cleared out such a lot of garbage that I knew
was there but eDuld never put my finger on, and so was therefore
the eflfeet of it. I &el great now that it's gone !

Expanded Grade z Clive Niehol.' It's really great not to be
constantly worrying and bogging myselS down with a burden of
PROsLEMS Another great win I have had from this level is that my
eyesight has improved a lot, and it was good before !

Expanded Grade I Clive Nichol.' I am now beainning to get freedom
from my compulsions which I have had for twenty years or more.
These eompulsions have always blunted my intentions. I now see
mysehf beeoming free and er panded It means the restoration of life
to me.

Quintin McDougall.s Before Scientology I didnt now what I wanted in
life or what to do with my life.

I See ibid..p. 186. r Moreover, most students and pre-clears will
have passed the level he is on and are not permitted to go through
the lower level audihng again. S 'Audifing Successes', Cange Sg
(1973), no paginafion.

ibid. S Dianeoc Successes', leadet (1971).

know just w hat I want to do and I am getting it done. Jenny Good.l
What a perfect gradient these Expanded Grades are. I no longer feel
afraid of anything. I feel calm and very stable. I can grant more
beingness eo others. I like myself a lot better too. Ron has given
man a terrific thing with the Expanded Grades. It's great to see
the things that have been bothering me for years disappearing for
good. Robin Youngman. For the first time for a long time I feel
free to communicate. It is really great and I know I can do it
Shirley Pyle.a Right after Clear I hit a keyed out OT state and
could change my body size about

I to I t inche5 in height by actual measurement. Some people s-vore
it was z to 3 inehes, which it might have been, but it was I inch
difference the time I measured. The ability was under control and I
could do it at will. Fred Fairchild OTv I Clear No 49 Duplication
of data often brings interesting abilities into view. I'm OT 1.
While studying with intention in the privacy of my bedroom, I heard
a noise in the adjoining den. I looked around to 'see' what it was,
and behold, I looked right through the wall into the next room as
though no wall was there. When your intention is very strong you
can do what ya

intend to do. Wow ! Do you intend to go CLEAR' And O.T.' Herb
Stutphin, OTI Clear No 2313.5 Yesterday I was walking down the main
street. A woman ahead of me coming in the opposite direction was
coughing badly. I put across to her telepathically 'Are you
OK?'. When she got beside me she beamed and said 'Yes, that is a
lot better now, thank

When she got beside me she beamed and said 'Yez, that is a lot
better now, thank you' . Well ' The secret is on tho OT Courses -
come and get it too.

Vih Dickey OTs Today was fantastic. I walked downstairs to get some
coffee and the coffee machine was buzzing. So I put my hands out
and mm ed them around me machine putting out beams to bounce back
and thereby I could tell by watching the particle dow exactly where
the error in the machine was. I found it and corrected the
molecular structure of that area in the rnachine and the buzzing
stopped.

Then I heard my air conditioner rattling so I looked at why it was
rattling and it stopped.

I'm becoming much more at cauze. I love it like Superman !

Michael Pincus OT7 Thank you, Ron, for immortality S

'Wins every day with Scientology!', leadet (1971). ' Ibid. 3 Ibid.
'Success beyond man's wildest dreams !', Clee7 .Serl)s, 6 ( 12
December 1 969) . S Ibid.

'OT Phenomena Successes', Advanve! Issue 17 (1973), p. 14. 7 Ibid..
pp. 16-17. 8 A-S-, after Class Ten auditing. Original sourcc
unknown, but cited in an amdavit to the South African Commission of
Enquiry into Scientology sbown to me by its author. eligious
praetiees Despite its stridencv in the proclamation of Scientology
as a church in recent years,l the religio;s practices of the
movement other than processing, and training, are quite rdimentary.
The central organizations of the movement usually have a chapel at
which a Sunday service is given. This service generally takes the
form of a lecure by the minister on some basic principle of
Scientology. Part of a recorded lecmre bv Hubbard is sometimes
played. There may be a question and ansv-er period 2 At one time a
session of group auditing might b conducted.3 Wedding are
solemnized with full legal recognition in America and, following
recent legislation, in Austra]ia; or after a civil ceremony in
Britain. l:unerals and naming ceremonies are also performed and the
movement, from time to time, holds Prayer Davs which are well
supported bv its followers. It ic difficult to see these as more
than peripheral aspects of the practice of Scien tology. The theory
ard practice is highly individualistic in orientation and has
little communal significance which might be recognized and
celebrated through public ceremonial The chaplain has a rather
marginal role v.ithin the organi zational structure of the
movement; he acts as a marriage guidance counsellor, and as an
arbitrator ror interpersonal disputes between members on matters of
a non-organizational and non-ideological kind. Scientology auditors
mus[ undergo iministerial [raining' before practising
professionally. Press photo graphs in recent years have usually
shown Scientology Iinisters attired in graphs in recent year; have
usually shown Scientology Ministers attired in clerical collars.

Conclusions Scientology theory and practice seems to be oriented to
goals that have been traditional in the realms of the occult and to
derive this orientation and some of its philosophical ratior.ale
from Yoga. The abilities to which Scientologists lay claim parallel
the siddis of the yogi. In their techniques, Dianetics and Scien-
tologydepartradicallyfromthemeditativetechniquesofearlieroccultpract
ices. The largely passive meditation and the eercises for physical,
n.ental, and spiritual control have been replaced by bighly
directive, activist techniques. The use of the E-meter clothes
these eercises in a scientific garb and provides an aura of
technological precision and contemporaneity.

In the years since 1952 and the transihon to Scientology, a clear
direction is visible in the development of the practice and
training. Dianetics, for all its pretentions to be 'an engineering
science of the mind' was essentially an art,

On the historical a2d organizational aspects of which, see Chapter
5 5 Anonymous, Cerrmonies of lhe l'ounding Church of Scientology
(Department of Publications World Wide, East Gnnstead, t 967,,
pp. 7 8. 3 Testimony of Joseph Charles 8elotte in Eoundin Church of
Scientology v. U.S..inU.S.CourtofClaims,No.226
61,Washington,D.C.Ig67,stenographictranscript, Pp. 244-5 dependent
upon the ingenuity inventiveness, and ch.lrisma of the practitioner
It therefore contained a number of fundamental dangers. The
practitioner in the therapeutic situaeion, ·vith only general
guidelines to the correct practise of auditing at his disposal, was
thrown upon his own resources. In such circumstances many
practitioners independently developed methods of their own which
finally diverged so far from Dianetics as to challenge Hubbard's
practice. The ciientele became attached to a particular
practitioner rather than to the movement as a whole, or to Hubbard
as its leader. Moreover, given the reiatively limited aims of
Dianetics practice and the nature of its techniques, many of the
clientele, regarding it purely as a psychotherapy, departed when
they achieved /or sometimes when they failed to achieve) some
concrete psychological or psychosomahc benefit.

Hubbard sought to control the movement by ideological and
technological as well as organizational means. First, he generated
very rapidly numerous new techniques. The practitioner, wishing to
satisfy a clientele which desired the best and therefore the newest
techniques, was forced to resort to the central organization much
more frequently to keep abreast of developments. He was thus
rendered more dependent upon the organization. Second, Hubbard
sought to standardize practice. Only certain techniques might be
used, and used only in the precise manner estabiished by the
organization. From the diffuse sills required in Dianetics
auditing, processing with the E-meter particularly took the form of
stereotyped deiivery of standardized commands and acknowledge-
ments. The potential charisma of the practitioner was thus
considerably restricted as his role was changed from that of an
intuihve therapist to that of a machine-operative who had simply to
determine the appropriate process, deiiver the commands from lists
prepared by Hubbard, and observe needle action on the E-meter.
Auditing became a semi-skilled occupation. Skill depended not on
tacit professional knowledge of the auditor but on his ability
precisely to duplicate the auditing technique established by
Hubbard. Training was directed to this end of securing ecact
duplication of technique. Since anyone could be trained to carry
out the highly standardized forms of practice, the indnidual
practitioner was thereby rendered far less important than formerly.
Practitioners became highly substitutable, limiting their autonomy.
The likelihood of schism and fission, while not eliminated, was
greatly undermined by limiting the practitioner's independent
authority The practice of Scientology was considerably
de-personalized by these measures. (The Scientologists advise me
that: 'The requirements for certification of auditors have risen as
time has gone by...graduates of the Saint Hill Special Briefing
Course are required to study the entire evolution of auditing in
all its facets and to demonstrate their abiiity to apply this
data.')l

Through the management of theory and practice, Hubbard sought not
only to control practitioners, but also to mobilize pre-clears A
highly differentiated

l Personal communication, Guardian's Omce, Novennber 1974.
programme of auditing and training was made available, leading to
esotenc occult goals rather than to mere psychological improvement.
Only the lowest levels were available from practitioners and
teachers not empioyed by the organization. Thus, rather than
fully competent professionals, the franchise operator and field
auditor became largely recruiting agents. Courses were organized on
a continuous production-lice basis. Since the material for the
courses were available in standardized form thlough the duplicated
course 'packs' v-ritten by Hubbard and the tape-recordings of his
lectures, the student could begin at almost any time rather than
wait as in normal academic practice for the beginning of the
academic year or term, or, as in other forms of training, until
there were enough students to make it w3rthwhile. The authority of
the teacher or instructor was also undermined by forbidding him to
'evaluate the data' for the student. Rather than a teacher the
course instructor became little more than an index ,whose role was
only to refer the student with doubts or confusions to the
appropnate location in the material provided by Hubbard for their
resoluhon.

The theory itself became differentiated into what w e may refer to
as an esoteric and an exoreric ideology. The exoteric ideology is
presented in most of the movement's pubiications, the works for
pubiication of Scientologists other than Hubbard, and rympathizers
of the movement. Such · orks present Scientology as concerned with
the spiritual nature of man (the thetan); with increasing
communication, understanding of others, ability to control oneself;
one's interactions with othels, and the surrounding environmentP

Most of these works deal wieh the value of Scientology in handling
ever-, day problems and situations; how to brina up chiLdren;Z how
to manarc orrraniza-

Most of these wortc deal with the value of Scientology in handling
everyday problems and situations; how to bring up children;t how to
manage organizations ;a or the app'ication of Scientology theory
and technique to education.4

The esoteric ideolog,v develops a cosmological doctrine of the
ongin and development (or degeneration of the thetan,; and
manifests far greater concern with past lives,S and the
supernatural abilities that the individual can acquire through the
practice of Scientology.

ISee,forerample,thefollowingworLsbyL.RonHubbard:Dieneticsss!,
op.cit.; 7he iunrlantenhls of rh ught, op. cit.; Scientolagy q hrew
Slant orl Life. See also J. F. Horner, A 3rete Undersnding of Life
(Hubbard Communicahons Office, Auckland, New Zeaiand, 1961); Ruth
Minshull, Mirades for Breakfast (Scientology Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor,
Miceigan 1968), and idem, .irow to Choose our People (Scientology
Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, tg72); Walter Lraddeson,
Scientology for the hrillion (Sherbourne Press, Las Angeles, 1969);
Omar V Garrison, ·the hridden Story of Scientoloty, op. cit.

a Ruth Minshull, Mirecles for Breakfast, op. eit.

3 L Ron Hubbard, llow to l.ive ·rhough An Execuhve (Department of
Publications World Wide, Last Grinstead, 1953).

Victor Silcox and Len Maynard, Creative Learning: e Scientological
Experimeat in Schools (Scientology Publicahons, London, l9ss);
Muriel Payne, Creatiru Education illiam Maclellan, Gltsgow, 1958).

6 L Ron Hubbard, el fistory of Man (HASI, I ondon, n.d.).

r L. Ron Hubbard, lue rOu Liued Before 7 his Life, op. cit. areas
of Scientologv's operation. The movement currently maintains an
extensive public relations apparatus, part of the function of
which is to ensure that exoteric interpretations are available and
publicized for organizational activity.

Scientology developed a transcendental doctrine, or theodicy, to
explain the individual's current condition. This doctrine
incorporated an elaborate metaphysics based around a theory of
reincarnation. It was thereby greatly broadened from a
'do-it-yourself' psychotherapy to a cosmology, endowing the
universe and individual human life with meaning. The belief-system
of the movement became increasingly esoteric, and a 'hierarchy of
sanctification' emerged. embers could locate themselves on levels
of initiation into the movement's mysteries through 'the grades',
'clear,' and the 'OT levels'.

The chansmatic nature of the revelation, the gnosis, is evident in
the power which it is conceived to have. Viewing the materials of a
higher level than one has yet achieved, even by accident, is held
to be dangerous. Hence, the 'advanced materials' are kept secret
from the uninitiated. The doctrine and practices of the movement
therefore became available as a means of control, since access to
higher levels could be denied to those who deviate from its norms.l

With the promulgation-of Scientology, Hubbard was able to claim the
new gnosis as a revelation into which he had privileged insight,
heightening his authority over the movement, and inhibiting
competing claims to revelation. Aspects of the theory and practice
most closely linking the belief-system to the cultic milieu were
abandoned. Dianetic 'reverie' with its ciear links to hypnosis, and
the concern with the trauma of early childhood and birth, with
clear links to psychoanalysis and its developments, were abandoned.
New elements of doctrine and practice the thetan and the E-meter,
for example were introduced. Training and auditing were
thoroughly routinized, inbibiting the development of any claim to
charismatic leptimacy on the part of instructors and practitioners,
minimizing their autonomy and power and heightening their
substitutability.

The strategies employed in coping with the doctrinal precariousness
of the movement bear strong similarities to those employed by Mary
Baker Eddy. Mrs Eddy claimed that her writings, in particular
Science antl eakh, were inspired revelations. Some aspects of the
teaching became a hidden doctrine available only to those
undergoing special instruction. Students of the Normal Course were
carefully vetted for their loyalty to the Church and forbidden to
take notes while undergoing instruction (as is still the case
today). Mrs Eddy became the sole source of doctrinal innovation,
adaptation and interpretation. Until the establishment of the Board
of Education, she alone could claim to

' Seven OT levels are currently available (1974), although Hubbard
has indicated that 'there are perhaps 15 levels above OT VH ully
developed but existing only in unissued note orm...which he
threatens to release in due course. See Advance, issue ro
(AugustlSeptember 975), p. 6. terch the rdvanced levels of
Christian Science. Students were required not to indulge in writing
on Ctmstian Science or in reading other metaphysical literature,
and heretical teachers who persisted in teaching despite being
excommunicated ·vere pursued by MIrs Eddy in the press and
lawcourts for infringements of her capyrights. There had to be a
clear ideological boundary between Christian Science and any other
metaphysical system, and this boundary was heightened by the fear
instilled in her students of malicious animal magnetism held to
be the real nature of the practice of heretics, apostates, and
imitators.

The authority of local teachers was undermined by constraints on
teaching beyond the preliminary levels of doctrine. Teacbing and
practice became increasingly standardized and depersonalized. After
189, the only 'pastors' permitted in Christian Science churches
were Science cnd Heclth and the Bible. Preachers were reduced to
Readers, whose performance was controlled to the extent of
standardizin even the emphasis with which passages were read. Their
expository task was taken over by a Board of Lecturers, appointed
by the Directors and obliged to submit the text of their lectures
in advance to the Mother Church. The technique of healing became
standardized on the basis of Mrs Eddy's texthook. The armual
re-election of Lecturers by the Directors and the requirement that
Readers could hold office for three years only, precluded the
development of these offices as a source of independent authority
that could be directed against the Church leadership. Teachers were
brought under increased control by permithng them to hold a class
only once a year, for no more than thirty students, and forbidding
gathenngs of teachers and their students on other occasions.l

Christian Science thus provides an earlier example of a process
later followed in Scientology, in which an attempt was made to
manage the problem of institutional fragility faced by the cult
leadership. The beliefs and practices of the movement, and their
mode of transmission and application, were mobilized in the process
of arrogating and centralizing authority, and maximizing control.
One aim of these ada?tations was to eliminate challenges to the
authority of the leader, and to secure a disciplined and cohesive
following.

t Roy Wallis, 'A comparahve anlysis of problems and processes of
change in two manipulationist movements: Christian Science and
Scientology' in 711e Contempora .lfetcmorhosis of Reigion 5, Acts
of the Icth International Conference on the Sociology of Religion,
The Hague, Netherlands, August 973. 5. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

AND SOCIAL CONTROL

Hirtorical oackground

After Hubbard moved his headquarters to Phoenir in l9S2,
Scientology went through a period of considerable organizational
flux. The Hubbard Associahon of Scienco]ogists (HAS, later the
Hubbard Association of Scientologists International, HSI) was
incorporated as a 'religious fellowship' under Hubbard's direct
control. Hubbard travelled a great deal during the following years,
particularly to England to consolidate and promote the growth of
Scientology in Britain.

In his absence, he became dissatisfied with the way things were
being conducted at Phoenic. The financial situation there had
apparently deteriorated,l and the editor of the ournal of
Sciertology, .91phia Hart, employed a rather liberal policy in the
conduct of the periodical. While lauding Hubhard and his practice,
he printed letters critical of the movement and its behefs and
probably maintained too great an independence of his leader.8

Accordingly, Hubbard irstructed the loyal organizer of an
independent Scientology school, Helen O'Brien, to fly to PhoeniY,
sack Alphia Hart and remove the HAS to Philadelphia. There a new
corporahon was established, much of the running costs of which were
covered by the Philadelphia practitioners,3 and the ournal began
appearing under Helen O'Brien's editorship. Hubbard, however,
appears not to have been gready reassured that his organization
was now in safe hands.

He was a strange partner in business, because he seemed determined
to undemsine us. He airmailed our U.S. subscriber lists offers of
books for sale from England, but

Helen O'Brien, Dian,ics in l.inbo (Whitmore Publishing Go..
Philadelphia, rg66), p.68.

' Helen O'Brien, who despite her own later fall from grace remained
loyal to Hubbard's interpretation of many events at this time,
complains that he had 'hired an editor who never rea ly understood
the subject and who for several monthi injected his penonal
viewpoint in Hubbard's American communication hne'. Helen O'Brien,
op.cit..p.61,

' At least according to their own account, Helen Osrien, op. cit..
p. 69 reneged repeatedly on promises to shlp us a suppiy, after
we'd backlogged rrders to the ceiling by advertising them on his
instruction. He said that all letters should be for varded to him
for his reply, and then, when they went unanswered, dubbed us the
'Philadelphia Incommunicators. Wben I hired a secretary, he wrote
directly to her, with pages of instruction about how I should be
conducting the operation !l

On his return to Philadelphia late in 1953 for a Congress, Hubbard
was able to appear as If respondirg to complaints from 'the field'
present at the Congress that O'Brien and her partner had refused to
communicate ne-v information.t He dismantled the Pennsylvania
corporation and excommunicated O'Brien and her partner.3 The head
iuarters of the movement were moved a short distance to Camden,
liewJersey.

There, late in 1953, ;hree churches uere incGrporated. Only two of
these, the Church of American Science (represented as a Christian
Church) and the Church of Scientology (represented as
non-denominational) were activated. The third corporatior. (which
appears to have been called the Church of Spiritual Engineering
[!]) was never utilized. Early in 1954 Hubbard removed the
funchoning corporate superstructure back to Phoenix, Arizona, and
began 'franchizing' independent churches of Scientology in other
states.4 In 1955, Hubbard again moved his organization, this time
to Washington DC, where Wiliiam Young had built up a thnving
practice. (The Scientology organization argues that Hubbard moved
to Wa5hington DC because of local attacks on Scientology, and
Hubbard deemed it sEer to be under the jurisdichon of Federal
rather than State courts, in order to guarantee hhe Church's
constitutional rights.) In 1959, Hubbard purchased Saint Hill
Manor in East Grinstead, Sussex, which became the movement's
headquarters umtil the establishment of the 'Sea Org' in 1966.

It is no easy matter to provide a clear picture of the corporate
involvementS of Hubbard and his movement. Hubbard vas well aware of
the value of corporate structures as weapon5 in the control of both
his movement and its environment.5 A complex corporate structure
maximizes the dimculty of surveitlance, or inveshgahon of the
movement's affairs, and also maximizes hhe number of public images
through which the movement can be promoted. These exoteric 'faces'
to the rr.ovement can then be differentially shessed (at different
times) depending on public receptivity at any given time to any
given image. The letter-paper of hhe Founding Church of Scientology
of Washington DC in 1957 listed seventeen organizations which the
movement leadership owned or controlled. These included the
Congress of Ea5tem Scientologists, the American

Helen O'Brien, op. cit..pp. 74-5

J 70ursal of Soi ntoloD, r2G, n.d.

J 7Ournalofsrlantoloeyz4G(3lJanuarylgs4)p 2

' A Church of Sciento!ogy was 'franehized' to J. Burton Farber in
California and another to William Yourg in Washinston :DC.

' Philip Selznick, rh Oreanizational Waan (Free Press, Glencoe !
960). Society for Disaster Relief, Scientology Consultants to
Industrial Efficiency, and the Distribution Center Inc. From 1954
Hubbard also promoted a Freudian Foundation of America. After
Hubbard's re-acquisition from Purcell of the legal rights in the
Wichita Dianehc Foundation in 1954, there were also among the list
of corporations of the movcment various Dianetic organizations,
such as the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation. Sundry other
legally incorporated organizations had been established in
England.l

aost of the organizations were ad hoc and temporary. The movement
was largely organized, during the 19505, through the HASI. The HASI
provided public services through the Hubbard Guidance Centre (HGC)
which offered individual auditing; the Academy of Scientology which
offered training; and later the Personal Efficiency Foundahon which
offered the free or inexpensive introductory courses designed to
draw in new recruits. The HASI also published various magazines and
other promohonal materials. A separate organization was the Hubbard
Communications Office Ltd (HCO) which was Hubbard's direct
administrative machine. Throughout the 19605, eonsiderable re-
organization of the corporate strueture took plaee as more of the
corporate operahon of Scientology was brought under the legal
auspices of the Church of Scientology of California. 'Field'
orgarization During the 1 9 ,os, despite a progressive tightening
of control over the movement Dunng the 19505, despite a progressive
tightening of control over the movement as a whole in comparison
with the days of Dianetics, organization of the following of
Scientology in the field remained somewhat loose. By requuring
affiliation of amateur group5 with the HASI, Hubbard sought to
control the grass-roots following. New information on theory and
technique was now less readily available through public documents.
Instead, practitioners were encouraged to take professional courses
at considerable cost. The HPA course cost soo and Advanced Clinical
courses which led to the conferring of the 'Doctorate of
Scientology' cost :i800. Only those who had taken advanced
indoctnnation were permmtted to teach and certify competence beyond
the most basic levels.3

These developments led to a rapid 'professionalization of field
practice. Amateur groups could not secure the training or access to
the material that had formerly made their existence worth while.
The professional auditors and their organizatiOns began to dominate
the field. Amateur groups gradually disappeared. Those who
remained committed to the movement affiliated with and became
absorbed into the clientele of a local or central organization. The
possibility of opposition to the leadership from the grass roots
was thereby rendered virtually impossible. Members had no formal
and few informal

t Sir John G. Foster, Enquiry into th Prache6 and 13f6ct5 of
Scintoio6 (HMSO, London, 197), pp29-33

rC6rtaintyJ 19, 1 (1963), pp 9,

' 30urnal of ScientologJ!, v2G, n.d. 'horizontal' relationships
with each other. The movement was transformed from an almost
federal association of independent, autonomous groups into a 'mass'
movement, with few ties other than those of an almost entirely
'vertical' kind between the central (and to a lesser extent, local)
organization and individual members

Professional practihoners might operate as independent 'r^ield
Auditors' with a minimum of organization, or establish 'franchises'
which reccived direct assistance, preferential discounts, and other
concessions from the central organization, and in return were
expected to send l o per cent of their receipts to the Hubbard
Communications office. Some of the more ambitious practitioners
organized Churches of Scientologv in their local area.

During 1 954 various strategies w ere employed to tie practitioners
more closely to the central organization. 'onding of auditors'l
proved unsuccessful, but auditors were required to remain 'in good
standing' with the central organization and to purchase annual
professional membership of the HASI at a fee of 525.00 a year in
order to ensure that their certificates remained valid.S The names
of auditors who were not in good standing were published in
movement periodicals,3 and the tnembership were enjoined to have no
dealings with nonapproved practihoners. Various publications
carned advertisements for local practices approved b, the central
organizations, and lists of approved franchises were occasionally
published.

Prachtioners were encouraged to recruit nevw members and to
maximize their bls olvemel-t in he r ovement. Group pmccssing
gradually fcll from favour as involvement in the mvement. Group
processing gradually fell from favour as Hubbard found it did not
lead to increasing the involvement of members. One source reports a
lecture by Hubbard in 1954 in which

Ron told the assembled auditors that group processing was proving
valueless both from the fandpoint of help to the audience and in
revenue. Those helped werenh bad offto begin with he said, and when
these get past whatever may be bothering them at the moment -hey go
on their way and that's mat.' (The Scientology orgenization
express the view that this statement appeared in an apostate's
publication, and that it is not true. However, Hubbard's own words
cited on p. rSg below have much the same substance.)

After the mid l950S, practitioners were encouraged to attract
recruits bT means of a Personal (or sometimes Personnel) Efficiency
Course, an Anatomy of the Mind Course, or some other introductorv
series of lectures and basic practices, from which recruits could
be secured for more advanced training and auditing

I Diseussed in Cbapter g. 2 3ournf l of Scientolo g7G, n.d..p 1 .
a For example, Ablih mimeoed edition, no number, no date, warns o 3
its rear page, 'Marcus Tooley of Au.tralia: all eertificates and
memberships HASI, HDRF su pended pending retrainingh

rk6 Abrrfc, 1, 7 (N3vember 1954), p. 8.

Whlte practitioners in the field were permitted to train and audlt
the less advanced levels of Scientology, Hubbard restricted
certification to the central organizations. Currently even the
iouer grades have to be verified and certified at the 'Org'.l On
completion of the lower levels, practitioners are encouraged to
send pre-clears and students on to the Org by commission payments
on the amount spent at the Org by the pre-clear. Independent
practitioners are not permitted to charge less for their services
than the charge made for equivalent services by the Org.

During the 19505 Hubbard encouraged the estabiishment of franchise
operations,t but after the secession of a number of independent
practiuoners late in 959 and early 1960, Hubbard became
increasingly disenchanted with the idea of 'private practice'.

The idea of 'One Organisation and That's Scientology' is receiving
much commendation everwhere. The idea of 'the private
practiuoner' has never set well on us as it's borrowed from
oranisations with few ansv ers. You don't have to become 'private
practice if you've got the answers. There's enough action and money
in sight to include everyone in. A united Scientology alone can
stand up to the buffets of world clearing.S

Franchise holders were encouruged to set up as City offices owned
and controlled by Hubbard rather than remaining independent.4
During the secessions of the late Igs^searly 19605, Hubbard had
continually to reassure himself of the loyalty of practihoners. A
Field Auditor Ethical Committee appears in Scientology
publications in 1959, to investigate irregularities in the practise
of these professionals,S and the certmcates of a suspected
practitioner wouid be suspended until he came into an Org for a
check that he had 'Clean Hands'. _An

U S

 t;f

 Af

 eted nractitinner would be sus-

Hubbard controlled training and practice through ownership of
copyrights to material, ability to certify practitioners and their
ciientele, and through control over the communications of the
movement.S He was therefore able to determine whether or not an
individual v.as recognized as an auditor in good standing and to
pubiicize this fact to the field. By ehese means, Hubbard was able
progressively to reduce the autonomy of practitioners, transmuting
them from

I See, for example, Robert Kaufman, Inside Scietttoloy (Olympia
Press, London,
1972),
p.27etseq.
'0rg'isaScientologyabbreviationfortheScientologyorganization.

See, for example, Ability Major, lo (c. Iate 1959).

S L. Ron Hubbard, 'Ron'sJournal', HC0 Information Letters, 27
October 1962.

' Various C0 Inform2hon Letters, 1962.

5 Certainty, 6, 6 (1959), p. 5.

There is no clear evidenee that independent publications were
frowned on, but only one periodical publication independent of the
Org appeared, as far as I can trace, after the disappearance of the
various Dianetics newsletters and other similar circulars, whirh
was sponsored by a practitioner in good standing with the Org. This
wa the Auditar and Philosoher, which ran for only 2 or g issues
during 1956. Independent communications media wcre clearly not
encouraged. independent professionals to functionaries and
recruiting agents for the central organizations.l 'rh Org

The founders of mtny social and religious movements, while bearing
the charisma necessary to mobilize a large following and convey an
innovatory message, not infrequenly lack the administrative ability
to establish an enduring organizational structte which ·vill
continue to promote that message after their demise. Hubbard,
hoever, is an extraordinary administrator. Developed in its present
form largely during the years after establishing his headquarters
in East Grinstead, the Org is an elaborate and imposing
bureaucratic machine.

Max Weber detaded the following characteristics of bureaucracy:
fixed official jurisdictional aeas ordered by rules; the
distnbution of regular activities as official duties; thestable and
strictly delimited distribution of the authority of officials; and
the rtstriction of office to those appropriately qualified. Bureau-
cracy rests on an ordeed hierarchy of office and authority with the
lower offices supervized by the hiSher; the extensive use of
vlitten documents preserved as 'the files'; specializedomffice
management with expert training; and an elaborate body of general
ruhs, knowledge of which constitutes part of the technical
expertise possessed b 3fficials.2 As we shall establish below, in
many respects the Scientology organiza!on approximates very closely
to this ideal type.

The structure of the Org is established by an organizahonal chart
generally known as 'The Org Board'. The Org Board divides the
organization into seven

Divisions: Executive; HCO; HCO Dissemination; Treasury; Techmical;

Qualu'ications; and Distribution each, as will be evident from
their titles,

I Most books on Scientology by individuals within the movement
other than Hubbard are copyrigbted in Hubbards name. When a writer
falls from favour they are withdrawn from crculation. Thus when Reg
Sharpe, a prominent aide of HubScientology organizatl;on
approxlmates very closely to this deal type.

The structure of the Org is established by an organizational chart
generally Ex cuhve Ditectrve ED 716 WW

November 7th 1967 HCO SEGS FRANCHISE FSMS CanceDation of Issue
Authority LRH Issue Authority is hereby cancelled on the book 'This
is Life' by Reg Sharpe. This book can no longer be nsued, sold or
displayed by Seientology orgs, ESMs, Franchise or Scientologists.

Issue Authority WW

For the

LRH Communicator WW for

soard of Directors of the Church [Seal]

 of Scientology of California, i K.

Max Weber, 'Burtaucracy', Chapter 8 in Hans H. Gerth and C Wright
Mills, eds, From Mt btr: EssaJs in Sooiolog (Routiedge & Kegan
Paul, London, 1970), pp. 196-8.

..11 IIU UOIleS TepC Oy n pdl

LUll allu 1 Every post v ithin the organization has associated with
it a 'hat' file.3 The h. file contains the relevant policy for the
operation of that post, plus memoranda from its former incumbents
which will aid a newcomer in 'wearing the hat' that is, operating
the post effectively. Hat files are written up with such
specificity that theoreticallv any individual could take over and
operate the post after simply learning the file. The 'Org Exec
Course' provides executive training for higher echelon personnel.
that is operatino the post effectively. Hat files are written up
with such specificity

having distinct functions. Below these with yet more specialized
functions are twenty-seven Departments. The chain of command
cu]minates in L. Ron Hubbard, currently shown as 'Founder', below
yhom is ranged his (third) wife ary Sue Hubbard as 'The
Gontroller', and the Executive Directors of each organization
Beneath 'The Controller' lies the office of 'The Guardian' and the
HCO side of the organization, which deals among other things with
external
relations;communicabontoandfromHubbard;generalcommunicationv.ithin
the organization; personnel; and internal social cPntrol of the
movement. The Org Executive Directors have responsibility for the
operahng divisions of the organization processing, training,
accounting, etc.

Each department has a particular function and jurisdiction as
established in Hubbard's Policy reers These documents specify the
grounds for the operation of each unit within the organization, the
responsibilities of its officers, and the organization's goals and
procedures. lany of them are collected in a series of eight volumes
as an 'Encyclopedia of Scientology Policy', which collectively form
'the oTgani ah6n Exectztire Cotrse.l Org executives are required to
have an operating knowledge of these volumes, and an executive is
expected to be able to legitimate his actions by reference to
relevant policy.

The Org mauntains extensive files. Poicy now demands that all
orders be

The Org Board provides the model for all Scientology organizations.
In small organizations which lack sufficient personnel to staff
every post separately, one staff member may 'wear several hats'.
However, the Org Board is presented not merely as an appropriate
structure for Scientology organization; rather it is taken to be
the perfect organizational form, applicable from the level of the
individual (who could operate, it is argued, on the same functional
model) o that of the world. As Scientologyexpands, its followers
believe the whole world will gradually get 'pulled in under the Org
Board'.

I L. Ron Hubbard, the Organisahon Erecuive Course (Seientology
Publieations Organisation, Copenhagen, 1970). This volume will
bereafte be cited simply as OliC. I was inioia ly permitted to
purchase only the first two of these volumes, which alone comprise
some moo pages of policy letters. The Scientology publishing
company did not agree to sell me the other six volumes until too
late to utilize them for the purposes of this research.

OIC, Vol. O, p. 296.

5 Posts in Scientology orgs are known as 'hats', from the phase
'wearing hishat', meaning acting in his sueh-and-such role.

The virtues of the Org Board derive particularly from thc fact that
it is held to be a pracucal representation of the basic scheme of
Scientology theory:

Thetan

HCO

Divisions Org

Public Divisions

Divisions

uoarL antl his direct subordinates are the guiding spirit, the
thetan, of the Org operating through its 'mind', the HCO Divisions
including the Guardian's Office and the Ethics Officers 1 Pugh and
Hickson in their analysis of the structure of fifty-two
organizations found none which showed the kind of profile to be
expected from Weber's model of bureaucracy, that is one which

would appear ai highly specialised with many narrowly defined
specialist 'offices', as highly standardised in iti procedures, and
as highly formalised with documents prescribing and recording all
activities and available in the files as preeedents. IE everything
had to be referred upwards for decision, then it would also score
highly centralised In configuration it would have a high proportion
of 'supportive' or administrative or 'non.work-dow' personnel.'
They suggest that such 'extreme total bureaucracy' may only exist
among the bureaux of central government. Yet the Scientology
organization appears to fit this model singularly closely. While
not every decision could conceivably be referred upwards, few need
to be in the Org, since most decisions can be made on the basis of
the centrally prepared policy documents, which specify in great
detail how operations are to be carried out.3 Only in the event of
ambiguity or unprecedented circumstances need matters be referred
upward for decision.

While the organization has become highly bureaucratized, it departs
from the classic Weberian model over the position of 'the
official'. Staff posts are presented

I Ibid..p. 252.

3 D. S. Pugh and D. J. Hickson, 'The comparative study of
organisadons' in Graeme Salaman and Kenneth Thompson, eds, Peoplt
aDd organisatioDs (Longman, London, L973), p59

i When he lived at Saint Hill, for e:ample, Hubbard wrote a lengthy
memorandum detailing the proper way to wasb the Hubbard family
cars. This is still printed in OEC, Vol. I, pp. 295-6. as
fulfilling a duty in assisting Ron to 'clear the planet',l and
enjoy a measure of social esteem, particularly in the more
specialized and executive positions.3 Posts are filled by
appointment3 and the hierarchy of offices might be said to provide
a career, and will no doubt increasingly provide an established
ladder of advancement as the movement becomes more thoroughly
institutionalized. Hovever, the concept of career is only loosely
applicable, since many staff members join the organization only
temporarily, working out contracts of specified length (typically
two and a half years) in return for free auditing and training.4
vlany therefore see their staff membership as of limited duration.
It is doubtless in part because of the rapid turnover in staff
engendered by the contract system that the highly formalized
machinery of staff hats, etc..has been instituted, to equip an
individual to cope with a post after minimal trainin8. lloreover,
even the executive officials of Scientology Orgs do not enjoy
security of tenure. Security of tenure, as Weber has indicated,
enhances, even if it does not ensure, the independence of the
office holder. Such independence is entirely contrary to the
spirit of Scientology's organizational practice.

The Org bureaucracy departs from the Weberian model in two further
particulars While Weber spccified that 'official activity demands
the full working capacity of the official, irrespective of the fact
that his obligatory time in the bureau may be firmly delimited',5
Scientologv personnel are utilized as disposable agents by the
leadership to an extent far beyond that usual in bureaucratic
organizations. In periods of organizational or departmental crisis,
personnel mav be required to remain at the Org working, except for
brief periods of rest snatched on the floor or wherever is
available, for forty-eight or more hours at a timeS or sent offwith
case-loads of books to be sold in distant towns after a normal
day's work at the Org.7 The extent to which the organization may
encroach on the 'private' time and activities of its personnel is a
function of the ideological commitment of its staff, a personal
involvement that departs from the impersonal aura of Weber's
bureaucrat.

Secondly, Weber's official 'receives the regular pecuniary
compensation ol a normally fixed salary and the old age security
provided by a pension'.S As far as I can learn no pension proision
is made by the Scientology organization, and staff are not, for the
most part, paid a fixed salary. Remuneration in the

I 'A post in a Scientology Org isn't a job. It's a trust and a
erusade', OEC, Vol. O, P 34

2 Incumbents of lower posts are often regarded with pity, even by
·tauneh adberents, rnther than respect, but that is probably true
of bureaucracy everwhere.

S The more important posts are appointed only by Hubbard himself
See OEC, Vol. 1, pp. 2, 100, 12j. ' See, for example, OEC, Vol. O,
p. 48. S Weber, op cit. c Cyril Vosper, Is Mird end THZ SICT:
SClZts'TOLOOY organization is based on g-oss receipts. Fifty-five
per cent of the gTOSS income for a particular Org is transferred to
a Salary Account. Each post within that Org has a certain number of
'units' allotted to it, each unit entitling the staff member to a
certain proportion of the salary fund. Hence, as Org income
ductuates so, accordingly, will individual salaries.l The Anderson
Report indicates that the resulting salary levels achieved by staff
of the Victoria Organization were relatively low, often less than
the state's basic wage level. For example, for the week ended 17th
May 1962 where the unit appears to have been sS 6d, a person on 1 6
units received as little as

4 8s for 4o hours work. Other instances for that week were:J'fo.
of units

Hours worktd

Gross sclary

40

42t

42t

40

325

7

33

47

9

1

6 Fhe highest paid employee in the HASI in this week was thc
clcaner, who was paid The highest paid employee in the HASI in this
week was the cleaner, who was paid

at the rate of ms per hour. HCO staff fared a little better than
the HASI, two of

them getting £16 I /s 6d and £16 respectively.

Interviews with former employees of the Org in England and America
confirm the low average level of pay and its ductuations, although
there may have been some improvement in recent years.

Two of the factors wbich normallv play an important part in
recruitment to bureaucracy, j ob and income security, are thus
dispensed with in the Scientology organization. Personnel are
attracted to Org posts as a result of ideological commitment, and
the fact that contracting to work for the Org permits access to
training and auditing they could otherwise ill afford. Dispensing
with thesl two aspects of bureaucracy also facilitates greater
control by the leadership of the incumbents of staff posts.

The Org is a highly bureaucratized structure although it retains
distinctive patnmonial characteristics.

It is decisive for the specffic nature of modern lovalty to an
office that, in the pure

type, it does not establish a relationship to a person, like the .
..disciple's faith...in

patrimonial relations of authority.3

I Kevin Victor Ancerson, Report of fhe r70ad of EnquiTy into
ScienoloD (Government Printer, Melbourne, Avstralia, 1965), pp. 26
et seq.

S Anderson, op. cit..p. 27.

Weber, op. cit..p. 149. The employees of Hubbard's Org are not
merely officials, but also isciples. Hence commitment of staffto
the Org is secured by ideological means, replacing the need for the
attractions of tenure, secure salary and orderly promotion through
a work hierarchy. Moreover, the movement leadership seeks to
proscribe the development of an independent basis of authority
witmn the movement, even in its own bureaucratic structure. The
absence of tenure and the considerable substitutability of
employees even at the highest levels, enhances the dependence of
the bureaucracy on the authonty and direction of the leader, and
the maintenance of ultimate control in his hands.

Statistics

An important element of the organization's bureaucratic practice is
its 'statistics', or 'stats'. Statistics provide both a measure of
organizational emciency and a means of control. The development of
statistics was one major aspect of the bureaucrahzation of the mo
ement and the shift in administration from a purely patrimonial,
personally directed staff of disciples to impersonal control
through formal rules and procedures.

An org today is not run on personalities. It's run on statistics.
All orders are based on statistics .l

The statistic is a measure of operating emciency based on some
readily available indicator. Each Org, division, department, and
hat is assigned a statistic which indieates 'normal operation'. The
statistics are indicated by the gross income of the facihtyi number
of letters mailed out with promotional material; gross book salesj
number of students enrolled; number of 'success stories' written;
or some similar objective indicator.2

Weekly statistics reports are transmitted up the orgamzational
ehain of command and provide a ready means of checking the
productivity of lower echelon departments and personnel'Up
statistics', that is a level above the arbitrary norm set for
normal operation indicate that the individual occupyung the post,
or the department concerned is in a 'higher condition'3 and
therefore eligible for various awardsAn individual in a condition
of 'Power' on his post receives

Pay and full bonuses. Awarded S25.00 credit for Org Services at own
org or is payable by Org as credit agaist services in a higher
Org. Has top priority on Org service lines. Gold star on Gomm
bas:et and on Org Board.' ' L. Ron Hubbard, HCO Pobcy Letla, I
February 1966, p. 2.

S L. Ron Hubbard, 'statistics for divisions, HCO Policy Ldta, 3o
September 1 96, in OEC, Vol. I, pp. 3z8-g.

See 33thics section below. 'Conditions, awards and penances, HCO
Policy Lctta, 16 November 1971. On the other hand, 'down
statistics', that is, belov normal operation, indicate that the
individual or org is in a 'lower condition' and becomes liable to
various penalties. In 'Liabilit' an individual receives Pay, but no
bonuses. Must submit and execute a m hour Amends Project in own
time. Is offall
trainirgandauditingexceptforGramming,WordClearingorhatting actions
necessary to handle own post. Minimal meal breaks. Austere working
unitorm or clothing. May not have time offor receive vacation while
in this condition. A gray ribbon is placed on their Comm basket
and a gray flag by their name on the Org Board. Must wear a gray
armband on left armP the leodet

At least until recent years, Hubbard indisputably controlled the
Scientology organization. Until I c66, he and members of his
immediate family occupied the more important direc-orship positions
of the various Scientology organizations. I:)uring 1966 he w as
srid to have resigned from all directorships of such organi-
zations. While Hubbard appears to have relinquished direct legal
control, he retained certain righ: as 'Trustee' and signatory to
various international bank accounts of the movement until at least
rg6g.Z According to the Guardian's Offce of the Church, Hubbard is
not currently a signatory on any Church of Scientology bank
account, nor does he have any 'Trustee' status.a

While policy documents are now often issued over other names than
Hubbard's, many are still issued over Hubbard's name. The
Guardian's Office advise me that Hubbard has 'sold his name' to the
Church, which they indicate means that the right to append
Hubbard's name to policy is vested in the Board of Directors of the
Church of Scientology World Wide.4 This may indicate that Hubbard
has relinquished direct administrative control over Scientology. It
may, however, indicate that like Mary Baker Eddy, Hubbard found it
convenient not to appear to be directing the Scientology
organizations. Until her death, Mrs Eddy actively supervised the
administration of the Christian Science Church, although she had
nominally relinquished control to the Board of Directors.

The policy of the movement states that Hubbard is the source of all
Scientological theory and practice in the sense that even where
he did not invent a particular practice, only his approval
legitimates its use and is often referred to in Scientology
publications as the 'Source'. The Guardian's Omce claim,

I Ibid.

5 Testimony of Herbie Parkhouse, Church of Scientology of
California Inc. v. Bernard Green and Barbara Ferraro, etc..60 civ
5745 before Hon. Richard H. Levet, District Judge, U.S. Drstrict
Court, Southern District of New York, Stenographer's Minutes,
October 4, 5 6, 1972, pp. 577-609.

Lcncr from David Gaiman, Guardian's Office, Chureh of Scientology,
Zl v[arch 974 4 Ibid. however, that owncrship ol all llubbard's
phllosopllicnl and techmCal m.........

now vested in the Church.

Evidence tendered by officers of the Washington Founding Church of
Scientology in legal actions in 1967 also indicated that,
whatever the legal position, Hubbard remained in ultimate control
of the movement, and could reassume day-to-day operational control
without difficulty.

He still issues our policy letters as the founder which are
applicable to Scientologists everywhere I

...I think it is fair to say that from the viewpoint of all
Scientologists, we aeeept Ron Hubbard as the final authority and
the source of Scientology.3 Q. Let me ask you this. Is it within Mr
Hubbard's power at any time to assume the control of the Founding
Church and all other Scientology organisations ?

A. Only by the agreement of Scientologists. Q. If Mr Hubbard
tomorrow were to issue a memorandum where he w as to state that he
·vas taking back what he had said last year and he was again to be
put on the board of directors of all organisations, would the
Scientologists allow him to be put back?

A. May I answer that in two parts?

Q. Please answer yes or no aDd then eYplain. A. The answer is yes,
and I will elaborate on that by saying that theoretically, or
better said, as n point of practieability, the boards of all
churcbes could actually refuse that, but in actual fact, I know
that would never happen.3

Moreover, ns Hubbard has apparently ·vithdrawn from operational
dircction of refuse that, but in actual fact, I know that would
never happen.3

Moreover, as Hubbard has apparently withdrawn from operational
direction of the movement, other members of his family have come to
play a larger role. His wife, Mary Sue, is 'The Controller' to whom
the Guardian is responsible. The Guardian directs the operations of
the Assistant Guardians based in each organization. The Assistant
Guardian is the senior and most powerful executive in every local
organiZation.4

' Testimony of John Bevis Fudge, Founding Church of Scientology v.
USA in US Court of Claims, No. 226-61, Washington D.C. :967,
transcript, pp. 217-18.

r Ibid..p. 2t8.

3 Ibid..p. 29 n In his deposition, Bevis Fudge, Legal Omcer and
Assistant Guardian of the Founding Church of Scientology also makei
this point clear: 'Q. Does Ron Hubbard have, let s say, the power
within the organisation to influence its activities and operations
since he resigned his directorships in 1 966 ? A. Definitely. Q. So
there has been no real change then in his control over the
organisation? A. No, not to my knowledge.' ('Deposition of Bevis
Fudge' in Founding Church of Seientology v. U.S.A..3 January 1967,
stenographic transcript, p. 12.) Documents made available to me by
a reeently defected Sea Org member make it quite clear that there
remains a direct chain of command from Hubbard through the Sea Org
to all Scientology organizations.

4 Deposition of Anne L. Ursprung, in Founding Church of Scientology
v. The Washington Post Co, Civil Action No. 214 1-68, U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia, tg68. Miss Ursprung testified
that as Assistant Guardian she was superior

Hubbard's daughter, Diana, and son, Quentin, are assuming a
progressively more important place in the affairs of the movement,
figuring prominently in recent publications, and acting as
Hubbard's proxies at major gatherings of the movement. As Hubbard
has withdrawn from the direct public control of the movement, other
members of his family have moved into leadership roles. 'the Sea
Otg

A relatively recent aGdition to the organization of Scientology is
the Sea Org. Shortly before the Bitish Home Office advised Hubbard
that he would no longer be permitted entry to the United Kingdom,
he acquired, with considerable foresight, a sea-going vessel, the
avowed purpose of which was to enable Hubbard to explore ancient
civilizations. By l971 the Sea Org fleet contained some six shipS.t

Its purpose has been variously presented.

The Sea Org was formed to compose a superiorly disciplined, elite
group working directly under Ron to aid the creation of a new
civilisation on mis planet.3

The Sea Organisation operates on a high standard of mobility and
comfront. Its end product is Ethics and Order. Its purpose is to
get ETHICS IN.

The Sea Organrsation is the most powerful organisation in the
world. It works wi the primary rod of Emhics.'

The Sea Organisation is composed of the aristoeracy' of
Scientology. The Sea Organisahon (the research and management
branch of the Church The Sea Organisation is composed of the
'aristocracy' of Scientology.' The Sea Organisation (mhe research
and management branch of the Church of Scientology)...5

The Sea Org has no separate corporate status, but comprises an
elite order of Scientologists, with a broad authority to intervene
in the affairs of Scientology organizations.7

I See, for example, the letter from David Gaiman to SirJohn Foster
cited in Foster, op. cit..p. 34. This is one clear example of the
exoteric versus the esotenc presentation of Scientology. While it
may be true that Hubbard desired to explore ancient civiliza-
tions, this can bave been only a very minor part of the Sea Org's
purpose.

Z Foster, op. cit..p. 35m

7 Aduance, 7, n.d..n.p. ' LBana Hubbard, 'What is the Sea Org?',
mmmeo (15 March 1968). 5 Leafiet, no publisher (1972).

S 'the JVew Ciuilization, 12 ( 1972), p. 3.

' The ownership of the vessels of the Sea Org is something of a
mystery. Herbert Parkhouse, a senior Church executive, teshfied in
Church of Scientology of California Inc. v. Bernard Green, etc..
op. cit..that the vessels of the Sea Org were owned by a
corporation known as Operations and Transport Services Ltd, which
also receives fees paid by students for Sea Org and other advaneed
courses. Parkhouse testified that in the Washington Church to the
HCO Exec Sec, the Org Exec Sec and the Public Exec See, the Board
of Trustees, whose decisions she could veto, the President of the
Executive Council, and that she had ultdmate authority in
administrative matters. The Sea Org sends its officers to
individual orgs with unlimitd pov9rs to handle

a. Ethics

b. Tech

c. AdminP

The vessels of the Sea Org are surrounded with an aura of mystery
and secrecy The whereabouts of the Flag Ship on which Hubbard
resides is kept a closely guarded secret even from rank and file
Scientologists.t 'Missions' are despatched from the Sea Org to take
command of organizations with 'do vn-statishcs', to remedy the
situation. Among their 'unlimited powers' is that of superior
authority to the land organization execubves. For erample:...as
per HCO POL zoJune 1968, the senior Ethics Officer on the planet is
the International Chief Ethirs Officer WW. OVER THE CHIEF E/O ARE
THE MASTERS AT ARMS OF THE SEA ORG.s

The sen-ices of the Sea Org Missions are paid for at far from
meagre rates by the organizations concerned.4

Advanced organizations, that is those that provide upper-level
training and OT courses, are located aboard Sea Org vessels or
othenvise staffed by Sea Org personnel. The members of the Sea Org
are completely committed followers of Hubbard. Recruits are
required to sign a 'bilhon year contract' on entry,9 are paid
little more than pocket money,9 and are subject to more severe
discipline

i L Ron ubbard, CO Polioy L9tr, Issue 11, 8 Februan 1968 (rny
emphasis.

I L. Ron Hubbard, UCO Policy Ldter, Issue 11, 8 February 1968 (my
emphasis). 9 Interview.

9 Tom Moore, Master of Arms, AOLA, 'Subject: Corditiors Ord6rs'
(mimeo), Departmene of the Master at Arms, The Advanced
Organisation, Los Angeles, A Mission ofthe Sea Organisation-Flag,
12 August tg68.

S This is evident, for etample, from the following (despite the
confusion as to who is to pay whom): 'There has been a rumor
started to the effect that AO [Advanced Organisation] owes 55000 to
the L.A. [Los Angeles] Org for a Sea Org Mission which declared 2
Liabilities, 2 Doubts and I Enemy [EthiQ Conditions, See pp. 142-8
below]. These were said bv the S.P. [Suppressive Person] to be
wrong conditions. These were in fact 100, correct as out Tech and
out Ethies were found in L.A. The L.A. Org does in fact owe the
Advanced Organisation 54,500 for an Ethics Mission and 520,ooo as
an order from Flag.'

Fran Deitsch, Supercargo, Flag Mission, Sea Org, 'Malicious rumor
mongenng-S.P.', CO thicsOrd6rMsterctAn7rsD69t, 14August tg68. 9
'Sea Org requirements changed', lea6et, n.d.; and Foster, op. cit..
p. 35.

; 'A Sea Org member draws only about four pounds a week and his
room and board'. the Auditor, 51 (9970). He also receives a
maritime uniform which while 'optional when they are on land'
(David Gaiman cited in Foster, op. cit..p. 34) is vsually worn as
a mark of status in Scientology circles.

various Orgs charter vessels from Operation and Transport Senviees
for training and other purposes. Ibid..pp. s67-7t. 142

THE 3ECT: SCIETOLOUY

than ordinary followers or staff membels I They also receive all
training and auditing free.Z

Sea Org personnel are generally trained on the most advanced
procedures and constitute a powerful elite, commanding widespread
respect within the movement.5 Officially, individual Sea Org
members are employees of the vanous Churches of Scientology, and
are subject, like all other employees, to the Board of Directors.
My impression is, however, that the Sea Org, whether formally or
informally, has a considerable commitment to Hubbard personally,
and provides an executive force mobilizable by Hubbard to maintain
his authority and carry out his po icy anrwhere in the world. It is
also mobilized in public relations exercises to provide a good
image for Scientology, or for OTC Ltd 'one designation for the
company owning the Sea Org vessels), uhich is represented as a
management training organization in various Mediterranean and
l.atin .-merican countries. In somc of these, no link between OTC
Ltd and Scientology is publicized. '1 he public relations exercises
include an 'open-house programme', in which members of the public
are given a tour of Sea Org vessels and 'V.I.P.s' are entertained.
The purpose of this programme is detailed in a Sea Organization
Blag Order

Production target No 1: Ir.creased number of allies.

Production target No 2: Existing allies more firmly allies.

Produchon target o 3: Many wel andled visitors who leaYe the ship
with an

excellent reality on it and its operation, ofilcers and crew, who
will spread this amniProduetion target No 2: Existing allis more
firmly allies. Production target No 3: Many well-handled visitors
who leave the ship with an excellent reality on it and its
operation, officers and cre-v, who will spread this affinity and
reality widely n

thics The Scientology leadership has developed, over the history of
the movement, an extensive system of social control. In essence, of
course, all organization is a form of social control in that it
establishes limits on what may or may not be done, where, and when.
Hence, everything that has gone before in this chaptel is germane
to the question of how the employees and followers of the movement
are controlled.

Beyond these practices, however, Scientology employs a formal
machinery ol control, the Ethics system of the movement. The Ethics
system is based upon a

HCO Poliay l.etter, 26 September 1967

' OEC, Vol. t, p. 88. Subject of course to the proziso that they
are charged tot everything should thev decamp.

J 'If almost any person in the Sea Organisation vere to appear in a
Scientolog Group or Org he would be lionized, red-carpeted and
Very-Important-Perzonec beyond belief', L. Ron Hubbard, 'The Sea
Organisation', pamphlet, [Church o Scientologyj n.d.

S We are unlikely to learn the true extent of Hubbards control over
the organizatio of Scientology, and the Sea Org, until well after
his death.

5 'Ship Open-House I rogramme, Sta Organisation Elag Ordsr, 29m, a
August 1971. Danger Non-Existence Liability L)oubt Enemy Treason I

Below Normal Operation, the individual or organization is liablc to
penaldes, while above it they mav receive rewards The Condition of
Liability, for example, is assigned when

The being has ceased to be simply non-existent as a team member and
has taken on the colour of an enemy. It is assigned where careless
or malicious and knowing damage is caused to projects,
organisations or activities. It is adjudicated that it is malicious
and knowing because orders have been published against it or
because it is contrary to the in[entions and actions of the
remainder of the team or the purpose of the project or
organisation,r

list of 'Conditions' which could be said to indicate the state of
glace of any individual or organization. The following Condihons
are specified:

Power Power Change Affluence Normal Operation An individual
assigned to a Condition of Liability

may not wear arty insignia or uniform or similar clothing to the
group [sic] and must wear a dirty grey rag tied around the left
arm. The formula of liability is: 1. Decide who are one s friends
2. Deliver an effective blow to the enemies of the group one has
been pretending

to be part of despite personal danger. 3 Make up the damage one has
done by personal contribution far beyond the

ordinary demands of a group member. 4. Apply for re-entry to the
group by asking the permission of each member of it

to rejoin and rejoining only by majority permission, and if
refused, repeating

(2) and 3) and (4) until one is allowed to be a group member again.
The penalties attaching to the various Lower Conditions have varied
since 19 is when they were inshtuted. The Condition of Enemy unhl
late 1970 when penalties for Lower Condihons were said to have
been abolished by the Org, indicated that the individual was a
Suppressive Person . A Suppressive Person

I L. Ron Hubbard, I/trodtdion to Scientolo thits (Scientology
Publications Organisahon, Copenhagen 1970), p 23. 2 Ibid..p. 33t
Ibid..pp. 33-4; for a reconsruction of the experiences of an
individual in Liability, see aufman, op. cit..pp. 164-7.

Foster, op. cit..p. 128. or Group is one that actively seeks to
suppress or damage Scientology or: Scientologist by SuppreSsive
Acts. Suppressive Acts are acts calculated t impede or destroy
Scientology...n Apart from the other penalhes which included 'May
be restrained or imprisoned',8 a Suppressive Person became 'Fair
Game',

By FAIR GAME is meant, without right for self possessions or
position and no Scientologist may be brought before a Committee of
Evidence or punished for any action taken against t Suppressive
Person or Group during the period that person or group is 'fair
game.3

May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any
Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologists. May be
tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.:

In 1968 Hubbard issued a pollcy which ordered an end to the prachce
of declaring people 'fair game', on the ground that it caused 'bad
public relations.' He added, however, that this order did not
'cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an S.P.'s

Someone connected to a Suppressive Person was a Potential Trouble
Source (PTS) and was required (until 1968) to 'handle' the S.P..
which seems to have meant showirg him the error of his ways, or to
disconnect from him.S Disconnection involved cutting off all
communication with the S.P. and de clanng one's intention to do so
publicly. Disconnections were at one time pub ished in he Auditor.
For eample:

1, Heath Douglas Creer, do swear that I do disavow and thoroughly
disassociate claring one's intention to do so publicly.
Disconnections were at one time published in 'Iht Auditor. For
e7rample:

I, Heath Douglas Creer, do swear that I do disavow and thoroughly
disassoeiate myself from any overtly or covertly planned contact or
arsociation with J. Roscoe Creer and Isabell Hodge Creer or anyone
demonstrably guilty of Suppressive Aets (as described in HCO Policy
Letters, March 1965). I understand that any breach of the above
pledge will result in my being declared immediately a suppressive
person. sigmed H. D. Creer.'

Hubbard, Introduction to Scirntolr7y Ethios, op. cit..p. 48. '
Foster, op. cit..p. 128.

t L. Ron Hubbard, Inlroduction to Sintoloy Ethies (Publications
Organisation Wurld Wide, Edinburgh 1968), p. 49.

: L. Ron Hubbard, HCO Poliey Letter, 18 October 1966, cited in
Foster, op. cit..p. 129 The eoteric interpretation of this
presented by public relations officials of the movement is that it
meant no more than that the individual no longer received the
proteetlon of the movement's ethieal codes. This is an
interpretation which employs al hermeneutics to whieh I am not
privy, seeming to be contradicted both by the word on the page, and
by aetiDns taken against those regarded as enemies of the movement

S Foster, op. cit..p 129.

Although it was 'Poliey' to require the PTS to handle or
disconnect, I have copie of Ethics Orders (one of which appears to
have been validated by Hubbard), whiel order disconnection t0ul
tourt. This does not, however, appear to have heen usua

pracrice. 7 the AudRor, 9, n.d..p. 8. More usually, a brief note
was sent to the S.P. by anyone who might be ordered or feel
inclined to do so.

12.4.68 G-HI hereby disconnect from you

A-L-

ts.4.68 From M-STo HDear GI hearby disconnect rom you.

M-S-.3

An individual could be required to disconnect from a relative,
friend or a total stranger. Some interviewees who had been declared
S.P. received as many as 200 disconnecting letters.3

Organiations or smaller sub-units could be assigned a Condition if
they persistently manifested doun-statistics, employed 'out-tech'
or 'out-admin'. When such a Lower Condition is assigned to an Org,
its personnel are required to work longer hours, receive reduced
pay and are liable for more severe ethics treatment. Practices
similar to disconnection are relatively common among sectarian
movements. Deviants or defectors from groups such as the Amush are
'banned', or 'shunned'. The Christadelphians practice
'disfellowshipmenths

In each case, the practice involves the exclusion of the individual
from effective interaction with the believers. He may not be
allowed to enter the Church or to take communion, and believers in
good standing may not be permitted to communicate with him. The ban
usually extends even to members of his own family. When repentance
has been appropriately signified and the elders or congregation
agree, the individual may once again be accepted back into
fellowship. Whole congregations might sometimes be
'disfellowshipped' .3

Conditions are normally assigned by an Ethics Officer. The Ethics
Officers are located in the HCO Division, and their appointment is
subject to approval by Hubbard on whose behalf they directly
administer ethics.

The actual authority on whieh Ethies operates, no matter who signs
the order, u

LRH.' Diseonnection letters provided by an informant. Ibid. One
formerly prommnent figure in the movement received over 4oo. OEC,
Vol. o, p. 195. S On the Amish, seeJ A Hostetler, Amish Society
(Johns Hopkins Press, 1968). On the Chnstadelphians, see Bryan R
Wilson, Sects ali Sociey (Heinemann, London,

61).

' Ibid. OEC, Vol. I, p. 4g6. Ethics O fficers are looked on by me
as my Ethics Officers and none may be appointed without my okay
with a review of their record by myseh I

The Ethics Officers act as an internal police force and a
substantial body of such personnel are maintained by each Org.

By recent experience and tests in the Sea Org It requires a ratio
of one Ethics Officer for every 20 people being handled in or by an
Org.'

As well as a police force, there e:cists an established judicial
structure operated through 'Committees of Evidence' and 'Courts of
Ethics', with Hubbard as the final court of appeal.

Ethics are adrninistered on the basis of the mozement's Ethics
Codes which classify a wide range of acts as Errors, Misdemeanours,
Crimcs and High Crimes (Suppressize Acts). Among the Crimes are
such offences as

Not directly reporting dagrant departures from International Board
policy in a section, unit, department, organization, zone or
Division.'

By this means Org personnel are constrained to monitor and control
each other.

Allying Scientology to a disrelated practice.5 Organizing or
allowing a gathering or meeting of staff members or field auditors
or the public to protest the orders of a senior G

Only indiuiduul petitions are permitted, thus atomizing the
personnel and

Only individual petitit ns are permitted, thus atomizing the
personnel and preventing organized opposition to, or constraint
upon, the authority of the leadership.

Heckling a Scientology Supervisor or leeturer.'

Among the High Grimes Hubbard specifies are:

Proposing, advising or voting for legislation or ordinances, rules
or laws directed towards the Suppression of Scientology.s
Testifying hostiley [sic] before state or public inquiries into
Scientology to suppress it. Bringing civil suit against any
Scientology Oreanisation IG Testifying as a hostile witness against
Scientology in publicP' Publicly resigning staff or executive
position in protest or with intent to suppressP

I Ibid.Ibid..p. 482. J L. Ron Hubbard, Inlroduction to Scientology
E(hics (Second edition), Scientology Publications Organization,
Copenhagen, Denmark, rg70, p. 42. ' Staff members are also
encouraged to report on each other for idleness, error, failure to
carry out policy, etc. See OEC, Vol. O, pp. t66-7. 5 L R on
Hubbard, /nbvduction to Scientology Ethics, op. cit..p. 4. D
Ibid..p. 46. ' Ibid..p. 47 · Ibid..p. 49. D Ibid. IG Ibid. 1l
Ibid.

12 Ibid. Anyone performing any of these acts is a Suppressive
Person, and until 1968 was 'fair game'. Ethics are administered by
means of Ethics Orders. These may be issued for the most trivial or
the most serious offences.

HCO Ethics Order To: Those Concerned

 Date 16 August 1965 From: Ethics Officer

No F-g Subject: Suspension from Staff.

Mary Austin is hereby suspended from Foundation Staff for creating
DEV T [Dev T developed and unnecessary traffic] on August 13,
1965, by stopping ETHICS OFFICER, Anne Fewell, in her Route of
Business to pay a personal compliment, and on the samc date,
distracting D. of T. [Director of Training] John Gillespie's
attention trom making out chits and other reports.

To: Those Concerned From: Ethics Officer Subject: Disconnection
Order Anne Fewell Ethics Officer, FoundationP HCO Ethics Order Date
6 September 1965 >No 69

I . Dick Saunders is hereby ordered to totally disconnect from
literature issued by the Food and Drug Administration as it is
restimulative to him. The FDA literature he comes in contact with
is not to be read by him at all. [Seal.]

Anne Fewell [Seal.

Anne Fewell Emhics Officer. E.O. 3.7 AOLA

Date 7 December 1969

Harvey Thorpe is assigned a condition of Doubt for spreading false
reports about the location of Flag. He is to apply the formula
immediately.5 Wn of Expulsion

Date 7 December rg6g

1. MaxineJohnson and Michael Childs, practitioners, New York City,
no longer being in agreement with or willing to support the stated
aims of Scientology, are on this date duly expelled from the Church
of Scientology of California.

2 They have aided and abetted Bernard Green, who was duly expelled
from the Church, and condoned his erroneous Counselling of
parishioners v hen he was not ordained to do so.

3 All certificates and awards issued to them by the Church of
Scientology are hereby cancelled.

. therefore, they are expelled from the Church of Scientology and
may not receive spiritual counselling or training in any Church of
Scientology until hey

Cea/,Vcus,issuenumberunknown(lg6g),p.s.
'Cle2/JVeuos,issuenumberUnknown(lg6g)p s

THE SUCT: SCirNTOLOGY have performed an zct of contrition and
availed thentselves of resources to re-enter the Church. They mzy
not enter any Church of Scientology.

5. They are dec]ared in no condition, as their actions indicate
that mhey are below any condition currertly assignable.l

While the sanctions for Ethics offences have been much modified in
recent years, during the mid-lg60s the leadership briefly flirted
with the use of coercive sanchons. Provision existed within the
Ethics codes for the restriction of movement of those who
contravened ethics regulations2 and former members have claimed
that oflenders were locked up for periods on Sea Org vessels and at
the Edinburgh Ofli es of the movement.3 A prachce known as 'Instant
Ethics' ·vas employed at one time. This consisted of throwing an
offender over the side of a Sea Org vessel sometimes with his hands
or feet tied. On land organiations this practice was modified to
throwing the offender in the lake at Saint Hill or throwing buckets
of water over the offender elsewhere.

Schismatics, seceders an t social control The most severe treatment
appears to have bcen reserved for schismatics and seceders. Indeed
an analysis of the development of social control within the
movement clearly suggests that the threat of schism and secession
was one of the major factors leading to the emergence of a severe
formal machinery of social control. Until 1959 such formal control
mechanisms were merely rudimentary.
Inthisyear,however,
severaloftheleadingexecutivesinthemovementdefected including
Hubbard's eldest son L. Ron Hubbard Jr. ('Mbs'). Their defection
was not accompanied by heresy, however. Hubbard's son left his Org
office to take up more profitable private prachce independent of
the organization. Hubbard initially attributed these defections to
lack of sufficient auditing of his executivesS but he shortly came
to the view that mere auditing was not sufficient to avert further
serious defections. An attempt was made to isolate defectors by
threatening to cancel the certificates of anyone giving them
supportq and the practice of 'security checking' was instituted.
Security checking involved asking an individual a series of
questions while watching for 'meter reads' on the E-meter, to
locate questions which would not 'clear' indicating that the
individual being checked was withholding sometffing concerning that
subject. Ibid.

' L. Ron Hubbard, Tenalties for lower condifion', HCO Policy
Letter, Ul July 1968. Those in a conditmn of Doubt may be confined
in or be barred from premise-'.

The exBtence of a 'dungeon at the latter was also alleged by
Alexander i!/fitchell, Sundoy rimes, 12 Eebruary rg6g.

The praetice of 'Instant Ethics is portraved photographically in
the Auditor, 4 (1968).

6 L. Ron Hubbard, Individuation, lecture 26 of the Eirst Melbourne
Advanced Clinical Course, u5 November 1959 (tape-recordings).

L. Ron Hubbard, 'Cancellation of Certificates, HCO Policy Letter,
r3 May 1960. On a Security Check sheet you only note those
questions that wouldn't clear. If something won't clear or cool
offthe person is a security ruk. If he does tell you and clear it,
if it's a heavy crime, note it. Remember as a security checker you
are not merely an observer, or an auditor, you are a detective.'

Among the questions asked on 'Sec checks' were:

z. Are you a pervert? o.
Areyouguiltyofanymajorcrimesinthislifetime? 1 l. Have you been sent
here knowingly to injure Scientology? 12. Are you or have you ever
been a Communist?s

A security check to be administered to students before acceptance
on courses contained the following questions:

2. Do you or your close familv currently have any connection vrith
organisations

violently opposed to L. on Hubbard ? g. Are you here purposely to
upset or damage Scientology or Scientology organua-

hons ? 9. Do you intend to quit this course just as soon as you
have achieved your own

ends ? I During 1962, the Johannesburg HASI appeared unresponsive
to Hubbard's ordersS and arnong his efforts to restore control, he
invented a particularly stringent security check known familiarly
as the 'Jo'burg'. This security check contained 50 quesbons
including:

Are you guilty of anything' stringent security check known
familiarly as the 'Jo'burg'. This Sf' contained 150 questions
including:

Are you guilty of a 2Ything ? Do you have a secret you are afraid
I'll find out? Have you ever auaulted anyone, practised
cannibaliim, been in gaol ? Do you have any overb on L. Ron
Hubbard, Mary Sue Hubbard? curity check

Have you ever had any unkind thoughb about L. Ron Hubbard or
Scientology ? Do you plan to steal a Scientology organisation?'

In 1964 a movement initially called Compulsions Analysis was
founded by two individuals who had briefly been associated with
Scientology in London, Robert and Mary Ann de Grimston. This
movement, later known as The Process, and as the Church of the
Final Judgement, began as an eclectic synthesis partly based on
Scientology, employing the Ei-meter and many basic Scientology
techniques. It later developed in altogether different

L. Ron Hubbard, 'Security checks', HCO Bulletir. 26 May 1960.

2 Ibid.

' L. Ron Hubbard, 'HGC Pre-processing security check', CO Poicy
Letter, 2g October 196n L. Ron Hubbard, 'HCO WW Security form sA,
HCO Policy Letter, I November 61 . 6 L. Ron Hubbard,
'Ron'sJournal', Co /nfOTmetiOT Letter, 27 October 1962.

L. Ron Hubbard, 'The only valid security check', CO Poicy Lctter,
22 May 1961, cited in Andenon, op. cit..pp. Ig3 9 150

THE SECT: SCIENTOLOGY

directions,l moving toward an hierarchical occult order with a
flexible system of beliefs, practices, and location.5

Neither the defection of Hubbard's son, nor the appearance of
Compulsions Analysis had any profound effect on Scientology.
Independent practitioners could not, in the long term, compete
effectively with Hubbard and the organization while they remained
orthodox in their practice, since only in the Org could the client
be assurcd of receiving the most recent techniques and training.
Senior executives who defected could initially secure a sizeable
clientele on the basis of the charisma they had acquired in office.
When out of contact with the organization, this charisma typically
faded rather rapidly, and the clientele declined particularly in
the face of the threat from Hubbard that those who supported
non-approved practitioners would receive no future service from the
organization. Compulsions Analysis never posed any serious threat
to the organization. It has aimed its fluid and vanable message at
a particularly youthful, upper and upper-middle class following,
and its leaders made no attempt to win over Hubbard's followers.

Precisely because it developed an heretical theory and practice and
because its initial recruits were sought among Scientologists,
Amprinistics, which emerged to prominence in 1965, posed a
particularly acute threat. Ampnnistics was the first major heresy
to affect the movement since the days of Dianetics. Harry Thompson,
its founder, had been a prominent Scientology practitioner. Early
in the 19605 he began to formulate a set of theories and practices
at vanance with those of Hubbard, although these were not generally
publicized until late in 1964.a Early in 1965, Thompson and his
associates many of whom were also prominent Scientology auditors
began offering professional training in Amprinistics (for 200
guineas in England and $1000 in the United States). Scientology
mailing lists were employed to solicit support for the new
movement.

The heresy was well-timed. Social control within Scientology was
becoming increasingly rigorous, as the Ethics system was applied
with increasing severity. Many of the Scientologists approached
thought that Amprinistics might be worth trying. The incipient
schism within the movement rapidly came to Hubbard's attention, and
his response was draconian. Ampnnistics was savagely attacked. Its
leaders were characterized as thieves and sexual deviants. The
techniques vvere clai.ned to be composed of outmoded Scientological
prachces:

Daily hvliil, 8 December 1965; Vews of thc World, 3 May l970;
Sindiy relegriph,

July 1966; Menhl Hcalth (Spring 1967).

Interviews with Master5 of The Process; 'The Process', \ental
Heilth (Spring 1967), pp 17-21; Da;ly hlail, 8 December 196$;
JVeuss of the Wirld, 3 May 1970. See also Ihe movement-s publicly
distributed magazine, 7 he Processean.

George Malko, Scientolo y: the JOt2 .i2eligion (Dell, New York,
rg70), pp. 136-67; 1 am mdebted to Miss Sheila Hoad for making
available to me a number of documents concerning Amprinistics, and
detailed notes on the history and belief-system of this bhort-lived
heresy.

' L. Pon Hubbard, Amprinistics, HCO EJecvtireLetter, z7 September,
196$

OCIAL ORC.NtZAT10: AND SoCIAL CONTROL

l5l

We don't object to Dianetics and Scicntology being used. We prefel
it ro have its right name. But we like to have it in clean hands.
There's been too much betrayal in this universe already and for
fellows whose records include homosexuality and theft to start up a
fuss with t4 year old technology is a bit thick l

Loyal followers werc enjoined to report to the Ethics Officer
anyone they knew who v as going to this group:

Treatment They are each fair game, can be sued or harassed. H-can
be barred out of any Commonwealth t ountry or England as he was the
subject of a deportation order l;om E;ngland and his file has come
alive again in the Home Secretary's Ohfice. H-T-'s wives and
vietims are always looking for him to have him arrested. W-is a
set-up for arrest as a homosexual. Any meeting held by them should
be torn up. The names of any persons attending should be collected
alld they should be labelled SP as they have left Scientology.
These people are SP because they are seeking to avoid auditing and
retain their withholds. Once labelled, these persons ·vill not thcn
be covered by amnesty and will never be admitted to further
trahling or ?rocessing. Persons messing then.selves up with
Amprinistics selfaudir and restim should be refused any
assistance. If these persons move into your area act through any
agency you can to have thcm deported or arrested on whatever
grounds .5

Those who attended Amprinistics meetings claim that they found
themselves spied upon by Scientology personnel, and shortly after
were dec]ared Suppressive Persons, Enemies and Fair Game.3

Amprinistics only remained a potential threat to Scientology for a
very brief period. The central Core of Thompson's disciples became
disaffected when he began introducing elements into the belief
system which accorded him a superior 'godly' status. He appears,
moreover, to have lacked the requisite skills to institutionalize
the movement's following. He relied to a gTeat exteDt on direct
personal communication and in his absence his dispersed following
fell away. When Thompson's Core disciples broke away they organized
the New Principles Society and attempted to revive interest among
the remaining followers of Amprinistics. This new gTOUp operated
primarily hrough a correspondence course, but it progressively
moved into financial difficulues. In 1971 one of the remaining core
disciples of Amprinistics and its developments, Sheila Hoad, formed
the Society for the Promotion of Principles. The be]ief systems of
these developments from Scientology have moved increasingly far
from their origins until the philosophy and educational system of
Miss Hoad's Society bear little relation to Scientology. They have
correspondingly proved progressively less of a threat .o the
Scientology organization.

Several other schismatic and heretical movements have dcveloped
from Scientology. One prominent secession was led by Charles Berner
in 1965. He Ibid.

' Ibid. The names of the individuals have been omitted here since
the statement is most probably libellous.

' Interviews. initially split with Hubbard over the attempts of the
movement leadership to exert greater control over his autonomous
'franchised' Church. Shortly after this schism, Berner began
introducing new ideological elements and techniques and founded
Abilitism.1 Later he moved closer to Eastern philosophy and founded
the Anubhava School of Enlightenment.

Dianology or Eductivism was started as an independent heresy by a
formerly prominent Scientologist, Jack Horner.s It has developed
relatively fittle from Scientology theory and practice, and it is
perhaps for this reason that it has appealed to many Scientologists
who have left the movement in protest against its severe internal
controls.

Other secessionary practices have been started by former
practitioners who have defected from the movement or who have been
expelled from it. Many of these non-approved practitioners are in
contact with, and occasionally cooperate with each other.
However, despite some attempts to form a more organized alliance,
no formal organization has emerged. Usually, while their initial
form of practice is close to that of Scientology, it progressively
diverges further according to the personal predilections of the
leader. It would appear, however, that all of these marginal
practices have a common antipathy to the severe social control
employed by Scientology, None, as far as I have been able to
determine, emDloys anyhing approximating to the Ethics system of
Scientology. These movements dispLay the re-emergence of cultic
tendencies within Scientology, much fike the New Thought Movement
which burgeoned around Christian Science.3

It is undoubtedly the challenge that these schismatic and heretical
movements represent to the sectarian, aumoritarian, and dogmatic
nature of Scientology that has led to the animosity visited upon
them by the Org. The leaders of several of these movements have
complained of harassment whuch they allege to stem from the Org.
This harassment in some cases has been relatively trivial as in
that of a practitioner who, until recently, continued to promote
and practice Dianetics, and who often suffered from persistent
spurious telephone

I On Abilihsm, see Robert S. Ellwood, Rligious and Splritual Grous
in Modtrn Amaica (Prentice Hall, NewJersey, 1973), ppm76-o.

5Jack Horner, Fductivism and rOu (The Personal Creative Ereedoms
Foundation, Westwood, California, 1971); Jack Horner, Dianology a
ssttr sridg< to Pasonal Crsatiui Frtcdom (The Associahon of
International Dianologists, California, 1970); see also the
movements periodical, Alttrnatiuts.

5 This cultic orientation is evident, for example, in the following
statement of a schismauc who has moved some way from his
Scientologioal origins in his current practice, incorporating Yoga
and meditational techniques, as well as many of his own ideas:

'Millions oE people have a role to play in the spiritual growth of
the people of this planet. I don't have anything speeial. I prefer
my own methods. I like them and they're good. If I see something
thats better than mine, i take it and incorporate it.' nterview.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND SOCIAL CONTROL

 153

calls from young people inquinng whether they were speaking to the
Scientology Organization. These calls ceased when he complained to
the Scientology leadership. In other cases, schismatic leaders have
found the bookings for halls in which they were to speak
mysteriously cancelled. Yet another case reported to me by several
independent witnesses involved a false announcement in a California
newspaper that a prominent defector was to give a public lecture.
When the audience arLived they were subjected to a barrage of
stcreopbonic cacophony and chanting which included what were
construed as threats against a local schismatic leader. It is
alleged by my informants that Sea Org personnel were the organizeLs
of this event. Some schismatic leaders claim their offices have
been broken into and mailing lists and pre-clear files stolen.

After the disappearance of mailing lists from the office of one
schismahc leader, the individuals whose names were on the list were
circulated with documents which were designed to suggest that this
leader and his movement were close to bankruptcy, and which made
other claims that would have been a source of embarrassment to him.
His forged signature was appended to these documents. Copies of
what appeared to be a page of the Los Angeles imes were also circu-
lated, containing a story which reported the conviction of another
schismatic for criminal se:cual offences. This story was a complete
fabrication and had never appeared in the Los Angeles imes.l

The eistence of such independent leaders and their movements are
seen as a threat by the Scientology leadership without regard to
their size. The schismatic groups are numerically insignificant in
relation to Scientology. For all its bureaucratic organization,
Scientology is a charismaic movement. The doctrine is subordinate
to the character of the leader who, since first mtroducing Dian-
etics, has modified the doctrine frequently without precipitating
any significant OppOsition. Joseph Nyomarkay has argued that
whereas in movements based around an ideology, such as Communism,
fachons within the movement seek to capture the ideologY and in
consequence effective schisms may develop around differing
interpretations, this is not possible in charismatically led
movements. In this case the belief-svstem is subordinate to the
leader. Factions must therefore compete for the leader's support
since only he, and not the belief-system, pmvides legitimacy. Hence
in the Nazi party, factions appealed to the leader for support and
legitimation. When Hitler supported one particular view, opponents
either ceased their opposition or left the movement as individuals,
In the case of Communism, however, appeal was to the legitimacy
provided by the belief-system, and factions defended their own
interpretation of the ideology against each other, leading to
schisms in which the schismatic could claim to be offering the
'correct' interpretation.a Scientology's schismatics, unable to

I Letter to the author from Richard W. 6mith, Assistant to the
Editor, Los Angelss rimes, 7 May 197 ;.

SJoseph yomarkay, Charisma and actionaiism in the Nazi Parly
(University ot Minnrsota Press, Minneapolis, 1967). capture the
leader, the Source, have never carried with them more than a
handful of Hubbard's following.

The movement leadership has reacted violently against independent
practitioners and movements competing on the basis of principles
and practices drawn from Scientology, and to any threat to its
exclusive control over the movement, its organization, or its
belief-system. One clear example is the case of a group of
Scientologists who were distributing 'Advanced materials' at a
reduced price. A widely promulgated Ethics Order declared them the
'Enemies of mankind, the planet and all life' and ordered the
folloving sanctions.

4. They are fair game. 5. o amnesty may ever cover them. 6. If they
ever come to a Qual Division they are to be run on reverse
processes. 7. Any Sea Org member contacting any of them is to use
Auditing Process R2 45. 8. The Criminals Prosecution Bureau is to
find any and all crimes in their pasts and have them brought to
court and prison I

Maintaining a watchful eye on heretics, schismatics and prominent
defectors is among the dubes of the Guardian's Office 2

Schismatics, heretics and defectors who publicize their
disaffection present challenge to Scientolog-, by indicating that
the structure or beliefs of th movement have been found less than
perfect by insiders who have experience it sufficiently to have an
authoritative view of its operation. Unlike the outsid cntic, they
can not easily be shrugged off as merely ignorant. By criticizing
the movement or establishing competing organizations or
belief-systems, they offer a threat to the structure of power
within Scientology, and to the validity of the social reality it
maintains.a offcr a thrc.a t o

 Ar AA..

 _ c

.._ .

...

....

Hubbard has exhibited a great deal of concern to ensure that senior
executives within the movement do not become sufficiently
powerful to challenge his owa authority, or to lead away any
substantial following on secession. Senior executives have been
purged when they appeared to be opposing Hubbard on

I L. Ron Hubbard, 'Rackets exposed', HCO Ethics Order, 6 Ilarch
1968. Auditing process R2-4s refers to a Joke Hubbard once made
that there was only one certain way to produce a 'one-shot' clear!

S 'Enemies' of Scientology are the responsibility of the Guardian's
Omce. OEC, Vol. O, p. 260. Such enemies, as 'Suppressive persons'
are construed as beuond the protection of the organization. See
OEC, Vol. 1, p. 554:

no Committee oE Evidence may be called to punish any Scientologist
for any offences of any kind against the suppressive person....

The homes, property, places and abode2 of persons who have been
active in attempting to suppress Seientology or Scientologists are
all beyond any protechon of Sclenmlogy Ethics....

a Dwight Harshbarger, The individual and the social order: notes on
the management of heresy and deviance in complex orgaDisations
uman Reiations, 26, z (1973) pp. 251-69. organizational or
ideological issuesd Frequently thereafter they would be casl gated
in movement publicahons as criminals, Communists or sexual
deviants. Removing authority figures and charging them with
deviance legitimated theil dismissal and provoked less questioning
of the prevailing social order than charging them with heresy
alone.3

The tendencv to impute immorality to defectors has also been
characteristic of Christian Science. Mrs Eddy had Danirl Spofford,
a former close associatt who had turned against her, expelled from
the Ghristian Scientists' Association 'for immorality and as
unworthy to be a member', and a notice to this effect was published
in the Nevwburyport press.3 Mrs Eddy equated any disloyalty with
'immorality', and was reported on one occasion to have charged a
woman prominent in the Boston Church with adultery, on the grounds,
she later discovered, rhat 'You have adulterated the Truth; what
are you, then, but an adultress?' Defectors and heretics were
accused of practising Mlesmerism and even v. itchcraft. 5

Conclusions

After the collapse of Dianetics, Hubbard sought to exercise greater
control ove his new movement. He organ.zed it on centralized lines
and arrogated authority by eliminating the lay basis of the
practice and instituting a professional basis. Subsequently,
professionals were transformed into organizationalfuncfionaries as
Hubbard undermmned their independent authority and sought to
eliminate 'private practice' independent of the Org.

An elaborate bureaucratic machinery was created and an internal
disci plinary system developed, particularly in response to the
emergence of heresy and the defection of senior officials.
Organizational controls were increased as Hubbard sought to avoid
the earlier individualism of Dianetics and its accompanying
organizational fragility. A high degree of substitutability was
built into the bureaucratic posts of the organization, so that
neither in the bureaucracy, nor in the ranks of the professional
practitioners of the movement, should there be any locus of
authority which might effectively challenge his own. As a further
safeguard, an elite corps, the Sea Org, was established with
international authority to which national leaders could be
subjected. Dissenters within the

For examples, see the cases of Helen O'Brien and Alphia Hart
discussed earlier.

For such attacks on former senior execubves, see among the
multitude oE such eases, Ablity, minneoed edition, no number, no
date, p. 3, copy in the author's possession; Anderson, op. eit..
p. 137; Ros Vosper, 'SubJeet: John MeMaster writ of expulsion',
HCO 7i:lhics Order, r9 December 1969.

S Ernest S. Bates and John V. Dittemore, Mary Ba-er Eddy: the rruth
and the rradihon (George Routledge e Sons, London, 1933), p. 185.

I Georgine Milmine, the

if e of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the lstory of Chrishan Scienee
(BakerBookHouse,GrandRapids,Michigan, Ig7l),p.a3s,.

· Ibid.; Bates and Dittemore, op. cit. movement were expelled, and
those who continued to challenge Hubbard' authonty after leaving
the movement were roundly attacked in its pub]ications.

Scientology displays a fusion of charismahc and bureaucratic
domination also evident in some other manipulahonist sects. It was
a notable feature of Christian Science dunng the lifetime of Mrs
Eddy, and appears to be characteristic of the contemporary Soka
Gakkai. The latter case diifers from those of Scientology and
Christian Science. In these two movements the charismatic leader
gradually developed an elaborate bureaucratic machine to cope with
the administration of large, widely dispersed movements. The Soka
Gakkai, however, was bureaucrahc from the beginning and charisma
was only attributable to later Presidents of the movement, rather
than to its founder.'

As Scientology has become institutionalized, Hubbard has been less
obliged to rely on a highly centralized authority structure as a
means of control. The implementation of a high degree of
formalization of rules and procedures made it less necessary for
him to maintain a direct personal command of operations, and
permitted him to delegate authority to other family members and to
members of his bureaucratic staff. Peter Blau has argued that

Formalised procedures and centralised authority may not be two
expressions of the same underlying emphasis on strict discipline,
but they may rather be two alterna. hve mechanisms for limiting the
arbitrary exercise of discretion.S

Analysis of Scientology, however, supports the more familiar view
that centralization and formalizahon may sometimes not only both
be expressions of the same emphasis on strict disciphne desired by
the leadership of an organization, but may indeed be implemented
sequentially as the leader relinquishes direct personal control
over day-to-day operation of the movement or organization, and as
his charisma becomes routinized.a

Formalised procedurts and centrahsed authority may not be two
expressionS of the same underlying emphasis on strict discipline,
but they may rather be two altemative meebanisms for brmting the
arbitrary exercise of discretion.'

IJames W. White, the Sokagakkai and Mass Society (Stamford
University Press, Stanford, California, 197O).

' Peter M. Blau, 'DeceDtralisation in bureaucracies', in Mayer Zald
ed..Powt7 in Organisations (Vanderbit University Press, Nashville,
Tennessee, 1970), p. 152.

On the routinization of chansma, see Max Weber, Chansma, in Hans
Gerth and C. Wright Miils, eds, rom Max Weber: ssays in Sociology
(Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1970) 6. THE SCIENTOLOGICAL

CAREER: FROM CASUAL

CLIENT TO DEPLOYABLE

AGENT

Scientologv possessei an 'enrolment economy'. Its economic base is
dependent upon the sale of services in the form of auditing and
training, books, E-meters and memberships. Like any sales
organization, therefore, Scientology is faced with the problems of
marketing the available range of products locating and attracting
potential consumerS, and creating 'brand loyalty' in all, with
mobilizing commitment The movement leadership has always displayed
a highly commercial orientation in its operations. The beliefs and
practices of Scientology have been seen as a valuable commodity,
worth whatever the market will bear, and to be distributed wherever
a market can be found. Ree7uiment Recruitment has always been a
major imperative for the organizatiOn in the view of its
leadership....promote mtil the doors cave in because of the
number of people and don't even...promote until the floors
cave in bceause of thc number of pcople and don't even take
notiee of that, jujt keep on promoting.l

With the disappearance of the mass following generated by his
article in Astoundin and by his book MSIH, and after establishing
internal control of the movement, Hubbard increasingly turned his
attention to the problem of recruitment. In a Professionel
Auditor's Bulletin distributed to prachtiOnerS in 1956, Hubbard
outlined 'Three methods of dissemination'. The first of these he
labelled 'I will talk to anyone'.

The gut of this plan uj to plac in newspaprj an ad whieb says
'personal counselling I will talk to anyone for you about
anything. Phone Rev so-and so btwn hour and hour'...If it uj th
purpoS' of th minijtr jimply to solve the problem of the preclear
thus phoning, he can of courje cancel out his clientele with the I
OIC, Vol. O, p. 83. greatest of ease. This however is not his
purpose. His purpose i5 to get this individual into a weekly group
processing unit...He should not talk to the person in such a
way as to ease the problem. This may be the last problem this
person has and it would be a disser ice to simply solve it as
easily as that. One makes something of the problem, not makes
nothing of it...at the interview the minister places in the
hands of the person material relating to the vvork of the church
group which the minister is actually conducting every Sunday
morning...Of course it stands to reason that any auditor who
has a fairly good sied group which is undergoing free
processingwillgetfromthegroupmanycandidatesfor(l)personalaudltingand
(2) a basic course in Scientology for which charge can be made.'

The second method was labelled 'Illness researches'. This again
reqmred the placement of a newspaper advertisement as foliows:

'Polio Victims. A research foundation, investigating polio, desires
volunteers suffering from the after effects of that illness to
call for examblation at address'. When the people arrived, usually
with a phone interview first, they were immediately given ahout
three hours of auditing...We did this for polio victims,
arthritics and were about to do it for asthmatics v-hen the surging
success of the project frightened various individuals who had other
plans for Dianetics...He [the auditor] would not tell the
person he was doing other than investigating the cause. He would
tell them he was not interested in curing their polio but that
educationally he could of course improve their ability to walk or
breathe or whatever....One would then follow up the same
principles of group [sic. He would eompose a group of such
people....From this group he would tell them they could have free
group processing and he would sell them individual auditing.., ,s

The Third method recommended by Hubbard at this time was called
'Casualty contact' .

One takes every daily paper he can get his hands on and cuts from
it every story whereby he might have a preclear. He either has the
address in the story itself or he gets the address as a minister
from the newspaper. As speedily as possible he makes a personal
call on the bereaved or injured person....He should represent
himsetf to the person or to the penson's family as a minister whose
compassion was compelled by the newspaper story concerning the
penson. He should then enter the presence of the person and give a
nominal assist, leave his card which states exactly where ehurch
serviceS are held every Sunday and with the statement that a much
fuller recovery is possihle by coming to these free services takes
his departure. Some small percentage of the persons visited or
their families will turn up in his group. Thus he will build a
group and naturally from that group he will get a great many
individual preclears.3

L.RonHubbard,'Threemethodsofdissemination',
PtofessionelAuditor'sBulletm,73 (28 February tg56), pp 1-3.

' Ibid..pp 3-4. Helen O'Brien descnbes this practice in operation
at the Wichita Foundation. Helen O'Brien, Dianetics in I.imbo
(Whitmore Publishing Co..Philadelphia, 1966), pp. 34-7. L. Ron
Hubbard, "Phree methods of dissemination', op. cit..pp. 4-5. THL
SClrNTOLOGlCAL CARLLR

 159

As indicated ear]ier, however, Hubbard had begun to feel that group
auditing was an ineffective means of gathenng a permanent
following. Individuals received group processing and ceased to
attend or to devote further resources to Scientology.

Auditors are pleaded with not to go on group processing people.
Group processing people results in better individuals, but not
better individuals for Scientology...It is not enough to make
people feel better. What we're trying to do is to reach out into
the publicP

Hence from the midl 950S on, Hubbard advocated the establishment
of Colleges of Personal (or Personnel) Efficiency which would offer
basic courses in the more exoteric aspects of Scientology at a
nominal fee, from the recruits to which paying preclears and
students could be drawn 2

Hubbard realized that direct personal contact with prospective
customers was not always necessary. Impersonal advertising might
serve as well, if individuals could be located who were predisposed
to purchase a commodity of this kind. In 1964, for example, Hubbard
pointed out to the organization's executives the effechveness of
advertising by the Rosicrucians, and ordered a survey of all
magazines and newspapers to find where the Rosicrucians placed
advertisements. He then proposed that advertisements for his next
book should be placed in the same locations.3 He also advocated the
purchase of mailing lists, which could be uscd for the distribution
of promotional material. The kinds of mailing could be used for the
distnbution of promotional material. The kinds of mailing lists
which he recommended for purchasing provide an indication of his
own view of the market for Scientology: The mailing lists of most
interest would be:

n Those of mystical groups. 2. Those of self-betterment groups. 3.
Those of self-study groups.

4 Those of health groups. g. Those who subscribe to magazines of
special interest to the above categories. 6. Recent buyers of books
in the above categories.' Addresses of prospective customers were
also secured through writing the name and address of every
purchaser of any Scientology item on the receipt and its
duplicates, and through mail-back cards enclosed with every volume
on Scientology or Dianetics published by the organization.
Initially Scientology staffwould write to all those whose names
were collected in this way, to lapsed students and to preclears to
try to interest them in further items or services. In more recent
years the post of Letter Registrar has eLuerged, whose job it is to
contact such individuals, and get them into communication and 'on

Ibid..p. n Profession2i 21udtor's Buiietin, 78179 (April 19$6). L.
Ron Hubbard, EerutiDr Letter, October 1964. ' L. Ron Hubbard, Poiy
LHter, 6 September 1966. lines' for Scientology services. Once
one's name is on a mailing list, one is generally subjected to a
barrage of letters and promotional matenals over many months. The
letters are warm, friendly, 'personalized' by the use of first
names, and often handwritten rather than printed or cyclostyled.
For example:

Dear Roy, Hello there ! Do you remember who is writing to you. I
signed you up for the communication course. Hope you are applying
the data you learnt at college or what-

Whatsoever meaning you everyday life ! [sic !] As usual we are very
busy here but do find time to enjoy the sun. Funny how the weather
ehanges so often in England. One day you are roasting and the next
day you know thick sweaters are needed.

Today being the perfect example of what I mean. Well Roy, do drop
me a line as I really would like to now what's happening your end
of the line.

Best wishes

M-p_

Dist Exec Sec Fdn p.s. please excuse the terrible typing but this
is the 73rd letter I have typed today and my fingers are achirgP

Students and preclears waiting for services that is for an
auditor, Ethics Officer, or some other official to become available
are often expected to stuff addressed envelopes with promotional
material for mailing out to potential customers. Promotional
activities are also carried out by entertainers comcustomers.
Promotional activihes are also carried out by entertainers com-
mitted to Scientology. The Incredible String Band, a pop group,
have distnbuted mail-back cards at their concerts which suggested
the sender would learn more about the group, A pamphlet is received
in return telling how the group members came into Scientology and
suggesting the inquirer also try out the practice at his nearest
Org, the address of which is supplied t

As well as advertising in local and other newspapers and magazines,
and whenever possible in the telephone book Yellow Pages, the
central organizations of the movement have also sought to attract
the general public through subway advertisements (New York) or
through the offer of a 'Free Personality Test'. The inquirer would
be given a booklet and test sheet for the 'Oxford Capacity
Analysis', an approximation to a schedule for the production of a
personality profile. The inquirer would complete the schedule and
after it has been processed, he would be shown an impressive graph
divided into 'Desirable' and 'Unacceptable' states for a variety
of dimensions: 'Stable'-'UnstablelDispersed'; 'Composed'-'Nervous';
'Capable'-'lnhibited'; 'Appreciative'-'Lack of Accord', etc. The
sechons of the graph falling into the 'Unacceptable' category would
be pointed out to him. He would be told that he had a problem
there, and that Scientology could help him. He would be encouraged
to take the first

etter to the author. I am grateful to Gordon Marshall for bnnging
ihis to my attention. course, available at a nominal fee, as
quickly as he possibly could, or he might be encouraged to take
individual auditing.

A further method of recruitnnent that has been used is personal
dissemination. Hubbard estab]ished a 'Dissemination Drill' to
facilitate this mode of recruitment, following four stages:

( I ) Contct the individual

(z) Handle him '...handle any attacks, antagonism, challenge or
hostility that the individual might express towards you andlor
Scientology'.

(3) 'Find their ruin and selDage. lFind out what is 'Messing them
up? It must be a condition that is real to the individual as an
unwanted condibon, or one that can be made real to him'.

(4) Bring to understending that Scientology can handle this
problem.l

The promotional material of the movement has aimed at a variety of
interests and concerns. Much of it shows bright, happy, young
people jubilant after completing auditing or a course. A general
promotional magazine, 'the Auditor, which has been wideLy
distributed to potential customers, tends to lay a great deal of
visual and textual emphasis on the successful and creahve
individuals who employ Scientology. Beneath a photograph of an
attractive girl and the headline 'Top Model' is the following text:

Carlyn Ericksen is a beauoful photographic model and actress from
New York City. She has been doing TV commercials for four years
shown nationwide in the States and has also done magazine and
fashion wDrk. 'I love high randomity and doing ness especially
something truly creative.'

Carlyn, who was introducted to Scientology through a friend in
tg68, as far as training goes, has done the HAS, the HQS and is now
about to complete the Hubbard Standard Dianeties Course in New
York.2 Beneath another photograph and the headline 'Jesus Christ
Superstar': Famous aetor and mwician Peter Winsnes is one of the
most recent celebrities to enter Scientology.a

Dr Harry Wood, Professor of Art at Arizona State University has
been applying Scientology concepts to his teaching of art.'

Thesuccessfulbusinessmanandthescientisthavealsobeenusedaspromotional
 material:

INDUSTRIALIST. Unsure whether hiz businers would expand and if he
could handle the new problems growth implied, Ken Kirk of Adelaide,
South Austraha enrolled on the HCA Course in rg65...]

.FonHubbard,'DisseminationDrill',7htAuditor,22(lg67),p.3. he
Audrtor, 7o 1971, p. 5. a 7e Aud,tor, 80 (1972) p5' 7he
Audltor, 82 (rg72), p. 8. Since he became a Scientologist, the
value of the company's equipment has jumped from Ss,ooo to $2s,000.

PHYSICIST Research Associate at Hansen Physics Laboratory (Stanford
University) near Palo Alto, California, Dr Hal Puthoff is very much
a Scientologist. He is OT 1ll Expanded and OT vll. An author and
expert on laser beam technology, Dr Puthoff...considers
Scientology an invaluable part of both his personal and profe%ional
life and is currently busy applying Scientology concepts to modern
physics .a

Other promotional materials have been directed less to displaying
the kind of individual that one might become, than to attracting
individuals with problems.

We don't care what your problem is we ean help you. Get some
auditing J Wouldn't it help to know......how happiness
happens ?:

IJNDERSTAND OTHERS These books give you the keys to understanding
the human mind and human natur, With them you have the Vital
Knowledge necessary to understanding other handling them, and
establishing sane, growing relationships.5

BE A MEMBER OF SCIENTOLOGY. The world has waited thousands of years
for a technology to change conditions for the better. Seientology
is the answer.5 If you have ever taken drugs of any kind you need
L. Ron Hubbard's drug rehabilitation intensive.7

'Success stories' have often been reprinted in promotional
publications. Hence the potential customer may be faced with
material on the following lines: Is my chronic illness handled ? It
is indeed. I've had it going more aeons than I can easily remember.
And now it's gone. No more, finished, handled. And it feels great.
Thanks to my Auditor for the application. Thanks to the Commodore
for the Tech .

Expanded Dianetics Case B.t

The first thing I did on becoming Superliterate was pick up the
most complicated book I could find. It was a dictionary of music -
a subject I could never grasp at all. I started at 'scales' ad
eventually worked through most of the dictionary by crost
reference. I sat back and gasped. I'd picked up the information of
a whole technical subjeet in 40 minutrs, and I understood it ! I
couldn't believe it. [...]

Vic Lyons (Superliterate)s 7heAuditot, 68 (19l), p. 7. J 7he
.4uditat, 64 (1971), p. 5. J Grlainty, 19, 7 (1973), n.p.

LeaJlet (197Z). S Chane, 62 (1974). 5 Chanje, 55 (97g). 7 LeaJ7el
(19jl) ' LeaJ7et (1973). 9 Leadet, n.d. he second generchon As the
movement has approached a quarter century of existence, provision
has gradually emerged for recruitment from among the offspring of
members. Separate courses of training and auditing have been
available for children for some years in various Orgs, although the
formalities surrounding auditing children have become greater in
the face of public criticism. Increasingly, however, independent
schools have appeared to educate the cmldren of Scientologists,
in a Scientological manner. In Hollywood, the Theta Power School
has been established, primar;lv for the children of Sea Org
members. Our purpose is to educate the children so that when they
are old enough and ready for it they can then go into Orgs or
Franchises and get their Scientology processing or training. We use
Scientologr study data, and also the codes, such as not forcing a
child to communicate if they don't want to We do not teach
Scientology as such, but all the teachers are somewherc on the
bridge, and most of our parents are Scientologists, so the children
w81 probably be future leaders in it. Naturally we use all we know
to see that the children learn and keep their ethics in I Another
such school is the As"C School at Kollerod in Denmark. In 1968 this
school was reported to have twenty-one pupils.S

l/rembership: background characrisics Like their Dianetics
precursors, Scientologists are overwhelmingly muddle clasr. The
occasional titled individual and the occasional manual labourer
appear in the literature of the movement, but only rarely. This is
re8ected in the responses of thirty seven practising or former
Scientologists to my questionnaire. The educational level of the
respondents was above average.

Scronrary eduaation

 ' Secondary modern/Elementar/Technical trammar ,.............

Publie/Boarding/Other private

Unelassifiable

Further sducation Teacher training or other full-time professional
College of Advaneed Technology Unh/ersity9 None

, Julia Lehis Salmen, Principsl, letter to the author, S December
973. ' 7he Audstor, 43 (l968).

' It should be noted, however, that three respondents indicatcd
that they had not completcd their university courses, and there mry
have been others. 64

THF. SrCT: SCIFN Agc at thc cnd offull-timc cducation Under 13

Unclassifiable

The responses on a question concerning occupation indicated only
one respondent to be a manual worker. Occupaton Housewife White
collar Manual o. 4 32

Among the white-collar workers, there were relatively few engaged
in lower level white-collar occupations. Thus there were no clerks
among my questionnaire respondents. Among the occupations listed
were: university lecturer, several teachers, tv.o draughtsmen, two
photographers, two COpy vTiters, several branch and sales managers,
two scientific research workers, two psychotherapists, a
commercial artist, etc. As one might expect with such educahonal
and occupational backgTounds, most of the respondents saw
themselves as middle class. To a question on self-assigned class
the following distribufion of responses appeared.

Self-assignsd class Upper Middle Working c]ass Do not recognize
classes No resporse

37

The data available, although not of a form to permit any rigorous
correlational analysis, suggest a relatively low rate of
inter-generational mobility. Most respondents had come from
middle-class backgTounds. Fathcr's occufiation whtnyou wcnt Igyears
ald Manual White eollar Dead No response Most of those in the
manual category had skilled occupations. Treating all the
respondents as 'white collar", it is evident that there is a
considerable discrepancy between the rate of mobility for my
respondents and the rates in the population of England found in
four studies compared by McDonald and sidge S

Faher's occupahon of non-manual sons: pecan2ges3

(a) (b) (c) (d) ScientoloLy

respondents Non-manual 58 48 47 50

 74 Manual 42 52 53 5o

 26

The Scientology respondents display a very much lower rate of
upward mobility than that ehibited in studies of the general
populahon They are more solidly middle class in their social
backgrounds.

Given the small numbers of respondents in the Scientology study,
however, it is not possible to have any great confidence in the
validity of this finding.

A guide to the movement's se distribution was obtained through
classitication of the first names of 823 individuals listed as
'clears' after 1966 in available issues of 'Ihe Audior. Of these 29
could not be allocated. Of the remainder, 446 were male (59 per
cent) and 348 were female (41 per cent). Observation, promotional
and other material suggest that the average age of the current
following has dropped from that of the Dianetics following. This
was confirmed in the case of my questionnaire respondents. The
distribution of their ages on entry into the movement were as
follows:

i A step not licensed by the data as the earlier table for
occupeiwn shows. The possibility of an analysis of rates of
intergenerational mobility was pointed out to me by Richard Bland,
but unfortunately by this stage the data were not in a form to
permit the elimination of the four housewives and one manual worker

' K. McDonald and J. Ridge, 'Social Mobility', in A. H. Halsey, 7
rends in Brituh Society (Macmmllan, London, 1972).

3 Tables (a), (b), (c) and (d) are adapted from Mcl:)onald and
Ridge, op. cit..p. 146. I am grateful to Richard Bland for
recasting these tables in the form of percentages of fathers of
non-manual sons.

' Even if the four housewives and the manual worker were withdrawn
from the category for non-manual fathers, reducing the percentages
to: non-manual fathers, 69 per eent and manual fathers, 3i per
eent, it is still evident that the Scientology respondents are more
solidly middle class in their social origins, and have therefore
experienced a lo er rate of upward mohility than has usually been
discovered for the general populahon. The average age of entry
among these 37 respondents was 32 years. It is my impression, but
not one that I can support, that the age distribution of members
has been dropping since the early 19605 and particularly since
1965. If this is the case I suggest it can be accounted for in
terms of the image of the movement gleaned from the mass media
coverage'by youthful potential recruits. Some younger former
followers suggested that they were attracted in part by its anti-
Establishment character and its message of 'Total Freedom'.
Moreover, the 19605 was the penod when a post-war generation of
young people was growing to adulthood, a generation which was
richer, more leisured, better educated, and more self-conscious
than any which had preceded it.

lotivoton5 for recruitment

As with followers of the early Dianetics phase of the movement, the
motivations of recruits fall into three analytically distinct
types: the career-oriented; the truth-seeker; and the problem
solver. he ctrreer onented Those ·who fall into thi category saw
Scientology as either providing a new or an alternative career, or
as providing the means of advancing or developing a career in a
psychological or therapeutic field in which they were already
engaged. One young man, for example, had attended university in
Canada where he had not been satisfied by his psychology courses
and had therefore failed to complete his degree. He had read widely
in religious literature, including Buddhism and Theosophy, had
tried meditation, and was interested in the work of Wilhehm Reieh.
Through his interest in Reich he became acquainted with Subud,
since some of me Subudians in Canada were former disciples of
Reich. He had tried psychoanalysis bnefly when his studies were not
going too well. On his return to England he took up a course of
study in Osteopathy and Naturopathy, but found it too physically
oriented. He had always wanted to work in the area of psychotherapy
but found that a medical degree was generally required. He heard of
Scientology and thought he would give it a try. He had no definite
idea of practsing as an auditor, but rather of acquiring skills
that might be useful as a therapist in the future.

One young man, for example, had attended university in Canada where
he had not been satisfied by his psychology courses and had
therefore failed to

'the truth seeker

Some recruits identified their motivation for recruitment to
Scientology in terms of a search for the truth:

lve always studied cmparative philosophy and comparative religion
sinee as far back as I can remember...They've been my chief
interest because there didn't seem much purpose iiving here nnd not
haing any purpose or any plan. Way back l Interiew. m my teens I
more or less threw out the orthodox religion that I wa broueht up
ir because it didn't seem logical. Quite frankly the first half of
my life was seeking fol logie, believing that logic held the whole
answer to everything. I learned bette. Iater...One went through
all the rather far south people like Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, and then
after handling that quite a lot I went totally the other side the
didaetic materialists, the logical positivists, and so on...
Somewhere must come that leap forward which transcends reason...
You can go along with logic so far and then you've got to just leap
forward...or lateral thinking if you like, on a philosophical
level. At this point I saw one must look a bit beyond logic. Of
course that led naturally into studying extra-sensory perception .
..Then r mought, so many people much wiser than I have lived by
some religion. The only way to study religion is to go back to the
roots...the source. So I spent several years doing just that .
..It didn't lead one anyuhere...I'd read sis UrDtiled and hs
Secret Doctrire. I read every word of 'rhr Biole.

After this intellectual journey of many years ghe read a copy of
hlS H which her husband had been given.

I thought if part of this is true, only a little part, it's worth
investigating. So I will investigate it. So I wrote and asked where
my nearest t'entre was.

'the proDlem-solDer

The dominant motivational theme, however, was that provided by a
problem solving perspective. Many questionnaire respondents
indicated that they had earlier sought solutions to the problems
facing them through medicine, psychiatry, psychoanalysis,
hypnotherapy, marginal and fringe religious movements, marriage
guidance counselling, speech therapy and Pelmanism. Despite the
reduced emphasis on healing after the transition to Scientology,
some recruits were attracted to the movement by what they regarded
as an implied claim to therapeutic efficacy for physical illness
and disatility. They entered the movement in pursuit of therapeutic
methods to alleviate themselves or someone close to them of
physical problems. (The Guardian'j Office assert that: 'The Church
does not attempt to handle physical illness and disability and
ensures that all newcomers are made aware of this.') j

I had only been married less than six months, and my wife had
contracted canr.er. I was told she would live maybe 12 weeks to 12
months and that would be it...Prior to her operation I called
the organisation because that was the only group I knew of that
could be in some way of assistance to me and to her.' [What
attracted you to it?] At fitst I was not attracted to it, but
tended to argue with the ideas expressed about it by my friend.
However at this time (and actually for most of my life) I had a
rather bad speech impediment, and my friend suggested, on a number
of oecasions, that

Interview. ersonal communication, November 1974. Interview.
Scientology therapy might enable me to overcome this difficuLty.
Eventually I agreed to read one of the elementary books on
Dianetics. I was particularly attracted by the scientifie
approaeh which appeared to have been made, in investigating the
mind, and the behaviour of man. I was also attracted by the
suggestion in that book, that the use of the therapy proposed would
enable a person to overcome a stammer I

Others saw the movement as a possible source of alleviation of
problems they regarded as pschoso7natic in character.

I was having a few psychosomatic ills at the time things one got
pills for but didn t really know what they were one of which was
a thyroid condition.t Another suffered from migraine headaches for
which he had received medication, but had come to the conclusion
that they were of psychological origin. He therefore bought works
of popular psychology from time to time in an attempt to find a
soluhon to his problem. One day he came across MSMH in a bookstore
and was eYcited by the prospect that this mmght solve his
difficulty. Finding the book hard to follow he contacted the Org
address given in the book and one Christmas in a fit of depression
went in for audihng.3

The boundary between physical and psychological problems is
obviously a fluid one. Some respondents identified their problems
in unambiguously psychological terms. For eYample, one man who had
first contacted the movement in hms late twenties, and who was
out of work when he first became interested in Scientology:

[What did you think it might be able to do tor you?

[What did you think it might be able to do for you ?] Well I kmew
damm well at the time I had to sort myself out. I d had a nervous
breakdown about nine monms previous. Found out me medical
profestion were a load of charlatans and I had to find my own
salvation.

He saw an advertisement in a magazine invitmg the reader to Come
and have your personality tested. He went along for a test and a
lecture, found the lecture logical, and began to attend co-audit
sessions. A queshonnaire respondent indicated mat he was
attracted to Scientology by the hope that it might help to tackle
my nervous trouble .

Some recruits indicated that they were suffering from difficulties
of a primarily sociel or interersono/ kind. One young man
interviewed had had a very unhappy home life with a violent father
and a large and inadequately provided for family. His father had
been resentful of his staying on at a school until he was 19. He
had no friends and beightened adolescent difficulties wieh girls.
After being rejected by a girl whom he wished to marry and a final
row at home, he left Glasgow for London. There, lonely and
frustrated, he came across a sign: Solve your problems by
increasing your mental ability. Phone D-F-, Scientologist. He
arranged an appointment.S Similarly, a questionnaire Questionnaire
respondent. Interview. a Interview. 4 Interview.

Interview.

THE SCIENTOLOUICAL CAREER

 169

respondent indicated that he was attracted to Scientology in the
hope that it would 'solve my problem of loneliness'.

Most of those interviewed, from whom such imformation could be
secured, had rather more mixed motivations. The following
respondent displayed a combination of seeker and psychologieal
themes.

I was always interested in things like spiritualism. I went to one
or two spiritualist meetings...From about the age of 13 I was
trying to find the answer to the Mystery of Existence. I used to
read anything I found on mysticism, philosophy, spiritualism, and
so on.l

He and his wife would follow up advertisements in ste and similar
periodicals. His wife had a great deal of 'emotional trouble' and
he now regards her as having been 'a borderline psychotic'. When he
came across fS./fH in a local library he had considerable hope that
Scientology would help to alleviate her problems.

A large number of respondents displayed a combination of
psycholog*al and social themes. One respondent was 21 to 22 years
old when his mother became interested in Scientology. He had
dropped out of medical school because he felt that he wasn't 'cut
out to be a doctor'. He was very shy at the time, felt unable to
study, to communicate with people, or to make friends. He was
suffering from lengthy periods of 'black depression', and felt that
Scientology might be able to help him.2

Some displayed a combination of psychological and cateer-orientel
themes, like the following respondent who was a qualified doctor of
medicine and had been undergoing Jungian analysis for personal
problems when a friend told him he was getting a lot out of
Scientology:

I had been interested in the field of mental health sunce my
undergraduate days, having done a degree in psychology, and
intending to do something in this hne. I had got a bit dissatisfied
with eonventional approaehes like hospital psychiatry. 1 thought
I'd see what there was in it. There was no harm in going to a
lecture. So there was thii kind of professional interest. There was
also a personal one in that I had some problems myself at the time
whieh weren't being solved by conventional analysis.3

A number displayed more, sometimes all, of these themes in their
accounts. The following individual exhmbits at least a combination
of seeker, problemsolving (psychosomatic illness), and social
themes:

I used to be an avid reader of almost every book I could get my
bands on. I used to haunt the publie libraries for books, whieh I
read in an attempt to satisfy my thirst for knowledge. I would read
of this and that and the other and would often feel I'd found
something only to follow it through and find it lead up a very
interesting but quite blind alley. I eould never find the answers
to the questions I had been asking myself and others from ehildhood
up.

' Interview. ' Interview. ' Interview.

THE SECT: SCIE'TOLOGY

I wanted to know what I was doing here, why I wtts here and what
was the purpose behind this experience we called life. These were
aome of my questions. I searched and searched for the answers but
with no real success.

I found my reading and searching was often mterfered with quite
considerably by the regular attacks of migraine headaches v-hich
used to lay me out completely for several days at a time. This,
together with the frequent attacks of theumatism to which I was
subject, did not make my life particularly enjoyable In fact,
looking back to-day [sic], I v. ould say that a large percentage of
the reason why I was searchi ng so avidly, was to take my mind o
ff the realiry of my own situation Life was really a bit too grim
for me, so I would lose myself in my books and long philosophical
discussions which seemed to relieve the pressure of everyday
living.

Iy job, which I did not care for particularly, was that of a 'white
collar worker' and as I used to attend various evening classes for
the study of psychology and related subjects, I did not have much
time for feminine eompany Anyway I was a little too shy to talk to
girls very much.

Then one day, while browsing through the book-shelves in the public
library my usual shelves, those on philosophy, psychology and
comparative religions the librarian drew my aetention to a book
which the library had reeently acquired at th request of another
member. The title of this book was 'Scientology 8-8008' by a

author called L. Ron Hubbard...I took it home with me to study
I

Twenty-nine of the 37 Scientology questionnaire respondents
completed a question directed to ascertaining the kind of problems
which they hoped Scientology would solve for them when they joined.
Four incicated that they did not join in search of a solution to
any problems. The remaining 25 displayed a wide range of problems
(they could indicate more than one). The least important category
was that of marital problems, wbile the most important wls that of
psychological probems. The distribution of problems to which
responsts were indicated, was as follows:

Probltm (a) Loneliness (b) Financial problems (c) Marital problems
Other problems of interpersonal

relationships

(e) Psychological problems (f) Physical illness

Combining categories (d) and (c), it would seem that in general,
problems of interpersonal relations were prominent sources of
motivation to seek help through Scientology, particularly if
combined with category (a). Over half of

Frank Harding, 'How I became a Scientology Auditor', CTrainty, 3,
7, n.d..PP Z-3

A self-eompletion category elicited the further responses:
philosophical; deafness;

sexual inadequacy; speech impediment(z); problems with communication;
smoking; 'enigma of life'; 'why people bebave as they do'. those who
responded to this question acknowledged some form of psychologica
problem as a motivating faetor, and over one-third, a physical
problem.

Given its general style and teacbings, it would be surprising were
individual to move into Scientology as a result of dramatic
conversion experiences although this sometimes occurred as a
result of sudden cures. Those interviewe( generally revealed that
their association with the movement was the result of a progressive
process rather than a sudden event. Few felt they had made any
major commitment, that what they had entered embodied the complete
truth from the beginning. Kaufman recounts the process of 'drift'
by which he entered the movement, and his experience may not be
untyi ical:

If anyone had asked me 'Why would you be willing to join a cult?' I
would have contended that I wasn't joining anything. I didn't even
consider Scientology a cult cults were peopled by the lonely, the
alienated, the not-so-bright, not by comfortable, intelligent
individuals like Felicia and her husband...I thought it the
result of a combination of chance meetings, fortuitous
circumstances, and the gentle suggestions of valued friends who
believed that I had wanted auditing all along I

Lofiand and Stark and Gerlach and Hine argue that new social
movements spread through networks of acquaintances on the basis of
face-to-face interaction 2 My own findings bear out this hypothesis
to a considerable extent. Fifty-seven per cent of the respondents
to my questionnaire had a friend or relative involved in the
movement, and 68 per cent claim that they first came into contact
with it by such means. Thirty per cent (2 per cent did not respond)
claim first to have come into contact with the movement by
impersonal means through the medium of a book, magazine article,
an advertisement, or a circular. In many cases, however, personal
contact seems to have been sbght and of only limited importance in
their recruitment or their attachment to the movement. m

nn Af

.ti

n advrtiement or a circular. In manv

Attachment Once an individual has come into contact with
Scientology, the organization brings to bear on him a great deal of
pressure to amliate himself further with the movement. As one
Policy Letter states,

When somebody enrolls, consider he or she has joined up for the
duration of the universe never permit an 'open-minded' approach.'

The individual v ho takes a 'Personality Test' is uniformly advised
that Scientology can help him in some way, since that is the
sincere belief of most

' Robert Kaufman, Inside Scientolog)l (Olympia Press, London, 1972,
p. 8. r Jobn Lofland and Rodney Stark, 'Becoming a world-saver: a
theory of conversion
toadeviantperspective',ASP,30(1g6s),
pp.862-7s;LutherP.GerlachandVirginia H. Hine, Peoplc, Power,
Chante: Mouements of Sociol 7r:nsformrtion (Bobbs-Merrill, New
York, 1970. ' OEC, Vol. O, p. 38.

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