Part One – The Way to Happiness
Last January, my cousin got married. After the wedding, my husband and I got a ride with cousin’s daughter to our hotel near the airport. The talk turned to Scientology.
I was asked if Scientology was about space aliens. I laughed and said, “well yes and no. We discussed Xenu story among other things. The trip was a half hour long, so we barely scratched the surface.
Scientologists are taught to tell people to “find out for themselves” or “read a book” when asked what it’s about. The slick TV ads Scientology puts out these days tell you absolutely zero about what it is. Why is that? What exactly is this group about?
Even someone who was in for a long time can’t answer that question with a definitive answer. As I was working on my glossary for the book, copying things over to this website, I realized just how hard an explanation of the basic concepts are,, even to those of us who spent years in it.
Then I realized that is because what they say and the realities if what really happens once you become a member are generally two different things, and I realized this will be a multi part post.
Even the most basic concept, why people get into Scientology varies between individuals, but the reasons all boil down to one thing: you have been promised that Scientology can help you with whatever it was you were looking for when you came across them. That’s always the given. And the other given is that the promise never pans out.
I got in in the 1970s. The push back then was to save the world? i was promised Scientology had the only “proven” technology to create a world without insanity, criminals and war. They tout a booklet called “The Way to Happiness,” (TWTH) which L Ron Hubbard created loosely based on the Ten Commandments. Their front group, The Way To Happiness Foundation claim to have stopped riots, averted civil war, calmed troubled areas of cities, reduced crime in neighborhoods, all by distributing this booklet.
The 21 precepts in this book are not bad advice, generally. But these are not things which are practiced by Scientologists as a whole, nor are they some magical solution to society’s ills. These are the precepts and I discuss how they are mostly ignored ny Scientology.
1. Take Care of Yourself,
If you are a staff member or a Sea Org member, you will get little or no pay and very little time off. The lucky ones staff members consider a 12-14 hour day a short day in an environment where overighters, sometimes several in a row, are the norm. Even those not on staff are expected put on a happy face. If you feel bad, it’s best pretend you don’t because illness is considered a bad thing, and you can get in trouble for having allowed yourself to be sick. Self-care is considered low priority.
2. Be Temperate,
The definition of temperate is “moderate in degree or quality; restrained.” Scientology staff in general, and public members to a lesser degree, are subjected to “face rippings,”consisting of someone yelling for an extended period of time at a high volume about just how bad the other person is. Over the top anger and discipline is part and parcel of everyday life for a Scientologist. If you are in Scientology for any length of time, you will rapidly discover how intemperate everyday life is. Even if Hubbard was using the archaic definition of temperate, it would shock you to see how many Scientologists drink to excess.
3. Don’t Be Promiscuous,
Scientology solution to this is no sex before marriage. Therefore, there are lots of divorces in Scientology as people are rushed into a marriage if they are dating someone.
4. Love and Help Children,
The current head of Scientology is afraid of children. Scientology policy written by Hubbard states that children have lived before and are just adults in small bodies, and should be treated as such. A lot of Scientology children are left to their own devices or worse yet, have custody signed over to complete strangers and join Sea Org.
5. Honor and Help your Parents.
The entire family construct is frowned on in Scientology. You are taught that you have lived before and will live again. Therefore, if your parents or children do something 5hat is contrary to Scientology belief, by all means, turn your back on them. Tony Ortega keeps a daily tally of the length of time it has been since some ex Scientologists last saw their families,
6. Set a Good Example,
Perhaps Scientologists should look to the real world to discover what a good example is. A bad example would be cashing in your retirement and giving it all to Scientology, or lying to someone for the sake of protecting the group. I did not to have any retirement savings when I was in Scientology, so they didn’t get that from me, but I did lie for them.
7. Seek to Live with the Truth,
Scientology would do well to live with the truth is that it is shrinking, not growing. Its’ website claims to be adding 4-5 MILLION people per year. However, actual membership is estimated to now have shrunk to somewhere between 10-50,000 people. Some of those people only remain in to avoid disconnection. Every new building opened has a gushing press release with a greatly inflated crowd count. Photoshopped photos tell a different story.
8. Do Not Murder,
This one is such a head shaker to me. Who needs to be told that?
9. Don’t Do Anything Illegal,
in Scientology, if you are a celebrity or someone who donates money to Scientology, you get a pass if you do illegal things. The people who get in trouble when a good Scientologist does something illegal are the ones who had the gall to take that information outside of Scientology. Danny Masterson’s case comes to mind immediately as someone who got away with illegal acts for years, but there are numerous lawbreaking Scientologists littering the history of Scientology such as Reed Slatkin. An entire post could be done on Scientologists who have done illegal things.
However, the most important to be asked here is why does Scientology itself employ an entire stable of lawyers if they don’t do illegal things? How many groups do you, yourself belong to that employ multiple lawyers and private detectives on an ongoing basis?
10. Support a Government Designed and Run for all the People,
Scientology claims to be non-political. It also claims to be multi-national. How and why does it feel it has the right to tell people what type of government to support? If a person is a hard core member of Scientology, it is unlikely they would be able to tell you who their leaders were unless it was their job to make sure those leaders thought well of Scientology.
11. Do not Harm a Person of Good Will.
This one is pretty abhorrent actually, especially since it leaves it up to the person to decide exactly who is a “person of good will. There is a Scientology practice called fair game. If they feel they have been wronged by someone, for example; by a person like me saying things they don’t want me to say about them on my personal blog, that person is declared “fair game.” Though the term fair game has been cancelled in Scientology, the practice of fair game is in full force.
12. Safeguard and Improve Your Environment,
One example of Scientology deliberately harming the environment occurred in 2013 when they decided to cut down two old growth oak trees in Florida. There are many other situations, but this one was particularly egregious because the trees were in the way of the place where they wanted to pitch a tent for a weekend event.
13. Do Not Steal,
I actually write in my book that Sea Org members, by definition the ones who are supposed to be the elite of the elite on the planet, will steal anything that is not nailed down. They are forced into this situation because their life has been stolen from them by Scientology. They are live at a base level and steal to survive.They, the people who are supposed to be fighting on the front lines in what Scientology terms the battle to save the planet, aren’t even given the necessities of life or treated with dignity.
14. Be Worthy of Trust,
That’s easy, don’t lie. How confusing for a Scientologist who has been told it is their duty to lie to protect the group.
15. Fulfill Your Obligations,
A Scientologist is only required to fulfill their obligations to be on course or to attend Scientology events. If they borrow money from another Scientologist, they don’t really have to repay them, because the other Scientologist would get in trouble if they took them to Court. If the person who loaned you money leaves Scientology, the debt is definitely not going to be paid. The person won’t even be allowed to talk to that person again.
16. Be Industrious,
This is deemed to mean work as hard as you can to get money to pay for more things in Scientology or you do things for or in Scientology. If you are industriously doing things that don’t have some relationship to Scientology, it is called “other fish to fry” and a big no no.
17. Be Competent,
Everyone in Scientology is expected to be good at everything. Hubbard said that people lived before, therefore they have done all the jobs there were to do.. He operated his ships with crew who had no nautical training, then berated and brutally punished them when they didn’t know what they were doing.
18. Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others,
Scientology claims that they respect all religions and that you can practice your religion and be part of Scientology. Once you are a member, if you want to attend the church service of your choice you are accused of the crime of “other fish to fry.”
From here on down, I’m not sure why he kept adding things, these are so redundant.
19. Try Not to Do Things to Others That You Would Not Like Them to Do to You,
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
20. Try to Treat Others as You Would Want Them to Treat You,
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
21. Flourish and Prosper.
Scientology says this a lot. Just do well, you make a conscious choice and it will happen. However if you do well, they will be on your doorstep continuously making you feel bad because you haven’t given the money to them.
If you’re looking for a group to join to help you save the world, it would be a good idea to keep right on looking.
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