Glee

How Hubbard Ruined Even Silly Moments

This post is in response to the winner of the June 5, 2025 poll. Be sure to get your votes in on this weeks’ poll.

Have you ever been totally happy? Just uncontrollably joyous? In case you’re wondering, L. Ron Hubbard did not like that. He preached that you should be uptone, which meant you were supposed to be high on his Tone Scale. I’ve talked about the tone scale in 4 separate articles so far. It was part of a Scientologist’s everyday life. I have linked the articles at the end of this post in case you need to refresh your memory.

It may seem like u put a lot of emphasis on one particular teaching of Scientology, but it is something that i hardwired into every thing a Scientologist says and does. It affects their actions, or more likely, inactions. It also causes the entire group to become very judgmental. Every nuance of emotion is closely scrutinized because there is such a narrow band of acceptable emotion.

Letting loose and just having a great time is especially taboo. It is so taboo, Hubbard wrote policy declaring a person insane if they are gleeful. The Flag Order below is about glee. It is one of dozens of policies about glee. This one is part of the Sea Org Handbook, page 73. The new recruit is reminded he will be considered insane if he acts particularly joyful while doing his job. Several policies call it “glee of insanity.”

In the Sea Org Handbook, the Flag Order says the only cure for glee is instruction or Remedy B. The Sea Org Handbook does not include Remedy B. Do not waste a lot of time trying to wrap your brain around what this Remedy means. It’s just another meaningless robotic set of questions designed to get the person less likely to trust their own instincts. Note that even in this Remedy, Hubbard insists that the person address past lives.

Like so many other things, the word glee is twisted in Scientology to give it bad connotations. It is really not ok to be happy in Scientology. Just remember that.