Against policy

Policy creates structure for an organization. Policy limits errors, waste and creativity. Policy makes the irresponsible produce expected results. It can also corrode high responsibility levels.

A creative, high initiative and responsible person can be structured to carefulness, seriousness and inactivity. Excellence demands more than thinking outside the box – it requires acting outside the limits. Quantum leaps means taking risks, not only managing or mitigating them. Emphasis on policy and structure builds an organizational system, a machine producing the expected output. Geniuses, the wildly creative and people of outstanding initiative and responsibility create the unexpected. Sometimes the brilliant. Sometimes havoc. But desperately avoiding the trouble will leave out the excellent. With policy one can regulate and make all the people behave according to the rules.

There is much to recommend toeing a party line. Well organized groups can raise the standard of output. Toyota comes to mind. Henry Ford pioneered it. But it will never foster an Einstein, an Edison or a Da Vinci.

Individuality must be preserved for an organization to excel. And policy must never replace common, uncommon or even rare sense. The essence of good structure is to keep it minimal and really, really simple. The litmus test is if an organizational concept can be conveyed to a ten year old in 15 minutes. If not, it’s too complex, too cumbersome.

Unfortunately some policy is needed. But only because all the people are not brilliant and in constant synchronization. Because an army of telepathic geniuses needs no command.

The Church of Scientology exemplifies a policy heavy organization where rules and structure tend to outshine the very result it aims to produce – individuals of free will, daring and caring well beyond the norm. Reaching one’s own potential and freedom is easily suffocated and swallowed by a structured machine where obeying policy is the admired virtue.

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Geir Isene’s Liability write-up on the Church of Scientology

This write-up is the next step after my earlier published “Doubt write-up“. This is the closure on the support I have given to an organization that is acting contrary to the basics of Scientology and systematically violating human rights. The outpoints that I have witnessed is outlined in my Doubt write-up.

I became aware of systematic violations of Scientology ethics, technology and policy within the church since the autumn 2003. At that time a mission from the European headquarters in Copenhagen (CLO EU) came to Oslo and assigned the whole Norwegian field of public Scientologists the ethics condition of Treason. I was blasted for no real reason by the D/CO EU in a way that made me aware that something was rotten in Denmark. I was since made increasingly aware of the outpoints through my involvement in the OT Committee and in the OT Ambassador Programs. In the last two years before I left I spend approximately 1000 hours researching and verifying my observations. I then concluded, wrote up my Doubt formula and resigned the church on August 7th 2009.

Although I was never involved in perpetrating or promoting any abuses myself, I did in fact support the organization and feel I didn’t do enough to help stop the outpoints. This liability write-up addresses the period from September 2003 till I left.

This write-up follows the formula for getting through the condition of Liability as laid out by L. Ron Hubbard (LRH). As with the earlier Doubt write-up, this also follows the WOIM format (see the WOIM definition page).

Liability formula (LRH instructions in quotes and as main points in the list)

  1. "Decide who are one's friends"
    1.1. My friends are people of integrity who are willing to change for
     what they consider better and help others to do the same.
     Note that this includes a great many people still in the Church of
     Scientology.
  2. "Deliver an effective blow to the enemies of the group one has
   pretended to be a part of despite personal danger"
    2.1. I pretended to be part of a group that worked for the greater
     good, for human rights, for free speech and for the liberation of
     free will. I shut my eyes to abuses in the Church of Scientology to
     foster the illusion that it aligned with my purpose of freeing the
     will of man by applying the technology of Scientology. The church
     is not true to its stated purposes. I have since my departure from
     the church helped others realize the same. My Doubt write-up was
     broadly published, resulting in many leaving the church. Several OTs
     read my write-up and decided to leave, creating a ripple effect that
     has woken up many. Any exact number is hard to come by - but my
     write-up has tipped the scale for at least 10 other OTs. The signal
     effect of the only OT 8 in Norway leaving the church has been
     significant. After my departure, I have been in communication with
     thousands of people through meetings, phone calls, e-mail and my
     Internet activities.
     I put up a blog (http://elysianchakorta.wordpress.com) that has had
     about 100000 views since I started blogging three months ago. After
     the number of comments on my blog reached 500 per week,
     I decided to set up a forum, The Scientology Forum
     (http://www.scnforum.org) to promote open discussions of Scientology
     in a safe environment moderated by OTs. After one week of operation it
     had more than 100 registered members and more than 1000 posts.
     Feedback shows that Scientologists do wake up to the "out ethics",
     "out tech", "out admin" and the abuses in the church through reading
     my blog and The Scientology Forum and deciding to participate in the
     open exchange of viewpoints.
     Through several newspaper articles, one radio show and a TV broadcast
     on the main Norwegian news show on prime time, my messages have
     reached more than a million people. I took a firm stand in accordance
     with my personal integrity despite the consequences I knew would
     come; Most of my Scientology friends have disconnected from me and
     my family, my company lost three offices in Russia and there is an
     ongoing black PR campaign directed at me in the church.
  3. "Make up the damage one has done by personal contribution far beyond
   the ordinary demands of a group member"
    3.1. My blog and The Scientology Forum has served more than the
     purpose of delivering a blow to the offending practices by the Church
     of Scientology. The forum promotes rational exchange of viewpoints and
     may very well already be the primary venue for courteous and open
     discussions of Scientology on the Internet. I have as well
     contributed to hundreds of people that has contacted me for help and
     support in sorting out their own situation with the church.
  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"
    4.1. This part becomes tricky as the group I ask to rejoin is the
     collective of people who are willing to change for the better and
     help others to do the same. It is clearly impossible to reach the
     majority of such people on earth. I have thus decided to publish this
     Liability formula on The Scientology Forum and let people there
     decide the fate of my re-entry. To vote for my re-entry, go to
     The Scientology Forum.

Join the Church of Scientology and learn how to avoid trouble

At first there is the thrill, the excitement of discovering something that can really help you. You receive some communication training and your first auditing sessions. You experience personal gain, a boost in energy and interest. You overcome some barriers and feel this will help you reach your potential.

As you become dedicated in the Church of Scientology, the demands for your time and money increase steadily:

Registrars demanding donations for books, lectures, Ideal Org building and renovations, IAS, SuperPower, ASI, Library Campaign. Any other Org staff asking for much of the same. Public Scientologists asking you to donate for the Ideal Org or the Library Campaign. Staff and public demanding your time – for the OT Committee, Ideal Org projects, getting others to donate, translation projects. The list goes on. Then there are the mandatory briefings and the local and international events. And not to forget about the recruitment interviews to get you on staff in the local Org or to the Sea Org. Then there is demands for you to disseminate Scientology to others. And if you are a business person, you should be an active WISE member. There are of course numerous other causes demanding your time and money. You may wonder how you would have any time or money left to do any study or spiritual progress.

If you do not meet the demands, you will get in trouble. If you do not toe the party line and behave and act as a real Scientologist, there are plenty of staff, public and friends ready to write a report on you for not acting correctly.

Protesting gets you in trouble. Disregarding the demands get you in trouble. Not showing up at events likewise. Saying “no” is not accepted. Exercising your personal integrity is a pretty sure way of getting you into ethics. And there you will recant or else.

You get to be an expert in being just enough active and “correct” to get by unnoticed. Answering the phone just enough times to not seem defiant. Going to half the events and sneaking out before the regging starts. Avoiding the IAS events. Hiding sufficiently. Buying only some books and lectures. You will find better and better excuses for why you don’t have time and money. Your communication skills get drilled to slippery perfection. You will soon compete with Neo dodging bullets but without the benefit of CGI effects.

Doing this for a while may earn you an Aikido black belt in Trouble-Avoidance. You will also gain negative personal integrity. Because all that talent is wasted by trampling on your own self. Whereas actually doing Scientology will give you personal integrity and freedom, being a Scientologist in the church will award you the ability to avoid trouble.

The next billboard ad should be honest and truthful: “Join the Church of Scientology and learn how to avoid trouble”.

Post your comments here.

If I could be granted one wish…

…it would not be to understand and avail myself of all of Scientology. It would not be the perfect bliss or the thrill of a lifetime. None of that. And it wouldn’t be to get SuperPower, the L’s and the rest of the Bridge in a split second.

There is something above all of that. Something that would transcend all of Scientology and all of any -ology. It would transcend religion itself. It could be contained in one book – the mother of all books. And still it would not simply be a book. It would be all over the Internet and any other Net not yet developed. Seriously, there is this one thing that L. Ron Hubbard didn’t give us that I wish he did.

He gave us Scientology. But he didn’t give us the recipe for how to create Scientology. Or any technology to better any condition anywhere. If I could choose to have Scientology or the recipe of how to create Scientology I would choose the latter any day of the week.

To ensure that wish come true could very well be the grandest adventure of all.

Leave your comments here.

Adventure vs Total Freedom

Why does adventure outsell Nirvana?

People flock to the cinemas to experience a sense of adventure. Not only James Bond, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Hollywood caters for a wide audience with adventures of love, tragedy and everyday life. From Casablanca to Finding Nemo and Gandhi, there is the longing for excitement and for something different. Society is rife with antidotes for the dreaded boredom or the lack of game.

Thetans want a real game. Playstation can be a substitute for an exciting life. Live Action Role-Playing is as close as most people get. Some challenge death by throwing themselves out from cliffs. Others goes overboard and becomes mercenaries. Thetans want to create effects in a real game.

Have a look at what you want. What is the ultimate game for you?

Why then does Scientology sell “Total Freedom”? Total freedom is an all out Tone 40 – a “no games” condition.

The optimum level on the Tone Scale is 22 – Games. That’s a tad above action and that is where adventures are experienced for real.

Most people would prefer the adventures of Indiana Jones over continual serenity on cloud 9, watering plants and playing the trumpet all day long.

L. Ron Hubbard says:
“There is only one way, really, to get into a state of living, and that’s live! There is no substitute for an all-out, over-the-ramparts, howling charge against life. That’s living. Living does not consist of sitting in a temple in the shadows and getting rheumatism from the cold stones. Living is hot, it’s fast, it’s often brutal! It has a terrific gamut of emotional reactions. If you are really willing to live, you first have to be willing to do anything that consists of living. Weird. But it’s one of those awfully true things that you wonder why one has to say it. And yet it has to be said.”

Living is the game at hand. What Scientology can offer is for you to be a better player of the game you want. And that is what Scientology should be selling.

My greatest win on OT VIII was a surge in adventure – being able to fully experience and enjoy the games I play. To play the game for real and not just coping in life. I used to be dreaming about more interesting games. Now there is action and participation everywhere I look. The quote above is the real deal. It is life as I know it. I want adventure more than total freedom. Working toward total freedom is exciting. I just think selling a nirvana of sorts carries with it a lot of unneeded expectations.

I believe people want adventure. Handling the abuses and out tech in the Church of Scientology is an adventure worth engaging.

Cross-posted to scnforum.org for discussion.

scnforum.org – the first week

The Scientology Forum has been live for one week.

In the first week, more than 100 members registered. And with more than 1000 posts in 7 days, the new forum has got a very good start.

Welcome over at scnforum.org and participate in enriching discussions. It is already the first and foremost open forum where people can join in courteous discussions on Scientology.

scnforum.org – practicing free speech as advocated by the Code of a Scientologist point #10: “To work for freedom of speech in the world“, and by the Creed of the Church of Scientology: “That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others“. The forum is a guardian of free speech and human rights – the very rights that the church is trying its best to suffocate.

Happy to see scnforum.org taking off

After I set up The Scientology Forum a week ago, it has started to take off. In the four days that it has been live now we have almost 100 members and more than 500 posts. I am very happy to ba able to share the moderation duty with four other excellent gentlemen. At the same time, the comments on this blog has simmered down, just like I had hoped it would. It’s a nice transition.

This does not mean I will stop posting on this blog. It only means I will move the discussions over to scnforum.org – where the action is. Come on over and join a safe and strongly emerging Scientology community.

How to study Scientology

The article “How to study Scientology” (Ability Magazine, Feb 1959) may very well be my second favorite piece by L. Ron Hubbard. It forms a basis for the study of the subject, ensuring personal integrity is maintained as one embarks upon the adventure of self. I only wish the article was in the beginning of every course offered. And yes, before even the policy “Keeping Scientology Working”.

Let’s dive into the issue a bit. In the first paragraph, LRH states:

“He should, before he starts to discuss, criticize or attempt to improve on the data presented to him, find out for himself whether or not the mechanics of Scientology are as stated, and whether or not it does what has been proposed for it.“

In the article, Ron stresses how important it is for the student of Scientology to really find out for himself what is true for him – and not accept anything because “authority said so”. He goes on:

“There are two ways Man ordinarily accepts things, neither of them very good. One is to accept a statement because Authority says it is true and must be accepted, and the other is by preponderance of agreement amongst other people.“

The stress is on your own personal observations and your own personal integrity; Daring to observe, daring to make up your own mind and draw your own conclusions:

“Data is your data only so long as you have evaluated it. It is your data by authority or it is your data. If it is your data by authority, somebody has forced it upon you, and at best it is little more than a light aberration. Of course, if you asked a question of a man whom you thought knew his business and he gave you his answer, that datum was not forced upon you. But if you went away from him believing from then on that such a datum existed without taking the trouble to investigate the answer for yourself—without comparing it to the known universe—you were falling short of completing the cycle of learning.“

The first sentence in the paragraph above could be a real wake-up call for some people. If you accept data without personal inspection, you become aberrated. If you accept Scientology without making sure it is true for you, you will become more aberrated. I have done seminars to scientologists on this issue and have gotten a few “Oh, shit!” on this point.

LRH gives several examples in the article of accepting data without personal inspection and how awry that may go. There is no shortage of invitation for personal integrity in this article:

“Any quarrel you may have with theory is something that only you can resolve. Is the theory correct, or isn’t it correct? Only you can answer that; it cannot be answered for you.“

And Ron continues his challenge of authoritarianism:

“Authoritarianism is little more than a form of hypnotism. Learning is forced under threat of some form of punishment.“

This sounds like the present Church of Scientology. Quite opposite to what Ron asks of a student of Scientology:

“You are asked to examine the subject of Scientology on a critical basis—a very critical basis.“

Most scientologists I have asked to read the sentence above goes into some kind of confusion right there. No need to be confused as critical thinking is of course needed to uphold your personal integrity.

“So then we ask you to look at Scientology, study it, question it, and use it as we present it and you will have discovered something for yourself. And in so doing you might well discover a lot more.“

And you should of course be able to reject any part of Scientology you do not find is correct upon thorough examination:

“When you have applied it as it should be, and applied as it is taught at the school, and still find it unworkable, it is your privilege to question it and, if you like, reject it.“

If you are true to yourself, you cannot help doing good.

Cross-posted to scnforum.org for discussion.

Dear Scientologist

If you have seen abuses in the church, or tech corruptions, or if you feel the fun is drying up, then you are not alone. Most Scientologists I have talked to up through the years have seen this and more. And many harbor some doubt about their own situation with the church. This manifests in for instance not picking up the phone to avoid registrars, not attending IAS events to avoid the pressure and coming up with small white lies about being to too busy to be on course or not affording another set of the Basics.

And then you may wonder what trouble you encounter if you were ever to report all the outpoints you see. Or if you would get expelled or SP declared if you were to stand up, say “No!” and walk out the door.

If you are indeed working on correcting the outpoints you see, I highly commend you and the rest of this article is not intended for you.

Now, here’s the kicker: You inherit the condition that you do not assign and handle. If you stay silent, you tacitly condone the abuses, tech corruptions and the suppression of Scientology itself. If you do not help stop the degradation of Scientology, you are at best in a Treason condition. If you don’t try to handle, in any way, the outpoints you see, you will mount up some serious work on your future Liability condition. Making up the damage for not stopping the suppression of Scientology is no small task.

Maybe it’s time to take a look at what you are, who you really are and to do a real and honest Doubt condition before you amass to much amends work up the line.

If you would like to comment on this blog, post, please go to the cross-post on scnforum.org and participate in the discussion over there.

scnforum.org :: Live!

The moderators have been approving more than 100 posts the last few days. With more than 60 registered users and five moderators, The Scientology Forum is hereby launched. Go register yourself on http://www.scnforum.org.

I hope it will prove to be a light and fun place for civilized discussions, for the exploration of free will and Scientology – both the philosophy, the application and the current and future scene. Spread your wings!