Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology Read Online Free PDF

Moonies, Hare Krishnas, and Children
of God, but Scientologists had an easy cheerfulness, not the hysterical
euphoria I had seen in these “cult” converts.
    Within a few weeks, I moved into the house where most of the
Mission staff lived. I asked my Scientologist room-mate if he had any pet-hates.
He smiled broadly and said, “Only wogs.” I was startled, and launched into a
defense of dark-skinned people. He laughed, and explained that “wog” was a
Hubbardism for all “non-Scientologists.” This gave me pause for thought, but I
dismissed it as an unfortunate turn of phrase. I thought that Hubbard probably
did not realize how racially offensive the term is in Great Britain.
    I became intrigued by the many claims Hubbard had made about
himself. In the 1930s he had been an explorer. A trained nuclear physicist, he
had applied the rigorous precision of Western science to the profound
philosophy of the East, which he had encountered at first hand in his teens in
China, Tibet and India. One of Freud’s disciples had trained him in
psycho-analysis. During the Second World War Hubbard had distinguished himself
as a squadron commander in the US Navy, sinking U-boats and receiving no less
than 27 medals and awards. 2 The end of the war found him in a
military hospital, “crippled and blinded.” 3 Applying scientific
method to Eastern philosophy, and marrying the results with Freudian analysis,
Hubbard claimed to have cured himself completely. Out of this miracle cure came
Dianetics. Because of his experience of “man’s inhumanity to man” 4 in the war, he had continued his research and brought Scientology into being.
    The young woman who ran the Scientology Mission was
attractive, intelligent, and bubbling with enthusiasm. She was a “Clear,”
having “erased” her Reactive Mind, and seemed living proof of the efficacy of
the system. The five Mission staff members generated a friendly atmosphere.
They listened to whatever I had to say and steered me towards a more optimistic
state of mind. I was convinced that they were genuinely interested in my
well-being, and found their positive attitude very helpful.
    Scientology Organizations are eager to make new converts,
and all Scientologists who are not Organization staff members are designated
“Field Staff Members,” or FSMs, and are expected to recruit new people.
Desperately wanting to help, I became a full-time FSM. Before I really knew
anything about Scientology, I was recruiting everyone I could. I did
“body-routing” from the street, which is to say “routing” people’s “bodies”
into the Mission.
    I was “drilled” step by step, by an experienced
Scientologist. Pretending to be a member of the public, the coach dreamed up
situations. If I made a mistake the coach would say “flunk,” and the mistake
would be explained. Then the coach would repeat the phrase and the gestures I
had mishandled. Through the drills I was meant to become confident in real life
situations. The drills often took strange turns. One coach asked if I wanted to
“screw” her. I was flunked for not simply excusing myself. She explained that
we were not trying to interest prostitutes in Scientology. Homosexuals,
Communists, journalists and the mentally deranged were not to be approached
either. Scientology’s goal was to “make the able more able.”
    I would introduce myself to someone on the street as if I
was conducting a survey. I would ask “What would you most like to be?,” then
“most like to do?,” then “have?.” The questions were purely a device to start
people talking. As soon as they did, I would slip into Hubbard’s “Dissemination
drill” 5 by saying I was a Scientologist, and dealing with any
negative response by attacking the person’s source of information. If someone
said, “Didn’t the Australians ban Scientology?” I would say, “Where did you
hear that?” They would almost inevitably say, “In the newspapers.” This could
often be