Last updated 21 February 1997
Page maintained by Martin Poulter (plmlp@mail.bris.ac.uk)
The particular techniques dealt with in this Chapter are those methods of deception designed to entice people into scientology by creating and exploiting anxieties and fears which constrain them to embark upon scientology processing to cure their real or imagined ills.
In the middle 1950's Hubbard had already developed means whereby unsuspecting and unfortunate people were being exploited by deceitful practices. In PAB 73, what Hubbard calls three plans or methods of dissemination are set out and of them he writes, " Out of these three plans . . . can come large and vital practices". These three methods are:
1. "I will talk to anyone."It was said in evidence that the third method was not tried in Victoria, but that the first two were tried with varying success. The significance of these instructions is not the degree of success which attended their use or the extent to which they were used but the fact that they were methods promulgated by Hubbard and were designed to deceive and ensnare; and they serve as illustrations of Hubbard's remarkable propensity for calculated deception.2. Illness researches.
3. Casualty contact.
The first method, "I will talk to anyone," required the insertion of advertisements in newspapers stating, "Personal counselling - I will talk to anyone for you about anything. Phone Rev. so-and-so between hour and hour". When the victim telephoned, the "minister" would not discuss the caller's problem on the phone since the purpose was to get him into a weekly processing unit, from which opportunities would stem for individual auditing. The whole plan was to "get people into scientology", which, however, was not mentioned in the advertisement lest it attract press attention.
The second method, "Illness Researches", was of the most callous kind. This method involved the insertion in the press of an advertisement to the following effect: "Polio Victims. A research foundation, investigating polio, desires volunteers suffering from the after effects of that illness to call for examination at .... " When people arrived they were immediately given about three hours processing. This type of conduct Hubbard seeks to justify by writing, "It was given under the guise of investigation and was in actuality a research project". He gave instructions in these terms: "Any auditor can constitute himself as a minister or an auditor, a research worker in the field of any illness. In that he is not offering to treat or cure the illness but is strictly investigating it, the laws concerning medicine do not obtain to him. Anybody, even a ditch-digger, can look over polio or arthritis or asthma or anything else. It is best that a minister representing himself as a 'charitable organization' which is what he is, do the research so that the ad. would then read: 'Polio victims - a charitable organization investigating polio desires to examine several victims of the after effects of this illness. Phone so and so.' " One of the side plans of this method, writes Hubbard, "was to have another person good at finance go around to all those who had been helped by the investigation and tell them that their investigation which helped them was paid for by another person, and ask the present person whether or not he wouldn't like to pay for somebody else's recovery, but this was never put into effect, although it may be workable".
The third method is the inspiration of a ghoul, and is based on exploiting grief. Of this technique Hubbard writes,
"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 call on the bereaved or injured person .... He should represent himself to the person or the person's family as a minister whose compassion was compelled by the newspaper story concerning the person. He should then enter the presence of the person and give a nominal assist, leave his card which states exactly where church services are held every Sunday and with the statement that a much fuller recovery is possible by coming to these free services takes his departure. A great many miracles will follow in his wake and he is later to become a subject of the press himself. However, in handling the press we should simply say that it is a mission of the Church to assist those who are in need of assistance". Hubbard's instructions for liaising with the press are set out in Appendix 17.In the early days of scientology in Victoria the impersonation of ministers of religion was practised at least by John Farrell and Frank Turnbull, the latter assuming the title of "bishop", though of what he was a bishop did not appear. On occasions other scientologists wore collars reversed. This was commonly practised by Farrell, who it was said by a witness "used to tell us if we had a collar reversed we could walk into places where we may not otherwise be admitted, and if any questions were asked about what we were doing we would raise a finger and say, 'Would you interfere with the work of a man of God?' And this would shatter anyone and they would open doors and let us through".
Early scientology advertisements in Melbourne, about 1955, included press advertisements which stated in effect, "Asthma sufferers wanted. We may be able to help you".
In more recent times, press advertisements have been somewhat guarded, being directed mainly, if not entirely, towards publicity for the personal efficiency course and matters incidental thereto. Such advertisements generally do not deal with any of the more advanced aspects of scientology, the impression sought to be given by such advertisements being that the HASI and other scientology organizations are engaged in only elementary psychological practices.
Samples of advertisements published in the press were tendered in evidence. From 1957 onwards care seems to have been taken in press notices to disguise the real nature of scientology, its techniques and its practices. The text of such notices varied from time to time, but the pattern of deception dictated by Hubbard in the PAB's already mentioned and in subsequent directives, some of which are set out later, is discernible. Typical of such advertisements is one appearing in the "Professional" column of one of the daily newspapers which was repeated from time to time with variations:
PEOPLE NEEDED FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES IN PERSONAL EFFICIENCYThis type of advertisement developed in content and size during 1958 and panel advertisements measuring about 3 in. by 3 in. regularly appeared in the morning daily press. The advertisements still stated, "People needed [or wanted] for research purposes in personal efficiency", and told how personal relations and concentration would be improved. These advertisements sometimes stated, "Before and after tests are given. Your only obligation is a frank report outlining how you find the course. Reports are being collected on similar courses in London, Washington, Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Johannesburg, &c., and are needed for research purposes". Sometimes the advertisement read, "Your only obligations are punctual attendance for the six classes and a frank report outlining how you find the course".You give us your time for six evenings. We train you and observe progress. You give testimonial on completion of course. No financial obligation .... Hubbard Foundation of Personal Efficiency, 157 Spring Street, C. 1. (Incorp. in the HASI)"
Advertisements stressed the apparent magnanimity of the HASI: "The course is free", "Time is your only obligation", "No obligation", "No financial obligation".
Sometimes the advertisement would propose the undertaking of a course of study with HASI and state that a text book, Problems of Work or Fundamentals of Thought, would be available. Neither of these books gives any indication of the high-powered pernicious practices and dangerous nonsense that awaited the preclear who embarked upon a course in scientology Hubbard shows a peculiar skill in disguising the real nature of scientology in these introductory books of which he is the author.
Some of the advertisements, inserted by the "Scientology Centre", boldly headed "The Clear", read,
"Definition: A clear is a person at willing and knowing cause over his own life, his body and his surroundings and without a reactive or subconscious mind (L. Ron Hubbard C.E., Ph.D., Author of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Scientology Fundamentals of Thought and other books). Testing shows this person to have a happy, well-balanced personality; efficiency and intelligence above average (IQ 135 plus). Your first step towards Clear: Enrol on Monday, 7.15 p.m. sharp, for the Free Persona1 Efficiency Course.Some of the advertisements which offered professional training in scientology stated that the goal of such training was "validated cleared auditor (you will be cleared as part of the course)". Sometimes the word "scientology" was prominently displayed, as in the advertisement inserted by the "Scientology Centre", an alternative name for the HASI at 157 Spring Street, Melbourne, which read:"Purpose: To make a better worker of the worker, a better executive of the executive, and a better homo sapiens on all dynamics. Course Runs for Five Consecutive Evening Classes."
"The primary aim of SCIENTOLOGY is to make able people more able.The unsuspecting reader of these and similar advertisements had no idea what a "clear" was, in spite of the definition which was sometimes included in the advertisement, but was attracted by the promises of greater efficiency. He early learned that a clear was some vaguely defined but desirable state which, when reached, ensured solution of all one's problems. Its attainment, though offered during the course, was never achieved and Hubbard and his followers, in spite of claims that clears have been and are being regularly produced, and in spite of silver bracelets and certificates issued to those who are said to have attained the state of clear, have done no more than to certify those who have become completely obsessed by the dangerous theories and practices of scientology."A clear analytical mind and a stable understanding of life are THE obvious necessities for success, notification and stability in any and every trade and profession and ALL life activity.' Free Personal Efficiency Course."
An appeal was made to the ambitious, but dissatisfied, in advertisements which invited them to
"A free adult evening course to attain:In the advertisements, such as the following which appeared in the Victorian Public Service Journal on behalf of the Melbourne Test Centre of 159 Spring Street, Melbourne, there was the appeal to the student-coupled with the hint that the free offer might shortly be withdrawn:Ability to earn more
Ability to lead
Ability to organize
Ability to converse
Ability to concentrate
Ability to understand
Ability to be interested
Ability to accept responsibility
Ability to make friends and keep them."
"IQ TestedThe Academy of Personal Efficiency, also of 159 Spring Street, Melbourne, made an appeal in its advertisements to "Housewives and mothers", exhorting them to -The Melbourne Test Centre offers for a limited time FREE Intelligence and Personality Tests. Do you know what is stopping you. . . from Achieving good exam results. Achieving long-sought-after promotion. Overcoming confusion in your work. Handling others around you. These and many other things which are stopping you can be shown and explained on the evaluation of these modern IQ (intelligence quotient) and Personality Tests. Your IQ and Personality determine your future. Know them - no obligation."
"Learn More:The irony of this advertisement is that savings from the family budget, if they were effected, were channelled to the scientology organization to pay for processing. A number of housewives did give evidence on behalf of scientology, stating that they had derived various benefits from it. Their evidence was of very doubtful weight for reasons mentioned elsewhere in this Report; however, none of them had limited their expenditure to the One pound which was the " Cost of the whole course," almost all of them had spent hundreds of pounds on processing, and several were still receiving processing at the time they gave their evidence.To make you happier and less tired in the Home. A series of lectures has been especially arranged for Housewives and Mothers by the Academy of Personal Efficiency.
You'll learn:
How to save on your Family Budget.
How to relax at home.
Dealing with the Children.
How to have more Friends.
Understanding your Husband.
Cost of whole course is £1."
These and similar advertisements appeared in the daily metropolitan press, in suburban newspapers and in the journals of various private associations. The daily metropolitan press and at least some suburban newspapers declined after October, 1961, to receive scientology advertisements, though an occasional advertisement slipped through; in November, 1963, suburban newspapers carried an advertisement for the Scientology Centre which read,
The common people's science of Life and Betterment.
A free introductory evening course is available.
Over 20,000 Australians have taken this course."
As late as February, 1965, a suburban newspaper carried an advertisement for the Melbourne College of Personal Efficiency at Camberwell Junction. These and similar advertisements contained in dodgers, pamphlets and circulars were directed to be used by Hubbard in HCO Pol. Lr. of the 2nd December, 1960, in which he explained how to promote a PE Foundation by the use of "Physical Ailment type" advertisements, such as "Sick all the time? Have your IQ and Personality checked as you may be disease-prone."
Displays of scientology and dianetics books and other publications and of posters eulogising scientology and dianetics in general terms still appeared in the windows of the Melbourne HASI at least till the end of the Inquiry; boxes of pamphlets, which did not disclose the true nature of scientology and its practices, but praised its achievements and invited customers, were available to anyone passing by who accepted the "Please Take One" offer.
Some of the newspaper advertisements offered free literature and "free information packages." Pamphlets in current use were tendered as exhibits. These pamphlets offered popularity, aids to successful living, and "the directest and easiest route to wisdom," the last named route starting with the free personal efficiency course, the next course being the HAS course for six weeks at £15 for the course, which "will prepare you for further courses where even greater wisdom can be acquired."
One pamphlet stated that "The Scientology Centre is conducted by the HASI (Hubbard Association of Scientologists International) a world-wide non-profit organization with no political or religious affiliations."
The "Information package" stated that the free course was to "actually start you well on the road to achieving" more popularity, more self-confidence, more relaxation, solution of more problems, increased earning power, the faster attainment of ambitions. The package informed the inquirer that scientology was the common people's science of life and betterment, that it held that people know best about themselves, and that it stood for freedom, freedom from mystery, freedom from fear. The reader was further informed that "Doctor" L. Ron. Hubbard, described as C.E., Ph.D., an American scientist, author and philosopher, who was early trained in nuclear physics and had as "his fellow physicists, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Fermi and others," discovered scientology and "studied in the field of the mind, to learn, if possible, how to make Man capable of handling and controlling such a giant as the Atomic Bomb and the machine age. That Doctor Hubbard succeeded is attested by the popularity of his books which have sold over ten million copies, and the wide use of his work throughout the world today."
The package concludes with purported extracts from comments from people at the end of the weeks's course, and an advertisement for Hubbard's book, Problems of Work.
Another form of advertisement read, "Worried all the time? Have your Intelligence Quotient and personality checked, as you may be just suppressed. Where? At the Melbourne Test Clinic, 159 Spring Street." Such an advertisement is in the terms directed by Hubbard, and makes an insidious appeal to anxious and worried people who are impressed by the suggestion that a probable solution exists to their problems, because they are "just suppressed", and that this can be ascertained and presumably successfully treated at the "Clinic."
Hubbard went to great pains to ensure that any person who showed the slightest degree of interest in scientology was not thereafter able to escape the HASI's importuning. Numerous directives from Hubbard dealing with every step to be taken instruct the HASI staffs in the art of procurement. HCO Pol. Lr. of the 15th November, 1960, entitled "Modern Procurement Letters," emphasises the importance of keeping on writing and writing to people until they eventually respond.
HCO Bull. of the 9th April, 1960, dealing with letter-writing technique, stresses the value and efficacy of writing letters: "Letters written over four years to one prospect without response in innumerable cases has resulted in the person turning up to be trained or processed." It was necessary, Hubbard wrote in HCO Bull. of 12th April, 1960, to write many letters and write them frequently, that quantity was more important then quality and that income was reflected by the number of letters written.
Evidence was given of numerous cases in which 50, 60, 70, and more letters were written by members of the HASI staff to persons who had ceased to visit or communicate with the HASI. One member of the staff had the title "Letter Registrar". These letters were generally short and casual, designed to re-establish communication between the individual and the HASI. Various members of the staff would take it in turn to write. If a person wrote asking that the letters cease, the reply was to the effect that his meaning was not understood, and in fact letters would continue to be sent to him. Persistence in this letter-writing technique, sometimes after as many as 70 letters, brought results. It was characteristic of these letters that reference was usually made to the recipients' having " problems " and being in need of help and that scientology would assist them.
Though written in friendly vein, these letters often had a disturbing undertone, as appears from the following series of letters written to a university student who visited the HASI, ostensibly out of curiosity, and submitted to an IQ test and a personality assessment. He was told that, though he had a high IQ and was a genius and could do anything he wanted to, his character, as the graph showed, was defective, that he was mentally unstable and that he was going to have a mental breakdown in eighteen months' time unless he had scientology help, and it was ado suggested to him that he had homosexual tendencies. He was put on the E-meter and, when asked the question, "Do you have problems?" deliberately squeezed the cans which made the needle jump and caused the interviewer "to write notes furiously". He was urged to return for treatment, but did not do so.
Thereafter he received a series of letters extending over twelve months, of which the following extracts are samples:
"Would you write me out a list of your goals and ambitions for life and if you think scientology can help you obtain them."This student, who was a mentally normal individual, was considerably disturbed by what the HASI had told him and by these letters, as is clear from the evidence of the University Student Counsellor, an experienced psychologist, whom he consulted."To help us continue to send you copies of Communication magazine would you take out an Associate Membership and become a member in the world's largest health organization in the field of mental health?"
"From the look of your file you were a pretty worried boy last year. Most of your points on the graph are in urgent attention required. So I suggest you call in this year for a new Case Assessment and find out what can be done to help your mind."
"With an IQ like yours you shouldn't have failures on exams! But of course when you're not happy, you certainly can't put your mind on study, can you?"
"When are you coming in to see us again?"
"How did you go with your exams last year. We can help you become more able regarding study."
"I notice you intended to do the rest of our Personal Efficiency Course after your exams in 1961. What happened that you didn't do this? I'd like to know."
"When will you be able to do the Personal Efficiency Course you paid a deposit on last September?"
"You can talk to us about your failures in life. You need to have someone to communicate to about your difficulties so why not now."
"It seems to me that you had quite serious problems when you did your Personality Graph last year. Come in and do another and see how you feel now."
In HCO Pol. Lr. of the 31st December, 1963, under the heading "Handling Incoming People", Hubbard writes:
"Reception must regard any people that walk in, except trades people and business callers, as potential preclears or students. Snap them onto our lines fast. Sign them up for something and get them wheeling along our very efficient lines of Process and Training when they walk up the front steps. Get the person's name, address, and phone number. Make out a green slip used for this purpose, and for change of address.In HCO newsletter of the 7th May, 1962, the following instructions are given:" .... Anyone wishing general information on Dianetics and Scientology should be routed to the Registrar .... For new people, always recommend the Personal Efficiency Course, and get the person's name on the mailing list .... Sell the person a book."
"Register every new person walking in the door, even the postman. No matter what they say, if they are there, they have come in for help of some sort. Sell them a book. Don't let them leave without something .... Sign every new person up for testing and an interview. Put them on the meter and pull their missed withholds - What people should have found out about them and didn't .... Sign up students for a specific period of time with payment in advance. Sign up a preclear for an intensive of the length necessary to get a major case change that is real to him. If the guy needs 100 hours, audit him for 100 hours. Let the preclear finance his own auditing You're not in the credit business."In HCO Bull. of 9th April, 1960, Hubbard gives these instructions:-
"When the prospect comes in, see him or her at once (No waiting). Be courteous, friendly, businesslike. Rise when they enter and leave. Call reception to show them out if they stay too long. Be willing to take their money. Always prefer cash to notes. We are not a credit company. Always see the student or the pc before they leave the place after service. You can often sell more training or processing .... It is a maxim that unless you have bodies in the shop you get no income. So on any pretext get bodies in the place and provide ingress to the Registrar when they're there."Hubbard has shown remarkable acumen as a high pressure salesman of the product of his meretricious labours. He recognizes the need for creating an interest in the prospective buyer and then of stimulating and developing that interest with tantalizing but incomplete peeps at the next stage, for which those persons with interest now aroused in his wares feel a need or curiosity to explore. He has marked down as his particular victims the more gullible, and he has devised sedulous means whereby the victim's interest, once aroused, is not allowed to flag until he has come effectively under scientology's domination, and then it is too late.
Hubbard appreciates the need for creating such an interest, and he has developed the personal eff1ciency approach as being the most effective to ensnare In numerous directives, policy letters, bulletins, and the like, he has laid down precise techniques to be used to arouse and sustain interest and effectively to capture raw meat for the "org". The bait is the offer of something free, namely, the three free lectures; and the personal efficiency course, though initially costly to the HASI, is, in Hubbard's eyes, more than justified for it gets the victim into the "org" and so on the path which leads to scientology bondage.
The detailed and precise instructions of Hubbard in respect of the personal efficiency course appear from the following substantial extracts from the bulletins - In HCO Bull. of the 29th September, 1959, entitled "The Organization of a PE Foundation", Hubbard writes,
"A PE Foundation is a programmed drill calculated to introduce people to Scientology and to bring their cases up to a high level of reality both on Scientology and on life. This is best accomplished not by giving them samples and bits and trying to lead them into auditing but by giving them gen and serious results as heavily and rapidly as possible. A PE Foundation in its attitude goes for broke on the newcomers, builds up their interest with lectures and knocks their cases apart with comm course and upper indoc. The student does not get out of the comm course until he can be trusted to show up well in a muzzled co-audit .... NEVER let anyone simply walk out. Convince him he's loony if he doesn't gain on it because that's the truth .... The whole dream of a PE Foundation is to get the people in fast, get them invoiced in a congress type assembly line, no waiting, give them hot, excited, positive service and boot them through to their HAS [Hubbard Apprentice Scientologist course] and then worry about doing something else with them. And never let a student leave or quit - introvert him like a bullet and get him to get audited. If he gets no reality don't let him wander out. If he walks in that door for a free PE, that's it. He doesn't get out except into an individual auditor's hands in the real tough cases, until he's an HAS."The sequel to the free lectures is the offer of a free IQ test and of personality tests. (It was said that since about August, 1963, the tests were not free) The ignorance and the lack of skill of the HASI staff who conduct these tests, a subject dealt with later in this Chapter, is sufficiently serious, but Hubbard makes it abundantly clear that the real use of such tests is not so much to analyse the victim's IQ and personality for the purpose of benefiting the victim's condition as to exploit the victim still further and to tigl1ten the net in which he is caught. The sustained villainy of Hubbard's methods is almost unbelievable, but his own writings document each step which he directs to be taken. Thus, in HCO Pol. Lr. of the 28th October, 1960, Hubbard, in dealing with the use of these tests, writes,
"Remarks that 'Scientology can influence this or that characteristic' or 'auditing can remedy that' or 'Processing can change this' or 'Training can stabilize that' should be repeatedly used during the evaluation for the sake of impingement .... Remember low cases want only to escape the consequences of life .... Certain traits showing difficulty in handling people should be stressed as most easily remedied and kept remedied by academy training. Graphs showing the 'therapeutic' value of training should be in the display book and on walls .... We will take full advantage of the superstitions of people at the level of prediction."A month after the last mentioned policy letter, Hubbard, in Pol. Lr. of the 24th November, 1960, entitled "Testing Promotion Revised", gave precise instructions to staff members of the HASI as to the manner in which an "Incomer" should be dealt with by the "Evaluator" to ensure success in procuring the Incomer. The suggestion of levity which may seem to be in Hubbard's style in this policy letter should not deceive. The instructions contained in it were serious and were intended to be carried out, and were carried out, by the HASI staffs. By such techniques, Hubbard ensured absolute control to the last detail of everything that happened in the Melbourne HASI, and his directions and routines were faithfully carried out under the ever watchful eye of Hubbard's own security organization, the HCO in Melbourne. In this letter Hubbard wrote,
"Evaluator takes Incomer off meter without explanation and turns to graph. Evaluator now explains each point of graph. But it is vital that at each low point, where explained he adds, 'Scientology can help that.' This is said directly to make an impingement. The wording can be varied but the sense must be the same. Do not precede this statement with 'Don't worry' or the like as this cancels impingement. Graph done, Evaluator explains IQ. If low he says 'Scientology training can raise that.' He explains levels of IQ; tells person even if it's high that IQ means little unless person, knows something with it. Evaluator now takes up the Meter Case Assessment sheet. Here he tells of pc's future. It is done by looking at pc's statement of his past and by rephrasing saying it is going to happen, (without Scientology fates don't change much. Accidents, divorces, &c., happen again). This is all rapidly done. Factually, expertly. . . The Evaluator now leans back and says 'That's it.' Incomer is hanging on ropes. If Incomer says anything like 'What can I do about it?' Evaluator says, 'That is very commendable. A good point in your favour, wanting to do something about it. I'm a technical person not a sales personnel. Confidentially, though, I'll give you a tip. Don't spend money foolishly until you know what you're spending it for. Psychiatrists and so forth could cost you thousands. You'd buy anything they said because you know little about the mind. So why don't you take an Anatomy Course and learn something about the mind. That's just a tip. It's cheap and you'll be wiser about what to do about yourself. The person over there is in the Service Department. Ask him.'.... If the Incomer walks out without buying, the PrR man (even if he is interviewing someone else and even if Incomer has not approached him) rushes over and gives Incomer a copy of Problems of Work and Dianetics, Evolution of a Science, and says 'Here are two books that might help you,' and without waiting for an answer goes back to his desk. The above routine is at this time a set, fixed activity. As it works further it may be improved."The Board heard expert evidence to the effect that a mentally normal person, who happened to do the PE course and have IQ and personality tests or who merely had these tests, might quite readily be convinced that he had serious faults and failings and pronounced personality defects, if the person conducting the tests had a sufficient air of confidence and efficiency and gave the impression of validity to the spurious practices being engaged in.
Hubbard, and the HASI under his direction, have practised calculated and deliberate deceit in the routine followed for signing up preclears for processing. Hubbard laid down the procedure for signing up preclears who, having been disturbed and upset by the fraudulent advice of the "Evaluator" as to their mental or other condition and told of the benefits which scientology could produce, were now in such a state or condition that they more readily accepted the suggestion that they should have auditing. In HCO Bull. of the 9th April, 1960, Hubbard gave the following instructions,
"Once the prospect is in the office the old routine of signing prospect up, getting technical acceptance from D of P [Director of Processing] and resigning prospect for increased hours must be done,"This particular instruction has been carried out at the Melbourne HASI with marked efficiency. Almost invariably, the unsuspecting prospect has found himself trapped into a commitment far greater than he originally intended. The evidence of numerous witnesses, who gave evidence in support of scientology, made it clear that the following almost standard routine was regularly followed. The prospect was interviewed by the Registrar who, after taking particulars, would then obtain the signature of the prospect on a printed form, on which the prospect undertook to receive a relatively small amount of auditing, generally 25 hours or thereabouts. Then the Registrar would escort the prospect to the Director of Processing, who would go through the motions of considering the application. The Director of Processing would then sign a printed certificate on the back of the application form to the effect that he had considered the application but, being of opinion that in the case of the applicant a "stable result" could not be obtained in less than a specified number of hours, generally from 250 to 300, he was prohibited by "the laws of the Board of Trustees" from accepting the applicant, and he would then return him to the Registrar. One is almost aghast at the deliberate callousness of this routine, which involved the generating of worry and distress in the mind of the prospect and then virtually the refusal of assistance claimed to be efficacious, unless he committed himself for some hundreds of pounds of auditing, which was said to be the least that could be expected to produce the mysterious "stable result." The fate of the applicant upon being returned to the Registrar can readily be pictured. The prospect, by now thoroughly upset, and whether or not he was really aware of what he was doing, regularly signed for the much greater number of hours stipulated by the Director of Processing - with the qualification that he only paid for such auditing as he had. Many witnesses were surprised when shown their signatures to an agreement to take the greater number of hours. All of them, however, had taken many more hours of auditing than the modest 25 hours or so for which they had initially signed, and many of them, after hundreds of hours of processing, were still committed to further auditing by the terms of the contract.
That the signing up of prospects in the way described is a deliberate trap is undoubted. In this way the HASI preys upon the anxieties of its victims. The prospect having had a slight acquaintance with scientology and having attended the free lectures and believing that some benefits might derive from association with scientology, must receive a very disturbing shock to learn that the exalted Director of Processing reports so gloomily on his case. He is then easy prey for the much larger commitment.
The Melbourne HASI faithfully carried out Hubbard's instruction in this respect. The printed form of application, together with the disturbing certificate on the back of it awaiting the Director of Processing's signature rejecting the applicant unless he signs up for a greatly increased commitment, testifies to the almost invariable routine which Hubbard directed must be carried out.
The value to HASI of the prospect signing for the larger number of hours becomes evident should a preclear, after taking processing but not the full amount signed for, realise that he has been duped and seek to obtain a refund, which, according to the rules of HASI, he is entitled to receive if not satisfied with the results of processing. The promise to refund to dissatisfied preclears is as specious as many other Hubbardian promises. An actual example, almost without comment, is sufficiently eloquent. A woman signed up for 300 hours auditing with the HASI. She took 175 hours, and then wrote to HASI in the following terms:
"At the conclusion of the last 25 hours auditing which I had you promised to write to me. That is now five weeks ago and I have not heard from you.Ron Masters, then Chief Registrar at the Melbourne HASI, replied as follows:My last auditor asked me why I did not ask for my money back. I have been thinking this over and have come to the conclusion that I am quite justified in doing so. If I have received any benefit from the HPA course and from auditing it is so vague that I cannot even be certain that any good has been achieved. I feel there is something in Scientology, but I don't even feel certain of this. If you assessed this result as being worth £50 it would still be no bargain. It is certainly not worth the hundreds of pounds I have paid you. Scientology has abjectly failed to make good its claims in my case, and I would like the money I have paid, less £50 for the doubtful benefits received to be refunded."
"Thank you for your letter....She then wrote:About refunds of money I will quote the Policy on this: 'Processing refunds may never be given until the person has completed all the hours for which he has signed up, even if he has not paid for them'. You signed for 300 hrs .... and have only taken 175 hrs of this amount, so it is not within my power to make a refund.
We understand what you are going through at this time, but it is a truism to state that 'the only way out, is the way through'.
Call in for a chat when you're free, as I'd like to see you."
"I received your letter this evening. The position regarding refunds is most unsatisfactory. As far as I know it is not possible to receive any auditing without paying for it in advance. Therefore, I would have to pay approximately £250 more, as well as wasting further time, in order to claim a refund. What guarantee would I have, if I did this, that any refund would be made? Has any money ever, in fact, been refunded by any Scientology organization? I consider 275 hours - and this is not counting the 300 or more hours I had before coming to the HGC - an ample test of your claims."Masters' reply was:
"Thank you for your letter.She then wrote:The position regarding refunds remains the same.
You have a guarantee by Policy that a refund would be given after taking all the hours, and refunds have only been on this policy.
The policy safeguards the PC who thinks he or she has had enough, you see.
I repeat, the only way out is the way through."
"I received your last letter and in reply I claim that my situation has in every way worsened under the influence of Scientology, while the last 25 hours of auditing has been absolutely disastrous. Now there are times when I have to struggle to even stay awake, and as a consequence I fear to lose my job and the little security that gives me. It takes a frightful effort not to go to sleep and is a terrible battle to keep my eyes focusing. I have to shake myself awake to read a figure, and before I have transferred it to another sheet I am nearly asleep and have to struggle again to keep awake and forget what the figure was. I become nearly unconscious even in the middle of making an entry and the figures trail out and become indecipherable. I am slow in my work and make mistakes. There is a period nearly every day, lasting between 1 and 2 hours when every ounce of energy I possess is needed just to keep awake. I am not exaggerating the misery of this situation. I dread these periods of battling to keep from just giving in and going to sleep. I am always exhausted and sometimes can hardly walk along. This the result I have obtained from spending all my money on something that is claimed to increase alertness and intelligence and generally benefit people. I have received no benefit at all, have come not one whit nearer to the solution of my problems, but have lost all that made my life at all happy.Her correspondence with the Melbourne HASI produced no refund, and thereafter she wrote direct to Hubbard in these terms:Under these circumstances it is no help to be told 'the way out is the way through'. I have no money left for further auditing and no chance of saving any since I barely make ends meet. That, after 600 hours of auditing, Scientology has failed to bring the PC 'through' is evidence that it is unable to do so. I feel that I have been let down again and again, and - except by [two names omitted] - no attempt to understand or help my case has been made."
"The Scientology centre in Melbourne states in various leaflets that all cases are personally reviewed by you. If that is true you should know something of me. I have had 300 hours auditing at this centre, and done an HPA course there, and have achieved nothing of any benefit at all. At the commencement I had a job I liked, which paid me fairly well, and enough money put away to feel reasonably secure. Now 1 have a job I don't care for, which does not pay so well, my money is largely gone, and instead of being reasonably content I feel that nothing is worth doing, have periods of absolute exhaustion, and look forward to the remaining years of my life with complete hopelessness, as just a dreary round of work, work, work at something I don't care for to earn enough to exist to go on working.Hubbard referred this letter to the Melbourne HCO, where Mrs. Williams "diagnosed" it as a case of " missed W/Hs [withholds]".Prior to going to HASI I had at least 300 hrs going once a fortnight to a private auditor for a number of years, and an improvement in my health and spirits did slowly take place, though there were no results such as would warrant me having a high opinion of Scientology, or regarding you as anything but a blowhard and liar with the claims you have always made.
You repeatedly claim that Scientology can help all cases, that only bad auditing errors can hold up cases now, and even, I seem to remember reading in one of the last PAB's I received, that the initial case level does not affect the wonderful benefit to be gained from new processes.
The last 25 hours intensive was given to me free, as I had finished up before that, after 275 hours which I had paid for, fearing even to lose my job as I had long periods at work when I could hardly keep awake and didn't know what I was doing. I don't feel in any way grateful for this free auditing, as my own feeling is that it is the very least they can do. If they repeated the whole 275 hours it would not be any more than should be done.
I would like your comments on this situation."
Shortly afterwards, this preclear was constrained to visit the HASI, and was persuaded to undergo 25 hours' free processing for her "missed withholds". Two years later she was still in the clutches of the Melbourne HASI, having resumed auditing on the basis of her paying for it.
Once the prospect has signed up, he is subjected to scientology processing which enslaves his mind and dominates his will and extracts from him hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pounds. On the one hand, the extravagant promises of clear and beyond, of a new world, of the homo novus, of happiness, serenity, immortality, and, on the other hand, the fear engendered as to what terrible fate lies outside scientology, and the dependency on scientology which is carefully cultivated, are effective means whereby the preclear is kept in continuous subjection.
Any incipient defection or any act or thought hostile to scientology is specifically dealt with by exploiting fear and particularly the fear of death. The procedure for countering such defection is more processing which further shackles the preclear. This is abundantly clear from the HCO Bull. of the 31st December, 1959, where Hubbard writes of the terrible plight of people leaving scientology without clearing, and who have overts against scientology:
"I assure you, and with some sorrow, people have not often recovered from overts against Scientology, its Organization and related persons. They don't recover because they know in their hearts even while they lie that they are wronging people who have done and are doing enormous amounts of good in the world and who definitely do not deserve libel and slander. Literally, it kills them and if you don't believe it I can show you the long death list."In this bulletin he tells of a man with uncleared overts and withholds who contracted TB within a few weeks and was dying in a London hospital. The bulletin continues:
"I once told a bill collector what and who we were and that he had wronged a good person and a half-hour later he threw a hundred grains of veronal down his throat and was lugged off to hospital, a suicide."In the same bulletin, Hubbard gives instructions designed to ensure an increase in his domination over the incipient defector. He writes:
"Uneasy lies the head that has a bad conscience. Clean it up and run responsibility on it and you have another better person, and if anyone feels like leaving just examine the record and sit down and list everything done to and withheld from me and the Organization and send it along. We'll save a lot of people that way."
Until August, 1963, the testing and assessment often formed part of the personal efficiency course and were free. Thereafter a small charge was made for these services.
The IQ test and the personality assessment are associated tests normally undertaken by psychologists. The claims to be able to increase IQ and improve personality are unjustified. The IQ of a person is, in broad terms, a standard of measurement of the degree or quality of intelligence inherent in a particular person, and a numerical scale is used as a convenient method of classifying the intelligence of persons tested. Experiments and wide experience have produced a scale which broadly grades intellectual and other potential capacity. This scale measures things quite distinct from knowledge and skill, though these qualities may be reflected in testing and various allowances are made for them. A person's IQ, however, is inherent and does not admit of being increased, though tests made at different times on the same person may produce apparently different results. Such variations may be attributable to familiarity with the surroundings, previous tests, present condition of health, lack of concentration or interest, perversity and other matters. Broadly speaking a person's IQ does not rise and fall, and it is generally accepted by psychologists that, for practical purposes, at least after the middle teens, a person's IQ cannot be increased.
The ascertainment of an IQ is not an end in itself, but is an assessment of the intellectual potential of an individual, in much the same way as a person's height may be a consideration if he were to be employed where tall men were needed.
The personality testing at the HASI is done by a system called the Oxford Capacity Analysis, which incorporates a graph on which various personality traits are listed. The Oxford Capacity Analysis is based almost entirely on a particular American system of personality analysis, which, according to expert psychological evidence, is not highly regarded. The copyright of the Oxford Capacity Analysis is in Hubbard, and it is a peculiar circumstance that it is one of the very few pieces of written scientology material which does not prominently carry either his name or the word, "scientology".
An expert psychologist, after examining the instruction manual for conducting an Oxford Capacity Analysis, gave evidence that "the overall impression one gets from reading this manual is that it has been prepared by somebody with a smattering of psychometrics rather than by someone who is really competent in the field."
The Board heard evidence from a number of expert psychologists concerning IQ and personality tests. It appears that the Australian Council for Educational Research, which has the agency for several intelligence and personality tests, restricts their sales in order to prevent their misuse by unqualified persons. There are various kinds of tests for various purposes and varying qualifications are required in those who desire to conduct such tests, but the Australian
The scientology qualifications are designated by various letters which likewise deceive. There are "degrees" of "Doctor of Scientology" and "Bachelor of Scientology", respectively designated by "D.Scn." and "B.Scn.", both intended to suggest an affinity with "D.Sc." and "B.Sc." which are appropriate to Doctor of Science and Bachelor of Science, both well known University degrees. The "D.Scn." carries, of course, the appellation, "Doctor", which readily deceives even the alert person who may well believe that in the HASI, where the emphasis is on health, the title denotes a doctor of medicine.
The lesser scientology qualifications also carry letters after the names of those so qualified. Hubbard Professional Auditor is denoted by "HPA", Hubbard Qualified Scientologist by "HQS", Hubbard Certificated Auditor by "HCA".
One scientology witness falsely claimed to be entitled to have the letters "B.A." after her name, and even managed to deceive the HASI that she was "B.A. London, 1923". In evidence she admitted the deception, but claimed to be entitled to use the letters "B.A." as representing, successively, "Basic Auditor" and "Book Administrator".
The free offer makes a triple appeal: first, what is offered is more than a bargain, it is free; secondly, it is offering just the sort of release or escape or opportunity the worried person thinks he needs; and, thirdly, it engenders in the mind of such a person the thought that the organization offering such wonderful things free must be of superior stature and quality to be able to achieve the wonderful results promised.
Great efforts are made by the HASI to impress the inquirer at the earliest stage. An atmosphere of efficiency prevails; a particular point is made of punctuality, the instructors and staff are outwardly confident and certain of themselves; at the first lecture the individual is addressed by his Christian name and so flattered that he begins to feel that scientology is already doing him some good. One witness said that, at the very first free lecture, he had been taught to do something he had never been able to do before, namely, to look people straight in the eyes; now he could do that and, so he said, he had never looked back. He was, instead, spending all he could afford, and probably more, on scientology processing with no further observable results.
At the end of the lecture, the time of the next lecture is mentioned and the instructor makes sure everyone intends to attend. Any waverer is questioned, given some suggestion as to how to overcome the difficulty of attending, and then told that he will be present at the next lecture. "No", is not taken as an answer, and the impressed beginner is somehow constrained to attend.
The inadequate and inferior person, having experienced the pleasure of being accepted and being shown affection by the organization, feels a desire to reciprocate; he wants to prove his worthiness to be accepted and loved and he enthusiastically seeks to please in whatever way he can. The way expected of him is to show continuing interest, and later to participate at his own expense in the activities of the organization.
At the stage when the preclear is entering into scientology he is sometimes security checked; that is, he is interrogated at great length according to a set formula, and on these occasions he has sometimes been asked such questions as "Do you deserve to be helped by scientology?". This heightens his desire to demonstrate his worthiness and at the same time it increases his dependence on scientology.
In auditing, the preclear, with his inhibitions in suspense, reveals his secret faults and recalls and acknowledges his inadequacies and transgressions. The mental distress attendant upon such feelings of guilt makes him wish to obtain some relief from his discomfort by atonement, confession or redress; it renders him more likely and ready to subject himself to the confessional, sacrificial and self-abasing process of auditing whereby he can purge himself of his shortcomings; and it develops in him almost a missionary zeal whereby he has the urge to render the same service to others by being an auditor himself. He is thus seeking to emulate the auditor on whom he has developed an increasing dependency, and in the role of an auditor himself he hopes to enjoy the same sense of power over his own preclears.
The development in the preclear of a desire to be an auditor facilitates the HASI's task of persuading preclears to become students. The preclear regards his auditor as a superior person who is on the way to clear, and who conducts himself in auditing sessions with confidence and authority. Scientology seems to the preclear to be a short cut to success, power and authority. It makes unnecessary, so it seems to the preclear, persistence with one's secular studies or interests and it enables him to ignore the reality of the world outside scientology and its problems and responsibilities. All these halcyon concepts of scientology and its practice are the outcome of a pot pourri of contributing factors - the individual's own inadequacy and gullibility, the desire to be thought worthy, the insidious advertising, the free lectures, the fantastic promises, the confident but shallow attitude of the instructors and staff, the awe of the E-meter, the assurances of success the lure of the clear, the hypnotic effect of techniques even at this early stage-and the calculated springing of the trap baited so temptingly for the unsuspecting victim.
These are no alarmist observations, for the Inquiry has revealed that scientology has made its conquests with anxious people: the worried and inadequate, the uncertain, the groping, the seeking, the uncritical, the unfortunate who grasps at a promise of betterment eagerly and without question. In the realms of the mind there are investors and speculators, worried and anxious people, eager and greedy people, the little and the large investor, all too ready and willing to rise to the bait of an entrancing future of sanity and mental serenity, of freedom from worry and care, of increased intelligence and greater ability and any other seductive pot of gold that the charlatan concocts.
Courses in auditing are carefully organized and conducted to induce in a preclear the desire for further auditing. Almost without exception the files show that at the end of a course of processing the preclear is desperately eager for further processing. At the end of a typical 25-hour intensive, the preclear is either depressed or elated; each of these conditions is treated as an indication that further processing is desirable; a depressed condition is said to indicate a need for more processing to raise the preclear up the tone scale; an elated condition is readily accepted by the preclear as a promising prelude to more processing. Preclears are processed into a strange world of illusion which offers an escape from reality, and they are conditioned to desire more and yet more processing until a state of euphoria is reached and maintained. They thus develop a pitiful dependency upon the HASI, which is a direct consequence of the hypnotic processes used, and this dependency is sedulously nurtured by the HASI. In the practice of medicine the likely development of dependency by the patient upon the psychiatrist and psycho-analyst is well known, and responsible practitioners are alert to ensure that it is minimized and guarded against. Indeed, the object of orthodox treatment is to restore the patient to a state where he can face reality. The conduct of HASI is thus the negation of orthodox psychiatric and psychological practice, and constitutes a significantly evil feature of scientology processing.
Part of the scientology technique is not to allow the preclear ever to achieve complete fulfilment of his aims, and the preclear who has obtained good results is told that he could do better, and is left with the guilty feeling that he has not done his best. The feelings of guilt are thus accentuated by encouraging the preclear to find fault with and further abase himself. Such a procedure is common in brainwashing techniques.
Last updated 21 February 1997
Page maintained by Martin Poulter (plmlp@mail.bris.ac.uk)