When I was in Scientology back in the 60s, doubt was a low condition, and most of you are familiar
with the Scientology conditions scale. Doubt is pretty far down there, just above treason. When
you are tossed in a condition of doubt, they put a rag around your arm, and made
you do manual labor in the basement, scrub floors, that sort of thing, eat leftovers, and humiliate you,
break your spirit, until you "have a cognition" i.e., return to the flock.
This is a clever trick by Hubbard. See, he doesn't want you to doubt, does he? Hmmm?
If you doubt, you might leave. So, stigmatizing doubt by making it a low condition is a means
of controlling the flock. But, think about this; every major thrust forward, every
major aggregate shift upwards in collective human consciousness, somewhere in there
seeding the advance is doubt. The renaissance is a good example, where people challenged
old ways, rethought new, but it started with doubt about the old, which gave way to thinking
about new ways of thinking, looking, etc, about religion, the arts, and life, in general.
Doubt is your friend. That realization was the turning point for me, which led me out
of Scientology, not that I doubted Scientology, I realized Scientology was wrong about doubt.
If Scientology were wrong about doubt, how much more was it wrong about? The more I looked, the more I found that didn't ring true, or was a half truth.
Doubt is NOT a condition, this is the fundamental lie. It is a high state of consciousness.
Scientology uses the term 'awareness'. Awareness is more of a temporal thing, a situational thing, the grander, broader achievement, the grander objective, is higher states of consciousness. Nitpicking over words which mean basically the same thing? Perhaps, but for me, one is a grander sense of it over the other.
Very high, love doubt, it is your friend. Certainty is not that high, actually, but often certainty is
a false certainty. know someone that is certain about their religion? Hmmmm? Of course you do,
that's what I mean. Doubt is much higher than "certainty". Certainty is a fool's gold, a fool's paradise. With certainty, you are stuck, you are not moving up, with doubt, you have a fighting chance, and that's a much better place to be, in terms of spiritual growth. Even Socrates, thousands of years ago, knew this, and he said (paraphrased) "if I know one thing, it is this, I know absolutely nothing". He knew certainty was a the habitat of fools. Yeah, I talk like I know something, but really, truth be told, I don't, and I'm okay with that. Why try to solve the mystery of life? It's a mystery, just live it, celebrate it, but don't try and solve it, that's a fool's errand.
One thing I can do, is find fault with Hubbard's many teaching, so....
More to come,
Best,
Oscar.
PS, for those of you trying to bust out, I know you've bought into OT being the "Road to Total Freedom", and if this is a false thing, then what to replace it with? I know, if you leave Scn, there's a void, and that void needs to be nourished soon, because, like someone trying to quit smoking, if you don't get a patch, or something to tide you through the rough period, you might fall back on it. Okay, I'll help you with that, more to come.
PPS, of course, and obviously, I'm not the only ex scn around here with advice, so I'll be checking y'all out for all the good advice you have, sharing ideas, debating ideas, it will be fun, and I am looking forward to seeing what's been going on in the many years I've been out.
with the Scientology conditions scale. Doubt is pretty far down there, just above treason. When
you are tossed in a condition of doubt, they put a rag around your arm, and made
you do manual labor in the basement, scrub floors, that sort of thing, eat leftovers, and humiliate you,
break your spirit, until you "have a cognition" i.e., return to the flock.
This is a clever trick by Hubbard. See, he doesn't want you to doubt, does he? Hmmm?
If you doubt, you might leave. So, stigmatizing doubt by making it a low condition is a means
of controlling the flock. But, think about this; every major thrust forward, every
major aggregate shift upwards in collective human consciousness, somewhere in there
seeding the advance is doubt. The renaissance is a good example, where people challenged
old ways, rethought new, but it started with doubt about the old, which gave way to thinking
about new ways of thinking, looking, etc, about religion, the arts, and life, in general.
Doubt is your friend. That realization was the turning point for me, which led me out
of Scientology, not that I doubted Scientology, I realized Scientology was wrong about doubt.
If Scientology were wrong about doubt, how much more was it wrong about? The more I looked, the more I found that didn't ring true, or was a half truth.
Doubt is NOT a condition, this is the fundamental lie. It is a high state of consciousness.
Scientology uses the term 'awareness'. Awareness is more of a temporal thing, a situational thing, the grander, broader achievement, the grander objective, is higher states of consciousness. Nitpicking over words which mean basically the same thing? Perhaps, but for me, one is a grander sense of it over the other.
Very high, love doubt, it is your friend. Certainty is not that high, actually, but often certainty is
a false certainty. know someone that is certain about their religion? Hmmmm? Of course you do,
that's what I mean. Doubt is much higher than "certainty". Certainty is a fool's gold, a fool's paradise. With certainty, you are stuck, you are not moving up, with doubt, you have a fighting chance, and that's a much better place to be, in terms of spiritual growth. Even Socrates, thousands of years ago, knew this, and he said (paraphrased) "if I know one thing, it is this, I know absolutely nothing". He knew certainty was a the habitat of fools. Yeah, I talk like I know something, but really, truth be told, I don't, and I'm okay with that. Why try to solve the mystery of life? It's a mystery, just live it, celebrate it, but don't try and solve it, that's a fool's errand.
One thing I can do, is find fault with Hubbard's many teaching, so....
More to come,
Best,
Oscar.
PS, for those of you trying to bust out, I know you've bought into OT being the "Road to Total Freedom", and if this is a false thing, then what to replace it with? I know, if you leave Scn, there's a void, and that void needs to be nourished soon, because, like someone trying to quit smoking, if you don't get a patch, or something to tide you through the rough period, you might fall back on it. Okay, I'll help you with that, more to come.
PPS, of course, and obviously, I'm not the only ex scn around here with advice, so I'll be checking y'all out for all the good advice you have, sharing ideas, debating ideas, it will be fun, and I am looking forward to seeing what's been going on in the many years I've been out.
