Whatever the reason(s), Hubbard had a serious problem with the truth and, IMO, with general competency.
Over an eight year time span I suppose I got maybe 250 or so orders directly from him. Receiving and complying with orders from Hubbard taught me a few things, many I did not truly understand until years after I was out.
One thing is how easily he lied. Either he was just a bold faced liar, lying for personal gain at the expense of others, or he was so incompetent that he did not even know he was lying. Or, something else I cannot now imagine.
He also was often very cruel including gross acts of cruelty against those who had dedicated their very lives to support him and scientology. And, IMO his orders often betrayed the fact that he was incompetent.
A few examples:
(i) he told Scientologists in broad issues that he took no money from Scientology, that it was in effect a labor of love. Truth be told he took many tens of millions of dollars from Scientology and demanded more and more constantly. To the public he was a saint, one who was not in it for the money. But in his most private communications with some of those at the very top he accepted no excuses for not getting his take of the proceeds of organized Scientology regularly. And he often saw as enemies any who he felt stood in the way of him and his money;
(ii) he ordered those at the very top in the Watchdog Committee to get every possible dime they could out of any and all possible organizations of the scientology empire. He said to take the money from local orgs before they could spend it. It did not matter that the orgs were almost always left with insufficient money to feed their staffs, to give them proper medical care or to support their own children. He wanted to take the money out of their control and to end up getting his share;
(iii) when cases were lost and money had to be paid to victims of scientology Hubbard was outraged. And it was not because there were victims but rather because money had to be paid out. He would order new, deceptive ways to hide the money through corporate/contractual shell games so none of it could be gotten through litigation should scientology lose instead of focusing on why there were victims in the first place. Case in point is the Christofferson case and Hubbard's order to Sue Mithoff in 1979 re the creation of Scientology Missions International and why it was needed;
(iv) In 1982/1983 Hubbard blew up when he found out that so many books not written by him were sold on org lines and even in some cases by the publications organizations themselves. He demanded heads on pikes to find those who were trying to destroy him and scientology pushing his policy "Vital Data On Promotion" and the part of it that stressed no books by others. While external influence missions were sent all around the world to find and punish all responsible for this, and all who supported it, what he never would mention was that it was he himself who approved many of those books.
For example, Hubbard told me that he had never approved a Ruth Minshull book and only ever had seen one of them - "Miracles for Breakfast". Yet I later found out and confirmed that not only did he see others of her books but he actually approved them in writing for distribution on org lines in exchange for a piece of the action. I later got the approvals from Ruth herself and confirmed from a key messenger that she actually witnessed Hubbard signing the approvals;
(v) in the same time period as in "iv" above Hubbard was constantly demanding that external influences be found as it must be them that was holding scientology down. Scientologists around the world, most of them staff, were horribly abused, gang bang sec checks became rampant, declares reached all time highs and countless families were destroyed through disconnection simply because Hubbard's saw enemies in his most loyal and dedicated followers when he was not getting his way;
(vi) Hubbard often gave horribly stupid orders into the corporate area and there were often people who had to constantly figure out how to "make him feel right" and not comply with the orders without having him go ballistic. One example was Hubbard ordering the selling of minister status for big bucks so that the people getting them could get all sorts of tax benefits and related perks (such as tax deductions for their home mortgages, etc.). Great effort had to be made to not comply and yet make it look like one was complying so as not to incur his wrath.
There are countless examples of these sort of things.
I cannot say with certainty what drove a man to do all this but I can say that the fraud, cruelty and betrayal spanned decades and was not just something found in his last few years of almost complete mental breakdown.
It is my belief that the insane paranoia and fear that Hubbard constantly showed was woven throughout scientology policy. Such things as the RPF, heavy ethics for counter and other intentions (to his own), the cruelty of disconnection and so much more all to "protect" a tech he called priceless but was rather valueless to most who tried it.
This is also reflected in his crazy ramblings were he saw enemies everywhere and demanded the destruction of those who opposed his will.
And, I submit that the entire corporate structure of organized scientology, all the lies that make up the foundation of that house of cards as well as the religious cloaking that helps hold it in place is nothing more than a reflection of that same, insane paranoia of Hubbard as he demanded control of his little empire while cowardly hiding behind its myriad veils so as not to be held liable for that of which he was completely liable.
I submit that Hubbard had no really great accomplishments. The bigger accomplishments (such as they were) in the history of organized scientology were IMO not achieved by Hubbard. Rather they were achieved by loving, dedicated and, yes, misled people who themselves put it all on the line to dedicate themselves and their lives to the following of a man who would ultimately betray them.
I find it difficult to find any real hate in my heart for this but there is much sadness in there. A sadness for all the good souls who cared and who tried to follow a dream and were betrayed.
Did Hubbard really think he would "clear the planet" and that scientology should really expand well beyond his own life? I don't know for sure but I cannot get this troubling thought out of my mind: I once went to the leaders of the Watchdog Committee and the then leader of RTC before Miscavige took over. I tried to reconcile the constant demands for money every week. I asked how will we clear the rest of the planet when such a large portion of it could not afford scientology services.
All I got back were blank stares.
And I had a sad
