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Ex Hawaii/Riverside Staff

Scout

Patron
Shoot, well Billy did say the restaurant disguise was a bit weak. Notice how the Scn. centers gravitate to Kapiolani?

Trey Lotz was very well known in the LA area as an established field auditor. I never met him myself. He was sort of what many, like myself, who wanted to become field auditors, aspired to. Interesting that he came by the Hawaii mission. Walter Florian must have been well known at the time.
Funny thing about the ufo /restaurant, when you put your drink down for a few minutes it moved away from you.
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
Shoot, well Billy did say the restaurant disguise was a bit weak. Notice how the Scn. centers gravitate to Kapiolani?

Trey Lotz was very well known in the LA area as an established field auditor. I never met him myself. He was sort of what many, like myself, who wanted to become field auditors, aspired to. Interesting that he came by the Hawaii mission. Walter Florian must have been well known at the time.
I believe Trey had some sort of connection with Hawaii, and possibly with the mission, that predated Florian. That mission had been there for years. I know for sure it was at that location, 1282 Kapiolani, since at least 1970. Once we had a guy (who seemed a little "off") walk in off the street and tell us he'd become a Grade 0 Release there in 1967, so maybe even before 1970.
 

Bob55

Patron
I believe Trey had some sort of connection with Hawaii, and possibly with the mission, that predated Florian. That mission had been there for years. I know for sure it was at that location, 1282 Kapiolani, since at least 1970. Once we had a guy (who seemed a little "off") walk in off the street and tell us he'd become a Grade 0 Release there in 1967, so maybe even before 1970.
Interesting about Trey. While 1970 seems like a forever ago now, back in 1976, when I started there, it wasn't all that long. I don't recall if I knew the start date or not. I do recall running into, while disseminating, numerous people who had been to the mission and to another location near the university. People seemed to be ok with the Kapiolani mission and some stating they had gotten auditing and their lives were good. Most said the university location was sort of strange, so not sure what was happening there. I talked to two people who insisted they had been audited by Hubbard (on the mainland), one saying he had gone clear. Still so strange to think I walked the streets talking to people. At least the weather was nice, and sometimes I'd go for long walks.
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
Interesting about Trey. While 1970 seems like a forever ago now, back in 1976, when I started there, it wasn't all that long. I don't recall if I knew the start date or not. I do recall running into, while disseminating, numerous people who had been to the mission and to another location near the university. People seemed to be ok with the Kapiolani mission and some stating they had gotten auditing and their lives were good. Most said the university location was sort of strange, so not sure what was happening there. I talked to two people who insisted they had been audited by Hubbard (on the mainland), one saying he had gone clear. Still so strange to think I walked the streets talking to people. At least the weather was nice, and sometimes I'd go for long walks.
I once ran into a guy who said he'd gone sailing and played chess with Hubbard. I wonder if it might have been this guy.
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/miller/interviews/robford.htm

I don't know if you've read Bare-Faced Messiah. I recommend it highly. I'm sure you can find it online.

In your scn peregrinations, did you ever run into Percy Wong or Linda Blatt? They were one-time Hono Mission public, who did the HSDC at the mission and then went on Hawaii Org lines. They were just leaving the mission about the time I got started there. I did Grades 0-IV on both of them during my IV internship at Hawaii Org (in Aina Haina). They were both also Class IV by that time. Linda I know made it pretty far up the Bridge. I don't know about Percy.
 
Hello. This is my first post. I was on staff at the Honolulu Mission and briefly at Riverside, CA, 1975-1981. I've been out of Scn since then.

Recently I was reading an article in The Village Voice about a Scn mission in Israel defecting from the church. (I think there's a link on this site to the Voice's series about Scn.) The article said -- 2nd paragraph or so -- that this was "the first time in memory" an entire mission had defected. I knew this wasn't the case. Riverside did this, shortly after I got out I believe. This got me thinking about the time I spent there, and I started looking around the web for stuff about the Riverside Mission, and wound up here.

In the "Reuniting with Old Friends" forum, there is a very long (32 pages) thread specifically about Riverside, and I spent hours reading it and other things it links to. I had a great time reading it. I read some of it more than once. I remember many of the people mentioned, and it's the first time I've seen most of those names in 30 years.

Honolulu and Riverside had the same mission holder for a while -- Bent Corydon -- and there was some exchange of staff between the two. I went to Riverside twice -- I'm a little vague on exact dates, now, '76? '77? -- but my second and longer stay was about 4 months, the earlier one was shorter than that. That was some of the best time I had in Scn.

In the thread about Riverside, the Hawaii sister mission was mentioned a few times, and someone asked if there were any Hawaii staff out there. No one spoke up. So finally I decided I would. This is the first time I've ever posted to any ex-Scn site, anywhere.
So you are saying that there was a large positive aspect about your involvement with Scientology? That you don't wholly regret becoming a member?
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
So you are saying that there was a large positive aspect about your involvement with Scientology? That you don't wholly regret becoming a member?
I don't know if I'd put it that way. I think I was one of the lucky ones. I spent relatively little money on it, never joined the Sea Org, and left after 7 years instead of 20 or 30. I was only 30 years old when I left and I hadn't burned all my bridges behind me, so the transition back to the "wog" world wasn't too difficult.

There is some good in scn, mostly in the beginning. You have a big win in the beginning, so you want more, but as you go on there's less and less. After a while you're just hypnotizing yourself into believing you're still having wins. In scn you are always rehearsing your wins and applauding (literally) other people's wins.

The best thing in scn is the Comm Course, usually the first course people do. Unfortunately I can't even recommend that, because the scios will immediately be after you to do more, and they can be VERY convincing. They also lie like mad and never bat an eye, because they believe -- truly believe -- that YOU MUST DO SCN. YOU MUST GO UP THE BRIDGE. And they will do and say whatever they think is necessary to get you to do that.

You also realize, after you've been in scn for a while, that the ultimate goal of scn is TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD. Yes, as crazy as that sounds, it's true. Fortunately, I don't think they have much of a chance of doing so.

I strongly advise you not to have anything to do with scn. If you think you need therapy, there's other, much better therapy. If you're looking for enlightenment, there are lots of other GENUINE spiritual practices that aren't there just to take your money. I would suggest you look into those.
 
Hi
Thanks for your informative reply to my questions. I really wanted to join Scientology for a period in my life; but I backed out of it after some initial exposure. Your remarks about "hypnotising yourself into believing that you are still having wins" was illuminating. I am still kind of perplexed about the way that the people who I encountered in Scientology seemed to be intelligent, the sort of people who I would think that I would want to know; I find this hard to reconcile with what I have heard about the darker aspects of the church.
Sheila Lindsay Day
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
Hi
Thanks for your informative reply to my questions. I really wanted to join Scientology for a period in my life; but I backed out of it after some initial exposure. Your remarks about "hypnotising yourself into believing that you are still having wins" was illuminating. I am still kind of perplexed about the way that the people who I encountered in Scientology seemed to be intelligent, the sort of people who I would think that I would want to know; I find this hard to reconcile with what I have heard about the darker aspects of the church.
Sheila Lindsay Day
You're welcome.

My impression of the majority of scngsts was the same as yours. Most people imagine that you must be stupid or nuts to be in a cult, but that's not the case. You can be quite intelligent and still get taken in. As for "the darker aspects," even good people can do bad things when they believe they're doing it for a higher purpose.
 

Alien3

Patron
You're welcome.

My impression of the majority of scngsts was the same as yours. Most people imagine that you must be stupid or nuts to be in a cult, but that's not the case. You can be quite intelligent and still get taken in. As for "the darker aspects," even good people can do bad things when they believe they're doing it for a higher purpose.
It is initially very welcoming and friendly. I would be struggling to find a handful of people in it who I would not consider to be intelligent, hardworking and competent. They are constantly promoting positive literature such as the ' Way to Happinness ' booklets. So of course newbies come to believe they are dealing with a highly ethical organisation who vehemently want to save the planet. There is some truth in this ... but it is not until the 'penny drops' which may be months or years later that people see it really is a complete load of twaddle geared into playing into the hands of a pscyhopath. Or however you would like the describe LRH, now deceased.
 
It is initially very welcoming and friendly. I would be struggling to find a handful of people in it who I would not consider to be intelligent, hardworking and competent. They are constantly promoting positive literature such as the ' Way to Happinness ' booklets. So of course newbies come to believe they are dealing with a highly ethical organisation who vehemently want to save the planet. There is some truth in this ... but it is not until the 'penny drops' which may be months or years later that people see it really is a complete load of twaddle geared into playing into the hands of a pscyhopath. Or however you would like the describe LRH, now deceased.
Isn't the expression "when the nickel drops"? lol. Speaking of people who seem to be alright, I find that I enjoy this chatroom; the people here strike me as lively, and willing to say what is on their minds. I hope that you don't mind if I join in some conversations. I am a fairly articulate person.
 

Alien3

Patron
Isn't the expression "when the nickel drops"? lol. Speaking of people who seem to be alright, I find that I enjoy this chatroom; the people here strike me as lively, and willing to say what is on their minds. I hope that you don't mind if I join in some conversations. I am a fairly articulate person.
Haha! It is when 'the penny drops' in Australia. Well there were pennys as currency when I was a child. Welcome to the site.
 

programmer_guy

True Ex-Scientologist
You're welcome.

My impression of the majority of scngsts was the same as yours. Most people imagine that you must be stupid or nuts to be in a cult, but that's not the case. You can be quite intelligent and still get taken in. As for "the darker aspects," even good people can do bad things when they believe they're doing it for a higher purpose.
In my experience, most people who got involved were young and naive when they started.
The initial stages of Scientology fits within their "world view", (i.e. Weltanschauung).
 
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strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
[bcolor=#ffff00]Isn't the expression "when the nickel drops"?[/bcolor] lol. Speaking of people who seem to be alright, I find that I enjoy this chatroom; the people here strike me as lively, and willing to say what is on their minds. I hope that you don't mind if I join in some conversations. I am a fairly articulate person.
That depends on which side of the Atlantic ocean you happen to be living on.

Why should anybody mind if you join in, that's what this place is for!

BTW, I'm the grammar nazi around here at the moment. If you want to criticise people's use of English you'll have to wait in line. :biggrin:
 
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That depends on which side of the Atlantic ocean you happen to be living on.

Why should anybody mind if you join in, that's what this place is for!

BTW, I'm the grammar nazi around here at the moment. If you want to criticise people's use of English you'll have to wait in line. :biggrin:
Thanks for welcoming me! I was wondering if this was something of a closed support group; my actual experience with Scientology was so brief I didn't know if the classification "former Scientologist" would apply to me.
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
Thanks for welcoming me! I was wondering if this was something of a closed support group; my actual experience with Scientology was so brief I didn't know if the classification "former Scientologist" would apply to me.
This 'group' is open to anyone; there are many who frequent this board who have never been 'in' scientology at all but who contribute nevertheless, so whether the classification 'former scientologist' applies to you or not, you're still welcome.
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
Hi Pineapple
How are things? I have made a couple of observations about the COS. I would like to hear from you, if for no other reason than your posts here are pretty well written!!
Hi Sheila. I'm hanging in there. I don't post all that much -- about 750 posts in 6 years -- but I pop in once or twice a day to see what's happening. Thank you for the compliment. :)
 
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