What Scn book snagged you?
- Thread starter Veda
- Start date
lotus
stubborn rebel sheep!
I was impressed with axioms and logic
Don't recall the exact title though!
I thought I had stumbled upon some metaphysical truth of the universe that was The Knowledge
My mind became very busy in trying to grasp it all.
I was truly stunned and amazed
Till I realized, years later, it was only words put in a form that appeared scientific and metaphysical ( almost mystical); the reality was that it meant nothing.
Don't recall the exact title though!
I thought I had stumbled upon some metaphysical truth of the universe that was The Knowledge
My mind became very busy in trying to grasp it all.
I was truly stunned and amazed
Till I realized, years later, it was only words put in a form that appeared scientific and metaphysical ( almost mystical); the reality was that it meant nothing.
Last edited:
lotus
stubborn rebel sheep!
Funny, I just found this regarding axioms
https://scicrit.wordpress.com/2016/...l-ron-hubbards-bullshit-is-actually-profound/
https://scicrit.wordpress.com/2016/...l-ron-hubbards-bullshit-is-actually-profound/
programmer_guy
True Ex-Scientologist
Initially for me it was DMSMH.
It seemed like science at that time. (I was young and naive.)
Now, many years later, I see that it made false claims about, for example, "engrams" (Hubbard's definition of them).
It seemed like science at that time. (I was young and naive.)
Now, many years later, I see that it made false claims about, for example, "engrams" (Hubbard's definition of them).
Last edited:
Xenu Xenu Xenu
Patron Meritorious
It was Dianetics the Modern Science of Blah, Blah, Blah. It was hard to read. I was already "on staff" and most of the Scienos in the org I met had never read it. It became a point of honour for me to read it. It was a pain to read (as you well know) but I forced my way through it. There were a few "eureka" moments though and that is what helped to hook me on this awful cult.
Last edited:
strativarius
Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
Yes, 'The Phoenix Lectures' and 'The Creation of Human Ability were two books that totally did my nut in trying to make sense of them, and as you say, instead of leading to greater knowledge and enlightenment, reading them simply made my head spin. Probably just what the fat bastard wanted.I was impressed with axioms and logic
Don't recall the exact title though!
I thought I had stumbled upon some metaphysical truth of the universe that was The Knowledge
My mind became very busy 8n trying to grasp it all.
I was truly stunned and amazed
Till I realized, years later, it was only words put in a form that appeared scientific and metaphysical ( almost mystical); the reality was that it meant nothing.
ThetanExterior
Gold Meritorious Patron
Dianetics. I thought that if something was written in a book then it must be true. Now I know how dumb I was.
My first book was Dianetics. But I was, in common with Veda, most impressed by The Phoenix Lectures. Dianetics is not a good book for beginners applying study tech. I remember having to word clear things like Babylonia and Assyria, and thinking "Geez, for someone who invented study tech, he doesn't half insert a lot of irrelevant babble full of words that the man on the Clapham Omnibus won't have a clue about". It was a good start to increasing my vocabulary, but I don't know how someone who isn't well educated would survive reading it with full study tech in.
Probably the original intention was to use the book to bring in educated people, but it puts them in a bit of a bind nowadays, as educated people will be the ones who go on the internet and read.
When I read Dianetics, I WANTED to believe it is true. I could see that he was basically repeating the same claims throughout the book, but my hope that it was true put that to one side. There was a flavour of "I am the saviour of mankind" about Hubbard's writing even in that early book. He knew he was the messiah even before it became a spiritual discipline.
Probably the original intention was to use the book to bring in educated people, but it puts them in a bit of a bind nowadays, as educated people will be the ones who go on the internet and read.
When I read Dianetics, I WANTED to believe it is true. I could see that he was basically repeating the same claims throughout the book, but my hope that it was true put that to one side. There was a flavour of "I am the saviour of mankind" about Hubbard's writing even in that early book. He knew he was the messiah even before it became a spiritual discipline.
strativarius
Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
Sorry Wilbur, couldn't resist it! 
tesseract
Patron with Horrors
Same here, only with UFO books in my youth, and to a lesser degree books about other mysterious phenomena. (I'm not an ex-scientologist.)
Some of the people in there seemed genuine enough to me, and I actually thought that the publishers are "vetting" all stories, the way like a detective would.
So for me it was just about whether someone seemed to deliberately lie or not.
Little did I know about schizophrenia/psychosis, borderline, narcissism, dissociation, drugs, the downsides (and limits) of hypnosis, etc. (Nor did I know about autism, for that matter, and that this was/is the reason I felt so much like an alien/hybrid.
)I've always been more sceptical than that of all the esoteric and tinfoil fraudsters because it was so obvious (to me anyways) that they were after money, - starting, but not ending, with book sales.
The UFO abductees, not so much perhaps, because they seemed to have gone through something terrible and it made enough sense that they just wanted to tell their story. (I'm still not "opposed" to UFOs, I just think with all the smartphones it's pretty much "case closed" - sadly - I wanted very much to believe!)
But of these "self help" book authors, many seem to be on the brink between actually believing that they're "on to something there" and simply knowingly lying to their customers.
I don't even know why I never really jumped at some of this shit. I was very much a "seeker". Although my fascination for unexplained phenomena was perhaps of a more scientific nature in the end.
And when I found, around 18, "my thing" in Thelema and Satanism, I needed not many books and websites to verify that this is my thing, and I certainly needed no group to join and people (think: old men, perhaps even horny old men) to tell me what to do. But how easy that was, it has to do with the rebellious nature of this "religion" or philosophy itself, and the nature of its "icon", see? Instead of joining any particular group, I've read a lot and assimilated what I liked or where I found that it made sense, and discarded the rest pretty much without hesitation, to construct something individual and idiosyncratic. I dare say with Satanism this is easier done than with any other philosophy/mysticism/religion/cult, because your supernatural icon basically tells you to be sceptical of everything and to be rebellious and to do your own thing. How great is that!
On topic: I've looked into various books by Hubbard online and found them completely unreadable, sometimes on grammar level, sometimes because it's bullshit after bullshit after bullshit, spiced up with narcissism and appeals to authority and whatnot. Ugh. Nope.
Eh, sorry for the derail(s).
Lurker5
Gold Meritorious Patron
As public, convinced by a friend to go down to the mission/org??, I was initially intrigued by the short public version of the Tone Scale course. Then I did the public short version of Ethics, and realized, to my horror, how evil it all was. It scared the chit out of me, and I got the f out.
PirateAndBum
Gold Meritorious Patron
It was The Phoenix Lectures for me.
PirateAndBum
Gold Meritorious Patron
It was the part about considerations taking rank over the mechanics of the physical universe. As-is-ness too.
ILove2Lurk
Lisbeth Salander
. . .
How I got hooked: I'll tell you as much as I'm comfortable revealing.
I was at a friend's house and saw a Hubbard book on the coffee table. This person was
casually looking into the subject. I was immediately drawn in by the marketing copy on
the dust jacket. Just fascinating.
I was too cautious to go into the small-town mission nearby, thinking some of the fantastical
claims were too good to be true. So here's what I did. I somehow bought about five or six books
(Dian, Sci of Sur, Self A, COHA, Phx Lect) and read through them here and there enough to try
out auditing . . . but not on me! Not yet.
In one of the books, Hubbard said that any person of moderate to high intelligence could
run these processes out of the book as written and that there was very little risk of harm.
I talked three people I knew into being my experimental raw meat preclears and audited
them. One achieved and voiced what I thought were fantastic results. A second achieved
very good results. (She's an OT8, Class 6 today, AFAIK, and still in.) The third was just
OK, as I recall.
None of my preclears had read any of the books or were trained in any way. They
were simply doing what I was telling them. One of my preclears had voiced that he was
exterior from his body and could see things while outside. I knew I wanted to achieve
these fantastical results.
So I found a fourth raw guinea pig and arranged to do a co-audit, back and forth. Neither
of us had been inside a mission as yet. Just book auditors on the outside. Read it, do it.
Our results, just OK. But I was curious and had high hopes for the subject from the auditing
I'd done on others and what I'd gotten. Only after all that, I'd walked into the local mission
and began on auditor courses. As you know, it's all a downhill toboggan slide once you do that.
And a guaranteed high-speed toboggan crash eventually.
I did try to do a proper "due diligence" before getting involved, but finding out stuff pre-Internet
was pretty difficult where I lived. Obviously the results I saw in the people I was auditing
overroad the skepticism and hesitations I had at the time. *
Should I, could I have done more due diligence?
I lived in a smaller town and couldn't find much if anything at all in my local libraries. Certainly
not issues of Life from 1968, critical books or even Hubbard's books. Believe me, I had looked.
None of this stuff was readily available then. Not in flyover country.
Wasn't it obvious it was a cult?
Not necessarily so by going in a mission. They were a lot more tame and friendly and could be
more set up to appear simply like professional services offices.
Once you got to an org, then especially to Flag, the cult look and feel is overpowering. But by
then it's usually too late. At least it was for me obviously.
How about after Hubbard's death?
I remember going to the library and searching out microfiche of newspapers from other cities
to find out what the heck was going on around the time of Hubbard's death and in the years
following. I lived far away from the nucleus of Scientology action and had almost no Sci friends
I could call. I was a practicing "fabian," one who avoids a decisive confrontation, LOL. Instead,
keeping my powder dry and seeing what would happen during those post-Hubbard years.
I wish we'd have had the Internet back then. I'd have saved myself a lot of money and grief.
*Disclaimer: Just to be clear for any newbies coming to the message board, I wouldn't recommend
getting involved today.
That's a long discussion and is memorialized throughout ESMB by many.
How I got hooked: I'll tell you as much as I'm comfortable revealing.
I was at a friend's house and saw a Hubbard book on the coffee table. This person was
casually looking into the subject. I was immediately drawn in by the marketing copy on
the dust jacket. Just fascinating.
I was too cautious to go into the small-town mission nearby, thinking some of the fantastical
claims were too good to be true. So here's what I did. I somehow bought about five or six books
(Dian, Sci of Sur, Self A, COHA, Phx Lect) and read through them here and there enough to try
out auditing . . . but not on me! Not yet.
In one of the books, Hubbard said that any person of moderate to high intelligence could
run these processes out of the book as written and that there was very little risk of harm.
I talked three people I knew into being my experimental raw meat preclears and audited
them. One achieved and voiced what I thought were fantastic results. A second achieved
very good results. (She's an OT8, Class 6 today, AFAIK, and still in.) The third was just
OK, as I recall.
None of my preclears had read any of the books or were trained in any way. They
were simply doing what I was telling them. One of my preclears had voiced that he was
exterior from his body and could see things while outside. I knew I wanted to achieve
these fantastical results.
So I found a fourth raw guinea pig and arranged to do a co-audit, back and forth. Neither
of us had been inside a mission as yet. Just book auditors on the outside. Read it, do it.
Our results, just OK. But I was curious and had high hopes for the subject from the auditing
I'd done on others and what I'd gotten. Only after all that, I'd walked into the local mission
and began on auditor courses. As you know, it's all a downhill toboggan slide once you do that.
And a guaranteed high-speed toboggan crash eventually.
I did try to do a proper "due diligence" before getting involved, but finding out stuff pre-Internet
was pretty difficult where I lived. Obviously the results I saw in the people I was auditing
overroad the skepticism and hesitations I had at the time. *
Should I, could I have done more due diligence?
I lived in a smaller town and couldn't find much if anything at all in my local libraries. Certainly
not issues of Life from 1968, critical books or even Hubbard's books. Believe me, I had looked.
None of this stuff was readily available then. Not in flyover country.
Wasn't it obvious it was a cult?
Not necessarily so by going in a mission. They were a lot more tame and friendly and could be
more set up to appear simply like professional services offices.
Once you got to an org, then especially to Flag, the cult look and feel is overpowering. But by
then it's usually too late. At least it was for me obviously.
How about after Hubbard's death?
I remember going to the library and searching out microfiche of newspapers from other cities
to find out what the heck was going on around the time of Hubbard's death and in the years
following. I lived far away from the nucleus of Scientology action and had almost no Sci friends
I could call. I was a practicing "fabian," one who avoids a decisive confrontation, LOL. Instead,
keeping my powder dry and seeing what would happen during those post-Hubbard years.
I wish we'd have had the Internet back then. I'd have saved myself a lot of money and grief.
*Disclaimer: Just to be clear for any newbies coming to the message board, I wouldn't recommend
getting involved today.
That's a long discussion and is memorialized throughout ESMB by many.
Last edited:
Cat's Squirrel
Gold Meritorious Patron
For me it was "The Problems of Work", especially the last chapter "The Man Who Succeeds" which I found in pamphlet form on the classroom front table when I was at college in September 1981 (no idea how it got there). I'd read Scn stuff before that but that was the first thing I read which seemed to speak to where I was at the time.
My view on it now is more nuanced because I'm more sceptical of LRH's insistence that it was nearly impossible to be overworked; if you want your staff to work upwards of 80 hours a week for little reward, it's convenient to believe that.
My view on it now is more nuanced because I'm more sceptical of LRH's insistence that it was nearly impossible to be overworked; if you want your staff to work upwards of 80 hours a week for little reward, it's convenient to believe that.
Similar threads
