Lying is a Scientology sacrament.
That's not a put down - It's just the way it is. It's built in, and part of the "design."
To a Scientologist, the world is populated with humanoids ("wogs") with "reactive minds" - worse, these are "implanted" (maliciously installed) "reactive minds," with the main "Implant series" being the "R6 Bank."
This "R6 Bank" was supposed to be addressed, and the problem of its influence on the person, was supposed to be resolved with the old Clearing Course. The Clearing Course, which contained a bunch of dichotomies to be desensitized, PLUS a confidence-building set-up of mostly common-sense earlier "levels," also was surrounded by hype and propaganda: "Your next endless agonized trillions of years," etc., PLUS it contained VITAL TO YOUR SURVIVAL SIGNIFICANCE, from the "light in front and to the left," that IS there, that you WILL see, and even if you don't see it, it's still there, etc., and lots of ancient dates, plus detailed elaborations/descriptions of certain implants, presented as helpful additional information.
A person on the Clearing Course is instructed not to think about it, but just to "do it," and "doing it" involves holding the electrodes of an e-meter in one hand, with a piece of rubber between the two electrodes, while keeping session admin with the other hand. Each "read" (falling needle) is regarded as a peek into the previously buried past of the cosmos - and buried past of one's mind - and each floating needle is a sign that another piece of the barrier to eventual Total Freedom has been eliminated.
There's more to it than this sketchy description, of course, and there is a certain amount of "truth" in the Clearing Course, as it addresses dichotomies or opposites, which is likely to shake something loose in the person's mind. It also provides a kind of mental discipline and ritual which can contribute to a sense of personal steadiness and "certainty," yet it also places the person at the effect of the rest of its contents, the never-fully-explained (but very important) significances, and the e-meter, used as a truth-detector.
For a short time, people completing the Clearing Course wrote great Success Stories, as it was assumed that the final barrier to full OT had been removed, and the person was on the brink of OT, not the watered down OT presented to disappointed long-duration pcs by Scientology sales and PR people (after their money has been taken), but real OT, as in able to DO things in the physical universe without need of a body.
People were told that, once they'd done the Clearing Course (which does contain some "truth," which serves as a "solvent"), that they'd be able to then do "Route 1" as found in the book 'Creation of Human Ability'. Some people did so, and those that were dissatisfied with the results (in other words, they couldn't do it), were - by accounts - often known to emotionally collapse. Why? Because their failure to successfully do "Route 1" was a sign that they'd falsely attested to the Clearing Course.
Considering the "deadly seriousness" of Scientology and its confidential "Advanced levels," this sense of dread at having falsely attested and having failed was perhaps understandable. Later, it was explained that such people had come up against other factors in the "Bank" that had overwhelmed them when they tried to use their OT abilities.
Thus came OT 2, which looks a lot like Clearing Course part 2, and then came OT 3.
(Note: This is a very shorthand account.)
While these confidential and vital to every one's survival levels, that contained elaborate details and instructions, and previously buried information that no one could discover on his own but needed to be told (with an e-meter, used a truth-detector, to confirm) were being introduced into Scientology, so were the SP Doctrine, Disconnection, the Fair Game Law, (and Security Checking had already been around for 5 years), plus there was a new branch of Scientology specializing in Front groups, Public Relations, and covert Intelligence.
Hard sell was also introduced, plus the giant LRH photo which was applauded many times every day (Bronze busts of Hubbard had been introduced somewhat earlier, in 1963).
It's interesting to note that, by that time, also (mid 1960s) enough of Hubbard's (previously used a a hoax black-propaganda vehicle to attack his perceived enemies, and psychiatry) "Russian textbook on Brainwashing" was being used on Scientologists, that the Anderson Report (of Australia) noted the similarities between ideas and practices in that "textbook" and Scientology. This after Scientology had - per Hubbard's instructions - sent a copy of the Dianetic and Scientology-denouncing "Russian communist textbook" to the Australian Board of Inquiry to discredit any critics of Scientology as being Communists or Communist sympathizers. To put it mildly, that attempt at manipulation backfired - an early foot bullet.
Then came the Sea Org with Hubbard becoming the Commodore.
In the early 1970s, Hubbard further developed his PR and Propaganda tech, his Battle Tactics tech, and (overt and covert) data collection and (covert) attack-Intelligence tech, and then introduced his Rehabilitation tech (RPF and RPF's RPF tech).
By then the "Scientology package" was pretty much complete.
It was after this time that most people became involved with Scientology, and its mix of solvent&glue, cheese&trap, and bait&switch.
And when someone is discussing Scientology with a Scientologist, he or she is discussing Scientology with someone who has been influenced by the above, and effectively psychologically overwhelmed by it - despite protestations by the person, no matter how vehement, and no matter how clever or slick.
This makes discussing Scientology with Scientologists "problematic."
