FAQ

If you’re a Scientology kid, you inherently know that there are some things you’re not really supposed to talk about. SPs, declare orders, thoughts of leaving and similar topics are usually considered too ‘entheta’ to discuss openly. Well, on this site, no question is forbidden. This page attempts to answer a lot of the questions we had when we began evaluating Scientology. There is no discussion of OTIII materials on this page. For OTIII data, go here.

Why are you attacking Scientology? I LOVE Scientology!

Great! We’re happy for you. We’re not here to talk you out of your chosen belief system. This site, and this page in particular, is meant for those who feel slightly out of place in Scientology, who would rather not go on course but don’t know how to say it out loud, who are miserable in the Sea Org, who feel pressured and constrained within the CoS, and who want to know what else is out there. There’s nothing wrong with getting both sides of the story.

Are public schools as bad as they say?

That depends on your definition of ‘bad’. The Scientology concept that public school kids are constantly getting psych drugs rammed down their throats whether they like it or not really isn’t true. It’s also a fact that there are millions of happy, smart, well-educated and articulate public school students that study very well without study tech, pink sheets, or clay demos. Also, to be frankly honest, the teachers at public schools are better qualified to teach certain subjects than the teachers at Scientology schools.

On the other hand, it is this author’s personal opinion that the Scientology school reading and writing programs are far better than those in public schools, but that the Scientology education system lacks quite a bit in the math, chemistry, physics and technical education departments.

It is also true that there’s more access to street drugs at public schools than at Scientology schools, but you’d be just as capable of saying ‘no’ at a public school as you would anywhere else.

To tell the truth, I’ve only had one or two ACTUAL wins the entire time I’ve been on course / getting auditing. I usually only write success stories because I have to. Am I an SP or something?

Nope, you’re not an SP. This phenomenon is pretty common, actually. A whole lot of people who leave Scientology later confess that they frequently made up wins and successes to avoid having to do a pink sheet, or to avoid getting in trouble. A lot of people are afraid to admit that they actually aren’t having any of those incredible success stories, because Hubbard wrote that people who can’t make case gain (make progress) are suppressive.

It’s hard to come to terms with this when you’re in Scientology, because you are required to write a success story at the end of every course, both at the org and in school. It’s a lot easier to write a quick success story than to tell your supervisor (teacher) that you didn’t experience anything special.

We here at ESK feel that success stories of any kind should be optional, not required.

Someone I know got declared a Suppressive Person. I thought I really liked that person, but now I’m torn. What do I do?

This isn’t something that anyone can give you the answer to – you’ll have to make your own decisions and act according to what you think is right. But we can tell you this: as hard as it is to believe, there are a lot of good, sweet, kind people who have been declared for silly, petty or frivolous reasons.

Before you decide to disconnect from someone, put aside the opinions of others and look deep inside yourself. Did you think that person was an SP before you were told they were? Do you enjoy spending time with that person? Is that person a member of your family? Do you have a high opinion of that person?

Being disconnected from is an extremely painful experience, and once it’s done, it’s very hard to repair the damage it has caused. ESK feels that no matter what justifications the Church gives for disconnection, no ethical group would ever encourage someone to cut ties with friends, family or loved ones for any reason. Ethical, humanitarian groups discourage disconnection if at all possible. There is no excuse for encouraging disconnection.

On the other hand, if you personally dislike somebody, it’s your right to choose whether to talk to them or not.

I hate getting recruited for the Sea Org, but when I’m rude to the recruiters, I feel guilty. Am I a bad person for not wanting to join?

We hated that too. ESK’s main beef with SO recruitment is the fact that recruiters routinely use outright lies and coercion to get people to join the SO. We don’t really blame the recruiters – they’re under a lot of pressure to get their stats up, but that does not justify the lies. Some common tactics used on Sea Org recruitment are:

  • Asking you what your goals in life are, and then telling you that “you can do that in the Sea Org”. This is downright deceptive, because what they don’t tell you is that there is a policy stating that Sea Org members aren’t allowed to choose their posts. Hundreds of ex-SO stories testify to the fact that once the contract is signed, all promises regarding where you will be working are tossed out the window.
  • Asking you what your goals in life are, and then ridiculing or invalidating your answer with phrases like, “Do you really think that’s going to benefit mankind?” or “Wouldn’t you rather be helping people?”
  • Insisting that the living conditions, food, pay and time off are adequate. Also not true. If you’re wavering on this point, insist on seeing the berthing that Sea Org members live in before you sign anything. Staff pay is pretty low on the list of FP (financial planning) priorities. Hours are extremely long, food is fair to middling, and you’ll get 5 days off a year if you’re lucky.
  • Insisting that if you don’t like it, you can leave whenever you want. This is false information. You can leave only after you get a long security check, are put through lower conditions, write up your O/W’s, and complete your route-out. The routing out (leaving) process can take up to 3 years. If you leave before they give you the OK to go, you’ll be declared.

I get sick sometimes, but I don’t feel PTS, and when I am asked to locate the Suppressive Person in my life, I don’t always know what to say. What’s wrong with me?

Well, honestly, nothing. Everyone gets sick sometimes. OT8s get sick. Wogs get sick. David Miscavige gets sick and Ron got sick. At ESK, we believe that being sick is, unfortunately, a part of being alive. Getting the sniffles does not mean that you are connected to a suppressive person. It means that your body’s immune system is dealing with a virus or infection.

The same goes for having accidents. Accidents are just that – accidents. People have them accidentally. That doesn’t mean that some people aren’t more accident-prone that others. But there is absolutely no evidence to support the idea that sickness or accidents have anything to do with Suppressives. In the rest of the world, when you get sick, you get some chicken soup, see a doctor, and heal. And that’s that.

When we were in Scientology and we got sick, we were always made to go in for a PTS handling after we were well again. We were required to find the suppressive person in our life that had made us ill. Sometimes we could think of someone right away, but most times we just named the last person who was rude to us, or just named someone at random, because we couldn’t think of anyone we thought was actually suppressing us. Kinda odd, huh?

I think I’ve found a way of faking F/Ns and tricking the E-meter. There’s a certain thought I can think, or a certain feeling I can invoke, that makes the needle F/N. What does that mean?

Heh, welcome to the club. A lot of Scientology kids have found a way to do this. Each person has their own method. It doesn’t mean much, except that the E-meter is fallible.

The E-meter reads on things in session, and the auditor asks me about those things, but I think and think and think and there’s nothing there. So I tell the auditor about whatever picture pops into my head. Is that past-life phenomena that I’m recalling?

Again, many people have wondered the same thing. No one here is going to tell you whether those thoughts are past-life phenomena or not. That is up to you to decide. After people leave Scientology, some people still believe that those are past-life memories. Some people feel it was just their imagination. Others think that the very fact that the auditor validates what you’re saying, and acks you for it, makes you think that it must be real.

It’s also interesting to note that while many people recall these past-life experiences that happened billions or trillions of years ago, most people have never have a past-life memory from the last 100 years or so that they could verify as actually having happened.

If there’s one part of the tech I think is wrong, or I don’t agree with, does that mean all of it is wrong?

Not necessarily. That really is one of the major differences between Scientology and other religions. With almost any other religion, you are free to pick and choose which parts you feel are correct, and which parts you don’t like, and act accordingly. With Scientology, Hubbard’s word is law – take it or leave it. If you completely agree with everything Hubbard says, then you’ll find no problems here.

On the other hand, there are many people who agree with certain aspect of the tech, like the ARC triangle, but disagree with other aspects, like the conditions. Many people have been declared Suppressive for picking the tech apart like this, but around here we feel like picking and choosing which ideas you want to adopt is a basic human right.