Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 00:45:03 -0500
From: "Kim Baker" <KIM@uctlib.uct.ac.za>
Subject: MY STORY : PART 1 (repost)

I have had several requests from people to re-post this series.
Those who have read it before, apologies, just hit "delete", those
who wanted it, here it is, as I experienced it:

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------


THE FIRST CONTACT:

My ex and I met shortly before President Mandela was released. It was a time
of much change and turbulence in the country. For the first time, ever, I
felt free to pursue a personal life. When we met, he told me about
Scientology - the spiritual side, nothing about the "Organisation". To cut a
long story short, we fell in love and married. I went into Cape Town Org
with him to find out more about Scientology.

The person I was to see was wearing what looked like a navy uniform. I
thought this was a bit odd at the time, but remembered that the Salvation
Army also wear uniforms. I shall refer to him only as "G". He started off by
talking to me about my life, what I thought about spirituality, etc. Did I
think help was possible? Did I think I could be helped in any way? At the
time, I had to say frankly, no - I felt in pretty good shape, but I did want
to learn more. The conversation continued:

G:       "All right. Do you feel it is possible to give help?"
        I laughed. "Yes, absolutely. In fact I would like to improve my
        ability to help others."
        "That's great!" he replied, and beamed at me.
        Then he said, "How do you feel about control?"
        "Hmm," I replied, if you're talking about the kind of control our
        government uses, then I think it is bad."
        "Well, OK. How about if I told you to pick up that book over there
        and pass it to me?"
        "Do you want me to do that?"
        "Yes."

I picked up the book and gave it to him. He looked at me earnestly.

        "Now was that so bad?"
        "Was what so bad?"
        "I just excersized a form of control over you."
        "Oh. Well, no, that was fine, " I replied.
        "Excellent! Now, have you noticed in your life that if you do
        something you feel bad about, you tend to do more bad things after
        that?"
        "Hmmmm," I pondered this for a while.
        "OK", he said, " Give me an example - tell me something that you
        did wrong in your life."
        I became uncomfortable for a bit, and then said "Ummm, I ducked out
        of University for a while and hitch-hiked around the country with
        this guy, and we did drugs."
        "Very good! Now what happened after that?"
        "Umm, well I had to lie about where I had been to several people".
        "Exactly! Now do you see how that one bad act led to more?"
        I nodded, feeling a sense of relief, and an odd "rush".

G then got down to business: "well, I can see that you are MUCH more aware
        than the average person that walks in off the street here - willing
        to talk, no comm lag (time taken to receive and answer a
        communication). You are VERY up-stat (able), and A to B (able to
        look at things directly). How would you like to help, REALLY help,
        in one of the greatest purposes on this planet?"
        I became stirred, excited. "I would - what would I have to do?"
        "Join staff, here -join our group, and help to free mankind!!"
        It sounded great, so I agreed. I signed a contract to join
        Foundation Staff. (I had a day job, so could not work there during
        the day). The hours were 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm, Monday to Friday,
        and 9.00am till 6.00 pm, Saturdays and Sundays. This was a bit much
        for me, newly married and all, but my ex was delighted.

I'm going to stop at this point, and look at what lay underneath the above
interview.

THE HIDDEN AGENDA:

What I did not know at the time was that G was a veteran Sea Org member,
down in Cape Town on a mission to recruit staff for Cape Town Org. He had to
achieve his "stat" (number of staff members recruited) by Thursday, 2.00
pm. The interview took place on Wednesday night. He had also been drilled
thoroughly on a standard technique of how to interest people in Scientology.

Here is the drill:
        1. By two-way comm get the person to admit that help is possible.
        2. By a little direction of his converation or motions, or by two-way
           comm on good or bad control, make the person see that control is
           not always horrible.
        3. By showing the person that overts (bad acts) lead to more overts,
           get the person to mention some of his or her own overts. This
           brings about a raised willingness to talk to you.
        4. Close the person (to buy the book, the course, or in this case,
           sign a staff contract.)

I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. I thought we were just having a
conversation, and did not realise that I had just had my first piece of
"tech" applied to me.

WHY I WAS VULNERABLE TO IT:

Chris Schafmeister referred in another post to the exploitation of weakness
by FSMs. This is the type of thing that can make an unaware person
vulnerable:

1. I genuinely had a desire to help people.
2. I felt flattered by the attention and interest I received.
3. I wanted to impress my ex.
4. Deep down, I was bored with life, missing the old "edge" from days gone
   by, and needed excitement.
5. I was (and still am) aware of a spiritual reality, had explored many
   other religions, but had not found any one of them to "be for me".
6. I have never been a "high profile" person - my political activities
   were always in the backgound, strategic. G made me feel important.
7. I agreed - let's get this straight - no-one forced me - yes, I was
   manipulated, but I am the one who agreed into it.
8. Even deeper down, I liked the APPROVAL I received - I was more insecure
   at the time than I had thought, and needed the approval of others.

QUESTIONS:

This raises some very interesting philosophical questions. Scientology is
not alone in using a technique designed to bring a person round to their way
of thinking - governments do it, sales people do it, advertisers do it.
What, however of the ETHICS of doing this? The old "ends justifies the
means" adage. To what extent is it justified to manipulate a person mentally?
WHO is to say what "cause" is correct, or the best for humanity? Invariably
it is a few people who have decided this. What individual, or group ever has
enough data, enough facts to hand to make such a decision? In view of the
fact that this is a constantly changing universe, how can a group determine
that ONE paradigm of thought is THE answer, for ever more?

That's the start of my story. As I examine and review the process of
assimilation into Scientology, I will share what I think may be of interest.
The very personal parts will be omitted, but I am striving to be honest
about MY share of responsibility in this saga. I went into it as an adult,
reasonably intelligent, but yet naive in many other ways, and with personal
weaknesses that made me susceptible to it. It is these personal weaknesses
that I am examining ruthlessly - Joe and Flemming's posts on "Rules on being
human" spring to mind - "you will repeat a lesson until you learn it."
*shudders*. I don't want to repeat THIS lesson, thank you very much!

More to follow in a few days.........






                            Kim Baker
Cape Town, South Africa                 E-Mail: Kim@uctlib.uct.ac.za
______________________________________________________________________

"Thoughtcrime is a dreadful thing, old man. It's insiduous. It can get
 hold of you without you even knowing it."
          - From "Nineteen-eighty-four", George Orwell








