Frank Herbert described the Messiah Complex when he said that he wanted to analyse the “propensity in human nature to follow charismatic leaders no matter who it is.” To me this very well described the propensity of Scientologists to follow L. Ron Hubbard, a truly charismatic man.

I have known other very charming, charismatic people, people whom one almost CANNOT help liking, even though they have completely done one in! Their charm is exceedingly powerful, and convincing.

Hubbard to me was, above other things, a charmer, who garnered such agreement from people that they were willing to sacrifice the bare necessities of their lives and work for $50 dollars a week. This is a policy which he HIMSELF instituted, and which I have read whilst I had access to confidential Sea Org policies. So the fact that Sea Org members are paid extremely poorly had NOTHING to do with economic factors, or that the orgs are being attacked by psyches or the government or the communists or ____ (pick any other perceived enemy), and therefore were doing poorly, it had to do with the fact that Hubbard decided to punish them by not paying them. Where did the money that would have gone to them then go to? Why, to L. Ron Hubbard, of course.

L. Ron Hubbard was, apart from being extremely charming, a great story teller. It struck me when I was still a scientologists how little actual senior information I found whilst listening to his Congresses. What I did hear a lot of was Hubbard’s stories of how he kissed a girl, or how a person’s weight goes up when they pull in mental mass, or how he discovered that the brain had not enough storage capacity to store more than three months’ worth of memories. Never did I hear the girl’s version of the story, nor did I ever see for myself how a person’s weight increases during session, or see the formula Hubbard used to prove the data on the brain. All I heard was how great he was, and I accepted it as true, because he was so charming and I could never accept that he was simply…well, telling me another story.

I think Hubbard’s motivation was to smash his name into the history books, and to make a bit of profit whilst at it. And he used his charm and skills of hypnosis to achieve these things.

Some Scientologists say that Hubbard had to endure many hardships and attacks by such “suppressive” groups as the AMA and APA, which may have led him to become desperate, and therefore write such abusive policies as those on disconnection.

The actual truth is that Hubbard had upset and abused Scientologists such as myself so badly due to his policies such as disconnection, that people became upset and THEN started attacking Scientology.

THIS is the true reason for the attacks on scientology. It had nothing to do with Scientology encroaching on the field of psychiatry, and thus upsetting their monopoly and income. How could it? Hubbard himself did not want anything to do with psychiatric patients. No, Hubbard created the antagonism in the first place.

One other salient point about LRH is his readiness to lie. Take for example where he says in RJ67 that he broke his back and his leg whilst doing OT III research, whereas the actual truth is that he received these injuries when he fell off a motorbike. This was Hubbard at work again, telling an “innocent story” so as to make things seem more exciting. Well, these “innocent stories” are LIES, and these lies, although they seem innocent, cause harm.

Yes, I’ve had much benefit from the auditing I’ve received. But I think Hubbard lost the plot on the OT levels. These levels are an evalaution, as he TELLS YOU what happened. This is very different from all the other auditing on the Bridge. At best, OT III is Hubbard’s case, not mine. And yes, I know that The Freezoners have a “remedy” for people like me who do not believe the OT III story, but seriously, I find it rather arrogant that Scientologists think that there is something wrong with such people, or that they have “case difficulties,” because I do not believe something that has no basis in reality. The OT III story defies logic, it is simply untrue.

Although I may seem rather cynical about the whole thing, I actually do agree that there is much benefit to be achieved from the lower steps of the Bridge. But I do also think that if scientology is to be successful, and not harm anyone, there needs to be a MAJOR revision of its policies, and all the lies need to be removed. Also, the PR bullshit and ego-trips need to be taken out, as they just leave a bad taste in my mouth.