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Recommendations
Recommendations to Scientology
1. Clean up your Financial Dealings.
If Scientology is really supposed to be there for "everybody," then Scientology must make some basic price changes for its services.
Secondly, the financial relations of a person should be regarded in a sober light during the sales talks. The policy for the individual Scientologist should be that the person could only use the money he earns to pay for Scientology services. (Small exceptions could be made.) The increase of the monetary savings of a person should be taken into account. Do not exploit the enthusiasm for personal gain by your members in order to empty their pockets of their last penny.
Thirdly, open your books, at least to your members, so they will know what is happening with the huge amounts of money which are being taken in. If it were known that $15 million per year were being spent on attorney's fees (USA 1978 and 1988), perhaps some Scientologists would ask whether this was absolutely necessary, and whether they should be provoking further legal battles.
2. Get rid of WISE.
If I am reading L. Ron Hubbard's letter correctly, which he wrote to occasion the founding of WISE, then WISE has to do with commercial consultation to Scientologists, that means members
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Whoever would like to learn about Hubbard's management know-how can do that, without any difficulty, in any official Scientology organization.
If you absolutely would like to be active in business, then you put in a request with your advisor that you want to be associated with WISE and to Scientology in such a way as to be clearly understandable to the average consumer.
3. Delete all of Hubbard's comments about claims to political power and government ambitions.
Declare them to be invalid, and leave it at that - and not just externally to the organization, but internally, too.
If you limit your services to individual or personal welfare without giving instructions that a person should wholeheartedly devote himself to Scientology and strive for commercial and political positions of power, then you will be more credible.
4. Think about whether it is correct to call yourself a "religion".
Put yourself in free competition with other "worldly" providers of courses.
5. Put your house in order.
Despite all the preventive measures and prohibitions, my personal experience and the experience of others circulate within Scientology. A self-critical view is part of putting your own house in order. Learn it and make the corrections public.
6. When someone wants their money back, then refund it promptly.
For more than twenty years as a Scientology staff member I have never seen a person refunded for course which he did not take.
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On the day the letter arrives, a check should be written and the person paid. That would take care of it. L. Ron Hubbard wrote that that is the way that he would take care of it. Read his policy on it!
The tricks with routing sheets should cease.
7. Treat critics reasonably, especially those from within the organization.
Think about it. Critics from your own ranks are, for the most part, people who have been looking out for your welfare. They are involved. Be happy that they are calling a spade a spade. Use these impulses for internal reform - not just for glossy PR cosmetic operations. Trust yourself to admit to mistakes and to correct them, even if it is not easy.
8. Do away with the disconnection policy.
Either you can lead people to a higher level of consciousness or you can't.
If you can do it, then those people should be mature enough to decide for themselves whether they want to have contact with somebody else or not. Medieval disconnection regulations give the impression of a totalitarian system.
9. Give up your claim of exclusivity.
The claim to be the only one who possesses the beneficial way to "total spiritual freedom" necessarily leads to fanaticism, to one-sided discussions, to conflicts, and, finally, to war.
Begin by admitting that others can do good in the world. There are many paths to truth!
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10. Take care of complaints quickly and without prejudice.
What good is an internal complaint procedure if all the complaints are categorically tossed out as soon as they get to the table of a senior staff member? Why must a Scientologist write "Knowledge Reports" for months, or even years, without ever getting a hearing?
If offenses are committed, then apologies are in order. The Scientology expression "We handled it" is a thin excuse for an honest apology. Redress the error.
11. Change the recruiting policy for new staff.
Consider whether it might be of some use to give responsibility only to people with a broad general knowledge, a positive manner of dealing with people, and a good understanding of human nature.
Raise the minimum requirements for staff who are representing you in your activity. It is better that there be a few less staff and that the job gets done a little slower as long as the quality goes up! It might be worth considering that staff have a minimum level of attainment on "both sides of the grade chart", as well as a knowledge of philosophical history before they are recruited as staff.
12. Take L. Ron Hubbard off of his divine pedestal.
If you are convinced of what you have to offer, then L. Ron Hubbard's true biography should finally be admitted to and published. Whoever has to depend as much as you do on a figure of authority to keep the organization from falling apart is putting their own movement in question.
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Recommendations for the Family and Friends of Scientologists [1]
1. Don't blindly criticize the person involved.
There is always a reason for your relative or friend joining Scientology to begin with! If you knew that particular reason, then perhaps you would understand the person better.
Scientology organizations are mainly a result of the personalities that work there. What appears in the media does not necessarily apply to each organization. Small organizations especially can differ from each other because of the personality of the directors.
2. Try to understand what the person is trying to do.
Ask the reason the person joined Scientology. Ask what has improved for the person.
If the person took a "personality test" or something like it, ask what deficiencies appeared. Then ask the person about their personal strengths. Make him aware of them. Make it clear to him that every person has problems and weaknesses, that the awareness of one's own strengths provides a basis on which to improve.
When he tells you that he would like to take care of his problems better, then ask him, from time to time, how things are going with that problem. If he is making no progress according to his own reports, then bring that to his attention. If he is making progress, then be happy for him. At the same time, reserve the right to have your own opinion.
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3. If you don't understand, ask.
Scientologists have their own jargon. Get used to it. If your Scientologist is using words that you do not understand, then ask what they mean. He should explain exactly what he means. You can argue after he explains what he means!
4. Be open and honest in you communication.
If you think you see something that does not make sense, then ask the person about it. Have him explain both his view and the view of Scientology. See to it that the person forms his own opinion, and is not just parroting somebody else. Take issue with a matter without losing respect and consideration for the person involved. Help him out by contributing extensive information.
Talk openly about your own fears so that he understands that your concern is genuine. Then perhaps he will understand how much he means to you.
5. The person concerned is just as involved as you are.
The person concerned is just as involved. He has entered a community which gives him a feeling of security. Do not invalidate it - that is the way it is. Be happy when he is doing well. Set your limit at the point where he begins talking about the "poor people" that do not know about Scientology. Bring up other communities in which people are doing just as well.
Your love can be the deciding factor.
Your unrestricted love of the person could provide a bud of encouragement. Stick with it. When the person urgently needs someone to talk with, he will need you to be there for him.
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7. Do not grant any loans or gifts or advances on inheritance.
As a rule, Scientology costs a lot of money (except for if you become a staff member). Make the person aware that L. Ron Hubbard said not to go into debt, and that Scientology courses and counseling could be much better enjoyed if these are paid for with earned money. Therefore, do not give any loans, do not take a mortgage out on your house, do not co-sign for anything, and do not permit an advance on inheritance. Do not put the person involved at a disadvantage to his peers (his brothers and sisters, for instance).
8. Be there when the person needs help.
If he needs your help, be there for him. If he has gotten himself into debt, investigate to see to what extent it is due to his Scientology connection. If that is what it is due to, then demand that he, first of all, have a discussion with Scientology.
If Scientology should refuse to contribute to the solution of the problem, if, instead, they start to use moral or psychic pressure, then take the person aside, if you have a mind to, and let him know that his money is gone for good. Help him, if the situation calls for it, with a lawyer experienced in dealing with Scientology. A lawyer of this sort will also know of counselors and other organizations. Or talk to the Scientology organization yourself. When Scientology takes note of the fact that they are not just dealing with one person, then they will make more of an effort to settle the situation. Do not be taken in by delay tactics. Quickly and clearly bring any undue delays to the attention of an attorney.
If the person wants to leave Scientology, then be aware that, under certain circumstances, he could, at first, end up in a vacuum.
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Many Scientologists have had problems after their departure, because a major part of their social environment has disappeared.
9. Recognize the good.
If you determine that the person concerned has had changes for the better, then please say so. That way he will also believe critical comments. If he does not, then point out to him that he should take note of the fact that you have seen the positive as well as the negative.
10. Never use force to get the person out.
NEVER try to use force to get the person out of Scientology. Outside of the legal limitations which you, perhaps, are exceeding, you are destroying the connection that binds you together. Trust him. Strengthen him. His ability to observe can only be increased through strength. He has to know that he can and should speak his mind to you.
Do not break the connection.
The worst you can do is to break the connection to "the Scientologist." He needs you!
Ask critical, but not hostile, questions.
The criticism has to be something which has been on your mind, so that he can talk it over with you. See to it that stereotypical Scientology buzzwords are not being used to answer your questions. Demand personal answers, answers which reflect the experience of the person himself.
Perhaps you will also see that the person now finds things to be bad which he previously found to be good. Or that he has changed his political opinion. Find out the reason for this change of perception, one step at a time.
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He should be able to explain it so that you can follow him.
Sometimes people accept new, and partially opposing, viewpoints rather quickly. This phenomenon is not limited to Scientology. In order to follow up on such a change, the person must take the time to express himself. Require this of him. If you do not have the same opinion as he does, do not hide your feelings. Think about this: the trick to having a good relationship consists of, among other things, admitting to others that a position can be changed, or that new concepts can be grasped.
If you should talk about this book, and if you are told that the words of L. Ron Hubbard or the Scientology texts have been "taken out of context," then have the entire article brought forward - your acquaintance will be able to provide a copy - and read the whole text. And don't forget that Scientology also quotes L. Ron Hubbard - naturally, in the sense desired by the organization.
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(No) EndReturn
Notes:
Recommendations
- These recommendations might help.
They are not a guide for getting a relative, acquaintance or friend out of Scientology. Their purpose is not to make anyone seem more intelligent because they are not in Scientology...
It is within the first few months in Scientology that the greatest changes appear to take place in a person. If someone knows how to deal with these changes, then the acquaintance, friend or relative is not "lost." That is the situation these recommendations are written for. [Return]