Scientology may be crumbling, but around the world it’s still plotting a planetary takeover

 
Rod Keller is staying on top of new developments with Scientology missions and orgs around the world. Here’s this week’s roundup…

While work is still stopped on Scientology’s planned “Advanced Org” in Mexico City, that hasn’t stopped the church from preparing its members for an eventual grand opening. A new flier invites locals to a meeting to get a briefing on the project, and, no doubt, to get hit up for donations for it.

“Are you ready for the Advanced Org? Report by a Class IX C/S. International Management special guest. Epic Announcements about your Advanced Organization. Special presentations on the preparations for the opening of your Advanced Organization.” Clearly, Scientology is not prepared to give up its investment in the former Palmas Plaza mall. The flyer features the iconic arched entrance to the mall….

 
At the same time, Scientologists are being prepared for the opening of the new Ideal Advanced Org in South Africa. The former Kyalami Castle Hotel near Johannesburg was purchased in 2008 to become Advanced Org Saint Hill Africa (AOSH AF). As was the case in Mexico, Scientology has had problems with permits to convert the hotel into an Advanced Org, Continental Liaison Office and hotel for visiting Public Scientologists. Activity on the ground and the Internet may indicate they have solved that problem, or are prepared to renovate in secret without permits.

 
As a Sea Org base the new facility will need a “berthing” in which the crew are housed in cramped quarters. The current berthing on Cynthia Street will not hold an additional 100 Sea Org members, so it’s likely that an apartment building in the area is being converted for use. Typically multiple bunk beds are put in each bedroom, living and dining rooms because any time the crew isn’t sleeping is spent working.

L. Ron Hubbard believed that “public relations area control” is necessary for expansion, and in South Africa that means bringing in copies of the booklet The Way to Happiness written by Hubbard by the truckload.

 
At the Advanced Org Saint Hill ANZO in Chatswood West, Australia Scientology has not yet purchased a hotel for public Scientologists to use during their stay. Instead they have asked neighbors if they would be willing to rent their homes by the week or month. Relations with the community are strained, and a “marketing director” recently called the local civic association to ask how they can be improved. The response is that the community would like them to honor their promise regarding noise, and to allow more access to the grounds of the base. That might be possible if this facility were still a laboratory or an office building, but it is now a paramilitary pseudo-naval base and Scientology cannot allow non-members access to the grounds. They purchased a gated facility to prevent prying eyes, not invite them in to learn how to ride bicycles.

 
In Copenhagen Scientology will open a new Continental Ideal Org on May 27. Balance among continents is important in Scientology, and each Advanced Org has an associated lower level “Class V” org. Saint Hill has London. Flag Land Base has Tampa. Chatswood West has Sydney. And now AOSH EU in Copenhagen will have the Denmark Ideal Org located on the Nytorv public square and part of the Strøget public walkway and shopping district that runs through the center of the city.

 
Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the new Ideal Org in Auckland apparently has big plans for expansion, as the photo below shows. On the map behind these two staff members, new missions have been plotted, 10 that we can see. It’s Scientology policy that each org should develop 10 missions around it to provide introductory courses and send members to the Class V org for higher level courses. We can only see the north island in the photo, but there are mission sites in Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier and Wellington. We believe the inset on the left of the map represents the planned Fiji mission. South island missions are unknown, but would have to include Christchurch and Dunedin.

 
The only New Zealand mission, in Christchurch, closed a few years ago, and despite the map there is little danger of New Zealand being the site of so much expansion. The plan depends on finding 10 wealthy Scientologists who are each willing to purchase a “mission pack” from the church for tens of thousands of dollars. Packs are actually dozens of boxes, and include all the books and forms needed to run a bookstore and operate the mission. They would also have to quit their jobs or retire to run the mission.

 
The Executive Director would have the training level Staff Status 2 or higher, and recruit at least two more Scientologists who are also Staff Status 2. The course pack for this level is 170 pages of checklists and policy letters by L. Ron Hubbard on how to run an organization, such as the requirement to have three baskets for mail on every desk for in, out and pending. They would also have to overcome the unpopularity of Scientology in New Zealand to bring members of the public in for courses.

The map doesn’t represent a fully realized plan, it’s an attempt to create reality through the power of postulates, one of the core theories in Scientology. Putting postulates into the physical universe is one step that leads to their eventual completion. If the theory were true, there would be a ring of 10 missions around the Las Vegas, Madrid or Pretoria Ideal Orgs.

 
— Rod Keller

 
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Clearing the planet, one pamphlet at a time

Our thanks to the reader in Los Angeles who sent us some really fine photos of Scientology “body routers” on the streets of Los Angeles trying, desperately, to find new victims, er, customers, uh, spiritual seekers. Whatever.

We’re seeing some great facial expressions here. What do they suggest to you?

 
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David Wills strikes again, this time with Aldous Huxley

Literary critic David Wills is developing an interesting sub-genre all his own: He’s revealing the ways that traditional critics have ignored the influence Dianetics and Scientology had on some of literature’s greatest names.

In 2013, we had a brief interview with him about his book Scientologist!, in which he showed how much William Burroughs’s biographers were ignoring the author’s deep interest in Scientology and how it showed up in his work in the 1960s. By ignoring this part of Burroughs’s life, Wills argued, critics were missing some important ways to think about his books.

Now, Wills is back, making the same case for Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. In a smart essay, Wills explains that Huxley and his wife Maria, who were living in Los Angeles, fell under the spell of Dianetics when it came out in 1950, and even got processing from L. Ron Hubbard himself. After Maria died of cancer in 1955, Huxley continued to explore dianetics processing with his second wife, Laura, and included dianetics among the ideas he explores in his final novel, Island.

As with Burroughs, Wills says, critics have been missing out by not taking more seriously Huxley’s interest in Hubbard’s ideas: “They miss the fact that one of [Huxley’s] great preoccupations was dianetics.”

What an interesting niche Wills has found for himself. We can hardly wait to see which author he exposes for a Hubbardite next!

 
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Countdown to Denver!

 
HowdyCon 2017: Denver, June 23-25 at the Residence Inn Denver City Center. Go here to start making your plans, and book your room soon!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on May 21, 2017 at 07:00

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Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2016 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2016), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield