KID CORPS: When Scientology’s Sea Org parents were told to stop wasting time on their kids

 
Like anything else in Scientology, how children are treated is governed by a huge number of policies and reports, and in this series we’re looking at documents that show how children were treated under the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard. We’re fortunate that one man has done so much to collect huge numbers of such documents — Mark “Warrior” Plummer, who left Scientology in 1983, and is pretty legendary for the collection of church materials he’s amassed. Also helping us is Sunny Pereira, who spent several weeks working with Mark to pull out key documents for us to discuss.

The Bunker: Sunny, this week we’re looking at a pretty well-known document, issued in 1989, cancelling “Family Time” in the Sea Org. Give us a little background on what Family Time was about.

Sunny: During my years as a child in the Sea Org, family time was scheduled between 5 and 6 pm daily, and was only to spend time with your parents or your kids. Dinner was from 6 to 6:45, and then there was a muster and everyone was back on post. If you did not take that exact hour, it was not something you would be allowed to take at a different time, or double on another day. If you were not able to make it that hour, it was lost. Some posts made it an impossible situation because they could not get out at 5 pm of something they were in the middle of. Also, it was a common experience for me personally that my mom hardly slept at night. She worked long hours all the time. So that one hour of family time usually ended up with her taking a nap for the entire time, with me trying to talk to her or play with her. She was so exhausted she could not spend the time with me and my siblings. 

Mark: This is such an outrageously cruel directive that I almost don’t know where to start. For them to say that family time “is not part of the new established schedules in the PAC orgs” is insane. I am so glad I was out of the Sea Org before this issue was released. Although they tried their best over the years, no one would ever have taken away my daily time with my children.

Sunny: Reading the issue itself, it’s amazing to me how coldly it is written. Let’s get into that. It explains in the first paragraph that some staff members have still been taking family time, even though it is not on the current schedule. This shows that they had already covertly cancelled family time by omitting it from the schedule, and some chose to ignore that it was not on the schedule and took the time to see their children anyway. Then, in the second paragraph, they say that they checked all the Hubbard references and found nothing about family time, so therefore it should not exist.

Mark: This makes my blood boil all over again.

Sunny: They’re saying here that family time cuts into production and the org falters because of it. It’s because people are expected to be on post and answerable basically 24/7, and being off on family time makes that harder and slows things down. And they’re saying that it not only cuts into production, but also hinders your relationship with your child, because one hour a day is not enough quality time to establish a relationship — “To create and produce a viable product on the second dynamic.” This sentence is incredibly cold. Visiting with your child has only the purpose of creating a product. A product in this case could be a “happy child” or a “parent who is calm in knowing their child is doing OK.” These are “viable products on the second dynamic,” written with ice. Ice cold.

Mark: It wasn’t good enough that Sea Org members slaved away more than 100 hours a week. The cult wants all of their time, to the detriment of their children.

Sunny: They’re also saying that the best way to “create good comm lines and production on the second dynamic” are to work hard every day and try to get your liberty day off. But liberty days are only allowed every other week, and for one day if you get approval (which is hard to get. Some posts have so much pressure on them that the people on those posts don’t get a day off for years). To get approval for a day off, your stats have to be higher than the week before and you couldn’t be in trouble (and we were always in trouble). Once you have your stats in good shape, you have to convince someone else to do your job for a day on top of theirs. And if you can convince someone of that, then you write a request (called a CSW) to have a day off. It has to go through your senior, and their senior, all the way to the top of the org that you are in and then get back to you. It takes more luck than the lottery.

The Bunker: But the document also explains that they’re already getting plenty of good treatment, doesn’t it.

Sunny: Yeah, it explains they are giving every Sea Org member ample time for personal matters (sleep, exercise, study etc). And by the way, exercise and study are far more important than your children.

The Bunker: And there you go, once again: In Scientology, your kids are a lot less important than saving the planet. Here’s the document…

EXECUTIVE DIRECTIVE

CLO WUS ED = 293 6 November 1989

CMO PAC
FCB
CLO
ALL PAC SO ORGS

PAC ORGS SCHEDULES & FAMILY TIME

A long standing part of the PAC schedule for parents has been one hour family time each day, and it has been noted that several parents are still taking that time on a daily basis, though it is not part of the new established schedules in the PAC orgs.

A thorough research revealed that there is no LRH reference covering Sea Org members taking 1 hour family time per day. Also to have such break in schedules in the middle of production has been found to be detrimental to production and to violate LRH reference on keeping the form of org there.

This issue is not to imply that the relationship between you and your child is non-productive to the Sea Org. But to spend time with your child, i.e., an hour a day, not only effects production on the 3rd Dynamic, but also gives very little time to create and produce a viable product on the 2nd Dynamic.

There is far more value to be upstat on your post on a daily basis and reward yourself and your family with a liberty day which then can be used to create good comm lines and production on the 2nd Dynamic.

This is a better utilization of production time, not only on the 3rd Dynamic, but also well for the production on the 2nd Dynamic.

The new schedule does provide for exercise time, adequate travel and sleep time, personal CSP, standard liberties, LRH tape play, adequate study, etc… and goes in effect immediately for each PAC orgs.

Actions are also ongoing to provide better and more efficient services for Sea Org children and cadets to make them competent Sea Org members in the future.

Alain Gouessan
CO’S PAC MAA PAC
PRODUCTION MSN 2ND

For
Lt Cmdr Vicky Zahler
COMMANDING OFFICER PAC
PAC PRODUCTION MSN I/C

 
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Chris Shelton on Scientology criticism

Says Chris: “I put this together to talk about some recent events in the Scientology critic world, why I think Scientology isn’t going to be shuttering its doors anytime soon and to clarify what my goals are as a critic and former member. I doubt everyone will agree with me about all this, but enjoy!”

 
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Narconon gets the Current Affair treatment Down Under

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 7, 2017 at 07:00

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