Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
Jon, there’s a large and active “independent” movement that has split away from the church and gets a lot of news coverage. But throughout its history Scientology has experienced schisms and breakaway groups. In particular, David Mayo’s “Advanced Ability Center” in Santa Barbara comes to mind. What are the basics that we should know about Mayo, his involvement in the upper level materials, and why church leader David Miscavige considered him such a threat?
Last year, we noticed that some former winners of Scientology’s “Writers of the Future” awards were nervously wondering if they’d been had.
With so much bad publicity plaguing the church, was it really such a good thing to win an award from an organization becoming increasingly known for things like locking up its executives in a hellish office-prison?
The contest attracts very prestigious writers in the science fiction and fantasy realms to judge entries by new, unpublished writers for a big boost in their careers. There’s no doubt that it’s a great contest, and it’s awash in money, putting on a weeklong celebration in Hollywood.
Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, Bay Area lawyer, blogger, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Vance, in this next chapter of the section on therapy, “The Auditor’s Role,” Hubbard lays down some pretty important guidelines which still seem to be in force today.
One of the key ideas in Hubbard’s therapy is that the listener — which he has named the “auditor” — must not interfere with the person he’s listening to.
There’s a quick sneer at “the couch” in this chapter, and it’s a telling one. For Hubbard, the practitioner in that other talking cure — the psychoanalyst — is too controlling, too judgmental, and too powerful.
We have a very special treat for you today. We noticed recently that French publications were suddenly making a big deal about a British crime writer and his long association with the Church of Scientology. Naturally, we turned to our man in Paris for help understanding why.
Jonny Jacobsen is a Brit who lives in Paris and writes one of the best blogs on Scientology, Infinite Complacency. He was good enough to provide us with this explainer — tomorrow, a longer version will show up at his site.
[ALSO TODAY: A report from Nathan Baca about Narconon in Nevada.]
Now here’s a twist in the tale: English thriller writer R.J. Ellory, who only last year had to apologise for an egregious lapse of professional ethics, turns out to be a longtime Scientologist.
Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. In 2005, Claire and her husband Marc escaped from Scientology’s International Base after many years as “Sea Org” workers. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Claire, we’re glad you’re back after a little time off. Last time we were talking about overt and withholds. Where are you taking us next?
CLAIRE: Next up is the Basic Study Manual. It’s another beginning course and a person’s first introduction to “study tech.”
Before Brandon Ogborn’s play The TomKat Project blows up even bigger than it already has, we thought we better get to know him a little — before he becomes so famous he won’t return our phone calls.
Fortunately for us, Synthia Fagen caught the Chicago production and first clued us in that it was a riot. So we asked her if she would interview Ogborn for the Underground Bunker.
The idea behind The TomKat Project is deceptively simple: Ogborn took all the insane media coverage of Katie Holmes’s split with Tom Cruise last summer and constructed from it a parody of our obsessions with celebrity (with Scientology getting a skewering along the way). With a small cast that has actors playing numerous roles each, the play weaves together actual language from media coverage with lines invented by Ogborn. The result is a smash, say critics, and the small production is sold out in Chicago through April, with hopes for bigger things soon.
The great Jim Brown, struggling to understand what he’s doing here.
On Sundays here at the Bunker, we like to bring you the latest Scientology mailers and fliers that our tipsters have forwarded to us. We call it Sunday Funnies, and we have another set of items that we think you’ll find interesting.
But first, we wanted to bring a little context to the explosion of stories we’ve been posting about Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon.
As is becoming crystal clear, there’s strong evidence that just about every step in Narconon’s business practice involves a level of deceit. From generic websites that pretend to be impartial but actually push potential clients to Narconon for hefty bounties, to the way Narconon hides its connection to Scientology and its lack of medical oversight.
But it’s also important to note that Narconon’s controversies are not limited to its Oklahoma flagship or its Atlanta facility, which are each caught up in government probes and civil lawsuits.
As we mentioned this morning, yet another lawsuit was filed yesterday against Narconon Arrowhead, Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility in eastern Oklahoma which was featured last night on NBC’s Rock Center for its many controversies.
We have the complaint now, which we’ve posted below, and we’ll run down some of the interesting details. This makes the eleventh lawsuit filed recently against Narconon Arrowhead, but what makes this one somewhat unique is that it was filed by a local newspaper reporter who says she was harmed when she went through the program in 2009 and 2010.
And like others, she says she saw employees of Narconon trading drugs for sex.
Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
[ALSO TODAY: Another new lawsuit against Narconon Arrowhead; Scientology buys Larry Hagman’s Ojai palace; a big victory for blogging in Austria; and more!]
Jon, we know that Scientology relies on its celebrities to burnish its image. But in at least one case, there’s someone very famous whose involvement the church would rather keep under wraps. We’re talking about Charles Manson, diminutive cult leader and ward of the state of California. What do we know about Charlie’s time in Scientology?
Join us as we watch NBC’s Rock Center talk to two Scientology whistle blowers who are well known here in the Underground Bunker. The show begins at 10 pm Eastern.
Luke Catton and Eric Tenorio have not only come forward with damning allegations about the business practices that they saw while they each worked at multiple Scientology drug rehab facilities, but the former Narconon executives have also been releasing stunning documentation to back up their claims.
Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
![RJ Ellory [Photo: E. Garault]](http://tonyortega.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/RJ_Ellory.jpg)
