SCI
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Before he has been in Scientology very long, the initiate has become
versed in a language known only inside the cult, creating a very real
barrier between himself and friends or family outside the cult. As he
increasingly adopts the jargon of the cult, he can only be understood by
other cult members.
For example, if a new Scientologist were to approach his college
professor and tell him that
the reason he doesn't have his homework done is that he had a "PTP
because of a missed withhold on the second dynamic," chances are that he
will get a blank stare from the professor. Yet every Scientologist
understands what this means.
The second stage of cult conversion is the stripping away of the old
identity, and this is accomplished in many ways in Scientology.
The depersonalization of the individual in Scientology begins the
moment he first walks in the front door. The person learns from the
beginning to doubt and disregard his own perceptions.
For example, what kind of church offers free personality tests to
lure people in the front door? Why are hard-sell sales techniques used
to market a class in communication? Why are the church members in
uniform? Why are there so many odd new words? Why are people doing these
bizarre drills? What is really going on here???
But instead of being allowed to question, the person is led to
believe that all these things are a part of the status quo of the
"church" and that they are to be accepted without question.
Even during the initial sales presentation, the person's normal
thinking process is bypassed, as he is pressured into taking a course he
knows very little about, except for the glowing promises made by the
Registrar.
In his book, Deprogramming for Do-it-Yourselfers, R.K. Heller
points out that "highly orchestrated sales presentations may have the
same effect as chanting; a person cannot hear his own thoughts.
Questioning is postponed; then the question, forgotten." (2)
The result of the sales presentation in Scientology is that the
person becomes convinced that he has a problem, and that Scientology
provides the only answer to his problem. Before he gets to the
classroom, the student is subjected to a "routing form" in which he must
submit to (be interviewed by) several authority figures in the
organization before being allowed "on course" -- the gauntlet approach
to education.
Once on the course, the person suddenly finds himself in a
quasi-military situation, again within a "church," and this seems to be
accepted by everyone as the normal course of affairs. Because of social
conditioning, the person avoids asking an obvious or embarrassing
question for fear of social rejection. This same social conditioning,
the desire to please others and not question, together with carefully
planned group reinforcement, provide incentive for the new person to
gradually surrender his old identity and accept the new identity of
"Scientologist."
When the new student is introduced, he or she is greeted with
applause, decreasing the odds that he will raise any objections while on
the course. To do so would be to bite the hand that feeds him.
In studying the Scientology materials, the new student quickly
learns that to question any of the writings of Hubbard is expressly
forbidden. Any disagreement with the contents of the materials of the
course are considered to be a misunderstanding on the part of the
student. He is advised to "look up his misunderstood word," to see what
it was that he has not properly understood. Doubting the materials is
not permitted, as "doubt" is a "lower condition," punishable within
Scientology.
A student in Scientology is forbidden to ask questions, to think or
to doubt.
The new person in Scientology is "love bombed," i.e., given much
attention and approbation for simply being there. The honeymoon,
however, is short-lived. The new Scientologist soon learns that
continued love and acceptance is conditional upon his giving time or
money on a continuing basis to the organization.
A student is not considered a "completion" on the Communication
Course until he is ready and eager to sign up for the next course in
Scientology. So the real result of the Communication Course is that the
person has become a Scientologist (it says so on his certificate), and
that he is motivated to continue further indoctrination in Scientology
in the form of "his next course."
The conclusion, according to Ford Schwartz, is that the
Communication Course of Scientology is a "manipulative, systematic
process, an integral part of which is the conversion of new members. It
is the subtlety with which the transformation takes place which makes it
a threat to unsuspecting people."
And, as Schwartz describes, the new member is being subjected to a
hidden agenda of which he is totally unaware:
- The person has come into Scientology with a normal life problem,
and is induced to take a course in "communication" which will help him
with this problem.
- He is subjected to a hard sell approach which plays upon his