The Big Empty part 3 Resolving Conficts

 The Big Empty

This is the third post in a series on the state a person may find themselves in after leaving a cult. It's in part my own personal experience and in part the result of reading several books on cults and seeing the biographies of ex cult members and their remarks about life after the cult. I recommend that all the posts in this series be read in order from first to last as several build on points made in the earlier posts.

Note: here is a link to my blog archive by topic which has almost all my older posts at the blog sorted into categories for your convenience.

• Blog Archive by Topic

Given the fact that in earlier posts on The Big Empty I have attempted to establish that Scientology founder Ronald Hubbard intentionally created Scientology doctrine and indoctrination jam packed with irreconcilable differences in it, I want to explore further the effects of this indoctrination here.

 These came in the form of contradictions in his writing and taped material. They were presented intentionally. This was done so that the only option that his followers would have would be to submit to his authority to resolve the unfathomable nature of Scientology (if you try to see it as a coherent subject that doesn't disagree with itself).

Hubbard made it clear that he tried to use confusion to overwhelm his followers. Further, he tried to present himself as a great authority with such altitude that his followers would be highly suggestible from their confusion and respond to his statements as commands from an infallible authority, in fact a hypnotic authority. 

I made it quite clear in the first installment in this series that that was Hubbard's intention.

So, as one goes along in Scientology indoctrination to the degree it is successful as a hypnotic technique, one is controlled covertly by Hubbard. 

So, it presents an interesting conundrum. What do you do to make decisions when your mind is confused, overwhelmed, and you think it's because you can't understand the unparalleled genius of Hubbard? You do your best to obey him of course!

You assume a child like state and completely trust Hubbard, like a small child with a parent, and like a small child you trust that Hubbard knows best, so if Hubbard tells you to do something and you don't know how it's a good idea or if it will be beneficial, you obey because you have been obeying Hubbard's words over and over and over for years and thousands and thousands of times set aside your own doubts and worries and your own good judgment, because you have resolved the confusion in your mind many thousands of times by just obeying Hubbard.

There's even a saying in Scientology, "What would Ron do?"

It becomes first nature to obey Hubbard and you see his ideas as superior to your own. If you disagree with Hubbard you know instictively that he's right and you are wrong! This has been a guiding principle for many years and it is a foundation of your life.

This process of indoctrination was described perhaps best by Robert Jay Lifton in his eight criteria for thought reform.

Robert J. Lifton

Dr. Robert J. Lifton's Eight Criteria for Thought Reform

1. Milieu Control.  This involves the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large.
2. Mystical Manipulation.  There is manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated by the group or its leaders in order to demonstrate divine authority or spiritual advancement or some special gift or talent that will then allow the leader to reinterpret events, scripture, and experiences as he or she wishes. 
3. Demand for Purity.  The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection.  The induction of guilt and/or shame is a powerful control device used here. 
4. Confession.  Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group.  There is no confidentiality; members' "sins," "attitudes," and "faults" are discussed and exploited by the leaders. 
5. Sacred Science.  The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute.  Truth is not to be found outside the group.  The leader, as the spokesperson for God or for all humanity, is likewise above criticism. 
6. Loading the Language.  The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.  This jargon consists of thought-terminating cliches, which serve to alter members' thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking. 
7. Doctrine over person.  Member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group. 
8. Dispensing of existence.  The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not.  This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious and they must be converted to the group's ideology.  If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the  members.  Thus, the outside world loses all credibility.  In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also.  (Lifton, 1989)

I want to focus on how the mindset of seeing Hubbard's ideas in Dianetics and Scientology as both scientific and spiritual sets one up to see the only valid truth in your mind is  in these subjects.

1. Sacred Science.  The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute.  Truth is not to be found outside the group.  The leader, as the spokesperson for God or for all humanity, is likewise above criticism. 

One can also see how the indoctrination is used to have the loaded language of Scientology stifle the mind, inhibit independent and critical thinking, effectively reducing it or shutting it down regarding Scientology.

1. Loading the Language.  The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.  This jargon consists of thought-terminating cliches, which serve to alter members' thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking. 

Finally the doctrine over person describes how the cult members see the ideas of Hubbard as more valid than their own, effectively imprisoning themselves within the Scientology framework of the world, as doubt is seen as automatically a personal failure and disagreeing is seen as an error by the individual cult members themselves, effectively making them their own jailers within their minds. 

1. Doctrine over person.  Member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group. 

Robert Jay Lifton gave a more extensive description of his eight criteria for thought reform which he has posted online that I posted on my blog and recommended for anyone who wants to understand cults. To me it's the gold standard in models on cults because it's simple to understand and has helped many thousands of people to reframe their experiences and recover to some degree. 

• Eight Criteria for Thought Reform by Robert Jay Li...

Hubbard made his intentions clear and I will briefly repost a few quotes on this:

Quotes from  Ron Hubbard on the Confusion Technique:
[Quote]
Now, if it comes to a pass where it's very important whether or not this person acts or inacts as you wish, in interpersonal relations one of the dirtier tricks is to hang the person up on a maybe and create a confusion. And then create the confusion to the degree that your decision actually is implanted hypnotically.
The way you do this is very simple. When the person advances an argument against your decision, you never confront his argument but confront the premise on which his argument is based. That is the rule. He says, "But my professor always said that water boiled at 212 degrees."
You say, "Your professor of what?"
"My professor of physics."
"What school? How did he know?" Completely off track! You're no longer arguing about whether or not water boils at 212 degrees, but you're arguing about professors. And he will become very annoyed, but he won't know quite what he is annoyed about. You can do this so adroitly and so artfully that you can actually produce a confusion of the depth of hypnosis. The person simply goes down tone scale to a point where they're not sure of their own name.
And at that point you say, "Now, you do agree to go out and draw the water out of the well, don't you?"
"Yes-anything!" And he'll go out and draw the water out of the well.
[End Quote]
 Ron Hubbard Lecture, 20 May 1952 "Decision."
source Lermanet.com

Also, even earlier, in 1950:
[Quote]
One error, however, must be remarked upon. The examination system employed is not much different from a certain hypnotic technique. One induces a state of confusion in the subject by raising his anxieties of what may happen if he does not pass. One then "teaches" at a mind which is anxious and confused. That mind does not then rationalize, it merely records and makes a pattern. If the pattern is sufficiently strong to be regurgitated verbatim on an examination paper, the student is then given a good grade and passed.
[End Quote]
 Ron Hubbard lecture 29 August 1950, "Educational Dianetics."
 source Lermanet.com

He also knew that when one is confused they can feel relief (i.e. brighter TEMPORARILY) when they get an "answer", even if it doesn't address the confusion!

Scientology uses confusion to control people. Scientology is intentionally designed to use confusion for this purpose.

Scientology techniques are extremely confusing and if you are able to find the right references from Hubbard and look at the techniques with an understanding of the methods he based them on then his intentions are clear.

let's look at some of the things Hubbard said:

"If you can produce enough chaos — it says in a textbook on this subject — if you can produce enough chaos you can assume the total management of a psyche — if you can produce enough chaos.

The way you hypnotize people is to misalign them in their own control and realign them under your control, which necessitates a certain amount of chaos, don’t you see?

Now, the way to win through all of this is simply to let the guy have his stable data, if they are stable data and if they aren’t, let him have some more that are stable data and he’ll win and you’ll win.

In other words, you can take any sphere — any sphere which is relatively chaotic and throw almost any stable datum into it with enough of a statement and you will get an alignment of data on that stable datum. You see this clearly?

The whole society is liable to seize upon some stupid stable datum and thereafter this becomes a custom of some sort and you have the whole field of morals and mores and so forth stretching out before your view."

Hubbard, L. R. (1955, 23 August). Axiom 53: The Axiom Of The Stable Datum. Academy Lecture Series/Conquest of Chaos,   (CofC-2). Lecture conducted from Washington, DC.

"Another way to hypnotize somebody would be to put him in the middle of chaos, everything going in all directions, everybody shooting at him and suddenly throw him a stable datum, and make it a successful stable datum so that it’s all called off once — the moment he grabs this. And this gives you the entire formula of brainwashing: interrogate, question, lights, pain, upset, accusation, duress, fear, privation and we throw him the stable datum. We say, “If you’ll just adopt ‘Ughism’ which is the most wonderful thing in the world, all this will cease,” and finally the fellow says, “All right, I’m an ‘Ugh.’ ” Immediately you stop torturing him and pat him on the head and he’s all set.Ever after he would believe that the moment he deserted “Ughism,” he would be drowned in chaos and that “Ughism” alone was the thing which kept the world stable; and he would sell his life or his grandmother to keep “Ughism” going. And there we have to do with the whole subject of loyalty, except — except that we haven’t dealt with loyalty at all on an analytical level but the whole subject of loyalty is a reactive subject we have dealt with. "

Author: Hubbard, L. R.
Document date: 1955, 21 September, 1955, 21 September
Document title: Postulates 1,2,3,4 In Processing - New Understanding of Axiom 36, Postulates 1,2,3,4 In Processing - New Understanding of Axiom 36

“A confusion can be defined as any set of factors or circumstances which do not seem to have any immediate solution. More broadly, a confusion is random motion.”
“Until one selects one datum, one factor, one particular in a confusion of particles, the confusion continues. The one thing selected and used becomes the stable datum for the remainder.
“Any body of knowledge, more particularly and exactly, is built from one datum. That is its stable datum. Invalidate it and the entire body of knowledge falls apart. A stable datum does not have to be the correct one. It is simply the one that keeps things from being in a confusion and on which others are aligned.” – Ron Hubbard [ref]

“Any time anybody gets enough altitude he can be called a hypnotic operator, and what he says will act as hypnotic suggestion. Hypnotism is a difference in levels of altitude…if the operator can heighten his own altitude with regard to the subject…he doesn’t have to put the subject to sleep. What he says will still react as a hypnotic suggestion….With parity, such as occurs between acquaintances, friends, fellow students and so on, there is no hypnotic suggestion” (Education and Dianetics, 11 November 1950, Research and Discovery, volume 4).  Source Jon Atack 

Here's a longer excerpt:

ALTITUDE INSTRUCTION

“In altitude teaching, somebody is a ‘great authority.’ He is probably teaching some subject that is far more complex than it should be. He has become defensive down through the years, and this is a sort of protective coating that he puts up, along with the idea that the subject will always be a little better known by him than by anybody else and that there are things to know in this subject which he really wouldn’t let anybody else in on. This is altitude instruction … It keeps people in a state of confusion, and when their minds are slightly confused they are in a hypnotic trance. Anytime anybody gets enough altitude he can be called a hypnotic operator, and what he says will act as hypnotic suggestion. Hypnotism is a difference in levels of altitude. There are ways to create and lower the altitude of the subject, but if the operator can heighten his own altitude with regard to the subject the same way, he doesn’t have to put the subject to sleep. What he says will still react as hypnotic suggestion.” (Hubbard, Research & Discovery, volume 4, p.324)12 source Jon Atack

And the icing on the cake for me is of course the affirmations.

Hubbard made statements in his affirmations (private self-hypnosis commands intended for himself and no one else)  that I call the Rosetta Stone of Scientology because they help ex Scientologists decipher the information in Scientology.

I have them posted at Mockingbird's Nest as 

A Psychiatric View With Comments On The Admissions By Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1947)

I will put a few excerpts here to highlight Hubbard's intention regarding hypnosis and in general. To understand Scientology I absolutely recommend reading the post in full. These excerpts are just for this post on his intentions.

LRH is obviously L Ron Hubbard

LRH:Your psychology is good. You worked to darken your own children. This failure, with them, was only apparent. The evident lack of effectiveness was "ordered." The same psychology works perfectly on everyone else. You use it with great confidence. 

LRH: Material things are yours for the asking. Men are your slaves. Elemental spirits are your slaves. You are power among powers, light in the darkness, beauty in all. 

LRH : Your psychology is advanced and true and wonderful. It hypnotizes people. It predicts their emotions, for you are their ruler. 

LRH: No matter what lies you may tell others they have no physical effect on you of any kind.

LRH: Lord help women when you begin to fondle them. You are master of their bodies, master of their souls as you may consciously wish. You have no karma to pay for these acts. 

LRH: You can tell all the romantic tales you wish. You will remember them, you do remember them. But you know which ones were lies. You are so logical you will tell nothing which cannot be believed. 

LRH: You use the minds of men. They do not use your mind or affect it in any way. 

So, Hubbard in his private affirmations clearly described his "psychology" as such that it "hypnotizes" people and that men are his slaves and regarding women that he was master of their bodies and souls. He described himself as being able to lie and be both believed and he was immune to physical effects from his lies. He described himself as the ruler of people who uses the minds of men but they do not use or affect his mind. 

Imagine having these goals and using self-hypnosis commands repeatedly for years to bring these things into your mind. 

I reposted these so you can see the material in two situations, first as I made my case for one idea: that Hubbard intended to confuse and overwhelm people with contradictions to establish hypnotic control over them.

And I also added them again so I could show that the control involves a series of changes in the follower, the follower to whatever degree the hypnotically technique succeeded, ended up with the awful condition of fulfilling the three criteria for thought reform referenced above. 

They have seen Scientology as a sacred science, they speak and most importantly think in the loaded language of Scientology and they accept the doctrine over person, seeing the ideas in Scientology as more valid than their own. 

They have immense cognitive dissonance over the contradictions which are plentiful in Scientology but by adopting a child like state known as trance logic (which occurs in hypnotic submission if deep enough) they can bury the unpleasant mental feelings of dissonance in the subconscious, in theory, and not face them consciously. Trance logic is noted for having the following differences between it and normal consciousness, one is more accepting of contradictions and magical thinking. 

But, this has the tendency to demand more and more trance logic to avoid dissonance and awareness of flaws or problems with Scientology. One submits more and more to the authority of Hubbard over time. One accepts the loaded language and thinks in it more and more over time and with less independent and critical thinking. One sees the doctrine as more authoritative and correct than oneself over time. It becomes reflexive to see the doctrine as infallible more and more, so doubts become less frequent and they can become even disorienting and painful. 

So, as you progress in your Scientology indoctrination,  you have resolved the conflict and confusion by your submission to the sacred science and adoption of the trance logic state as a hypnotic slave (to whatever degree the technique worked, obviously this can vary from not at all to slightly to significantly to tremendously, each person is a different case).

I have written on the methods and nature of hypnosis as used in Scientology extensively.

Here is a collection of posts on the topic.

• Insidious Enslavement : Study Technology
• Basic Introduction to Hypnosis in Scientology
• Pissed It's Not Your Fault !!!
• The Offensive Defensive Technique
• The Critical Factor
• The Secret Of Scientology Part 1 Control Via Cont...

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