Thursday, December 29, 2022

(11) Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism

 Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism




Influences on NXIVM beliefs and practices, sourced from Natalie et al (2019), rendered in the mode of W.S. Bainbridge, e.g. Bainbridge 1978. |NXIVM teachings drew upon diverse influences, including Ayn Rand ("parasites"), L. Ron Hubbard ("suppressives"), Milton Erickson's hypnosis, Isaac Asimov's science fiction, Rudolf Steiner, Tony Robbins, and neuro-linguistic programming. NXIVM incorporated elements of multi-level marketing and practices from judo, with colored cloth for rank and bowing.

This is the eleventh post in a series that examines the book Scarred: The True Story Of How I Escaped The Cult That Bound My Life by Sarah Edmondson.

I recommend reading these posts in sequential order and have listed them in order to make reading them in order easy.

Unless noted otherwise, all quotes used in this series are from that book. 


"Before we had started the Five-Day, we signed a form promising we'd keep the text, materials, and curriculum private, and together we recited NXIVM's twelve-point mission statement. In it, we declared ideas such as that we are all interdependent; that for each of us to be successful would contribute to the development of a " better world; a world free from hunger, theft, dishonesty, envy and insecurity"; that under any circumstance, we would never choose to be a victim."  (Scarred page 39)

As I've pointed out before, Scientology requires members to sign numerous legal agreements that are probably far more extensive and restrictive than those of NXIVM. Several blogs and websites have covered them in detail including The Scientology Money Project and The Underground Bunker.


Ronald Hubbard, Scientology founder

The twelve-point mission statement of NXIVM is a reference I posted in the third post in this series.

I can repost it here and compare the points with quotes from Scientology doctrine.

Twelve-point Mission Statement

By Keith Raniere

1.  Success is an internal state of clear and honest knowledge of what I am, my value in the world, and my responsibility for the way I react to all things.

2.  There are no ultimate victims; Therefore, I will not choose to be a victim.

3.  I am committed to be successful. I understand each of us must raise ourselves – and thereby raise all others – as all others raise us. This is interdependence.

4.  Success, in my own right is my earned success. True success can not be stolen, copied or received by happenstance. I will not masquerade as  successful by these methods or by any other. I will earn my success.

5.  Tribute is a form of payment and honor. It is to giving credit where credit is due. I will use the tribute to uphold others beyond my petty likes and dislikes. As a result, I will define my self and my true contribution to humankind.

6.  Successful people do not steal and have no desire or need to steal. I will not steal anything. I will always earn what I need and desire. Copying without permission or tribute is not the highest form of flattery, it is theft. Theft is also taking or receiving something without fully earning it; it is always at the expense, no matter how small, of others.

7.  Inner honesty and integrity are the highest human values and the foundation of human psychology. All other values arise from them. I will never trade my integrity or inner honesty for any other value. It is never worth it.

8.  The methods and information I learn in ESP are for my use only. I will not speak of them or in any way give others knowledge of them outside ESP. Part of the condition of being accepted into ESP is to keep all its information confidential. If I violate this, I am breaking a promise and breaching my contract, but more importantly, I am compromising my inner  honesty and integrity.

9.  True success is never at the expense of others. As a successful individual, I will never envy another's success. I will rejoice because I realize that the success of others raises me up just a little bit more because I am also part of the human team. The actualization of human potential by anyone is a tribute to all team humankind. If others are successful, I will protect their success against those who envy them. I pledge to purge myself from all habits that are based on parasite and envy-based habits, and replace them with habits of effort and interdependence.

10.  I will unreservedly accept the success I have earned. I will accept no more and no less; this is accepting with integrity. I will give unreservedly to those who have earned it; this is giving with integrity. I will accept with integrity as easily as I give with integrity. To not accept what I am worth, or what I have earned, is to devalue myself and thereby all others.

11.  People control the money, wealth and resources of the world. It is essential for the survival of humankind for these things to be controlled by  successful, ethical people. I promise to ethically control as much money, wealth and resources of the world as possible within my success plan. I will always support the ethical control of these things.

12.  A world of successful people will undoubtedly be a better world indeed; a world devoid of hunger, theft, dishonesty, envy and insecurity. People will no longer try to destroy each other, steal from each other, down each other or rejoice at another's demise. Success, ethics and integrity are co-inspirational. I pledge to share and enroll people in ESP and its mission for myself, and to help make the world a better place to live. End quote by Keith Raniere


Keith Raniere, NXIVM leader


I can take each point one by one and give a Scientology quote for comparison.

1.  Success is an internal state of clear and honest knowledge of what I am, my value in the world, and my responsibility for the way I react to all things.

Scientology has the following definition for responsibility:

"Full responsibility is not fault; it is recognition of being cause.


Rationalization is wholly an attempt to shunt responsibility. Whatever occurs to one is actually his own responsibility, as the student will realize as soon as he re-evaluates the factors involved and as soon as he sees the enormous effect of this process." (Advanced Procedure and Axioms, Ronald Hubbard)


2.  There are no ultimate victims; Therefore, I will not choose to be a victim.

Scientology as pointed out above contains the idea that you are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens to you, no matter what, where, why, or how. 

When one is new the additional idea that one is an immortal spiritual being is introduced. The claim is that one has existed for a half eternity and descended from being a God with your own universe, that you entirely created and controlled by your own decisions, down over endless eons of trillions or quadrillions of years through several other universes down to being a human being on earth.  Pandeterminism

It goes on to claim you gave up your power and awareness gradually over long periods and are only vulnerable now because you are making yourself vulnerable. This is introduced as an explanation for things like violence and abuse as a child

It is an idea common to many earlier cults and associated with Gnostic ideas. 

3.  I am committed to be successful. I understand each of us must raise ourselves – and thereby raise all others – as all others raise us. This is interdependence.

"Pandeterminism full responsibility for both sides of a game." (Scn 0-8, p. 119, Ronald Hubbard)

This has the similar vague idea that somehow one person being successful makes others successful, but by most measures of success this is not reality. If you make a million dollars or a billion dollars it doesn't help most of the people in the world, who are poor by the way. It's a strange magical thinking that is easily debunked by a little observation. 

In the moral guide The Way to Happiness Ronald Hubbard gave several precepts of a moral code including notably Flourish and Prosper. This is certainly advocating an effort to be successful in people. 

4.  Success, in my own right is my earned success. True success can not be stolen, copied or received by happenstance. I will not masquerade as  successful by these methods or by any other. I will earn my success.

In the moral guide The Way to Happiness, Ronald Hubbard gave several more precepts of a moral code including Do Not Steal and Don't Do Anything Illegal and Try to Treat Others as You Would Want Them to Treat You


5.  Tribute is a form of payment and honor. It is to giving credit where credit is due. I will use the tribute to uphold others beyond my petty likes and dislikes. As a result, I will define my self and my true contribution to humankind.

In the moral guide The Way to Happiness, Ronald Hubbard gave several more precepts of a moral code including Try to Treat Others as You Would Want Them to Treat You.

 Additionally Scientology has many practices that include acknowledging Ronald Hubbard as the source of Scientology and, well frankly, the savior of humanity.


6.  Successful people do not steal and have no desire or need to steal. I will not steal anything. I will always earn what I need and desire. Copying without permission or tribute is not the highest form of flattery, it is theft. Theft is also taking or receiving something without fully earning it; it is always at the expense, no matter how small, of others.

In the moral guide The Way to Happiness, Ronald Hubbard gave several more precepts of a moral code including Don't Do Anything Illegal and Do Not Steal.


7.  Inner honesty and integrity are the highest human values and the foundation of human psychology. All other values arise from them. I will never trade my integrity or inner honesty for any other value. It is never worth it.

Scientology has many doctrine that are similar to this.

The Way to Happiness is similar in many ways. Be Worthy of Trust and Fulfill Your Obligations are precepts that obviously fit this.

The code of honor by Ronald Hubbard is presented in Scientology:

"Never desert a comrade in need, in danger or in trouble.


Never withdraw allegiance once granted.


Never desert a group to which you owe your support.


Never disparage yourself or minimize your strength of power.


Never need praise, approval or sympathy.


Never compromise with your own reality.


Never permit your affinity to be alloyed.


Do not give or receive communication unless you yourself desire it.


Your self-determinism and your honor are more important than your immediate life.


Your integrity to yourself is more important than your body.


Never regret yesterday. Life is in you today, and you can make your tomorrow.


Never fear to hurt another in a just cause.


Don't desire to be liked or admired.


Be your own adviser, keep your own counsel and select your own decisions.


Be true to your own goals." (Code of Honor, Ronald Hubbard)

8.  The methods and information I learn in ESP are for my use only. I will not speak of them or in any way give others knowledge of them outside ESP. Part of the condition of being accepted into ESP is to keep all its information confidential. If I violate this, I am breaking a promise and breaching my contract, but more importantly, I am compromising my inner  honesty and integrity.

The Way to Happiness and the numerous contracts in Scientology cover this point as well.

9.  True success is never at the expense of others. As a successful individual, I will never envy another's success. I will rejoice because I realize that the success of others raises me up just a little bit more because I am also part of the human team. The actualization of human potential by anyone is a tribute to all team humankind. If others are successful, I will protect their success against those who envy them. I pledge to purge myself from all habits that are based on parasite and envy-based habits, and replace them with habits of effort and interdependence.

The comparison here is one that is harder to make. Ayn Rand is reportedly the earlier source of the concept of "parasites" as it is used in NXIVM. Rand subscribed to the "Great Man" (and likely Great Women) theory of history and philosophy. This is an idea that Ronald Hubbard also supported, to a nearly absolute extreme. Keith Raniere also had aspects of it in NXIVM.

It goes, roughly, that history and human advancement and survival depend on individuals of exceptional qualities, sometimes intelligence, sometimes character, sometimes courage and these extra capable individuals are so necessary to the survival of everyone else that they should be put on a pedestal, admired and given free reign to do almost anything and in some philosophies that believe in Great Men they are seen as not accountable to their "lessers", which usually means everyone else.

The philosophies that advocate all or nearly all wealth, income, and political power be the sole province of Great Men usually disregard that the vast majority of people are doing the vast majority of actual labor in a society and they are essential to the survival of the society. The fact is that you can remove the alleged great men and humanity would still exist and survive but if you had just the great men as these philosophies define them and you didn't have everyone else the great men couldn't survive for centuries and would die out. 

The great man theory is embraced by many but not all cult leaders. Many, probably most, cult leaders see themselves as great men or women and see it as part of the justification for their lies, crimes, and abuses. 

Scientology notably shares the term suppressive with NXIVM and likely uses it in a very similar way. In Scientology Suppressive Persons are blamed for many things and once the organization labels a person as suppressive all members are expected to disconnect from the person and this is usually permanent shunning. NXIVM handles their critics in much the same way and discourages members from contacting critics or reading or watching any communication critical of the group or Keith Raniere, just as Scientology does. 

Just as NXIVM demands that members protect success so to does Scientology have this concept to a very extreme degree.


"Life bleeds. It suffers. It hungers. And it has to have the right to shoot its enemies until such time as comes a golden age." Ron Hubbard The Responsibilities Of Leaders HCOPL also found in Introduction To Scientology Ethics book


"the foremost law, if one’s ambition is to win, is of course to win."

Ron Hubbard The Responsibilities Of Leaders HCOPL also found in Introduction To Scientology Ethics book


"He doesn’t have to know all the bad news and if he’s a power really, he won’t ask all the time, “What are all those dead bodies doing at the door?” And if you are clever, you never let it be thought HE killed them — that weakens you and also hurts the power source. “Well, boss, about all those dead bodies, nobody at all will suppose you did it. She over there, those pink legs sticking out, didn’t like me.”

Ron Hubbard The Responsibilities Of Leaders HCOPL also found in Introduction To Scientology Ethics book


"always push power in the direction of anyone on whose power you depend. It may be more money for the power or more ease or a snarling defense of the power to a critic or even the dull thud of one of his enemies in the dark or the glorious blaze of the whole enemy camp as a birthday surprise."

Ron Hubbard The Responsibilities Of Leaders HCOPL also found in Introduction To Scientology Ethics book 

"In short, a staff member can get away with murder so long as his statistic is up and can't sneeze without a chop if it's down."

HCOPL 1 Sep 1965 (reissued 5 Oct 1985) "Ethics Protection" Ronald Hubbard


"When people do start reporting a staff member with a high statistic, what you investigate is the person who turned in the report. In an ancient army a particularly brave deed was recognized by an award of the title of Kha-Khan. It was not a rank. The person remained what he was, BUT he was entitled to be forgiven the death penalty ten times in case in the future he did anything wrong. That was a Kha-Khan. That's what producing, high-statistic staff members are - Kha-Khans. They can get away with murder without a blink from Ethics.... And Ethics must recognize a Kha-Khan when it sees one - and tear up the bad report chits on the person with a yawn."

HCOPL 1 Sep 1965 (reissued 5 Oct 1985) "Ethics Protection" Ronald Hubbard


10.  I will unreservedly accept the success I have earned. I will accept no more and no less; this is accepting with integrity. I will give unreservedly to those who have earned it; this is giving with integrity. I will accept with integrity as easily as I give with integrity. To not accept what I am worth, or what I have earned, is to devalue myself and thereby all others.

The concepts here seem harmless but there's a catch. The group NXIVM and ultimately Keith Raniere define success who has earned what. That is the key to the whole thing. 

By agreeing to this principle at first a member isn't agreeing to much, after all they are deciding who has done what and what they deserved for themselves, just like any person does routinely. 

But the group members rapidly find out that continued acceptance by and membership in the group relies on accepting the decisions of higher ranking members. In the EMs you are guided to see their interpretation as acceptable, otherwise you have issues you need to work on.

In Scientology ethics a similar closed logic system exists that defines ethical behavior as behavior that helps Scientology and unethical behavior as behavior that disagrees with Scientology or opposes it.

Scientology further has "upstats" who are defined as helping Scientology tremendously and they are immune to criticism and exempt from any punishment for any moral violations by Scientology doctrine. 



11.  People control the money, wealth and resources of the world. It is essential for the survival of humankind for these things to be controlled by  successful, ethical people. I promise to ethically control as much money, wealth and resources of the world as possible within my success plan. I will always support the ethical control of these things.

Scientology has plenty of doctrine related to money and most of it is centered on getting members to give as much as possible and getting staff and Sea Org members to solicit as much as possible for the organization. While Hubbard ran the organization he hoarded the vast majority of income the group generated and David Miscavige has very similar practices in his turn..


"MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MORE MONEY.“ —   Ronald Hubbard "Principles of Money Management" (9 March 1972). Scientology Policy Letters

12.  A world of successful people will undoubtedly be a better world indeed; a world devoid of hunger, theft, dishonesty, envy and insecurity. People will no longer try to destroy each other, steal from each other, down each other or rejoice at another's demise. Success, ethics and integrity are co-inspirational. I pledge to share and enroll people in ESP and its mission for myself, and to help make the world a better place to live. End quote by Keith Raniere


"THE AIMS OF SCIENTOLOGY



A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology.


First announced to an enturbulated world in 1950, these aims are well within the grasp of our technology.


Nonpolitical in nature, Scientology welcomes any individual of any creed, race or nation.


We seek no revolution. We seek only evolution to higher states of being for the individual and for society.


We are achieving our aims.


After endless millennia of ignorance about himself, his mind and the universe, a breakthrough has been made for Man.


Other efforts Man has made have been surpassed.


The combined truths of fifty thousand years of thinking men, distilled and amplified by new discoveries about Man have made for this success.


We welcome you to Scientology. We only expect of you your help in achieving our aims and helping others. We expect you to be helped.


Scientology is the most vital movement on Earth today.


In a turbulent world the job is not easy. But then, if it were, we wouldn’t have to be doing it.


We respect Man and believe he is worthy of help. We respect you and believe you too can help.


Scientology does not owe its help. We have done nothing to cause us to propitiate. Had we done so we would not now be bright enough to do what we are doing.


Man suspects all offers of help. He has often been betrayed, his confidence shattered. Too frequently he has given his trust and been betrayed. We may err, for we build a world with broken straws. But we will never betray your faith in us so long as you are one of us.


The sun never sets on Scientology.


And may a new day dawn for you, for those you love and for Man.


Our aims are simple if great.


And we will succeed, and are succeeding at each new revolution of the Earth.


Your help is acceptable to us.


Our help is yours."

Written by Ronald Hubbard in September 1965.

Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism

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(10) Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism

 Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism



Influences on NXIVM beliefs and practices, sourced from Natalie et al (2019), rendered in the mode of W.S. Bainbridge, e.g. Bainbridge 1978. |NXIVM teachings drew upon diverse influences, including Ayn Rand ("parasites"), L. Ron Hubbard ("suppressives"), Milton Erickson's hypnosis, Isaac Asimov's science fiction, Rudolf Steiner, Tony Robbins, and neuro-linguistic programming. NXIVM incorporated elements of multi-level marketing and practices from judo, with colored cloth for rank and bowing.

This is the tenth post in a series that examines the book Scarred: The True Story Of How I Escaped The Cult That Bound My Life by Sarah Edmondson.

I recommend reading these posts in sequential order and have listed them in order to make reading them in order easy.

Unless noted otherwise, all quotes used in this series are from that book. 

"Nancy explained that the point of the Five-Day was to create an ethical framework of understanding by establishing a working definition for basic concepts, like good and bad, right and wrong, honesty and disclosure. This would make our belief systems ethical and consistent." (Scarred page 38)

Scientology similarly has a system of ethics described in numerous policies and the Introduction to Scientology Ethics book and course. Almost all public Scientologists are indoctrinated in these policies if they are in the group and advance in training beyond the very first courses and all staff members and Sea Org members are required to undergo indoctrination in the ethics material.

Scientology ethics material has many policies and describing them in full would take hundreds or thousands of pages. It's noteworthy that they have an initial appearance of encouraging honest and law abiding behavior but in reality if one looks closely at them they actually encourage blindly seeing EVERYTHING done by the Scientology organization and Ronald Hubbard as good, no matter what it is, and EVERYTHING done that is in opposition to or at all critical of the organization, senior Scientologists or the upper echelon of the group or Ronald Hubbard as evil. 


Ronald Hubbard, Scientology founder

I wrote the three part series of posts entitled Why Lying And Murder Are Justified In Scientology parts 1, 2, and 3 describing this in detail.

NXIVM and Scientology both have the practice of labeling all critics and dissidents as suppressive persons and requiring all members in good standing to completely shun them and disregard any criticism of the group by them. 

Both groups consider all ideas and practices they use their exclusive "tech" and have members agree that they will not use or disseminate the methods used to outsiders without permission from the organization. Scientology has an extensive series of contracts that members must sign over and over as they do services in Scientology. 


"In the video, she explained that as we moved through the material, we might find ourselves feeling something she referred to as " the urge to bolt,"and if we do, that's just our internal indication that we were doing it right. Discomfort was an indication that you were "hitting on an issue," so if you bolted, you would never work beyond that limiting belief."  (Scarred page 38)

This is entirely reminiscent of the doctrine in Scientology I have already quoted in the fourth post in this very series.

I will repeat a small part of the post here for comparison.

In leaving Scientology and studying cults I realized that Scientology has seemingly "magic doorways"! 

If you want to leave while in the course room then "misunderstood words" are blamed!

 If you want to leave auditing or don't enjoy an auditing action then it means "the auditing is working and must be continued"! 

If you want to simply leave the organization altogether and you don't want to work there anymore you "must have been doing something evil and hiding it"! 

It's so strange that depending on which room you were in when you decided to leave it decides the reason!

And you notice leaving is NEVER considered a morally acceptable option!

Scientology also has the "what turns it on turns it off" concept which similarly asserts that the uncomfortable feelings one has in auditing both prove that the auditing is effective and that continuing auditing is required to resolve the cause of the discomfort.

Notably, no flaw in the method is considered possible or any alternative to continuing the practice is seen as suitable for both groups. 

A key trait of cults is the doctrine, leader, practices and the group is considered flawless and infallible but the members who wish to leave or stop doing the practices are always discouraged from doing either and any discomfort is interpreted as proof the practice is valid and that the members must use the practice more!

"Then she reviewed some of the community's common terms, which to me sounded like overly cerebral, scientific words, in the same ways you'd develop a secret code language with your best friend in grade school." (Scarred page 38)

This obviously is the loaded language that Scientology also has which I examined in the third post in the series. I must emphasize that Scientology has thousands and thousands of new terms and abbreviations and redefenitions of existing terms that have each other in their definitions leading to never-ending chains of hazy ideas that never get fully and clearly explained. 

Now that it's clear that both NXIVM and Scientology have their own extensive loaded language I want to focus on the topic a bit more.


Keith Raniere, NXIVM leader

I think the best model to start with when examining cultic influence is the eight criteria for thought reform by Robert Jay Lifton. I have them in the unabridged form as Dr. Robert J. Lifton's Criteria For Thought Reform at Mockingbird's Nest blog on Scientology.


First I will give you an abridged description.





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 highly recommend reading the unabridged version and comparing each of the criteria to any group that you wish to examine or any group you participate in to evaluate the degree of cultic relationship the group may have within it.

Many thousands of people have found it deeply profound and that it describes their own group or even relationships and helps them to untangle from the indoctrination they underwent.

It has the unique quality of being both easily understood by people who have little or no education regarding psychology but also explaining quite well and precisely what the cult and cultic relationship does to the members and how this is truly accomplished in contrast to what the cult doctrine claims.

It's likely the most effective means of both education regarding cults and the most effective tool for recovery from cults. 

I think now is the right time to give the unabridged original description of loading the language since we have just found that NXIVM and Scientology both have this practice to a significant degree:

"Loading the Language


The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis. 


In [Chinese Communist] thought reform, for instance, the phrase "bourgeois mentality" is used to encompass and critically dismiss ordinarily troublesome concerns like the quest for individual expression, the exploration of alternative ideas, and the search for perspective and balance in political judgments.


 And in addition to their function as interpretive shortcuts, these cliches become what Richard Weaver has called "ultimate terms" : either "god terms," representative of ultimate good; or "devil terms," representative of ultimate evil. In [Chinese Communist] thought reform, "progress," "progressive," "liberation," "proletarian standpoints" and "the dialectic of history" fall into the former category; "capitalist," "imperialist," "exploiting classes," and "bourgeois" (mentality, liberalism, morality, superstition, greed) of course fall into the latter. 


Totalist language then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon, prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly judging, and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: in Lionel Trilling's phrase, "the language of nonthought."


To be sure, this kind of language exists to some degree within any cultural or organizational group, and all systems of belief depend upon it. It is in part an expression of unity and exclusiveness: as Edward Sapir put it, "'He talks like us' is equivalent to saying 'He is one of us.'" 


The loading is much more extreme in ideological totalism, however, since the jargon expresses the claimed certitudes of the sacred science. Also involved is an underlying assumption that language - like all other human products - can be owned and operated by the Movement. No compunctions are felt about manipulating or loading it in any fashion; the only consideration is its usefulness to the cause.

For an individual person, the effect of the language of ideological totalism can be summed up in one word: constriction. 


He is, so to speak, linguistically deprived; and since language is so central to all human experience, his capacities for thinking and feeling are immensely narrowed. This is what Hu meant when he said, "using the same pattern of words for so long…you feel chained." Actually, not everyone exposed feels chained, but in effect everyone is profoundly confined by these verbal fetters. As in other aspects of totalism, this loading may provide an initial sense of insight and security, eventually followed by uneasiness. 


This uneasiness may result in a retreat into a rigid orthodoxy in which an individual shouts the ideological jargon all the louder in order to demonstrate his conformity, hide his own dilemma and his despair, and protect himself from the fear and guilt he would feel should he attempt to use words and phrases other than the correct ones.


 Or else he may adapt a complex pattern of inner division, and dutifully produce the expected cliché's in public performances while in his private moments he searches for more meaningful avenues of expression. 


Either way, his imagination becomes increasingly dissociated from his actual life experiences and may tend to atrophy from disuse." (Robert Jay Lifton, eight criteria for thought reform from Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism)

I found this description fit my experience in Scientology exactly. 

After spending twenty-five years in Scientology using the loaded language I found my critical and independent thinking abilities severely diminished and went through a long and literally painful process of redevelopment of those aptitudes. I had to relearn how to read and think for myself. It took a lot of time and effort.

I had spent twenty five years interpreting everything I read and heard against the Scientology doctrine I was indoctrinated with and had to redevelop the ability to form my own opinion.

I started reading books and in pain set about making notes. I would take two pages from a notebook and read and put on one page the ideas from the book I agreed with and on the opposite side the ideas I disagreed with and it was as if a fog lifted gradually off my mind over weeks and months. I ended up labeling many ideas as unknown as ones that I don't have enough education regarding to form a definitive or educated opinion. 

This is in extreme contrast to the usually binary view of Scientology. If Hubbard agreed with an idea then an idea is correct and if Hubbard disagreed with an idea then an idea is thrown away as trash in Scientology. 

It takes a lot of work to think for yourself after decades of letting someone else do ALL of your thinking for you. 

"Then she reviewed some of the community's common terms, which to me sounded like overly cerebral, scientific words, in the same way you'd develop a secret code language with your best friend in grade school."  (Scarred page 38)

I also want to point out this quote again from Scarred because it reminds me of one I have pointed out in an earlier post from Scientology founder Ronald Hubbard because it's just so similar:

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.” (Ronald Hubbard, Research & Discovery, volume 4, p.324)12 source Jon Atack



Young Ronald Hubbard


Hubbard of course described "someone" using this technique when he himself practiced it! Quite diabolical in my opinion!

That's why I entitled my initial analysis of Scientology indoctrination "Insidious Enslavement: Study Technology."

Even the term "Scientology" fits the descriptions of being "some subject that is far more complex than it should be" from Hubbard and "overly cerebral, scientific words" from NXIVM!

It sounds like a combination of science and technology as if it is somehow doubly scientific!

Regarding the true meaning and origin of the term Scientology I believe like with so many, many, many other ideas Hubbard did not create it but claimed to.

I am going to quote the top living Scientology expert and historian in my opinion cult expert Jon Atack from his article

Possible origins for Dianetics and Scientology

(available free online)


""SCIENTOLOGY"

The name Scientology is borrowed. It was first used by philologist Allen Upward in The New World (which was published in 1910 in the U.S.). Upward used the word to mean "pseudo-science". Nordenholz, an Aryan race theorist, adopted the word "Scientologie" as the title of a 1934 book. Nordenholz's book was translated into English and published in the 1960s by former Scientologist Woodward McPheeters, who claimed many parallels between Nordenholz's work and that of Hubbard. Nordenholz used the word "Scientologie" to mean "the science of the constitution and usefulness of knowledge and knowing" or the "science of consciousness".

Hubbard claimed both to have coined the term himself prior to the inception of Dianetics (in 1950) ("In 1938 I codified certain axioms and phenomena into what I called SCIENTOLOGY"), yet also claimed that Mary Sue Hubbard had coined it . He did not meet Mary Sue until 1951." (Jon Atack)


Jon Atack









Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism

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