((My comments in double parentheses - Homer))
 
                        LETTER FROM BRUCE BISHOP
 
                                 CD - 4
                             Christmas 1983
 
                    Copyright (C) 1983 Bruce Bishop
       Redistribution rights granted for non commercial purposes.
 
     Bruce Bishop Designs
     Box 27592
     Los Angeles, Ca 90027
     (213) 662 5369
 
 
     Dear *****,
 
     Thanks for your warm and thoughtful letter... and for those
excellent LRH references (it is always refreshing to read the real
thing).
 
     I don't know how you obtained a copy of my letter of last May, but
I was pleased that you duplicated it for what it was:  a letter of non-
cooperation with those specific unethical individuals in
management...NOT a letter of resignation from the Church.
 
     I was concerned then (as I am now) with the untenable prices for
fundamental services (now hundreds of dollars per hour for auditing),
excessive and off-policy ethics 'handlings' of those whom I knew to be
able and well-intentioned people, and the low tone level of management
as evidenced by authoritarian statements and the widespread use of force
and threat.
 
     But the most troubling, the most heart-breaking aspect of this
scene is the growing alienation and estrangement amongst Scientologists.
The reason for this discord is not that some of us are good and upright
while others are evil and dishonest.  That is rare.  The real reason
lies in/is revealed in differing Realities.  Realities differ because of
differing data.
 
     Some have had experiences or access to data that, bluntly
expressed, is unbelievable to the rest, thus, if they communicate, they
lose the credibility and trust of their fellows...they are easily
isolated and slandered in the absence of our defense and our concern to
bridge that Reality.  Few have the courage to defend--even investigate--
once an individual is said to be bad or misguided.  I observe that most
of us would prefer to avoid rather than confront this area.  'Keep your
nose clean and get on with your auditing.'  'It's always been that way.'
'They pulled it in.'  'They can always write it up, it'll be fixed.'
'It has nothing to do with me.'
 
     ((There is no one to write it up to.))
 
     I'll tell you the experience that May letter provided me:  my
statement did not achieve much duplication from several top officials to
whom I addressed it, including, it seems, an international 'External
Influences' mission of the Church of Scientology, Int.  They thought my
crossness about prices was not, as I stated, because I want services
within the range of ordinary people, but because I was either a dupe or
a representative of some subversive group whose aim was to destroy the
Church.
 
     This was a startling revelation to me, that one could no longer
register a difference of opinion or a complaint without being a member
of a antagonistic conspiracy.
 
     I word-cleared parts of my letter for them.  This helped.  Then
they were anxious about who I had sent it to.  When I explained that I
had only sent it to Top Management (International Justice Chief, RTC,
Watch Dog Committee, President of the Church, etc.) and 5 or 6 intimate
friends, this further reduced their agitation.  All in all, it was an
informative meeting.  Unhappily, it confirmed not my best expectations,
but my worst by the manner in which it was carried out.
 
     Rather than call me directly, the missionaires arranged the meeting
covertly.  It started out like an interrogation.  You know the drill:
the uniformed mock-up, dripping braid; an adversary attitude; 3 arrayed
against 1; with one martinet ((a rigid authoritarian military
personality, after a French military officer of the same name)) quick-
firing questions in a very intimidating manner, the others saying
nothing, but writing down everything you say.  (I kept stifling the urge
to look over my shoulder to see who they were addressing--who was this
horrid criminal that required such treatment?)
 
     That I was not Declared after that meeting I took to be a sign of
health for the organization.  I have since learned (from an Exec. in the
RTC) that the reason I've not been declared for being outspoken is
'because it would be bad PR'.
 
     You tell me that this past year is the most strange and crazy
you've seen in 20 years in Scientology.  Well, I find it hard to argue
with you.  But the problem is not with the Tech, baby, just what has
become encrusted around it.
 
     You ask my viewpoint on the current Scientology scene.  It's a tall
order.  I'm not sure I can cover it in one letter and a little uncertain
if you'll be up to having it if I do!  I was prepared to respond to your
Christmas message and pointed inquiry with a standard 'good news and
fair weather' reply...but I couldn't manage the glibness.  We go back
along way and I owe you more than social veneer.  Besides, you're a
tough old coot.  You can handle straight communication.
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     You realize that, in reviewing outpoints like this, I am painting a
very black and admittedly lop-sided picture of events.  Please
understand, this does not mean that I think everything is horrible and
nasty and wrong or that there are no redeeming virtues remaining.  I am
not after balance here, but correction.  (When you go to clean a window,
you scrub at the dirty spots, that doesn't mean you don't value the
clean).
 
________________________________________________________________________
 
     A Scientologist has a duty, on observing an injustice or an
outpoint in our organization, to write it up to the appropriate terminal
so that correction can be made.  This I have done myself and have urged
others to do.  In the past couple of years, however, I have learned by
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE that this line of correction is blocked.
 
     ((He means that LRH is still alive but not receiving.))
 
     I have also seen it blocked for others.  There is an apparency.
The LINE is insisted upon, giving the hope and illusion of proper
handling.  But there is no TERMINAL.  You'll recognize this condition
from the old Reality Scale where, just below 1.1 is 'No terminal, solid
line'.  (It's the reality of invisibility--which is verified by the
number of times I have asked and been asked 'Who is running the
Church?', 'Who is the Watch Dog Committee?', etc.  I have never found
out for sure.)
 
     We have complained of this before and here it is again.  This
marvelous technology is not being applied--or at least insufficiently
applied to our own organization.  Who do you know that looks the Church
over from time to time against its own Creeds and Codes and Scales to
see how its doing?  Maybe I'm just a freak on these because I published
them for so long, but their magic isn't in my imagination.  Review
these:
 
     Havingness Scale:  Must Be contributed To.
 
     Scale of Motion:  Management Moves Secretly.
 
     Effect Scale:  Believes A Large Effect is necessary to handle
others, is incapable of doing this in any other than a covert way.  Must
cause an effect but is unwilling to be known as the cause of bad
effects, etc.
 
     What do you think our marks are on the Know to Mystery or the CDEI
Scale?
 
     ((Know to Mystery: WAIT
 
     CDEI: NO AUDITING))
 
     Anyway, the point I was making is this:  Of all the letters I have
put on lines to Management since my return from Europe and discovery of
worsened conditions (and I have written to EVERY key terminal known to
ME) NONE have addressed the issues raised.  NONE.  Yet this management
still asserts its competence:  and, in fact, high condition.  No
condition above Non-Existence could be assigned an administrator unable
or unwilling to communicate.  I have investigated others experiences and
have had this perception confirmed.
 
     Let me give you a specific example:  during a particularly
unpleasant situation concerning someone dear to me, I met with an exec
of the RTC named Warren McShane.  In the course of this meeting he made
reference to several stats which I queried.  He promised to furnish
these to me.  This was 3 months ago and they have still not arrived.  I
have nudged him repeatedly.  Each time he makes new promises, but
continues to withhold the stats.  What evaluation would you make of
this?
 
     Frankly, I'm still confronting the broad situation.  I've been on a
gradient run at it for some time.  I love this Tech.  It has been my
mainstay for two and a half decades.  That I can dissent or criticize
points of the current management does not mean that I love the SUBJECT
less--on the contrary, I'm willing to risk the intense displeasure of
management in its defense.  ((And that's putting it mildly))
 
     Before, as you know, I buried myself in the philosophy and the
technical applications of Scientology.  Once I had topped up to Class
VIII, PRO, NOTs completion, there ensued a long period of digestion...of
sorting and evaluation.  During this period I had more interest and
attention free to familiarize myself with the organizational structure
of the Church and to follow its activities, personnel and policies.  In
recent years, I have observed increasing outpoints, including a
tremendous expansion of bureaucracy and with it the trappings of any
bureaucracy:  waste, regimentation, and un-responsiveness...a committee
mentality which often smothers individual initiative.
 
     There is a big difference between the Tech of improving conditions
which LRH gave us and the organization which was established to deliver
it.  This difference has multiplied (especially) in his absence.  It is
clear to me that, despite what is said, he is not around.  The focus on
USING the Tech in any and every way, that pan-determinism, that sense of
high adventure which was so evident back in the mid-60s when you and I
were studying under him is gone.  What replaces it is a pale and hollow
shadow of what once was.  Those who weren't there in those days, simply
don't know the difference.  To them the shadow is the substance.
 
     The Organization now kisses by the book.  The pioneers who
originally helped Ron put the show on the road are gone and their names
forgotten...Never have I known a group that so expunges the memory of
its loyal supporters.  Old-timers and leaders from the 50's and 60's and
even the 70's are gone...some left in disgust, other blown away, their
fierce old-fashioned independence unwelcome.  So many of those we worked
beside in England and Spain, Scotland and America--gone with their
skills and their bright hope.  And something irreplaceable is gone with
them.  It's as if a small but vital population were blotted out.
 
     We Scientologists seem to have replaced Rolls of Honor with Lists
of Declares.
 
     To my disgust, I have sometimes heard this waste of our companions
justified by twaddle like 'They must have had overts to have pulled it
in.'  Measure the judgment, loyalty and the compassion in that.  What is
the tone level of a group where its individuals count for so little.
Compare it to the broad and humane characteristics of the upper Chart of
Attitudes.  Can you imagine the cries of treason that would greet
someone applying that same logic to an illness of LRH or an attack on
the Church?
 
     ((Zoom, right over everyone's head.))
 
     The other day I came across the original list of Clears from 1967.
There is something to make you feel a thousand years old.  You will
understand this--your name is also among those first few hundred
Clears--it was like reading a list of the Fallen in battle.  So few are
still among us.  Scanning the names was an exercise in pathos.  It made
me think of the debt we owe to their persistence, of the obstacles we
overcame in those formative years of Tech development, the plans, the
successes and the camaraderie.  It was a wild bunch...salted with
characters and mavericks, but there was great strength drawn from their
multi-faceted backgrounds and worldly experience.
 
     The Orgs now are filled with kids who have so little experience.
They have never known LRH and have no sense of his person, of his
3-dimensionality.  All they have is what's on paper.  To duplicate the
man and the breadth of his work requires literacy and the good judgment
born of experience.  Unhappily, my observation (and the stats--the real
stats, not PR figures) show these requisites sorely lacking.  Witness
the isolation from reality, the amateurism, the irrational money-
grubbing (do people not have to EARN these demanded sums?), the on-going
legal suits (so many of which have been self-created), the fixation on
PR instead of product, the recent return to expansion-shriveling pricing
policies.
 
     For these kids that are running the Church now, Ron is, at best, a
distant and fugitive figure.  Few have met him, seen his compassion or
known his staggering capacity for communication and attention to detail.
None have experience of the Church before it became a burdensome
bureaucracy.  To them the current state of affairs is normal.  They have
no other model.  A surprising number of them have been brought up in the
Sea Org.  They have not been educated in the world and many feel only
contempt for it.  They have not worked in Society, they know virtually
nothing of its culture.  They know only what they are told and this is
thin soup in comparison with what IS.
 
     ((EP of OT VIII is Ability to Hold a Job in the Wog World.))
 
     As an example, I spoke to a young executive at Celebrity Center not
long ago and discovered that she wasn't sure what the RENAISSANCE was
(although she thought it maybe occurred 'somewhere in Europe.')
 
     My god, she was a sincere person, but such ignorance in a senior
executive is a telling symptom.  She and those like her have the
arrogance to believe they are going to bring about a New Civilization--
Christ, they don't know the OLD, how will they recognize the new?  Blind
to history, these youngsters have no clue as to what has failed and what
has proven successful in Man's track, yet they have the power to command
and the authority to spend the enormous resources of Church money and
manpower.  As a member, I find myself embarrassed to have them represent
me.  I am not interested in PR and legal suits, nor is the handworking
staff.  I want inexpensive books and services for everyone who reaches
for them.  We want the game of ever-expanding cognitions and
realizations.  We want the fun of helping people without hinder or Big
Brother domination.
 
     ((LRH himself was widely read in the ways of the world and had much
experience rubbing elbows with the real world as he called it, even if
many of his recorded exploits were imaginative fancy in this life.))
 
     Nor can I believe that LRH intended that his subject would be a
substitute for a broad, standard education, that Scientology would
eliminate the need for a thorough grounding in literature and history,
the arts and sciences.  Yet that is the attitude of the current
management.  I have heard many times that 'we' have the only true or
really valid data, that Scientology data is all that is really needed in
life, that other subjects are in some way inferior, off-purpose or too
riddled with lies to be of service.  (The hypocrisy is that these same
people don't hesitate to enjoy the fruits of those subjects; the
calculators and automobiles and medicines.)  There is a frightening
unconsciousness here, as if all the answers have been found, we have
achieved perfection, the world has come to an end--in all the unending
future there will be no further development or discovery!
 
     Look at the level of education in the Sea Org.  Where are cultural
values promoted?  When have you seen staff members in a quest for higher
education?  Notice the intellectual horizon which ends with LRH's
writings.  Hasn't it been noticed that LRH himself is enormously well
educated, that this was a vital aspect of his power, that without this
breadth of education in the world, in philosophy, in religion, he could
never have developed Scientology.
 
     I do not perceive staff members in the Orgs to be surviving well
across their dynamics, in good communication with the broad environment,
with awareness and good reality.  I see an inverted third dynamic which
is, for many, a substitute for their first and second and other
dynamics.
 
     ((An inverted dynamic is one that a person falls down to once he is
BELOW the first dynamic.  He becomes compulsive and obsessive, it
controls him, he no longer runs it.))
 
     I see harried but basically good people operating with startling
unrealities and misunderstandings about the society that are attempting
to transform, lacking, in some cases, the fundamental concepts of
economic, political and social realities.
 
     I tell you, 'outside' existence is commonly looked on with disdain,
those taking the time and trouble to be informed on world events or non-
Scientology topics are seen as 'off-purpose' and of questionable ethics.
 
     I don't know how it is where you are, but Los Angeles is a major
power base of the Church and in the course of meetings with even the
highest executives, I look in vain for an informed and enlightened
leadership.  In the past few months I have gone out of my way to meet
such luminaries as David Miscavige of the RTC, Ray Mithoff, Senior C/S
Int., Norman Starkey of Author's Services (where the money is).  I have
long known Heber Jentzsch, President of the Church.  I tell you with
absolute honesty, old son, I would think twice before hiring any of them
to perform responsibilities as great as those with which they have been
entrusted.
 
     In trying to locate the source of outpoints in my group by meeting
its leaders, I'll tell you what I looked for: Honesty and competence, a
decent tone level, high communication ability, some sense of humor
(always a key element to me), and, finally, the most important: a
harmony between their speech and their actions.
 
     After observing these individuals (and a number of others) first
hand, I found them lacking in even these basic requirements.  Between
you and me, old friend, I couldn't find enough integrity in the lot of
them to make one self-respecting thetan.  Not one could I consider a
friend...or even a colleague to be proud of.  These lads will tell you
anything you want to hear if it will serve their ends.  Behind the
smiles of a couple of them I saw the mentality of bullies.
 
     I personally heard Mithoff, in a public meeting suggest that those
who altered tech be physically beaten up.  This is our senior technical
terminal!  So much for understanding NOT-ISness or Hatting or Ethics
policies.  A number of zombies around me actually applauded.  Here is an
ethics level for you.  (And a C/S for jail).
 
     Heber, last month, was ranting AD NAUSEUM about psychiatry.  It
appears that he believes this to be the root of all our troubles and the
world's woes.  The last time I heard that speech, nearly verbatim, was
in 1971 at the Los Angeles Elk's Club where it issued forth from the
mouth of 'Captain Bill' Robertson.  It has the same lunatic ring now as
it did then.
 
     This fall I had an experience which accelerated the changes my
thoughts have been going through in regard to the Church.  The impact on
me was out of proportion to the event itself...much as a sudden auditing
insight can transform your viewpoint.  It clarified for me the condition
of several of these senior managers.
 
     I attended a meeting in which an intelligent CMO exec named Brian
Anderson, stated with righteous fervor that the Tech is senior to the
Law, SENIOR TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS.  Such a statement will make queasy
any careful reader of history, but the killer implication was contained
in what could only be gotten from the context of these remarks--he
wasn't just referring to the unquestionable value of technical
materials--his inference extended to church organizational policies and
TO HIS AUTHORITY AS A CHURCH OFFICER OVER ANY PARISHIONER INSIDE OR
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH'S EMPLOY.
 
     Until then I had been unable to understand how these fellows could
justify their actions, how they could find the concept of fundamental
rights ludicrous.  Now it became clear to me.  These guys honestly
believe they are above the Law.  'God is on our side.  We can do no
wrong, for ours is the true faith.  Any Means are justified by our lofty
End.'  This is the primrose path that led a number of our executives
into prison.
 
     In this blend of innocence and corrupted judgment, I saw what it
was like to be a moral neuter, an ethical eunuch.  This is how crusading
Christians were able to slit the throats of Muslims and yet maintain
their sense of goodness.  This explained in vivid, personal terms
questions which I had always had about why history was a chronicle of so
much brutality.  This is the heart of darkness.  This is the implacable
soul of the zealot.  When Principle is displaced in the conduct of men,
nothing remains but arbitrary prosecutions and squabbles for possession
and control.  Brian didn't even blink as he made the admission.  I'm
sure that he would be astonished that I even found it noteworthy.
 
     What is missing here is fundamental ethics.  We cannot demonstrate
the superiority of our technology to the society in which we live and
which we wish to improve by being moral invalids, by violating basic
rights and laws.  This recognition undercuts all else.  It is like
commonsense, impossible to discuss, you either have it or you do not.
It is like a tree which stands before one, you either perceive it or
not...it is pointless to argue the matter.
 
     As incredible as it may seem, a painstaking inspection informs me
that these individuals lack the perception of ethics necessary to a
common ground.  In the simplest terms, the matter hinges on my
insistence that administration of the Church be conducted on Principle
(formalized in public Policy), while those I have spoken to find
expedience (and hence the arbitrary use of power) fully justified.
 
     This explains so much of recent management behavior...the hidden
data lines ('confidential orders'), the numerous recent demands for
compliance to verbal orders ((verbal orders are a high crime as they
leave no paper trail of accountability)), the refusal of the Finance
Police to put orders in writing, the violations of agreements, the
incursions into private and secular businesses, etc.
 
     I have no choice but to be hostile to this viewpoint.  Studying the
deceits of Machiavelli long ago, I settled this question of Ends and
Means.  There is no decision to be made, save this one: What to do about
it?  Attempts to contribute solutions by respectful write-ups on
standard lines have been to no avail.  Locating the missing (or non-
communicating) terminals and broaching these issues one-on-one has
revealed our fundamental positions to be hostile.  I can never agree to
abandon principle for expedience as they do.  It is not within me.  You
must be asking yourself, as I have, 'What alternative does one have?'
But let me order my thoughts before returning to this question.
 
     Old friend, this dichotomy of allegiance between the VIRTUE and the
VEHICLE which is supposed to deliver the virtue has just about pulled me
apart.  I am convinced, based, not on hearsay, but on personal
experience and intimate knowledge of Church actions against The Apple
School(s), R.G. Stewart and Co., several Missions as well as
individuals, that the Organization has been morally corrupt and legally
indefensible in many of its dealings.  It scares the hell out of me, not
so much because it puts the Organization at risk, but because it is only
a matter of time before the Tech itself will be tainted and perverted in
the Orgs.  If that happens there will be no choice but to turn away.
They will no longer be supportable in such a condition.  This is the
magnitude of the crime of these mal-intentioned managers.  These are the
lessons of history.  Thus it has been with Christianity, Buddhism, Islam
and every other ethical movement whose administrators adulterated
principle to safeguard their power.
 
     I assure you this is not hysteria.  Nothing has brought more
heartache, spilled more blood than religious warfare.  Even today you
cannot pick up a newspaper without reading of a Khomeini who is
murdering or jailing those EVEN OF HIS OWN FAITH for their beliefs or
differences.  It is the grim repetition of history.  Who can fail to
think of the Inquisition where militant Jesuits were considered crack
troops in the defense of the articles and applications of the Faith.  No
deviations from official interpretations were permitted.  They tried as
heretics those Catholics who failed to be unquestioningly obedient, who
complained of corruption (like the selling of indulgences at huge
prices) or of bureaucratic excess.  Those found guilty were often
tortured for confessions and burned to protect the purity of the dogma.
 
     How far do we in the Church have to go?  It is a tough question
and, these days, not one for the faint-hearted.  These are conditions
that have heightened my concern for our group:
 
     1. We have a highly regimented, paramilitary Sea Org which brooks
no interference with its considerable and growing authority.  It is
pleased to describe itself in forceful terms such as 'hard hitting' and
'ruthless' rather than having as modes WISDOM, INTELLIGENCE or
COMPASSION.  This represents more the bottom than the top of the tone
scale.
 
     2. We have witnessed the creation of a Financial Dictator whose
Financial Police have been 'fired off' on missions around the world to
investigate the 'financial irregularities' of those with even spotless
records.  The up-front charge for this service was $15,000. per day.  I
have been told that they were empowered to levy fines as well and did so
to the financial insolvency of several cooperating Missions.  I have
personal knowledge of their efforts to extort money from private
businesses: off-line, off-source and off-policy, without legal or moral
justification.
 
     3. 'Eligibility' confessionals, at the cost of thousands of
dollars, are now a prerequisite to normal auditing.  What made us
INELIGIBLE?
 
     4.  A Los Angeles Attorney was fined $30,000 in addition to fees
paid for several confessionals at Flag.  This followed an unpleasant bit
of bullying by the Finance Police.  It is a disquieting precedent.
 
     5. The Findings of a duly convened Committee of Evidence on two Los
Angeles Scientologists, Jon and Vivien Zegel, were knowingly changed and
falsified by Church authorities.  One of the Committee members protested
and was intimidated into silence.
 
     ((Zegel has 4 tapes in the field chronicling the history of the
take over of the Church.  The 4th tape is a retraction of the first 3.))
 
     6. The day has arrived (and this is very bitter) when Scientology,
this technology for freeing Man, has been used for political ends.
There have been examples of 'gang' Sec Checking (two auditors, one PC,
interrogation style) by the Financial Police and for the undeniable
purpose of intimidation and introversion.  Also of tragic significance
are violations of the sanctity and privacy of the PC folder--data being
gleaned, edited and published for the purpose of silencing and
discrediting opposition.
 
     David Mayo is not the Devil Incarnate and lying about him will not
make him so.  The field public is not accurately described as 'out-
ethics pigs' as one Executive Director, Int'l. termed them about a year
ago in a staff meeting.  Nor is all 'Management' corrupt and rotten to
the core--some, it so happens, are bright and ethical and Herculean
workers.  However, it is inescapable that there are in present time a
number of malicious individuals in high management positions.
 
     The stats that I have seen are incontrovertible.  But it doesn't
require figures and graphs to know.  Observe the atmosphere of fear and
intimidation.  Be called 'disaffected,' as I was, for suggesting that
lower prices would make more tech available to more people--this was an
unthinkable heresy.  I recently received a flyer for a book by LRH
costing $3,500!  What kind of obscenity is this?
 
     And this unending paranoia about squirrels...the old man covered
that years ago:  Those delivering a crappy, altered product will be
abandoned.  Who needs to rush about wasting valuable time and money
trying to kill them?  They'll collapse on their own.  Staff members have
better and more productive things to do.
 
    ((Ex-Scientologists are Expanded Scientologists.))
 
     Then there is the continual concern for PR--not 'What's true', but
how will it LOOK.  This attitude among management has leached away at
the integrity of our group.  My wife was told (McShane again) that, yes,
the Church had wronged Richard Stewart, but that no apology could be
made because (apart from making the Church look bad) 'LRH said never to
apologize for any mistake, real or imagined.'  That's the Auditor's
Code, for AUDITORS to apply to PCs in AUDITING SESSIONS.  With Mis-
Understoods like these being operated on by senior managers, we are
fortunate that the Church is doing as well as it is.
 
     ((I don't have the policy, but I believe he says that if you put
the wrong person's head on a pike, you 'dust their heads off',make your
apologies later and reinstate them.  It's in Staff Status 0))
 
     ((HCOPL 23 December 1965,
 
     RIGHTS OF A SUPPRESSIVE PERSON OR GROUP
 
     A truly Suppressive Person or Group has no rights of any kind as
Scientologists and actions taken against them are not punishable under
Scientology Ethics Codes.
 
     However a person or group may be falsely labelled a Suppressive
Person or Group.  Should the person or group claim the label to be
false, he, she or they may request a Committee of Evidence via their
nearest HCO.  The executive with the power to convene a Committee of
Evidence must do so if one is requested for recourse or redress of
wrongs.
 
     ...
 
     The committee must pay attention to any actual evidences that the
person or group that is accused of being suppressive may produce
particularly to the effect of having helped Scientology or
Scientologists or a Scientologist and if this is seen to outweigh the
accusataions, proof or lack of it, the person is absolved.
 
     ...
 
     Failing to prove guilt of Suppressive Acts, the Committee must
absolve the person or group PUBLICLY.'))
 
     This is enough, although I have not mentioned the authoritarian
suppression of the Missions last October and the collapse of numerous
field groups (unadmitted--in fact, denied by RTC) or the arbitrary
closing of all field ethics practices.  It is enough.
 
     The book that I am writing deals with such issues in principle and
historical example.  It appalls me all the more therefore to see such
startling parallels within my own movement...to hear the echoes of an
authoritarianism which I despise, to observe the ugly name-calling, to
witness the hardening of hearts of Scientologist against Scientologist
as individuals become increasingly polarized.
 
     ((Inside Scientology joke,
 
     "What's the difference between a Nigger and a Squirrel?"
     "The Nigger is a Human Being."))
 
     All this effort, waste and enturbulation when what we all should be
doing is auditing and training people as quickly and honestly and
cheaply as we can.  What is need before it is too late is a
reaffirmation of our fundamental purposes and the freedom and
encouragement to pursue those purposes.  Our leadership is burdened by a
fanaticism about control, unreal demands for money and compliance,
overweening ((?)) emphasis on stops and careful-of's and wrongnesses.
This is throttling the application of this technology.  This is obvious
to any factually informed observer.  I talk to more and more valuable
people who no longer want to play the game--there is too much emphasis
on rules and barriers, no enough on the freedoms and purposes.
 
     You're right, LRH has said it all, but the quotes that are being
laid down in recent issues are notable absent in pushing rights,
prerogatives and rewards.  I haven't seen ESSAY ON MANAGEMENT get much
attention--it's too downright revolutionary--or even the CREED with its
'inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely
(your) own opinions...'  Yet this is just what, in my opinion, will
bring a return to good health to our group.
 
     One thing I know for a certainty: if we are to have a civilization
of which we can be proud, it will be based on respect for Truth; clearly
delineated individual Rights; free and uncorrupted, unperverted and
unaltered Communication.
 
     Prattle of 'OT' and 'Total Freedom' is empty without some display
of application in our Orgs.
 
     There is a limit to how long officials can say, 'You'll get your
standard Ethics later, after the emergency is over.  We'll come back and
pick up the pieced and handle injustices then'.  (This from Miscavige
when I protested the abuse of the Mission-holders in San Francisco).
 
     There is a limit to the money we will donate to legal funds for
'harassed and innocent' Church executives who turn out to be guilty of
knowingly criminal acts.
 
     There is a limit to the lies and misrepresentations that can be
swallowed about our fellows and about the society with which we should
be sharing enormous and increasing Affinity, Reality and Communication.
EVEN THOSE WHO DO NOT TOTALLY AGREE WITH US.
 
     We would do well as an organization to move up-tone, to begin
operating less on the authoritarian, chain-of-command type basis and
more approaching Jeffersonian democracy, a much higher level LRH pegs at
3.0 on the Scale.  At the very least we could begin providing a means
for more representation from the broad membership of the Church to an
identified Board of Directors.  Is this utter heresy?  It is common
practice for most churches.
 
     When an organization begins making Clears and above, it must soon
begin operating at a tone level equal to theirs.  An Org that fails to
do so will lose its high-toned members or be FORCED to change by them.
It is my belief that many of our recent problems derive (ironically)
from the effectiveness of Flag and the Orgs in producing Clears and NOTs
completions.  These individuals have had their perceptions, tone, and
havingness enhanced.  (The Tech DOES work).  They are not so content
with Authoritarianism...after all, they are more able, more causative,
more trustworthy.  They will want and must be allowed to exercise these
virtues.  It will only be exaggerated by successful results in the PC
chair.  When there is growth, it is the Org's job to accommodate it.  It
is the Org's job to trust the individual, to get out of the way and give
these more powerful beings their head...and to enjoy the fruits of
supplying their expanding needs while continuing to assist others to the
upper end of the tone scale.
 
     You cannot make free beings and then expect to control their
destinies.  Their gratitude may grant you a temporary protection, but
their silence cannot be mistaken for support.  Can you imagine real OTs
consenting to an authority which would determine what they can do, who
they communicate or associate with?
 
     A management that cannot tolerate the challenge of dealing with
free Men will attempt to suppress them.  It will make every effort to
bring them under control, to dominate their affinities, to limit their
communication lines, to license their activities.
 
     Through the language may cloak the fact and men be assured that
these incursions to their freedoms are for their own good or the
survival of their group, they will ultimately feel the constrictions to
their beingness and either abandon such a group or move to make it
change.
 
     The Price of Freedom is, indeed, as LRH has defined:  'a constant
alertness, constant willingness to fight back.'  Are we willing to apply
this to ourselves, to our group?  Are we willing to pay it?
 
     Those who aren't willing to pay the price can live without it.
That is just.  For myself, I have reached the point where I can no
longer remain as silent and acquiescent as I have been.  The power which
maintains any leadership derives from the agreement of individual group
members.  If we now have managers who are unethical, it is because each
of us is allowing them to be.  Their strength is in our meekness, our
irresponsibility, our silence.
 
     You remember the transition of the G.O., staffed originally with
tough but high-minded individuals.  You, too, watched it feed on secrecy
and hidden data lines while its power superseded everything else until
it was bloated with arrogance.  With too few people saying 'No!' it
became corrupt.
 
     Five years ago it was very unpopular to say anything negative about
the activities of the Guardian's Office.  Surely only a Suppressive
would suggest that this elite group of powerful and enlightened OTs
could be doing wrong!  Their actions were above criticism, sacrosanct.
These would never have maintained secret dossiers on Scientologists in
good standing, these would never be committing criminal acts.  Well,
since the Church (or none of us) put ethics in, the Society by-passed us
and had to do it.
 
     I never told you about being treated like treasonous scum for
protesting its unethical behavior.  I had designed a book, SCIENTOLOGY:
A WORLD RELIGION EMERGES IN THE SPACE AGE, for them--a big elegant work
suitable for Senators and corporation execs.--my reward for a job well
done was having Henning and Mary Heldt cheat and lie to me and then
threaten me when I protested.  Another case of good people whose
integrity turned to jelly under pressure and the 'any means is justified
in a Good Cause' mentality.  My only regret is that I protested so
little, that the treat of Declare held enough terror in those days to
silence me.  I was cowardly then and it shames me now.  ((It's OK, we
forgive you :-) ))
 
     (It occurs to me to stop for a moment and give you thanks for
listening and duplicating.  What began as a brief note has become a
major unburdening.  These are things that have made me feel soiled and,
as I set them down, I am feeling more and more relief.  My 'think' is
becoming clearer.  You see, I have suppressed a lot of communication.
Over the years, I've justified the unjustifiable.  I have not leapt to
the snarling defense of those I knew could not be so guilty as was
claimed.  I have allowed reputations to be smeared by strutting little
tyrants.  Too many times it was easier to look the other way.  In
communicating this to you I am experiencing a return of integrity.  This
scene may not be pretty, it may not be true for you, but its true for
me.)
 
     However, that is all long past and there is nothing to be done but
this:  TO DRAW OUT EVERY LESSON, CLEAN THE SLATE AND PLEDGE MYSELF TO
NEVER REPEAT THOSE ERRORS.  To be hostile to wrong in whatever guise.
To ignore my fellows when they mutter and put pressure on me not to rock
the boat, but to be 'reasonable' and accommodating.
 
     It is tragic to discover that for all the hoopla and assurances
that the Guardian's Office has been ousted and their excesses cleaned
up, in fact there has only been a change of name.  Now there is 'Special
Unit' which even boasts many of the same old G.O. personnel, although
now they wear Sea Org uniforms.  Warren McShane is one of these.
Smiling face.  Sympathetic speech.  But I happpen to have seen examples
of the destructive intent behind the mask.  Why would his junior
actively 3rd party my wife, saying she is 'out to destroy the Tech'?
Why attempt to extort the compliance of unwilling secular businesses to
punitive contracts?  Why lie to me and withhold promised statistics?
 
     I look around and see those among us who are keeping their heads
down, saying nothing, just happy the goodies are there at any price,
hoping the bad will all go away if they just ignore it...I see this and
I know what has put these scoundrels in power and what is keeping them
there.
 
     ((Lack of Free Market Competition?  Nah.))
 
     There is a terrible irony in this scene.  That over the years,
while we gained in perception, ability and personal well-being, we have
been giving up our rights...they have gradually been leached away.  Our
right to speak freely, to associate, even to think freely has become
debilitated.
 
     Now, to regain my self-esteem and the full measure of my freedom, I
am taking back these basic rights.  Those that have enjoyed the power
which I, and others, gave them by silent acquiescence (in the misplaced
intention to aid or strengthen the group) may now resent this change of
status.  But these prerogatives were never rightfully theirs.  It was an
error for me to have allowed their enfeeblement--no group is
strengthened by weakening its individual members.  And this resurgence
of integrity informs me that I was overdue to reclaim them.
 
     I am amazed to discover so much to say.  Had it not been of so much
personal benefit in clarifying issues I would have ended this letter
long ago.  Let me leave you with one last thought on the subject from
LRH's Tech Dictionary:  'THE GOAL OF SCIENTOLOGY IS THAT THE THETAN BE
HIS OWN PRINCIPAL ORIENTATION POINT, AND THAT HE HAVE THE ABILITY TO USE
OR DISCARD ANY OTHER POINT OF REFERENCE.'
 
     When I have finished the work that's been neglected over the
holidays, I will write you once more.  Letter II.  This will address the
question of What to Do? and of the future of Scientology--for I realize
now what it will be.
 
     I do hope your family is doing well and that you continue to apply
yourself unswervingly.  There is so much hope and richness in this
world.  It's our job to preserve and enhance it.  My kids are doing
wonderfully...Brook is making us very proud with his astonishing
precocity.  And much fun.
 
     I have returned to the Board of Directors of the Society for
Calligraphy, editing and designing its Journal.  It is a satisfying
challenge, but devours time and energy.  Our newly established CENTER
FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDY in Spain is going into it 2nd summer program
with flying colors. 80% of last summer's attendees want to come AGAIN
(and they are a fabulous group of young people!).  We may be expanding
to France after next summer!  Wish us luck.
 
     Meanwhile, I am slaving away delightedly on my book, LIBERTY, LOVE
AND OTHER MISLAID NOTIONS.  It has almost doubled in size...I've added
art plates and several essays.  I'm pushing to complete it before I
leave for Europe in the spring.  Then will come the tasks of gathering
names and addresses, writing promotion, mailing and such (I'm going to
mail order the 1st edition).  Oh, for an extra body or more hours in the
day!
 
     Must close, with warmest regards,
 
     Box 27592
     Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA
     (213) 662-5369
 
     Bruce Bishop
 
     HWS:jes
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Homer Wilson Smith           This file may be found at
homer@rahul.net              ftp.rahul.net/pub/homer/act/cd4.memo
Posted to usenet newsgroup:  alt.clearing.technology