The
true Story
of Scientology is simple, concise and direct. It is quickly told.
1.
A philosopher develops a philosophy
about life and death.
2.
People find it
interesting.
3.
People find it works.
4.
People pass it along to
others.
5.
It grows.
When
we examine this
extremely accurate and very brief account, we see
that there must be in our civilization some very disturbing elements
for anything else to be believed about Scientology.
These
disturbing elements
are the Merchants of Chaos. They deal in
confusion and upset. Their daily bread is made by creating chaos. If
chaos were to lessen, so would their incomes.
The
politician, the
reporter, the medico, the drug manufacturer, the
militarist and arms manufacturer, the police and the undertaker, to
name the leaders of the list, fatten only upon "the dangerous
environment." Even individuals and family members can be Merchants of
Chaos.
It
is to their interest to
make the environment seem as threatening as
possible, for only then can they profit. Their incomes, force and power
rise in direct ratio to the amount of threat they can inject into the
surroundings of the people. With that threat they can extort revenue,
appropriations, heightened circulations and recompense without
question. These are the Merchants of Chaos. If they did not generate it
and buy and sell it, they would, they suppose, be poor.
For
instance, we speak loosely of "good press." Is there any such thing
today? Look over a newspaper. Is there anything good on
the front page? Rather,
there is murder and sudden death, disagreement and catastrophe. And
even that, bad as it is, is sensationalized to make it seem worse.
This
is the cold hearted
manufacture of "a dangerous
environment." People do not need news; and if they did, they need
facts, not the upset. But if you hit a person hard enough, he can be
made to give up money. That's the basic formula of extortion. That's
the way papers are sold. The impact makes then stick.
A
paper has to have chaos
and confusion. A "news story" has to have
"conflict," they say. So there is no good press. There is only bad press
about everything. To
yearn for "good press" is foolhardy in a society where the Merchants of
Chaos reign.
Look
at what has to be done
to the true story of Scientology in order
to "make it a news story" by modern press standards. Conflict must be
injected where there is none. Therefore the press has to dream up upset
and conflict.
Let
us take the first line.
How does one make conflict out of it?
No. 1, A philosopher develops a
philosophy about
life and death.
The
Chaos Merchant has to
inject one of the several possible conflicts
there: he is not a doctor of philosophy, they have to assert. They are
never quite bold enough to say it is not a philosophy. But they can and
do go on endlessly, as their purpose compels them, in an effort to
invalidate the identity of the person developing it.
In
actual fact, the
developer of the philosophy was very well grounded
in academic subjects and the humanities, probably better grounded in
formal philosophy alone than teachers of philosophy in universities.
The
one-man effort is
incredible in terms of study and research hours
and is a record never approached in living memory, but this would not
be considered newsworthy. To write the simple fact that a philosopher
had developed a philosophy is not newsworthy-type news and it would not
disturb the environment. Hence, the elaborate news fictions about No. 1
above.
Then
take the second part of
the true story: People find it interesting.
It would
be very odd if they didn't, as everyone asks these questions of himself
and looks for the answers to his own beingness, and the basic truth of
the answers is observable in the conclusions of Scientology.
However,
to make this "news"
it has to be made disturbing. People are
painted as kidnapped or hypnotized and dragged as unwilling victims up
to read the books or listen.
The
Chaos Merchant leaves
No. 3 very thoroughly alone. It is dangerous
ground for him. People find it works.
No hint of
workability would ever be attached to Scientology by the press,
although there is no doubt in the press mind that it does work. That's
why it's dangerous. It calms the environment. So anytime spent trying
to convince press that Scientology works is time spent upsetting the
reporter.
On
No. 4, People pass it along to
others, the
press feels betrayed. "Nobody should believe anything they don't read
in the papers. How dare word of moth exist!" So, to try to
stop
people from listening, the Chaos Merchant has to use the world cult.
That's "a closed group," whereas Scientology is the most open group on
Earth to anyone. And they have to attack organizations and their people
to try to keep people out of Scientology.
Now,
as for No. 5, It grows, we have the true objection.
As
truth goes forward, lies
die. The slaughter of lies is an act that
takes bread from the mouth of a Chaos Merchant. Unless he can lie with
wild abandon about how bad it all is, he thinks he will starve.
The
world simply must not be a
better place
according to the Chaos Merchant. If people were less disturbed, less
beaten down by their environments, there would be no appropriations for
police and armies and big rockets and there'd be not even pennies for a
screaming sensational press.
So
long as a politicians
move upward on scandal, police get more pay
for more crime, medicos get fatter on more sickness, there will be
Merchants of Chaos. They paid for it.
And
their threat is the
simple story of Scientology. For that is the
true story. And behind its progress there is a calmer environment in
which man can live and feel better. If you don't believe it, just stop
reading newspapers for two weeks, and see if you feel better. Suppose
you had all such disturbances handled?
The
pity of it is, of
course, that even the Merchants of Chaos need us,
not to get fatter, but just to live himself as a being.
So
the true story of
Scientology is a simple story.
And
too true to be turned
aside.
