On this day of declaring independence, we want to hear about your own fight for freedom

[Karen#1]

TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:

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Here in the United States we are celebrating our independence, and we hope you are too, wherever you are.

Last year, your proprietor was feeling especially patriotic in these dark times and so for the first time we spent Independence Day where it all started, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

This year, also feeling concerned about how this old democracy is doing, we’ll be taking in the fireworks in Boston, on another patriotic pilgrimage.

As usual, however, we mark Independence Day here at the Bunker by asking readers to tell us about their own declarations of freedom from Scientology indoctrination. What first led you to question your involvement in the organization? How did you negotiate the tricky path of leaving if you still had family members in?

If you’ve told us before about how you left Scientology, what’s changed for you in the last year or two? Has your conception of your Scientology experience changed over time? Would you have done things differently to leave the group if you could?

And for the never-ins, tell us which of the escape stories you find most illustrative, most exciting, most devastating.

And maybe most importantly, what advice can you offer to those under-the-radar types who today are sneaking a peek at this website as they consider whether it’s time, finally, for them to declare their own independence and dissolve the bands which have connected them to David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology?

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On this day of declaring independence, we want to hear about your own fight for freedom

Here in the United States we are celebrating our independence, and we hope you are too, wherever you are.

tonyortega.substack.com

 

[Enthetan]

You can't stay "under the radar" forever. I learned that. They will impose a cost. You will still be expected to contribute or face "ethics action". As their finances become more desperate, they will heavily reg whoever they see as still being around. When you don't fork over the cash, they will demand to know why and won't take a simple no as an answer.

Start planning your exit now, including what you will regard as "trigger events" that will make you declare independence rather than comply.

 

[ILove2Lurk]

You can't stay "under the radar" forever. I learned that. They will impose a cost.

I second that.

Eventually, something bad always happens, IMO.

I never found a good approach to stay "under the radar" forever. I never said very much.
I kept my mouth shut and was off lines for twenty years, but kept many OT friends because
I was well liked and a rather interesting and fun dinner guest. I refused to go to events
anymore or get phone calls or impromptu surprise visits at the front door. Kept my abode
and life locked tight and private at all times, LOL.

The Freewinds sent out a special action "field interrogatory team" because they were having
some kind of inevitable local problems amongst the OT field and were on a snipe hunt
(mythical SP hunt). I was contacted by a friend and told I was under orders to come in
for an interview, despite having been inactive for so long, or I'd be in a shit-ton of trouble.
I'd better comply. I demurred and did not go anywhere.

I never had admitted to any OT friends that I'd been knee deep reading all the blogs for years,
but they all probably suspected. I kept that aspect of my life very private, knowing what the
ultimate consequences would be.

Eventually, my friends threw me under the bus one by one when they needed a convenient
scapegoat to cover for their own issues and "crimes," like their peeking at the Internet or reading
blogs or heretical books or nattering. Whatever it was they had done.

That's fine. That is where it all ends up sometimes . . . purging the non-believers or the wayward
sheep at any cost for the greatest good. I'm OK with it. I understand the vise-grip trap they're all
probably still in.

Eventually, something bad always happens, just as it was designed to. You're in and tithing and
being religiously active . . . or you're forced out! Shunned. Has to be that way.

I have a better life without all of them as it turns out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lisbeth and I found other hobbies, like making heretical graphics.

You did the original Basics while in. Now, there's another set of Basics to do on the "other side."

~ click on image to view larger ~

 

[HelluvaHoax!]

.

You can't stay "under the radar" forever.

Not true.

You can always stay under the radar even after they remotely turn off your two (2) e-meters.

I've found that I am able to maintain a low profile, staying at home--continuing on the Bridge and doing daily solo auditing sessions by using my trusty SELF ANALYSIS perceptic wheel.

CONCLUSION: If mad-dog OSA thugs show up at my front door one day and demand that I turn in my perceptic wheel I will do so. Because (like e-meters) I have a 2nd backup copy of it in a bank safe deposit box for such emergencies.


..

 

[F.Bullbait]

Physically escaping can be dramatic but mentally escaping is much more difficult to do...

 

[Enthetan]

Physically escaping can be dramatic but mentally escaping is much more difficult to do...

You have to mentally escape first. You have to decide "This is not working for me".

 

[F.Bullbait]

You have to mentally escape first. You have to decide "This is not working for me".

That is not the end of it. After you are out, you have to chuck the Scio viewpoint. Not easy to do.

The work is to reduce the Scientology universe to zero and expand your personal universe to infinity.

 

[Hatshepsut]

When my ex husband was finally told he was an illegal PC because of his paralysis, I thought that would be 'it'. But when he finally did pass away 25 yrs later, his brother in Decatur flew his ashes down to Clearwater to be dumped in the bay there at pier 60. I had thought he was done with all that, til I got the phone call from Tampa airport. He'd had such a hard time getting what he needed in Scn. He'd flown all over fighting to be granted his Clear status. He'd even gone to see Dr Gene Denk, Ron's physician in California. He never seemed to get his cycles finished, even though diligent in the attempts. That's crazy making, when your spirit's flames gets put out, one after another, just to keep igniting on the same course with NO progress.

He once tried to get me in trouble for saying the signature on his letter from LRH, was just a rubber stamp! I don't think I was ever a true believer like that, but I did retain the mindset due to prior memories. In the end, there always seemed to be something wrong with time track. It just was never right. Never honest or true. It was always jerry-rigged. I crawled out of a black hole of introspection by my fingernails and it took almost 3 yrs to get my mind back. I think 2.5 yrs is the average it takes to come back from this type total breakdown on your own.

 

[HelluvaHoax!]

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PREVIOUSLY POSTED BY ILOVE2LURK

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NEW UPDATED SUGGESTED READING LIST

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[ILove2Lurk]

^^^^^ Don's got plenty of chutzpah to title his book like he did there. . .He's a real mensch!

 

[Hatshepsut]

Someone will put the kibosh on it.

 

[Cat's Squirrel]

I would add Stewart Lamont's "Religion Inc." to that list of books. Stewart writes from the viewpoint of someone who is knowledgeable about religion and Christianity in particular and can say why Scn doesn't qualify as one.

Carnegie Mellon University is hosting it online;

Stewart Lamont - Religion Inc.

 

[Hatshepsut]

I went to the Carnegie Mellon University link and this old Clambake article immediately came up making fun of Ron's brain. I can't believe this was in a Source mag.

Bodies in Pawn