“What is true is what is true for you…if it is not true for you, it isn’t true.” — LRH
“True for you” is one of LRH’s most ingenious bits of tech, proof (to me, at least) that he really was an evil genius. A seemingly innocent and innocuous quote, the “true for you” concept is actually a keystone in Hubbard’s archway of deceit.
“True for you” is most often presented as a message to outsiders. In fact, “true for you” is aimed at insiders. It is the last line of defense for a Scientologist who is presented with incontestable evidence that LRH was a con man and Scientology is a fraud. When one is presented with facts that can’t be disputed by rational means, “true for you” provides an irrational way to dispute them – just decide they aren’t true for you, and poof, those facts become lies. It is the equivalent of sticking one’s fingers in one’s ears and blowing raspberries.
As sensible as it sounds, the “true for you” logic falls apart under even the most gentle scrutiny. Let’s say I tell you that I have twelve fingers. You count and come up with ten, but I insist that my count is true for me; therefore I have twelve fingers. How can you prove me wrong? Easy: Challenge me to wear twelve rings at once without doubling up on any digits. I won’t be able to do it. Ergo, even though having twelve fingers is true for me, it can be proven that it just isn’t true.
“True for you” also reinforces the Scientologist’s perception that he or she stays in Scientology because he or she wants to. In fact, the path to Scientology was carefully paved by LRH, a masterful series of steps designed to get people to trade their reality for Hubbard’s and accept that buying books, lectures, courses and certificates is the path to salvation. It is only when Scientologists start to see the cracks in the facade that they realize how deeply Scientology has woven itself into their lives. Leave Scientology behind, and so too do you leave your money, your time, your family and your friends. It’s way less painful to put the blinders back on and stay – and “true for you” is there to ease the blow.
What makes me both sad and angry about “true for you” is that Scientologists seem to see it as the ultimate expression of freedom. In fact, Hubbard coined that phrase as one of his most ruthless tools of enslavement.
And whether or not that’s true for you, it’s still true.
ML,
Caliwog
Caliwog's Blog 
Again, another good point. It can be also noted that when Scientologists are in the thick of being surrounded by hundreds of other people that consider “what is true for you” to be that “LRH’s technology is the only technology” that things go very wrong. Young Scientologists soon learn that believing anything is acceptable because it does not require application to be a yardstick for proof. Example “We are all thetans from other planets implanted in Venus” Although totally absurd, the belief does not require any application. In reality what is “true” is something that passes a series of examinations. I found this one of he major traps when I was staff in the Sea Org. We were able to be in groups of thousands and we could all believe the impossible. but it was always the impossible we believed in. The possible which is never really any part of Scientology did not have much value. LRH was drunk and on drugs and slipped down stairs and hurt his back on the Ship. he then tells everyone that this was the result of his reactive mind attacking him because he ventured into OT 3. Totally ridiculous – but because he said it and LRH would “never lie” to anyone, it had to believed.
Dear Mr. Saxton,
Thank you for your post. Your thoughts, and the experiences which you have shared, are greatly appreciated. May your words be heeded. May your courage be rewarded. Most importantly, may real justice prevail.
Thank you,
RB
Dear Caliwog,
It appears to me, that the tactic and intent of “What is true for you …” bears eerie similarity to “propaganda by redefinition of terms”.
We are presented with myriad facts. We reflect and ponder upon these facts, and from them, we attempt to render “truth”. Yes, I deliberately left out “the”. This is not the time for a debate into deontology/teleology, nor theory/praxis, nor any other pet dialectic. (Those are certainly beyond the scope of LRH Tech, in any case!) Let’s just examine this “prima facie” for the moment.
FACT(S) PERCEIVED + INVESTIGATION/REFLECTION = MY OPINION OF THE TRUTH = “TRUTH FOR ME”. Hmm? So it is TRUE! “The truth for me, is the truth upon which I choose to operate, so, for me, IT IS (the) TRUTH! (How about THAT, for a circular redefinition?) Nope. Sorry! Even if you remove its circular argument, the original base statement is merely a TRUISM, and open to many more interpretations than the one which I just offered. It is a truism, a sophistry.
First of all, though we are confronted with fact, the best that we can rely upon is our perception of fact. Try as we might to avoid it, judgment seeps in at every seam. We do not observe the fact as it is, but as it might affect us (or how we FEAR that it could affect us). Values, social mores, tradition, training, belief, faith, prejudice/bias, all of these and more, taint our gathering of FACT before the formal philosophical inspection ever begins. Then what? Well, all of these same considerations monitor and moderate our judgment/decision process(es), which processes, of course, we have provided with tainted fact to begin with.
So, as imperfect as this process is, what happens when we inject a would-be tyrant who humbly says, “Trust me. I have researched this. I don’t claim to have ‘the truth’. I have WISDOM. What is true for YOU, is TRUE.” What if he backs this up with platitudes and sophistries (other truisms) as vague as gossamer, but which do seem to confirm your best hopes and YOUR WORST FEARS? The weak willed (not necessarily the weak-minded, at all), and those worn down by personal battles, acquiesce, and a strange inversion of the “truth process” occurs: Relief! No worries! I had the truth all along! The guru proved it! The Guru can be trusted (critical step)! Hey, I don’t have to waste the time pondering! What’s with this agonizing soul searching? The Guru knows the truth. The Guru knows the source of truth. Trust the GURU.
Once this trust is established, the leap of faith from “the Guru knows the source of truth” to “The Guru is the Source of Truth”, to “THE GURU IS TRUTH”, becomes, not a leap of faith, but little more than a simple attitude adjustment (“cognition”), and, of course, we all KNOW that GOD IS TRUTH, and therefore …
So, it seems to me that the free and sovereign being attempts to reason in an attempt to find truth. The prisoner of the cult is satisfied with the Guru’s sophistries, and only rationalizes the facts to fit his truisms. It also appears to me that, when in the course of evaluating fact(s), wise souls seek the counsel of others, if for no other reason than to provide counterbalance to the flaws in their own perceptions. Caliwog, thank you for providing a space where those of us who seek wisdom can come and share. That, and our trust in each other, especially when we don’t see the truth in the same light, is what differentiates us from a Cult.
RB
I whole heartily agree with all the comments and the original post on this subject. There is so much craptastic verbal garbage that was spouted by LHR that it is almost mind blowing.
The unfortunate thing about Scientology is that all parties, LRH or DM peeps, had to pay for their salvation. This does a couple of things. The first few “wins”, which by the way are never really quantified by anyone, gets your blood racing, therefore you empty your wallet for more “wins”. After a while you reach a point that is very important. Two things can happen at this point. The sane decision is to see that you will be required to pay hand over fist to become “free” so you leave. The second is to somehow overlook this and to keep paying for the writings of a known Sci-Fi author and pathological liar. So if you keep paying into it, you will defend it, because not doing so would crush your spirit when you realize you have given up all this cash to become a “LRH Jedi”.
What that does is then endear whatever “ideology” they are shoveled because the alternate would have to question their initial decision to pay up in the first place.
I am all for people getting on top of their crap and making life better for themselves. I am not for people being con’d into buying a bridge that leads to nowhere. If you want a 300ish dollar dose of “win” take the Landmark Educations Forum. Just keep your mind awake so they dont attempt to keep you paying for more. But I did take the Forum in 96 and I will say you can leave it feeling that there is nothing to stop whatever you want to do, you just got to put it out there.
A bit of a ramble, but I am glad you have this site Cali because I am tired of people thinking outside of DM there is some “religious” take to Scientology when it is just as true as George Lucas’s writing on the Jedi “religion”, it is all made up.