Joy Graysen, wife of Michael Fairman, recently posted her story on Marty’s blog. Long and rambling though it may be, I consider this one a must-read for protesters, as it tells in great detail how Scientologists get seduced and later disillusioned by the Church.
In reading Ms. Graysen’s story, I had an epiphany (a “cog” or “cognition” in Scientologese) about how people come to blame Church leader David Miscavige for the evil policies of the Church that actually originated with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
In many ways, it relates to a Scientology concept of being a stable point in time and space. When people become disillusioned with the organized Church of Scientology, they tend to see themselves as the stable point, and the Church as the element that changes.
But the truth is that Scientology is like a move-through “dark ride” at an amusement park. The scenery is static; it’s the observer whose position changes.
Ms. Grayson’s ride through Scientology is typical. She heard about it from someone she knew and trusted (her father) and got involved when she had a specific problem to solve. Ms. Grayson soon had an even bigger need when her father, to whom she was close, passed away. She found solace in Dianetics – not surprising, as LRH cribbed Dianetic auditing from proven psychotheraputic techniques.
If you read her story, you will see that Ms. Grayson’s Scientology indoctrination went exactly according to Hubbard’s plan. Enthralled by her successful therapy and the love-bombing to which public Scientologists are subjected, she willingly uprooted her life to as to surround herself with Scientology.
“In 1989, I moved to Los Angeles to be near CC Int [Celebrity Centre International] and immersed myself in the group,” she writes. “I lived across the street from CC, and associated mostly with other Scientologists. I felt safe knowing that we all shared the same knowledge of ethics and ARC, and were all learning to understand ourselves and each other spiritually.”
Ms. Grayson met and married a Scientologist (actor Michael Fairman), spent her inheritance on more Scientology services, and encouraged her sister to do the same, to the tune of $89,000.
But then Ms. Grayson started noticing the holes. Needing to ask for permission for time off course to have a baby. High prices. High-pressure, hard-sell tactics to donate or buy new versions of books. She even saw the foolishness in Tom Cruise’s public displays of elation, although she apparently missed the parallels to her own decision to uproot her life and immerse herself in Scientology culture.
“I started to notice an extreme lack of tolerance,” she continues. “I observed an arrogance and a ‘holier than thou’ point of view towards anyone who was not a Scientologist. My ‘friends’ would have a ‘no sympathy’ attitude towards homeless people, homosexuals, as I mentioned, and really anything remotely liberal minded. I thought compassion and understanding were at the core of Scientology’s values.”
And where does Ms. Grayson lay the blame for all the “changes” she saw? Yup, you guessed it – she thinks the Church is changing, moving away from LRH’s original intentions.
Of course, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes’ research into LRH’s Admin Tech to see that the injustices and problems Ms. Grayson noticed were not new. Requesting time off to have a baby? That’s covered by LRH’s concept of “The greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics” (his version of “The needs of the many outweigh he needs of the few”). High-pressure sales tactics? That can be found in HCO PL 26 Sept 1979, COPYWRITING, specifically the section called “HARD SELL:”
“HARD SELL: …assume that the person is going to sign up right now. You tell him that he is going to sign up right now and he is going to take it right now. That is the inference. One does not describe something, one commands something… Hard sell means insistence that people buy.” — LRH
LRH apologists might point out that LRH was referring to all forms of copywriting, but the same policy makes it clear that LRH was talking about how to sell Scientology:
“You’re offering a service that’s going to rehabilitate the thetan and that is lasting. — LRH
Ms. Grayson was particularly disheartened by what she calls the Church’s “intolerance of homosexuality.” (And rightly so.)
“I myself had witnessed countless examples of… the generality that all gays are covertly hostile,” she wrote.
And yet if she’ll just crack open her copy of Handbook for Preclears, she’ll see it from LRH himself:
“Homosexuality is about 1.1 on the Tone Scale.”
1.1 is “covert hostility.” (More on Scientology’s attitude towards homosexuality here.)
Disillusioned with the Church, Mr. Fairman and Ms. Grayson started reading more on the Internet, including Marty’s blog, and then they came to their fork in the road: Leave Scientology or just leave the Church? They chose the latter, and started buying their auditing from Marty Rathbun. As with anyone who leaves the Church, and in keeping with LRH policy, Ms. Fairman soon found herself “disconnected” by the family to which she was once so close.
Ms. Grayson’s assumption is that the Church changed. I submit that the Church stayed the same, and Ms. Grayson and her husband simply moved to a different part of the ride. LRH’s own, pre-1986, un-altered policy makes it clear that little of what they find distasteful is new; they simply didn’t become “Rondroids” to the degree they were expected to. All this will become clear if they are willing to look. But really looking is painful, and like many disillusioned Scientologists, they just aren’t ready.
Marty Rathbun will no doubt do his best to convince the Fairman-Graysons that it was indeed the Church that changed, and not their perspective. Marty is well trained in LRH’s Administrative Technology, and was an active member of Miscavige’s inner circle when many of LRH’s original policies were altered, so he should know better than most what LRH really said.
But Marty has discovered what LRH knew: Celebrities make great customers, because a) they are influential and b) they have lots of money to spend. That’s why LRH went out of his way to court them – and now Marty is following suit. Marty loves to fish, and Michael Fairman and Joy Grayson are whoppers on his line.
The saddest part of Ms. Grayson’s declaration comes near the end:
“Despite the arrogant valence of rightness most of them are stuck in, they are, in actuality, poor, duped victims, whose original intention was to dedicate their lives to helping their fellow man. By their own misguided trust and blind faith, they have allowed themselves to be manipulated so thoroughly, they can’t see that the Church they are fighting for is what is eating them alive.”
Ms. Grayson sees the truth – she just doesn’t know she sees it.
And you can bet your last dollar that Marty Rathbun will do his best to keep it that way.
ML,
Caliwog
P.S. The organized Church responded with this article. Read it if you’d like to see just how ruthless and mean-spirited the Church can be. Remember, this is the same group that was love-bombing her in 1989. I think this is sad and pathetic — misguided though she may be, Ms. Grayson is really hurt, and I feel sympathy for her, while her former friends clearly hold her in disdain. No doubt that, with the help of Marty and his sheep, she’ll blame this “us vs. them” mentality on Miscavige and his new regime. We know the truth.