Golden Era Productions - Blown For Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology

BLOWN FOR GOOD

Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology

By

Marc Headley

Published by BFG Books, Inc. atSmashwords

Copyright 2010 BFG Books, Inc.

This book is available in print at http://www.blownforgood.com

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person youshare it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should returnto Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the author's work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I want to thank all those who have spoken outabout what happened to them behind the iron curtain of Scientology.Reading these accounts reaffirmed my suspicion that these were notisolated incidences or circumstances that had only happened tome.

I wish to thank all those who host internetmessage boards and sites that provide a place for people to voicetheir thoughts and tell their individual stories. These have avalue that cannot be overestimated. For someone who got out andfound these, it helped me to regain a perspective, find out thetruth behind an entire body of lies, and helped me come to termswith having spent half my life living based on falseinformation.

They also provided me a voice with which tospeak out. I have gotten hundreds of emails and letters frompeople, thanking me for exposing what goes on behind the scenes atthe highest echelon of Scientology, and attributing to my postingstheir own decisions to do as I did and break free of the chainsholding them prisoner.

by Mark Marty Rathbun

After reading the first several chapters ofBlown for Good, I made a mental note to write the author an email.I was going to suggest he have someone else write an alternateForeword because he might not like what I have to say. While MarcHeadley and I were stationed at the same international headquartersproperty of the Scientologys elite Sea Organization for nearlyfifteen years, his views of some of Scientology founder Hubbardswritings and my views differed greatly. I never had time to writeor send the note because I could not put the manuscript down. I wasgripped by Marcs personal story.

I came to find that while Marcs opinionsabout occurrences we both experienced varied from mine, there wasevery reason they should. After all, Marc did not get intoScientology on his own volition. As a child his mother willed itupon him. I got in after two years of college entirely by my ownchoice. Marc was forced by circumstances to join the SeaOrganization. I had willingly signed on in order to fulfill apurpose. Naturally the way we read material and viewed matterswould disagree. Nonetheless, when it came to relating facts without regard to view or opinion Marcs recollection andaccuracy were remarkable.

Recognizing that Marc and I had utterlydivergent reference points from which to view largely the sameculture and experience, Marcs account became that much morefascinating to me. I began to wonder, how many people had Iinteracted with over twenty-seven years within the Church whoseback story aligned more with Marcs than mine? On reflection, Idecided probably more members of the Sea Organization (someeighty-five hundred strong when I left in 2004) who constitute themanagement of Scientology internationally had a frame of referencecloser to Marcs than mine. After all, over the past thirty yearsScientologys numbers of new members had been dwindling. The SeaOrganization had increasingly relied on recruiting the teenagedkids of long-term Scientologists in order to keep its ranksfilled.

A great deal of that majority were peoplewhose lives I affected for better or worse from on high in thechurchs leading ecclesiastical body, Religious Technology Center.As I read how progressively insane the dictates from my controllingorganization became as they literally rolled down the hill atinternational headquarters in the foothills of the San Jacintomountains in Southern California, and how negatively they affectedpeople on the receiving end, a deep sense of remorse enveloped me.Sure, I had sought out people I had known that I had visitedinjustices upon individually, apologized and made things right. ButMarcs book recreated a culture I knew of and influenced, but didnot live of. As I read of the pain Marc went through I remembereddozens of others similarly situated whom I knew during myScientology experience but whose lives and feelings I was neverafforded an opportunity to understand.

Marc alludes to others who will be tellingtheir accounts from within the upper echelons of Scientology andhow this will forward reform and healing. Such a scenario reflectsHubbards prescribed system of management. Hubbard called for aremote management body to draw upon a multitude of reports fromvarious points within an organization being managed, then coollyevaluating the facts to get the most complete and accurate view ofwhat it is really like on the ground. Only then could anorganizational problem afar be sanely and effectively handled. Thesystem was called the Multiple Viewpoint System of Management.

Hubbard eschewed the notion that someone inan ivory tower no matter how intelligent - can receive onereport and then arbitrarily dictate what is to be done severalthousand miles away. What Hubbard condemns is precisely what Marcdescribes as current Supreme Leader Miscaviges day to dayoperating basis. His description of Miscaviges obsession withhandling everything himself, while preventing thousands of othersfrom handling anything is not only very accurate, it is also whatHubbard described as the fastest way to destroy an organization.Add to the mix Marcs factual description of Miscavige as evil andenjoy[ing] watching other people suffer, and you have the perfectrecipe for disaster.

Ironically, Marc supplies the firstcomprehensive and largely accurate report on the monster Miscavigehas created which may mark the beginning of the only thing that cansave the subject from the avarice of Miscavige. The multipleviewpoint system applied from without. The Lord knows, and as Marcmakes clear, it can never be applied from within. And ironic thatthis report comes from the very person Miscavige has been spendinghundreds of thousands of dollars to destroy for the past fewyears.

Marcs account of the trials and tribulationsone goes through in leaving it all behind captures the agony andecstasy one inevitably experiences in following through withabiding by his or her conscience. It is not an easy barrier tobreak through. Before Marcs book the only artistic expression thatcame close to expressing that passion for me was U2s Walk On: andI know it aches, and your heart it breaks, but you can only take somuch, Walk on... Marc has now provided a narrative that allows thereader to experience that treacherous ride for his or her self.

Finally, Marc deserves props for speaking outduring a period when few with quality, inside information did. Iknow what he faced. I helped to create it. Hopefully this book willhelp to civilize it.

At the age of 16, I started working forScientology in Los Angeles. Soon I was promoted up the ranks andwithin one year I was placed at Golden Era Productions, located atthe International Headquarters (Int Base) in Hemet, California,where I would spend the next fifteen years. Fifteen years withinthe confines of Scientology would eventually result in my isolationand total disconnection from my friends and family for the rest ofmy life.

When I eventually left in 2005, it took meover a year to speak out about my experiences as a Scientologystaff member, the abuse and the inner workings of the SeaOrganization.

After writing several of my accounts ondifferent internet sites, I was flooded with hundreds of requeststo put them all in a book. Everything that I have written in thisbook are my own experiences and my opinion of what happened to me.I have detailed the working conditions and labor practices of myformer employers.