A clearsighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Looming Tower, the nowclassic study of alQaeda’s 911 attack. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—both famous and less well known—and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.At the book’s center, two men whom Wright brings vividly to life, showing how they have made Scientology what it is today: The darkly brilliant sciencefiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion. And his successor, David Miscavige—tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church after the death of Hubbard.We learn about Scientology’s complicated cosmology and special language. We see the ways in which the church pursues celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and how such stars are used to advance the church’s goals. And we meet the young idealists who have joined the Sea Org, the church’s clergy, signing up with a billionyear contract.In Going Clear, Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is, in fact, deserving of this constitutional protection. Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills of observation, understanding, and shaping a story into a compelling narrative, Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet keenly incisive book that reveals the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.
[...]... The breakup of the home and family, the confusion in problems of morals and behavior, the frustration of the individual need for love, self-expression and freedom, and the immanence of the total destruction of western civilization all indicate the need for a basic reexamination and alteration of individual and social values,” Parsons writes in a brief manifesto “Mature investigation on the part of. .. left in the mailbox when he was back in Port Orchard; she took the letters, read them, then vengefully switched the envelopes, and put them back in the mail For a while, Ron and Polly didn’t speak They were apparently reconciled in 1940, when the two of them cruised to Alaska on their thirtyfoot ketch, the Magician, which they called Maggie They left their children with other family members for the several... that would be obscured by the deaths of tens of thousands of others One month after the invasion of Okinawa, Hubbard was admitted to the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California, complaining of stomach pains This is a key moment in the narrative of Dianetics and Scientology “Blinded with injured optic nerves and lame with physical injuries to hip and back at the end of World War II, I faced an... Commander” (he was actually not yet a full lieutenant), who was “a veteran sub-hunter of the battles of the Pacific and the Atlantic.” There is a photo of Hubbard and Moulton standing in front of the small ship, which was suited mainly for harbor patrol Hubbard is wearing his glasses and holding a pipe in his hands, with the collar of his pea jacket turned up and a determined look on his face “These... explains, is the “technic” of discovering unconscious motivations that harm the health or happiness of the individual Once the patient understands the motives behind his neurotic behavior, his symptoms automatically disappear “This uncovering of the hidden motive does not consist in the mere explaining to the patient the mechanism of his plight The understanding alone comes from the analytic technic of free... good friend”—they never actually met Crowley died in 1947 at the age of seventy-two “That’s when Dad decided that he would take over the mantle of the Beast and that is the seed and the beginning of Dianetics and Scientology, ” Nibs later said “It was his goal to be the most powerful being in the universe.” with Crowley’s rituals, taking them in his own eccentric direction His personal brand of witchcraft... at somebody on the other end of the telephone You go crunch! And that’s so much Bakelite The thing either goes into a fog of dust in the middle of the air or drips over the floor.” To avoid crushing telephones with his unfathomable strength, the OT sets up an automatic action so he doesn’t have to pick the receiver up himself “Telephone rings, it springs into the air, and he talks In other words, through... philosophy, the pillars of English literature, and, of note, the essays of Sigmund Freud.” When the United States entered the First World War in 1917, Hubbard’s father decided to re-enlist in the Navy Ledora got a job with the State of Montana, and she and six-year-old Ron moved in with her parents, who had relocated to Helena When the war ended, Hub decided to make a career in the Navy, and the Hubbard family... subsequent Action Report The night was moonlit and the sea was flat calm.” The professional writer in him warmed to the narrative: The ship, sleepy and sceptical, had come to their guns swiftly and without error No one, including the Commanding Officer, could readily credit the existence of an enemy submarine here on the steamer track.” It wasn’t crazy to think that enemy ships might be in the area A Japanese... call to him Scientology, on the other hand, was exotic and tantalizing The weirdness of some of the doctrines was hard to fathom, but there was no doubt in Haggis’s mind that he had gained some practical benefits from his several years of auditing and that his communication skills had improved through some of the coursework None of that had required him to “believe” in Scientology, but the religion . Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Hardcover ISBN: 97 8-0 -3 0 7-7 006 6-7 eBook ISBN: 97 8-0 -3 8 5-3 502 7-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. an out -of- body experience. He was lying on a couch, and then he found himself across the room, observing himself lying there. The experience of being out of his body wasn’t that grand, and later. Florida, and Los Angeles. Many of them joined the Sea Org as children. They have sacrificed their education and are impoverished by their service. As a symbol of their unswerving dedication to the