************************************************************************
The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which is available to all those who subscribe to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
************************************************************************

Scots, wham Bruce has aften led ...........!
by Phil Spickler
19 Aug 00

Hello, kind friend, and greetings with a firm handshake --
        Praise be to your Scottish ancestry -- a noble and forthright folk are
the Scots, and their beloved poet Robert Burns a particular favorite of mine.
  And the word "ken" as used in the expression "Do you ken?", ken meaning to
understand or get the idea (Kenneth, one who understands and who does get the
idea).  I'm quite proud to know you, Master Urquhart, and more than pleased
that you exist at this time.

         I in turn very much appreciate your thoughts, your viewpoint, on my
commentary, and would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your
proven and excellent handling of another's originations.  If I seem a bit
harsh in the direction of the old redhead, I must plead my case thusly.  In
1952 I commenced to have an extremely intense love affair (in the Platonic
sense) with Ron Hubbard, in part as a result of his Dianetics and an auditor
who took the first course in Elizabeth, New Jersey, who did, by my own
considerations, save my life and make it a life that seemed worth living, and
also and in great part because of the guts and courage of someone who would
take on and trade punches with the entrenched mental health authorities of
that time.  That of course was the period of the prefrontal lobotomy, the
transorbital leucotomy, electroshock treatment, Metrazol shock treatment,
insulin shock treatment, lifelong incarceration in mental institutions, and
the extensive powers of commitment that were legally held and easily used by
medical psychiatrists at that time.

        And so, by a turn of good karma, I found myself involved with a good
Dianetic auditor instead of the chilling fate of those who became involved
with standard psychiatry.  In those days, also, before Hubbard made it OK to
do something with the human mind, there was a great deal of stigma attached
(hard to believe in the year 2000) to getting involved in any sort of mental
treatment.  In those days, you were seen to be nuts or crazy if you did.

        Well, anyhow, as a very idealistic 21-year-old, it seemed to me that
with the help of Dianetics, and then additionally Sceientology, and the
intention to fix things up, that we could make a beautiful run on this planet
without ever falling into the misfortunes of other churches, organizations,
or governments.  And from 1950 until about 1955, it seemed pretty certain
that that was the direction in which Ron wished to head, and that we
practitioners, and the organization, could always remain pan-determined and 3
feet behind the head of the planet and its peoples and its organizations, not
that we would end up in a games condition with the people of the planet and
its organizations and end up with a 30-page list of enemies; not to speak of
the whole middle class of the planet, and on and on.

         Maybe it looked like fun to the old buccaneer to make so many enemies
and have so many games and games conditions, and maybe that is a successful
method for creating a big, bad, mean-  spirited, loveless Church; but I see
it as betrayal after trust.  And my biggest regret is that when I started
seeing it happening, as a new staff member in the Washington Org in 1957,
that I didn't have the guts and the courage of my convictions to do to and
for L. Ron Hubbard whatever it would have taken to bring him to his senses.

        That, you might say, was my big chance to change, to some degree,
human destiny on this planet.  And I can tell you in retrospect that it would
have included terminating his existence with extreme prejudice.  Plus I
invoke in his direction some of the policy that he wrote up for the Sea Org
and Scientology in general that permanently exclude some people from ever
enjoying membership in his group: in this case I would exclude him from being
a member of the human race on this planet ever again, and that when he's
fixed up in that big Org in the sky, he will be assigned to other worlds and
other places to complete his Conditions and restitutions necessary to the
finale of Qual and Ethics actions.

        I firmly believe that it is now in the hands of others who will be far
more capable in the decades to come, with the tremendous help of the freedom
to communicate that has been reached with the Internet and cyberspace, to
ultimately fix the monstrosity that has been left called a "church" and the
damaged and insane portions of his case currently called "people" who lead it.

         Well, say -- that was a mouthful, laddie, and thank you for
listening; and I know you ken me, in the best sense of the word, and I look
forward with much pleasure to further interchange of viewpoint with you in
the near future on this strange and somewhat surreal saga of the one called
Ron and his creations.

       I close with high and highest tokens of affinity in your direction, and
proud to think of myself as your friend.  As a former follower of Wallace and
Bruce, and glad to have served them, I remain,
        Your wee laddie