I could no longer get on with my step Mother, I didn't know why. I wasn't even her daughter, yet my Father had left me there with her. Why?
I didn't know.
One day, he came to me and said, "I am going away for a long time, and I don't know when I'll be back" I was devastated.
I cried and cried and eventually he said " I will try and arrange for you to come with me".
And so it was, we went to Tunisia and joined the Sea org. Scientology's stronghold to keep L. Ron Hubbard away from the law, away from governments that thought he was a threat to human society, and he was,but I was only 10 and I did not know it, my Father was 29 and he did not know it and the governments of the world for all the power and might that they seem to hold over civilisation did not know what the train wreck that Scientology was could reep on civilisation, but they were about to find out.
The hard way, like we were all about to find out.
It started with the billion year contract, a BILLION years, a BILLION years. Imagine that. I could not even envisage 5 years and yet L. Ron Hubbard insisted we sign a billion year contract or we had to get off of the ship.
I knew it had cost my Dad a lot to get us out there and I knew it would be very difficult for him to get us back home. He even questioned " a billion years, she's ony 10", but it still did not register, because L. Ron Hubbard was the most important man in the world in my Fathers eyes. He strongly believed L. Ron Hubbard was going to save mankind. They all believed he was going to save the world, I didn't, I just wanted to be with my Dad.
Of ALL the ironies in the world, that last has to be the funniest, at least in my eyes.
On board the Royal Scotsman I was learning even more weird and strange words and concepts, never had anything like it at home or in school.
First I am going to start with the word "WOG". I had already been made aware what this meant and it was a derogatory word for someone of a different colour. It was not a word I used or found acceptable. This was different though, it was used in Scientology to refer to anyone who was not a scientologist.Unbeknownst to them I didn't class myself as a scientologist, so that in effect made me a wog in their eyes. This was my very first WTF moment, if they had known how I did not class myself as a scientologist child, I would have been a derogatory term to them. Imagine being 10 years old and trying to work that one out.
The next one was 'Clearing the Planet'. Initially I latched onto the word 'clear' as I knew that becoming a 'clear' was meant to be of great importance, and previously I had met the young girl at St. Hill that had just become 'clear' and was so happy, I thought I should like to be like that one day.Latching onto the word 'clear' wasn't far off the mark, as 'clearing the planet' meant getting every man, woman and child on earth to become scientologists. What do scientologists strive for? ' to become clear' .
The trouble was it soon became apparent that we were not just trying to clear this planet, we were eventually going up into space and we were going to clear other planets too. This was something I had a hard time trying to envisage.At the time, I did not know LRH was a science fiction writer, I also had not really any knowledge of science fiction other than Batman, and Dr. Who and the Daleks. I knew these were not real, at the time man had not made it to the moon, so I found these concepts hard to digest, even though they came from LRH, whom the adults of the Royal Scotsman thought was the saviour to mankind. Being 10 years old was proving to be a difficult experience.
When I wasn't wondering about these strange dilemmas, I found amusement in watching the arabic traders on the dock, trying desperately to coax the inhabitants down from the ship to buy their wares.They were there from sun up till dusk most days.
I didn't know.
One day, he came to me and said, "I am going away for a long time, and I don't know when I'll be back" I was devastated.
I cried and cried and eventually he said " I will try and arrange for you to come with me".
And so it was, we went to Tunisia and joined the Sea org. Scientology's stronghold to keep L. Ron Hubbard away from the law, away from governments that thought he was a threat to human society, and he was,but I was only 10 and I did not know it, my Father was 29 and he did not know it and the governments of the world for all the power and might that they seem to hold over civilisation did not know what the train wreck that Scientology was could reep on civilisation, but they were about to find out.
The hard way, like we were all about to find out.
It started with the billion year contract, a BILLION years, a BILLION years. Imagine that. I could not even envisage 5 years and yet L. Ron Hubbard insisted we sign a billion year contract or we had to get off of the ship.
I knew it had cost my Dad a lot to get us out there and I knew it would be very difficult for him to get us back home. He even questioned " a billion years, she's ony 10", but it still did not register, because L. Ron Hubbard was the most important man in the world in my Fathers eyes. He strongly believed L. Ron Hubbard was going to save mankind. They all believed he was going to save the world, I didn't, I just wanted to be with my Dad.
Of ALL the ironies in the world, that last has to be the funniest, at least in my eyes.
On board the Royal Scotsman I was learning even more weird and strange words and concepts, never had anything like it at home or in school.
First I am going to start with the word "WOG". I had already been made aware what this meant and it was a derogatory word for someone of a different colour. It was not a word I used or found acceptable. This was different though, it was used in Scientology to refer to anyone who was not a scientologist.Unbeknownst to them I didn't class myself as a scientologist, so that in effect made me a wog in their eyes. This was my very first WTF moment, if they had known how I did not class myself as a scientologist child, I would have been a derogatory term to them. Imagine being 10 years old and trying to work that one out.
The next one was 'Clearing the Planet'. Initially I latched onto the word 'clear' as I knew that becoming a 'clear' was meant to be of great importance, and previously I had met the young girl at St. Hill that had just become 'clear' and was so happy, I thought I should like to be like that one day.Latching onto the word 'clear' wasn't far off the mark, as 'clearing the planet' meant getting every man, woman and child on earth to become scientologists. What do scientologists strive for? ' to become clear' .
The trouble was it soon became apparent that we were not just trying to clear this planet, we were eventually going up into space and we were going to clear other planets too. This was something I had a hard time trying to envisage.At the time, I did not know LRH was a science fiction writer, I also had not really any knowledge of science fiction other than Batman, and Dr. Who and the Daleks. I knew these were not real, at the time man had not made it to the moon, so I found these concepts hard to digest, even though they came from LRH, whom the adults of the Royal Scotsman thought was the saviour to mankind. Being 10 years old was proving to be a difficult experience.
When I wasn't wondering about these strange dilemmas, I found amusement in watching the arabic traders on the dock, trying desperately to coax the inhabitants down from the ship to buy their wares.They were there from sun up till dusk most days.
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