Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief Page #4

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for this counseling

at a pretty good clip,

And so he continued

to come out with more

and more levels.

The real money

was in paying for these

higher and higher courses.

They were getting

into thousands of dollars.

Those prices

kept going up and up.

That's really

where scientology begins

To create

this indoctrination,

Is, "it's hubbard

that came up with that,

"only hubbard,

and you have to

be a part of our group

"to get

that spiritual satisfaction

you were looking for."

The hubbard college

of scientology,

Qualifications division,

department of certifications

and awards

Does hereby certify

that anthony a. Phillips

Has obtained

the state of clear.

As more members

paid for hubbard's bridge

to total freedom,

The church's coffers

swelled with hundreds

of millions of dollars.

From the beginning,

hubbard tried to shelter

that revenue

From any government taxes.

The founding church

of scientology

Attempted in 1967 to get

a court determination

That it was exempt

from federal taxation

On the basis

that it was a nonprofit

religious organization.

A federal court denied

the founding church

tax exemption,

Saying that some

of the church's earnings

from 1955 to 1959

Were used for

the personal benefit

of private individuals--

L. Ron hubbard

and family.

"abc news" has repeatedly

requested interviews

with mr. Hubbard.

We have been told

that he is unavailable.

It was very exciting.

It was that heady mix

of emotion and belief,

And it's--

you get stuck to it.

It's so strong

that it sticks you like glue,

And there's no way

you can get away from it.

I was deeply convinced

That we were going

to save the world.

I considered myself

tremendously fortunate

To be in that position.

Out of the blue one day,

I received this envelope

With an invitation

to join the sea project.

It was completely

confidential.

I wasn't to tell anyone

about it,

And i was so ecstatic.

Here was a chance

to work with hubbard.

And i signed, "yes!"

I was on my way

to the greatest adventure

in my life.

We had an overnight flight

to las palmas in

the canary islands,

Where we found,

at about 6:
00 in the morning,

We were taxied

down to a dock.

We had to climb up

this rickety ladder,

All the way up

to the ship,

And we couldn't believe

this was where we were going.

This ship

was a rusty hulk.

I was given a dirty

old jumpsuit to get into,

Missing one arm

and the other one was

almost half torn off,

And put to work.

We had to scrub the ship

and clean out the ship,

Which was arduous,

strenuous work,

In the heat.

Hubbard came

to the ship every day,

Smoking cigarettes

and surveying his kingdom.

After dinner,

he'd come and join us

On the well deck.

There he was, you know,

right amongst us,

Talking to us.

He would be

his most magnificent self

At those times.

He'd lean back,

he'd look up at the cosmos,

And he'd point out galaxies

And constellations,

And he'd say,

"the fifth invaders

are up there,

"and this is how they dressed

and this is how they talk.

"and see that blip

across the sky over there?"

He'd point it out,

and we were all,

"yes, we see it, we see it."

He'd say, "and that's one

of their space vessels..."

And there was-- the fourth

invader force was here.

The fifth invader force

came in.

And the name

of this solar system

is space station 33.

The fourth invader force

had been there

For god knows how many

skillion years,

Had been sitting down...

...And we'd sit there,

spellbound.

You could hear a pin drop

on that ship.

He had us emotionally

captured and held

Right there

in the palm of his hand

where he wanted us.

He had us right there.

In the early '60s,

Hubbard was

under investigation

in various countries.

His solution was to take

to the high seas.

He made himself commodore

of a fleet of three ships,

A scientology navy.

To crew the vessels,

He created

the sea organization.

The members of

this so-called sea org

Would become

the church's clergy.

They began going

from port to port

In the mediterranean,

show up for a few days,

And then go off-- sail off

in some other direction.

And a very enterprising

reporter

For grenada television

in britain

Tracked him down...

Slate one,

take one.

That's one

of the very few instances

Where hubbard has actually

appeared on camera.

What are you actually doing

On this ship now?

I am studying

ancient civilizations,

Trying to find

what happened to them,

Finding out

why they went...

Into a decline,

why they died.

Hubbard believed that

he had lived various lives

In the mediterranean area

as a venetian prince,

As an italian prince.

As a matter of fact,

it's quite interesting

That exercises

can be conducted,

Which demonstrate conclusively

that there are memories

Which exist prior

to this life.

He had buried treasure

all around the coastline,

And he wanted to go find

all these caches of treasure.

We were all very heated,

very excited about this.

Whatever was

his whim, we did.

We would have died

for the old man.

Don't you wake up

sometimes

In the middle of the night

and think to yourself,

"well, i've been on this ship

with a whole lot

"of scientologists

who believe i'm fantastic..."

They don't believe

i'm fantastic.

If you saw the number of times

they don't follow my orders...

Lrh started to devise

A system of penalties

or punishments

Or what he called ethics.

And one of the penalties

for the auditors

Making mistakes

in their auditing sessions

Was to be tossed

overboard.

"you have done such and such

and such and such,

"and we commit your errors

to the deep."

And then just pushed

overboard.

30 feet, 35 feet,

Do you ever think that

you might be quite mad?

Oh, yes!

The one man in the world

who never believes he's mad

Is the madman.

So we got married a year

and a half after we joined

And moved to california.

I wanted to be a writer,

And my wife--

she was studying scientology.

We had a baby right away,

and the only people

We knew there

were scientologists.

I was working

as a furniture mover

during the day

And writing spec scripts

at night.

Then on the weekends, i'd be,

you know, doing some auditing.

Can you recall a time

when you were happy?

There was

a social aspect to it too.

You got to hang out

with people.

And there were some

interesting people,

nice people.

These are all people

who are looking to improve

their life.

While hubbard was hiding

from public view,

He was very active

in directing the operations

of the church,

Particularly

in hollywood.

This was just after

the haight-ashbury era.

And what scientology

was selling itself is,

"get high

without drugs."

It was a place

where people went

and explored ideas,

And you would often see

famous people--

Leonard cohen,

members of the grateful dead,

Rock hudson.

So they built

the celebrity centre.

The idea was to draw in

these famous entertainers

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