Ruthless by Ron Miscavige

unusual for him.
    Maybe he’d had a rough day at school. Maybe a girl had turned him down. I figured I’d talk to him a bit and we’d straighten out whatever was eating at him. “What’s up?” I asked.
    â€œDad, I can’t take it anymore,” he said.
    â€œHow do you mean?”
    â€œLookit: all the kids around me take drugs. That’s the way it is. I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to go help L. Ron Hubbard.”
    I certainly was not expecting that. What he was telling me, in essence, was that he wanted to drop out of school and move away from home, away from his parents and his brother and sisters, to join an organization that expected total allegiance and dedication to Scientology for the rest of his life and, as I would later learn, far longer. He didn’t even have a driver’s license, and here he was telling me he was ready to jump straight into adulthood.
    I looked at him. Now he was sitting upright. His tone was emphatic. I could understand the frustrations he must have been feeling in school. High school sophomores are not the most settled bunch. Their vision of the future may not extend past their plans for the weekend. David, meanwhile, had progressed far along Scientology’s strict regimen of courses and training. He was an accomplished auditor. He had jumped through the hoops and won the admiration not only of his family but of many Scientologists in England. I had always supported my children, and it was clear to me that David felt prepared to take the next step in his young life. The idea of leaving behind the burgeoning drug scene and turmoil of teenage years for something he felt would be worthwhile must have been irresistible.
    â€œOkay, Dave,” I said. “Okay. I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”
    â€œThanks. I want to join the Sea Org,” he said.
    â€œAll right. I’ll help you.”
    He told his mother and she was not in favor of it at all. She became apoplectic and rejected it outright. “I don’t believe you’re going to do this,” she clamored. “I can’t believe it!” Loretta’s dream was for everyone to stay together and to open a Scientology center as a family. The last thing she expected was for one of her children to move 1,000 miles away and join the Sea Organization. She and David did not fight over it because Loretta remained in disbelief from the first moment he mentioned his plan. She and I never fought about it because it was David’s doing, not mine. In fact, we hadn’t fought since before I was introduced to Scientology several years earlier. While we still argued, the marriage had attained a tolerable equilibrium, so I don’t think that he was desperate to get away from his mother and me. At any rate, I pledged to support him, while Loretta remained incredulous.
    In those days, I was fully supportive of Scientology and the Sea Org. People who joined the Sea Org were dedicating their lives to helping humanity, I thought, looking through my rose-colored glasses. I knew that David was a good auditor and I thought he would go far. Ronnie, Denise and Lori were proud of their brother, much like an Italian family was when a sibling joined the priesthood.
    The Sea Org is comprised of the most dedicated Scientologists. They sign a symbolic contract upon joining in which they pledge themselves for a billion years of service to the Aims of Scientology, which are basically to create a world without war, crime or insanity. That is what David wanted to do. In 1967, Hubbard had left St. Hill, where he had been for nearly ten years, and had gone to sea. Ostensibly, it was to be able to continue his research, but I have read there were legal reasons as well. In 1968, Britain instituted its ban on foreign Scientologists, and this would have included Hubbard. He began buying and renovating ships to suit his needs. He invited longtime Scientologists to join what at first