(make this part of OSA US DR on RVY)

Parallels between "1984" and Scientology. Substitute "Sea Org/Dept 20" for "Party".

On Lack of Privacy

From George Orwell's "1984" published in 1949: "In principle a Party member had no spare time and was never alone except in bed. It was assumed that when he was not working, eating or sleeping he would be taking part in some communal recreations; to do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in Newspeak: _ownlife_, it was called, meaning individualism and eccentricity.

Commentary: Lack of spare time and never alone is characteristic of life in the Sea Org/Dept 20. Solitude is highly suspected. One is expected to be a "team member." If one wants to be alone, the Scientology Newspeak that is thrown at a person is that they are being "first dynamically oriented." To understand this, one must understand there are "eight dynamics" in Scientology:

     1 - self
     2 - sex and family
     3 - group
     4 - mankind
     5 - life
     6 - universe
     7 - theta or life force
     8 - infinity

More from "1984": "A Party member lives from birth to death under the eye of the Thought Police. Even when he is alone he can never be sure that he is alone. Wherever he may be, asleep or awake, working or resting, in his bath or in bed, he can be inspected without warning and without knowing that he is being inspected His friendship, his relaxations, his behavior toward his wife and children, the expression of his face when he is alone, the words he mutters in sleep, even the characteristic movements of his body, are all jealously scrutinized. Not only any actual misdemeanor, but any eccentricity, however small, any change of habits, any nervous mannerism that could possibly be the symptom of an inner struggle is certain to be detected."

Commentary: In the Sea Org, private "berthing" (meaning where one lives) is subject to inspection at any time, and these are done, often under the guise of a "white glove." Rooms are allowed to be locked, providing their authorities have a set of keys. Inspectors watch for anything unusual that might be suspicious, e.g., a suspicious magazine, a letter from a strange person, notes that indicate anything suspicious. Everything else Orwell describes are inspected and watched and reports made. If suspicious, the person is called into "Ethics" which is Scientology's "Thought Police." One might undergo a "Security Check" which is an interrogation on Scientology's lie detector, to get at any thoughts that the person might be hiding from the organization. Under this type of scrutiny, one learns to simply not think certain thoughts and to adhere to the "straight and narrow."

Robert Vaughn Young
writer@eskimo.com