From their comments it was obvious that the pay was very low. Even so, I wanted to work with them. I was told that I would have to "petition" the Guardian's Office of the Church to obtain permission to join the Mission staff and that I would also have to become more highly qualified in Scientology.
In order to qualify for staff, I would have to do Auditor training courses which were only available at a "Church of Scientology," or "Org" (for "Organization"). The nearest was in Manchester, and was in a partially condemned building in the Chinese district. Some of the walls had just been painted purple to try and brighten up the remarkably dingy premises. There was only one student there. The "Registrar" was too insistent, even belligerent. He seemed to take an immediate dislike to me. I decided to go to Saint Hill instead.
FOOTNOTES
1. Flag Operations Liaisons Office East US letter to National Personnel Records Center, 28 May 1974.
2. Flag Divisional Directive 69RA.
3. FSM mag 1.
4. "The Dissemination Drill," Organization Executive Coursevol. 6, p.112.
5. HCO Bulletin, "TRs remodernized," 16 August 71R.
CHAPTER TWO
Saint Hill
My purpose is to bring a barbarism out of the mud it thinks conceived it and to form, here on Earth, a civilization based on human understanding, not violence.
That's a big purpose. A broad field. A star-high goal.
But I think it's your purpose, too.
L. RON HUBBARD, Scientology 0-80
Ron Hubbard bought Saint Hill Manor from the Maharajah of Jaipur in 1959. The Manor is on the edge of the hamlet of Saint Hill, a few miles from the small Sussex town of East Grinstead, 30 miles south of London. For eight years Saint Hill was the axis of the Scientology world, and many of Hubbard's research "breakthroughs" were made there. Following Hubbard's departure in 1967, Saint Hill remained a major Scientology center. I visited Saint Hill in August, 1975, to see whether to commit myself to six months of study there.
Saint Hill Manor, a large gray-stone building set in about 50 acres, was built by a retired soldier in the early eighteenth century. The house has a solid military severity, largely devoid of Georgian charm. By the time I arrived, students no longer studied in the Manor, but in the "castle," a peculiar folly on which construction had started in the mid-1960s and which was eventually finished in 1985.
The word "castle" conjures images of an imposing Norman fortress, but Saint Hill "castle" is only a castle in the sense that it is faced with yellow stone and has a few turrets. As castles go, it is very small, especially considering the score of years invested in its construction. By 1975, only one single-story wing was finished. The castle is a monstrosity; a hybrid of breeze-blocks, leaded windows and battlements under a flat, tarmac roof. However, I was not interested in Hubbard's architectural taste.
The place buzzed with smiling people, many in pseudo-naval uniforms. Although I had encountered "Sea Org" members before, it was strange seeing them en masse. At Saint Hill they wore colored lanyards and campaign ribbons on their navy blue blazers. A religion run by sailors? I pushed the thought aside.
An attractive brunette whisked me around, carefully avoiding the Manor, which housed the mysterious "Guardian's Office." Between the Manor and the castle there was an encampment of huts occupied by busy Sea Org members. The expensive canteen was also housed in a corrugated hut, as were the book-store and several of the administrative offices. The "castle"
housed the course-rooms and the public pans of the Organization. My tour ended in the office of the "Registrars" (the sales staff), where I was treated as royalty. I handed over what seemed to me a fortune (some £400), borrowed only after repeated assurances that I would make money easily after taking the Auditor training courses.
Despite my insistence that I was only visiting, I was ushered into a course-room. Scientology has a tremendous sense of urgency, which took hold of me. I read the "Basic Study Manual" until the evening session ended. I was then told that a Sea Org member wanted to see me. I was surprised as it was eleven o'clock, and I had to find my lodgings. The Sea Org member was a recruiter, who, for the next two hours, tried to persuade me to join that group.