It looks like this story will be all over the front pages worldwide tomorrow:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ja ... gle+Search

Labor Bureau: Japanese man, 45, died of overwork
By JAY ALABASTER, Associated Press Writer



I like this word "Karoshi". I hope it catches on and gets associated with scientology!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi




This sounds familiar. Sea Org often work 12 to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week for months and sometimes years on end without a day, night or weekend off, under extreme stress and are frequently sent away from family and friends. Regular staff work tons of unpaid stressful hours including weekends and holidays, PLUS have to work another job to pay their bills.

Many scientologists die younger than average. This is just another way scientology hurts and kills people.

Well I did read over on Ex Scientologists board that John Harvey from St Hill England had recently died.

He was a great and close friend. I was thinking of him just a few weeks before I had read the news and was wondering, because I knew he was quite old, whether or not he was still being John Harvey or whether he had gone off to do something else.

I do not know how old he was but he joined the SO late in life fairly close to pension I would say. I would say he was a hard worker who took each post very seriously. He was also OT. I would say he must have been well in his 80s and maybe close to 90 at his death. He was in the SO 25 years ago when I first met him. I do not know how long he did.

I do not think hard work would kill a person. If a person was doing what they wanted to do and were happy doing it why would that kill them?

However, working under stress and against ones will, wrong indications, incorrect whys found and unfair punishments would most definately send a person down the tone scale.

Forgive me for pointing this out but the Japanese do have a well documented history of unfair treatment.

As for John Harvey now there was an OT who could walk and chew gum.

It's been proven that things like lack of sleep contribute to the shortening of one's life span.
It sounds like your friend reached quite a ripe old age anyway.I just hope the cult didn't suck every last drop of his energy out of him.
Also,I'm sorry for your loss.

Well John was very happy in the SO. I do not think he would have wanted to be anywhere else.

He was a letter reg for a long time. A very good one who wrote his letters on policy.

Having read so many terrible things that are clearly ocurring within the current SO including the stories of long standing previously committed ex members I can only hope that none of that touched John.

"Induced Brain Damage by Scientology

The following information is based on animal studies- rats, monkeys, dogs and the like. Quoted from: "Animal Models of Depression and Schizophrenia" from section on "Exhaustion Stress".(note 2)

"Hatotani and colleagues (1982) exposed female rats to forced running in an activity wheel until the animals were exhausted, as indicated by rectal temperature reaching 33 C or less [ body temperatures go below normal ] After exposure to three sessions of forced running, each separated by a 24 hour rest period, spontaneous motor activity in rats is markedly depressed for several weeks.

This depression of motor activity was marked by complete suppression of the diurnal peaks in spontaneous motor activity seen in non stressed animals."

They go on to describe physical evidence found of changes in brain physiology in various parts of the brain including the hypothalamus, that manages memory.

"Chronic Stress Model

First introduced by Katz, Roth, and Carroll, this model is generated by exposing rats to a succession of different stressful conditions over a period of either 2 weeks (Roth and Katz) or 3 weeks (Katz et al, 1981a), stressful conditions consisting of mild uncontrollable foot shock, cold swim, changing of housing conditions, reversal of light and dark periods, and food and water deprivation. "

What I found important was that the stressed rats preferred sugar water solutions to plain water and that various physical changes in brain physiology were noted after examination of the brains themselves, some of these changes were noted to take an extraordinary amount of time to reverse themselves.

Also noted and measured was an increase to cortisteroid levels in the brain. Cortisteroid levels are elevated when there is cellular damage, and one of the functions of this powerful hormone is to destroy damaged cells, however chronically high levels of this hormone directly cause healthy cells to be damaged. "

http://www.lermanet.com/exit/FINAL.htm

Armie

Could you refer me to the HCOB or scientology book which states that you should do that to a person?

I know that there was a great deal of running etc on the EPF and probably worse on the RPF but truly I have read nothing that I would agree to in terms of treating a person that way.

John was already old when I was young and although I had not seen him for many years, I do hope that I remain as alert, cheerful, confident and intelligent as he so clearly did as the years went by.

"Chronic Stress Model:
First introduced by Katz, Roth, and Carroll, this model is
generated by exposing rats to a succession of different
stressful conditions over a period of either 2 weeks (Roth
and Katz) or 3 weeks (Katz et al, 1981a), stressful
conditions consisting of mild uncontrollable foot shock,
cold swim, changing of housing conditions, reversal of
light and dark periods, and food and water deprivation. "


+++++++++++Sacred Cult Scripture++++++++++++

Shock is a sudden depression, either the shock of loss
suddenly pulling Theta and MEST apart or the shock of
something such as an injury or an engram pushing them
in together. But the rapidity of the shock has a lot to do
with it. The violence or suddenness of loss, or the
suddenness of impact of Theta and MEST—either one of
them—acts to suddenly change the wavelength of Theta,
and it pulls Theta down the scale. It will, then, more
certainly trap the Theta if it is sudden. If the loss or
impact is slow, the Theta starts down against it and comes
back up.

That is why you can take a person into an engram and
run him through it phrase by phrase: because the time
factor is different. This engram, then, doesn’t affect him
as violently as it did at the moment of impact. The impact
is usually sharp; even during an operation when he is
being cut with a knife it is fairly sharp. When you start
through this engram at auditing speed you are going
much slower than the destruction of the tissue.

So you get this sudden depression. The more sudden the
depression, the more likely the Theta is to remain down.
And if you can cause a very abrupt and sudden drop in tone
in anybody, there is a greater chance of the Theta going
down, and if you could cause a drop in tone as sudden as
that caused by a high-velocity bullet striking an individual—
if you could do this just by saying something to them—the
person would die. Actually, when you cause a physical
impact you are addressing the MEST, and it sort of drives
out the Theta; the Theta reacts together with the MEST.
But theoretically you can do this on the Theta side alone.

That is why people say “Break the news to him slowly.”
That is actually a very good idea but it is usually done
wrong. What they do is break the news to him confusingly.
For example, somebody comes in and says, “I have
something to tell you. I think you had better sit down.”

The person says, “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

“Now, just be calm.” And the poor man to whom he is
talking starts spinning and starts going anaten right there.
Then he says, “Well, the chauffeur just ran off with your wife.”

This is getting him confused and that is just exactly like
hypnotizing him. Actually, that is all hypnotism is: getting
the mind good and fixed or good and confused—one thing
or the other— and then putting in a suggestion. The Theta
is not aligned to receive it or think about it—and doesn’t
think about it afterwards.

— L. Ron Hubbard Lecture 12 June 1951:
The Theory Behind Theta And MEST

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mog, I am glad that your friend John did not suffer from stress or overwork during his years as a letter reg. Not everybody who smokes cigarettes dies of lung cancer, either. That doesn't mean that because some people don't die from it the danger doesn't exist.

I have known hundreds of SO and Ex-Sea org including many who died or became ill at very young ages of diseases that don't usually strike people until they are older.

Take diabetes for example, it can be brought on by stress, and if not handled by a proper diet, schedule and medical treatment, a person will die in just a few years. With proper management diabetics can live a normal lifespan. Same with heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and other stess related conditions.

Stress is not just mental, your body can be stressed by lack of sleep, poor nutrition, exposure to toxic materials, etc even if you are happy and doing something you love.

In the article about the Japanese executive, it said he worked 80 hours of overtime a month. An average Sea Org member works over 80 hours a week, making at least 160 hours of overtime a month.

Sea Org and staff do live under physically and mentally stressful conditions, even though they usually believe what they are doing is more important than their own lives.

Unfortunately many (not all) pay for this lifestyle by sacrificing their own health, families and sometimes their lives.

This needs to be recognized and scientologys physical abuse (the dangers of which Arnie points out) stopped.

no I can't, I leave that to other more recent escapees

I'd cite David Mayos treatment

Sinking The Master Mariner LINK

Or that girl who was chained up in the basement of the Fort Harrison..
http://www.lermanet.com/cos/exhibitb.html

I take your points.

However, not all scientologists are SO members, although most do work very hard.

I would agree with the points on good nutrition and medical care both of which are clearly missing in the care of SO and for that matter because of poor wages full time org staff. When you contrast that with stories of the COB gambling and wearing fancy shirts and recieving expensive presents paid out of poor staff wages you would have to say its not acceptable.

When they put up the prices in the mid 70s it was said that this was to make conditions better for SO and staff. This clearly never happened.

However, for me the dynamics expand from the first. If you take care of your first dynamic, then you can have a second, third, fourth etc.

This is how I understand scientology should be.

If you are dead then where is your third dynamic? I mean next time you might decied to be a dog or cat. Some cats have very nice tails.

I am not sure if diabetics is brought on by stress. Some children have it at a very young age. As for heart disease and strokes well these things can be brought on from drinking smoking and overeating. Two of which are mostly indulged in by non scientologists. So physical illness and conditions are something shared by all of us.

However, not having enough to eat, or only having a very poor diat would certainly not be good for your body. Lack of sleep is clearly not good either otherwise it would not be one of the rudiments checked before auditing a person. There is data that would indicate that physically tired would send up the TA. So I am not sure that it is anything written that has brought about the current abuse situation.

On the other hand. Scientologists, me included once upon a time, often push themselves in order to put up stats, handle the kids, the wog job, the org post. They forget that the first dynamic should have as high if not higher priority than the third. Its on this point that the COS takes advantage of people, and if there is brainwashing its on this point it occurs.

Obviously, we all live on a planet where crime and war exsist. God knows how bad it is going to get as oil supplies diminish. However, eating beans and rice so that a crowd of priviledge OTs can create some kind of in club to attend dinners exclusive to them so that they can tell eachother how special they are is not in my humble opinion going to save any of our arses.

I agree with most of what you are saying Mog. It is wrong of scientology not to care about the health and well-being of their staff.

I just wanted to explain that there are 2 types of Diabetes; Type I is hereditary and comes on in childhood because the body produces no insulin.
Type II (usually called "adult onset" diabetes) can happen to anyone, but is often brought on by stress, poor diet, organ damage, or other things. With type II the body produces some insulin, but not enough to control the blood sugar and so people get sick. Actually, there is an epidemic in the US of overweight children developing Type II diabetes so they can't call it "adult onset" anymore.

This is a very simple explanation, google "diabetes and stress" if want more information. Anyone can develop diabetes so it is a good idea to know what to watch out for. It has been estimated that by the time someone gets diagnosed they have been diabetic for years. Early intervention can prevent early death and complications like heart and kidney damage, losing fingers, toes and other things.

As far as having no 3rd dynamic if you are dead, most hard core scientologists believe that they will come back and easily pick up a new body or go off to 'Target 2" with LRH. When a Sea Org member dies, they are granted a "21 year leave of absense" and a copy is put in their ethics folder. They also believe all illness and accidents are due to a PTS condition, so they think they "pulled it in" and try to handle their out-ethics instead of seek medical attention.

This is a very dangerous and deluded way of thinking, especially when combined with the high stress and high risk environment and lifestyle of staff members.

We are all going to die of something, it's true. But just because there are worse things doesn't excuse this supposed "church" for doing bad things to it's staff.

Well I think that all medical conditions should be treated by doctors first. Whatever caused the condition it has to be handled by people who understand it and the physical body that would be a doctor. I mean maybe you were down tone or lets say out ethics and cheated on your wife (not you just somebody) and now you have AIDs. Well all the ethics handling and auditing in the world is not going to kill off the virus. However, medical treatment could keep it under control. After that was sorted out then maybe ethics or even if possible depending on drugs you were taking auditing might bring you up tone so you no longer cheat on your wife and being happier this might help your longevity.

The problem is that frequently a person is made wrong for being sick or having an accident. The attitude is that a person must have done something really bad to have got ill. Its my observation that if a person does have a PTS situation the EO or whoever usually goes for the obvious target as the SP and indicates that to the person as the reason they are rollercoasting. The EO obtains this information from the person themselves.

The problem is that if you know what or who is truly causing you the problem then you would handle it and would not be PTS. A true SP is really hard to spot.

I think the whole area of SP and PTS is the the area of great incorrect application and is clearly causing a great deal of upset and protest from the public. The goal of a scientologist should be to free up theta, bring about greater understanding and a saner environment. So if somebody is sick then take them flowers invalidating them will not key them out. Thats for sure.

Sometimes you have to disconnect from people. Maybe they are not Sps but they cause you upset and bring you down. Why would you want to stay connected?

Obesity and lack of exercise have a lot to do with diabetes.

Stress? It isn't even on the list.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 002072.htm

Pre Diabetes and Stress



http://pre-diabetes.insulitelabs.com/pr ... stress.php

Google up stress and diabetes, SM and see for yourself.