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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which was available to all those who subscribed to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
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In acknowledgment of...
by Phil Spickler
21 Jan 2000


    Let me begin by heartily thanking Alan Walter for his most interesting
and informative post entitled "Own Goals Clearing Completion."  This is great
history that finally culminates in Alan completing all the cycles in
connection with it.  I would most enjoy hearing more regarding the result, if
it can be stated in words.

      When Alan, somewhere in the post, mentions that a chap named Strong
who was a big wheel in IBM (Australia) was processing him, and at one point
Alan mentions to this chap, "Someday you'll be working for me," it sounded
like it was something that was pretty hard for the auditor to have; but given
the tremendous capacities that that early goals processing was releasing, and
the incredible accomplishments that followed it, I would have to say that
Alan was not kidding when he said that.

       In December of 1956, I myself was leaving Tucson, Arizona, to make
the 2200-mile journey to Washington, D.C. to join up with L. Ron Hubbard, to
get some training and to become a staff member at what was then called the
Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C., or as us old-timers
referred to it, FCDC.  My auditor in Tucson was a Phoenix-made OT who had
been in charge of printing and publishing at the organization in Phoenix,
Arizona.  In the months that I had gotten to know her, she had regaled me
with lots of tales of L. Ron Hubbard and her interactions with said being.
On the eve of my departure for Washington, D.C., we were sitting together
chatting about future possibilities, and she said to me, "I just want you to
understand one thing about L. Ron Hubbard, namely, that if through training
and auditing you start to become a large and very effective being, if you are
near him, he will not be able to tolerate that, and he will do whatever it
takes to bring you down."  She said, " I know it sounds unseemly, since we're
all pretty much dedicated to clearing and making people big powerful OTs, but
nevertheless, the guy that's put all this stuff together cannot countenance
in his close space really big beings -- it just seems to represent, somehow,
a threat to whatever he thinks himself to be."  I remember thinking at the
time to myself, "This is very hard to believe, and I hope it isn't true."
And now back to Alan Walter.

       Alan Walter did indeed emerge in the Scientology dynamic as a big,
effective, and powerful being, who really and observably and consistently
could make things happen.  And guess what?  L. Ron Hubbard couldn't have it,
because if he had not done everything in his power to keep suppressing or
crushing Alan Walter at various intervals, I do seriously believe he (Ron)
would have ended up working for Alan.

      Alan was of course one of a few in the subject who did become
extremely visible by their capacity to create, and each and every one of them
got shot down as soon as Mr. Hubbard realized the potentials of their
greatness.  It had seemed to me, and still seems to me, that without that
giant character flaw in L. Ron Hubbard,  the Church of Scientology today
might have been something that we all could be proud of, rather than
something we're all ashamed of and wish that it would somehow (quietly or
otherwise) go away.

      To me, a Scientologist is purely and simply someone who is dedicated
to the study of knowledge.  Another way of saying that would be "someone who
is interested in all that is and all that isn't, who recognizes that as a
human being the visible world is but the tip of an iceberg, and that 9/10ths
of what is, is invisible and is outside the visible spectrum, speaking both
physically and spiritually."  (Please forgive me for making it sound as
though those two terms are speaking about different things.)

       It's fun to leave absolute Truth or absolute Understanding as
something that hopefully remains unattainable, since 99.99% of all that makes
life interesting and endurable is the great quest, "to dream the impossible
dream."  And so, let's continue to avoid the Void and not drop below
Interest, except to occasionally enjoy the refreshments that lie on either
side of it.

      The light that indicates I have 10 seconds remaining allows me just to
say Thank you -- thank you for everything, and nothing, and good day and good
night.
     --Phil