86 International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation ■ Vol. 2, 2021
counter-intention rather than to his
objective.” Said plainly, these people
were questioning aspects of Sea Org life,
and were finding things in the external
world to reinforce their internal doubts.
Consequently, the DPF was “to
rehabilitate and exteriorize their
attention” by getting them to do work
assignments. Again said plainly, the intent
of the program was to get a person to stop
looking inward and (re)learn to accept the
orders that the organization and its
leaders demanded.xxxii
Hubbard would then devise an “ethics”
system, whose result would be to address
“counter-intention” and poor work
performance:
Lateness, poor work performance,
negative attitude, etc., were “out-ethics”
actions that warranted [assignment of] the
offender to a lower ethics condition,
which involved penalties on a gradient
scale of severity. [...]In the [e]thics
assignments we can hear the echo of
Hubbard’s ideas about brainwashing,
which he first discussed in 1955 and
elaborated upon in the late 1960s. This
staff member was to physically wear
down people when trying to get them to
renounce their private doubts, with the
goal of getting them to completely
embrace the collective goals of the
organization.xxxiii
Kent noted that these conditions existed
through the early 1980s. He quoted a former
participant as stating that her assignments
involved “cleaning toilets, corridors[,] and
hotel rooms[, and] some painting and
construction work,” and that participants
were required to recognise that they “really
[were] that bad and evil.”xxxiv
These programs seemingly gradually
morphed into two separate yet similar
programs, the Estates Project Force (EPF),
which serves to train and discipline new Sea
Organisation members, and the
Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), which
disciplines and punishes existing Sea
Organisation members. As Hubbard reduced
his involvement in the management of the
organisation and ultimately passed away, the
programs he devised at sea were
institutionalised and spread around the world.
I have described the RPF as a correctional
facility within Scientology’s legal system.xxxv
The RPF and, more specifically, one of its
sites named The Hole xxxvi have generated
significant interest in recent years and have
been described in terms similar to those noted
previously. xxxvii The phrase refers to the
practice of making members engage in
manual labour while studying the works of L.
Ron Hubbard. This institution was devised by
Hubbard circa 1969. Hubbard was then at sea
on a Church-owned ship, surrounded by loyal
followers and managing the organisation.
The early version of the RPF involved
“specific recommendations which if
followed [would] rehabilitate the individual
as a highly effective and worthwhile Sea Org
member.”xxxviii He described it as follows:
[T]he unit is worked hard during the day
on a rigorous schedule on jobs assigned
by the Review Chief handling corrective
areas and jobs needing remedy and repair.
The Unit itself is thus made into an
effective ship’s review team. It works on
a one job, one time, one place formula,
completing each job before moving into
the next. Each individual thus earns the
right to the remedial services he or she
will receive [referring to religious
services].xxxix
In this section, I have provided an overview
of the Sea Organisation and of the billion-
year contract. In the next section, I attempt to
provide a framework through which we can
think about the billion-year contract. I
analyse the nature of contracts and of the
commitment that the billion-year contract
regulates. I also draw some comparisons to
counter-intention rather than to his
objective.” Said plainly, these people
were questioning aspects of Sea Org life,
and were finding things in the external
world to reinforce their internal doubts.
Consequently, the DPF was “to
rehabilitate and exteriorize their
attention” by getting them to do work
assignments. Again said plainly, the intent
of the program was to get a person to stop
looking inward and (re)learn to accept the
orders that the organization and its
leaders demanded.xxxii
Hubbard would then devise an “ethics”
system, whose result would be to address
“counter-intention” and poor work
performance:
Lateness, poor work performance,
negative attitude, etc., were “out-ethics”
actions that warranted [assignment of] the
offender to a lower ethics condition,
which involved penalties on a gradient
scale of severity. [...]In the [e]thics
assignments we can hear the echo of
Hubbard’s ideas about brainwashing,
which he first discussed in 1955 and
elaborated upon in the late 1960s. This
staff member was to physically wear
down people when trying to get them to
renounce their private doubts, with the
goal of getting them to completely
embrace the collective goals of the
organization.xxxiii
Kent noted that these conditions existed
through the early 1980s. He quoted a former
participant as stating that her assignments
involved “cleaning toilets, corridors[,] and
hotel rooms[, and] some painting and
construction work,” and that participants
were required to recognise that they “really
[were] that bad and evil.”xxxiv
These programs seemingly gradually
morphed into two separate yet similar
programs, the Estates Project Force (EPF),
which serves to train and discipline new Sea
Organisation members, and the
Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), which
disciplines and punishes existing Sea
Organisation members. As Hubbard reduced
his involvement in the management of the
organisation and ultimately passed away, the
programs he devised at sea were
institutionalised and spread around the world.
I have described the RPF as a correctional
facility within Scientology’s legal system.xxxv
The RPF and, more specifically, one of its
sites named The Hole xxxvi have generated
significant interest in recent years and have
been described in terms similar to those noted
previously. xxxvii The phrase refers to the
practice of making members engage in
manual labour while studying the works of L.
Ron Hubbard. This institution was devised by
Hubbard circa 1969. Hubbard was then at sea
on a Church-owned ship, surrounded by loyal
followers and managing the organisation.
The early version of the RPF involved
“specific recommendations which if
followed [would] rehabilitate the individual
as a highly effective and worthwhile Sea Org
member.”xxxviii He described it as follows:
[T]he unit is worked hard during the day
on a rigorous schedule on jobs assigned
by the Review Chief handling corrective
areas and jobs needing remedy and repair.
The Unit itself is thus made into an
effective ship’s review team. It works on
a one job, one time, one place formula,
completing each job before moving into
the next. Each individual thus earns the
right to the remedial services he or she
will receive [referring to religious
services].xxxix
In this section, I have provided an overview
of the Sea Organisation and of the billion-
year contract. In the next section, I attempt to
provide a framework through which we can
think about the billion-year contract. I
analyse the nature of contracts and of the
commitment that the billion-year contract
regulates. I also draw some comparisons to
