ST83 - What does it mean?

The name of this web site, and its' domain name, is ST83. It alludes to the trademarked term "Standard Tech" and the state of Scientology in, and around, the year 1983.

I started in Scientology in 1976 and have born witness to some of the events from that period, and on forward. I, and the Church, seems to have survived the price spiral that raised the price of 12 1/2 hours of auditing from the low $600s up to the $3000 range. Likewise the Church seems to have survived the government raids, Time Magazine, (I haven't bought a copy since), and ultimately L. Ron Hubbards departure from the scene.

All told, Scientology was growing more rapidly before Ron departed than since. To current managements' credit, the Church of Scientology hasn't dissolved or dispersed significantly, and, perhaps, that should be considered a significant accomplishment - given a corporate culture used to Ron's creative but very centralized "dictatorship".

Leading up to 1986, many opinions and theories have been put forward as to Ron's mental state during the final phase of his life. Having followed the events in real time, (from close by in Riverside County, California), I would have to state that having county court minions, (marshals), poking about trying to locate one before a county magistrate, (who would have required a hand on the Bible, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in a civil court context of newspapers and prevailing public opinion), would have been an impossible situation for L. Ron Hubbard, undesirable for the Scientology Religion, and 'running away bravely' would certainly not constitute an indication of paranoia on Ron's part. (Rumor, and maybe some court records, seem to indicate he threw a big wad of money in the trunk of a car and moved incongnito into central Calififornia where he in 1986 "gave up the ghost" (depending of course on how you define "he").

An additional fact, that bares repeating, is that Ron wrote a huge volume of Science Fiction a few years before passing. I draw the following imports from this fact: 1. It proved mental acuity beyond reasonable doubt, (10 very long books written in rapid succession). 2. It was great dissemination for Scientology, tugging at the group of people with the most resonance and confront on the politics of the last 75M years. 3. Having read most all of it over the years, my guess is he enjoyed writing the later material as the storyline and flow of the material had a sort of enthusiastic and optomistic gusto to it.

Conclusion: He was pretty sharp mentally, right up too, or fairly close to the end, at least until 1983.

Standard Tech

Standard Tech was coined and codified around 1968. It looks like Ron did a general review of Dianetics and Scientology and their results. He created the Class VIII course at this time, and was personally feeling his way forward from the OTIII materials he had compiled the previous year. (I know this because I have read one of the confidential lecture transcripts and found that Ron was speculating on some of the same questions I've been mulling over, and coming up with, since I finished OTVII and VIII). A gross simplification of the course would be: Use the basics, keep it simple, finish what you start - along with a number of confidential lectures that explain some of the case phenomina in OTIII terms.

One might presume that subsequent technical developments, (most notably: New Era Dianetics), might also be included under the heading of Standard Tech, presuming, all the while, that Ron was actively overseeing any technical modifications to his life's work onwards from 1968 and up until 1980 or '83. After 1983 Ron was at least incognito and may have been out of touch as early as 1980, I don't really know the exact dates. In any case, conservative FreeZoners are uncomfortable with technical bulletins written after 1980 - give or take a few years.

The general definition within the context of Scientology is: those technical aspects of Scientology that are the most effective at producing a rapid positive result for the Preclear. Generally, Standard Tech means whatever works best.

1983

So, for me, '83, is a good cutoff point. I wouldn't argue too strenuously over adding or subtracting a year or two, but generally all the Scientology I encountered, around this period, worked for me. Hence came the website domain name of 'ST83'.

Updated April 19, 2007