going-clear-scientology-hollywood-and-the-prison-of-belief-by-lawrence-wright-2

and on the suggestion of my doctor was seeking a warmer climate for a short while in
order to recover,” he said, in an unprompted explanation to the CIA. He resigned as
Executive Director of the Church of Scientology and sold his interests in the Hubbard
Association of Scientologists International, although he maintained actual control of the
organization through his innumerable telexes. He journeyed to Rhodesia, the South
African republic that had recently declared its independence from the United Kingdom
(it later became Zimbabwe). Isolated, diplomatically spurned, and subject to
international sanctions, the Rhodesian government served a clique of white colonists
who ruled over an insurgent black majority. To Hubbard, Rhodesia seemed ripe for a
takeover. He felt a kinship with the republic’s dashing and amboyant founder, Cecil
John Rhodes, who also had red hair and a taste for swashbuckling adventure. Hubbard
believed he might have been Rhodes in a previous life, although it’s unclear whether he
knew that Rhodes was homosexual.
Hubbard had a fantasy that he would be welcomed in Rhodesia, that the black
population would embrace him like a brother, and that eventually he would become its
leader, issuing passports and his own currency. However, the current prime minister,
Ian Smith, was desperately trying to negotiate a settlement with the black nationalist
movement that would preserve white-minority rule. Hubbard thoughtfully wrote up a
constitution for the government that he claimed would accomplish just that, but he
couldn’t get anyone to take it seriously.
While Hubbard talked about his big plans for developing the country, the government
became increasingly suspicious of his motives and his resources. Ultimately, Hubbard’s
visa was not renewed. “He told me Ian Smith was going to be shot because he was a
‘Suppressive,’ ” John McMaster said. “The real reason that Hubbard was kicked out of
Rhodesia was that his cheques bounced.”
Hubbard returned to England with a new scheme. If the world’s governments were
lining up against him, he would put himself beyond reach. Scientologists were
whispering about a clandestine “sea project” that their leader was planning. He quietly
began acquiring a small fleet of oceangoing vessels. Then he disappeared again.
This time, he went to Tangier, the Moroccan city on the Strait of Gibraltar, which was
a famous hangout for hipsters and artists. There he began his research on Operating
Thetan Level Three (OT III), his “Wall of Fire.” Mary Sue and the children remained in
England, but Hubbard wrote to her daily, complaining of a barking dog that was
interrupting his work, and various ailments—a bad back, and a lung problem that
emerged from a lingering cold. He admitted that he was “drinking lots of rum” and
taking drugs—“pinks and grays”—while he was doing his research. He would sign o on
the letters, “Your Sugie.” Hubbard stayed only a month in Tangier before moving to Las
Palmas in the Canary Islands, where one of his followers found him deeply depressed
and surrounded by pills of all kinds. “I want to die,” he said. Alarmed, Mary Sue ew
down to take care of him.
In September 1967, Hubbard made a recording for his followers to explain his absence
and inform them of important discoveries in his OT III research. “All this recent career
has been relatively hard on this poor body,” he relates. “I’ve broken its back, broken its