nourishing obscurity

Yes I know, I know, this might be one post too many but I happened to click on my own links in the first post here and here and having forgotten what I’d written about Scientology, was a bit shocked.  As some of it was a bit OTT, I was sceptical so I followed back the links I’d put in those posts and now just don’t know what to say.

All I can do is summarize the highlights or “lowlights” from those two posts plus comments.

As the increasingly vitriolic rhetoric of its briefs and oral argument now demonstrates, the RTC appears far more concerned about criticism of Scientology than vindication of its secrets.  — U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, Religious Technology Center v. Arnaldo Lerma, Washington Post, Mark Fisher, and Richard Leiby, 29 November 1995.

The organization’s actions reflect a formal policy for dealing with criticism instituted by L. Ron Hubbard, called “attack the attacker.” This policy was codified by Hubbard in the latter half of the 1960s, in response to government investigations into the organization. In 1966, Hubbard wrote a criticism of the organization’s behavior and noted the “correct procedure” for attacking enemies of Scientology:

(1) Spot who is attacking us.
(2) Start investigating them promptly for felonies or worse using own professionals, not outside agencies.
(3) Double curve our reply by saying we welcome an investigation of them.
(4) Start feeding lurid, blood, sex, crime actual evidence on the attackers to the press.

The final results of the Anderson Report in 1965 declared:

“The Board is not concerned to find that the scientology techniques are brainwashing techniques as practised, so it is understood, in some communist-controlled countries. Scientology techniques are, nevertheless, a kind of brainwashing … The astonishing feature of Scientology is that its techniques and propagation resemble very closely those set out in a book entitled Brain-washing, advertised and sold by the HASI.”

An interesting book to read is Corydon, Ben, “L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman.” Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart, 1987.   This book was written with the collaboration of L. Ron Hubbard Jnr.  From the book, on dianetics:

That involvement goes back to when he was sixteen, living in Washington. D.C. He got hold of the book by Alistair Crowley called The Book of Law. He was very interested in several things that were the creation of what some people call the Moon Child. It was basically an attempt to create an immaculate conception, except by Satan rather than by God. Another important idea was the creation of what they call embryo implants, of getting a satanic or demonic spirit to inhabit the body of a fetus.

This would come about as a result of black-magic rituals, which included the use of hypnosis, drugs, and other dangerous and destructive practices. One of the important things was to destroy the evidence if you failed at this immaculate conception. That’s how my father became obsessed with abortions. I have a memory of this that goes back to when I was six years old. It is certainly a problem for my father and for Scientology that I remember this.

The Penthouse interview, June 1983, L. Ron Hubbard Jnr:

Scientology has always had a “fair-game doctrine”, a policy of doing absolutely anything to stop an investigation or publication of a critical article in a magazine or newspaper. They have run some incredible operations on the several people who have tried to write books about Scientology. It was almost like a terror campaign. First they’d try throwing every possible lawsuit at the reporter or newspaper. We had a team of attorneys to do just that. The goal was to destroy the enemy.

Penthouse: Physical beatings?

Hubbard: Yeah. We’d strong-arm them. I did it myself. And you had to realize that I weighed around 240 pounds in those days. When I taught Scientology, no students ever blew my courses! I would go out and physically retrieve my students.

On the Christ:

The man on the Cross. There was no Christ. But the man on the cross is shown as Everyman. So of course each person seeing a crucified man, has an immediate feeling of sympathy for this man. Therefore you get many PCs who says they are Christ. Now, there’s two reasons for that, one is the Roman Empire was prone to crucify people, so a person can have been crucified, but in R6 he is shown as crucified.”

Satan:

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Scientology is black magic that is just spread out over a long time period. To perform black magic generally takes a few hours or, at most, a few weeks. But in Scientology it’s stretched out over a lifetime, and so you don’t see it. Black magic is the inner core of Scientology, and it is probably the only part of Scientology that really works. Also, you’ve got to realize that my father did not worship Satan. He thought he was Satan.

The technique for producing wellbeing, such as you see in Katie Holmes and her completely normal daughter Suri is for members to remember all the bad things they’ve done, their past horrors and this involves  e-meters:

Scientology is essentially a self-help therapy. It is based on one premise that by recalling negative experiences or “engrams,” a person can free himself from repressed feelings that cripple his life. This liberation process is assisted by a counselor called an “auditor” who charges up to hundreds of dollars a session. The auditor’s basic aid is the “E-meter”, a skin galvanometer that is said to help him ascertain the problems of his client.

The bizarre Katie Holmes interview:

Q:  Is there anything you guys don’t have in common?
A:  “You know, we appreciate each other.”
Q:  Has it been a challenge to make his kids feel comfortable?
A:  “They’re just exceptional people.”
Q:  Isn’t it an adjustment to move in with someone—and after only a month?
A:  “He’s the man of my dreams.”

Perhaps even more troubling was the (required) presence of her new “best friend”… high-ranking Scientologist Jessica Rodriguez … Rodriguez jumped in to answer one question on Holmes’s behalf (about rumors that the pairing is a publicity stunt), and at one point prompted the starlet with “You adore him” when Holmes seemed to be running out of effusive praise.

Naturally, the psychiatric profession is on the banned list for Scientology.  We can’t know if she was dragged into it, quite happily went into it, is currently brainwashed or what.  I would suggest it’s something, no matter what you feel about a member, not to go anywhere near.  Remember Lisa McPherson.

Filed under: Biography & Obituary, Religion & Philosophy, Society & human issues