This week, it’s answers about Scientology’s confidential “pc folders,” a breakdown of what lie detectors and E-meters are detecting, some deeper-than-usual discussion of religion and a lot more. Enjoy!
(1) As a follow up to my question last week about worksheets in auditing, sometimes an auditor is required to create a new pc folder, usually because additional space is needed or a folder was damaged in some way. Many auditors take the opportunity to express artistic or verbal talent in creating a folder. There are many impressive and interesting-looking folders, often having humorous phrases, name variations, or even caricatures. It is always in good taste. Did you notice that in your time?
(2) I’m really into aviation and one thing I’m very familiar with is spatial disorientation which is when you can’t see the horizon and you could be upside down and not even know it. As an analogy, could that same kind of spatial disorientation be caused if you are hooked up to a lie detector or E-meter and the operator is telling you that what you’re saying isn’t true when you know for a fact it is? If I hook myself up to a lie detector and just asked it questions, I think I would lose my bearings really fast and could convince myself of anything. Especially if you believe that I tell the lie detector that the sky is purple enough that eventually I will believe it and won’t even know what blue means anymore. What do you think?
(3) Do you think that Scientology or indeed any other “cult” would have risen and become a real religion if there wasn’t Christianity or other larger religions in their way? I’m wondering if they had all started at once, whether Scientology would win as it claims to take a more scientific approach rather than the good old Bible. Maybe it would crash when people got to the top level and realised it was a crock.
If you think about how Christians came to power, it was surely by using coercive control, shunning, finances, information and death – the same tactics have been used in all the big faiths/religions. They own the lion’s share of real estate (especially in the UK). They have their own schools where their doctrine is spread. Priests were sent to houses to make church attendance mandatory. You couldn’t get married or buried if you didn’t belong. They are also hierarchical organisations. Many of these things are in the dim and distant past and to survive they have had to adapt, they have had the luxury of time to be much more palatable to the ordinary people. If you apply the statement “what happens when you try to leave” well back in the day you would have been murdered. Churches are still monetised but you can get away with not paying but is that because they already have the power and finance? I know people that pay 10% of their salary to a Christian church. If you don’t think it would be Scientology which of the newer religions do you think would have won? Would we have seen Scientology, Mormonism and the JWs at war over hearts and minds. Maybe it would be the ones that give back to society regardless of a person’s beliefs in some way. It seems that many many people need faith and or religion in their lives and there’s nothing wrong with that either.
(4) Can you please say a little more about what actually happens at Scientology services, like weddings, funerals, and Sunday services? If I had no knowledge of the cult and randomly walked into one of their buildings, would the experience immediately hit me as weird, off, or unusual? Would I mistake it for a traditional religion, or would the differences be immediately apparent?
(5) When you were in the Sea Org, did you believe what the church said about SPs? Did you really believe that it was the SPs, along with the psychiatrists and the government, who were preventing Scientology from clearing the planet? Did your view of SPs change over time when you were in the Sea Org or was it only changed once you got out?
(6) I’ve been watching your show for several years and have never been able to feel confident writing in with a question but this story I heard is a doozy and I was wondering if you had heard about it. A woman I was recently acquainted with lives in and runs a business in New Ipswich, NH. Apparently one of the local churches has become friendly with Scientology and have been subjecting their congregation to the practices of L. Ron Hubbard. They had a tent revival this weekend. My friend looked into it because she wanted to see what they were up to, and tickets were astronomically high to attend. Since Scientology has also made recent bed fellows with Islam, is this a new way for them to draw revenue into the coffers without having to do a lot of the heavy lifting? In other words, is Scientology finding a different way to actively recruit by having other churches bring worshipers to the table on a silver platter? I guess this has been going on for quite some time (as early as the 80’s) and the congregation is somewhat affluent. If it’s happening in this little town, is it happening elsewhere? The closest Scientology to me is Boston org, 1.5 hours away but they could be doing some public outreach.
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