Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (6 page)

2.
   
Letter to US Navy from Flag Operations Liaisons Office East US letter to
US National Personnel Records Center, 28 May 1974. Hubbard navy records.

3.
   
Flag Divisional Directive 69RA “Facts about L. Ron Hubbard Things You
Should Know”, 8 March 1974, revised 7 April 1974.

4.
   
Hubbard,
“My Philosophy”,
1965,
Technical Bulletins
vol.6, p.1.

5.
   
HCOPL “Dissemination Drill” 23 October 1965.

6.
   
HCOB “Training Drills Modernized” 16 August 1971, issue II.

Chapter two

“My purpose is to bring a barbarism out
of the mud it thinks conceived it and to form, here on Earth, a civilization
based on human understanding, not violence. That’s a big purpose. A broad
field. A star-high goal. But I think it’s your purpose, too.”

—L.
Ron Hubbard,
Scientology 08
¹

Ron Hubbard bought Saint Hill Manor from the Maharajah of
Jaipur in 1959. The Manor is on the edge of the hamlet of Saint Hill, a few
miles from the small Sussex town of East Grinstead, 30 miles south of London.
For eight years, Saint Hill was the axis of the Scientology world, and many of
Hubbard’s research “breakthroughs” were made there. Following Hubbard’s
departure in 1967, Saint Hill remained a major Scientology center. I visited
Saint Hill in August, 1975, to see whether to commit myself to six months of
study there.

Saint Hill Manor, a large grey-stone building set in about
50 acres, was built by a retired soldier in the early eighteenth century. The
house has a solid, military severity, largely devoid of Georgian charm. By the
time I arrived, students no longer studied in the Manor, but in the “castle,” a
peculiar folly on which construction had started in the mid-1960s and which was
eventually finished in 1985. The word “castle” conjures images of imposing
Norman keeps, but Saint Hill “castle” is only a castle in the sense that it is
faced with yellow stone and has a few turrets. As castles go, it is very small,
especially considering the score of years invested in its construction. By
1975, only one single-story wing was finished. The castle is a monstrosity; a
hybrid of breeze-blocks, leaded windows and battlements under a flat, tarmac
roof. However I was not interested in Hubbard’s architectural taste.

The place buzzed with smiling people, many in pseudo-naval
uniforms. Although I had encountered “Sea Org” members before, it was strange
seeing them en masse. At Saint Hill they wore colored lanyards and campaign
ribbons on their navy blue blazers. A religion run by sailors? I pushed the
thought aside.

An attractive brunette whisked me around, carefully avoiding
the Manor, which housed the mysterious “Guardian’s Office.” Between the Manor
and the castle there was an encampment of huts, occupied by busy Sea Org
members. The expensive canteen was also housed in a corrugated hut, as were the
book-store and several of the administrative offices. The “castle” housed the
course-rooms and the public parts of the Organization. My tour ended in the
office of the “Registrars” (the sales staff), where I was treated as royalty. I
handed over what seemed to me a fortune (some £400); borrowed only after
repeated assurances that I would make money easily after taking the auditor
training courses.

Despite my insistence that I was only visiting, I was
ushered into a course-room. Scientology has a tremendous sense of urgency,
which took hold of me. I read the “Basic Study Manual” until the evening session
ended. I was then told that a Sea Org member wanted to see me. I was surprised
as it was eleven o’clock, and I had yet to find my lodgings. The Sea Org member
was a recruiter, who, for the next two hours, tried to persuade me to join that
group.

In 1967, Hubbard had put to sea with a group of devoted
followers, who became the “Sea Organization.” I was shown photos of Hubbard
dressed up as the “Commodore.” Sea Org Members signed a
billionyear
contract, swearing to return life after life to fulfill “Ron’s purpose.” They
also staffed the four “Advanced Organizations,” where the secret upper levels
of Scientology were delivered. Saint Hill was one of the four. I had heard much
of this before and had already been tempted to join the Sea Org and work at the
Publications Organization in Denmark. I saw the Sea Org as the monastic order
of Scientology, something like the Knights Templar, perhaps. I felt guilty, because
I was not ready to renounce everything for the good of the cause. I doggedly insisted
that I wanted to train as an “Auditor,” and “go Clear” before deciding whether
to join the Sea Org. I was going to be a full-time student, and felt that as a
trained Auditor I would be far more useful to the Sea Org.

Eventually the recruiter showed me a “confidential” Sea Org
issue, which claimed that the governments of the world were on the verge of
collapse. The Sea Org would survive and pick up the pieces. Her attempt to stir
up a sense of impending doom failed miserably. I wanted no part of it. Hubbard
had said elsewhere that Scientology was non-political. I was interested in
Scientology as a therapy, nothing more. As a therapy I felt it might have a
world-changing impact.

Completely exasperated, the recruiter retreated into the
argument that anyone who did not join the Sea Org was insane. I was flustered,
not understanding that I was her last chance to reach her weekly quota of
recruits. Moreover I did not know that her pay, her self-esteem and the esteem
of her fellow staff members all depended upon increasing her quota each week.

The Sea Org was a bemusing aspect of Scientology. It was
difficult to reconcile the military appearance of its members with religion or psychotherapy.
However, I was convinced that Scientology was a valid and potent therapy, so I
accepted the existence of the Sea Org.

I moved to East Grinstead in September 1975, living with my
new girlfriend in a rented room. All three bedrooms of the small house were
occupied, as was one of the two downstairs rooms. There were eight of us living
there, including a baby. The couple who ran the house rented it from another
Scientologist. They were both Sea Org members who were “living out,” away from
the house run by the Scientology Church. They worked incredibly long hours (the
husband from eight in the morning to midnight Sunday to Friday, and Saturday
afternoons). They were American, although the 1968 use of the Aliens Act
prohibited non-UK residents from studying or working for Scientology in Great
Britain. They bought their clothes from rummage sales, as do most Sea Org
members in Britain. They always looked gray and exhausted. Somehow they managed
to support their baby, though seeing little of him. In spite of it all, they
were usually cheerful.

The husband was supposedly a Clear, and had done three
levels
beyond
Clear. He often hinted at his psychic abilities, but
excused himself from any demonstration, in case it “overwhelmed” me. He claimed
to be able to back the right horse, which is how he spent his only free
morning. Nonetheless, he continued to live below the poverty line.

I went to Saint Hill daily and applied myself to my studies.
Scientology courses are run in a similar way to correspondence courses. The
student is given a “checksheet,” which has the written materials, Hubbard
tapes, and practical work listed in strict sequence on it. The student signs
off each completed step. I sailed through the Basic Study Manual, and went onto
the Hubbard Standard Dianetics Course.
²

On the Dianetics Course I learned how to use the “Hubbard
Electropsychometer,” or “E-meter,” which shows changes in a person’s electrical
resistance through movements of a needle on a dial. The person receiving
counseling holds two electrodes (in fact, empty soup cans) and the E-meter is
supposed to show changing states of mind, or the “movement of mental mass.” A
“fall” or “read” (rightward needle movement) shows that a topic is “charged.” A
“floating needle” is “a rhythmic sweep of the dial at a slow, even pace.”
³
This supposedly happens when there is no emotional “charge,” or after any
“charge” has been released. So areas of upset are found with the “fall” of the
needle, and their resolution is shown by a “floating needle.”

The E-meter is used in most auditing. Lists of questions are
checked for responses. A “floating needle” is one of the indications that an auditing
“process” or procedure is complete.

I had been given my “Original Assessment”
⁴
at
Birmingham. Dianetic auditing is supposed to dig out buried memories, so it
seemed reasonable that the first step should be an E-metered questionnaire
about my background. This included questions about my relationships with
everyone in my family; anyone I knew who was antagonistic to Scientology; my
education; and a complete alcohol and drug history (including all medicines),
listing every occasion of use. My Auditor asked for precise information about
emotional losses, accidents, illnesses, operations, my present physical
condition, whether I had any family history of insanity, any compulsions and
repressions I felt I was suffering from, whether I had a criminal record, and
if so the details, and my involvement with “former practices,” which in my case
included Zen meditation.

This “original assessment” is the beginning of the “Preclear
folder,” which contains notes taken during auditing sessions. Auditors keep a
running record of the Preclear’s more significant comments during each session.

At that time, Dianetic auditing first addressed the
psychological effect of drugs. This procedure was called the Dianetic Drug
Rundown,
⁵
and it followed a very exact pattern, which has changed
little to this day. The Auditor reads out the list of drugs given by the
Preclear, looking for the most marked E-meter reaction. He then asks for
attitudes associated with taking that drug. If an attitude given by the
Preclear “reads” on the E-meter, the Auditor sets about “running” Dianetics on
it.

Having asked the Preclear to locate an incident of the given
attitude, the Auditor directs the Preclear to “move to the beginning of the incident,”
and then go through it. When the E-meter shows that enough “charge” has been
released from the incident, the Preclear is directed to find an “earlier
similar incident.” In theory the Preclear will at first give conscious moments
of this attitude (called “Locks”). Then he will usually run into an Engram. The
Auditor asks for earlier and earlier incidents, and the Preclear almost
invariably goes into “past lives.” When the earliest Engram is found and
relieved, the Preclear is supposed to have a realization (“cognition”) about
its effect upon him, “Very Good Indicators” (VGIs), which is to say a grin, and
a “floating needle.” From then on, the Preclear should be free from the effects
of the Engram chain.
⁶

The whole drug list is treated painstakingly in this way.
Going through every attitude, emotion, sensation and pain associated with each
drug. Then the drug list is checked on the E-meter until nothing on it “reads”
any more. I remember Victory-V cough sweets being a persistent “item” on my
drug list. I spent hours trying to think of some attitude, emotion, sensation
or pain associated with Victory-Vs.

I was disappointed with my Dianetic auditing, because I did
not experience any real change. My back-ache and my near-sightedness remained.
A few times, inexplicably powerful images of what seemed to be “past lives”
rushed into mind. At one point, I had the very vivid sensation of being burned
at the stake. But for the most part I could not quite believe it. Not because I
doubted Dianetics, but because I felt that I was not yet capable of fully
contacting my past.

After the Dianetics Course, I did several Scientology
Auditor courses. As well as receiving Dianetic auditing, the Preclear was meant
to go through eight “Release Grades” before doing the “Clearing Course,” and
then the mysterious “Operating Thetan” levels. As a Scientology Auditor, I
learned how to audit the first three of these “Release Grades.” These were
meant to deal with memory, communication and problems.
⁷

During this time, I had my first brush with Saint Hill
“Ethics.” The “Ethics Officer” would try to resolve disputes, and to remove any
obstacles to a resolute practice of Scientology. I had arrived at Saint Hill
with the remainder of a small court fine to pay. The papers had been
transferred to one office and I had been told to deal with another, so I
received a summons for non-payment.

The morning I received the summons I went to the Saint Hill
“Ethics Officer,” an intense, overweight Australian, who wore knee-length boots
with her disheveled Sea Org uniform. I requested a morning off to attend the
court-hearing. She insisted I tell her all the details. I explained that the
remainder of the fine was less than £40, and that it was all due to an
administrative mix-up. I was amazed when she told me that she was removing me
from the course because I was a “criminal.” She insisted that even if a fine
were the result of a parking ticket, the offender would be barred from Scientology
courses until it was paid.

Saint Hill was very different to the Birmingham Mission
where there was an easy-going attitude. The Ethics Officer there would apologize
for having to “apply Policy.” At Saint Hill, the Ethics Officers were daunting,
overworked and unsmiling. Saint Hill Registrars (salesmen or, more usually,
saleswomen) were a little too sugary, and it was obvious that they wanted
money. The constant and unavoidable discussions with Sea Org recruiters at
Saint Hill were wearing. Virtually everyone there was too busy trying to save
the world to create any genuine friendships.