believing in madness
by Douglas Messerli
Lawrence Wright Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief (New
York: Vintage Books, 2013)
Hubbard’s life, itself, reads like an improbable story of maniacal
creation, belief, and ultimate madness. His early failures as a writer were
transformed him into a sort of monstrously over-producing science fiction and
western author, producing works so quickly that he rolled in vast sheets of
butcher-block paper into his typewriter so that he might type for long hours at
a time. These reveal, apparently, his vast ability of self-promotion and his
gifts of over-exaggeration, including the claim that he had been an American
war hero, suffering various major bodily problems that would help him to
receive governmental financial help.
The route or various “bridges” to
self-discovery is through auditing by others through the use of a device called
the E-meter which, supposedly, when hooked up to auditor somewhat like a lie
detector, registers the suppressive or dangerous thoughts of the individual
undergoing the auditing, as well as picking up the new “clearing” of the mind
in the process. Thus, Wright’s title Going
Clear.
But, in fact, this group—which is seen
by some as more a cult than a legitimate “church”— has never been very “clear”
with the public about their beliefs, keeping many of their ideas as proprietary
information which they gradually pass on to their members as they pay for and
attain various levels of enlightenment.
To the everyday reader, these theories
and the unscientifically proven “methods” might very much appear, as director
and writer Paul Haggis finally speaks of them, as a kind of “madness.” Yet
Wright quite fairly evaluates such beliefs in the context of many such
alternative post-World War II religions and groups, and quite brilliantly puts
some of their more absurd elements in context by comparing them with even more
established religions, including Christianity—among whose major tenants, we
must remember, is the belief in a virgin birth and in a Resurrection wherein
God, Son, and Holy Ghost become one and the same.
Because of the church’s belief in
suppressive behavior, time again Scientology from Hubbard’s lifetime to the
leadership of its current head, David Miscavige, numerous everyday adherents
and even church leaders have been declared suppressive and locked away in
“Rehabilitation” centers (RPFs) in its Hollywood center (nicknamed “The Hole”)
and in various Scientology compounds, some “disappearing” for years. Beginning
with Hubbard’s Sea Org boats, led often by young teenage woman who were almost
literally used as slaves, and where supposed infractions were often punished
with the “sinners” being tossed overboard and then retrieved, the church’s
short history, as Wright reveals it, has been a kind of catalogue of horrors.
Children have been overworked and punished for infractions by being
locked away in rooms and even lockers for weeks at a time. Families have been
separated and marriages destroyed by church authorities (including, perhaps,
all the marriages and relationships that church spokesman Tom Cruise has had).
Money has been stolen from believer’s accounts. Numerous individuals, declared
suppressive, including some of the former church leaders, have been maltreated
and—although continually denied by church lawyers and Miscavige—brutally
beaten, sometimes by Miscavige himself.
Those who have attempted to investigate
the group or have criticized it have been followed, their pets killed, their
tires slashed, and, most importantly, sued by church authorities. Even the US
governmental agency, the Internal Revenue Service, balking at granting the
group tax-free status, caved in after numerous of their agents were tailed,
taunted, and sued time and again.
Numerous church members, including
Hubbard’s own son Quentin, have committed suicide.
What Going Clear truly outlines is not the spiritual purification of
church members, but the refusal of honesty and openness of Church leaders
themselves, who make millions of dollars through the spiritual desires of their
believers. So powerful is church dogma that its adherents fear even to read
contradictory materials, thus allowing their minds to be imprisoned in the most
irrational aspects of their belief. As a former friend of Haggis’ admitted,
reading critical messages of the church would be something like turning to Mein Kompf to read about Judaism.
Scientology’s survival has clearly depended, time and again, on the simple
denial of truth.
For all of its revelations, however,
Wright remains throughout objective and open-minded. As he points out at the
end of this quite terrifying recounting of Scientology and its history:
Many religions—including
Christian Science, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, even
Christianity—have known scorn and
persecution. Some, like the
Shakers and the Millerites,
died out, but others,
including Mormons and Pentecostals,
have elbowed their way into
the crowded religious land-
scape.
The practice of
disconnection, or shunning, is not unique
to Scientology, nor is the
longing for religious sanctuary.
American itself was founded
by true believers who sep-
arated themselves from their
non-Puritan kinfolk by
placing an ocean between
them. New religious leaders
continually appear, giving
expression to unmet spiritual
needs. There is a constant
churning of spiritual movements
and denominations all over
the world, one that advances
with freedom of expression.
One must look at L. Ron
Hubbard and the odyssey of
his movement against this
historical backdrop and the
natural human yearning for
transcendence and submission.
For all that, it appears to me that if Scientology is to truly come out
of the dark shadows in which Wright’s book implies it exists, the church itself
must “go clear,” admit its violence and abuse of freedoms, and embrace the
freedom of expression that it has demanded, leaving its madness behind.
Los Angeles, February 23, 2016
Reprinted from Green Integer Blog (February 2016).
