Fear and Scientology
In Manhattan’s theater district, sparkling marquis vie for your attention: Aladdin,The Book of Mormon, Kinky Boots…. The Church of Scientology? The well known, but secretive Church’s New York City outpost holds a prevalent position in one of the city’s most trafficked areas. It drew me in, on a Sunday afternoon, out of curiosity, notoriety, and honestly, a little bit of fear.
When I walked into the 46th street Scientology building that day, my two friends and I, like most other Americans, had heard of this North American religion because of popular celebrity affiliation, but knew little about what went on behind the walls of the buildings. We knew that Scientology had a dubious reputation, knew that it had something to do with aliens, and knew that the building takes up a quarter of a prime real estate Manhattan block.
We were greeted by a polite but stern woman, who welcomed the three of us but did not give her name. It was quiet inside and seemed to be deserted. The woman was looking at us with an air of seriousness. Maybe this wouldn’t be fun after all. Maybe the aliens had heard us making fun of the church and it’s alleged beliefs and practices for the entire walk over. Maybe they had told the woman.
I had a fleeting moment of dramatic nervousness that we wouldn’t be allowed to leave without pledging allegiance to the church, and perhaps engaging in some sort of cult-like ceremony. Maybe this Church of Scientology visit would be like a Broadway play, without the singing.
I was nervous that they knew we weren’t really interested in their religion. I was nervous about asking what they did here, in this huge building, and about Scientology itself. I tried to search for words that wouldn’t give all that away.
That didn’t matter. I didn’t really have to speak at all. The woman motioned over two other women, whom we hadn’t noticed lurking nearby. They whisked us through what looked like a gift shop, filled with mostly books, into a small classroom with folding chairs and a screen.
A brief rundown from the first woman of what would follow, a video, to acquaint us with the practices of the organization, and the lights snapped off. Alone in the dark classroom with the three Scientology women, the three of us exchanged hard stares, perhaps too fearful to make more of an expression, or to speak, in apprehension that our mocking and skepticism would be discovered.
I focused on the screen, and the video, which was about the founder of the religion, L.Ron Hubbard.
According to the video, Hubbard studied a mammoth amount of scientific, physiological, religious and spiritual disciplines, traveled all over the world multiple times and through the lands of ancient civilizations to discover the root of mankind’s oldest beliefs. He studied scientific methodology at George Washington University, and then embarked on a study to isolate the human life force.
He was an accomplished pioneer, outdoors-man, in the armed forces, gained unprecedented entry to forbidden religious, cultural and ancient sites around the world, was a honored explorer, headed many scientific studies, was one of the first pilots in the world, and was a professional author and a legend of American pulp fiction.
He “scripted matinee blockbusters,” and used over 15 pen names for the over 400 books he wrote. He could “captain any vessel in any ocean.” He commanded warships and was highly decorated in WWII. He worked with injured servicemen, and cured them of their ailments. He worked with the NYPD. He then wrote a book called Dianetics, that was and remains the largest selling book on the mind ever written.
From this theory of Dianetics, Hubbard started the Church of Scientology.
How remarkable for just one man. It sounded like all of these accomplishments would be unattainable for a mere human. These sound like the accomplishments of someone that is superhuman. An alien perhaps? A god?
It took everything I had not to look at my friends, and keep my true motives undiscovered by the three women standing suspiciously close to the rooms only door. Luckily, I did not have time to dwell on this first video, because a second one had started.
The second video was about the theory behind Hubbards best-selling book, Dianetics. This video was even harder to watch with no reaction. It began with drama, my favorite. A woman gets into a car crash. Wait, it was only a fender-bender.
Years later she is driving and begins to have flashbacks to the fender-bender that apparently caused her some kind of post-traumatic stress.
Cut to a father and son playing catch. The father throws the ball to his son, who misses, and is subsequently struck in the face by the ball. Years later, the son has grown up, and is playing catch with his own son. His son throws him the ball, and the man starts to have a combat- like flashback of the trauma of being struck in the face with the ball, and has to sit down out of fear and anxiety.
This kind of fear is lurking in your unconscious, says the video. Who knows when it will strike, postulates the narrator, do you want to be free from this fear? It is possible through Dianetics.
Suddenly the woman, and then the man, are free of fear and anxiety. The woman is happily driving all over town and the man is having a whopping time playing catch with his son.
I started to see why someone might be drawn to find out how they too can be free of normal feelings of fear and anxiety in life. According to the video, this is pretty easily attainable with Dianetics.
The lights clicked on, and before I knew what was happening, I was being led into a small office. I turned and saw that my two friends were being lead to two other, separate rooms. We were being separated.
Inside the small office, my Scientology representative asked if I had ever been scared of anything. I was starting to get nervous again. Were Scientologists going to appear to convey me further into the compound? Was this a trick question? When I obviously answered yes, she launched into a recap of the videos claims that this fear and anxiety were loafing in my sub-conscious because of earlier life trauma, and could rear their ugly heads at anytime. But, she explained, that I could live a life free from this trepidation if I employed Dianetics. Surveying the small office for a hidden back door, I could have used some freedom from fear just then.
Instead of physical threats, came a hard sell. She whipped out a Dianetics book and instructed me to buy it, and the 20 book “introduction series” it came with. “It changed my life,” she asserted.
After explaining to the representative that I was a poor student, and coming up with a solid answer as to why I couldn’t charge the set to my credit card and pay it off later, (I only have one and its almost maxed!), I left the office, and was escorted by my Scientology representative back to the book store, where my two friends were waiting. We quickly thanked them and left the building.
On the train ride home, I wondered how I could get over the trauma of my visit to the Church of Scientology. If only there was some sort of system…
