July 14, 2005
I may have let the three people reading this site down with my last Scientology post. Sure, now we know that L Ron Hubbard is generally a poor writer, prone to hyperbole and fits of bizarre homophobia. But that's just nuttiness, you say - where's the pseudo-science?
Well, reader (and other reader, and other reader), let me introduce you to one of the core concepts of Scientology: the engram.
To catch you up to speed, in the event that you don't already know, engrams are the manifestations of the lost souls of the intergalactic war of billions of years ago, caused when the galactic overlord Xenu took his prisoners to Teegeeack (now known simply as "Earth") and then blew them up in volcanoes with hydrogen bombs. Those lost souls now attach themselves to humans, and prevent us from reaching our full potential (by having a film debut at #2 at the box office when it was clearly destined for #1, not dating Katie Holmes, etc).
But, you ask, if one can become Clear by ridding oneself of engrams, this must mean we obtain engrams, right? Or are we just born with them?
It turns out, a little of both. You can open yourself up to engrams as early as while in the womb. The following passage from Dianetics (pp 370 - 371) explains how. (And again, I promise I'm not making any of this up).
Prosurvival Engram
This could be any engram which, by content only, not by any real aid to the individual containing it, pretended to assist survival. Let us take a coitus engram: Mother and Father are engaged in intercourse which, by pressure, is painful to the unborn child and which renders him "unconscious" (common occurence, like morning sickness, usually present in any engram bank). Mother is saying, "Oh , I can't live without it. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Oh, how nice. Oh, do it again!" and Father is saying, "Come! Come! Oh, you're so good. You're so wonderful! Ahhhh!" Mother's orgasm puts the finishing touch on the "unconsciousness" in the child. Mother says, "It's beautiful." Father, finished now, says, "Get up," meaning she should take a douche (they do not know she is pregnant) and then begins to snore.
Obviously, this is a valuable incident because one "cannot live without it." Furthermore, "it's beautiful," also, "it's wonderful." But it is also extremely painful. It cannot be followed because it has first something which beckons part of the mind back, "Come!" and then, later, tells it to "Get up." Things that are "beautiful" and "wonderful" can cause our patient, not in therapy, to have an orgasm when she looks at beautiful and wonderful things, providing they have been so labeled.
So, what do we learn from this (apart from the fact that L Ron apparently grew up with an abusive dad whom he would try to deal with by peppering references to him all throughout Dianetics)?
We learn that a baby in the womb understands language pretty well (but not well enough to catch a double entendre, or a naughty word!), and is harmed by it in ways that will manifest itself in spontaneous orgasms that can only be cured by thousands and thousands of dollars and e-metering sessions.
Or something like that. I'm still spinning from that last non-sequitir. Pseudo-science!
Posted by starlen at July 14, 2005 3:18 AM
Comments
Seriously? The book is like that?
That is just so high on the bullshit-meter, it's unbelievable. I never read more than some leaflets from scientolgy but I always figured there must be something in the book that, well made sense in some weird way. How can anybody fall for this shit?
I don't get it.
Posted by: Barbara at August 5, 2005 11:01 AM
Yeah, it's really that crazy. And the other Scientology books just get crazier.
If you want to see just how crazy it gets, I highly recommend visiting one of their centers and asking to see their "Orientation" video. All Scientology centers have it, and it's rather eye-opening to see what they think is an appropriate hook to get people interested in their "religion" - including a host, who, at the end of the video, tells you that you could "leave and never think of Scientology again," but you could also "blow your brains out or jump off a bridge."
Seriously.
Posted by: star at August 5, 2005 11:28 AM
