Student Life

Issue date: 9/26/05 Section: Scene

Media Credit: Oliver Hulland The entrance to the Church of Scientology on Delmar Blvd.

Media Credit: Oliver Hulland Based in an old Zionic temple, the Church´s architecture stands out from many of the rest of the buildings in the Loop.

Media Credit: Oliver Hulland A number of L. Ron Hubbard´s books are available at the Church, including "What Is Scientology?" and other tomes outlining Hubbard´s ideas and philosophy.

Pulling into the parking lot of the Church of Scientology, we of the Wash. U. bubble had aliens, cults and Tom Cruise on our minds--all we knew about Scientology was that it was anti-prescription drug and very defensive against its often heavy media criticism. The monolithic St. Louis Church of Scientology on Delmar Boulevard looks more like a castle of the ancients than a place of modern religion. We wondered what we could learn from the Scientologists themselves.

Despite its intimidating exterior, the Church's lobby was actually quite warm and inviting. A young, red-headed receptionist greeted us, and we barely had to ask before a tour of the Church was offered. Before the tour began, we were shown film clip of David Miscavige, chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center. He told us enthusiastically that Scientology has "real answers that work" for such problems as drug abuse and dependence, crime, illiteracy and immorality. Sounds good, right?

He described the aims of the philosophy of Scientology as a world without war and a world without insanity, where people take responsibility for more than themselves. We got a heavy dose of the drug part of his speech, including his passionate praise of Narconon, Scientology's rehabilitation program for drug addicts of any faith or persuasion, which claims 80 percent effectiveness.

After listening for a few minutes, we turned around to find our tour guide, Barry, standing behind us. We started our tour in his office, where he openly answered our questions about Scientology and its practices. According to Barry, Scientology doesn't have a specific dogma; rather, he said, they teach the "basics of life to use your spiritual being." Because of this, the uses of Scientology can be applicable to people of any religion to further their spiritual selves. He told us that there is an ocean of data in the world, some pieces of which are more important than others, and Scientology helps one to "find the important pieces."

Still a bit shaky on what exactly Scientology was, we continued on our tour of the building. We entered the colorful bookstore/gift shop, where many of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's books were on display, along with an assortment of DVDs and tapes. On one of the DVDs, Barry showed us the eight-pointed cross of Scientology, which represented the eight dynamics of existence: self, creativity, group survival, species, life forms, physical universe, spiritual dynamic and infinity (which encompasses all concepts of God). All of these dynamics are considered necessary for survival because each depends on all the others.

We then traveled through the newly renovated movie room and the physical/spiritual cleansing center, which included a sauna, treadmill and bathroom--all used in the weeks-long process of cleansing the body of its toxins in order for the soul to be free to grow. Outside of this room, we bumped into the organizing board, which Barry referred to as the "philosophical machine." He was about to pass over it, but upon further questioning Barry revealed that, basically, this board organized their division of the Church of Scientology into such departments as personnel, marketing, treasury and production. Barry said that the board could "apply to anyone's life," but to us it looked more like the organization of a business.

Barry did say that the Church sells a product: to meet the long-term goal of "members actually applying Scientology to create a new civilization without immorality, without war," the church sells classes, counseling and books. He said that to go through the whole Scientology program, it costs "no more than what you would pay for a doctoral degree."

Another highlight of our tour was a complicated audiovisual system where one could listen to a selection of L. Ron Hubbard's 3,000 speeches. Our ears and eyes were graced with a discussion of good and evil, in which Hubbard explained that man is not like a clock--he cares whether he live or dies.

Upstairs, the Church is a veritable counseling center with rooms and offices set aside for various types of advising from workers specifically trained for Scientology counseling. Distinctly unique from traditional counseling, tools such as clay, seashells and dictionaries are used to more clearly explain potentially complex ideas during sessions.

Scientology's most unique and well-known implement, however, is the E-meter: a device used to read electrical imbalances in one's body. These imbalances are interpreted into specific thoughts by an "auditor," someone who must study extensively to fill the position.

Upon our viewing of the E-meter, Barry surprised us by plopping the metal rods, which are connected by wires to the E-meter, into Jake's unsuspecting hands, asking him to think of people in his life. The dial shot to the right.

"Look at that!" exclaimed Barry. "What were you just thinking then?" After a series of indistinguishable sounds, Jake came out with, "Uh, my parents." Barry and Jake talked for a minute about how he had not called his parents for a week. "You should probably get on that," Barry advised.

The employees at the Church of Scientology were particularly friendly to us, especially considering we had somewhat expected to encounter some sort of cult members. But it was fairly obvious that Scientology--religion, philosophy, whatever--did have a strong business component to it. We saw picture after picture of L. Ron Hubbard and of his books, the covers of which highly resemble those of science fiction novels, despite the fact that they are the religion's sacred texts.

Now, we're not going to go judging a book by its cover, but due to the fact that upon leaving the Church, the intricacies of Scientology were still a bit of a mystery, we continue to view it with a critical eye. The heavy press coverage of those who claim they were duped and cheated by Scientology is also difficult to ignore. But the most important thing is that we took time to set previous prejudices aside and to learn about a new way of viewing the world.

And yes, Jake did call his parents.

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