(This is a 100% factual account of what happened to one of my best friends and is my attempt to highlight some of the potential dangers of certain organisations existing in and around the world we live in.)
I would like to take this opportunity to speak about one of my best friends of a few years ago. His name was Joe and I feel that what happened to him is something that should be highlighted and laid bare in an open and broad minded fashion.
Back in 2011, Joe was a regular member of our social circle. We would meet up regularly, hang out and just do what friends normally do. Everything was fine until one day when we had the usual weekend catch-up. He arrived at the bar rather later than usual, which was unlike him. When we all enquired jokingly as to where he was, we noticed he was in a much happy mood than normal. He then proceeded to tell us that while he was shopping in Central London, he came into contact with what at first appeared to be a street salesman. After a few minutes, it was revealed that the gentleman was a member of the church of Scientology.
A brief discussion later, he thought he had heard enough to be convinced to enter their premise and possibly sign up. He said the first thing he had to do before anything else was to partake in something called a “personality test” to analyse the areas of his life needing improvement. This was conducted by one of the members of the Scientology group in a private room, which involved Joe holding a device they called an “e-meter” and during questioning, the needle on the instrument would either rise or fall depending on the answer given.
Even though I knew him very well and was sure he was generally content with where he was going and the direction his life was taking, they managed to convince him using the “e-meter” results, that there were areas in his life that needed serious addressing and without it, he would not progress forward.
This of course led to the obligatory purchase of a few Scientology interview sessions known as “audits” and some books which cost altogether just over £100. “Auditing”, Joe went on to explain to us, was apparently the psychological removal of past memories and experiences he had collected that might be affecting his present day life. This was only to be conducted on a one-to-one basis and was strictly confidential.
So, after the breakdown of what Scientology was all about, we understood a little more about it but were still confused as to what they were trying to achieve with our friend. Were they trying to help him out or start draining him of funds? Still, he was in very high spirits after his afternoon meeting with them and was due to start his first “audit” the next day.
I rang Joe the following evening intrigued to find out what happened in this “audit”. Again, he was highly elated and very happy, perhaps too happy if such a thing actually exists? Though he did mention that because of the confidentiality agreement with them, he could not repeat what was actually said during the process. He went on to explain that this again required the use of the “e-meter” and the interviewer continuing to ask questions along similar lines of the first free “personality test”.
I mentioned beforehand that the needle of the “e-meter” would rise and fall according to his answers he gave to the various questions. The rising of the needle would identify some unresolved mental problems or issues that were then to be cleared away one by one. This was shown by the “e-meter” needle remaining static when that particular question was asked. This “audit” procedure was to be repeated as many times as possible until the needle remained static for all questions asked of Joe. Once attained, you would be known as a “clear” within Scientology.
The alarm bells started ringing as soon as he mentioned this because each “audit” required a separate payment and this would continue on for an unspecified amount of time. The interviewer actually concluded that Joe needed quite a few “audits” to even begin to be remotely “clear”. I told him to be careful getting involved with this organisation. He acknowledged my concerns but said it seemed at least worth a try for now. He had already booked two more scheduled “audits” so I left it at that and hoped he knew what he was getting into.
Over the next week, he actually attended three more sessions and that’s when our real concerns started kicking in. He told us how they would continue asking the same exact questions over and over for hours on end. When one memory (or “engram” as they called it) was cleared away, they would ask him if he felt a mental release or saw a bright light flash from his peripheral vision. At first, Joe said absolutely not, but after a few hours of this, he actually experienced this phenomenon. Small, electrical bursts in front of him that signified to him his mental cobwebs being brushed away. We put this down to him beginning to hallucinate after all those hours of being constantly barraged by questions repeatedly over and over again. To me, a dangerous and damaging form of mind manipulation.
We also tried to warn him of proceeding with their courses, but he was already signed up for a whole load more and at a considerably heftier price. Part of his so-called treatment plan from the Scientology team was for Joe to voluntarily confess to someone all the wrongdoings he had committed in his life which were discussed during the “audit” sessions. Remember, there was nothing held back or undisclosed, it was a very frank and open process with the interviewer. So, embarrassed of possibly having to confess his most personal sins from his past to his closet friends, he unbelievably walked into our local police station and started reading out a full report of all he had ever done wrong! When Joe mentioned this to us, we could hardly believe our ears. The kindly policeman then laughed it off and said that if he finally regretted his actions, this would be considered punishment enough. The brainwashing procedure was well and truly in full swing. This situation was going downhill very fast.
I then decided to do some personal research of my own into Scientology and came across some interesting facts. Back in 2011, it did not have as much exposure as it does today. The founder was a man called L. Ron Hubbard. He was originally a science fiction writer who wrote books about fantasy mostly. After moderate success, he developed what he called “Dianetics”, a user guide explaining the relationship between body and mind. Some of its concepts relate back to standard psychological principals whereas others seem much more far-fetched. Scientology seems to mix truth with fabrications to initially entice people to join its cause. Mr. Hubbard also served in the army for a short period but was relieved of duty apparently due to his inability to command.
Shortly afterwards, he pursued his ideology of “Dianetics” and vastly expanded it into the co-called religion of Scientology. He then took to the high seas and created the “Sea Org”, an elite circle of core members of its group and sailed to various ports promoting Scientology. Most of the ports however barred them access so they were forced to return back to the USA and Mr. Hubbard went into seclusion for a number of years.
I also read a number of other negative articles where certain members who attempted to leave the organisation were given death threats or actually physically harmed. Other examples involved members racking up huge debts to finance the long and expensive courses on offer. Something that didn’t come as a surprise to me whatsoever. I was, to say the least, very worried about the path Joe was being led down.
This brought me to the most worrying piece of information I had found so far. The story of Xenu. This sounded more like something out of Mr. Hubbard’s science fiction novels than anything else, involving galactic federations, space leaders, humans infested with thousands of souls called “thetans” and how “auditing” is actually the process of cleansing these “thetans” from our bodies one by one. Pretty far out there, I’m sure you’d agree. But if you follow the courses they have on offer in sequential order and progress through “The Bridge to Total Freedom” as they call it, you will not come across the story of Xenu until very late in the game. In other words, when you are fully onboard with Scientology and are willing to accept almost anything they will say to you. Scary stuff indeed. Even the contract new member have to sign is for 1 billion years. Yes, you heard that right. So that when you are reincarnated after this life ends, you can pick up your studies from where you left off. To this day, I’m still not sure if Joe had read that in the small print or not, but it is most definitely there.
Famous quote by L. Ron Hubbard: "Writing for a penny is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."
I rang Joe the next day and recited the information I had found on L. Ron Hubbard, “Dianetics”, almost everything. But he said they were briefed at the very start of every session to not read any material on the Internet or view any media concerning Scientology as the world was determined to undermine them and see their initiative fail. My warnings fell on deaf ears and he made his feeling very clear to me on the matter. I could already see the damage from this group working its way into one of my best friend’s lives at a frightening pace. His expenditure was now well over £1000 and with no end in sight.
But, from here, things would take a turn for the worse that none of us could ever have expected…
（这是一个发生在我好朋友身上的真实故事，我想揭露一些在世界各地我们生活当中存在的危险组织。）
我想借此机会说说我前几年的一个好朋友，他的名字是乔，我觉得在他身上发生的事情应该 予以曝光。
早在2011年，乔是我们社交圈的成员，我们一帮人会经常聚会。一切都很正常直到有一天，在我们的周末聚会里，乔来得比平常都晚。大家开玩笑地问他干嘛去了? 我们注意到那天他的心情特别愉快。接着，乔告诉我们，他在伦敦市中心逛街时遇见了一个看似是街头推销员的人。几分钟聊天后，他才知道这个人原来是山达基教（Scientology）的成员。
经过简短的讨论后，乔有有点儿被说服了，跟着那个山达基教成员回到教会去注册。他说，在做任何事情之前，必须通过一个 “性格测试”，也就是分析你在生活的哪个领域需要改善。这是由山达基教的一名成员在一个私人房间，拿着他们所谓的“电子表”进行询问。整个过程中，基于你的回答，仪器上的针头要么上升或是下降。
我很了解乔，知道他有明确的生活目标也非常清楚自己的发展方向。可是山达基教成员通过“电子表”的结果说服了乔，他生活里有几个迫切需要改善的地方，不然的话，他就不能往前发展。
当然，这结果导致了乔几乎强制性购买了被称为“Audit”的治疗法教程和一些书籍等，花了一共100英镑。乔继续向我们解释，“Audit”是在心理上去除过去的回忆和可能影响他现在生活的经历。这仅仅是将一对一的基础上进行的，是严格保密的。
在乔的解释后，我们对这个组织有了多一点的了解，但仍然困惑他们对我朋友的意图，是要帮助乔呢，还是想赚他的钱？在与他们开完下午会以后，乔兴致勃勃地准备次日第一次的“Audit” ，也就是所谓的山达基治疗法。
我处于好奇，第二天晚上打电话给乔，询问他的“Audit”经历。电话里乔显得很兴奋，不敢相信世界上存在着这样的宗教! 但由于他与教会有保密协议，乔不能透露会面的详细情况。他接着解释
说，这次与第一次免费的“性格测试”同样使用“电子表”，而面试官问的也是类似的问题。我之前提到的“电子表”的指针会根据乔的答案而上升或下降。指针上升就得找出尚未解决的心理问题一个一个地清除掉。如果“电子表”的指示针显示静态时，就说明问题解决了。这种“Audit”的程序是要重复多次，直到乔的所有回答都令指针都保持不变。一旦你到达这个程度，你就成为山达基教会里的“清净”成员。
乔提到每个“Audit”治疗课程都需要一个单独付款，而整个疗程的长短则根据个人情况。面试官已经预测乔现在的情况来看，需要相当多的“Audit”课程才能达到清除的目的。听到这里，我不经警觉起来。我告诉乔要小心提防这个组织。他承认我的顾虑，但表示至少值得一试。他已经预订了两个计划的“Audit”。我也没再说了，只是希望他知道自己在做什么。
在接下来的一周，乔出席了三个会议，这也是我们真正开始关注这个问题的时候。乔告诉我们，他们是如何继续问着同样的问题并且会议持续了整整几个小时。当一个回忆（他们称之为“印迹”）被清除掉，他们会问乔是否感到精神释放或从他的余光看到一个亮光。起初，乔说绝对没有，但是经过几个小时后，他表示也经历了这种现象。他看到一个小小电光在他面前闪过。我们对此的结论是这是乔在疲于应付重复问题一遍又一遍的几个小时以后产生的幻觉。在我看来，这是对头脑的操纵，很危险并具有破坏性。
我们试图警告乔不要继续他们的课程，但乔已经签署了更多的价格不菲的课程。在“Audit”的会议中，山达基教所谓的治疗计划中一部分是要求乔主动坦白他的生活中犯的所有错误行为。整个面试过程要求坦诚开放，毫无隐蔽。难以置信地，乔竟然走进了当地警察局，并开始读出他所做的错误行为的整整一篇报告，包括尴尬的私人往事以及与朋友的争纷。值班警察被弄得得哭笑不得，并说如果乔真的后悔自己的行为，这已经是足够的惩罚了。这洗脑程序看来是完全展开了，情况也变得越来越严重了。
于是我决定搜索一下关于山达基教这方面的资料，结果发现了一些有趣的信息。早在2011年，这个教会还不为人知。创始人叫罗恩贺伯特。他本来是一个科幻小说作家，写的书主要与幻想有关。小小成功后，他发明了所谓的“戴尼提”，身体和心灵之间的精神联系。它的一些理念涉及到标准的心理学，而其他理念却比较牵强。山达基教似乎使用混合事实来吸引人们加入这个教会。贺伯特还曾在军队待了很短的时间，但由于他无法服从命令而被罢职。
不久之后，贺伯特不断推广“戴尼提”的思想，并极大地扩展成为宗教信仰。然后，他走上公海并创造了“海洋机构”，所有成员航行到各个港口进行山达基教的宣传。然而大多数港口是禁止他们进入的，所以他们被迫返回到美国。至此之后，贺伯特隐居了数几年。
我还读了一些负面文章，关于一些教会成员试图离开该组织，被以死亡威胁甚至遭身体伤害。。其他更多的例子是教会成员为购买昂贵的课程而欠下巨额债务。读到这些的时候，我并不觉得意外，我只是非常担心乔现在被引导所走向的道路。
在网上看到Xenu的故事是最令我担忧的。它听起来更像是贺伯特的科幻小说比什么都重要，涉及到银河系，宇宙领导人，与成千上万的灵魂被称为“thetans”。而“auditing”实际上是把这些“thetans”在我们身体里逐个清除掉。如果你按照他们的顺序和进程安排的课程，到达完全自由桥的另一端，你会在很后的阶段才接触到Xenu的故事，但这时候你已经完全陷入这个组织的影响中，会赞同他们所说的任何事情。更可笑的是，所有新成员签的合同，期约是1亿年。没错，是一亿年！就是说所以你如果转世，还可以继续你的山达基教课程。
第二天我打电话给乔并告知我在网上搜索的关于贺伯特和他的“戴尼提”理论等等信息。但他表示，山达基教每次开会都会要求成员不看互联网和媒体上有关山达基教的任何材料，因为整个世界都想摧毁这个组织，阻止他们获取成功。乔对我表明了在这个事件上的立场，对我的警告置若罔闻。我可以感觉到这个教会正以惊人的速度在控制并伤害我的好朋友。至此为止，乔已经支付了超过1000英镑的课程费用，而且没有要结束的迹象。
但是，谁也没有预料到，事情会变得更加糟糕... (待续)