Scientology, Buddhist meditation and drugs

The Foray into Scientology



When I first heard about the idea, I thought what a quixotic enterprise, and then, what a totally bizarre idea, and then what total insanity, and then, why not? I had after all “fallen away” from a very rigorous religious practice but I still found solace in the very Jesuit exercise of the “examen.” If Scientology had some powerful spiritual medicine, why not raid the cabinet? 


Aubrey is correct to mention that Naranjo was interested in what L Ron Hubbard called “The Tone Scale,” but he also was truly fascinated by the use of the galvanometer, skin response lie detector, known as the e-meter in Scientology, and the technique of tracing of memories back in time, called in Scientology shorthand, a “run-down,” perhaps even back to past lives.


A note about “kath.” At one meeting I was present when two members of SAT described being trained as Scientology auditors. They described “beating the e-meter.” The ethics officer asked them if they were currently involved in any other religious or spiritual activity, a definite no-no in Scientology. They both said that they lied but escaped any jolt on the e-meter by activating and remaining centered in the “kath.” Applause all around.


Nonetheless I went to the Church's Berkeley Mission and completed the introductory communication courses, as well as the first round of auditing. But at some point they told me that being gay was just a result of “engrams” (detailed mental images or memories of a traumatic event that occurred when you were partially or fully unconscious) from a past life and that a bit of auditing would clear things up in a jiffy. 


A senior auditor invited me to a public event in Palo Alto to hear a lecture by some Scientologists she thought I’d like. After we returned to her car, she grabbed me and stuck her tongue down my throat. That was a clear sign that I was in the wrong place. I told whoever was in charge of the Berkeley Mission that I was leaving, but was not allowed a quick exit until doing a run down with the ethics officer to clear any withholds. 




The Drug Rundown


One thing that nobody mentions much at all, but it was a huge part of Claudio’s exploration, was the use of drugs although Claudio himself talked about it openly on many occasions. He wrote about it. 


An open secret: Drug exploration and, in some cases, serious substance abuse. When one of my friends was beginning his work in Scientology, you sit opposite the auditor and go through a long series of questions about previous drug use. For him he said the 


People in SAT did LSD, MDA, MDMA, mushrooms and Ayahuasca. For many, if not most, smoking pot became a daily ritual. There were times when it seemed that all the work came to a halt while people recovered from the latest drug exploration. 


Some group members did LSD every weekend. It was condoned if not encouraged, During one of the exercises that Claudio took from the Arica experience was called “Crossing Over.” It was preceded by an exercise called “Lines.” It involved a kind of meditation with another person looking into their eyes deeply, the “Transpasso,” that Aubrey describes quite accurately, with every other member of the group, followed by a three day meditation, alone, lying on one’s stomach in a position of supplication, while under the influence of LSD. This was the only exercise of SAT where we were strongly encouraged to use drugs. As it was not prescribed, I didn’t myself follow the LSD recommendation. My drug use quickly became abuse once I started but that would wait for a couple of years.



Buddhist meditation 101.


The picture of the broadly smiling Asian man on page 22 of EM is not Chinese Tai Chi Master Ch’u Fang Chu, but the Buddhist Yogi Master C.M Chen. I met Yogi Chen at the retreat that SAT held on the south side of the UC Campus at the American Baptist Seminary of the West, on the corner of Dwight and Hillegass. 


C.M Chen, whom Claudio described as a high tantric initiate, introduced me to deep meditation, although we had had introductory session with Tarthang Tulku at the Nyingma Institute housed in an old fraternity building on Highland Place on the north side of the campus, near Holy Hill, or the campus of the Graduate Theological Union.


Dhiravamsa also led a full day sitting during that SAT retreat. Dhiravamsa was thoroughly trained in the Thai Forest tradition and a master of Vipassana meditation of the Hinayana School. Much has been made of his decision to take off his monastic robes after almost three decades of living as a fully committed member of the Sangha, but perhaps it was just a desire to get married. It happens a lot in Asia.

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