ESP in Scientology

Founded in the early 1950s by Lafayette Ronald Hubbard as an outgrowth of an earlier movement known as "dianetics" also founded by Hubbard, Scientology is a blending of science and mysticism replete with all of the theories and jargon of a science fiction story. In fact, dianetics was first introduced to the public in the pages of a science fiction magazine.

The essential notion behind Scientology is that human behavior is largely controlled by unconscious reactive patterns, developed during times of stress and trauma, known as "engrams." Through a process called "auditing," these engrams can become conscious and under the control of the individual. This process is similar to psychotherapy or counseling in that it is accomplished essentially by talking freely about one's life. An instrument known as an "E-meter" is utilized. The E-meter ideally measures galvanic skin response - a known physiological correlate of anxiety. During the auditing, the client works with an auditor who, by looking at the E-meter attempts to judge when certain topics of conversation are causing an emotional charge and "triggering engrams." The auditor will systematically focus on these topics until the E-meter indicates that all emotional charge is gone. Often the questions asked by the auditor in Scientology will deal with events considered to have been experienced in past lifetimes.

This process is similar to what is known in behavior therapy as "desensitization," in which one can be cured of irrational fears and phobias by being gradually exposed to the object of one's fear in a safe environment. For example, if a young child is afraid of dogs, this fear can be removed by showing the child dogs at a distance and then gradually bringing them closer until the child can pet the dog without feeling anxiety. In auditing, the objects of fear are the client's own thoughts.

After an amount of auditing, which will differ from one individual to the next, various levels are said to be attained. The first such level is known as "clear." At this point, according to Scientology, one can begin to operate as a free, spiritual being no longer constrained by engrams from the past. This is the level at which actual psychic training can begin; it is the basis for the seven levels above it, known as "OT" (Operating Thetan) I-VII. Eventually, when there are enough candidates, Hubbard has stated that he will introduce training for even higher grades. Scientologists claim that advanced OTs can communicate telepathically, perform psychokinesis, and also leave their bodies at will.

The various exercises leading to the level of OT VII require hundreds of hours of practice and the outlay of thousands of dollars. Thousands of pages have been written describing the Preliminary exercises alone. The exercises for the OT levels, Which presumably deal directly with psi training, are not publicly available. Scientology literature (Hubbard 1951/1969) and reports of former Scientologists (Kaufman 1972) state that the exercises have been regularly revised and updated by L. Ron Hubbard and his staff.

Scientology has been criticized in the popular literature on several grounds. The E-meters are actually poor measures of physiological anxiety, being subject to erratic fluctuations in battery voltage, electrode placement, and the grip of the hands on the electrodes. Individuals who have attained the higher grades in Scientology often continue to manifest the same human frailties of which they were supposed to have been cleared. Some individuals have claimed that Scientology processing has been detrimental to their mental health. Various government agencies have accused Scientology of engaging in a variety of unethical and illegal activities. According to one commentator, Scientology auditing often includes explicit and covert procedures designed to enhance the financial and power base of the organization (Kaufman 1972).

An early set of exercises, no longer in use, that seem to relate to psi training has been presented by Hubbard in a book, originally published in 1953, titled Scientology 8-8008. The theory behind this exercise, known as "Standard Operating Procedure, Issue 3," is that psychic abilities are the province of the spirit or "thetan" and are accessible when the student becomes cognizant of being a thetan separate from the body. The exercise to achieve this goal of "theta clearing" is described by Hubbard as "the backbone of processing in Scientology." Ile exercise consists of seven steps, the first being the most difficult. The auditor begins the process with the first step. Failing to accomplish the desired results, the second step is tried; failing that, the third step, etc., until the preclear is able to attain the desired results of a given step. From that point, the auditor works with the preclear back up to the first step. The steps are summarized as follows:

"Step I, Positive Exteriorizing: The preclear is asked to be a foot behind his head. When this is successful other points in space around the body are practiced. From this perspective, the preclear views and heals areas of the body in need of repair.

"Step II, By Orientation: The preclear locates himself against the forehead, he pushes his "self" out the back of the head. The preclear then follows exercises designed to achieve stability in different points outside of the body.

"Step III, Space Processing: Located inside his body, the preclear is asked to imagine the body taking on different sizes and shapes, reversing limbs, moving organs around, etc.

"Step IV, Ridge Running: The preclear is asked to give himself various mental commands and then to observe mental resistance to these commands.

"Step V, Black and White Control Processing: The preclear is asked to imagine black and white spots and also imagine them moving to various points around the room. Then various other geometric shapes are also used.

"Step VI, Arc Straight Wire: The preclear is asked to remember incidents which were real to him and then incidents which he believes were illusory.

"Step VII, Present Time Body Orientation: The preclear is asked to mentally locate and recognize parts of his body as well as objects in the room.

Some evidence circumstantially supports the claims of the Scientologists. Ingo Swann, a psychic who has been tested extensively in several laboratories- with almost consistently successful results (Puthoff & Targ 1974, Osis & Mitchell 1972, Schmeidler 1972) - is a product of Scientology training and is, in fact, an OT-VII, the highest level attainable in the organization. It is not necessarily correct to assume that Swann's psychic abilities were "trained" by his Scientology experience. In his autobiography, To Kiss Earth Goodbye, Swann (1975) indicates that he has been aware of his abilities since childhood. In the following vague passage, he credits Scientology with enabling him to control his natural abilities: "If certain experiences were possible for me as a child, it must be stated that no volitional control over the types of phenomena demonstrated during the last three years would have been possible had there been in me an absence of the transcendental structure of ideas presented by Hubbard. It is basic to Hubbard's thesis that the center of awareness, the T, is probabilistically determinant over matter, energy, space and time to the degree that the T removed the programmed blocks to his understanding of them."

Another Scientology figure of parapsychological interest is Harold E. Puthoff, a physicist formerly at SRI International and now with The Institute of Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas, who is noted for his experimental research in remote-viewing (Puthoff & Targ 1976, 1977, Targ & Puthoff 1977, Targ, Puthoff & May 1977). Puthoff has received Scientology auditing. (He has been accused by his critics [Gardner 1975] of being a biased and untrustworthy researcher by virtue of this experience. Such criticism is unfair insofar as it attacks the integrity of a highly trained scientist, on the basis of no actual evidence, and could equally apply to researchers of any religious background whatsoever, even ethical humanism.)

It is possible that Puthoff's unusual success as an experimenter may bear a relationship to his Scientology training. Other researchers have failed to replicate the consistent and high level of success that Puthoff and his partner, Russell Targ (who is not known to have received Scientology auditing), have attained in remote viewing experiments at SRI (Allen et al. 1976, Rauscher et al. 1976, Solfvin, Roll & Krieger 1977, Vallee, Hastings & Askevold 1976, Whitson et al. 1976). In their popular book Mind Reach (1977) Puthoff and Targ describe a recipe for successful remote-viewing experimentation. This recipe contains, as its most basic step, an exercise which, although probably not derived directly from Scientology, appears to be in the same tradition as Scientology auditing procedures. The percipient is asked to repeat the following questions until each can be answered positively: "Is it okay with me if the world should be constructed in such a way that psychic functioning does exist?" "Is it okay with me if I have psychic ability?" Then the percipient is asked to repeat the following statement until there is no feeling of resistance to the idea being suggested. "I can view a remote location."

Allen, S., Green, P., Rucker, K., Cohen, R., Goolsby, K., and Morris R.L. A remote viewing study using a modified version of the SRI procedure. In J.D. Morris, W.G. Roll, and R.L. Morris (Eds.), Research in parapsychology 1975, Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1976.

Gardner, M. Mathematical games. Scientific American, October 1975.

Hubbard, L.R. Scientology 8-8008. Sussex, England: Department of Publications World Wide, 1967. (Originally published, 1953.)

Kaufman, R. Inside Scientology. New York: Olympia Press, 1972.

Solfvin, G., Roll, WG., and Krieger, J. Meditation and ESP: Remote Viewing. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association, 1977.

Puthoff, H.E., and Targ, R. Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding. Nature, 1974, 252(5476), 602-607.

Puthoff, H.E., and Targ, R. A perceptual channel for information transfer over kilometer distances: Historical perspectives and recent research. Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1976, 64, 329-354.

Puthoff, H.E., and Targ, R. Direct perception of remote geographical locations. Proceedings of the IEEE Electro/77, New York, April 1977.

Rauscher, E.A., Weissman, G., Sarfatti, J., and Sirag, S. Remote perception of natural scenes shielded against ordinary perception. Research in Parapsychology 1975. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1976.

Swann, I. To kiss earth good-bye. New York: Hawthorn, 1975.

Targ R., and Puthoff, H.E. Mind-reach: Scientists took at psychic ability. New York: Delacorte Press, 1977.

Targ R., Puthoff, H.E., and May, E.C. State of the art in remote viewing studies at SRI. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Cybernetics and Society, Washington, D.C., September 1977.

Vallee, J., Hastings, A., and Askevold, G. Remote viewing experiments through computer conferencing. Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1976, 64, 1551-1552.

Whitson, T.W., Bogart, D.N., Palmer, J., and Tart, C.T. Preliminary experiments in group "remote viewing." Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1976, 64, 1550 - 1551.