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changes in skin conductivity caused, according to Scientology, by
emotional upset. The face of the E-meter contains a dial on which a
needle registers "rises" and "falls" of emotional "charge." Various
knobs alter the sensitivity of the needle reactions. To the box are
connected two leads attached to small soup or juice cans which the
preclear holds in his hands.
The E-meter helps the "auditor" probe the preclear's subconscious
mind, looking for areas of emotional charge to be explored in auditing.
Scientologists believe that auditing, with the help of the E-meter,
entirely confirms the existence of past lives. They believe that through
Scientology auditing, immortality can be achieved by modern man. These
were the promises made by Hubbard in his new "science."
During this time, Hubbard introduced a policy of tithing in which
ten percent of each Scientology organization's weekly gross income would
be paid directly to Hubbard. Although Hubbard told Scientologists in a
bulletin called "What Your Fees Buy" that he made no money from
Scientology, this was a blatant
lie. During the later years of the organization, as much as a million
dollars a week was being channeled directly into Hubbard's personal
accounts.
Hubbard produced another book during this period called What to
Audit, later renamed The History of Man, which one author
judged (correctly) as "possibly the most absurd book ever written." (7)
In this book, Hubbard traced the history of the thetan, which he
claimed had come to earth only 35,000 years earlier. The book begins:
"This is a cold-blooded and factual account of your last
sixty-trillion years," and states that through this knowledge, "the
blind again see, the lame walk, the ill recover, the insane become sane
and the sane become saner."
During those sixty-trillion years we passed through stages called
the Jack in the Box, the Halver, Facsimile One, the Joiner, the Ice
Cube, the Emanator, and the Between Lives implants. All of these
implants could, of course, be nullified through Scientology auditing.
According to Hubbard's son, this book was written while Hubbard was
on drugs. That is the only explanation which makes any sense.
In the fall of 1952, Hubbard and his wife journeyed to London,
England, where one month later Hubbard's first child by his third wife
was born, a daughter named Diana. Hubbard wanted to oversee the new
organization of Scientology in London and bring it firmly under his
control.
When he returned to the United States, Hubbard stopped in
Philadelphia to give a series of lectures, packaged and still sold in
Scientology as the "Philadelphia Doctorate Course." Hubbard was by now
offering both a Bachelors and a Doctors degree in Scientology.
Hubbard, desiring a degree himself, arranged with Sequoia
University, a diploma mill in California that was shut down by the
California Department of Education in 1958, to receive an honorary
Ph.D., and he proudly displayed this credential after his name for some
time. Years later, when it became public that his degree was phony,
Hubbard issued an official policy renouncing the degree.
In 1952, Hubbard published another new book, called Scientology
8-8008. In the title, the first eight is a symbol for infinity. The
next two digits, 80, symbolize the power of the physical universe
reduced to zero; and the final 08 symbolizes the power of the personal
universe of the person taken from zero to infinity. In other words,
Hubbard is saying that through Scientology techniques, a person can
eventually become a god.
Examples of some of these miraculous procedures include the
following commands:
"Be three feet back of your head."
"Whatever you are looking at, copy it one at a time, many, many
times. Then locate a nothingness and copy it many, many times."
"Locate the two upper back comers of the room, hold on to them and
don't think."
"Now find a place where you are not."
"What would it be all right for you to look at here in this room?"
"Now find something it is safe to look at outside this room."
"Be near Earth."
"Be near the Moon."
"Be near the Sun."
"Be near the Earth."
"Be near Mars."
"Be at the center of Mars."
and so on.
It was during these lectures in Philadelphia that Hubbard first
mentioned the name of Aleister Crowley, an infamous satanist in England
during the first half of the century, referred to by Hubbard as "my very
good friend."
Crowley was, in fact, Hubbard's mentor, and remained so throughout
his life. It was from Crowley's works that Hubbard found the inspiration
for much of the bizarre material on the secret "upper levels," or "OT
levels," of Scientology.
One day, while lecturing in Philadelphia, U.S. marshals arrived on
the scene and arrested Hubbard for the theft of $9000 from the Wichita
Foundation. Amazingly, this was the only occasion that Hubbard spent
time in jail, although he was relentlessly pursued by various government
agencies for the rest of his years.
Perhaps his arrest warned Hubbard of problems to come, because it