going-clear-scientology-hollywood-and-the-prison-of-belief-by-lawrence-wright-2

that I was the first one that ever did live through any attempt to attain that material.”
In the late seventies, the OT mysteries were still unknown, except to the elect. There
was no Internet, and Scientology’s condential scriptures had never been published or
produced in court. Scientologists looked toward the moment of initiation into OT III
with extreme curiosity and excitement. The candidate had to be invited into this next
level—Scientologists were cautioned that the material could cause harm or even death to
those who were unprepared to receive it. The enforced secrecy added to the mystique
and the giddy air of adventure.
One could look back at this crucial moment and examine the pros and cons of
Haggis’s decision to stay in Scientology. The fact that people often sneered at the church
didn’t deter him; on the contrary, he reveled in being a member of a stigmatized
minority—it made him feel at one with other marginalized groups. The main drawback
to belief was his own skeptical nature; he was a proud contrarian, and it would never
have occurred to him to join the Baptist church, for instance, or to return to Catholicism;
he simply wasn’t interested. Intellectually, faith didn’t call to him. Scientology, on the
other hand, was exotic and tantalizing. The weirdness of some of the doctrines was hard
to fathom, but there was no doubt in Haggis’s mind that he had gained some practical
benets from his several years of auditing and that his communication skills had
improved through some of the coursework. None of that had required him to “believe” in
Scientology, but the religion had proved itself in certain ways that mattered to him. The
process of induction was so gradual that things that might have shocked him earlier
were more acceptable by the time he came upon them. Whenever he ran into something
on the Bridge to Total Freedom that he couldn’t fathom, he convinced himself that the
next level would make everything understandable.
Scientology was a part of his community; it had taken root in Hollywood, just as
Haggis had. His rst writing jobs had come through Scientology connections. His wife
was deeply involved in the church, as was his sister Kathy. His circle of friends was
centered in the church. Haggis was deep enough into the process by now to understand
implicitly that those relationships would be jeopardized if he chose to leave the church.
Moreover, he had invested a considerable part of his income in the program. The
incentive to believe was high.
He was also looking forward to having the enhanced abilities that his fellow
adherents on the Bridge were constantly talking about. Although Hubbard had explicitly
told Operating Thetans not to use their powers for “parlor tricks,” there was a section of
Advance!, a magazine for upper-level Scientologists, titled “OT Phenomena,” where
members could report clairvoyant or paranormal experiences. Parking spaces magically
made themselves available and waiters immediately noticed you. “I saw that my
goldsh was all red and lumpy,” one Scientologist writes in Advance! “My husband,
Rick, said that he’s had goldsh like that before and they don’t recover.” The
correspondent relates that she used her abilities to “ow energy” into the sh “until a
big burst of matter blew. I ended o. When I went home that night the sh was
completely healed.” She concludes, “It was a big win for me, and the sh. It couldn’t
have been done without the technology of L. Ron Hubbard.” Even if such eects were