I bet it’s been a weird ride! Hang in there!

God bless, Stacy. Thank you for understanding. It’s been a weird ride and never in my wildest imagination did I think I’d get involved in a sinister organization like the one Scientology turned out to be. I still can’t believe it and I was there.

I agree. Let’s get the truth out there. And thanks for your honest reply. Also, if anyone has the right to worry about trolls, it’s ex-scientologists. You guys actually experience the weird conspiracies that the tin foil hat brigade insists are real. Never would’ve believed that was possible until I started reading on CoS. I think it’s smart to retain some of that concern.

Good catch, Stephanie. I thought the same.
Heck, all of them were listening, some were just pretending that they don’t.
The seeds of doubt are planted/reinforced.

After I asked if you were a plant, I felt foolish and wanted to take it back, but I had already pushed the “post” button. I am glad it gave you a laugh.
I hope I didn’t disappoint you that there was no trick. It was just a change of heart as to whether I owed them the truth. It was quite interesting to me that that worked–the Buddha feat of detachment. Thank you for your interest in Scientology. The more the truth gets out there, the better it will be.

What a beautiful photo!

Thanks. I was aware of challenges from MHP’s, but not that actual studies were done. And I knew about the Clear debacle. I just need more time in my days to be able to check out all the CoS stuff that’s out there.

Two scientificstudies, which date from the early days of Dianetics, already exist (links below).

One falsified the theoretical foundation of Dianetics and Scientology (Hubbards’ idea of ‘Engrams’). The other found that practising Dianetic ‘techniques’ did not provide any practical benefit.

http://scicrit.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/an-experimental-investigation-of-hubbards-engram-hypothesis-dianetics/

http://scicrit.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/436/

At this time Hubbard claimed Dianetics was an exact science, and people were recruited by telling them that could become prestigious researchers at the cutting edge of (pseudo) medical research.

Soon Hubbard changed tack (eventually adopting the cover of ‘religion’) because:

1) Every honest experimental test turned out negative

2) If people participated in Dianetic ‘research’, there was the potential for them to become popular and pose a threat to Hubbards’ absolute power.

After this change came about, it was impossible for scientific researchers to put Dianetics and Scientology to a fair test because the ‘Church’ would not co-operate.

Besides, by this time Science had lost interest, and filed Dianetics in the same bulging drawer as astrology, phrenology and phlogiston theory.

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you that belief in the e-meter is part of what makes it “work” on scientologists. I was just curious if you’d made use of deep breathing or something to remain calm vs. getting nervous or panicked over being asked questions in a sec check that you didn’t want to answer.

Am I a plant? LOL! I’m so blazingly direct in my questions I’d never make it in intelligence. Obviously, I have no way to prove this though.

You’re not a plant are you? The paranoia never stops, sorry.
It’s hard to explain how I “fooled the e-meter” and it is speculative on my part. I felt I had fooled it. I’ll give you two examples.
There were times in session (before I was disillusioned) that I decided I’d had enough of a particular process. I “decided” to F/N (floating needle) and the auditor would say “Your needle is floating”. If your needle floats, your session is over. Did I fool the emeter? Well, it felt that way.
And then there were security checks. I was asked the question: “Are you connected to anyone antagonist to Scientology.”
My thought was, “None of your God-damned business.” If I had taken the question seriously and thought about it. something would have read. But I didn’t go there and the meter didn’t react.
In my opinion, the meter only works if you agree to let it work. In the security check scenario, I was sufficiently disillusioned that I did not turn my power over to them. I knew their intentions were not good.
I hope that answers your question. It’s complicated. I still believe the meter might have some useful applications. But it would be almost impossible to test because you would have to buy into the whole system in order to test it. And if you bought into the whole system you would lose your objectivity.