It’s a major date on the Scientology calendar today, even if the church itself doesn’t actually celebrate it. And you know, they really should. It was 33 years ago today that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard voluntarily left his hale and fit 74-year-old body in order to continue his upper-level OT researches without the burden of a physical form. He’s been off exploring the outer reaches of understanding ever since.
At least, that’s what Scientologists were told three days later, on Monday, January 27, 1986, at a gathering hastily put together at the Hollywood Palladium. We’ve talked to numerous people who were in the audience that night, and they tell us they sort of realized that this was how the church was breaking it to them that Hubbard had died. (In fact, he took terrible care of himself and had a host of ailments before he had a couple of strokes and breathed his last on a ranch near Creston, California with just a few followers with him.) They also, every one, told us that when a diminutive guy in a naval uniform walked out on stage to start the briefing, they didn’t recognize him and had never heard his name before.
It was a 25-year-old David Miscavige.
It is always fun to see Dave break it to the crowd that Hubbard has moved on to another dimension.
But there’s another moment from that night’s briefing that we never get tired of, and which endlessly fascinates us.
It involves Pat Broeker, and a really big number.
Coming onstage after Miscavige, Broeker also wanted to reinforce the idea that Hubbard had been working on incredibly sophisticated things when he decided to leave his body.
Broeker and his wife Annie were with Hubbard after he went into permanent seclusion in 1980. At the Creston ranch, only a few others were trusted to be there besides the Broekers. And now Pat wanted people to know what Hubbard had achieved in his final days, that he was still trying to find out just how far back he could go on his “Whole Track” of existence.
You see, Hubbard told his followers that they were immortal beings called thetans who had existed for thousands of trillions of years. Part of the goal of Scientology was using the E-Meter to “remember” those lifetimes farther and farther back in time. And no one was better at it than Hubbard himself.
Broeker showed them a piece of paper that he said represented the number of years back that Hubbard had been able to find an incident in his own track to “handle”…
We did our best to read the fuzzy image, which appears to be the number 24 followed by a lot of other digits. We counted ten sets of three digits arranged on 11 rows, plus five more sets of three on the top row. (In a number that large, all of the numbers after the first couple might as well be zeroes.)
Our count came to 24 followed by 345 zeroes, which can be expressed this way:
24 billion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years.
(We checked it with a sciencey engineering friend and he confirmed our math, but he couldn’t seem to stop laughing.)
Actual scientists say that the universe is only about 13 billion years old.
Chuck Beatty was one of the people in the audience that night, and he told us that seeing that number seemed to thrill the audience. If Hubbard could go back that far into his own past, they would someday as well.
Now, 33 years later, we can only ask, why isn’t that the kind of stuff they talk about on Scientology TV?
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Start making your plans!
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!
We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.
Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!
Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!
Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] The Battle of Portland: How Scientology turned a nightmare court verdict into a major victory
[TWO years ago] Another Leah, inspired by her namesake, comes forward with a harrowing Scientology escape
[THREE years ago] On the 30th anniversary of L. Ron Hubbard’s galaxial soul ejection, an obit by an old friend
[FOUR years ago] First time in full: 1997 interview of Barbara Klowden, L. Ron Hubbard’s PR agent and lover
[FIVE years ago] Scientology wins damages from French court, but it’s not the victory they were hoping for
[SIX years ago] L. Ron Hubbard: Still Surfing the Galaxy in 2013
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard Still Surfing the Galaxy
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Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,339 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 1,470 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 1,972 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 1,452 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 515 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 403 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 3,710 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,578 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,352 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,126 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,472 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,038 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 6,958 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,125 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,706 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 2,966 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,006 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,718 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,244 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,333 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,473 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,793 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 7,649 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,768 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,124 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,426 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,532 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 1,935 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,806 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,389 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,884 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,138 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,247 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 24, 2019 at 07:00
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