E-meter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An E-Meter is a battery-powered electronic device manufactured by the Church of Scientology's Gold Base. Its use is a central component of Scientology and Dianetics. The device is formally known as the Hubbard electrometer.
Contents |
[edit] Description and use
The E-meter measures changes in the electrical resistance of the human body by inducing a tiny electrical current through the body.[1] The face of the E-meter has a galvanometer that indicates changes in the subject's resistance. According to Scientology doctrine, the resistance corresponds to the "mental mass and energy" of the subject's mind, which change when the subject thinks of particular mental images (engrams). These concepts have no recognition among scientists outside of Scientology; resistance-measuring devices like the E-meter are more commonly used as lie detectors.
E-meter sessions are conducted by church experts known as auditors. Scientology materials traditionally refer to the subject as the "preclear," although auditors continue to use the meter well beyond the clear level. The preclear holds a pair of cylindrical electrodes ("cans") connected to the meter while the auditor asks the preclear a series of questions and notes both the verbal response and the activity of the meter. Auditor training describes many types of needle movements, among which the following are significant:
- floating needle (slow wandering movement): indicates that the preclear is no longer concerned about the subject of questioning. Auditors are required to continue auditing until they observe this movement, and no further.
- rock slam (repeated violent swinging back and forth): a rock slam indicates a hidden evil intention toward the subject of questioning.[2] In response to questions about the Scientology organization, it indicates an evil intention toward the Church itself,[3]. Within the Sea Org, this was once grounds for assignment to the Rehabilitation Project Force.[4]
The meter has two control dials. The larger dial, known as the "tone arm," adjusts the meter bias, while the smaller one controls the gain. Auditors manipulate the tone arm during an audit to keep the galvanometer needle on a marked reference point.
[edit] History
The E-meter has undergone many changes since it was invented in the 1940s by Volney Mathison, an early collaborator with Hubbard. The Mathison Electropsychometer (as it was then called) was produced for use by psychotherapists and chiropractors. It was adopted for use in Dianetics by Hubbard in the early 1950s, before being temporarily dropped in 1954 during a dispute with Mathison.
In a quote from Bent Corydon's "Messiah or Madman?",
It was the Mathison E-Meter, and Mathison was determined to keep it that way. So in late 1954 the use of the E-meter was discontinued by Hubbard. Wrote Hubbard: "Yesterday, we used an instrument called an E-Meter to register whether or not the process was still getting results so that the auditor would know how long to continue it. While the E-Meter is an interesting investigation instrument and has played its part in research, it is not today used by the auditor... As we long ago suspected, the intervention of a mechanical gadget between the auditor and the preclear had a tendency to depersonalize the session..." see page 313
In 1958 when Scientologists Don Breeding and Joe Wallis developed a modified, smaller battery-operated version which they presented to Hubbard he again used it. This was christened the Hubbard electrometer. Hubbard patented it on December 6, 1966, as a "Device for Measuring and Indicating Changes in the Resistance of a Human Body" (U.S. Patent 3,290,589 ). The patent is now expired and in the public domain. The Church of Scientology continues to make, sell and teach its use in auditing.
Mathison never litigated the appropriation of his invention, but was bitter and disillusioned about Hubbard. In 1964 Mathison stated: "I decry the doings of trivial fakers, such as scientologists and the like, who glibly denounce hypnosis and then try covertly to use it in their phony systems." [1] [2]
Today, models of the E-meter include the Mark V, the Mark VI and the Mark VII. The newest model is the Mark VII Super Quantum E-Meter. As of January 2005, the cost of the Mark Super VII Quantum E-Meter is US $4,650.00 (up from US $3,850 in 1995). Scientologists of the Free Zone have developed their own E-meter models which are available at much lower prices. They offer also circuit diagrams and instructions for building a meter. (Hilton, 2001)
[edit] Proposed mechanism of operation
L. Ron Hubbard's teachings propose a commonly held humanisitic philosophical duality: that a human being consists of a physical body and an aware spiritual entity. He set out his theory of how the E-Meter works in his book Understanding the E-Meter:
- For the meter to be read, the tiny flow of electrical energy through the preclear (person) has to remain steady. When this tiny flow is changed the needle of the E-Meter moves. This will happen if the preclear pulls in or releases mental mass. This mental mass (condensed energy), acts as an additional resistance or lack of resistance to the flow of electrical energy from the E-Meter.
Hubbard claimed that this "mental mass" has the same physical characteristics, including weight, as mass as commonly understood by lay persons:
- "In Scientology it has been discovered that mental energy is simply a finer, higher level of physical energy. The test of this is conclusive in that a thetan "mocking up" (creating) mental image pictures and thrusting them into the body can increase the body mass and by casting them away again can decrease the body mass. This test has actually been made and an increase of as much as thirty pounds, actually measured on scales, has been added to, and subtracted from, a body by creating "mental energy." Energy is energy. Matter is condensed energy."
This text in Understanding the E-Meter is accompanied by three pictures. The first shows a man standing on a weighing scale, which reflects a weight of "150" (the units are not given but are presumably pounds). The next shows the man on the same scale, weighed down under a burden of "Mental Image Pictures", and the scale indicates a weight of "180". The last picture shows the man standing upright on the scale, now unburdened by "Mental Image Pictures" and with a smile on his face, while the scale again indicates a weight of "150".
Such a gain of mass from "mental energy" would constitute 1,224,693,000,000,000,000,000 joules of energy being converted into mass. This is approximatly 14.6 million times the energy released by the nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima.
[edit] Controversy
The E-meter became the subject of a major controversy with the US Food and Drug Administration in the early 1960s, when the FDA became concerned that the church was using the E-meter to practice medicine without a license. The controversy is described by Jannsen, 1993.[5]
On January 4, 1963, more than one hundred E-meters were seized by US marshals at the "Founding Church of Scientology" building in Washington, D.C. The church was accused of making false claims that the devices effectively treated some 70 percent of all physical and mental illness. The FDA also charged that the devices did not bear adequate directions for treating the conditions for which they were recommended.[6][7]
Prolonged litigation ensued, with a subsequent jury trial finding that the E-Meter had indeed been misrepresented. The church's contention that its literature was exempt from legal action because it was issued by a religious organization was rejected by the court as irrelevant. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the verdict on the basis that the government had done nothing to rebut the church's claim that Scientology was a religion. A new trial was ordered which upheld the findings and verdict of the first trial.
Judge Gerhardt A. Gesell found that:
- Hubbard and his fellow Scientologists developed the notion of using an E-Meter to aid auditing. Substantial fees were charged for the meter and for auditing sessions using the meter. They repeatedly and explicitly represented that such auditing effectuated cures of many physical and mental illnesses. An individual processed with the aid of the E-Meter was said to reach the intended goal of 'clear' and was led to believe that there was reliable scientific proof that once cleared many, indeed most, illnesses would successfully be cured. Auditing was guaranteed to be successful. All this was and is false.
The judge ordered use of the E-Meter be confined to "bona fide religious counseling" and the device be prominently labeled with a warning notice:
- The E-Meter is not medically or scientifically useful for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease. It is not medically or scientifically capable of improving the health or bodily functions of anyone.
The church has adopted a modified version of this statement, which it still invokes in connection with the E-Meter. The current statement reads:
- By itself, this meter does nothing. It is solely for the guide of Ministers of the Church in Confessionals and pastoral counseling. The Electrometer is not medically or scientifically capable of improving the health or bodily function of anyone and is for religious use by students and Ministers of the Church of Scientology only.
Critics point to a lack of scientific basis for the E-meter and associated practices. They point out that at the time Hubbard began claiming the E-meter to be an accurate and precise instrument for detecting mental tension, no attempt had been made to scientifically validate this hypothesis by comparing the E-meter readings of individuals under tension to the readings of a control group. Clearly, if no attempt had been made to determine what the difference was between the two readings of the two groups, the E-Meter could hardly be declared an accurate and precise instrument for determining which group a particular subject belonged to—except declared as dogma or an article of faith.
Laura Kay Fuller sees the E-meter furthering totalitarian tendencies in Scientology:
- "Scientology insists that the E-meter is the final indicator of the truth, consistently relying on the "scientific proof" of this machine to further its ideology. ... In addition to this, Scientology uses the E-meter as a lie detector, gradually building a state of fear and paranoia for its members."[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hubbard, L. Ron (1982). Understanding the E-Meter. Bridge Publications. ISBN 0-88404-078-X.
- ^ Hubbard, L. Ron. "HCO Bulletin of 1 November 1978: Definition of a Rock Slam". Hubbard Communications Office, 1978.
- ^ Hubbard, L. Ron. "HCO Bulletin of 1 November 1974RA: Rock Slams and Rock Slammers". Hubbard Communications Office, 1974.
- ^ Church of Scientology. Sea Organization Flag Order 3434RB: The Rehabilitation Project Force. 7 January 1974.
- ^ Janssen, Wallace (1993). "The Gadgeteers", in Stephen Barrett, MD, and William Jarvis, PhD (editors): The Health Robbers. A Close Look at Quackery in America. Prometheus Books, Buffalo NY, pp. 321–335. ISBN 0-87975-855-4.
- ^ Christopher Riche Evans (1974). Cults of Unreason. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-13324-7. Chapter 6.
- ^ Russell Miller (1987). Bare-faced messiah: The true story of L. Ron Hubbard. Key Porter Books. ISBN 1-55013-027-7. Chapter 15.
- ^ Laura Kay Fuller (1999). Technology. CoS and Totalitarianism. Retrieved on August 12, 2005.
- United States District Court, District of Columbia, 1971. "United States of America, Libelant, v. An Article or Device... 'Hubbard Electrometer' or Hubbard E-Meter,' etc., Funding Church of Scientology, et. al., Claimants. No. D.C. 1-63 (July 30)
[edit] External links
- Official Church of Scientology site of the E-Meter
- What is Scientology: The E-Meter
- ScientologyToday: What is the E-Meter and how does it work?
- Build your own E-meter
- The Scandal of Scientology
- The E-Meter Papers
- Secrets of Scientology: The E-Meter, David S. Touretzky
![[2]](http://www.reconnect.org/ab/v11/v11n03/page0015.png){kind=link}