Mark Super VII Quantum E-meter
An E-meter is an electronic device manufactured by the Church of
Scientology at their Gold Base production facility. It is used as an aid by
Dianetics and Scientology counselors and
counselors-in-training in some forms of auditing, the application of the
techniques of Dianetics and Scientology to another or to oneself for the express purpose of addressing spiritual issues. The
device is formally known as the Hubbard Electrometer.
A 1971 ruling of the United States District Court, District of Columbia (333 F. Supp. 357), specifically stated, "The E-meter
has no proven usefulness in the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease, nor is it medically or scientifically capable
of improving any bodily function."
Description and use
-
A visitor to a Church of Scientology public information tent receives a demonstration of an E-meter as part of a free "stress
test".
The E-meter measures changes in the electrical resistance of the human body by
inducing a tiny electrical current through the body.[1] The
device's primary component is an electrical measuring instrument called a
Wheatstone bridge, functioning much like 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; the action of the E-meter is more commonly attributed to galvanic skin
response, an effect used in lie detectors.
E-meter sessions are conducted by church employees 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,
with each having their own special significance.
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.
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 ). 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]
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 VII Super 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)
Proposed mechanism of operation
L. Ron Hubbard's teachings propose a commonly held humanistic 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 5.94 x 1018 joules of
energy being converted into mass, as per Einstein's mass-energy equivalence. This is approximately a 1.414 million kiloton yield of high explosive,
or roughly 70,000 times the energy released by the nuclear weapon dropped on
Hiroshima.
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.[2]
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.[3][4]
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[attribution needed] point to a lack of scientific
basis for the E-meter and associated practices. They[attribution needed] claim 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.
A Californian student of American Studies, Laura Kay Fuller, claimed in a 1999 thesis that the E-meter furthers 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."[5]
See also
References
- ^ Hubbard, L. Ron (1982). Understanding the E-Meter. Bridge Publications. ISBN 0-88404-078-X.
- ^ 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)
- Victory for
the Scientologists. Time (Magazine) (1969-02-14).
Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
- Pilkington, Mark (2005-02-17). Clear thinking. Far
out. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
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