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22 -— Sunday, May 5, 1991 - North Shore News

Scientology focuses on the

‘clearing’

NOT MANY religions can
claim as their founder a
science-fiction writer.

By Barbara Black
New Reporter

Before Lafayette Ronald Hub-
bard wrote his now famous book
Dianetics-The Modern Science of
Mental Health in 1950 he was
known as a pulp fiction writer.
But after publication of Dianetics
the concept of spiritual healing
‘technology’ took off and
L. Ron Hubbard became a
household name.

Hubbard later added ideas of
salvation and awareness of self as
a spiritual and immortal being to
Dianetics. This, in 1952, became
Scientology and in 1955 was in-
stitutionalized as the Church of
Scientology. Despite its classifica-
tion as a church, however, there is
ne dogma concerning God.

Scientology has been referred to
as the ‘‘science fiction religion”
by some critics and, indeed, ele-
ments of Hubbard's science fic-
tion background can be detected
in its many neologisms.

North Vancouver resident Betty
Lunde is a ‘‘minister’? of the
Church of Scientology. First in-
troduced to Scientology in 1964
and later ordained in 1972, Lunde
is licensed to ‘‘audit’’ people, that
is, to apply the therapy devised by
Hubbard to ‘‘clear’’ people of
“‘engrams’’ or psychic scars that
inhibit spiritual freedom.

In auditing, Lunde explains,
“we never evaluate. We never say
you should or shouldn’t do some-
thing.... [f it isn’t true for you, it
isn’t true.”’

The auditee is hooked up to an
electropsychometer and asked
various questions. The electrical
resistance of the static fields sur-
rounding the body are measured
during responses.

Lunde explains, ‘‘If you have
an emotional experience contain-
ing pain and emotion, then one
has a picture of what happened of
all the 26 senses.... We get these
pictures and they actually contain
mass. This electrical charge
measures that mass.”’

“By going over these incidents
you get rid of that charge.’’ And
you reach the state of ‘‘clear.”*

That is Dianetics. Scientology,
Lunde explains, ‘deals with the
spirit,’ or “‘thetan.’’ A thetan is
describect as an immortal! spiritual

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of spiritual being

NEWS photo Mike a
BETTY LUNDE, of North Vancouver, is an ordained minister in
the Church of Scientology. Although the church operates
amidst continued controversy, Lunde maintains that its purpose
is te help people “have their attention on going forward and

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going free as a being.”’

being who inhabits a body.

An “operating thetan (OT)’’ is
one who functions ‘‘clear’’ of
engrams from both this life and
past lives. The OT materials for
study are confidential and offered
only in packaged lessons.

Although Lunde said that
courses can be taken for as little
as $25, she declined to say how
much the most expensive course
was or how much she has spent
on studying Scientology materials,
exclaiming, ‘‘You know, I never
kept track of it.”

Lunde has taken every course
offered by Scientology.

“I’ve gone as far as I can right
now in the levels of training.
There are more, but they're not
out yet,’’ she says.

Asked how it will be possible
for further courses to be added,
given the death of Hubbard in
1986, she replies ‘‘It’s just a mat-
ter of releasing it and getting it
available. It’s difficult to explain.
Putting it out available to people
who are ready for it.’” Some cite
skepticism at Hubbard’s continued
“discovery” of further stages of
enlightenment, thereby requiring
further training for auditors.

To become a minister, Lunde
studied other religions.

“We looked into... a lot of
them. We study the bible. We
have books where they tell about

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each. The main ones... Buddhism
and Islamic.”

She points out that there are
people of all religions in Scien-
tology.

“We never tell people to give
up their religion.... We don’t say
‘you must believe this.’ °’

in what sense is Scientology a
religion then?

“We are dealing with the
spiritual being,*’ Lunde says.
“That is the whole purpose and
that is what religion is.’’

After some reflection she
describes salvation as ‘‘ridding
ourselves of unwanted condi-
tions, sensations, memories. One
is free to pursue the spiritual ad-
vancement."”

Lunde was audited by L. Ron
Hubbard, ‘“‘the greatest moment
of my life,’’ she says. Despite a
scathing cover story in the recent
issue of Time magazine which
describes Hubbard as ‘‘part story-
teller, part flimfam man,"* among
other less flattering epithets,
Lunde describes him as a ‘very,
very unusual and extremely tal-
ented man.”

“*He never wanted to be a God.
He never asked us to worship
him.... So it’s not like a cult
where you worship somebody. He
said... I’m doing this because I
love you and because I want you
to do better in life.”’

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THE CORPORATION OF THE
CITY OF NORTH VANCOUVER

NOTICE
POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING

The Members of City Council will be
considering the following items at a meeting
of the Policy Committee, scheduled for:

MAY 13, 1991
in the
COUNCIL CHAMBER, CITY HALL
141 WEST 14TH STREET
NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C.
at

7:30 P.M.
1. Resident exempt parking policy.
2. Bylaw enforcement procedures for resident
exempt parking.

Chairman — Alderman S.J. Dean invites all interested
persons to attend the Policy Committee Meeting and
to make comments on the above issues concerning
resident exempt parking policy and enforcement.

ELEANOR M. RIENSTRA
for BRUCE HAWKSHAW
CITY CLERK

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