http://www.rosiemagazine.com/people/0210_celebrity.jsp

By Christopher Reeve

During the last few years, countless people have remarked, "Your faith must be a great help in your ordeal." But the truth is, I only recently found a religion I can reconcile with my search for the meaning of spirituality.

When I was a child, many teachings of Western religion seemed quite disturbing to me. I thought that this God probably loves us but uses scare tactics to keep us in line. That dynamic too closely resembled my relationship with my own father; why would I choose to re-create it? And as I moved on to college and then to New York in pursuit of an acting career, I wasn't looking for answers to the Big Questions: Why are we here? Do we have a purpose? Is there a right way to live?

In the fall of 1975, I was living on the Upper West Side and in rehearsal for A Matter of Gravity, a Broadway-bound play with Katharine Hepburn. I had just turned 22 and was enjoying my life as a bachelor. One afternoon I came across a man standing next to a sign on the sidewalk that read "Free personality test, no obligation." Figuring I had nothing to lose, I followed his directions to the sixth floor of the building behind him. I opened the unlocked door and found myself in the New York headquarters of the Church of Scientology.

A young man, much like the one I'd met on the sidewalk, came forward to greet me. He gave me his name, shook my hand warmly and never broke direct eye contact. I told him I was interested in the test, and he showed me a form to fill out. In answer to the question, "Are you affiliated with any other church?" I wrote "no." In a few moments, the young man came back with another form, which turned out to be the actual test. As I looked it over, I wished it were multiple-choice. I wasn't expecting to write 20 short essays about myself. But I tried to do my best.

I had hoped to get the results that afternoon, but I was told I'd have to come back tomorrow. I appeared at the church, and the same host greeted me.

He led me down a hall and into a plush private office. In came three apparently heavy hitters. They shook my hand in turn and introduced themselves with the warmth and direct eye contact that I now recognized as a trademark of Scientology.

Then one of the officials gave me the bad news. There was no grade, just their assessment. I was obviously depressed and carrying heavy "baggage"

around, not only from this incarnation but from previous lives as well. His recommendation was that I begin "training" immediately.

The basic principles of the religion, described in the works of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, struck me as logical. Hubbard believed that every thought, every emotion, every experience is stored in the memory banks of the computer within us. What stops us from experiencing joy and achieving success is that we are not "Clear." All the negativity—self-hatred, anger, jealousy and the like—that remains in the computer brings us down.

No one at the church would estimate how long it would take me to "go Clear," but they implied that it would require quite some time. The first step was to stare intently into the eyes of another recruit sitting opposite me. The objective was to empty our minds of extraneous thoughts ("clutter") and focus our attention on the other person. The TR-O experience was relatively inexpensive, costing perhaps a few hundred dollars. But the next step was "auditing," which was outrageously expensive and would continue for an unspecified length of time. The church required a deposit of $3,000; meetings with an "auditor" cost $100 an hour.

I put down my deposit and began meeting with my auditor twice a week. One of the reasons auditing was such a long and expensive process was that we had to recall the use of almost every kind of drug. Not just illegal substances, but painkillers, antibiotics, routine vaccinations—anything stronger than aspirin.

My drug rundown used up four or five sessions, and then it was on to past lives. I was asked to go back as far as I could to try to remember my earliest incarnation. Sitting across from my auditor, I searched the back rooms of my mind.

Then my growing skepticism about Scientology and my training as an actor took over. I began to remember details from a past life in ancient Greece.

I commanded a warship returning victoriously to Athens. My father was the king, and I was his only son. When I had cast off, he had made me promise that on our return we would set white sails for victory and black sails if I had been lost. I had forgotten to change the black sails to white, and my father, in despair over my death, killed himself. I could sense that my auditor was deeply moved. And that was the end of my training as a Scientologist. The fact that I got away with a fabrication devalued my belief in the process. Of course, my case may have been an exception to the rule. Many well-known and highly respected people credit Scientology for success in their careers, in relationships and especially in their family lives. I fully support whatever belief systems make us better human beings. My problem has always been with religious dogma intended to manipulate behavior.

From: Tilman Hausherr <tilman@berlin.snafu.de>
Subject: Re: Christopher Reeve's experience with Scientology
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 18:36:50 +0200
Organization: Xenu's Ranch
Message-ID: <4csrou8gjf9i5dp1lkc981qmnopn262crp@4ax.com>

At the end the WWW pages says:

"Read the rest of the excerpt from Christopher Reeve's new book Nothing is Impossible in the October issue of ROSIE. "

I wonder if it is also about the clam cult...

-- Tilman Hausherr [KoX, SP5.55] Entheta * Enturbulation * Entertainment tilman@berlin.snafu.de http://www.xenu.de

Resistance is futile. You will be enturbulated. Xenu always prevails.

Find broken links on your web site: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html The Xenu bookstore: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/bookstore.html

From: pignotti@worldnet.att.net (Monica Pignotti)
Subject: Re: Christopher Reeve's experience with Scientology
Date: 22 Sep 2002 16:02:49 -0700
Message-ID: <53183a73.0209221502.7e17c9b3@posting.google.com>

Tilman Hausherr <tilman@berlin.snafu.de> wrote in message news:<4csrou8gjf9i5dp1lkc981qmnopn262crp@4ax.com>...

> At the end the WWW pages says:
>
> "Read the rest of the excerpt from Christopher Reeve's new book Nothing
> is Impossible in the October issue of ROSIE. "
>
> I wonder if it is also about the clam cult...

No, it's a book about his accident and his recovery process although it appears that he did mention his experience, since this is an excerpt from the book, but thats not the main topic. He did a Barbara Walters interview about this just a few days ago that mentioned this book. He's made miraculous progress, previously unheard of for quadrapelegics.

Monica

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