| This interview with Catherine Bell is reprinted from Source, a magazine for Scientologists that is not intended to be read by non-members. It's not exactly secret, but Scientology doesn't encourage "wogs" (non-Scientologists) to read it. The piece is so full of cult jargon that we have found it necessary to include a glossary at the end. In this piece, Bell describes taking various Scientology courses, including the "advanced spiritual technology" Operating Thetan levels. Based on this 2003 price list, the estimated cost of all her "services" is in excesss of $400,000. The article also indicates she has donated half a million dollars towards the new Super Power building in Clearwater, Florida, still unfinished after ten years. |
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Catherine Bell Source Magazine, Issue 196, December, 2007, pages 24-25 Section: People at Flag Catherine Bell is a familiar face to millions as the star of the hit CBS television series JAG for its nine-year run. She now stars on the Lifetime cable drama Army Wives, which premiered last year as the highest-rated show in the cable network's twenty-three year history. An avid supporter of Criminon and CCHR, Double Cornerstone Member of the Super Power Expansion Project and Silver Meritorious of the IAS, Catherine told us her Flag story in between study periods on New OT VI Part A. I actually booked JAG the day after my Introductory Auditing where I handled my fears in auditioning as an actor. I wanted to do more in Scientology, but all of a sudden I was working 18 hours a day, five days a week, and that just left time for auditing on the weekends, which didn't get me very far. Then I had a hiatus with three months off and thought, 'What am I going to do? I'm going to Flag.' "I came here because at home there's always something to do. You've got your family, work, traffic and a million other distractions. So I came and I fell in love with Flag. "That first time was such an amazing trip. I got so much done. It was ideal because I could walk out of my hotel room and go right into session. I ended up being here for two-and-a-half months, and completed my Grades, NED, L 11 and L 10. Then I came back later that year and did L 12. "I cognited very early on that if you really want to move fast and you only have a small amount of time, come to Flag. Go flat out, stay at Flag and just have everything taken care of for you. "I wanted to get onto New OT VII before I started my next project this fall and I only had a limited amount of time. So I decided I had to get to Flag fast and do New OT VI Part A while I was doing New OT V. I also got to study the Basics while moving through NOTs. "I had a really big win halfway through New OT V and I went, 'Wait, why is it called NED for OTs?' I was re-reading Dianetics at the time, so I read it from that viewpoint and put it all together on what we were handling. It's vital that you read it on Solo and you have your awareness on what you handle at that point on The Bridge. Then when you're on New OT V and you have a whole new awareness, it's like you've never read it before because now as an OT it means so much more. "Between having a new OT awareness and the new versions of the books, it just blew me away. While studying the Basics, I would literally be getting OT data and then go in session and have that data to think with. The result was huge wins and it definitely made New OT V that much faster. Now I'm at the end of New OT VI Part A and I'm staying until I'm auditing on Solo NOTs. "Just the awareness and the knowledge that you gain on the OT levels about this planet and what's really going on here -- not the MEST universe we see but what's really underlying it all -- really makes you want to do something about it. On top of that, my new confidence and stability and power as an OT has made it easy for me to confront and do things on the fourth dynamic. Everything I've done here the last few months has rehabilitated my purpose as an artist. I actually feel unstoppable. "Everyone I know who comes here has the cognition that if you want to do The Bridge and get up the OT levels, you need to come to Flag. You have to put everything aside and just realize that the work will come, things will get better. I swear -- you come to Flag and your statistics at home go up. It's the craziest thing. I came here and was worried about selling my house. I got an offer on my house the day I arrived. It just happens. "At some point, you have to ask yourself, 'What's the greatest good?' If you get up The Bridge as fast as you can, then the rest of your life will be so much better, so much fuller, with so many more opportunities. "This trip has been the most incredible thing I've ever done. The changes I've experienced, the wins, the case gain, becoming more myself -- all of it has been the greatest thing I could have ever done. "I tell all my friends, 'You need to get here. It's worth it, whatever it takes.'" |
Glossary:AUDITING -- Scientology spiritual counseling, a form of ritualized, quack psychotherapy. BASICS -- Recently reissued L. Ron Hubbard books teaching the basics of Scientology. BRIDGE -- Shorthand for The Bridge to Total Freedom: the list of all auditing actions needed to go from "raw meat" to the highest OT (operating thetan) level, currently OT 8. The Bridge costs roughly $300,000 US. CASE GAIN -- spiritual progress. At the lower levels of Scientology, case gain comes from running out engrams, which are memories of past traumas in this or a previous life. At the upper levels it comes from exorcising body thetans. COGNITED -- Scientology speak for "realized". CCHR -- Citizen's Commission on Human Rights: Scientology front group that attacks psychiatry, psychology, and the use of psychiatric medications. CRIMINON -- Scientology front group that operates inside prisons. DOUBLE CORNERSTONE MEMBER OF THE SUPER POWER EXPANSION PROJECT -- This is a donation of $70,000.00 to the building of Scientology's White Elephant called the Super Power building. The building has been under construction since 1998. See Super Power Building [Wikiepdia]. FLAG -- The FLAG Land Base: the biggest Scientology complex, located in Clearwater, Florida. Called "the mecca of technical perfection" because of its supposedly flawless Scientology technique. This is where Lisa McPherson was held against her will and eventually died. See: Flag Land Base [Wikipedia] FOURTH DYNAMIC -- means Mankind. There are eight dynamics in Scientology: (1) self, (2) sex and children, (3) groups, (4) mankind, (5) living things, (6) the physical universe, (7) spirituality, and (8) infinity. GO IN SESSION -- means to go into a formal counseling session with an auditor or with oneself (solo auditing). GRADES -- Lower level Scientology auditing (counseling) designed to indoctrinate the Scientologist into Hubbard's way of thinking. L 11 and L 10, L 12 -- The most expensive of all Scientology services. Over $1000.00 per hour, delivered by the highest trained of Scientology's auditors. MEST -- Matter, Energy, Space, and Time. Scientology jargon for the material universe, i.e., the mundane world, as opposed to the spiritual world. Operating thetans are "at cause over MEST" and can control it with the power of their thoughts. NED -- New Era Dianetics. Hubbard's upgrade of the original Dianetics techniques.. NEW OT V --- an advanced level of Scientology concerned with exorcising alien beings attached to the body. This level is not done solo. NEW OT VI PART A.-- This OT level teaches how to solo audit, i.e., audit the Body Thetans on one's own, without the help of another. NEW OT VII -- This is the level where the Scientologist solo audits himself daily until there are no more alien beings attached to his or her body. This level often takes five or more years to complete. NOTs-- abbreviation for New Era Dianetics for OT's. See NEW OT V, NEW OT VI and NEW OT VII. OT -- Operating Thetan. A spiritual being who can operate with or without his or her body. OT LEVELS -- There are 8 OT levels. These are the Scientology "upper levels" of spiritual awareness. OT III introduces Xenu the evil galactic overlord, and the removal of BT's or Body Thetans. Body Thetans are alien beings who have attached themselves to the body of every single person on Earth. The OT levels teach one how to remove these alien beings and obtain great spiritual awareness from doing so. OT III through OT VIII address the exorcism of these alien beings from one's body. SILVER MERITORIOUS OF THE IAS -- A level of Patron status for the IAS (International Association of Scientologists). The donation for this status level is $500,000.00. |