control yurt
I've been diving into the subculture of science fiction writers and publishers more, thanks to someone I met through WILPF, my mom's organization (meaning she was super active therein -- that org is over a 100 years old (she lived to be almost 94)).
My correspondent writes:
Forry Aackerman knew L. Ron Hubbard in LA when they were young men. Early 1930s. Forry would rail against Hubbard and his Scientotlogy. According to Forry, that whole religion was started after a card game of several SF writers. No false modesty in Hubbard so not surprising that he bragged, "I bet I can start a religion and lots of people will follow it." It was a joke that night among just those few SF writers and a dare to Ron L. Hubbard to "Go on--let's see ya do it!"
Here's what I wrote (excerpt):
Lemme say what I think about Scientology:
Important in my bio is/was Ray Simon, and his wife Bonnie, their baby Julie. I became the babysitter for newborn Julie in Jersey City when Ray and Bonnie both had to head off to work in Manhattan. Ray was an office temp, assigned all over NYC. Bonnie was a professional nurse and I believe worked in a hospital.
Here's the thing: Ray was a big fan of both Werner Erhard and L. Ron Hubbard. I even witnessed him getting a letter from L. Ron when I was there in his Jersey City home. It said something like "I'm not sure what you want to know", a one-liner, but all Ray wanted to know is if L. Ron was still alive or not. He suspected foul play. He found that letter reassuring. I could write a lot more about Ray.
What I discovered about both Scientology and Erhard's est, is TV-raised Americans are desperate to have a life in showbiz. I'd say nothing has changed on that score except lower barriers to entry: start your own YouTube channel for like no dollars. Would-be actors are like me: gig economy, long spells unemployed, then super busy, then off again, on off on off. But when you're off, not on a gig, you don't want to let your skills get shallow. Like you're a professional athlete and just because it's not the Olympics on TV right now, you can't afford to slob out. So what do you do? You check out those human potential workshops for one thing, partly just to see how the hucksters are huckstering. You wanna get some clues on how to be convincing and on how to break into showbiz. You wanna network.
So as a logistics supervisor around the Centers Network (Erhard's op), I met a lot of actors. A lot of those actors were checking out Scientology at the same time and discovering the latter's Improv Theater workshops. Scientology was supposed to help you do better at improv, because as you ascended the levels ($$!) to get "clear" (top level), you'd be shedding the kinds of emotional baggage that keep you inhibited and not spontaneous. As an actor, being "clear" sounded like just the ticket, not to mention how you'd be meeting other actors and showbiz people and... well you get the idea.
In sum, the Venn Diagram overlap twixt Erhard's and Hubbard's operations was showbiz. The same people (like my friend Ray, also wanting to be in showbiz) would flock to both outfits.
Differences: Centers Network was a nonprofit, but never billed itself as a religion, and if pressed to point to an adjacent religion, would choose Zen. Centers Network had roles, such as logistics supervisor, outside security (two I played), assistant trainer, trainer... but not levels or ranking other than "did the training" (graduate) versus "didn't do the training" (so still might). Buckminster Fuller didn't do the training but his grandson and I believe daughter both did. I'm only sure about the grandson actually, Jaime (we've talked on the phone).
One reason Applewhite (Fuller's collaborator) was suspicious of me at first, but also curious, was I was coming from a Princeton philo + est background, and Werner + Bucky was a thing in the late 70s early 80s. From Ed's point of view, I might be a big asset or a major pain. I like to think I was a big asset and have reason to think that.
Differences: Centers Network was a nonprofit, but never billed itself as a religion, and if pressed to point to an adjacent religion, would choose Zen. Centers Network had roles, such as logistics supervisor, outside security (two I played), assistant trainer, trainer... but not levels or ranking other than "did the training" (graduate) versus "didn't do the training" (so still might). Buckminster Fuller didn't do the training but his grandson and I believe daughter both did. I'm only sure about the grandson actually, Jaime (we've talked on the phone).
One reason Applewhite (Fuller's collaborator) was suspicious of me at first, but also curious, was I was coming from a Princeton philo + est background, and Werner + Bucky was a thing in the late 70s early 80s. From Ed's point of view, I might be a big asset or a major pain. I like to think I was a big asset and have reason to think that.
I'll have to research this Forry Ackerman guy. Not on my radar until you introduced him.
In a later email I wrote:
When I talk about Synergetics to School of Tomorrow folks, I say it's easier to read than Finnegans Wake and that it's a kind of natural language Pound Era mathematics. That's not inaccurate.
Yes, General Semantics, another ics. Cybernetics. Economics... I think about English disciplines that end in ics. Oh, lookie here: Dianetics.
Synergetics is not Dianetics, let's be clear. There's also another book titled Synergetics that claims somehow to be in Fuller's lineage, by one Haken, but Fuller never regarded Haken as his protege (me he did).
I think Hubbard was offended by Erhard's characterization of Scientology as tacky, corny, not nearly as high tech and streamlined as the Erhard's operation. I tend to share this view.
The Centers Network eventually morphed into the Landmark Forum. At least one Friend (Quaker) I know has been through it and I went to her graduation. But as they say "I got it the first time" i.e. no need to repeat (they tell me the Landmark version has been toned down a lot, not quite the same polemics as the est trainers were using -- and that Dr. W. Kaufmann, whom I mention, one of my Princeton profs, enjoyed, or found interesting).
