I went to lunch with my friend Mark in SLC today, and afterward, I didn't really have any plans. As I was driving back home, I happened to pass the Church of Scientology (as mentioned here). I figured, "What the hell!" and decided to go inside, just for kicks.
I was greeted by a lady in her late 30s named Cyndy. She asked me normal questions, such as why was I there and what interested me about Scientology. I just said I wanted to find out what was true about their beliefs and what was false. She was very polite, and we had a nice discussion.
She gave me a brief overview, answered my initial questions, and then asked if I would like to "see one of my thoughts." She took me into a small office and brought in a machine that kinda looked like a radio. It had two wires coming out of it and on the end of the wires were little metal handles. I held the handles while she asked me questions. Supposedly, the questions triggered thoughts and stress, which registered on the machine. The little needle was moving all over the place, but I didn't really feel stressed about any of the questions.
Then, after a 200-question personality test, I was shown to a room where I watched a 50-minute (!) video of L. Ron Hubbard. He was basically just using a bunch of easy language and feel-good hype, and I wasn't really interested at all.
After the video, Cyndy asked if I would like to set up an appointment to review the results of my personality test. I declined, but left with a large pile of pamphlets and papers.
Funny thing 1) Cyndy briefly showed me a graph of the results of my personality test, but wouldn't discuss anything in detail unless I agreed to set up an appointment. She was also very adamant about getting me to purchase "Dianetics."
Funny thing 2) One of the pamphlets was about finding freedom from financial burdens. On the back, there was a place to write your credit card number for more information.
If I go back again, I'm going to take someone with me.
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