--- In [email protected], Bhairitu wrote:
>
> The e-meter thing that is used in Scientology for auditing, sometimes
referred to as the "cans" because they used a couple of tin cans that
the person being audited would hold for sensors, measures the galvanic
skin response. They have these sets of questions and if the meter goes
off then that person has a problem in that area. Then they work through
that with some kind of psychotherapy.
>
The theory sounds OK to me - and it means that two Scientologists can
audit each other therefore saving a fortune in fees otherwise paid to a
psychotherapist. In fact having an objective tool that shows signs of
stress sounds more sensible and reliable than the blessed Sigmund
Freud's technique of random association - asking a patient to say
whatever first springs to mind when the words "mother"/"sex"/"penis" are
thrown at him.
William Burroughs claim that the e-meter worked like a biofeedback
machine controlling brain waves and so capable of inducing altered
states of consciousness also sounds (kinda?!) plausible if you were
using the device on your own. You're holding the cans; you notice that
the needle showing galvanic skin response can be varied by slight
changes in your mental state. Couldn't someone sensitive enough learn
over time to compare the movements of the needle to his own mental state
and thus learn to tweak his consciousness. Burroughs could probably
qualify as sensitive in the right way given his experiences with . . .
well, non-standard states of consciousness
The idea that biofeedback machines could provide an easy access to
meditative states had its heyday in the 1970s. The fact that that scene
has petered out somewhat suggests it maybe wasn't such a promising idea
after all.
