Kate Ceberano on Scientology
(Posted on ars 8/03. Remarks like this are mine, not the poster's.)
Full transcript at http://www.abc.net.au/enoughrope/stories/s917578.htm
 It's worth mentioning that Andrew Denton is an intelligent and able interviewer, and it's extremely unlikely he doesn't know the full story behind the CoS.
Andrew Denton: Tell me about your grandparents, who sound extraordinary They were nudists? Is that right?
Kate Ceberano: Um, yes.
Andrew Denton: Practising nudists?
Kate Ceberano: They were.they were everything at the time. I mean, it was a revolution happening in their community. They were into Gandhi - they really enjoyed his philosophy. And Buddhism - they were seeking that sort of understanding of the whole chain of evolution, spiritually speaking. And then Scientology came along, and that became a very, um, serious thing for them. That's what they wanted to commit themselves to.
Andrew Denton: Is it true your grandmother was - L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology - his housekeeper for a while?
Kate Ceberano: Governess, actually.
Andrew Denton: Governess?
Kate Ceberano: Looked after the kids. For a minute, yeah.
Andrew Denton: What did she say of L. Ron - this elusive, this extraordinary man? What was her impression of him?
Kate Ceberano: It's funny. I don't know whether she got to see him very much because he was probably very busy. He, um. For the amount of literature. It just blows my mind what that guy did. He was very busy.
Andrew Denton: As gods can be sometimes.
Kate Ceberano: Yeah.
Andrew Denton: What is it? You're unusual. You were born into Scientology.
You're a third-generation Scientologist. Did it have any impact on your life as a kid?
Kate Ceberano: Of course. Yes.
Andrew Denton: In what way?
Kate Ceberano: Communication skills, which are part of his doctrines. And also the ability to be able to, um, predict behaviour in oneself and others so that one can better learn how to operate in a situation. And, um.
Andrew Denton: So as you're looking at me now. Can you. Or before this interview, could you reasonably predict my behaviour? Beyond the fact I would ask you a question?
Kate Ceberano: Um.I've been watching this show, actually, since you started.
Andrew Denton: Yeah.
Kate Ceberano: Actually, from the viewpoint of assessing what it would be like to be interviewed by you.
Andrew Denton: Yeah.
Kate Ceberano: And I would say that, um, it would always have seemed to me, standardly, you were in strong interest, which, to me, is a fantastic thing People less interested in others are more interested in themselves, mostly. Um, one of the things I loathe most in life is people who are that self-interested, actually. So I'd say that you come up OK.
Andrew Denton: Sorry, I was thinking about what I'm doing on the weekend What was that answer? So.Scientology, this great mysterious religion that people seem to have such an emotional response to, can I ask you to answer simply, what is it that you believe in?
Kate Ceberano: I think that everybody has what we could consider an identity, that is, a calling card. I recognise you as Andrew Denton 'cause you are you. And every person in this audience has a unique make-up that is entirely unique to them. But every single one of these people here probably at some time in their lives, as I know I have, might ask themselves, "Yeah, but who am I? You know, I represent myself in this manner. I work, and I arrive at work and people know me to be this.blah. But who am I, and what purpose have I on this Earth? And what is it that I should be doing?"
Andrew Denton: I don't pretend to be versed in Scientology, but we hear of Thetans and we hear of E-Meters.
Kate Ceberano: Right.
Andrew Denton: And correct me if I'm wrong, that in some way, the human spirit actually evolves from aliens from many, many thousands of years ago. Is this part of what we're talking about? No, I'm not asking you critically. Have I got it completely wrong?
Kate Ceberano: Yeah, well, in all the...Well, look, I'll tell you that that thing, that comment, which seems to be traded along hand-by-hand by tabloids and such, I don't know what that's all about. I'm third-generation Scientologist and I don't know what you're talking about.
Andrew Denton: OK.
(Semantics, and Ms. Ceberano is being disingenuous. We're talking about and it doesn't say what Denton claims above.)
Kate Ceberano: But I can tell you what a Thetan is, which is an easy thing, because it's in many different philosophies, religions. They'll either call the soul, the spirit - the same thing. In Latin, elan vital, that essence, that vital essence. Um, in Greek, 'theta' would mean 'the soul' and if you made it just as a noun, it'd become a Thetan. So it was a means of being able to describe, um, this thing which everybody has a title to. And so it became a common communication. I could say, "I know I'm a Thetan." And we'd just discuss the subject like that. And then other things can be discovered in books, which. It isn't in any way something you can't find out about.
Andrew Denton: Why do people get so freaked out about Scientology? It seems to get the worst press and God knows, religions all deserve it. It seems to get the worst press of any religion. What freaks people out so much?
(Now Ceberano gets the cult's viewpoint in. Poor little cult, so misunderstood, so unfairly maligned. In her defense, she was raised to believe this crap.)
Kate Ceberano: There are people with vested interests everywhere. We have in the division of the church some very strong viewpoints as regards to psychiatry. I mean, we quite blatantly believe psychiatry kills. And I think it does - it kills the mind and kills self-determinism and kills the right for a person to be an identity. And I believe that drugs for children destroy the future of mankind, and we're blatantly against those things. Now, I don't know where the monies go in this world to support and promote publicity, but I would imagine that many of the major tabloids would have sponsorship from many different sources. And I know that we don't, er.we don't, as a company.as a community, we don't make it easy for drug companies - like the Eli Lillys and these sorts of people. We think Prozac is, er, the scourge of this planet. And we believe that anything that could destroy a person's ability to think and be present and make up their own mind about things.it's just.it's a shame. It's sad. I think we get attacked for that
Kate Ceberano
Singer
|
|
