The Process

Archives, Documents, Reflec-

tions and Revelations
Alessandro Papa
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In the short time The Process ex-
isted it was always controversial,
beginning as Compulsions Anony-
mous, a form of independent au-
diting adapted from the founders
time in Scientology, it grew into
one of the most unusual religious
groups of the period. After some
years Robert De Grimston was
ejected from the organization he
had helped found and it moved
into more conventional religious
territory, finally transforming into
the large animal sanctuary net-
work called Best Friends Animal
Society with no obvious religious
associations. Robert DeGrimston
tried to resurrect The Process at
various times after 1975 to no
avail and other members and in-
terested parties have created adap-
tations since but none have had
the same intensity or success as
the original. Since it closed it
doors in 1975 it has been the sub-
ject of more rumor and slander than
nearly any other organization in-
cluding some outright fictional
claims. There were constant at-
tempts to link them to Charles
Manson including a chapter in The
Family by Ed Sanders and later dis-
cussions in The Ultimate Evil by
Maury Terry, indeed it became regu-
lar fare in volumes of conspiracy
theory.

This volume is not an introduction
and certainly Love, Sex, Fear,
Death: The Inside story of the Pro-
cess Church by Timothy Wylie
(Feral House) is a good place to start
or the more hard to find out of
print Satans Power by William
Bainbridge (University of California
Press 1978), Bainbridge uses pseu-
donyms to protect The Process and
its members anonymity in the study.
The Process
Archives, Documents, Reflections and Revelations
TEAR SHEET OCTOBER 2014

The Process Archives, Documents,
Reflections and Revelations by
Alessandro Papa works from source
materials and offers one of the
most comprehensive and unbiased
records of The Process available. It
is illustrated throughout with rare
photos and reproductions and in-
cludes information never un-
earthed by any researcher before.

Papa offers an extensive history of
The Process while along the way
exploring the development of its
theology, practise, structure and
ideals. It is certainly an impressive
volume which is extremely well doc-
umented and referenced. Much
material on The Process lacks a crit-
ical eye and after many years of
studying source materials Papa has
been able to make sense of the com-
plex world which was The Process.
Papa explores likely influences on
the evolution of its theology includ-
ing the work of Carl Jung but also
documents how it developed from
being a psychological movement
into a spiritual one which saw the
Four Gods of the universe as onto-
logically real. It would be too easy
to see the Four Gods in simplistic
terms but Papa examines their basis
in eastern and western thought as
well as in psychology, alchemy and
esotericism. It is fair to say that the
theology of The Process echoes ear-
ly forms of Gnosticism above and
beyond all other traditions and Pa-
pa uses perceptive diagrams to mod-
el his understanding of The Process
theology and its heritage in gnostic
thought. The Four Gods Jehovah,
Lucifer, Satan and Christ offer a
complex theology which evolved
over time and was applied on many
different levels from the personal,
societal to cosmological and spiritu-
al.

One of the most unique aspects of
The Process is their symbolism and
Papa examines it in great detail dis-
cussing both well-known and lesser
known symbols and how they devel-
oped. The section on The Process
Churches publications is extensive
and illustrated throughout.

Papa has clearly studied The Process
teachings and practices in great de-
tail and offers an extensive examina-
tion of all aspects of their unusual
way of life from donating where
they donate their time and energy
to selling Process materials to the
esoteric aspects of their teachings.
This is The Game where the stu-
dent works through Awareness, Ac-
ceptance to Control and then onto
self-realisation. Papa includes liberal
quotes from source material to doc-
ument the various aspects of the
teachings.

While much emphasis is placed on
the teachings, another fascinating
aspect of The Process is its hierar-
chy, grades, admission tests and ad-
ministrative/religious structure. Pa-
pa continues to examine the fashion
and look of The Process which set it
apart from other spiritual organisa-
tion and indeed from the general
population which it defined as grey
forces, Process members also
changed their names as part of their
initiation.

The grey forces or normality and
mediocrity are examined in detail
and are similar to the Traditionalist
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teacher and prophet. This gave
free reign to Mary Ann and the
higher echelon of The Process to
transform it into a more main-
stream religious organisation.
Robert DeGrimstons attempts to
rebuild The Process met with lit-
tle success.

This is a superb and comprehen-
sive study of The Process. It in-
cludes an astounding range of
original images and the author
has clearly has access to a superb
collection of Process materials.
There is extensive quoting of orig-
inal materials and Papa offers a
perceptive overview of the history
of The Process as well as an in-
sightful consideration of its com-
plex theology in its various stages
view as found in Rene Guenon and
Julius Evola of the present period as
the Kali Yuga or age of iron. Such a
view also resonates with the teachings
of G.I Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky
that mankind is asleep and most die
without any degree of self-realisation.
The Process was a fascinating combi-
nation of extremes especially since it
embraced the Four Gods and hence
all the potentials of experience that
which is considered darkness and
light and good and evil, interests
ranged from far right politics to envi-
ronmentalism, social activism to both
a love and contempt for humanity at
the same time.

Papa gives a detail account of the in-
ternal crisis that broke The Process
apart, when it's two leaders (The
Omega) divorced Robert DeGrim-
ston was removed from his role as