The Flag Building, also referred to as the Super Power Building, is the largest building in Clearwater, Florida. It is owned by the Church of Scientology and was built principally to deliver the Super Power Rundown, a high-level Scientology training course intended to train Scientologists to use what Scientology describes as all of their 57 "perceptics" or senses. The interior of the building contains training suites, course rooms, theaters and various devices intended to test these "perceptics," including a "time machine", an anti-gravity simulator, an "infinite" pit, and a pain station.
The complex occupies a city block at 215 South Fort Harrison Avenue. It includes a 15-story tower topped by a bronze Scientology cross visible from much of Clearwater. Construction began in 1998, was halted in 2003, and was ultimately resumed to reach substantial completion during 2011. The long delay in construction led to substantial fines being levied by the city authorities. The building is valued at $80 million and at least $145 million was raised by Church fundraising towards the project. The church denies accusations that the Flag Building's completion was deliberately delayed so that it could serve as a cash cow.
The Church of Scientology announced in August 2013 that the building would be opened to the public on October 6, 2013, with a dedication ceremony that the church estimated would attract approximately 10,000 Scientologists. However, a month later it emerged that the Church had canceled the ceremony and postponed the opening of the building. The building finally opened on November 17, 2013.
Purpose
The Church states the Super Power Building provides a dedicated center for delivering the Super Power Rundown, a high-level Scientology training course that has not yet been released. The Super Power Rundown was described by Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, as
{ { blockquote|"A super fantastic, but confidential series of rundowns that can be done on anybody whether Dn [Dianetics] Clear or not that puts the person into fantastic shape unleashing Super Power of a thetan. This means that puts Scientologists into a new realm of ability enabling them to create a new world. It puts world Clearing within reach of the future. This is a parallel rundown to Power in Saint Hill which is taken by the Dn Clear. It consists of 12 separate high power rundowns which are brand new and enter realms of the tech never before approached. Power is still very much in use on the Grade Chart but is for those who didn't go Clear on Dn."<ref>'Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary, p. 413. Bridge Publications, 1989</ref>}}
Hubbard wrote that "Super Power is the answer to a sick, a dying and dead society. With it, we literally revive the dead." A Church of Scientology statement says that "Super Power is a series of spiritual counseling processes designed to give a person back his own viewpoint, increase his perception, exercise his power of choice, and greatly enhance other spiritual abilities." The St. Petersburg Times reports that Scientologist Matt Feshbach, a multimillion-dollar donor who is one of the few who has done Super Power, now feels that he "senses danger faster than most people. He appreciates beauty more deeply than he used to. He says he outperforms his peers in the money management industry." Feshbach says that he has become "a more competent spiritual being. I'm not dependent on my physical body to perceive things."
Perceptics
The Church of Scientology's in-house magazine Source has promoted the program as being aimed "to shift the creation of a new civilization into overdrive". According to Source, "this is the powerful series of rundowns that will move every Scientologist, at any level of The Bridge, into an entirely new realm of ability. It's here one will progress through the drilling stations of the Perceptic Rundown. And when it comes to the future, here's the likes of which has never even been conceived of on this planet." The 57 "perceptics" (senses) covered by the rundown are: