An interesting website I discovered in a forum, this basically summarizes everything related to the title subjects, which directly impact me and my message to many.
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p89.htm
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
L. Ron Hubbard explains Christianity
So I haven't posted in a very long time, and I've all but given up on amending my paper. So I'm just going to post things by topic as I compile them.
L. Ron Hubbard explains Christianity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyHfVReWpTA
Here is the transcript for that dialogue. Remember, to Scientologists, whatever L. Ron Hubbard says is law, truth, and unchallengeable:
"Anyway, Everyman is then shown to have been crucified so don't think that it's an accident that this crucifixion, they found out that this applied. Somebody somewhere on this planet, back about 600 BC, found some pieces of R6, and I don't know how they found it, either by watching madmen or something, but since that time they have used it and it became what is known as Christianity. The man on the Cross. There was no Christ. But the man on the cross is shown as Everyman. So of course each person seeing a crucified man, has an immediate feeling of sympathy for this man. Therefore you get many PCs who says they are Christ. Now, there's two reasons for that, one is the Roman Empire was prone to crucify people, so a person can have been crucified, but in R6 he is shown as crucified."
-"Assists" lecture, #10 in the confidential Class VIII series of lectures (3 October 1968)
--------
Also:
"Here on Earth there was undoubtedly a Christ. One of the reasons he swept in so suddenly and he would go forward so hard is, he had a good assist in back of him in terms of an implant."
-Philadelphia Doctorate Courses, lecture 24 (1952)
Here is the transcript for that dialogue. Remember, to Scientologists, whatever L. Ron Hubbard says is law, truth, and unchallengeable:
"Anyway, Everyman is then shown to have been crucified so don't think that it's an accident that this crucifixion, they found out that this applied. Somebody somewhere on this planet, back about 600 BC, found some pieces of R6, and I don't know how they found it, either by watching madmen or something, but since that time they have used it and it became what is known as Christianity. The man on the Cross. There was no Christ. But the man on the cross is shown as Everyman. So of course each person seeing a crucified man, has an immediate feeling of sympathy for this man. Therefore you get many PCs who says they are Christ. Now, there's two reasons for that, one is the Roman Empire was prone to crucify people, so a person can have been crucified, but in R6 he is shown as crucified."
-"Assists" lecture, #10 in the confidential Class VIII series of lectures (3 October 1968)
--------
Also:
"Here on Earth there was undoubtedly a Christ. One of the reasons he swept in so suddenly and he would go forward so hard is, he had a good assist in back of him in terms of an implant."
-Philadelphia Doctorate Courses, lecture 24 (1952)
Monday, May 18, 2009
L. Ron Hubbard: The Man Behind the Madness
"No question about it, the man knew how to tell a story, and how to hold an audience. We listened with rapt attention, convinced by the time he was halfway through his talk, that we were talking to a man well-versed in the world of promotion and printing." - Jeff Hawkins, Ch. 6
To know what a religion truly is, one must understand the mind, matter, and time from whence it came. The Church of Scientology's official website provides a ten-minute video on the life of its beloved founder, although there remains a high level of controversy over Hubbard's official biography. You may watch that video here, and I encourage you to. But instead of using what I wrote in my paper, which draws heavily on that video, I've found a more succinct description that draws on that video and the more accurate exposé called Bare-Faced Messiah: the True Story of L. Ron Hubbard, written by journalist Russell Miller. This description comes from Walter Martin's Religious InfoNet - Kingdom of the Cults.
------------
The founder of Scientology, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (L. Ron Hubbard, affectionately called “Ron” by Scientologists), was born on March 13, 1911, in Tilden, Nebraska. Hubbard, a popular science fiction writer of the 1930s and 1940s, changed venues midstream by announcing at a New Jersey science fiction convention, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” The following year, in May 1950, Hubbard released Dianetics: A Modern Science of Mental Health, which has become entry-level reading for converts to Scientology. Hubbard’s overnight success with Dianetics virtually gave him a new career in writing self-help and religious books. His first book on Scientology was published in 1951, and the Church of Scientology in California was incorporated on February 18, 1954.
Building a global religion of six million adherents (perhaps 200,000 active) in a few decades was no small victory for Mr. Hubbard, whose abilities should not be underestimated. His claim to fame as a writer includes fifteen million published words in science fiction, essays, and articles. He supersedes this with twenty-five million published words for Scientology. Mr. Hubbard’s publishing achievements are notable, but his background upholds very few biblical Christian values, as we will see. He was raised on a small ranch near Helena, Montana, with four hometown churches, but his later cynicism of Christianity betrays his virtually faithless upbringing. His father served a career in the U. S. Navy, which allegedly afforded L. Ron Hubbard frequent travel abroad. He was also one of the youngest Eagle scouts in the history of the Boy Scouts of America. His books often carry a short biographical sketch of his accomplishments, also described in the Scientology Dictionary:
Hubbard’s academic degrees have come under question since Sequoia University was discovered to be an unrecognized diploma mill located in a two-story house in Los Angeles. It was closed down in 1958 by an act of the California Legislature.
It is true that he attended George Washington University for two years. He was placed on academic probation, as he said, for “some very poor grade sheets.” Although there are times he calls himself a “nuclear physicist,” he failed his only class on molecular and atomic physics. He also spent three months in a military course at the Princeton School of Military Government. Nothing has yet surfaced to confirm his alleged degree from Columbian College.
The success of Hubbard’s writing skills cannot be argued. The manuscript for Dianetics (180,000 words) was supposedly completed in three weeks’ time. Those who knew him said that he could type ninety words per minute with the old two-finger method. He had an altered typewriter with special keys for often used words, such as “and,” “the,” and “but.” His personal qualifications as a religious leader were everything but saintly. His first two marriages were disastrous. His second wife, Sara Northrup Hubbard, sued him for divorce on April 23, 1951, in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The microfilm copy of that case mysteriously vanished from the court records. However, an industrious St. Petersburg Times newspaper reporter found the original in storage at the courthouse. It was a twenty-eight page complaint to dissolve their Chestertown, Maryland, marriage of August 10, 1946. This was a bigamous marriage for Mr. Hubbard. He pretended to be a bachelor to Miss Northrup, yet he had not divorced his first wife, Margaret Grubb Hubbard. His first marriage was not legally dissolved until over one year after his second marriage. His second wife’s 1951 divorce allegations contained more than bigamy charges. She claimed sleep deprivation, beatings, strangulation, kidnapping of their child and fleeing to Cuba, and Ron counseling her to commit suicide, “if she really loved him.” The kidnapping was reported in several newspapers in 1951.
Sara Northrup had first met Hubbard through a Pasadena-based occult group led by Jack Parsons, a disciple of the late Alister Crowley, whose alias was “The Beast 666.” Crowley was a leading Satanist, sorcerer, and black magician. He founded the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), which promoted sexual magick. At its New York headquarters, the group’s historical records include letters between Parsons and Crowley that mention Hubbard several times. Northrup was Parsons’s girlfriend when they both met L. Ron Hubbard. As Parsons’s partner, she represented the Babylonian woman in Revelation, chapter 17, in the New Testament. Before she could fulfill Parsons’s plan, Hubbard swept her away in an out-of-state bigamous marriage (representing himself as a bachelor the entire time). In Parsons’s letters he blamed Hubbard for taking her from him.
Scientology defends Hubbard’s connection to the Parsons black magick cult by stating that he went undercover to infiltrate it on orders of the Naval Intelligence. Supposedly, several prominent scientists were visiting Parsons’s OTO temple, and Ron’s job was to shut it down. Jack (John Whiteside) Parsons was a noted rocket scientist, but the explanation presented by Hubbard seems far-fetched. It lacks rationalization for why an undercover agent would soil the operation with a bigamous marriage. No record has ever been produced to prove that Naval Intelligence hired Hubbard for such an operation.
Hubbard’s working knowledge of black magic and the occult satisfied Parsons. In one letter he wrote to Crowley he speaks highly of Ron’s knowledge of the rituals. The Bible, however, condemns occult practices as abominable, and God says that He will cut off the participants from His presence (Deuteronomy 18:9–12).
The resources claimed by Hubbard for Dianetics include, “the medicine man of the Goldi people of Manchuria, the shamans of North Borneo, Sioux medicine men, the cults of Los Angeles, and modern psychology. Among the people questioned about its existence were a magician whose ancestors served in the court of Kublai Khan and a Hindu who could hypnotize cats. Dabbles had been made in mysticism, data had been studied from mythology to spiritualism.”
Hubbard’s third marriage, to Mary Sue Whipp, lasted the rest of his lifetime. She captivated worldwide attention, in 1977, as the mastermind behind a sinister covert operation against various levels of the United States government that could rival a spy novel. Hubbard was living in California at the time, but his impenetrable shield prevented direct connection with the illegal activities.
Hubbard spent his final years in seclusion from the public eye. Top Scientologists isolated him from most family and church members until his death in Creston, California (a small town north of San Luis Obispo). According to a copy of his death certificate, he succumbed to a cerebral vascular accident (stroke) on January 24, 1986. In their refusal to believe that such a great “science of the mind” master could die a horrific death, the word “dead” or “died” was never used at his eulogy. Scientologists announced that L. Ron Hubbard decisively “discarded the body” to move onto the next level of research, outside his body. How this new research would become available to planet earth is left unsaid. Hubbard himself apparently encouraged an examination of his belief system such as that undertaken in this volume. The seventh article of the Creed of Scientology states, “All men have the inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely on their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinion of others.” If they hold faithful to their creed, they should expect counter writings. With this, we counter the opinions of L. Ron Hubbard.
To know what a religion truly is, one must understand the mind, matter, and time from whence it came. The Church of Scientology's official website provides a ten-minute video on the life of its beloved founder, although there remains a high level of controversy over Hubbard's official biography. You may watch that video here, and I encourage you to. But instead of using what I wrote in my paper, which draws heavily on that video, I've found a more succinct description that draws on that video and the more accurate exposé called Bare-Faced Messiah: the True Story of L. Ron Hubbard, written by journalist Russell Miller. This description comes from Walter Martin's Religious InfoNet - Kingdom of the Cults.
------------
The founder of Scientology, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (L. Ron Hubbard, affectionately called “Ron” by Scientologists), was born on March 13, 1911, in Tilden, Nebraska. Hubbard, a popular science fiction writer of the 1930s and 1940s, changed venues midstream by announcing at a New Jersey science fiction convention, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” The following year, in May 1950, Hubbard released Dianetics: A Modern Science of Mental Health, which has become entry-level reading for converts to Scientology. Hubbard’s overnight success with Dianetics virtually gave him a new career in writing self-help and religious books. His first book on Scientology was published in 1951, and the Church of Scientology in California was incorporated on February 18, 1954.
Building a global religion of six million adherents (perhaps 200,000 active) in a few decades was no small victory for Mr. Hubbard, whose abilities should not be underestimated. His claim to fame as a writer includes fifteen million published words in science fiction, essays, and articles. He supersedes this with twenty-five million published words for Scientology. Mr. Hubbard’s publishing achievements are notable, but his background upholds very few biblical Christian values, as we will see. He was raised on a small ranch near Helena, Montana, with four hometown churches, but his later cynicism of Christianity betrays his virtually faithless upbringing. His father served a career in the U. S. Navy, which allegedly afforded L. Ron Hubbard frequent travel abroad. He was also one of the youngest Eagle scouts in the history of the Boy Scouts of America. His books often carry a short biographical sketch of his accomplishments, also described in the Scientology Dictionary:
- [He traveled] extensively in Asia as a young man. He studied science and mathematics at George Washington University, graduating from Columbian College. He attended Princeton University and Sequoia University. Crippled and blind at the end of the war [World War II], he resumed his studies of philosophy and by his discoveries recovered so fully that he was reclassified in 1949 for full combat duty. It was a matter of medical record that he has been twice pronounced dead and that in 1950 he was given a perfect score on mental and physical fitness reports.
Hubbard’s academic degrees have come under question since Sequoia University was discovered to be an unrecognized diploma mill located in a two-story house in Los Angeles. It was closed down in 1958 by an act of the California Legislature.
It is true that he attended George Washington University for two years. He was placed on academic probation, as he said, for “some very poor grade sheets.” Although there are times he calls himself a “nuclear physicist,” he failed his only class on molecular and atomic physics. He also spent three months in a military course at the Princeton School of Military Government. Nothing has yet surfaced to confirm his alleged degree from Columbian College.
The success of Hubbard’s writing skills cannot be argued. The manuscript for Dianetics (180,000 words) was supposedly completed in three weeks’ time. Those who knew him said that he could type ninety words per minute with the old two-finger method. He had an altered typewriter with special keys for often used words, such as “and,” “the,” and “but.” His personal qualifications as a religious leader were everything but saintly. His first two marriages were disastrous. His second wife, Sara Northrup Hubbard, sued him for divorce on April 23, 1951, in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The microfilm copy of that case mysteriously vanished from the court records. However, an industrious St. Petersburg Times newspaper reporter found the original in storage at the courthouse. It was a twenty-eight page complaint to dissolve their Chestertown, Maryland, marriage of August 10, 1946. This was a bigamous marriage for Mr. Hubbard. He pretended to be a bachelor to Miss Northrup, yet he had not divorced his first wife, Margaret Grubb Hubbard. His first marriage was not legally dissolved until over one year after his second marriage. His second wife’s 1951 divorce allegations contained more than bigamy charges. She claimed sleep deprivation, beatings, strangulation, kidnapping of their child and fleeing to Cuba, and Ron counseling her to commit suicide, “if she really loved him.” The kidnapping was reported in several newspapers in 1951.
Sara Northrup had first met Hubbard through a Pasadena-based occult group led by Jack Parsons, a disciple of the late Alister Crowley, whose alias was “The Beast 666.” Crowley was a leading Satanist, sorcerer, and black magician. He founded the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), which promoted sexual magick. At its New York headquarters, the group’s historical records include letters between Parsons and Crowley that mention Hubbard several times. Northrup was Parsons’s girlfriend when they both met L. Ron Hubbard. As Parsons’s partner, she represented the Babylonian woman in Revelation, chapter 17, in the New Testament. Before she could fulfill Parsons’s plan, Hubbard swept her away in an out-of-state bigamous marriage (representing himself as a bachelor the entire time). In Parsons’s letters he blamed Hubbard for taking her from him.
Scientology defends Hubbard’s connection to the Parsons black magick cult by stating that he went undercover to infiltrate it on orders of the Naval Intelligence. Supposedly, several prominent scientists were visiting Parsons’s OTO temple, and Ron’s job was to shut it down. Jack (John Whiteside) Parsons was a noted rocket scientist, but the explanation presented by Hubbard seems far-fetched. It lacks rationalization for why an undercover agent would soil the operation with a bigamous marriage. No record has ever been produced to prove that Naval Intelligence hired Hubbard for such an operation.
Hubbard’s working knowledge of black magic and the occult satisfied Parsons. In one letter he wrote to Crowley he speaks highly of Ron’s knowledge of the rituals. The Bible, however, condemns occult practices as abominable, and God says that He will cut off the participants from His presence (Deuteronomy 18:9–12).
The resources claimed by Hubbard for Dianetics include, “the medicine man of the Goldi people of Manchuria, the shamans of North Borneo, Sioux medicine men, the cults of Los Angeles, and modern psychology. Among the people questioned about its existence were a magician whose ancestors served in the court of Kublai Khan and a Hindu who could hypnotize cats. Dabbles had been made in mysticism, data had been studied from mythology to spiritualism.”
Hubbard’s third marriage, to Mary Sue Whipp, lasted the rest of his lifetime. She captivated worldwide attention, in 1977, as the mastermind behind a sinister covert operation against various levels of the United States government that could rival a spy novel. Hubbard was living in California at the time, but his impenetrable shield prevented direct connection with the illegal activities.
Hubbard spent his final years in seclusion from the public eye. Top Scientologists isolated him from most family and church members until his death in Creston, California (a small town north of San Luis Obispo). According to a copy of his death certificate, he succumbed to a cerebral vascular accident (stroke) on January 24, 1986. In their refusal to believe that such a great “science of the mind” master could die a horrific death, the word “dead” or “died” was never used at his eulogy. Scientologists announced that L. Ron Hubbard decisively “discarded the body” to move onto the next level of research, outside his body. How this new research would become available to planet earth is left unsaid. Hubbard himself apparently encouraged an examination of his belief system such as that undertaken in this volume. The seventh article of the Creed of Scientology states, “All men have the inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely on their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinion of others.” If they hold faithful to their creed, they should expect counter writings. With this, we counter the opinions of L. Ron Hubbard.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Brief Summary of Scientology Beliefs
"No one was to explain Scientology. They were, instead, just to tell people to get a book and read it. Then Hubbard himself would explain it to him." - Jeff Hawkins, Ch. 3
The tenants of Scientology deal with the entirety of a man. Scientology's website provides several videos that explain the basic principles of the religion, which I will be summarizing and somewhat explaining here. One such video explains the Eight Dynamics of Scientology, the levels at which man is trying to achieve the highest level of survival as possible, called OT Levels. Put more clearly, man strives to have little to no outside threats to his life due to being omnisciently aware, and to attain a virtually stress-free existence.
Level 1: Self, surviving as an individual being.
Level 2: Creativity, which deals with the family unit, child-rearing, and anything related to making things for the future.
Level 3: Group, enduring as a group, in a group of individuals.
Level 4: Species, surving "through all mankind and as all mankind."
Level 5: Life Forms, the effort to survive of all forms, with the help of all forms, and as all forms.
Level 6: Physical universe, and the four components of its make-up: matter, energy, space, and time, each working together. These are collectively referred to as MEST, or mest.
Level 7: Spiritual. The urge for life itself to survive. It is only with the arrival at this level that one can finally be aware of
Level 8: Supreme Being or Creator and the existence of infinity, the "allness of all."
Scientology holds that man is not a body, but that the body is a tool to use, just as the mind is. Man, in their mind, is a being of consciousness, "that part of you that is aware of being aware." This is called a thetan, derived from the Greek letter theta, the symbol of which has historically been used to represent 'thought' or 'spirit'. The thetan is a separate entity from the body and mind, a man's life force or spirit. When disturbed, it or the source of disturbance is called "entheta," short for "enturbulated theta." This term is now used in reference to anything critical of Scientology.
Through the practice of auditing, the Reactive Mind can be eradicated from the thetan. Once this is achieved, the person reaches a state of "Clear." The journey towards "Clear" is called the "Bridge to Total Freedom." Once parishioners have achieved "Clear," they can thus live a happy fulfilling life without any psychoses, neuroses, compulsions, repressions, or psychosomatic (mind directly affecting the body) ills hindering them from formulating any computation or making the best possible decision in any given situation. Members who undergo this process are called Operating Thetans, or OTs.
Auditing is a fundamental practice of Scientology. The religion believes that a person can improve his (or her) condition only if he is allowed to discover trusths about himself. Auditing takes place at a Church of Scientology "org", short for organization, indicating the branches the Church has in different cities around the United States, and the world. It is the process of asking specifically-worded questions designed to diagnose areas of distress.
The auditor does not offer solutions or advice, but is trained to listen and help locate experiences in the subject's past that need to be addressed. Events not easily recalled by the subject are located by the auditor with the help of a device called an E-meter, short for Enturbulation meter. Situations that have negative feelings associated with them show up on the meter, and so the subject's efforts can be directed towards that area. Through auditing, one is able to look at past experiences that subconsciously hold them back against their will. This practice, preaches Scientology, offers practitioners the means to explore their pasts to find their own answers. The goal is to bring the individual from a condition of spiritual blindness to spiritual enlightenment and freedom. Auditing is a precise practice, regulated to every last detail by L. Ron Hubbard's many books and manuscripts.
Various beliefs of Scientology are claimed to be studied and proved scientifically by Hubbard in his research prior to writing Dianetics. Hubbard taught that man is basically good, and that it is the Reactive Mind that causes crime and irrational thinking and actions. He also taught that any and all problems that occur in an individual's life are merely distorted perceptions. By advancing through the OT levels to "Clear", Scientologists can use their minds to change a negative situation into their perceived positive reality. Essentially, Scientologists aspire to be eternal optimists, who think they can change reality with their minds.
-------
This is by no means a complete list of beliefs held by the religion, but hopefully it explains the basics enough. I will post more, but I encourage you to do your own research. Wikipedia is a good source, despite the stigma surrounding it, it has sourced information that I have found to be helpful for those who know next to nothing. It is actually where I began my research when I was first introduced to the existence of Scientology.
L. Ron Hubbard's book Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health, published in 1950, spent twenty-six weeks on the New York Times best seller list, and remains to this day the largest-selling book on the mind. Hubbard's book revealed the existence of the Reactive Mind, located about an inch and a half behind a person's forehead. According to Hubbard, this was the hidden source of nightmares, fears, upsets, and insecurity, which recalled early memories that subconsciously stimulated negative or irrational behaviors in the present. The term "enturbulation" was invented by L. Ron Hubbard to describe these afflictions, and any other outside disturbances that are believed to threaten the well-being of the religion or its members. (Scientologists who question Scientology are usually considered to be enturbulated.) Through treatment, the Reactive Mind could be eradicated from the body. Hubbard's treatment "technology," or tech, lead practitioners to the discovery of past lives, and further breakthroughs in Hubbard's practice lead to exterioration, or the separation of the spirit from the body in moments of severe painful recollections or extreme physical pain. The religion Scientology was born.
The tenants of Scientology deal with the entirety of a man. Scientology's website provides several videos that explain the basic principles of the religion, which I will be summarizing and somewhat explaining here. One such video explains the Eight Dynamics of Scientology, the levels at which man is trying to achieve the highest level of survival as possible, called OT Levels. Put more clearly, man strives to have little to no outside threats to his life due to being omnisciently aware, and to attain a virtually stress-free existence.
Level 1: Self, surviving as an individual being.
Level 2: Creativity, which deals with the family unit, child-rearing, and anything related to making things for the future.
Level 3: Group, enduring as a group, in a group of individuals.
Level 4: Species, surving "through all mankind and as all mankind."
Level 5: Life Forms, the effort to survive of all forms, with the help of all forms, and as all forms.
Level 6: Physical universe, and the four components of its make-up: matter, energy, space, and time, each working together. These are collectively referred to as MEST, or mest.
Level 7: Spiritual. The urge for life itself to survive. It is only with the arrival at this level that one can finally be aware of
Level 8: Supreme Being or Creator and the existence of infinity, the "allness of all."
Scientology holds that man is not a body, but that the body is a tool to use, just as the mind is. Man, in their mind, is a being of consciousness, "that part of you that is aware of being aware." This is called a thetan, derived from the Greek letter theta, the symbol of which has historically been used to represent 'thought' or 'spirit'. The thetan is a separate entity from the body and mind, a man's life force or spirit. When disturbed, it or the source of disturbance is called "entheta," short for "enturbulated theta." This term is now used in reference to anything critical of Scientology.
Through the practice of auditing, the Reactive Mind can be eradicated from the thetan. Once this is achieved, the person reaches a state of "Clear." The journey towards "Clear" is called the "Bridge to Total Freedom." Once parishioners have achieved "Clear," they can thus live a happy fulfilling life without any psychoses, neuroses, compulsions, repressions, or psychosomatic (mind directly affecting the body) ills hindering them from formulating any computation or making the best possible decision in any given situation. Members who undergo this process are called Operating Thetans, or OTs.
Auditing is a fundamental practice of Scientology. The religion believes that a person can improve his (or her) condition only if he is allowed to discover trusths about himself. Auditing takes place at a Church of Scientology "org", short for organization, indicating the branches the Church has in different cities around the United States, and the world. It is the process of asking specifically-worded questions designed to diagnose areas of distress.
The auditor does not offer solutions or advice, but is trained to listen and help locate experiences in the subject's past that need to be addressed. Events not easily recalled by the subject are located by the auditor with the help of a device called an E-meter, short for Enturbulation meter. Situations that have negative feelings associated with them show up on the meter, and so the subject's efforts can be directed towards that area. Through auditing, one is able to look at past experiences that subconsciously hold them back against their will. This practice, preaches Scientology, offers practitioners the means to explore their pasts to find their own answers. The goal is to bring the individual from a condition of spiritual blindness to spiritual enlightenment and freedom. Auditing is a precise practice, regulated to every last detail by L. Ron Hubbard's many books and manuscripts.
Various beliefs of Scientology are claimed to be studied and proved scientifically by Hubbard in his research prior to writing Dianetics. Hubbard taught that man is basically good, and that it is the Reactive Mind that causes crime and irrational thinking and actions. He also taught that any and all problems that occur in an individual's life are merely distorted perceptions. By advancing through the OT levels to "Clear", Scientologists can use their minds to change a negative situation into their perceived positive reality. Essentially, Scientologists aspire to be eternal optimists, who think they can change reality with their minds.
-------
This is by no means a complete list of beliefs held by the religion, but hopefully it explains the basics enough. I will post more, but I encourage you to do your own research. Wikipedia is a good source, despite the stigma surrounding it, it has sourced information that I have found to be helpful for those who know next to nothing. It is actually where I began my research when I was first introduced to the existence of Scientology.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Scientology Revealed: Introduction
"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."
Sounds like a scheme, right? These words, however, did not come from some obscure conman. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, uttered that axiom at a science fiction authors' convention in 1947. A few short years later, in 1950, Hubbard published the book Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health. Then in 1954, the first Church of Scientology was founded in Los Angeles, California, this book its key source of enlightenment and instruction, and Hubbard its prophet.
Over the years Scientology gained a following, yet today remains little-known to the general public. When mentioned in conversation and other forms of dialogue, many wonder, "What is Scientology, exactly? Where did it come from? What does it believe? Who started it?" Others who have heard a little about the religion, have a different set of questions: "Why so much controversy? What's the big deal about Tom Cruise? Who are all those people in masks? Can't we all just get along?" These questions contain heavy answers, which cannot be satisfied fully in a succinct manner. However a basic overview of the history of L. Ron Hubbard, the beliefs and growth of the Church, as well as opposition it has face and cases of alleged abuse and human rights violations, would be beneficial and inspire more research on behalf of the public into this matter. Such an investigation would begin to unveil and unravel the mystery that is Scientology, and may lead to an awakening in the hearts of citizens about the crimes and dangers of this organization.
Sounds like a scheme, right? These words, however, did not come from some obscure conman. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, uttered that axiom at a science fiction authors' convention in 1947. A few short years later, in 1950, Hubbard published the book Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health. Then in 1954, the first Church of Scientology was founded in Los Angeles, California, this book its key source of enlightenment and instruction, and Hubbard its prophet.
Over the years Scientology gained a following, yet today remains little-known to the general public. When mentioned in conversation and other forms of dialogue, many wonder, "What is Scientology, exactly? Where did it come from? What does it believe? Who started it?" Others who have heard a little about the religion, have a different set of questions: "Why so much controversy? What's the big deal about Tom Cruise? Who are all those people in masks? Can't we all just get along?" These questions contain heavy answers, which cannot be satisfied fully in a succinct manner. However a basic overview of the history of L. Ron Hubbard, the beliefs and growth of the Church, as well as opposition it has face and cases of alleged abuse and human rights violations, would be beneficial and inspire more research on behalf of the public into this matter. Such an investigation would begin to unveil and unravel the mystery that is Scientology, and may lead to an awakening in the hearts of citizens about the crimes and dangers of this organization.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Guess it's about time...
I decided to start this blog to bring many different materials explaining Scientology together into one cohesive and simple location. One of them I have been dying to get up on the Internet for easy access for everyone. It's the 15-page paper I wrote for my English 102 class about what Scientology is, and why there's so much controversy surrounding it. While it's actually not finished, and I'll be editing and adding to it in the future, I want to get it up as soon as possible so that people can read it and get the basic info. I've been told that it is well done and very informative, and so I want to share it with the blogosphere. It will be reformatted and extended, and distributed as a pamphlet or mini-booklet in the future, so don't be thinking about making some copypasta for yourself.
I will be adding other tidbits that I've compiled after the paper is put up. I just think that with all the websites out there that try to cram so much into one site (xenu.net, whyweprotest.net, to name a few), it all becomes a bit tl;dr (that means too long; didn't read, for those not fluent in interwebz speak). So I will be paraphrasing and putting things into more layman's terms so those who don't frequent the Internet can understand.
For some of you, the paper might not have much new information for you to digest. For others of you, it will be but the beginning of what will become a very long journey down the road of enlightenment.
For all, I pray this blog contains useful information to aid your intellectual wins in the battle against the "Church" of Scientology's lies and abuses.
I will be adding other tidbits that I've compiled after the paper is put up. I just think that with all the websites out there that try to cram so much into one site (xenu.net, whyweprotest.net, to name a few), it all becomes a bit tl;dr (that means too long; didn't read, for those not fluent in interwebz speak). So I will be paraphrasing and putting things into more layman's terms so those who don't frequent the Internet can understand.
For some of you, the paper might not have much new information for you to digest. For others of you, it will be but the beginning of what will become a very long journey down the road of enlightenment.
For all, I pray this blog contains useful information to aid your intellectual wins in the battle against the "Church" of Scientology's lies and abuses.
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