Saturday, February 9, 2013

Scientology



   
Cross of Scientology

In 1953 popular fiction writer, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, characterized Scientology as a religion, and incorporated the Church of Scientology in Camden, New Jersey the same year.  The new found religion was based upon Hubbard’s earlier (1952) self-help system, Dianetics.

Hubbard claimed that Dianetics could do a lot of marvelous things including increasing ones intelligence, eliminating unwanted emotions and get rid of a wide range of illnesses he believed were self-induced.  Various disorders are said to be suitable for treatment via Dianetics, including: Arthritis, common allergies, asthma, a few coronary problems, poor eye sight, ulcers, migraine headaches, ‘sexual deviation’ (a classification that includes homosexuality) and death.  

In December of 1993, all Scientology Churches, missions and organizations obtained the coveted position of being recognized by the U S Internal Revenue Service as being fully tax exemption after several years of legal battles. 

Occasionally it’s been suggested that Scientology was established to replace Dianetics but it is perhaps more accurate to say that Scientology extends Dianetics to cover broader areas; the stated goal of Scientology is to “rehabilitate the individual’s spiritual nature so that he may reach his full potential”.

According to Scientology, its beliefs and practices are based on laborious research, and its doctrines are given a significance equivalent to that of the laws of science.   Further the Church has stated that “Scientology works 100 percent of the time when it is properly applied to a person who sincerely desires to improve his life”.

The name Scientology is said to mean “knowing how to know”, and is a durative of two terms, 1 Latin & 1 Greek.   The teachings of Scientology proclaim it’s not simply a belief system but a ‘mode of action’, and it has its own complicated vocabulary to prove it.

A basic belief of Scientology is that the experiences you have in life or in previous lives for that matter are recorded in the brain as a series of “engrams”.  Each individual’s engrams are re-vived and ultimately re-enforced by similar life situations that re-occur throughout one’s life and are more often than not bound to cause unsuitable and self-defeating behavior. The goal of a practicing Scientologist is to “process” or clear away these engrams which permits or allows self-defeating actions. By removing these “bumps in the road” from an individual’s present and past lives, the “thetan” or soul is released.

Just like most religions, Scientology has ministers who are believed to perform some religious rites and sacraments, but their main function is thought to be individual counseling. Scientology is a tightly organized from the top down, with a close-knit inner circle. The church boasts several high profile members, such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley; of recent date (2013) such high profile members continue to receive increasing amounts of publicity in the media, therefore bring Scientology to the forefront as well. Examples include Tom Cruise’s sudden divorce from Katie Holmes that some say was rooted in serious differences of opinion revolving around Scientology and the alleged sex scandal surrounding John Travolta.  Nonetheless, for most of us Scientology remains a mystery and very few outside the ‘inner circle’ know or are fully aware of their beliefs and teachings.

In any event here’s what I gave been able to dig-up on what Scientologists do believe / teach; initially such beliefs seem relatively benign, but surprise, surprise, the last belief that’s taught (as listed here) is rather far-fetched; in fact, you may be astounded, I know I was:


As briefly touched upon above, one of the core things that a good Scientologist believes is that everything experienced in this life, and past lives, are recorded as “engrams” in our brains. These engrams affect our decision-making process and may cause persons to conduct themselves in an unsuitable and self-defeating manner. Painful or stressful experiences are said to be often imprinted as “engrams” and can have an effect upon future behavior and thoughts in a negative way, hence making a person act irrationally and in a way that’s outside their natural behavior.


Scientologists believe in re-incarnation, a belief that’s held by nearly half the people in the world; so humans are repeatedly born and destined to die again and again.  Quite the repeating cycle you might say but all the while ‘potentially’ gathering favorable “engrams” or shedding themselves of these bad ones. There’s only way to break this cycle of rebirths: Persons must cleanse themselves of all past and present bad “engrams” to advance to the “thetan” state of being. Upon achieving this status, the sole / thetan is freed from the cycle of reincarnation and in this way released from the physical world.

It’s taught that painful experiences and harmful acts in an individual’s current and past lives become imprinted in the “re-active mind” or the unconscious mind which leads to irrational behavior. When an individual breaks away from rational thought and untrue ideas; events called “aberrations”, wrongdoing often results.

To some it’s a little surprising that to learn, unlike Christianity, there is no specific teachings of God or gods in Scientology, however members are permitted (even welcomed)  to be “spiritually enlightened” to a deity as they progress in the faith if and when they so choose.

In a ‘nut shell’ you could say that Scientology considers the belief in a God or gods a personal affair and therefore offers no specific doctrine. The nature of a Supreme Being is revealed as the individual develops spiritual awareness.  Nevertheless, most Scientologists believe there is a life energy or force called “Theta” (not to be confused with the thetan) that is available to everyone; you might say Theta is the universal spirit in the eyes of a good Scientologist.

Salvation is said to be achieved only through the practices and techniques of Scientology, this ultimate goal can only be realized when one’s true nature as an immortal spirit is revealed. This can be achieved with the help of church Practitioners or “Auditors” who are regarded as ministers.  Auditors help others to identify their current and past-life disturbances, which are said to be obstacles to happiness and spiritual enlightenment.

It’s believed that suffering by an individual is caused by the entrapment of the spirit in the physical universe. When an individual becomes aware of his spiritual nature he can only then identify his barriers within the universe and overcome them; hence rising to a higher state of happiness and freedom.

Scientology teaches that an individual cannot free himself without helping to free others at the same time, so this belief has resulted in the establishment of, and the churches support & promotion of, many organizations for social improvement concentrating on areas such as: Drug abuse, education, human rights, religious freedom, and morality and several other areas that impact our society.

Perhaps the most damning of all things taught within the Church of Scientology is the “Xenu” (pronounced: zi-nu / ZEE-noo) story. Some say this is part of the church’s secret “Advanced Technology” teaching which is considered both sacred and mysterious; this tightly held information is rumored to be revealed only to members who have contributed large amounts of cash to the church.  You see, the story of Xenu is a portion of church doctrine concerning extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in planet earths distant past.

As the story goes as was originally told by the church founder L. Ron Hubbard; the ruler of the “Galactic Confederacy” brought billions of his people (known as “Teegeeack’s”) to earth around 75 million years ago in a DC-8-like spacecraft; after placing the them all in close proximity to volcanoes he killed them all with hydrogen bombs.  Why? I guess we’ll never know, since Hubbard departed the living in January of 1986.   Reportedly official Scientology scriptures hold that the spirits of these many Teegeeack people are still hanging out here on earth, and they hoover (for lack of a better word)  around modern day earth folk, causing them spiritual damage.


In 2005, the Church of Scientology’s worldwide membership stood at eight million, but this included an unknown number of people who had only taken the introductory course and did not continue with the program.  As recently as 2007 a Church official claimed 3.5 million members in the United States alone, but an earlier survey conducted in 2001 by the University of New York City could find only 55,000 people in the U S who claimed to be Scientologists. Worldwide, some observers believe a reasonable estimate of practicing members ranges between 100,000 and 200,000, mostly in the U.S., several European countries, South Africa and Australia. Most recently in 2008, the American Religious Identification Survey determined America’s Scientologists count had dropped to a mere 25,000.  But still if they all believe the Xenu Story, it’s nothing short of astounding!  But then that’s just one ol’ man’s opinion.



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology                                                                      http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/2001/06/What-Scientologists-Believe.aspx http://www.scientology.org/faq/background-and-basic-principles/what-does-the-word-scientology-mean.html                                                                                                                      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu                                                                 http://www.christianpost.com/news/what-do-scientologists-believe-77976/


No comments:

Post a Comment