Scientology?

Question

Can anyone tell me some of the beliefs of Scientologists?
I know a few celebrities are into it, but thats about it...

I'm not looking to get into it, just curious!!

thanks

Answer 1

Scientology is a body of teachings and related techniques developed by American author L. Ron Hubbard over some thirty years beginning in 1952 as a self-help philosophy, an outgrowth of his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. It claims to offer an exact methodology to help humans achieve awareness of their spiritual existence across many lifetimes and, simultaneously, to become more effective in the physical world. The name "Scientology" is also used to refer to the often controversial Church of Scientology, the largest organization promoting the practice of Scientology, which is itself part of a network of affiliated corporations that claim ownership and sole authority to disseminate Dianetics and Scientology.

A stated goal of Scientology is to "rehabilitate" the thetan (roughly equivalent to the soul) to regain its native state of "total freedom." Church spokesmen and practitioners attest that Hubbard's teachings (called "Technology" or "Tech" in Scientology terminology) have saved them from a plethora of problems and enabled them to better realize their highest potential in business and their personal lives.[1][2] However, outside observers—including journalists, lawmakers, and national governing bodies of several countries—have reached conclusions about Scientology that are sharply at odds with the Church's self-representations. These include allegations that the church is an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and brutally exploits its members.[3][4]

Although some scholars and a few governments, along with the United Nations,[5] accept Scientology as a bona fide religion,[6][7] it has also been characterized as a pseudoreligion, a cult[8] or a transnational corporation.[7]

Answer 2

Scientology is an applied religious philosophy. When I say "applied" I mean you actually use it in your life to change or improve existing conditions. It is a very practical religion.
All religions if you learn about them have a basic philosphy, but they also have certain dogma, rituals and observances, and a certain faith or belief is required. There is nothing wrong with this, but Scientology is not that kind of religion. It does not intrude on anyones faiths of beliefs particularly in the area of God , the Supreme Being, or the Infinite. This area is left totally up to the indivdual, which is why you can be a practicing Jew,for example and still use and apply the priniciples of Scientology in your life. It does not conflict. If anything it will enhance your understanding of your chosen religious practice.
You can have no specific religious beliefs and still benefit from using it.
And it is only true for you according to your own observation and experience with it.
It is a non denominational religion . The dictionary definition that applies:
Religion: The spiritual or emotional attitude of one who recognises the existence of superhuman power or powers.

The most basic principle of Scientology is that YOU are your own immortal soul, that this is not a "thing" you HAVE but what YOU actually are.
The whole purpose of Scientology is to increase an individual's understanding and awareness of himself. and lifeAnd thereby his native abilities .
When you do this the sphere and zone of his positive influence increases and moves outward into his life, his family ,his friends, his groups and mankind which he is part of.

How this result is achieved is the "technology" of Scientology, which was developed by L.Ron Hubbard after his extensive research and the discoveries he made, about the human spirit. The basic religious philosophy and knowledge of Scientology is very old, going back 10,000 years at least to the Veda or Vedic Hymns from the East. The developement of the technology is new.
He completed his research before his death in 1986 and left all of his results and copyrights
to the Church of Scientology along with most of his considerable personal estate, when he died.

He published a book in 1951 to communicate the basic principles he discovered called: " Scientology The Fundementals of Thought"
There are currently over 10 million Scientologists in more than 163 countries world wide. However we are a new religion, only 53 years old.
The true story of Scientology as a religion goes like this:
1. A philosopher developes a philosophy about life and death.
2. People find it interesting.
3. People find it works.
4. People pass it along to others.
5. It grows.

This is just an overview.
L. Ron Hubbard explained fully the theology and technologies of Scientology in more than 500,000 pages of writings, including dozens of books and over 2,000 tape-recorded public lectures. So it's not possible to fully answer your question on this forum, but I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Scientology, in brief, is an applied religious philosophy.
Applied = it's practical, gets results, does what it says on the tin
Religious = to do with you as a spiritual being & your spiritual nature
Philosophy = a way of looking at & thinking about life

The basic starting point is the correct definition of "thetan".
From the Greek letter "theta", taken to mean "thought", a noun is coined.
A thetan is an immortal spiritual being, with no mass, no energy, no wavelength, and no location is space or time - except by consideration of the thetan.
A thetan can think, postulate, consider, emote, and can create/un-create matter, energy, space and time.
The "thetan" word is used instead of "soul" or "spirit" so as to avoid the assocations and baggage of other religions and beliefs.
You don't have a thetan/soul/spirit; you ARE a thetan/soul/spirit.
(Note: it does NOT mean "alien" at all. This is a false, absurd rumour.)
Scientology, as a subject, is the study of the thetan and its relationship with itself, its own mind & body, other thetans, and the physical universe.
Scientology, as a practice, is about increasing the thetan's abilities and restoring it to its rightful place as the senior entity in relation to the mind & body.
In other words, its about putting you back in charge of your own life.
The basic proof of the existence of the thetan lies in a person, as a thetan, seperating from his/her body or mind. This is a common occurance in Scientology. The result is an awareness that you are not your body and that you will continue to exist even if the body dies.
I first seperated from my body in mid-1999. I found I could still perceive the physical universe without eyeballs/ears etc. In fact, I observed something about 2 miles away which I had no way of knowing, and when I went to check with my body & eyeballs, found my perception to have been 100% correct. Result: I know that I'm not my brain etc.

It is a seperate subject from Dianetics, although related.

Answer 4

Scientology is a bunch of crap. It's biggest claim to fame is a few celebrities. If it were not for these celebrities then everyone would compare it to a strange cult like the comet kool-aid group. So, if you want to start a cult get a celebrity to endorse it.

Answer 5

75 million years ago there was a federation of planets which was ruled over by Senoth. Senoth thought his galaxy was over populated so he rounded up countless aliens from all different planets and had those aliens frozen. The bodies were loaded onto Senoth planes. The planes took the bodies to earth and dumped them into the volcanoes in Hawaii. Their souls went up towards the sky and Senoth built giant soul catchers in the sky. The souls were taken to a soul brainwashing faculty which Senoth also built on earth. The souls watch days of brainwashing material which trick them in believing a false reality. Senoth released the alien souls which roam the earth in a fog of confusing at the dawn of man the souls found bodies they can grab onto. They attached themselves to all mankind which still today causes all our fears, our confusion and our problems.

Answer 6

Contact your local scientology church and meet with someone. But beware! As the first person answered, it is based on beleifs of a crazy man. You also tithe, or give a certain percent of your income to the church, but to become a higher member, you must pay more and more and more and take "classes". It is crazy and flat out stupid, but if it keeps them busy so be it.

A friend of mine was truly interested in what they beleived, so she met with someone from the local church. Aside from being more pushy than the mormon doorknockers, he was very informative and they really must be crazy.

Answer 7

All i know is L Ron Hubberd used to practice satanic magick with anton lavey(wikipedia: search Ron Hubberd).
Now Scientology was his "cult" until he died. it's still a cult.
notice only famous/rich people are involved. They are the money spenders which scientology looks for. You literally pay your way up the ladder in scientology.

Answer 8

It is a CULT. Despite what a few fanatical members may say, it IS a cult. The church harasses & bullies anyone who they deem an "enemy" (basically anyone who has anything negative to say about the "church"). They will RUIN YOUR LIFE if you speak out against them long enough.

The founder is L. Ron Hubbard, the science FICTION writer who once told a friend that the best way to make lots of money is to start your own religion. Though being a very outspoken critic of psychiatric drugs, it was discovered upon Hubbards death that the anti-anxiety drug hydroxyzine (Vistaril) was present in his body, which several of his assistants would later attest was only one of many psychiatric & pain medications Hubbard ingested over the years. (visit this link to read about the uses of hydoxyzine: http://www.drugs.com/mtm/v/vistaril.html )

Scientologists believe the evil alien ruler Xenu killed a lot of aliens (Thetans) from around the universe by bringing them to earth & blowing them up inside volcanoes. They believe the souls of these aliens (these souls are "Body Thetans") have attached themselves to us & cause many of our mental & physical ills. Members who know about Xenu will attempt to deny it or pretend like it doesn’t matter. They are required to sign a contract binding them to silence on the matter. Lower level members don’t know about Xenu & accordingly deny everything because they honestly don’t know.

To rid ourselves of "Body Thetans" & also “engrams” (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind) so that we can become “clear”, we have to go through "auditing" with a member of the “church” who uses an "e-meter" to measure our “reactive mind”...... & we have to pay lots & lots of money for “auditing” (purchased in 12.5-hour blocks, costing anywhere from $750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions) & to take courses on Scientology to advance to higher “levels” in the “church”. The “church” has also taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry & psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional in everyday life. They deny the reality of chemical imbalance & profound mental disturbance & accordingly do NOTHING to effectively stabilize the dangerously unstable. The “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from member (with deadly results).

Scientology is undeniably a cult. For more information on what a cult is & what their damaging effects are, please visit the link provided at the bottom of the sources. Just know that Scientology DOES qualify by meeting these 5 criteria:

(1) It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate & retain its members. (2) It forms an elitist totalitarian society. (3) Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable & has charisma. (4) It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit funds & recruit people. (5) Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.

Answer 9

In my own words this is Scientology:

1. What is true for you is what you your self observe to be true.

2. Man is his spirit not his mind or his body.

3. The spirit creates his own mind. Please do not confuse the mind with the brain that is a physical thing. The mind is composed of mental image pictures as explained in Dianetics. These pictures serve the spirit to give him knowledge and experience. These pictures are composed of energy. The energy in the picture can affect the spirit. You can feel better by remembering something that you like or angry by remembering something else. These emotions are actually energy waves emanated by the picture. You can actually feel pain by remembering a pain memory. Sometimes this pictures are accompanied by ideas or considerations. Lets supposed that you father beat you mom up in front of you. Your father was the dominating figure so you might conclude that you have to act like your father in some situations. This is what we call in Scientology an aberration (a conclusion that is impose to you by a mental picture). This picture is what we call a engram; A pain memory that affects your judgment and free will.

4. You can discharge the energy in this pictures through communication. This is Dianetics Auditing and his the oldest of hundreds of Scientology techniques used to improve the individual.

5. The Spirit creates his own emotions. Are you happy? Are you sad? Are you depress? Maybe you think that something external of you is creating your emotions. Maybe you believe that you are sad because you had a bad day. Or maybe you believe that you are happy because you had a great day. And this might be true. But who made the decision that you had a good or bad day? You did. You decided if life was good or bad, and adjusted your emotions to respond to your own consideration. You created your own emotion.
Some people are born with everything they want and are still unhappy. And others are born into humble means and are happy. What's the difference? The only real difference is each person ideas and considerations.
Scientology uses hundreds of processes to order to help the person get a better understanding and a better outlook in life by using his own observations.

6. Scientology Ethics: Scientologist base their conduct on a non-denominational code of conduct. http://twth.org/eb/?id=16664j

7. Scientology and God. Scientology acknowledges the supreme being and promotes the individual search for closeness to God trough religion.

8. Scientology vs Psychiatry. Psychiatry believes that self awareness, feelings, love and faith is merely cellular activity. Basically they think that you are your brain and you are not in charge of your behavior but your cells are.This is a totally materialistic point of view that denies the spirit and God. Psychiatrist is simply a pseudo science because is based in principles that are false.Psychiatry have never proven that any "mental illnesses" (like they call it) has any connection with a physical illness. Any Neurologist will tell you that there are no medical test to identify a "Mental Illness". All Psychiatrists base their diagnosis on opinion and opinion alone.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3895596783332855545&q=Psychiatry+is+fraude&hl=enhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8443414209115892468&q=scientology&hl=en
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?p=cchr&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&b=1&oid=12085d1e6c58d04e&rurl=video.yahoo.com&vdone=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fvideo%3Fp%3Dcchr%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3Dmss%26ei%3DUTF-8
Happiness, exhilaration, depression and psychosis are states of mind, not diseases. All what you have to do to stop being depress is change your state of mind. How you do that? By changing your ideas and considerations. Scientology provides the tools to achieve a better state of mind in accordance with your own point of view.
Also Psychiatrist excuse the most horrendous crimes as mental illnesses. This is actually creates a sense of irresponsibility in society because it tells people that they are not responsible for their actions. Second they promote that drugs are the answer for your problems. This message promotes the use of drugs to find release from life and creates the current drug addiction problem in society. Drugs will only give you temporary release but will never solve the source of your problems.And actually drugs will keep you away from finding a true spiritual release.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4437051883726295326&q=psychiatry&hl=en
Note: Scientology doesn't have anything against Psychology or Neurology only Psychiatry.

9. Scientology and aliens. The story of Xenu is just a fable like the story Jonah in the Whale in the bible. Fables are not intended to be taken seriously. The story of Xenu doesn't have any significance on Scientology beliefs.

Scientology is so advance and so different that people can't understand it. People think that they know everything there is to know about life. And when they see Scientology they jump to conclusions when in reality they don't have a clue what are they talking about. The reality is that man attacks what he can't understand. That's why Scientology gets so much bad press.
http://www.chaplaincare.navy.mil/Scientology.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol.htm
http://www.beliefnet.com/sem/scientology-religion.asp?source=YAHSCT&campaign=096&medium=PPC&nopop=1&WT.mc_id=YAHSCT&WT.srch=1

Answer 10

We're supposed to be descended from aliens called Thetans, or something. The followers of this thing can progress to higher levels by shelling out tons of money.

If you try to leave the "church", they harrass you.

Stay away from this lot, they're nutters. It makes witchcraft seem sensible, by comparison. No offence to witches etc.