What is Scientology?

Question

reasonable answers please

Answer 1

Scientology is comprised exclusively of the teachings of one man: L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard's theories, assumptions, and techniques for practical applications that make up the rituals of Scientology, are sometimes called the "Spiritual Technology," or simply "the Tech."



Hubbard claimed to have discovered certain "natural laws" of the spiritual universe, which he claimed can be used to predict and control behavior and phenomena in a manner similar to the way in which the natural laws codified in the physical sciences can be used to predict and control phenomena in the physical world.



Scientology assumes that spirituality and thought (called "theta") is an energy existing in its own universe, separate and distinct from the physical universe of Matter, Energy, Space and Time (MEST), and that spirit (theta) is senior to, and indeed created, the physical universe (MEST).



Each individual person (called a "thetan") is considered to be a "thought unit" of the spiritual universe which interacts with the physical universe (MEST), usually by inhabiting a human body. The Scientology term "thetan" is what has commonly been known as the "spirit" and it is defined in Scientology as the source of life; in the individual, it is recognized as the core of personality or essence of oneself, quite distinct and separate from the physical body or the brain.



Scientology proposes that in its "native state" the spirit/thetan is immortal and god-like and possesses the potentiality of knowing everything, but that in present time its true capabilities have been lost and forgotten. As an immortal entity, the spirit/thetan lives on after body death and is born into a new physical body, again and again, lifetime after lifetime, in an endless cycle of birth and death. As a result of traumatic incidents extending back from the present life through a long series of "past lifetimes" hidden from conscious memory, the spirit/thetan has become trapped in the physical body and the physical/MEST universe.



Content of these traumatic incidents may influence a person's current life, causing physical and mental illnesses, irrational thoughts and acting-out behavior, and limiting one's creativity and other abilities. Scientology claims that these traumatic incidents, along with each spirit/thetan's personal history, are recorded in complete detail on the "time track," sometimes called the "whole track," which for each person is many trillions of years in length. Scientology proposes that through a process called "auditing" that uses techniques developed by Hubbard (often assisted by a device called the E-Meter), an individual can be guided to find and "discharge" these hidden traumas, thus escaping the suffering and limitations imposed by the past.



Further, as one progresses through a series of auditing "levels," one can eventually be restored to native state and can attain the status of "operating thetan," wherein one is free of attachments to the body and, even while "exterior" to (outside) the body, one can consciously control matter, energy, space, time, thought, and life. Hubbard's writings and lectures include many tantalizing details of the god-like abilities that may be gained through auditing.



For most individual Scientologists, recovering these god-like abilities (and encouraging and assisting others to do so as well) is the primary goal of participation in Scientology. The "levels" through which a participant progresses make up what is called "The Bridge to Total Freedom." Progress through all the levels of the "Bridge" often takes many years of dedicated study and practice, and the cost in fees for services for the Bridge is currently estimated at approximately $300,000 - $500,000 in US dollars.



According to examples given in Scientology, the content of "whole track" incidents can include (but is not limited to) attempted abortions and other fetal traumas, acts of torture and violence experienced both as victim and as perpetrator, encounters with the Marcab Confederacy and various Invader Forces from spacefaring Galactic civilizations, life on earth as a clam, "implants" of ideas and artificial purposes sometimes administered with a pain-drug-hypnosis combination, and other experiences that almost always include pain and/or confusion and/or unconsciousness.



While many of the traumatic incidents addressed in auditing are unique to the individual, some key incidents are thought to be common to all humans on planet earth. One very important such incident supposedly occurred some 75 million years ago. Scientology warns that until one has completed a series of preparatory steps, exposure to the details of this particular incident can cause severe illness or even death.* Thus, these details are carefully guarded and kept secret until, at the level called "Operating Thetan III" the member is deemed properly prepared and is granted permission to view and "audit" this information.

____________

* Details of this incident have been available for public view on the internet for several years and to date there have been no reported illnesses or deaths attributed to viewing this information. However, many scientologists still refuse to view these materials until they have completed all the preparatory steps. For the brave and curious, full details can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/2x55d



REFERENCES:

The teachings of the Church of Scientology are introduced in the following church-published books, which are widely available in bookstores or directly from the church. All are either written by L. Ron Hubbard or are "based on his works" and are published by Bridge Publications.

DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH

SCIENCE OF SURVIVAL

A HISTORY OF MAN

SCIENTOLOGY 0-8

THE SCIENTOLOGY HANDBOOK

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 in the area of God , the Supreme Being, or the Infinite. This area is left totally up to the indivdual. It does not conflict.
You can have no specific religious beliefs and still benefit from it.
And it is only true for you according to your own observation and experience with it.
It is also not a messianic religion. This means there is no worship of messiahs in Scientology.
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. L. Ron Hubbard researched and made new discoveries about the human spirit. He developed technology from these discoveries to apply to increase spiritual awareness and ability.
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 gives you some idea.

Answer 3

My understanding of this cult is limited, but I will tell you what I DO know. Persons belonging to this organization are put through various mental exercizes and counseling sessions by "higher ups" in the church and charged huge sums of money in the process. This is done in order that the person may go "clear" or in other words, have no hang ups. The mental exercises involve returning back in your mind to another previous lifetime and facing the fears you gained during that lifetime that have carried over into your present lifetime. Their feeling is that every problem you currently have, be it fears, illness, anger, etc. has existed in a previous lifetime and you didn't deal with it then so it has followed you. You must get rid of all the excess baggage to become "clear" or in a happy state.

The organization was started by a science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard.

Answer 4

Scientology is a very difficult religion to summarize in just a few paragraphs, let alone in a few pages. It was founded in 1953 by fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, just four years after he made the statement, "I'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is," to Lloyd Eshbach; quoted by Eshbach in Over My Shoulder. That's where he found wealth, also--Hubbard became a multi-millionaire. An easier question to ask would be, "What are the similarities between Christianity and Scientology?" The answer to that would be, "There are no similarities."

Answer 5

No, it has nothing to do with Science and, having read one of Hubbard's Science Fiction books, it is only marginally classifiable as SF.

It is a recent religion started by an author. One of the best introductions is the South Park episode because Scientology is very protective of their secrecy. I wouldn't be surprised to see this question reported and taken down.

Like most other religions, there is a battle between good and evil and to be saved you need to believe what they tell you. Scientology is a bit more open about charging for this knowledge than other religions are. They also use more modern terminology than many other religions, referring to their pantheon as alien races rather than gods and devils.

The history of these aliens that it alleges is about as weird as Revelations. Initially they preach milder stuff and you work your way up to the really weird knowledge.

Whether it is dangerous is hard to say. Like all religions it is a cult. Like all religions, it doesn't like defectors. What happens to people who leave is debatable.

Like all religions but, perhaps, a bit more than most, I would urge you to just say no.

Answer 6

A Cult that believes the following:

From their own site


Scientology is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. The Scientology religion comprises a body of knowledge extending from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these:

Man is an immortal, spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized — and those capabilities can be realized. He is able to not only solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also achieve new, higher states of awareness and ability.

In Scientology no one is asked to accept anything as belief or on faith. That which is true for you is what you have observed to be true. An individual discovers for himself that Scientology works by personally applying its principles and observing or experiencing results.

Through Scientology, people all over the world are achieving the long-sought goal of true spiritual release and freedom.




Basically, they deny God and view themselves as immoratal and god like. They ARE a Cult and I would not suggest getting involved in this if you have even the smallest belief in God. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone, but if you do have some sliver of belief in God, search for the truth through Jesus!

Answer 7

OK so I guess from the answers here that no one actually knows anything about Scientology, looks to me like you might want to google that question hahahahaha
GOOD GIRL above

Answer 8

Holly Marie is another Fundie who believes that Scientology is based on science.

Way to go, Miss Holly--ignorance at its finest!!!

David C--We need more of you to crowd this forum; too bad I am not able to give you more than one thumb's up!!

Answer 9

In the beginning, man was lonely - and hated the things he could sink down to, so he created a God in his image. As the god grew in complexity, he attempted to describe all the questions his peers would ask him about this god, and the world with a set of stories.

He could not explain the bones of these great creatures, which had existed, long before he had, so he invented dragons and monsters to justify them.

As his knowledge of the natural world grew, so he amended the story to fit the world he saw, and soon his stories became classic tales, that everybody accepted. And they told his story far and wide.

Problem was that the story was not unique, but one of hundreds of competing stories, all similar. So the followers of each 'theory' would defend it against the followers of other theories. Three of the stories grew very big, and were a kind of Trilogy, but the followers of the first book denied the sequels, and the followers of the second book, tried to wipe out the followers of the other books with holy wars. The followers of the third book tried to convert all to the third book.

In the end, the followers became so blind to the world about them - that when science evolved - and a good theory to explain the world, they clung onto their old superstitions. Many ranting chapter and verse of the good book - rather than using their brains to accept or even judge the new material.

The story even tried to develop sudo science to make the actual facts seem less important, anything to get back to the old beliefs, as they were starting to feel lonely again. They even tried to invent theories to describe dinosaurs, when they could no longer ignore them!

Truth is what a con man will try to hood wink you with, it’s a word invented by religions. Fact is the scientific equivalent, and unlike truth is not subjective, but can stand on its own, and is supported by physical evidence that does not require a leap of faith. Scientology is sudo science - false facts - lies, perverted half-truths to try and justify the bible and a lot of additional strange beliefs.

Answer 10

began by potential of L. Ron Hubbard as 'self help technique' called Dianetics (he began out writing SiFi books and then wrote self help books) ...it right into a grew to become "faith".....many people (Christians, atheist, agnostics, former contributors, ect) say that's the suited 'text cloth-e book' occasion of a non-violent Cult (thought some contributors have pronounced actual and emotional abuse) the easy thought is: for the duration of your and previous lives you have had unfavorable studies which you will no longer bear in mind, those repressed studies 'carry you back'.... by using specific counseling called "Dianetics" (offered by potential of the CoS. for a nominal fee) you may 'technique/take care of' those undesirable studies....as quickly as there all dealt with, you may go beyond to a "intense easy of existence" ....the top....

Answer 11

A dangerous cult. I'm sorry if that offends you but it is basically a money making scam invented by a science fiction writer. It's harmful to it's members because it isolates them from their loved ones, charges exorbitant fees for "auditing", and has caused the deaths of some of it's members (Lisa McPherson for instance).