What is Scientology?

Question

What are the core beliefs? What is the foundation for the these beliefs?

Answer 1

Si-fi and ripping people off
and black mailing people who leave

Answer 2

Here's a factual description for you which might help:

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 anyone’s faiths of beliefs in the area of God , the Supreme Being, or the Infinite. This area is left totally up to the indivdual as part of his life.
It is also not a messianic religion. This means there is no worship of prophets or messiahs in Scientology. It is not belief or faith based. A truth should be true according to ones own observation and experience.
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 life.And to rehabilitate his native goodness, abilities and potential.
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.

Answer 3

Scientology is a religion invented from whole cloth by a guy named Hubbard. They have some extremely strange beliefs, even when compared to something as kooky as Islam, Judaism or Christianity. I would say that, given the importance of Hubbard in Scientology, that it might be more accurately described as a cult.

Check out clambake. It has some very disturbing information on Scientology. It's not as innocent as Cruise, Travolta, et al would have you believe.

Answer 4

Basically, L. Ron Hubard who was a science fiction writer, came up with Scientology. They believe that our bodies are vessels for misplaced alien souls. They also believe in pass life and using some sort of monitor to get to different levels of the religion. But it is fueled by money. Most people who are Scientology's have a lot of money. Kirsty Alley, Tom Cruise, and John Travolta are some famous Scientologist.

Answer 5

A cult started in the 1960s by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. They have some real whacky beliefs, see the link below.

Answer 6

The Church of Scientology says that Scientology is concerned with "the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life." By contrast, Dianetics is more narrowly focused on getting rid of the reactive mind, the "bank" of traumatic memories known as engrams which are said to inhibit one's success and happiness. Scientology also covers topics such as ethics and morality (The Way to Happiness), drug and chemical residues as they relate to spiritual wellbeing (the Purification Rundown), communication, marriage, raising children, work-related problems, education (Study Technology), and the very nature of life (The Dynamics).

According to the Church, the ultimate goal is to get the individual being (the "I", called Thetan) back to its native state of total freedom, thus gaining control over matter, energy, space, time, thoughts, form, and life. This freed state is called Operating Thetan, or OT for short.

Believers in Scientology say that it offers "exact" methods of spiritual counseling to help people achieve awareness of their spiritual existence, while enhancing their effectiveness in the physical world. The exact nature of all of existence is said to be stated in Hubbard's Scientology and Dianetics Axioms.

Scientology practices (called "Technology" or "Tech" in Scientology terminology) are structured in sequential series or levels, reflecting Hubbard's belief that rehabilitation takes place on a step-by-step "gradient"; for example, that the negative effects of drugs must be addressed before other issues can be addressed. Scientologists follow a sequence of courses that culminate in the esoteric advanced strata of Scientology's teachings. This is described as a passage along "the Bridge to Total Freedom", or simply "the Bridge", in which each step of the Bridge promises a little more personal freedom in some particular area of life.

Some central tenets of Scientology:

*A person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a thetan) who possesses a mind and a body.

*The thetan has lived through many past lives and will continue to live beyond the death of the body.

*Through the Scientology process of "auditing", one can free oneself of specific traumatic incidents, prior ethical transgressions and bad decisions, which are said to collectively restrict the person from reaching the state of "Clear", and after that, the state of "Operating Thetan". Each state is said to represent recovering the native spiritual abilities of the individual, and to confer dramatic mental and physical benefits.

*A person is basically good, but becomes "aberrated" by moments of pain and unconsciousness in his or her life.
What is true for you is what you have observed yourself. No beliefs should be forced as "true" on anyone. Thus, the tenets of Scientology are expected to be tested and seen to either be true or not by Scientology practitioners.

*Psychiatry and psychology are destructive and abusive practices.

Answer 7

That mediocre sci-fi authors are in fact god or are they all aliens. I mean if Tom Cruise being a member isn't enough to scare people away form it what will work.

Answer 8

Hello,

This link will give you real answers.

Answer 9

Scientology, which questionably calls itself a new "religion", is the brainchild of science fiction writer & occult enthusiast L. Ron Hubbard. The organization, by means of Hubbard’s self created psychotherapy technique called “Dianetics”, claims to be able to help rid members of any & all mental constraints including but not limited to emotional scarring (from this & "past" lives) due to "engrams" (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind), psychological disorders & chemical imbalances (the solution is to convince members that these things don't actually exist) & drug dependence (including legally prescribed psychopharmaceuticals which counteract the effects of psychological disorders Scientologists believe to be nonexistent).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics#Scientific_evaluation_and_criticisms
Dianetics review: http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2005/06/28/dianetics/index.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,812852,00.html

The official Scientology organization is composed of a number of “levels”. One begins as a “preclear” & works their way up. One must purchase virtually every service crucial to advancement directly from the "church" & at staggering prices. "Auditing", for example, is purchased in 12½ hour blocks, costing anywhere from $750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions. Visit this link to see how $380,000 is a conservative estimate for the total cost of moving all the way up the Scientology hierarchal ladder: http://www.xenu.net/archive/prices.html
These are the total costs for auditing alone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_as_a_business#Costs
Here’s an explanation of what “auditing” is: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061224182319AA2nnd6

At level OT III (Operating Thetan 3), some very strange & fiercely guarded secrets are imparted upon worthy members who have paid enough money to advance to such a level (and no, this isn't a joke): The evil alien ruler Xenu killed millions of aliens (Thetans) from around the universe by kidnapping them, bringing them to earth in golden DC-8 “space-planes”, stacking them around volcanoes & blowing them up by dropping “h-bombs” into the volcanoes. Scientologists believe the souls of these aliens (these souls are "Body Thetans") were captured, brainwashed & released; they then attached themselves to our ancestors (and according to Scientology’s belief in Thetan immortality, they also attached to us during “past lives”) & cause many of our mental & physical ills to this day. Auditing is said to “clear” us of these Body Thetans as well as the “mental implants” they supposedly impose on our minds.
http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/spaink-ot3.html
http://www.spaink.net/cos/essays/atack_ot3.html
http://xenu.net/archive/leaflet/Xenu-Letter.pdf

Scientology has taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry & psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional during everyday life. It doesn’t recognize legitimate conditions like autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or ANY neurological disorder / chemical imbalance at all, and the “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from members (often with harmful & deadly results). The “Church” blames the psychiatry for the Holocaust, as well as school shootings and even September 11th. It’s been suggested that Hubbard’s vehement opposition was born of the psychiatric community’s rejection of his “tech” as a valid treatment method, but it’s also possible that Hubbard chose psychiatry as a scapegoat. Organizations like Scientology are notorious for villainizing a specific out-group as it fosters cohesion within the organization.
http://www.anti-scientologie.ch/usa-scientology.htm
http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3137&IssueNum=136
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/07/01/sci_psy/index_np.html?pn=1
http://perkinstragedy.org

L. Ron Hubbard, the man behind the creation of Scientology, was & still is a controversial figure. Biographies and lists of personal accomplishments differ greatly between Scientology and non-Scientology publications as the “church” tends to exaggerate and outright lie about his early life, his education, his travels, his achievements etc, preferring to paint a distorted, flattering picture. Several books and articles present facts which flatly contradict these church-published accounts (links to free online copies of these books are provided below), showing conclusively that he was NOT the brilliant, accomplished figure revered by Scientologists. During his autopsy, the sedative 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. It had also been said by many who knew Hubbard personally that at the end of his life he was “a psychopathic insane person screaming about BT's [Body Thetans]….”
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/Bare%20Faced%20Messiah.pdf
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack/contents.htm
http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/mom/Messiah_or_Madman.txt
http://skull.piratehaven.org/~atman/factnet/lrhbare.txt

To be blunt, Scientology is a cult. It employs semi-legitimate psychotherapy & self-help methods to keep people loyal & convinced of its merit while it simultaneously sucks them dry financially & attempts to keep them far away from ANYONE, even friends & family, who would dissuade them from remaining in such a harmful situation. It’s a particularly greedy as well as manipulative & dangerous cult that takes its anti-psychiatry fanaticism to deadly limits. See these links for more information: http://www.lisamcpherson.org/
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml
http://www.factnet.org/Books/SocialControl/scs.html#toc http://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_story/funkydonny.html

Answer 10

google:

Operation clam bake.

The truth is to wild to believe.

Peace be with you.