In 1950, L. Ron Hubbard wrote a book that would spur the launch of a rather unorthodox religion. This book was called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. It contains the basic rules that would later become Scientology. Since the founding of the religion in 1954, Scientology has grown to church numbers of 5000 in as many as 160 countries. They believe that man is inherently good, and man's spiritual enlightenment and salvation is solely dependant on himself. While they do believe in a higher power, man cannot rely on this higher power to save him, or his eternal. Scientologist believe that they are a spiritual being called a “thetan”. The thetan has lived many past lives, and the memories of one’s past lives can become problematic …show more content…
Scientologist are rather quiet on the matter. Supposedly, seventy five million years ago, an intergalactic being called Xenu was ruler over a section of the galaxy that Earth (called Teegeeack in this time) inhabited. Xenu noticed an overpopulation of the planets under his control. He devised a plan to control the populations, “with the help of psychiatrists and the media he persuaded billions of people to come in for income tax audits. They were instead injected in the lungs with alcohol and glycol to paralyze them” ("The Story Of Xenu"). All the people were put into spacecraft and transported to Earth. Xenu had the beings stacked at the base of volcanos and H-bombs lowered in the mouths of the volcanos. When the billions of paralyzed people were arranged, the bombs were detonated, killing billions of people at once. The souls of these billions of people were captured in clusters and brainwashed with videos and images of violence, sexual perversions, horrors and false gods. This was all done be Xenu to prevent the retaliation and revenge of billions of souls. In brainwashing them and implanting them in confused human bodies like a demon possession, he rendered them helpless. Xenu was soon overthrown by his Loyal Officers and held prisoner by an eternal force-field on a mountain top on earth, supposedly still there and alive …show more content…
The reactive mind acts as a barrier and holds all of the pain, emotions and images (called engrams) not readily available to the analytical mind. Think of the reactive mind as a pocket for repressed memories, holding the individual back from enlightenment (or Clear State) and freedoms. This is where dianetic auditing comes in. Auditing is similar to catholic confession; an individual who is “pre-clear” will come to auditor will ask the the individual questions and receive the answers with no judgement. This process helps bring one closer to Clear
Scientologists do not believe that people are inherently bad; we are all just seeking to survive and have been marred by contact with the physical universe. At the core of a Scientologist's beliefs are the eight dynamics. They outline the stages of life and one's tendencies as they grow older and become influenced by outside forces. The first dynamic is simply to survive as an individual, and the last is the urge toward Infinity. What's "Infinity" you ask? It's not God, per say, well... unless you want it to be. Before you understand Infinity, you have to understand yourself. The three part of man are the physical body, the mind, and the thetan, or soul. The thetan is on a journey, and your body simply the room it's renting for the duration of its stay in your life. Your thetan has resided in all of your past bodies, and during those lives has accumulated hurt from traumatic experiences and poor choices you made. Through Scientology, you can confront these transgressions, take responsibility for them, and experience truth again. This truth is Infinity. It might be a Supreme Being, or it might be the key to all available knowledge. Hubbard was never really clear about that, but he probably knew what he was doing, so why ask questions? In Scientology, you don't have to accept anything on faith alone. You are able to define your beliefs through your experiences, auditing,
It’s not unknown that The Church of Scientology has been a contentious subject of conversation for decades. The controversial religion was originally discovered by a gentleman named L. Ron Hubbard in 1954 through the establishment of ideas in which he believed would act as an antidote to mental health concerns called Dianetics. After an unsuccessful attempt resulting in bankruptcy, Hubbard branched his ideas into the basis of a new found religion called Scientology ("The Beliefs and Teachings of Scientology”). To Hubbard’s advantage, Scientology expeditiously accelerated in growth, becoming one of the fastest expanding religions in the 20th century. Scientology pledged a “light at the end of the tunnel” to those wandering through dark times, and created a pathway to a faultless understanding of one’s true spiritual fulfillment through a system of self-knowledge in relation to one’s own life, community, and mankind. Due to the Scientology’s controversial beliefs, abnormal practices, and aberrant church-member relationships, the religion poses as a superlative model of church rebelling against society’s social norms.
“Maybe it’s an insanity test, Haggis thought- if you believe it, you’re automatically kicked out. He considered that possibility, but when he read it again, he decided ‘This is madness’.” Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright (copyright 2013 ) takes an inside look at Scientology, with interviews and accounts from former Scientologists such as Paul Haggis and Mark Rathbun, important church officials such as David Miscavige and Tom Cruise, and the founder: Ron L. Hubbard. Scientology is a religion which claims to lead one’s spirit on a path to eventual enlightenment and understanding of one’s spiritual nature.Going Clear details the horrors and unveils the mysteries surrounding this church. Going Clear is separated into three parts: Part One- which divulges the story of the founder L. Ron Hubbard, and the organization he creates, Part Two- Hollywood- which deals with the important celebrity connections and how important the celebrities are to the church, and Part Three- The Prison of Belief : an exposé on the harsh conditions many members face, the bullying and corruption within the organization, and the sense of helplessness and entrapment one feels when trying to leave the church. The author makes an very effective argument and achieves his goal of exposing the corruption within the church by providing first-hand accounts and legal records, contrasting views and official statements from the church, various rhetorical strategies as
The Church of Scientology is a global organization with over 270 churches or missions worldwide. For decades, it has possessed followers with an almost fanatical devotion to their leader, L. Ron Hubbard. Since the advent of the Internet, the Church has begun to resort to various legal actions to maintain the secrecy of their “scriptures.”
The church of Scientology has been the subject of controversy since its inception. Its methods and beliefs have attracted the attention of scholars from around the world. The church has been under government investigation and has endured a countless amount of lawsuits (Reitman 14). It is also a hot topic by the media with several endorsements by some of the most recognized Hollywood celebrities. However, the main topic of debate regarding the Church of Scientology is its status as a religion. Some members claim that the church has helped them overcome their struggles and that they are happier people, while others condemn it as a dangerous cult (Sweeney). The church of Scientology is a religious group whose purpose is to retain their
Even with the fact that it is a modern religion, Scientology takes many of its beliefs from older religious ideologies. "Mixing ideas from Buddhist and Hindu religious philosophy, science fiction, and 20th-century Western concepts in psychology and science" (Scientology), the religion's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, devised a whole new religion. This religion promotes the belief that all human beings are actually immortal spirits who are unable to find their personal identity because they are misled by their struggle to escape the universe's tendency to exploit their need for feeling joy.
Religious intolerance and Scientology The world can be a dangerous place. It can be even more dangerous if someone proves to be different, or seen as unusual in any way. Scientology may be arguably one of the strangest religions in the world. Because of this, Scientology has experienced intolerance since it was first founded in 1954.
Scientology is a new religion that was created in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard. According to Dictionary.com it says Scientology is a nondenominational movement founded in the United States to accent self knowledge and have the chance to come to your full spiritual potential (dictionary.com). Scientology is also kind of like a class you can take. Online they have courses that you can take like the hubbard dianetics, scientology life improvements, purification, and many more. L. Ron Hubbard was born on March thirteenth, nineteen eleven in Nebraska. His first spiralling thought that got him wondering about scientology was when an american naval officer showed him the theories of psychoanalysis (scientology missions of belleair, L. Ron Hubbard). The
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, better known as L. Ron Hubbard, author and founder of the Church of Scientology. Scientology a religion based off of a fiction piece of work, Dianetics. Dianetics describes a program of self improvement and spiritual awakening and continues to be the Scientology bible. The church currently has over seven hundred churches, missions and groups, and Dianetics still sells over four hundred thousand copies a year. The religion Scientology has millions of members world wide, even though controversial, the movement continues to influence people around the world even after Hubbard's death. At one time Hubbard was one of the most influential people in the world.
Scientology, founded in 1950 (Hubbard. What is. 3), "is an applied religious philosophy" (Hubbard. What is. 4), which is a branch of psychology (Fundamentals. 7). Developed by Lafayette Ron Hubbard, Scientology was created "from discoveries resulting from
I had watched the South Park episode and thought the idea of the religion was absurd. Through my research I have realized Scientology is even more ridiculous than I thought. Not only does the religion contradict itself multiple times on whether or not it is a religion or not, but it also makes speaking out against it nearly impossible. I had to leave out over half of my research because I did not even want to explain some of the crazy procedures Scientology has used. I focused on the shunning of legitimate science because it made the religion sound a little less weird, still really weird just not so much. While spending hours watching their indoctrination materials I was constantly harassed to take a “free personality test, to discover my real self.” This was very annoying. Not only am I afraid that the Church of Scientology website gave my computer a virus, but I am also mildly concerned that somehow this religion will be spying on me. In conclusion Scientology is even more bizarre than I originally
Hubbard’s Dianetics plays a major role in the belief system of Scientology. There are three major topics discussed when breaking down the ideas and practices involved in Dianetics. According to Hubbard, man’s goal of life is infinite survival, and this is also mans’ motivation. The goal of life plays a major role in Dianetics because it is the basis on how to achieve infinite survival. Dianetics means, “Through the mind or soul,” but Scientologists have used it to mean what the soul is doing through the body. Dianetics will be the aiding factor in helping man
The book I read this month was Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. This is a nonfiction book that dives deep into Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. It investigate the role Scientology plays in Hollywood by showing how through Scientology people are able to gain more opportunities in Hollywood. The book gives a biography about L. Ron Hubbard and makes the connection that he created Scientology because of his upbringing and things that happened later on in his life.
The term Thetan is used a lot in Scientology it is was they say instead of spirit. They believe that the spirit is separate from the body, and even the mind for the mind is part of the body. The brain is not intelligent, but rather is like a switch board that just directs signals through it. This leads into life after death, and from what I researched the only thing that they really talked about is that Thetan (spirit) will continue after the body has died. So it seems that the spirit will either continue on just as a spirit or can become part of another body later on (reincarnation). All the research I have found on Scientology has come directly from their website, but I still had some more questions that wanted to learn that I could not find
The beginnings of the Dianetics movement mainly focused on “Hubbard’s understanding of the human mind and the cause of suffering in this lifetime” (Urban 139), According to Hubbard, human minds have two main parts: the reactive mind, which records all pain and emotional trauma, and the analytical mind, which is thought of as a computer. Hubbard claims that “throughout life, individuals have negative experiences of pain and unconsciousness that become burned in the reactive mind in the form of what Hubbard called ‘engrams’ or negative memory traces, which cause us both physical and psychological problems” (Urban 139). Hubbard created a form of therapy called “auditing” to remove these engrams. Auditing involves “a trained counselor who works with an individual to help identify the painful memory traces or engrams that have been burned into the reactive mind. Through auditing, the individual can relive these experiences…and then clear them from the reactive mind” (Urban 139). After the engrams have been removed, “the individual experiences a state of optimal psychological, emotional, and physical well-being called ‘Clear’” (Urban 139). By going through auditing, the individual achieves freedom from painful memories.