Quote of the day

“The soul is life, is the spirit, is the thinkingness, is the awareness or any such term which communicates to you the meaning of life and vitality.” L Ron Hubbard - Personal Achievement Series Lecture: “Man: Good or Evil”

Quote of the day

“The individual himself is a spirit controlling a body via a mind.” L Ron Hubbard - Book: the Fundamentals of Thought

Is Scientology a religion?

Well, first let’s define religion. Religion is defined as, “Any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosphy” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition) Religious philosphy implies study of spiritual manifestations, research on the nature of the spirit and study of the relationship of the spirit to the body; exercises devoted to the rehabilitiation of abilities in a spirit.

Scientology deals with man as a spirit and believes that he is an immortal spiritual being. It’s prime fundamental truth is that Man is a spiritual being with abilities far beyond those which he normally believes possible. The courses and spiritual counseling in Scientology (the counseling is called auditing, coming from the word Audit, which means to listen–an auditor never evaluates or invalidates) assist with difficulties in communicaiton, interpersonal relationsips, nagging insecurities, self doubt and depression, etc. They assist a person with these things by addressing him as a spirit, not a body. The goal of auditing is to restore beingness and ability. This is accomplished by 1. helping the individual rid himself of any disabilities and 2. increasing individual abilities. Auditing is a unique form of spiritual counseling that helps an individual look at his own existence and improves his abilitiy to confront what he is and where he is.

In the 50s Scientologists recognized that L Ron Hubbard’s technology and it’s results dealt directly with helping a person on a spiritual level and that greater spiritual awareness was routinely being achieved. There was no question in their minds that what they were dealing with was a religious practice, thus in the early 50s, they voted that a church be formed to better serve the needs of Scientologists. The first church of Scientology was incorporated in 1954 and since that time, dozens of court rulings in many different countries have upheld the fact that Scientology is a religion.

More information on how Scientology addresses one as a spiritual being can be seen here and the best way to understand Scientology is to read a book written by L Ron Hubbard. There’s a newly restored DVD which is a filmed interview with L Ron Hubbard. This is an awesome DVD–you get to hear directly from L Ron Hubbard what Scientology is, how he came to develop Scientology, etc. If you don’t have money for a book every Scientology church has a full library of books, DVDs and lectures which you are welcome to use and read anytime. Many of his books, DVDs and lectures are also available in local libraries.

Quote of the day

“A sicence of the mind, if it were truly worthy of that name, would have to rank, in experimental precision, with physics and chemistry. There could be no “special cases” to its laws.” L Ron Hubbard - Book: Dianetics

What is Dianetics?

The word Dianetics comes from the Greek dia, meaning “through” and nous, meaning “soul”, and is defined as “what the soul is doing to the body.”

Dianetics is a manual to the human mind, with a methodology that helps you discover the exact source of unwanted feelings such as phobias, depression, unhappiness, etc., as well as psychosomatic illnesses, neuroses, psychoses and insanities. It has a specific end result which is called “Clear.” (This is all explained in full in the book)

I am a Clear myself and it is awesome! For me it’s made life simpler, easier and calmer. I don’t panic or have irrational worries, and I am rarely sick. I used to get sad sometimes for no reason and feel depresed. I was both bulemic and anorexic when I found out about Dianetics. I am a pretty thin person now, but I actually weighed *thirty five* pounds less than I do now! (If you knew me and saw me, you’d swear this could not be possible–but it’s true.) I remember waking up and hoping I could just make it through breakfast without making myself throw up. And I couldn’t do it, and the same cycle of the day would start up again. It was truly hellish.

I was seeing a psychologist for this, going to Overeaters Anonomous meetings and reading as many books as I could find on how to handle this problem. Once I did my first “session” with Dianetics, I knew I’d found the answer. This was the only thing that actually got to the very root of the problem and eliminated–FOR GOOD–the insane compulsions and thoughts that were running through my head.

I often use this analogy to explain Dianetics to others: If you think of something in yourself right now that you don’t like–something that makes you unhappy, etc–think of it as a thorn in your foot. The difference between Dianetics and other studies of the mind is this: you could see a psychologist and learn how to cope with and adapt your life around having the pain of the thorn in your foot. Or you could use some self-help approaches that get you psyched up about ignoring the pain in your foot. Or you could also take a drug which makes you numb to the pain of the thorn. Where Dianetics is different is this: it is a precise technology that you can use with another to discover for yourself the exact source of the thorn and pull it out of your foot, never to be bothered by it again.

When I first read Dianetics and really got the concept that this was possible–that I could actually eliminate unwanted feelings, etc.–I thought it seemed too good to be true. As mentioned, I was seeing a psychologist at the time and I asked her if she knew anything about it. She said that from what she knew of it, it was an unrealistic approach to life–that it made you think that you could get rid of your problems and issues, and this was not possible. I left that day and thought to myself, well, if there’s one chance in a million that this IS true and it could work, I have to at least try. So I read Dianetics and did the technique as outlined in the book. I was totally blown away because this was finally something that WORKED.

I discovered that Dianetics truly is a science of the mind. It’s really odd if you think of it, but when has there ever been a scientific approach the mind that has accomplished the goal of making us happy and sane and unburdened by fears, doubts and insecurities? This is what Dianetics is. It’s not something to psych you up and give a temporary boost in energy or confidence. It essentially helps you find and locate the very source of the things keeping you down, and by doing so, the true you comes out–happy and full of your innate abilities.

The beauty of Dianetics is you can read the book or watch the DVD and pair up with a friend and do it in your living room. It’s really simple and easy to do.

Here’s a quote I really like from the beginning of the book which I feel sums it up well:

“The discoveries and developments which made the formulation of Dianetics possible occupied many years of exact research and careful testing. This was an exploration, it was also consolidation. The trail is blazed, the routes are sufficiently mapped for you to voyage in safety into your own mind and recover there your full inherent potential, which is not, we now know, low but very, very high.” L Ron Hubbard

Quote of the day

“When cruelty in the name of discipline dominates a race, that race has been taught to hate. And that race is doomed. The real lesson is to learn to love.” L. Ron Hubbard - Book: A New Slant On Life

What does “Scientology” mean?

As said on this website the word Scientology literally means “the study of truth.” It comes from the Latin word “scio” meaning “knowing in the fullest sense of the word” and the Greek word “logos” meaning “study of.”

So basically in Scientology you’re studying truths about life. Obvioiusly noone owns truth–truth is truth. When I first found out about Scientology and read some of L Ron Hubbard’s books, I realized that the datums he presents about life are universal truths that apply to all of us.

The cool thing about Scientology, is that if you read something that you don’t think is true, it doesn’t matter. L Ron Hubbard said that what’s true for you, is true for you. Meaning, this is not a dogma–something you have to believe or follow on faith. He presents datums about life and tools you can use to help your life and if you find they’re true, you can use them. If not, you simply disregard. This is the basic and fundamental premise of all of Scientology.

Why this blog?

I’ve been a Scientologist since 1998 and I wanted to start a blog to answer questions on what Scientology is since there are so many misconceptions and utter lies out there on the subject. I’ve done many courses over the years and can give the viewpoint of someone who has been very active in the Church over the years. I’ve never been a staff member of the Church, but I have many friends who are.

I think there’s a lot of people out there who know that all the crazy ramblings of the Internet and the media are probably not true, and they want to get real data about what it is. Well, the best thing to do is to actually read a book by L Ron Hubbard. I’m amazed constantly by how many people know allllll about Scientology, yet they’ve never read a book or done a course. Hopefully my blog will answer some people’s questions and you can find out for yourself what it really is.