CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY |
HISTORY
L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was born in 1911
As a youth he was a world traveller and developed skills as a navigator, sailor, pilot, surveyor, and explorer. He also began a career as a science fiction writer during his youth
Hubbard served as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II and saw combat in the Pacific. His initial discoveries came toward the end of the war when he healed himself after being seriously injured and hospitalized
1950 Hubbard publishes Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health a popular self-help therapy book
Practitioners began reporting experiences from what appeared to be their previous lives emerging during the therapy. Hubbard then postulated an immortal essence (the thetan) for each individual that existed across lifetimes.
1954 Hubbard founded the first Church of Scientology in Los Angeles
1955 Hubbard moved to Washington, D.C. and established the Founding Church of Scientology
1959 Hubbard moved to England where he remained until the mid-1960s.
1966 Hubbard resigned his organizational positions in 1966 to devote himself to further research and writing
1966 Hubbard founded The Sea Organization (Sea Org), ocean-going ships that cruised international waters. In 1975 Sea Org moved to a land base in Clearwater, Florida.
1986 Hubbard died
Hubbard’s teachings total 65 million words. He also produced 100 films and 500 novels and short stories
Hubbard is understood as an extraordinary man who had discovered principles through which all of humankind could achieve its true, infinite potential
David Miscavige, a member of Sea Org succeeded Hubbard as head of the
church organization
MYTH
Scientology teaches that each individual is a “thetan” or spirit, which is an immortal, godlike expression of the life force (theta)
Thetans existed before and are the original source of the material universe. They were celestial entities who created and controlled their own universes
The material world is the creation of thetans, it only possesses the reality thetans attribute to it. This means that the material universe actually is an illusion that becomes reality only through the action of thetans. The material world (MEST) is composed of four elements – matter, energy, space, and time.
Once thetans had created the MEST universe, they began experimenting with taking on a corporeal human form. In the process, thetans gradually lost knowledge of their higher origins and became trapped in the bodies of humans and in the material universe
Thetans have come to accept the illusion that they are human. They have lost knowledge of their true identity
Restoring one’s true identity requires eliminating the cumulative, deleterious effects of the MEST world on the thetan and re-establishing its awareness of itself as a spiritual entity
It is the structure of the human mind that accounts for humans becoming trapped in the MEST world
The mind contains three components – analytic, reactive, and somatic
The analytic mind is a conscious, completely rational mechanism that processes information infallibly. It is also very delicate and its functioning can be disrupted by traumatic events and experiences.
The reactive mind operates on a stimulus-response basis and protects the analytic mind from traumatic experiences. In times of great stress, injury, or threat, the analytic mind shuts down and the reactive mind takes over, recording every detail of sensory experience that occurs while the analytic mind is inoperative.
The memory records of traumatic events stored in the reactive mind are called “engrams”
Engrams from the current or past lifetimes are reactivated whenever there is a reoccurrence of any part of the traumatic experience that originally produced the engram. Behavior then becomes emotional and irrational because responses are mediated by the engrams
Because the MEST world is illusory and exists only by the agreement of thetans, accurate communication of ideas is essential to establishing a common reality
Engrams prevent individuals from engaging in appropriate communication within the person and between persons. They inhibit adaptive behavior and lead to behavior that is personally and socially destructive
Eliminating engrams restores individuals to their natural state in which they can think and act rationally and be “at cause” in dealing with events and relationships in their everyday lives.
Elimination of all reactive minds would elevate the condition of all humanity and eliminate chronic human problems
The two most important levels of freedom from MEST are Clear and Operating
Thetan. Clears have eliminated all engrams from the Reactive Mind. Operating
Thetans are spiritually perfect beings who transcend all MEST limitations
and are completely self-determined
RITUAL
The two rituals that are most central to spiritual progress in Scientology are “training” and “auditing”
Training Routines
Confronting – “just being there” by simply maintaining nonverbal presence and attentiveness with a partner for an extended period of timeAuditing
Bull-baiting – Participants try to maintain focus in a situation despite concerted efforts by their partner to disrupt concentration
Engrams are located through use of an E-Meter (Electropsychometer). This instrument is a skin galvanometer that sends a small electrical charge through the body and then registers the electrical flow on its meter. Engrams are thought to possess an actual mass and so offer resistance to the electrical charge.
When a stored emotional charge (engram) is identified and is discussed sufficiently (audited), it will no longer produce an emotional response (the charge it contains will be released), and the e-meter needle will register no reaction (it has been cleared)
Once the engram is cleared, the past event whose engram was released is refiled in the standard memory bank of the analytical mind
The moment of transformation occurs when all engrams have been cleared and the E-Meter needle “floats,” indicating no further sources of resistance
Practice and Training Organizations
At the local level there are hundreds of missions and churches around the world where introductory level training is offered. These are organized as franchises.
Above the church/mission level organizations offer advanced training
Saint Hill Organizations operate as religious colleges and seminaries
to train auditors and ministers
Advanced Organizations ( such as the Flag Ship Service and the Flag Service
Organization) offer training in higher levels of Scientology
Sea Organization provides staff for all Scientology organizations
above the mission/church. It is the elite organizational unit within Scientology.
Approximately 5,000 Sea Org members live communally, work long days, receive
only modest compensation, and pledge themselves to eternal commitment to the
church
Technology Application Organizations
Narconon International offers drug education and rehabilitation services
Criminon rehabilitates criminals by teaching the teaching them how to study, to communicate more effectively, to avoid antisocial personalities, and to adopt more appropriate personal values.
Applied Scholastics teaches students how to learn and to study effectively
The Way to Happiness Foundation distributes Scientology's moral code to the public.
The World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) licenses business training organizations (e.g., Stirling Management) offer training in specific skills such as hiring, logical decision making, plan implementation and organizational streamlining.
Social Reform Organizations
Citizens Commission on Human Rights targets governmental (Internal Revenue Service, Central Intelligence Agency, and Department of Justice). Non-governmental groups include and non-governmental agencies (certain professional mental health associations, drug and alcohol treatment programs) engaged in abusive practices (Ritalin, Prozac).
National Commission on Law Enforcement and Social Justice combats
abuses by national and international policing agencies (Interpol)