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 time
 
 Bull-baiting  – Participants try to maintain focus in a situation despite concerted efforts by their partner to disrupt concentration
Auditing
 
The auditor engages in a command/question-response exchange with the practitioner designed to locate engrams

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

 

ORGANIZATION

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)