There have been many disputes over the past four decades or so on the religion of Scientology. Many people regard it as nothing more than a brainwashing cult. However, there are tens of thousands believers of in Scientology that will disagree. This religion is the fastest growing religious movement over the last 40 years. The founder of Scientology was Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, better known as L. Ron Hubbard. L. Ron Hubbard was born in 1911 in Tildon, Nebraska. He was an accomplished science fiction writer having his ideas expressed in more than 5,000 writings. In 1923, Hubbard began his studies of the mind and spirit, resulting in a manuscript entitled “Excalibur” in 1938. It was in this work that the word “scientology” was first introduced. The word Scientology comes from the Latin, scio, which means “know” or “distinguish,” and from the Greek Word, logos, which means “reason itself” or “inward thought”.
The word Scientology means the study of wisdom or knowledge, Scientology is defined as the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes, and other life. This work was never published because Hubbard said. “I decided to go further.”The “going further” resulted in Dianetics. In his first book, Excalibur, Mr. Hubbard discussed life and what life entailed. There was no discussion of therapy to deal With life. In the book Dianetics, Hubbard not only discussed life, but he also discussed ways that would work as therapy for all people to help them deal with the problems that all people deal with daily. The Word Dianetics comes from the Greek words dia, meaning through and nous, meaning soul. and is defined as “what the soul is doing to the body.”
Thus. in 1947 Hubbard Wrote a manuscript about Dianetics. This work, too, was not published but it was circulated around by friends who they then copied it for other friends. The manuscript was ultimately published in 1951 as Dianetics: The Origional Thesis and was then republished as The Dynamics of Life. As more and more people received the manuscript. Hubbard began receiving hundreds of letters asking for more information and more applications of his new subject. In May of 1950 Hubbard decided to write another book about Dianetics. It was called Dianetics: The Modern Scrence of Mental Health. It became a national bestseller soon after released has sold 11,000,000 copies, By summer of 1950, people started forming groups across the country for the purpose of applying Dianetics to their modern day lives. This book continues to be on bestseller lists across the world.
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In 1954 the first Church of Scientology was formed in Los Angeles by a group of scientologists, and within a few years churches were forming across the country and around the World. Today there are more than 3,200 churches. missions. and groups in 154 countries (Cooper, 1). Scientology is based on fundamental beliefs. One of the prime truths is that man is a spiritual being endowed with abilities well beyond those which he normally envisions. Man is able to solve his own problems. He has the ability to accomplish his goals to achieve happiness. Not only that, man is also capable of achievmg new states of awareness. SCIentologists also believe such ideas as the followmg: all indiwduals have inalienable rights to their own lives; all individuals have inalienable rights to their own sanity; all individuals of whatever race, color, or creed were created.
With equal rights; survival depends upon the individual, their fellows, and their attainment of brotherhood with the universe. Scientology’s basic premise is that of personal freedom, Believing that every man has to deal With such problems in relationships, feelings of insecurities, self-doubt, and sometimes even despair, Scientology offers real tools to use in everyday IIVing. Unlike other religions that offer rules to follow or a system of beliefs based on faith. Scientology offers an application of principles that will move a person toward the improvement of one‘s life an the world in which we live. One of the beliefs of Selentology is that man has eight urges or drives in life. These urges are called dynamics. These eight dynamics are: Self – the first dynamic deals with the urge toward existence as one’s self. This is where a person‘s individuality is developed and expressed. ” Creativity, the second dynamic Which is making things for the future.
This dynamic would Include the sexual act as Well as the family unit. Group Survwal , the third dynamic deals with the urge to survive through or as a group of indIVIduals. This would include such pans as schools, towns, and nations. ” Mankind – the fourth dynamic is the urge toward the existence of mankind. Lifeforms – the fifth dynamic is the urge toward the existence of the animal kingdom. This includes all living things no matter whether they are vegetable or animal. Physical Universe » the sixth dynamic is the urge to survive in the physical universe With all its components . matter, energy, space. and time. ” Spiritual , the seventh dynamic is the urge toward the existence of anything spiritual.
Infinity – the eight dynamic is urge toward existence as infinity. This is also identified as the Supreme Being. Scientology like all religions has many different beliefs. There are many different facets of the religion of Scientology that you Will not find in other religions. Scientology does not Worship 3 God, per se, but they do believe in a Supreme Being, although they do not Worship the Being as other religions do. As I said before, they have many different beliefs but also provide the tools to achieve their goals and beliefs that other religions do not. A couple major tools that the Scientologists use to achieve their goals are preclear and auditing.
A preclear is someone who is receiving Scientology or Dianetics auditing on his Way to become “clear”. A preclear is a person that is beginning Scientology and is learning about himself through discussions With an auditor. Through auditing he/she is finding out more about themselves and life. An auditor is a Dianetics or SCIentology practitioner trained in the technology of auditing. The goal of auditing is to restore beingness and ability. This is accomplished by helping the preclear rid himself of any spiritual disabilities and increasing individual abilities, An auditor listens and then applies processes which are exact sets of questions asked or directions given to help a person locate areas of spiritual distress. The purpose is the teach the preclear how to confront and deal With parts of his existence, These abilities are stated on the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chan. An auditor‘s iob is to ask the preclear to look, and get him to do so.
The Word auditor means. “one Who listens”. It comes from the Latin word audire. Auditors use something called an Erlvleter. An ErMeter is a shortened term for an electropsychometer. E~Meter is a religious artifact used as a spiritual guide in auditing. It is for use by a Scientology minister or a Scientology minister-in-training to help the preclear locate and confront areas of spiritual upset. Alone the E-Meter does nothing. It is an electronic instrument that measures mental state and change of state in individuals and assists the precision and speed of auditing. The E-Meter is not intended or effective for the diagnosis. treatment or prevention of any disease. Another veiy important pan of Scientology is training, Training is the way to learn the spiritual technology of Scientology.
It basically means what the word is. training, Training is the Word used to describe the study of Scientology principles by a parishioner so they can be applied to accomplish the purpose of improving conditions in life, both their own and the lives of others. But after all this can Scientology really be considered a religion opposed to a cult? Scientology does meet all three criteria generally used to determine or classify a religion. These three criteria are: a belief in a Supreme Being, religious practices directed toward understanding, and a community of believers Who join together in pursuing this Supreme Being (Tobin). Scientology’s beliefs in an Ultimate Reality that transcends the material world include its concepts of the thetan, the spiritual world and the Supreme Being.
The second qualification can be found in Scientology’s life-rite ceremonies such as naming, marriage and funeral services, but predominantly in the religious sen/ices of auditing and training, through which Scientologists increase their spiritual awareness of themselves and attain an understanding of the spiritual world and their relationship with the Supreme Being. As to the third qualification. avery Vital community of believers can be found at any Church of Scientology at almost any time of the day. But it also meets all 5 qualifications of a cult.
These are the qualifications: uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain its members; it forms an elitist totalitarian society; its founding leader is self-appointed and dogmatic, not accountable and has charisma; it believes ‘the end justifies the means’ in order to solicit funds and recruit people; and its wealth does not benefit its members or society. These traits most certainly do apply to Scientology Scientology uses many different ways to recruit members such as their antidrug sub-group Narconon, which has used its antirdrug speeches to teach about Scientology and recruit young kids (Behar). They’re defiantly an elitist society because their members don‘t see any of their secret documents until they pay a certain amount of money (Christman). L. Ron Hubbard is their self-appointed leader and was said to be very charismatic when he was alive (Tobin.1).
There have reportedly been murders of members that have disbanded from the Church of Scientology and told there secrets (Behar). Nothing can sum up Screntology than this quote by L. Ron Hubbard, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion (Behar).” This definitely touches on the last criteria for being a cult. Whether this is a cult or religion, no one can deny its popularity. Through this study of Scientology and this paper, I am now more open» minded to more religions. Scientology, like all religions, have there own beliefs and now after doing this paper l’d like to delve into more about this religion, as well aas other religions and cults, I‘d like to study more cults and religions to see exactly how this belief system fits in.
