Scientology

Scientology would be the study of science, or the study of knowledge, said L. Ron Hubbard in a lecture on March 3, 1952. He was lecturing Dianetics students in Wichita, Kansas and began his first lecture of the series with the idea that a study of knowledge would be helpful to a person. He expanded his statement to make it clear that he intended scientology to mean a "study of knowledge" and illustrated how it would be helpful.

Don’t be like the signalman who goes up on the bridge of a battlewagon ... and there is a flashing light going dit-da, dit-da. And somebody says to this signalman, "All right, what’s he saying?" ... "Well, just a moment, I have to give it some more study." Oh no, he doesn’t. If he’s a signalman, dit-da means "A" to him. And a whole string of dots, sort of read en masse together, mean a word to him. He has conquered the barrier of meaning in light flashes.

This is the area that scientology addresses: the area between knowledge and the skill that comes about with experience. With Hubbard’s methods, a person sits down and studies the information a signalman needs, and then goes and does what a signalman can do. In the lecture he laid out what he envisioned scientology would encompass and included that it could not help but address what can be known of religion. He continued to develop scientology until his death in 1986. NOTE

Why study knowledge?

In broad, general terms, Hubbard created methods for a person to understand and use what they know. With his methods, a bridge engineer that was fresh out of college could engineer a modern bridge. The engineer would be able to use his knowledge. In other words, scientology is about how a person learns and skillfully applies what they know. This is the essence of scientology, that which separates it as a study of knowledge from other ideas. Traditionally, knowledge has been something you recall. With Hubbard’s methods, knowledge is something you use, i.e. the signalman sees a pattern of flashing lights and can tell you what it said. Compare this to traditional "book learning"; his study of knowledge centers on the step between "book learning" and "the condition of being skilled with book learning."

Old time education, he said in 1956, could be defined in this wise: placing data in the recalls of others. He went on to say that old-time education does not address how useable the data in a person’s recall is. It does not address how well a person can do things with their information. It does not address what a person could have with the data placed in their recall. It causes a person to rely on their experience to make use of their data. Remembered experience, he said, is quite different than perception and estimation of the situation. i.e. the signalman can remember his data, but he can’t use it as he sees light flashes and thus cannot translate those flashes into words. The step between "data in recall" and "useable knowledge" is where Scientology focuses. Said briefly, there is a difference between knowledge and the application of that knowledge. Scientology applies itself to this area, hence why it is a "study of knowledge"

Hubbard’s applications of his methods

Possibly he is best known for applying his methods to memory, that is, to ways of helping people deal with their recalls. This was the common thread that led him from science fiction writer to Dianetics to Scientology and to founding the Church of Scientology. The Church uses scientology toward its goal of rehabilitating of the human spirit, and a good deal of it is based on recalls. The Scientology religion comprises a body of knowledge, says the Church of Scientology. Scientology is an applied religious philosophy developed by L. Ron Hubbard says the "what is scientology" website.

Hubbard developed a body of knowledge. He then entrusted its copyrights to the Church of Scientology. He was both the founder of the Church and the developer of the study of knowledge called scientology. The whole of his writings and lectures are in the area of 40 million words, but not every word deals with the difference between "knowledge in recall" and "the skill developed with the use of knowledge." A good deal of his writings and lectures address how an organization should work and apply to the Church. He also wrote about how scientology applies to education, to morality, to the use of morality information in rehabilitating criminals, to scientology’s use in freeing a person from drug residues, to business, work, and other areas.

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."