Scientology (doctrine)

Scientology, from “scio” (knowledge), and the Greek λόγος “logos” (word), “the study of knowledge”, is a system of belief that purports to provide knowledge of life and clarity of mind through training in, and counseling using, the principles of the subject. These are said to enable individuals to know how to find the answers to whatever questions or problems they may face.

The doctrines of Scientology are derived from a very large corpus, in excess of forty millions words, and practical applications derived therefrom. These are intended to guide individuals in a heuristic journey of increasing insights into the truth concerning the actual condition of mankind and its true potential, and to provide the skills to gradually bring about the latter. Consequently, proponents regard Scientology as a way for individuals to increase understandings, abilities, and freedoms, thus bringing about predictable, subjective improvements in their life, and increasing their value to society.

Scientology refers to the

• subject as developed by the individual whose research and writings constitute the body of written and spoken works, Mr. L. Ron Hubbard;
• Church of Scientology, the organization that was established to promulgate the religion, and to deliver the training and counseling that comprise Scientology in action.

1 Overview of the different components of Scientology

• Philosophy
• Religion
• Science
• Church

2 Overview of the tenets

• Theta-MEST theory
  • The Three Parts of Man
    • Spirit
    • Mind: Analytical, Reactive, and Somatic
    • Body and the Genetic Entity
  • Other...

3 Dianetics—the breakthrough that led to Scientology

• Description of the Path to Discovery
• Description of the Basic Principles, including
  • Past Lives
  • Silence during Injury, Birth, etc.

4 Research leading to Scientology the Philosophy and Religion

• Fundamental Tenets
  • Supreme Being
• Religious Practices
• Religious Ceremonies

5 Epistemology, Logic, and Scientific Method

• Axioms
• Factors

6 Some of the Basic Components of the Doctrine and its attendant Technology

• ARC
• Emotional Tone Scale and Predicting Human Behaviour
• KRC Triangle
• The Dynamics
• Auditing
  • Use of Electronic Technology, including the E-Meter
• The Bridge
• Ethics
• Training
  • Emphasis on Maintaining Standard Procedures
• Materials of the Church

7 Application of Scientology Knowledge and technology to Social Issues and Living (describing in each subject the technology, the organization promulgating it, metrics and results of application, endorsements, and any opposition).

• Education
• Drug Prevention and Rehabilitation
• Criminal Rehabilitation
• Morality
• Human Rights
• Disaster Response and Succor to Those in Need
• Mental Stress and Irrational Thought or Action
• Economics and Business
• Psychiatric and Pharmaceutical Influence in Society

8 L. Ron Hubbard

• Overview of his life as an individual
• Hubbard’s Influence in Developing Scientology as a subject
• Hubbard’s Influence in Developing Scientology as a Church.
• Author Services Inc.

9 The Church and It’s Parishioners

• History of the Church
• Structure
  • International Association of Scientologists
  • Management
  • Churches, missions, groups
  • Social Program organizations

10 Controversy

• Psychiatric Community and Dianetics
  • Basic Issues with Dianetics and then Scientology
  • History and scope of the Conflict
• Apostates
  • Basic Reasons for, according to the Scientology Technology
  • Basic Issues for the Apostates

11 References

12 External Links

"'Scientology as science, philosophy, and religion"' The difficulty with describing Scientology is that, in investigating and pronouncing upon life itself, Scientology crosses into many areas of human knowledge: answering the question, “What is Scientology?” is analogous to summarizing the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

This difficulty is compounded by the new territories charted by Scientology which, while launching from the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years of thinking men, found one discovery predicting and leading to another, with the result that anyone attempting to define the mental and spiritual dimensions of life in terms of the language and perceptions of those immersed in the material world, is hard put to bring about recognition in the reader. This problem is solved partially and in broad terms by defining Scientology as “an applied religious philosophy,” but as it is the first such, amplification is required.

Scientology is a philosophy that examines, and claims to advance the understanding of, the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.

Scientology was declared a religion and the Church founded in 1953 at the suggestion of some Californians involved in early Scientology, who recognized that the research path had led them into recognition of the spiritual dimension of man, thereby moving the subject beyond the purview of studies of the mind and into those of religion.

Scientology is an applied religious philosophy because it is not something to be merely discussed and thought about. Thousands of techniques requiring precise application have been spawned and are applied daily by Scientologists around the globe to improve conditions—whether of a personal nature, organizational, societal, or any of a wide range of human endeavors, such as the arts and sports.

Central to the new perspectives Scientology brings to the fields of religion and philosophy, is the rigorous research undertaken that resulted in a body of knowledge which, when applied precisely, is reported to achieve precise and invariable results. This body of knowledge, like any other science, is based upon an epistemology and axioms. The same discipline and expectations of the various sciences existing today, had not been applied, until the advent of Scientology (and Dianetics, its precursor in the field of the mind) to the fields of the mind and the spirit.

To understand better how Dianetics segued into Scientology, it is instructive to know that Hubbard’s twelve years of research into the mind were recorded and published in Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health on May 9, 1950, at the end of which book, Mr. Hubbard stated that he needed to conduct “further research into life force”x as an apparent but undefined element influencing the mind ^x (DMSMH, p 481, 2007 edition). Within a year, he had “identified an animating force within every living thing. This he called Theta and distinguished it as energy existing separate and distinct from the physical universe.” He subsequently developed a highly sensitive galvanometer in Wichita in late 1951 and after additional tests in Phoenix, Arizona in 1952, became the first to isolate and identify scientifically the human spirit.x x(Dianetics in the 21st Century, DMSMH, p 503-5, 2007 edition).

While many prefer to err with Galen in denying that Scientology has scientific basis, it does fit the definition of a science: “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment”...with the singular exception that the language of the definition reflects Western man’s focus on the material and lack of scientific research or precedent in the humanities.

If science is defined as a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject, based on axioms and laws, which predicts and confirms phenomena and which, when it’s techniques are applied, achieves invariable results, then Dianetics and Scientology most certainly are sciences of the mind and spirit, even if no such sciences have ever before existed.

“There is something new... called Dianetics. A new science which [sic] works with the invariability of physical science in the field of the human mind. From all indications it will prove to be as revolutionary for humanity as the first caveman’s discovery and utilization of fire.”x x Walter Winchell, (arguably the most influential journalist of his day), New York Daily Mirror, 31 January 1950. As a non-denominational Church, Scientology has no dogmas but provides information and insights that allow each individual under his or her own determinism, to increase his understanding of man’s spiritual nature, whatever religion he may belong to, and ultimately, whatever god(s) he may believe in.

As might be expected of a Church, Scientology runs social programs around the world that address the various issues of suffering or difficulty mankind faces, such as immorality, drug abuse, psychiatric abuses, education failures, criminality, human rights abuses, religious intolerance, and disaster relief. The technology applied in these programs, as well as those designed for businesses and organizations, is based on Hubbard’s work and is designed to achieve the aims of Scientology as expressed by Hubbard:

“A
 civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights.” He went on to say, “Nonpolitical in nature, Scientology welcomes any individual of any creed, race, or nation. We seek no revolution. We seek only evolution to higher states of being for the individual and for society.” x x (The Aims of Scientology, September 1965, Technical Volume #7, p 663 or http://www.scientology.org/en_US/religion/presentation/pg014.html

1. Dianetics—the breakthrough that led to Scientology

Dianetics, from Greek dia (through) and nous (soul), means “what the soul is doing to the body.” Hubbard’s mainline research into the mind began in 1932 while at George Washington University, where he was studying mathematics and engineering. Positing that subatomic particles might shed light on the human thought process, he had enrolled in one of the first nuclear physics courses taught in the United States. One day, he visited the psychology department to consult on his research: “I made the horrifying discovery that nobody had the mind taped. It was very obvious that I was dealing with and living in a culture that knew less about the mind than the lowest primitive tribe I had ever come in contact with. Knowing also that people in the East were not able to reach as deeply and predictably into the riddles of the mind as I had been led to expect, I knew I would have to do a lot of research.” x x L. Ron Hubbard,

By 1938, his research was focused on determining how cells functioned. Following an elaborate series of experiments, he discovered the common denominator and fundamental, primary goal for all life forms to be infinite survival (for mankind, this does not mean merely having an existence, but includes ideals, love, and art among other vital aspects). The better an individual is able to manage his life and increase his level of survival, the greater his pleasure, abundance, and satisfaction.

Research was interrupted during World War II but intensified after 1945, when Hubbard used his enforced convalescence from his war-time injuries to study endocrinology at Oak Knoll Naval hospital. Hundreds of fellow patients, liberated from Japanese camps, were not responding uniformly to testosterone being administered by Navy physicians (under great stress, men may lose their virility and have difficulty eating or breaking down food if deficient in this hormone).

“All I was trying to establish was whether or not the mind regulated the body or the body regulated the mind. Therefore, if on some of these patients hormones did not work and on some of them they did, there might be a mental reason. If those patients on whom it did not work had a severe mental block, then it was obvious that regardless of the amount of hormone or medical treatment the person received, he would not get well. If the mind were capable of putting this much restraint upon the physical body then obviously the fact that was commonly held to be true, that structure monitors function, would be false. I set out to prove this.1-24 L. Ron Hubbard, xxx

He sat down on the benches around the grounds and, in case after case, established that by using the techniques he had developed to find and remove mental blocks, the previously unresponsive patients were able, as predicted, to make the expected improvements immediately with their medical treatments. “Thought is boss,” was Mr. Hubbard’s conclusion, a finding at variance with conventional wisdom.

In the years between his discharge from Oak Knoll and the release of Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health in May 1950, Hubbard worked two hundred and seventy three cases of all types, including many in mental institutions in Savannah, Georgia and Washington, DC.

The fundamental discoveries of Dianetics included:

• Isolating that which undermines the basic mandate to survive, causing pain, negative emotions, irrational thoughts and self-doubts, the disappointment of unhappy relationships and the underlying reason for the failure to meet goals set: a part of the mind, operating below the level of consciousness and therefore as a hidden influence, which brings about all psychosomatic illnesses, unwanted sensations, inexplicable and inappropriate emotions (anger, hatred, fear, resentment, apathy, etc.), and irrational ideas and conduct that have all conspired to make life less than pleasurable. Hubbard called this part of the mind the reactive mind because it causes people to react instead of address their environment analytically and with an open heart.

• Techniques that could be applied by layman, who simply had read Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health, were developed to remove these negative elements from their minds and therefore their lives within a reasonably short time frame, thereby increasing their intelligence, health, and general well-being.

Specifically:

• The mind records what an individual perceives continuously as three-dimensional mental images that contain all these perceptics, including color, sound and smell, as well as the individual’s conclusions and speculations. Without Dianetics therapy, these pictures cannot always be seen, heard, or otherwise sensed well.

• The analytical part of the mind observes, stores and remembers information, and uses it to compute and make rational decisions that promote survival.

• In moments of intense physical pain and unconsciousness or moments of severe loss or threat of loss (emotional pain), the analytical mind overloads and the reactive mind takes over in the same way that a fuse takes delicate equipment such as a computer off line. This rugged reactive mind records everything that occurs on a cellular level in its own banks, unavailable to the individual's conscious recall and not under his control. The reactive mind has the power to react obsessively upon the individual at a later time when conditions approximate those existing at the original time of injury or upset, forcing irrational “solutions” on the individual by bringing about the same pain as suffered at the time (should the individual resist this mind’s warnings about the “dangers” it adjudicates the organism is once again facing).
• The reactive mind thinks only in identities: every perceptic recorded has the same value and meaning as every other. For example, the voice of his mother = the voice of his father = the pain in his head = the smell of camphor = whatever else is recorded at that time—what Scientologists refer to as “A=A=A” or irrationality (aberration, meaning an inability to think clearly, to make mistakes or operate on fixed ideas that are untrue). Rational thought, conversely, is based upon the ability to differentiate widely and narrowly.

In simple survival terms, the smell of damp woods and the sound of bone being crunched would prompt a cave man to rapidly depart a location on “instinct,” milliseconds before a carnivore took a swipe at him—his “instinct” being based on the last time he had heard and smelled such when his mate’s head was being severely compromised by a saber-tooth tiger.

• This one-time survival mechanism had value in man’s early tooth-and-claw existence, but became a distinct liability with the advent of speech. When, during an attempted abortion, mother says “I can’t see anything” as she pokes a hole in the embryo’s heart with an orangewood stick (normally used to manicure her nails), then the hapless embryo records this faithfully and later on, the adult finds himself with sharp pains in his heart and wearing spectacles. He will, of course, see lots of opticians and heart specialists over the years, none of who can do anything about his conditions, being psychosomatic in origin. These commands, stored in the reactive mind, impinge upon not only the individual’s thought processes and emotions, but also the systems and organs of the body.
• With Dianetics counseling, all the moments of unconsciousness and physical and emotional pain can be located in the reactive mind and examined until they lose their power and are simply re-filed in the analytical banks as memory, under the control of the individual.
• A person who no longer has this reactive mind is called a Clear (in the way that one “clears” earlier computations from a calculator so as to be able to reach correct conclusions). This state is completely new in the human experience and includes
  • Freedom from active or potential psychosomatic illness or aberration;
  • Self-determinism rather than being determined by a hidden part of the mind;
  • Vigor and persistent in life, unrepressed;
  • Able to perceive, recall, imagine, create and compute at a level high—a raised IQ and swift reasoning ability;
  • Mental stability;
  • Free with emotions and able to enjoy life; 

  • Few accidents and fast reaction times, good health generally.

In essence, the Clear is better able to enjoy life; being more logical and dynamic, he is better able to face up to situations and to succeed at whatever he decides to do. He also thinks better of others and works to make their lives better.

Dianetics has various ramifications in society, one of which is the injunction to maintain silence around an injured/unconscious person, including during operations and childbirth (for reasons given above).

Another area of public interest is the question of past lives. Hubbard ran into these with his patients in late 1950 and found that where a patient was encouraged to ignore such incidents when he encountered them, his case would not improve. When the patient was allowed to view these incidents, they would discharge and re-file in the analytical banks, resulting in improvement for the individual. The board of the first Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation in Camden, New Jersey, tried to ban any mention of past lives for fear they would result in public ridicule, but Mr. Hubbard persisted. Addressing past lives is commonplace in Dianetics and Scientology counseling.

With over 20 million copies printed in over 50 languages and being read in 150 countries, the original book, Dianetics the Modern Science of Mental Health has remained popular (it has been on over 200 best seller lists, including over 100 weeks on the New York Times best seller list—both in 1950 and its 50th anniversary in 2000?) for the simple reason that it represents a breakthough on the mind which is sorely needed by a world well advanced in the physical sciences and sorely lacking a science of the mind to manage the powerful technological advances of the past century. An early success: “A few months ago, Mrs. Martha Dildian of Suffield, Conn., contacted John B. Skupen, Boston auditor [link], and agreed to a limited amount of processing … All her life … she’d had a semi-paralyzed left arm, shorter and bent and a ‘humpback’ shoulder two inches higher than the left. After 14 hours processing, her shoulder dropped, her left arm straightened out and lengthened, and she suddenly found herself able to do things with her left arm which previously had been impossible …”x x Journal of Scientology, Issue 1-G, date?

The question might be asked, why has it taken man so long to discover this hidden part of the mind? Freud was the first to talk of the unconscious mind, but made no progress in identifying it, nor how and why it worked, nor developing a technology to erase it. The reasons the reactive mind was so hard to identify were listed by Hubbard:x any time one approached a past painful incident, one would go unconscious as the unconsciousness in it would stir up; a person tends to shy away from pain or unpleasant emotions; the utter irrationality of the ideas expressed in the incidents; the difficulty in connecting the dots between the original incident and the first time it is reactivated, which could be decades later; and the fact that when an incident is restimulated thereafter, it generally takes about four days for the dictated pains and illnesses to manifest. x(DMSMH, Mechanisms and Aspects of Therapy, p 454, 2007 edition)