Church of Scientology

There are Wikipedia articles on Scientology and Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology, or CoS, is a scientology church founded by the American science fiction writter, L Ron Hubbard. The scripture for scientologists are the writtings of L Ron Hubbard. The first scientology book written by L Ron Hubbard was Dianetics. Hubbard wrote other scientology books also. He wrote around 25 million words.

The other branch of Scientology is Free Zone Scientology.

This page is a learning resource for the Wikiversity Center for the Study of Scientology.

Basic Beliefs of Scientologists

 * Scientology is the study of the truth, and learning how to handle the spirit in relationship to itself and other.
 * Man consists of body, mind, and thetan. The thetan is the equivalent to the soul in other religions.
 * Everything is trying to survive
 * Do not take any drugs
 * That affinity, reality and communication assist in our relations with others
 * The higher up on the tone scale the more free you are
 * Auditing helps people examine specific areas of their existence so they can rid themselves of unwanted spiritual conditions. This in turn helps them reach higher levels of being

Aims of Scientology
L Ron Hubbard wrote about the aims of scientology saying:
 * "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, are the aims of Scientology."
 * Critics of the group disagree with this. Many say that the groups aim is to make money. They say that the Church does not care about others. It only cares about itself.

Dianetics
The book Dianetics was the first self help book ever to be written. It was written by L Ron Hubbard in the year 1950. Some key concepts in the book are:
 * There is a part of the mind that stores all your traumatic memories which contain some measure of unconsciousness. This part causes you to do illogical/contra-survival things, get ill, and causes everything else that is contra-survival.
 * Traumatic memories are called engrams.
 * The other part of your mind takes in all the good memories. When this part of the mind is controlling you do prosurvival things.
 * Auditing is meant to help you to get rid of all your engrams and reach a state called "clear".

Auditing
The central practice of Scientology is "auditing" (from the Latin word audire, "to listen"), which is a one-on-one communication with a trained Scientology counselor or "auditor". The auditor follows an exact procedure toward rehabilitating the human spirit. Most auditing uses an E-meter, a device that measures very small changes in electrical resistance through the human body when a person is holding onto tin cans and a small current is passed through them.

The auditing process is intended to help the practitioner (referred to as a preclear or PC) to unburden himself or herself of specific traumatic incidents, prior ethical transgressions and bad decisions, which are said to collectively restrict the preclear from achieving his or her goals and lead to the development of a "reactive mind". In one form of auditing the auditor asks the preclear to respond to a list of questions which are designed for specific purposes and given to the preclear in a strictly regulated way. Auditing requires that the preclear be a willing and interested participant who understands the questions, and the process goes more smoothly when he or she understands what is going on, in fact rule #19 of the Auditors' Code forbids an auditor to let a preclear run a wrongly understood command. Per Church policy, auditors are trained not to "evaluate for" their preclears; i.e., they are forbidden from suggesting, interpreting, degrading or invalidating the preclear's answers. The E-meter is used to help locate an area of concern.

Scientologists have claimed benefits from auditing including improved IQ, improved ability to communicate, enhanced memory, alleviated dyslexia and attention deficit problems, and improved relaxation.

During the auditing process, the auditor may collect personal information from the person being audited in a manner similar to a psychotherapy session or confessional. The Auditors' Code states that an auditor promises never to use the secrets of a preclear divulged in session for punishment or personal gain. The Church maintains that its auditing records are kept confidential, although at least one organizational directive (GO 121669) specifically authorized the use of these auditing records for purposes of "internal security". Auditing records are referred to within Scientology as "PC (preclear) folders" and are said to be stored securely when not being added to during auditing sessions.

ARC triangle
Another basic tenet of Scientology is the three related (and intrinsically spiritual) components that make up successful "livingness": affinity (emotional responses), reality (an agreement on what is real) and communication (the exchange of ideas). Hubbard called this the "ARC Triangle". Scientologists utilize A.R.C. as a central organizing principle in their own lives, primarily based upon the belief that improving one aspect of the triangle increases the level of the other two.

Tone scale
The tone scale is a characterization of human mood and behavior by various positions on a scale. The scale ranges from -40 ("Total Failure") to +40 ("Serenity of Being"). Positions on the tone scale are usually designated by an emotion, but Hubbard also described many other things that can be indicated by the tone scale levels, such as aspects of a human's health, mating behavior, survival potential, or ability to deal with truth. The tone scale is frequently used by Scientologists to evaluate humans. According to Scientology, the lower the individual is on the tone scale, the more complex and convoluted one's problems tend to be, and the more care and judgment should be exercised regarding communication and interaction with that individual.

Past lives
In Dianetics, Hubbard proposed that the cause of "aberrations" in a human mind was an accumulation of pain and unconscious memories of traumatic incidents, some of which predated the life of the human. He extended this view further in Scientology, declaring that thetans have existed for tens of trillions of years (several orders of magnitude greater than what mainstream science generally estimates the age of the universe to be). During that time, Hubbard explains, they have been exposed to a vast number of traumatic incidents, and have made a great many decisions that influence their present state. According to an early lecture of Hubbard's, it is, as a practical matter, both impossible and undesirable to recall each and every such event from such vast stretches of time. As a result, Hubbard's three decade development of Scientology focused on streamlining the process to address only key factors. Hubbard stated that Scientology materials as described in books, tapes, and research notes include a record of everything that was found in the course of his research. Not all things found are stated to have been experienced by all animals on Earth.

According to Hubbard, some of the past traumas may have been deliberately inflicted in the form of "implants" used by extraterrestrial dictatorships such as Helatrobus to brainwash and control humans. Scientology doctrine includes a wide variety of beliefs in complex extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described by Hubbard as "space opera". There is a huge Church of Spiritual Technology symbol carved into the ground at Scientology's Trementina Base that is visible from passing aircraft or from satellite photography. Washington Post reporter Richard Leiby wrote, "Former Scientologists familiar with Hubbard’s teachings on reincarnation say the symbol marks a 'return point' so loyal staff members know where they can find the founder’s works when they travel here in the future from other places in the universe."

Helpful Links
Official
 * Official Website

Neutral

 * Wikipedia Article

Critical

 * Operation Clambake
 * Xenu TV