About the Church of Scientology^®

Symbols, history, beliefs, & practices

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Symbol:

The main Scientology^® symbol is composed of:

Another Scientology symbol is the eight-pointed cross representing the Eight Dynamics of Existence, described below. The cross also symbolizes the transition from materialism to spirituality and the crossing of that barrier.

Overview:

The Scientology religion ₁ deals with the human spirit and its relationship to the universe and its Creator. It teaches that the fundamental laws of life, when applied, help people achieve a happier and more fulfilling existence, just as surely as an apple falls to the ground when dropped.

Scientology contains numerous workable methods :

It also contains techniques to tackle the most serious social problems of our age — illiteracy, drugs, crime and immorality. Scientology is something one does: it is not just a system of beliefs one is asked to hold.

The keynote of the Scientology religion is the human spirit — its salvation and rehabilitation. It teaches that an individual is a spirit — not a body, a brain, or a fortuitous random conglomeration of genes and chemicals. It is this recognition of the nature of an individual that forms the foundation of the Scientology religion. Throughout the ages, man has traditionally viewed himself as a spiritual being. It is only in the last century that the materialistic idea that man is a mere animal similar to a monkey or rat has taken hold. Scientology teaches that this idea is patently false, unworkable, and acts as a barrier to personal understanding of life. One little suspects how much untapped potential one has to create his or her own life.

Scientology directly addresses an individual's spiritual nature with answers to the age-old questions — Who am I? What do I consist of? Where do I come from? Where am I going? This spiritual enlightenment leads to personal understanding of oneself, others and one’s relationship to the Universe.

Current status:

Data provided by the Church indicates that there are now over 7,300 Scientology groups, missions ₂ and churches ₃ in 163 countries around the world. Also, 87,000 Scientology Volunteer Ministers, ₄ help in their communities and in times of disaster. The number of Scientologists is difficult to estimate.

Between 2001 and 2006, over 23 million copies of books and taped lectures by L. Ron Hubbard ₅ have been gotten into public hands, and the rate of expansion of the Church has been 20 times greater than the whole previous 51 years combined. During 2006, new Scientology groups, missions and churches have opened at the rate of three per day. Scientology ₆ is the fastest growing religion in the world, by percentage growth per year.

History:

The Scientology religion was developed by American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. ₅ It came from his lifelong passion to assist man to achieve a higher plane of civilization and existence. Mr. Hubbard was not only a writer, one of the leading lights of the Golden Age of science fiction in the mid-1900s, but a true Renaissance man — who was a recognized explorer with membership in the prestigious Explorer's Club, a captain of corvettes during World War II, and fully versed in 21 different professions.

Born in Tilden, Nebraska on 1911-MAR-13, L. Ron Hubbard  traveled extensively during his youth. He covered some quarter of a million miles by the time he was twenty years of age, including several trips to the Orient; directed two expeditions to the Caribbean including the first mineralogical survey of Puerto Rico.

It was during his travels in Asia where he viewed so much misery and want that he asked himself "Why all this?" and "To what depths can man fall," and "What is man anyway?" He found that there was not much known about the true nature of man. He became fascinated with this line of research which he made his life's work.

In 1938, in the unpublished manuscript "Excalibur," Mr. Hubbard delineated his first major discovery. He found that the common denominator of existence is "Survival," and outlined the theory that "Life is composed of two things: the material universe and an X-factor...that can evidently organize and mobilize the material universe."

His first major work on the subject was published on 1950-MAY-09 and called Dianetics^®: The Modern Science of Mental Health. ₇ Dianetics is a methodology designed to help alleviate such things as unwanted sensations and emotions, irrational fears and psychosomatic illnesses (illnesses caused or aggravated by mental stress). Dianetics is defined as "what the soul is doing to the body." It is a mental therapy and was the precursor to the broader subject of Scientology.

The initial press run of Dianetics was only 6,000 copies. Mr. Hubbard had planned to head an expedition to Greece after it was published. However, with Dianetics sales exploding and the book reaching the New York Times bestseller list and staying there month after month, public demand for more information and personal assistance put an end to those plans and began a new phase in Mr. Hubbard’s life. Today Dianetics has sold over 21 million copies and is the best selling self-help book of all time.

It became obvious to Mr. Hubbard after observing many, many people using Dianetics and seeing the results, that there was something more to man than just his mind and body. In the fall of 1951, he concluded that an individual was neither his body nor his mind, but rather an immortal spiritual being. With this discovery, L. Ron Hubbard moved firmly into the field traditionally belonging to religion — the realm of the human soul.

Scientology has a wide scope. In addition to a score of books, there are today more than 15,000 pages of technical writing and more than 3,000 taped lectures that comprise its scriptures. These works represent a lifetime of research by L. Ron Hubbard to discover a workable means to set people free spiritually.

Mr. Hubbard entrusted Religious Technology Center ₈ with maintaining the purity and orthodoxy of the Scientology religion as well as ensuring that the technologies of Dianetics and Scientology remain in good hands. Religious Technology Center does not manage Scientology churches. This is done by the Church of Scientology International (CSI), the senior ecclesiastical management body of the religion. CSI broadly plans and coordinates Scientology expansion by providing programs to individual organizations and groups and then helping them with the implementation of these programs. Since 1986 David Miscavige ₉ has held the position of Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center.

In October 1993, David Miscavige announced that the Internal Revenue Service of the United States granted full religious recognition and tax exemption to all Scientology churches and missions. Every Scientology church in Canada is also recognized as a religion in the province in which it is located.

In 2005 Mr. Hubbard was recognized as the world's most translated author by the Guinness Book of World Record. In 2006 Guinness confirmed this and also recognized him as the world’s most published author with 1,084 works.

Beliefs:

The word "Scientology" means "the study of knowledge or truth." The Scientology religion holds that man is basically good, not evil. It teaches that it is their experiences that cause people to commit evil deeds. It is not their basic nature to do so. People can mistakenly solve their problems by thinking only of their own personal interests and overlook or ignore how their acts affect others. This creates interpersonal strife and problems. The Scientology religion also holds that individuals advance to the degree they preserve their spiritual integrity and values, and remain honest and decent — indeed, individuals deteriorate to the degree they abandon these qualities.

Some religions try to help humanity by solving people's problems for them. Scientology is different — it believes in increasing the ability and intelligence of the individual so he or she can improve his own life, overcome those factors that hold him down, and solve his or her own problems. What's more, once one has accomplished this he or she naturally starts to reach out to help his family, friends and society.

According to Scientology, the individual is not a body but a spirit. However there have been so many different concepts of the term soul through the ages that a new term was needed. The term chosen by Mr. Hubbard was "thetan" from the Greek letter theta, the traditional symbol for thought and life. The thetan is the person himself, not his body, his name, the physical universe or anything else. It is that which is aware of being aware; the identity that IS the individual.

One phenomenon of the spirit or thetan, researched by Mr. Hubbard, is exteriorization. Exteriorization is the ability of the thetan to leave the body and exist independent of the flesh. Exteriorized, the individual can see without the body's eyes, hear without the body's ears and feel without the body's hands. Man previously had little understanding of this detachment from his mind and body. With the act of exteriorization, attainable in Scientology, the individual gains the certainty that he is himself, an immortal spiritual being, and not a body.

Some basic Scientology concepts that assist a person to better understand life better are:

Religious Practices:

The main Scientology religious practice is spiritual counseling called "auditing." It is a unique form of personal counseling intended to help an individual look at his own existence and improve his ability. Through viewing his own existence, an individual attempts to walk an exact route to higher states of awareness.

Auditing is a precise, thoroughly codified activity with exact procedures. A Scientology counselor is known as an "auditor". Auditing is assisted by use of a specially designed meter (E-Meter or Electro-psychometer) which helps locate areas of spiritual distress or travail by measuring the mental state or change of state of the person being audited.

Auditing uses processes -– exact sets of questions asked or directions given by an auditor to help a person find out things about himself and improve his condition. There are many, many different auditing processes.

An equally important Scientology practice is education in Scientology principles. This is called Scientology training. The religion teaches that auditing lets one see how something happened, while training teaches one why. Knowledge about the laws of life are necessary to maintain the personal freedom gained through auditing. If a person truly understands life, he can handle it.

The whole purpose of auditing and training is to graduate individuals to a higher state of spiritual existence. The goal is to revive the individual as a spiritual being and free him from dependence on the material universe. The different auditing and training actions which bring about spiritual enhancement are delineated in a Scientology chart called "The Bridge to Total Freedom." The metaphor of a bridge has long been used in religious tradition to denote the route across the chasm from where we are now, to a higher plateau of existence.

References used:

1. "Scientology®: A reference work presented by the Church of Scientology International," at: http://www.bonafidescientology.org/
2. "Welcome to the Scientology Missions International Website," at: http://www.smi.org/
3. "Find a Church of Scientology from around the world," at: http://www.churchofscientology.com/
4. "Scientology Volunteer Ministers" at: http://www.volunteerministers.org/
5. "L. Ron Hubbard," at: http://lron.hubbard.org/
6. David Miscavige, "This is Scientology," at http://www.rtc.org/
7. "What is Dianetics?, at: http://www.dianetics.org.au/
8. "Religious Technology Center," at: http://www.rtc.org/
9. "Mr. David Miscavige," at: http://www.rtc.org/
10. "Index of basic sites about Scientology applied religious philosophy, Dianetics spiritual healing technology and L. Ron Hubbard," at: http://www.exactscientology.net/

Scientology, Dianetics and The Bridge are trademarks and service marks owned by Religious Technology Center.
Essay copyright © 1997 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-FEB-02
Author: B.A. Robinson and Al Buttnor