Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard and Paper Scientology

Submitted By dslibra2003
Words: 2105
Pages: 9

REL 2300
Final Paper
Scientology
Scientology is a twenty-first-century religion that addresses the human spiritual life. It is not based on a system of faith and beliefs but on knowledge where everything is evident and demonstrable. The world Scientology comes from Scio (Latin) knowing and Logos (Greek) study of. Scientology means knowing how to know.
1. The Founder
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was born in Tilden, Nebraska, on March 13, 1911. He became known as L. Ron Hubbard, a fiction author and the founder of the Church of Scientology.
“In a letter written in January 1949, Hubbard said that a manuscript he was working on had more potential for promotion and sales than anything he had ever encountered. Hubbard was referring to a new therapy system he was working on” (Atack, 102). In 1950, Hubbard published the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, about his new therapy system, which became a best seller immediately. “Dianetics was supposed to clear people of irrational behavior. A Clear, according to the book, would have no compulsions, repressions, or psychosomatic ills. A clear would have full control of his imagination, and a near perfect memory. With Dianetics counseling IQ would soar by as much as fifty points and the clear would be phenomenally intelligent" (Atack, 107).
2. Auditing and the E-meter
Scientology considers “Man” to be a spiritual being and not the result of his genetics and the environment where he lives. According to this new religion, “Man” is good in nature, but his experiences in life lead him to commit bad acts.
Scientology believes that our spirit is immortal, our capabilities are unlimited, our experiences extend beyond our lifetime, and our salvation depends upon ourselves, our relationships and the accomplishment of knowing the universe.
The goal of Scientology is to help “Man” to improve his life by understanding himself, others, and the universe. With a better understanding of himself, “Man” can identify his problems and find a better way to solve them improving his life as a result. The most important goal of Scientology is the “spiritual enlightenment and freedom” (Scientology Beliefs and Practices: What is scientology? ) of “Man".
“The … development and codification of Scientology can be found in scores of books, more than 15,000 pages of technical writing and more than 3,000 taped lectures. All … research by L. Ron Hubbard to discover a workable means to set Man spiritually free, to replace ignorance with knowledge, doubts with certainty and misery with happiness” (Scientology Beliefs and Practices: What is scientology?).
According to L Ron Hubbard, integrity is what we know because we have observed and learned by ourselves, and that is what we say and nothing else. This is one of the principles of scientology. Scientology also believes that every person can improve his own spiritual condition, but only after knowing his own truth.
One of the two important practices in scientology is auditing. Its goal is help individuals to improve spiritual condition and achieve spiritual enlightenment.
Auditing is the process by which a trained auditor asks specific questions to the person who is audited (known as a preclear in Scientology) in order to find and handle areas of distress. These areas of distress are usually the result of bad experiences deeply buried in the reactive mind. Through this process those experiences can be recalled, understood, and confronted so that the person audited or preclear is able to overcome his issues and walk the path to a higher spiritual awareness.
During auditing, the preclear is aware of the process. Drugs or other methods such as hypnosis are not used. Auditing can be performed in groups, by a preclear on his own using Hubbard’s book and methods, and in sessions with an auditor.
Before auditing sessions, the preclear must attend informative sessions in order to know about the process and what to expect. The auditing sessions take