Scientology is a fairly new religion. Founded in the twentieth-century by a man
by the name of L. Ron Hubbard. He began his studies long ago and wrote a book in
1950 called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. He claimed that this
book was one of the first tools used to solve the problems of the mind. This
book focused on irrational mind, war, crime, and insanity. Mr. Hubbard designed
this book so that anyone can use it to improve oneself. He did not stop at
Dianetics, however, he felt that there were still some issues that had to be
addressed. He was now going to try to figure out the nature of the human being,
what makes up our “being.” Mr. Hubbard combined religion, philosophy, and
his theory of dianetics and came up with Scientology. Mr. Hubbard had a unique
life. He was born in Tilden, Nebraska, the son of a naval commander Harry Ross
Hubbard and Ledora May Hubbard. L. Ron Hubbard was born on March 13, 1911. When
he was about two his family moved to Montana where he learned to be a rough
western cowboy. His mother was thoroughly educated woman. She taught him how to
read and write at an early age. L. Ron Hubbard was said to have an avid interest
in life at an early age. When his father’s naval career required that they
move away from Montana, his mother was responsible to teach him the schooling he
missed. When Ron was twelve the family moved to Seattle, Washington. Ron got the
liberty to be associated with many different types of people such as the
Blackfoot Indians, Beijing magician, Chinese magicians, and studying Buddhists.
He enrolled at George Washington University, his father put him into mathematics
and engineering. Now he learned how to take the scientific approach to solving
problems. He became more and more interested in the way the mind works. He would
ask the professors at George Washington University and they could not give him
an answer, so he came up with the idea that the western culture did not
understand a thing about the mind. He believed that it was his duty to explore
the mind and to tell the western world how it works. This is when he came up
with dianetics and then eventually the religion of scientology. Scientology
consists of eight dynamics. With these dynamics, a person realizes that his life
extends beyond himself. The first dynamic is “self.” This teaches you to
survive as an individual. Taking care of such things as mental and physical
health. It does not include other people, it is the urge to survive as an
individual. The second is “creativity.” Creativity is making anything for
the future. Creating a family, and raising children to the best of your ability.
This dynamic also means that sex is simply a mechanism to procreate. The third
is “group survival.” This is the drive to survive in a group. This can be
any group, community, friends, a company, a state, or a race. The size of the
group does not matter, it is merely to survive as a group. The fourth is
“species.” This one is the dynamic of the species of mankind. Being American
would fit into the third dynamic because it is a nation. The fourth deals with
every man, woman, and child in the world. The fifth dynamic is “life forms.”
According to Scientology there are two parts to the mind, the analytical mind
and the reactive mind. The analytical mind has standard memory banks which
record memory as a series of mental images. It records standard factual data,
however, it does not account for any type of emotional or physical pain. The
reactive mind kicks in during moments of painful moments. It also records data
with mental images though in a different way. The reactive mind is selective
about what it records. It only takes in pain or the emotional part of any given
situation. Mr. Hubbard believes that if you can reduce the use of the reactive
mind, you will be able to solve situations more effectively. If you solve a
problem without letting your emotions get in the way the solution will be more
objective than subjective, and being objective will give you better results.
There are three parts to the human body: the mind, the body, and the thetan. The
term soul has taken on so many meanings that Mr. Hubbard has created a word
which defines his meaning of the word soul. Thetan. Thetan comes from the Greek
letter theta, q, the symbol for thought or life. The thetan is the person
himself. It is the identity, and spiritual being of the human. One does not have
thetan he is thetan. The next part is the mind which consists of mental
pictures. It is used to think, solve problems, and remember things. The last
part is the body. The body is merely the physical composition. It is used to
perform daily tasks such as move around, eat, and sleep. The mass majority of
religions are seeking for spiritual freedom, where material limitations are no
longer a problem. Although they are constantly wondering just how to reach such
a state. Life is so difficult, people have so many tough problems facing them
within society. As opposed to most religions which search for spiritual freedom,
Scientology claims that humans are a spiritual being. and that being a spiritual
being, you have abilities beyond environmental boundaries. Scientology teaches
people that they are capable of solving any and every problem that they face. It
teaches people that their capabilities are so much more than they ever thought.
It tries to illuminate self doubt, insecurities, and despair. I do not like to
debate religion. It is pointless to debate because no mater what you say or how
good your point is, the other person will not change their beliefs. Just like
your beliefs, their mind is already made up on the way they think “it” is.
Steve Martian did a stand up about beliefs. He said ‘I believe women should
stand on a pedestal just high enough that you can see up their skirt.’ You can
believe in anything, it would be ridiculous for someone to try to talk Mr.
Martian out of that belief. In learning about religions, there are many ideas
that I agree with. It is the same with Scientology. The religion offers a lot
about dealing with the suffering of man kind. I like religions that deal with
life here on earth and teaches people how to become better people. Improving
conditions here on earth is the foremost important thing to fix. Scientology
seems to address this issue with full force. It uses modern technology, and
knowledge of how human relations to improve the quality of life of people who
chose to follow Scientology. In the description of L. Ron Hubbard, I was
disgusted. They made it sound like he was this extremely smart guy. When he
started studying the mind and the way it works, he noticed that the western
society knew nothing about it. He sounded pompous when he said “it was very
obvious that I was dealing with and living in a culture which knew less about
the mind than the lowest primitive tribe I had ever come in contact with…” I
did not like this at all. He sounds like a very arrogant man. Arrogant in a
cocky way. In doing research I noticed that all of his followers seem to have
the same attitude. I find that it is funny that they are so dedicated to
following a man who was born in the twentieth-century. He is an ordinary man who
happened to be exceptionally smart. He is a business man who is good at
persuading people and wants to make money.