What in the heck is Sciencetology?

Nothing to fear here folks. Like the Bible or the Koran, Dianetics is a collection of words. Words don't hurt people. The only way they can even affect you; is if you believe them.

At the beginning of the book; L Ron Hubbard denies starting a religion or even a cult. His is a pursuit of truth, and he's not at all wishy-washy about separating his facts from his theories. His pseudo-religious following is made up largely of folks who didn't recognize those distinctions, which he painstakingly made throughout.

His book, Dianetics, reads like a how too manual to clear a brain of irrational beliefs (false fact-chains he refers to as engrams). Through reliving the painful experiences in life, over and over again in reverse chronological order until you've unlocked the very first engram ever recorded, you become a "Clear".

The trick, or catch if you will, is you need a stranger to listen to your stories and specifically try to listen for words coming out of your mouth that don't sound like you. This is the theoretical signature of an engram.

Example: Say you were beaten unconscious while someone called you a stupid whore for wearing mini-skirts. As you struggle to remember the details of this trauma, you may find yourself voicing the words of the offender without realizing it. It is the stranger, or "auditor's" job to make the distinction and help you remember precisely the words, smells, sights, sounds and feelings accompanying the pain. You keep digging at this memory until you can remember it like it was yesterday. Theoretically, you will have accomplished moving those memories from your subconscious mind to your conscious mind which is of tremendous benefit to you...

Conscious memories are recorded through your analytical mind or analyzer so are not only more accurate, but can be fine tuned with each refinement of your truth base as you learn more throughout your life.

Subconscious memories are recorded as pseudo-truths (engrams) absent the benefit of being tested for truth. Example: **** on carpet=nose in ****= pain in my ass= bad dog= angry look on owners face. In this example; a dog learns why not to **** on the floor. It's time tested and very effective. Now, what happens if you beat your dog for licking a black man, or otherwise being friendly? Since the dog supposedly has no analytical mind; it can't distinguish between correct and incorrect thought processes. During times of unconsciousness, or greatly reduced consciousness, neither can you.

Theoretically, Dyanetic therapy is nothing more than re-filing all of the pseudo-facts (engrams) in your conscious memory, with the full benefit of having tested them for truth with your analyzer. This way, you can never again be affected by those faulty lessons you never recalled learning.

Example: a woman accidentally bumps her head on a doorjamb while moving into her new apartment. She whispers under her breath "you stupid whore" as she tries to rub the pain away. What a curious statement? While "stupid" may well be a reasonable description, where did "whore" come into the picture? It may well be that years earlier she felt that same pain and suffered reduced consciousness while being called a "stupid whore". Today, she doesn't even realize that her mind links the two together, because she never had the benefit of analyzing the data as it was recorded. Now if someone standing there questions her choice of words; her analytical mind will initially struggle to find a reasonable explanation for her words, which likely won't reflect the true origin of the phrase because she has no conscious memory of it. Enter Dianetic therapy: Upon attempting to, and succeeding in, re-living the earlier memory to the most intimate detail, the illogical conclusion that a pain on her head means she's a "stupid whore" will never again present itself.

Now, if you understand psycho-somatic ailments are the result of your brain erroneously creating bodily pain (that is very real), you'll begin to see the importance in the example above. If the subconscious mind thinks head-pain= "stupid whore", than it probably thinks hearing the words "stupid whore"= head-pain… and make no mistake, your brain is perfectly capable of giving you a head-pain if it thinks it's supposed to. So, after outing this particular engram, not only will this woman not feel like a stupid whore if she bumps her head, she'll likely not get a headache from hearing the words "stupid whore" either.

Re-stimulators: Now imagine that Bob Dylan was playing in the background in a hot poorly lit apartment that smelled of fish cooking when she was beaten unconscious while being called a stupid whore repeatedly. From that day forward, Bob Dylan might make her a little uncomfortable, more so in poorly lit rooms and if she happens to be cooking fish while her husband calls her a "stupid whore"; she's liable to get a massive headache… inexplicably. Or is it?
The more re-stimulators are present during a re-stimulation, the more her brain will subconsciously, instinctually make faulty judgments… and the more likely she'll succumb to the irrational memories of the engram.

Obviously, the extreme examples I've used above are exaggerations to help understand the role of the engram. They come in all shapes and sizes and affect our behavior in varying degrees, accordingly.

L. Ron Hubbard claims that the first engram is the hardest to reach; but once established; your brain learns the benefit of re-filing the information consciously and gets better at doing so. As you sit with an "auditor" and attempt to dig out every engram, in reverse chronological order, it's supposed to get easier and easier until you've found the first or "basic-basic" engram ever recorded. Once this has been accomplished, your brain has come full circle and now has the built in ability tap your subconscious mind and reveal every other engram you've ever recorded. At the completion of this process; you will have erased the cause of every illogical thought process generated by your subconscious mind (accept those conclusions based on erroneous information provided consciously). You will be called a "Clear". According to L Ron, Clears never produce illogical thoughts, unless they've misinterpreted the information they learn. They have astounding memories and lightning fast thought processes, because their brains don't get clogged processing thoughts through thousands of illogical pseudo-fact-chains (engrams).

Among the physical benefits; they are immune to psychosomatic ailments: they don't get headaches, unless they suffer head trauma or tumors. They don't get arthritis or even the common cold because he suggests these are all caused by engrams, and the "Clear" has none. The Clear's mind is like a human calculator or computer, that is only capable of providing false answers when faulty information is part of the equation. Engrams plague the average mind with thousands of bits of faulty information that alter the conclusions they produce, inexplicably. Or is it?

I claim no veracity in L Ron's work whatsoever, but find it very interesting, myself. I do believe I've recognized engram-atic behavior in others, many times, and further believe the understanding of the principle has helped me better understand irrational thought and behavior. While the book is a hard read (reads like a text-book, and L Ron has the most intimidating vocabulary I've ever encountered), I think it's worthwhile for anyone who's curious about alternative explanations for irrational thought. He is a gifted author of fiction, so his explanations of his theories will make a hell of a lot more sense than my probably not-so-accurate condensation above. It was L Ron's advice that taught me to keep a dictionary handy at all times while reading.

It was about a decade and a half ago when I read his book, so it isn't that clear (no pun intended), but I remember thinking it might be fun to undergo the initial phase of Dianetic therapy to see for myself if it could be done. Time and financial constraints as well as a fear of losing my personality have prevented me from doing so to date. His theories are sufficiently convincing to make me think "Clear", or close to it, may indeed be possible. But I wonder if you wouldn't become something of an automaton, once stripped of the irrational idiosyncrasies that make us unique. Since it isn't possible to perform Dianetic Therapy on yourself; I see no harm in recommending the book as food for thought.

Yeeks, that's quite a ramble. Maybe I put more stock in it than I thought?

If you have ever seen that episode of South Park, it explanes alot about it, but it would be pretty hard to see it because it is kinda off the air for a little bit, but if you do ever see it, it explanes it in a very funny and amusing way.

Bill - are you trying to tell me that other people's beliefs don't hurt me? I say bullhooey!

Anyway, my aunt is a nutty scientologist. You don't need to be rich to join, or rise through the ranks, but you do have to pay more money for training to rise through the ranks. So, you give up a lot of your money.

Perhaps so in the "church of scientology", but according to L Ron; only a clear understanding of the book is necessary to be an "auditor". No formal training whatsoever is necessary and he claims a plumber may be just as gifted at it as a trained psychologist. Essentially, two people who share little history could "audit" each other for free. If the goal is becoming "clear", not rank in some bogus establishment, money need-not be an issue at all, if you could locate a partner. Otherwise; you call the local scientology lab and make appointments to pay a pro. Said pro, may or may not be any better than the novice according to L Ron.

Auditing is all fine and dandy. L Ron Hubbard is not likely to blame for what 'his' church has come to today. Jesus isn't to blame for christianity either.

Thanks for the summary, Bill, it's very interesting.

One of the main things that jump out at me is that the current science of memory seems to counteract a lot of the basic principles. In a rush now, but basically the ideas of the veracity of memory have changed a lot -- things that are completely untrue can be stashed in the long-term memory section of the brain, etc. That is all much more fluid (true memory, false memory, long-term, short-term, conscious, unconscious) than had previously been thought.

I'd love to hear more on that. I remember him briefly covering the theories on how the brain works, endorsing none of them, and concluding that it isn't necessary to understand how the brain works to fix it with Dianetic therapy. Could be self perpetuating delusion; or it could just be a matter of fact. Who knows? He sites a multitude of studies throughout the book, offers opinions on the veracity, but always makes it very clear what's fact and what's theory. The only facts that give serious pause are those he claims are consistently characteristic of every "Clear" (no colds, headaches, etc). Brain power remains limited by what you're born with, but he does claim the vastly improved speed, accuracy and logic are consistent as well.

Thanks for bringing this up CL. I'm re-intrigued.

Hi Bill,

I just finished getting "audited", and doing 2 work book classes. I read bits from several Scientology books and pamphlets. I am about as skeptical a person as you will meet, and generally find too much BS & hypocrisy in groups, and Churches. I was astonished how useful my experiences with Scientology have been. After the above, I am a lot more calm & confident about dealing with people, I noticed the speed with which I can respond, and articulate is dramatically up. I feel more affinity with people and am smoother and more confident in handling the minor conflicts. I am clear about when people are antisocial downers , and how to deal with them too. The auditing actually did help me clear up my unconcious reactiveness. In my case it was not any one dramatic incident, but many little things over many years, which linked together, had me feeling less confident and unable to see what was really happening.
First thing after the auditing, I called my mom who I was not in contact with
as much as I would like, had something that had pushed us apart.
I had so much fun talking with her, I felt like I had gotten my old mom back, and maybe a new one I hadn't met before, who was one of the funnest, smartest, nicest people I can think of.
Originally I got interested from one of the little pamphlets on "The Tone Scale", which I found amazingly useful in understanding people. After
reading the pamphlet and practicing with it, I found my ability to hire
good people, and relate to friends & family went way up.
In my experience, nothing beats picking up a book or books, or checking it out at a Scienctology Church. Most stuff you read or hear second hand is ridiculous, after you check it out. I particulary recommend the $5 pamphlets, which are short, easy reads and fun and easy to practice applying the concepts with. The Tone Scale is a real eye opener, it really works.
If you are curious, I highly reccommend checking it out directly. The
people at the mission (smaller church) I went to were helpful if asked, but not pushy or weird.
The worst part was finding so many intriguing tools, ways of understanding humans that worked amazingly well. Thus putting me in the position of having to speak up about the anti Scientology nonsense (second hand) that is still prevalent. Even then, it hasn't been near as bad as I would have thought.
I just say some of what I have described above, invite people to check it out, pick up a pamphlet or books, apply it, note the results.
If someone is really misinformed or adament I just say no, that's not what my experience has been. then shut up, see if they have any curiousity. If they are chronic downers about Scientology, or people improving themselsves in general, I can laugh at them gently, get in their face, shrug it off or change the subject depending on the mood or situation. Mostly though, people have been curious more than I would have thought and it's been fun to share with them.
It's given me a new outlook on our screwed up world. If enough
people got the unexpectedly powerful results I did, maybe the world
would improve for the better in astonishing, hard to believe ways too.
Regards,
Greg

How come I cannot see this post other than being an obvious exercise of proselytism?

Converted already?

http://www.xenu.net/roland-intro.html

http://www.galaxypress.com/

I think that is it, in a nutshell. L. Ron Hubbard was a prolific science fiction writer in the middle part of the 20th century. He had an idea about starting his own religion, and the rest is history.

In the words of P.T. Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute".

my issue with Hubbard is his vendetta against psychiatry & psychology. Tom Cruise's attack on Brooke Shields is only the best known manifestation of Hubbard's paranoia.

http://www.xenu.net/archive/go/media/pe200366.htm

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I'll come back to this, I've had the opportunity to get inside the european head quarters and see David Miscavige at the ceremony where the photo of him and tom cruise was taken (although a year later).
I don't know exactly how safe it is to post anything about it on the internet though... they have all my details and I signed some sort of contract.
What d'ya reckon?

ITS AN CULT! BIG TIME!! Like that cult where 2000 people killed them selves.. the leader of this cult beats the **** out of people using a big wood paddle.. if you look at him funny he will beat the **** out of you... its one of the biggest cults in the word and growing fast.... this cult is worse then any of the Satanic cults..

this cult is very well known for attacking protesters, following them home and stuff...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ

WHAT TRUTH? THERE IS NO TRUTH?! THE TRUTH IS THIS IS A BIG TIME DEADLY CULT!

and you know this how?

i like cruise,kidman,holmes they are my favorite actors. do they have a bible for sciencetology?

I'm posting years after this thread first appeared. I'm reading a book called "Getting Clear" about Scientology and L. Ron. Hubbard. I would suggest taking a look since this involves so much more than rich people. It's worth a look and then scrutiny since one mans opinion could be slanted. The part I find disturbing is that individuals or believers have to endure "audits" until they are deemed fit to move to the next level and the next level only means an opportunity to read more of Hubbards fantasies. You have to be groomed because you might kill yourself if exposed to the great mans "truth" too rapidly.

The grooming part strikes me as very cult like and although it claims to not worship a deity, they insist on church tax free status as they essentially worship Hubbard. And every cockamamie science fiction nightmare Hubbard could scratch down on paper. You don't need docs you don't need formal education, just ideas that Hubbard, the ultimate con man, dreamt up.

It's no kind of religion. It's a pyramid con involving pseudo-science and full blown science fiction. You start at the bottom of the pyramid with everyone else, and as you pay increasingly high amounts of money to be "audited" you rise up the pyramid getting more and more supposedly secret knowledge. Though of course the knowledge all theway to the top is readily available for free online (despite Scientology's army of undead lawyers best efforts to get it removed.)

Words can hurt people. Ask the Nazis.