Scientology Essay, Research Paper

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.

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