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The beliefs and practices of Scientology include material related to sex and the rearing of children, which collectively form the second dynamic (urge toward survival) in Scientology. These beliefs and practices are based on the written works of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
In Hubbard's eight dynamics, "sex" is the second dynamic, representing both the sexual act and the family unit. [1] [2] According to Reuters : "The second dynamic includes all creative activity, including sex, procreating and the raising of children." [1]
On August 26, 1982 [3] Hubbard authored a Hubbard Communications Office Bulletin (HCOB) entitled "Pain and Sex", in which he accuses psychiatrists (abbreviated "psychs"), [4] of orchestrating a global conspiracy to undermine society and spread chaos:
Combined, pain and sex make up the insane Jack-the-Rippers (who killed only prostitutes) and the whole strange body of sex-murder freaks, including Hinckley, and the devotees of late-night horror movies. Under the false data of the psychs (who have been on the track a long time and are the sole cause of decline in this universe) both pain and sex are gaining ground in this society and, coupled with robbery which is a hooded companion of both, may very soon make the land a true jungle of crime. [3]
In the same bulletin, Hubbard claims that pain and sex are both "invented tools of degradation" by "destructive creatures" (referring to psychiatrists) with the intention "to shrink people and cut their alertness, knowingness, power and reach". [4]
In 1950 Hubbard published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health , wherein he classified homosexuality as an illness or sexual perversion. According to Jeffrey S. Siker in Homosexuality and Religion, this was within the mainstream of opinion at the time. [5] According to scholar Carole Cusack, "Hubbard's pronouncements on heterosexual relations in that era matched the Christian (and Hollywood) ideal of happy marriages; responsible and protective fathers, kind and nurturing mothers, and well-brought-up, affectionate children. However, his personal practice was later revealed to be radically different." [6]
Hubbard's emotional tone scale, classifying individuals and human behaviour on a chart running from +40 (the most beneficial) to −40 (the least beneficial), gave sexual perversions a score of 1.1, "the level of the pervert, the hypocrite, the turncoat, [...] the subversive". Such people, he argued, were "skulking coward[s] who yet contain enough perfidious energy to strike back, but not enough courage ever to give warning". [5] [7] [8]
Hubbard warned against sexual activity (including masturbation) during pregnancy, on the premise that sexual activity during pregnancy could damage fetal development, [9] by producing engrams detrimental to future activity. This view is disputed by doctors, as Paulette Cooper commented in her book The Scandal of Scientology :
Hubbard's theory never makes it really clear, at least in a manner that would be accepted by most medical doctors, exactly how engrams can be planted before a foetus had developed a nervous system or the sense organs with which to register an impression, or even how a person could retain or "remember" verbal statements before he had command of a language. [10]
These same beliefs form the basis for Hubbard's "Silent birth" doctrine, which dictates that no words are spoken during the childbirth process. [11] According to a Scientology manual on raising children, a couple should be silent before and after coition. [12]
In the 1967 book The Dynamics of Life (originally written circa 1948), Hubbard states that "promiscuity inevitably and invariably indicates a sexual engram of great magnitude. Once that engram is removed, promiscuity can be expected to cease". A footnote then defines promiscuity as "having sexual relations with many people". [13] Hubbard writes in his book The Way to Happiness that if sex is "misused or abused, carries with it heavy penalties and punishments: nature seems to have intended it that way also". [14]
In later years, Hubbard sought to distance himself from efforts to regulate the sexual affairs of Scientologists. In a 1967 policy letter, he declared: "It has never been any part of my plans to regulate or to attempt to regulate the private lives of individuals. Whenever this has occurred, it has not resulted in any improved condition... Therefore all former rules, regulations and policies relating to the sexual activities of Scientologists are cancelled." [5] [15]
In an interview with Playboy magazine, Hubbard's estranged son Ronald DeWolf asserted that auditing focused on sex and the individual's sex life, and could later be used as a form of control: "Auditing would address a guy's entire sex life. It was an incredible preoccupation. [...] You have complete control over someone if you have every detail of his sex life and fantasy life on record. In Scientology the focus is on sex. Sex, sex, sex. The first thing we wanted to know about someone we were auditing was his sexual deviations. All you've got to do is find a person's kinks, whatever they might be. Their dreams and fantasies. Then you can fit a ring through their noses and take them anywhere. You promise to fulfill their fantasies or you threaten to expose them [...] very simple." [16]
Hubbard called the physical world MEST (an acronym of "Matter, Energy, Space and Time"), which thetans (souls) temporarily operating "meat bodies" are meant to transcend and conquer. [17] [18] New recruits to the church are often classified as "raw meat" or "raw public". [19] [20] Scientologists refer to their bodies as "meat bodies". [21] [22] [23]
Scientology emphasizes attaining "cause over MEST", and attaining the ability to abandon one's body via "exteriorization" and ultimately by becoming an Operating Thetan Clear and a Cleared Theta Clear. [24]
Dianetics is a set of pseudoscientific ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body created by science fiction writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Dianetics is practiced by followers of Scientology and the Nation of Islam.
Xenu, also called Xemu, is a figure in the Church of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology", a sacred and esoteric teaching. According to the "Technology", Xenu was the extraterrestrial ruler of a "Galactic Confederacy" who brought billions of his people to Earth in DC-8-like spacecraft 75 million years ago, stacked them around volcanoes, and killed them with hydrogen bombs. Official Scientology scriptures hold that the thetans of these aliens adhere to humans, causing spiritual harm.
The Church of Scientology maintains a wide variety of beliefs and practices. The core belief holds that a human is an immortal, spiritual being (thetan) that is resident in a physical body. The thetan has had innumerable past lives, some of which, preceding the thetan's arrival on Earth, were lived in extraterrestrial cultures. Based on case studies at advanced levels, it is predicted that any Scientologist undergoing auditing will eventually come across and recount a common series of past-life events.
In Scientology, the concept of the thetan is similar to the concept of self, or the spirit or soul as found in several belief systems. The term is derived from the Greek letter Θ, theta, which in Scientology beliefs represents "the source of life, or life itself." In Scientology it is believed that it is the thetan, not the central nervous system, which commands the body.
In Scientology, an implant is a form of thought insertion, similar to an engram but done deliberately and with evil intent. It is "an intentional installation of fixed ideas, contra-survival to the thetan".
In Scientology, the concept of the thetan is similar to the concept of self, or the spirit or soul. A body thetan or a BT is a disincarnate thetan who is "stuck" in, on or near a human body, and all human bodies are said to be infested by these disembodied thetans, or clusters of them.
In Scientology, Operating Thetan (OT) is a state of complete spiritual freedom in which one is a "willing and knowing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time". The Church of Scientology offers eight "levels" of OT, each level costing thousands of US dollars. The content and procedures of the OT levels are considered a confidential trade secret.
In Dianetics and Scientology, auditing is a sequence of actions whereby the "auditor" takes an individual through times in their current or past lives with the purpose of ridding the individual of negative influences from past events or behaviors. According to practitioners, auditing is meant to bring the individual to "Clear" status; thus, an individual being audited is known as a "preclear" or PC.
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, sometimes abbreviated as DMSMH, is a book by L. Ron Hubbard about Dianetics, a system that he developed from a combination of personal experience, basic principles of Eastern philosophy and the work of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. The book is a canonical text of Scientology. It’s colloquially referred to as Book One. The book launched the movement, which later defined itself as a religion, in 1950. As of 2013, New Era Publications, the international publishing company of Hubbard's works, sells the book in English and in 50 other languages.
Scientology and its perspectives on sexual orientation are based on the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology. His statements about homosexuality have led critics to assert that Scientology promotes homophobia, though these allegations are disputed by some Scientologists.
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard explicitly compared his teachings to the science-fiction subgenre space opera. In his writings, wherein thetans were reincarnated periodically over quadrillions of years, retaining memories of prior lives, to which Hubbard attributed complex narratives about life throughout the universe. The most controversial of these myths is the story of Xenu, to whom Hubbard attributed responsibility for many of the world's problems.
In Dianetics and Scientology, Clear is a status afforded to followers by the Scientology organization, or by other Scientologists, after they complete certain activities. It is one of the major ostensible "states" practitioners strive to reach on their way up what the Scientologists call the Bridge to Total Freedom. Scientology followers are given the status of Clear when a person is deemed to be free of the influence of engrams – supposed unwanted emotions or painful traumas which Scientology claims are not readily available to the conscious mind. Scientologists believe that human beings accumulate anxieties, psychosomatic illnesses, and aberration due to receiving engrams throughout their current or past lives, and that by applying Dianetics, every single person can obtain the status of Clear.
An engram, as used in Dianetics and Scientology, is a detailed mental image or memory of a traumatic event from the past that occurred when an individual was partially or fully unconscious. It is considered to be pseudoscientific and is different from the meaning of "engram" in cognitive psychology. According to Dianetics and Scientology, from conception onwards, whenever something painful happens while the "analytic mind" is unconscious, engrams are supposedly being recorded and stored in an area of the mind Scientology calls the "reactive mind".
Silent birth, sometimes known as quiet birth, is a birthing procedure advised by L. Ron Hubbard and advocated by Scientologists in which "everyone attending the birth should refrain from spoken words as much as possible" and where "... chatty doctors and nurses, shouts to 'PUSH, PUSH' and loud or laughing remarks to 'encourage' are avoided". According to Scientology doctrine, this is because "any words spoken are recorded in the reactive mind and can have an aberrative effect on the mother and the child." Hubbard believed that breaking the silence during childbirth with words could adversely affect the child later in life. Church members believe that noises, sounds and words while a child is being born can possibly cause trauma, which in turn causes the production of engrams, thus necessitating silent birth. Scientologists believe that it is also a way to assist a newborn in his or her development spiritually.
Scientology: A History of Man is a book by L. Ron Hubbard, first published in 1952 under the title What to Audit by the Scientific Press of Phoenix. According to the author, it provides "a coldblooded and factual account of your last sixty trillion years." It has gone through many editions since its first publication and is a key text of the Church of Scientology. The book has been ridiculed by critics of Scientology for its unusual writing style and pseudoscientific claims; it has been described as "a slim pretense at scientific method ... blended with a strange amalgam of psychotherapy, mysticism and pure science fiction; mainly the latter."
This bibliography of Scientology includes Scientology-related books authored by L. Ron Hubbard and those produced by the Church of Scientology and its related organizations. Books compiled by the Church of Scientology and published after the death of Hubbard are usually indicated as "Based on the Works of L. Ron Hubbard".
The relationship between Scientology and religious groups is very complex. While Scientology claims that it is fully compatible with all existing major world religions and that it does not conflict with them or their religious practices, there are significant contradictions between Scientology and most religions, especially the major monotheistic religions. Members are not allowed to engage in other similar mental therapies or procedures, religious or otherwise.
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement. Hubbard initially developed a set of ideas that he called Dianetics, which he represented as a form of therapy. He wrote about it in various publications, and established an organization to promote it in 1950. The organization went bankrupt, and Hubbard lost the rights to his book Dianetics in 1952. He then recharacterized his ideas as a religion, likely for tax purposes, and renamed them Scientology. They retained the Dianetics terminology, doctrines, and the practice of "auditing". By 1954 he had regained the rights to Dianetics and placed both under the umbrella of the Church of Scientology, which remains the largest organization promoting Scientology. There are practitioners independent of the Church, in what is called the Free Zone. Estimates put the number of Scientologists at under 40,000 worldwide.
The intersection of Scientology and abortion has a controversial history which began with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's discussion of abortion in his 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Hubbard wrote in Dianetics that abortion and attempts at abortion could cause trauma to the fetus and to the mother in both spiritual and physical ways. Scientologists came to believe that attempted abortions could cause traumatic experiences felt by the fetus, which would later be remembered as memories referred to in Scientology as "engrams". In the Scientology technique called Auditing, Scientologists are frequently queried regarding their sexual feelings and behaviors. These questions about Scientologists' sexual behavior are often posed to members during "security checks", a specific form of auditing sessions where individuals are required to document their divergence from the organization's ethics. One of the questions asked in these security checks is, "Have you ever been involved in an abortion?".
Scientology has a complex relationship with concepts of gender roles and discrimination, as while the core beliefs of Scientology hold humans to consist of genderless Thetans, the Church and other Scientology organizations have frequently been noted as upholding discriminatory policies or views based on the original writings of founder L. Ron Hubbard.