Oct. 12, 2005 - Harvard Crimson on Scientology
Excerpts from a recent Harvard Crimson piece on Scientology"
The central tenets
of the [Scierntology] religion are that a person has an immortal and fundamentally
good soul, called the thetan. The thetan survives the death of the
body, traveling through multiple human lives. Scientologists also
believe that a human possesses a thinking mind with “reactive” and
“analytical” tendencies. The reactive mind performs behaviors
irrationally and compulsively; the analytical mind is calm and
controlled.
Reactive tendencies are stopped in the process of
auditing, a non-evaluative therapy. The auditor uses an e-meter, a
device Hubbard invented to measure tension, to help identify painful
memories. Then a subject unburdens herself of bad decisions or events,
thus ending neuroses and contributing to a feeling of well-being. Some
Scientologists claim that after enough auditing they can remember all
the way to their birth, and back further into their past lives.
As
they go through auditing and take Scientology study courses,
parishioners ascend levels on “the Bridge.” One of the most important
levels is “clear,” when a person no longer acts reactively. Higher up,
in the “Operating Thetan” levels, the Church keeps the names of the
benchmarks confidential.
Churches offer courses to help
improve everything from adherents’ attention spans to their marriages.
The holistic religion stresses that its members learn for
themselves–Hubbard described Scientology as a way of “knowing how to
know.” The Church also administers several drug and criminal
rehabilitation programs, charitable programs, and two publishing houses
for Hubbard’s works.
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