What is Lafayette Ron Hubbard's Philosophy
What is Scientology?
"The term SCIENTOLOGY is taken from the Latin word SCIO (knowing in the fullest meaning of the word) and the Greek word LOGOS (to study)"
Fundamentals of Thought - L Ron Hubbard
Scientology is that applied and workable philosophy developed by Lafayette Ron Hubbard during most of his life.
Scientology includes the understanding of life, it's composition and potentialities. The application part of the philosophy includes activities which one can embark upon to improve one's life both in the spiritual sense as well as the physical.
The philosophy and the application of it is found in the many books he wrote and the many thousands of lectures he gave which are available on audio tapes and CDs.
What is the philosophy?
The philosophy is based upon some simple observations which Ron made including:
That man is a spiritual being
That man is seeking to survive
That man is basically good
That man can improve himself
Out of these further observations were made and some basic principles were then formulated that enabled a activities to be developed that assisted a person in a practical manner, to improve his spirituality in a visible way. These activities are known as the technology or more colloquially as the "tech", for short.
One of the guiding principles that came out of this study, which Ron made over his life time, is that for a specific result of improvement to be obtained, a process or activity has to be followed exactly. This means a set standard of activity was needed to ensure that each individual obtains the beneficial results available by following these exact processes.
Ron developed, through some considerable research and testing, a Standard Technology. This was a way of doing the activities and exercises that ensured each person doing them would get the beneficial results intended.
A myriad deviations are possible from this particular path or course of action but none of them, of course, would guarantee the same results as "standard technology", since the activities are different.
Much in the same way one builds a bridge. If one decides to build the bridge differently to the correct method and applying the correct engineering principles required to build a bridge, one will invariably end up with something else.
So this is a practical, or working philosophy, which an individual can utilise here and now to improve their life and well being.
The application of the technology includes Auditors (practitioners) applying certain auditing techniques and procedures (exercises) with PreClears (Clients) to produce an exactly defined benefit for that client. Such benefits can include:
An increased spiritual awareness
An improvement in lifestyle
An acquired or improved ability of a clearly defined nature
Relief from a hidden past activity that may be hindering a persons spiritual awareness or understanding
One of the 'tools of the trade' of an Auditor (practitioner) is what is known as an E Meter. This device is quite harmless and enables the auditor to guide the attention of the PreClear to the area or activity being looked at as the PreClear is usually unaware of the source of the difficulty.
So why all the controversy?
Every religion, without exception, has gone through a period where it has been unaccepted, ridiculed and vilified. There seems to be a cultural lag or delay before any "new" religion or philosophy, or even a culture for that matter, becomes accepted. Scientology is no different. It has it's adherents as well as it critics, much like any other subject. And the media always looks for controversy as that, they believe, is what "sells'.
But it really has nothing to do with the actual philosophy and technology.
Church vs the Freezone?
The official body of scientology is the Church of Scientology. The church is considered by many to have departed from the original philosophy of Lafayette Ron Hubbard since his demise, as demonstrated by the prolific alterations of the technology, treatment of their staff and parishioners.
The Independent Field is made up of persons who have previously been members of the Church of Scientology but have either been thrown out and excommunicated for one reason or another or left on their own accord when they felt that the church was no longer practicing the original philosophy. Also people who have learned about the philosophy in the Field for the first time without having visited the church.
Further References.
The links page also provides links to other Freezone and individuals sites for further information.