Scientology beliefs and practices: Encyclopedia II - Scientology beliefs and practices - Practices

Scientology beliefs and practices - Practices

Scientology beliefs and practices - Daily Practices

Churches of Scientology are busy places. Courses are taught days, evenings and weekends. Auditing goes on during many of a church's public hours. This is a contrast to the Sunday Church Service found in many Christian Churches. Scientology is an applied spiritual philosophy based on Mr. Hubbard's writings (perhaps as many as 25 million words); thus, education is a key element of what goes on in Scientology Churches. Parishoners can attend Sunday Service, though this has no special merit in Scientology scriptures. They often study auditing part time or full time in the evenings, weekends, or during the day. Introductory courses usually run from a day or evening to a few weeks. Part-time students of professional level courses maintain a schedule of 12.5 hours per week, while full time students might be in class as much as 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. They will often take part in a variety of groups and church activities, including artist associations, charity events and anti-drug crusades, among others.

Scientologists do not have any dietary restrictions, aside from good sense and cultural preferences. They are not opposed to modern medicine (excluding psychiatry), can receive blood transfusions, and receive routine medical care. A person is encouraged to maintain health using good sense. Parishioners must seek medical treatment for medical conditions before being accepted for spiritual counseling.

They are outspoken against the use of street drugs. There is no specific prohibition against social use of alcohol, as Hubbard himself mentions use as a young man. However, alcohol abuse is a concern. There are no particular prohibitions against hair coloring, music styles or body piercings. Maintaining good appearance is considered an exercise in good manners. In the Sea Org, perfume and even perfumed soaps or washing powders are frowned upon, especially in areas dealing with service to the public.

There are no specific daily rituals or prayers.

Scientology beliefs and practices - Scientology Holidays

The three major holidays celebrated in the Church are L. Ron Hubbard's Birthday in March; the Anniversary of the first publication of Dianetics in May; and a holiday honoring all auditors, called Auditor's Day, in September. Most official celebrations are scheduled on weekends as a convenience to parishoners. Scientologists also celebrate secular holidays such as New Year's Eve, and other local celebrations. For example, many exchange gifts at Christmas where this holiday is popular.

Scientology beliefs and practices - Auditing

The central practice of Scientology, and Dianetics before it, is an activity known as auditing (listening) which, Scientologists claim, seeks to elevate an adherent to a State of Clear, one of freedom from the influences of the reactive mind. The practice is one wherein a counselor called an auditor addresses a series of questions to a preclear, observes and records the preclear's responses, and acknowledges them. An important element in all forms of auditing is to not to suggest answers to the preclear, and invalidate or degrade what the preclear says in response. It is of utmost importance the auditor create a truly safe and distraction free environment for the session.

This practice is one of the controversial aspects of Scientology as auditing sessions are permanently recorded in the form of hand written notes in Preclear Folders. Practical concerns prohibit a stenographic approach to the notes, which must include a variety of technical details and observations.

Auditing is believed by Scientologists to be a procedure where a person is establishing the truth about something in their own universe and the world at large on a "gradient" scale. Critics claim auditing exists for the purpose of collecting information to blackmail former members or hinder them leaving the church at all.

In Dianetics, Hubbard laid out the process of Dianetic reverie as a way of "clearing" the mind of harmful engrams. The earliest forms of Dianetics processing, still practiced today, involved a process reminiscent of Freudian psychoanalysis, with the preclear reclining on a couch in a reflective state called Dianetic reverie while the auditor guided the focus of the reverie from a chair nearby and took notes, predicating his questions and responses on utterances by the preclear and a number of physiological indications. This process was meant to find engrams, and once found, have the preclear go through them, in increasing detail, reducing the event.

Original Dianetics auditing techniques dealt exclusively with the preclear's current life and focused mainly on physical or emotional injuries sustained by him. However, it was reported that some people were reporting incidents from past lives. This was extremely controversial. Hubbard decided to investigate further, and concluded people running such incidents had positive results, and not running such incidents when they came up in auditing led to negative results. This controversy opened the door to a new topic, and resulted in the birth of Scientology. (There are a number of taped lectures available in which Hubbard provides colorful commentary on the events of the period.)

While any person can pick up the book or video, and start auditing with these materials, the Church has an extensive standardized system for the training, certification, internship, and administration of professional auditors and the practice of auditing. This system is called Standard Tech, and includes more than the actual procedures of auditing. The intent of Standard Tech is to ensure preclears get the results they are looking for.

Scientology takes the auditing process further, focusing on mental trauma and routinely dealing with the preclear's past lives, some "hundreds of millions of years" in the past. (In such Scientology publications as Have You Lived Before This Life, Hubbard himself wrote about past life experiences dating back billions and even trillions of years—even though the estimated age of the universe is believed to be about 13.5 billion years. This apparent contradiction is not a contradiction within Scientology, as Scientology teaches that Thetans are immortal spirits, and as such are not limited to a single universe.)

A person coming in for religious counseling is required to be well fed and rested, alert, and not under the influence of drugs. This means no alcohol for 24 hours or medication, including aspirine, for a week. There have been cases of health problems when people who had regular medications prescribed by a doctor (e.g. for high blood pressure or epilepsy) stopped taking them to receive Scientology counseling. Therefore, the Church has long had a requirement all medical conditions be properly addressed before spiritual counseling.

In a manner similar to the therapeutic sessions of a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or ministers of other religions delivering pastoral counseling, during the auditing process the auditor may collect personal or confidential material from the person being audited. The Church maintains, like other religions, confessional records have the confidentiality. In some instances, former members have complained the Church has used information obtained in auditing sessions against them in various ways, however their complaints are legally unenforceable.

In response to such complaints, the Church invariably notes the confidentiality associated with auditing sessions is not by any means the same as psychology or psychiatry. This marked difference being the case, few legal bounds exist upon how the Church may choose to exercise confidentiality with any information it may have obtained via an auditing.

The aim of auditing, according to Hubbard, is to enable the preclear to recover awareness and volitional control of the material and charge previously stored in his reactive mind. Critics have claimed auditing is a gathering of material for blackmail in case one should leave the religion. The Church publicly denies this.

A number of articles explaining Auditing procedures by non-Scientologists have been written. While interesting, these often include material not part of the Scientology canon.

For more information see the article Scientology Auditing - Outsider Explanations.

Before a person can receive auditing, a checklist exists which is gone over to make sure a person is qualified to receive auditing. Typically, this includes items such as

1. A person can not be suffering from a major untreated medical condition.
2. A person can not be wanted by the police or authorities, or be liable for arrest for a crime committed in this lifetime.
3. A person must be there of his own volition, not under duress.
4. A person must honestly want to be audited, and is not acting according to some other agenda.
5. A person must not be constantly attacking Scientology.

In such cases, the person would have to be treated for the medical condition, turn himself in to the police, or take whatever other steps necessary to address his issue.

Most later forms of auditing employ a device called the Hubbard Electropsychometer (or E-Meter). This device measures changes in the electrical resistance of the preclear's skin by passing approximately 1/2 volt through a pair of tin-plated tubes much like empty soup cans, attached to the meter by wires and held by the preclear during auditing. These low-potential changes in electrical resistance, known as the galvanic skin response, are believed by Scientologists to be a reliable and precise indication of mental tension in the preclear.

For details, see E-Meter

Senior expert auditors trained to oversee the auditing of auditors are called Case Supervisors. The Case Supervisor inspects the folders of all preclears who received auditing that day, and issue instructions for what is to be audited the next day. They look for auditor errors and omissions, and ensure that the auditing follows the correct program and correct best procedures for the preclear.

One feature of the modern system of Scientology auditing is the use of collections of questions into standardized lists to address specific areas of interest. Lists exist to handle almost any topic or situation under the sun and also are used to determine which areas that might be of interest. Specific collections of such lists along with other procedures addressing a specific area are often called a 'rundown'.

The Church keeps extensive archives of auditing records for every auditing session managed by the Church as part of the Standard Tech System. These personal records of all Scientologists are called PC folders ("Preclear folders"), and the Church of Scientology states that these records are kept absolutely confidential. Critics and former members contest this claim, giving accounts by former members who claim that information from their PC folders are routinely used for purposes of blackmail and personal ruin.

Scientology beliefs and practices - The Purification Rundown

The 'Purification Rundown, known as "The Purif" within Scientology, is a program of "detoxification" developed by L. Ron Hubbard, involving the use of saunas, vitamins, and the drinking of oils. While it is heavily promoted as a health regimen within Scientology, and in Scientology's rehabilitation program Narconon, the procedure is viewed as dangerous by most medical professionals, as it calls for saunas and vitamins far in excess of what mainstream medicine considers safe levels.

The Purification Rundown is usually the first step for a Scientologist towards going "Clear". The program usually takes about two weeks. As well as spending time in saunas, Scientologists are required to do light calisthenics.

For a detailed description, see Purification Rundown

Scientology beliefs and practices - Auditor Training

Auditors are required to become routinely expert in the use of their E-meters. A typical exercise in auditor training (from the Book of E-Meter Drills) is to be able to determine the number a silent person is thinking of. A sophisticated training simulator, able to recreate all manner of E-meter reactions, is now used in Scientology churches to assist in Auditor training. E-meters now include circuitry for feeding the various signals to special course training supervisors who can monitor the session of a student auditor, and via microphone can coach a student auditor to delivering a better auditing session without disturbing the person receiving auditing. Auditors are also required to become routinely expert in the use of the procedures that they will be using, so much so that they know the correct action to take under any circumstance that may occur in session. Auditors do not receive final certification until they have successfully completed an internship, and have demonstrated and proven ability in the skills they have been trained in. In this system, auditors do not deliver procedures in which they have not been certified.

Auditors often practice their auditing with each other, as well as friends, or family. Church members pair up often to get their training, doing the same course at the same time, so that they can audit each other up through the various Scientology levels.

One of the more controversial aspects of Scientology is the tendency of its members to avoid answering direct questions about their faith with anything but a quote from L. Ron Hubbard. Observers have noted an ongoing policy in Scientology that forbids actual discussion of the processes of Scientology and how they work. Some observers requesting verbal explanations have become very annoyed with being asked to read original source materials.

In Scientology teachings, the best course is to get explanations of concepts and ideas directly from Hubbard, be it through books, or audio recordings, or movies. For beginning students, this is also the simplest way of giving an explanation of a particular concept. The act of discussing Scientology processes in a spoken manner is called "verbal tech," and this is believed to ultimately interfere with the direct understanding, and thus the working of the Tech. The Tech can only be delivered to Scientologists in its original form, as written or spoken on tapes and seen in films.

When the actual discussion of the Tech is not coming from Hubbard himself, it is seen as being diluted or distorted, and thus is no longer 100% pure. As a result, engaging in "verbal tech" is forbidden within Scientology. This disallowing of "verbal tech" directs Scientologists to the original source materials[3] (Hubbard's original writings) to clarify a concept, such as the actual workings of what Scientology is and how it works.

Scientology holds that the best course is to get explanations of concepts and ideas directly from Hubbard, be it through books, or audio recordings, or movies. Scientology contends that this policy of forbidding "verbal tech" exists in order to keep the Tech pure and unadulterated, and to prevent students from passing on their misunderstandings of Hubbard's instructions to others. Secondary materials produced by students are considered inferior to Hubbard's original works, due to their creators' misinterpretation of Scientologist doctrine; Hubbard's efforts to rectify this problem and prevent any future misunderstandings led to the development of the system known as "Standard Tech".

A key component of Scientology training and auditing is that one is learning about oneself and the universe and one's place in it on a gradient. While one can purchase thousands of pages of material and literally thousands of hours of audio lectures, some material is introductory material, and some is intended for the professional auditor. The church has published a best sequence of study, so that auditors develop their skills in a way meant to quickly ensure maximum skill and expertise.

Critics cite this as the idea that a Scientologist must receive the "truth" (i.e. newer and higher levels of Scientology teaching) only when he or she has completed one level and is ready for the next step. Scientology's beliefs on learning include the concept of a "gradient": breaking down a complicated idea into smaller pieces so that someone who could not grasp the whole idea at once can learn it piece by piece. This is not unique to Scientology; what is unique is the assertion that any piece out of order can actually be harmful to the would-be learner. The degree of harm can range from the "nonoptimum physical reactions" of "feel[ing] squashed [...] feel[ing] bent, sort of spinny, sort of dead" (Basic Study Manual) that come from proceeding past a "misunderstood", to the pneumonia by which (in Hubbard's words) "The [R6] implant is calculated to kill [...] anyone who attempts to solve it."

Under this doctrine, Scientologists must therefore suppress information that is "too advanced" for the information-seeker (for the latter's own good). This explains some notable contradictions in what Scientology professes as its beliefs and practices, such as stating to the public that Scientology is compatible with all other religions when OT III (see "Secret Writings" below) teaches that God and the Devil are merely implants. The Scientologist would say that approaching information on a gradient keeps people from being confused, but the critic would say that it keeps people from being able to evaluate what Scientology is telling them in any context except the one Scientology has planned for them.

The idea of approaching the truth gradually is reflected in a quotation from L. Ron Hubbard that is frequently repeated by Scientologists when asked for an explanation of their beliefs: "What is true, is true for you." This statement can be seen as meaning that to a person (specifically a Scientologist), something is true only when that person experiences it for himself.

Scientology beliefs and practices - Ethics

Scientology Ethics differs from common philosophical discussions of ethical problems in that many issues that arise in such discussions are seen as covered and handled by auditing technology. Thus a typical moral dilemma is no longer a problem in real life, because, with auditing, one can become able to make the needed decision, and one can often see an alternate path that one was blind to when caught inside the dilemma.

This contrasts with modern research on ethical decision making, where individuals are presented alternative solutions to moral dilemmas which are more and more impossible choose between. In real life, one would not be limited to the conditions imposed by the research problem, and a person not overwhelmed by the issue or the choices is likely to be creative enough to come up with an alternate solution.

Thus, Scientology Ethics becomes more of a system related to achieving the goals and purposes one espouses. It dovetails with administrative policy and techniques, in order to ensure that people are working together as part of the same team, and are in agreement as to goals, purposes, and the common agenda.

In this light, the ideal scene would be a group of people in knowing and understanding agreement on their goals and purposes, expert and competent in their various jobs, trusting of each other, working together towards a capable and desirable honest goal. Various difficulties would be handled by the correct body of techniques, be it auditing, training, research and development, or whatever else was needed. Everyone would be there because they wanted to be there. Persons working under false pretenses would get spotted and sorted out one way or another, including those working for some other team or interest group.

In a larger context, the system of ethics within Scientology is described by Hubbard as a way of ensuring "the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics." (see discussion above) The system defines a number of "conditions" (in Life) defined from lower to higher; the system for moving to these higher conditions involves following the formulas for the appropriate conditions.

Ethics also involves the use of security checks, called "sec checks" within the organization, in which the Scientologist will work with an auditor to answer a long series of confessional questions. During these "sec checks" the E-meter is used to determine when a truthful answer is given, in a manner similar to the use of a lie detector. In the past, individuals working under false pretenses were discovered working in Scientology organisations, and methods were developed to discover them.

Critics and former members describe the system as a method of social control designed to enforce strict behavior and obedience among Scientologists. Critics claim the safeguards built into the Tech are designed to secure Hubbard's absolute authority over Scientology, as they effectively prevent Scientologists from actually questioning the policies of Scientology. Hubbard's position as Source ensures his writings as the final authority in Scientology, and they can never be questioned; even the act of merely talking about his writings without proper supervision is discouraged, lest the person questioning Hubbard's authorities be labeled P.T.S. (or worse, an S.P.), and required to undergo Scientology ethics.

See the full article on Scientology Ethics

Scientology beliefs and practices - Patter drills

Patter drills were added to many Scientology training courses by David Miscavige beginning in mid-1995. The technique of these drills is, while seated facing a wall, to become able to repeat a section of course material verbatim to the wall. These drills have created some controversy, as there is no reference by L. Ron Hubbard authorizing them, yet there is a reference that apparently prohibits them: HCOPL 16 April 1965 Issue II "Drills, Allowed". Some have contended that the patter drills are not practical, but rather theory drills. If this were the case, however, the drills would then violate HCOPL 13 May 1972, "Chinese School". There is no validation for these patter drills outside of the Church of Scientology.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Practices", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki