Rather than AMA why not TME for tell me everything...discussion

L. Ron Hubbard (LRH) who was one of the better known science fiction writers of the 1940's, published an essay in the May, 1950 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine, about a new technique of psycho-therapy which he had invented, named Dianetics. Because readers liked it, this essay was expanded and published as a book, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" (now known as DMSMH) also in 1950. Dianetics has many features which are derived from Freudian psycho-therapy and can reasonably be described as a Neo-Freudian therapy. Dianetics does also introduce a number of new ideas not found in Freud. Fundamental to Dianetics is the idea that we have memories of everything that has ever happened in our lives literally from the moment of conception onward (which means that we have pre-natal memories, as a fetus) including memories of times when we are unconscious and seemingly not aware of what is happening. All these memories are recorded on a time track, but some of them are not consciously remembered, and are hidden or repressed memories which require special techniques to recover. Memories which involve pain and unconsciousness are called engrams. Another key concept is that memories about any given topic and especially those that involve pain, such as (for example) the topic of pain in your left elbow, would form what are known as chains, which are linked together because each event on the chain reminds you of an earlier similar event, and everything becomes mentally connected, going back to the earliest incident on the chain, known as the basic incident. If you are trying to resolve problems relating to a given chain of memories, you have to (mentally) travel back on the time track, to find the basic incident. The process of delivering Dianetic psycho-therapy is called auditing. In the earliest version of Dianetic auditing, as described in DMSMH, the only money you have to spend is the cost of the book. You and a friend of yours can then use the book to learn how to audit each other. As a result, the main selling point of Dianetic auditing was that it was much less expensive than professional therapy. This is one of many ironic aspects of Scientology because in due course, LRH's auditing techniques would change from the least expensive to the most expensive type of psycho-therapy. LRH continued to develop additional auditing techniques, and so in 1954 the term Scientology was introduced to include Dianetics and all other forms of auditing that LRH was developing, as well as the organizational structure used to train auditors, and to deliver auditing. By then not all auditing was done on the original co-audit basis, and there were professional auditors. The earliest organization to emerge, in 1950, was the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation, but by 1954 LRH chose to redefine his work as a religion rather than a science, although in some ways Scientology presents itself as both a religion and a science, and auditing techniques are referred to as "LRH tech" meaning that they are a type of technology. This is unusual for a religion although not completely unprecedented, since we also have the religion of Christian Science which attempts to be both a religion and a science. And thus the Church of Scientology was born. While there is nothing religious or spiritual about DMSMH, religious elements were added in LRH's subsequent work. The religious basis of Scientology is known as the "theta-MEST theory". Theta is life force, which is entirely separate from the physical universe, and comes from what is known as the theta universe. The physical universe is called the MEST universe, which stands for Matter, Energy, Space and Time. As part of the theta-MEST theory we have the idea that we human beings are spirits, known as thetans, who inhabit bodies but are quite distinct from them. Rather than being the product of the MEST universe as we are conventionally thought to be, we (as thetans) are instead older than time, and are the creators of the MEST universe, which is created by our thoughts. We live forever, and when a person dies, the thetan is normally reincarnated, but forgets all earlier lifetimes - which can be remembered with the help of LRH tech. Note also that there is no deity in the theta-MEST theory. The universe is not created by God, but rather is created by us. Scientology is a cult of personality. The only reliable source of information about the human mind or spirit is said to be LRH. Even though earlier thinkers (such as Freud) did have some good ideas, those ideas (supposedly) must be filtered through the analysis done by LRH before they can actually be useful. LRH is also known as Source, and as such he is the only acceptable source of the beliefs, practices, or doctrine of the Church of Scientology. No one else can be trusted to contribute to the intellectual content of this subject (although everyone else is free to contribute their time and money). This is unscientific. Science is always a collaborative effort, it cannot be based only on the work of one person. However, it is not unusual for religions to elevate some single person (such as Jesus or Mohammad or Buddha) to a special status above that of anyone else. LRH never actually calls himself a prophet or a god, but he has effectively assumed that role, as Source. With the original publication of DMSMH we had a subject that cost extremely little and also had no supervision. You and your co-auditor were essentially on your own. But with the creation of the Church of Scientology, LRH and his followers were increasingly concerned with maintaining professional standards of how auditing had to be done. Over the years, the organization became ever more authoritarian. Scientology was defined in ever increasing detail by bulletins (about auditing) and policy letters (about organizational matters) that LRH issued on nearly a daily basis, for decades. The level of control exercised by the Church of Scientology on its members, in terms of what they are allowed to say or do, or even which people they are allowed to associate with, or what information they are allowed to read on the internet, is much more than is exercised by most other religions. This is one of many reasons why the Church of Scientology is generally regarded as a cult. Ironically, this highly controlling cult tells its members that they are on the "road to total freedom". In 1986 LRH died, and control of the Church of Scientology passed to David Miscavige (known to Scientologists as COB meaning Chairman Of the Board). Miscavige appears to be, if anything, even more authoritarian than LRH himself. Several former staff members report having been physically assaulted by him. The greatest change that has taken place under Miscavige is a huge program of creating larger and more beautiful buildings in which the Church of Scientology can operate; these new buildings are known as "Ideal Orgs" (Org for organization). So far we see no indication of increased volumes of business taking place in the Ideal Orgs. However they do look very nice. It is often claimed that since all religions have beliefs and practices that seem strange to those who are not members of that religion, Scientology is like other religions and there is no reason to be concerned about it. However when we become more familiar with the practices of the Church of Scientology, we do find reasons to become concerned. There are a number of suspicious deaths associated with the cult (the ones that I consider most significant are those of Lisa McPherson and Quentin Hubbard, but there are many more). There are issues of child labor, forced confinement, forced abortion, impoverished and exploited employees, human trafficking, the breaking up of families, absurdly high prices charged for Scientology services, and various other cultist practices. People such as myself, who used to be Scientologists, believe that the cult is a problem. We would like to see, at the very minimum, an end to the tax-exempt status awarded to the Church of Scientology by the IRS. Some believe that even though the Church of Scientology is a corrupt organization, LRH tech remains useful, if we could just return it to the control of people who use it, without having a totalitarian organization overseeing its use. As a result, there is an extensive group of people who are effectively a kind of Scientology reformation, including what is known as the independent field, and another group known as the Free Zone, who do auditing on their own, without submitting to the control of the Church of Scientology. However, the Church of Scientology regards this as a form of copyright violation and is at war with independent practitioners, whom they often harass quite severely.

/r/AMA Thread