Scientology: The Basics versus The Beginning Books

Mr.Pete brought up an excellent point: "I think a little more distinction between the Basic and Beginning books would be helpful rather than just links to them."

"The Basics" are a big deal right now in Scientology. They are mentioned a lot by Scientologists and there have been questions about them in comments on this blog. So I think I'd better clearly explain what they are.

We actually have three things that get talked about:
- The Basics
- The Basic Books
- The Beginning Books

First the word "basic". Here it is being used to mean "most important or essential". It is not being used to mean "elementary: serving as a starting point or minimum". I think some confusion has been caused because the word "basic" has both of these definitions.

The "Basics" are a collection of books and recorded lectures regarded as containing the fundamentals of Scientology and Dianetics. That may not seem significant on first reading, but think about it this way: the Basics are what Scientology is built upon and if you have not studied them then you really don't have a full and complete grasp of what Scientology is.

The "Basic Books" are the books within the the Basics. That is, the books excluding the recorded lectures.

The "Beginning Books" are the books to read to get an introduction to Scientology. They are a sub-set of the Basics and fit the "elementary: serving as a starting point or minimum" definition of the word basic. But to call them "basic" would be really confusing, so we call them the "Beginning Books".

I hope that helps.