Scientology and Aesthetics

As I blogged a couple of days ago, aesthetics is one branch of philosophy and Scientology has quite a lot to say about it. One very famous quote by L. Ron Hubbard is "A culture is only as great as its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists." Mr. Hubbard wrote many articles on the subject of art, beauty and ideal form from a very practical viewpoint and these were gathered together into an excellent book called Art. It really takes the mystery out of art and has even enabled a clod like me to produce something aesthetic now and then - and that's quite a feat.

There are Scientology churches that specializes in delivering Dianetics and Scientology services to celebrities, professionals, leaders and promising new-comers in the fields of the arts, sports, management and government. They are called Celebrity Centres and the most beautiful one in the world (and the one I go to, so it must be good) is Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International. Check it out!

Scientology Ethics: Integrity, Honesty and Self-Esteem

How can an individual maintain his integrity and honesty so as to attain self-esteem in modern society? This is well covered in Scientology not only in theory but also in a very practical way that an individual can apply to his or her life. Some articles with workable data and methods can be found here: Scientology Handbook: Integrity, honesty and self-esteem.

My wife has been very successful in using this data with individuals having difficulties in their lives. She's worked with hundreds of people dealing with everything from failing marriages to failing businesses. One interesting example was a businessman trying to solve some serious problems with his business. Applying the principles given in these articles my wife helped him not only make his business successful but, as a side benefit, he realized that his lack of integrity and honesty in business had slopped over into his marriage, almost destroying it. He was very happy that he was able to save his marriage, his livelihood and his self-respect.

Scientology Ethics

The next part of philosophy that Scientology covers is the subject of Ethics. Most modern dictionaries mis-define it as a code of morality or the study of moral standards and how they affect conduct. To see how complex the area has become and the large number of competing theories check out this article about Ethics on Wikipedia. The intro seems simple but then we get into "Major doctrines of ethics" and at that point you can wave goodbye to common sense.

The big difference in Scientology Ethics is that it is aimed at use in everyday life. It gives simple, common sense and very workable methods to make the correct decision and proven formulas for changing conditions in life for the better.

The entire subject is very well covered in the book Introduction to Scientology Ethics. I use this book all the time and highly recommend it.

Use of Scientology Logic in Everyday Life

After my blog entry yesterday I started to notice how much I use the logic methods of Scientology in my everyday life.

For example, just today in a meeting, a colleague mentioned a problem he was having with some software. From my knowledge of logic it was clear to me that he was looking in the wrong place for the source of the problem. I told him where I thought the root of the problem lay and explained my reasoning at which point another person in the meeting realized that a change had been made in that very area the day the problem was first noticed. Addressing that change fixed the original problem.

Now I could just go around telling people I'm a genius (hmm, not a bad idea) but truthfully it's the Scientology Logic I've learned that helps me to solve this and many other problems. The definitive work on Scientology Logic is in a series of articles by L. Ron Hubbard called the "Data Series". These can be found in Volume One of the three volume Management Series. A more concise version can be found in the investigations chapter of the Scientology Handbook.

Scientology is practical philosophy

I highly recommend Will Durant's revolutionary work on philosophy, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers. I call it revolutionary because, for the first time in about 200 years, it presented philosophy to the common man. It made philosophy understandable and made it seem practical and applicable to everyday life.

In the introduction to the book he explains what philosophy is and splits it into five parts. They are logic, aesthetics, ethics, politics and metaphysics. He defines logic as ways of thinking, problem solving and reaching conclusions. Aesthetics is the subject of beauty, ideal form and art. Ethics is about ideals of behavior. Politics is the subject of social organization - not just how to get elected :). Metaphysics deals with the underlying concepts behind the nature of existence, reality and being and the interaction of mind and reality via perceptions.

When I first read this I realized that Scientology not only covers all those things but it contains actual workable methods of applying the theory and principles of its philosophy in everyday life. For example the subject of logic is covered in "The Logics" which can be found in Scientology 0 to 8: The Book of Basics. How to easily and successfully apply this is covered in the investigations chapter of The Scientology Handbook. I personally have used these methods to solve many problems in my own life and in the lives of family and friends.

One particularly successful application was to a friend who had ended a disastrous marriage about a year earlier and was having a terrible time establishing a new relationship. Using the procedure given in the handbook we found the underlying reason for his difficulty and came up with a solution. A week later he started dating a woman whom he would never have considered asking out in the past because of the fixed ideas he had had before we applied Scientology logic to his situation. A couple of years later I found myself being asked to be the best-man at their wedding and now, 7-years later, they are still very happily married.