Scientology has just been recognized and officially registered as a religion in Argentina!
You can read the full story here (in Spanish): Argentina reconoce Cienciologia como religión
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Scientology is Wisdom: Ethics
One area of philosophy which has been made incredibly complicated over the centuries is the subject of ethics. Just try and look it up and get a basic understanding of it from an average encyclopedia and you'll probably be left with a big question mark hovering over your head.
Ethics in Scientology is described in a way that anyone can understand and use to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them.
And by "survive", I don't mean bare necessity. Survival at an optimum level must include having enough of the things one needs to survive and having some reserve in case of emergency. If it cost you $400 a week to live and you make $400 a week then you are living on a knife edge and barely surviving. If you need $400 and you make $4,000 then you are going to be surviving very well.
It is not always easy to figure out what actions you should take in order to survive. How do you know if an action is going to help or hinder? For example, in the current economic state many companies are cutting back on their advertising budgets. Is that going to help their survival or hinder it? That question is answered in Scientology Ethics.
In Scientology we have a set of things called the Ethics Conditions and a formula for each Condition to improve it. Example: there is an Ethics Condition called "emergency" which is the condition where things are either staying the same or are just starting to get worse. Let's say you've been making the same wage for five years and have not had a raise in all that time. You are in emergency. Your wage is actually less than it was five years ago because of inflation: things cost more than they used to but you are not making more so you can't buy as much.
So what should you do?
The steps to take to solve your situation are given in the Emergency Formula, which is a part of Scientology Ethics. This same formula also applies to the business that is starting to hit hard times because of the economic crisis. The formula for that condition will tell the business owner whether he should cut back on advertising or not.
Here we have "accumulated knowledge of life" that was "gained through experience" - which is the definition of Wisdom that I am using.
Further data on Scientology Ethics:
Ethics in Scientology is described in a way that anyone can understand and use to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them.
So ethics is basically the subject that covers what actions one should take in order to survive, not just for yourself, but for all areas of existence.Ethics actually consists of rationality toward the highest level of survival for the individual, the future race, the group, Mankind and the other dynamics [areas of life] taken up collectively. Ethics are reason. Man's greatest weapon is his reason.
Ethics consists simply of the actions an individual takes on himself. it is a personal thing. When one is ethical ... it is by his own determinism and is done by himself.- L. Ron Hubbard from the book "Introduction to Scientology Ethics"
And by "survive", I don't mean bare necessity. Survival at an optimum level must include having enough of the things one needs to survive and having some reserve in case of emergency. If it cost you $400 a week to live and you make $400 a week then you are living on a knife edge and barely surviving. If you need $400 and you make $4,000 then you are going to be surviving very well.
It is not always easy to figure out what actions you should take in order to survive. How do you know if an action is going to help or hinder? For example, in the current economic state many companies are cutting back on their advertising budgets. Is that going to help their survival or hinder it? That question is answered in Scientology Ethics.
In Scientology we have a set of things called the Ethics Conditions and a formula for each Condition to improve it. Example: there is an Ethics Condition called "emergency" which is the condition where things are either staying the same or are just starting to get worse. Let's say you've been making the same wage for five years and have not had a raise in all that time. You are in emergency. Your wage is actually less than it was five years ago because of inflation: things cost more than they used to but you are not making more so you can't buy as much.
So what should you do?
The steps to take to solve your situation are given in the Emergency Formula, which is a part of Scientology Ethics. This same formula also applies to the business that is starting to hit hard times because of the economic crisis. The formula for that condition will tell the business owner whether he should cut back on advertising or not.
Here we have "accumulated knowledge of life" that was "gained through experience" - which is the definition of Wisdom that I am using.
Further data on Scientology Ethics:
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Scientology is Wisdom
So what is "Wisdom" anyway?
Many people have the idea that wisdom is some set of obscure sayings that have a deep and profound meaning that only a chosen few can understand. Like the Zen "Sound of the one hand clapping".
That is not what wisdom means in Scientology. There is nothing in Scientology that is meant to be understood by only a "chosen few". The wisdom of Scientology is for everyone and can be understood by everyone. It will sometimes take a bit of work, but it can be understood and (more importantly) it can be used in life to improve conditions.
The definition of wisdom that I'm using is from the Encarta dictionary and is:
If you look at that carefully you will see that it not only covers "accumulated knowledge" but that the knowledge was "gained through experience".
The wisdom in Scientology is exactly that: Life has been examined and knowledge has been gained by making deductions based on what was observed and then trying them out to see if they work. The deductions that didn't work were thrown out and the ones that did work were kept and expanded upon.
Let's take an example. The book Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science tells you, step-by-step, how L. Ron Hubbard went about figuring out how the mind works and a therapy to handle psychoses, neuroses, psychosomatic ills, repressions, obsessions, fixations, etc., etc. He observed, made deductions, tried them out to see if they worked, kept them if they did, threw them away if they didn't and refined the workable ones until he had completely workable methods for improving the mind. He spend many years doing this. Now, sixty years later, millions of people around the world use these techniques to improve themselves and those around them.
That is an example of "accumulated knowledge" that was "gained through experience".
More on this tomorrow.
Many people have the idea that wisdom is some set of obscure sayings that have a deep and profound meaning that only a chosen few can understand. Like the Zen "Sound of the one hand clapping".
That is not what wisdom means in Scientology. There is nothing in Scientology that is meant to be understood by only a "chosen few". The wisdom of Scientology is for everyone and can be understood by everyone. It will sometimes take a bit of work, but it can be understood and (more importantly) it can be used in life to improve conditions.
The definition of wisdom that I'm using is from the Encarta dictionary and is:
accumulated knowledge of life or of a sphere of activity that has been gained through experience
If you look at that carefully you will see that it not only covers "accumulated knowledge" but that the knowledge was "gained through experience".
The wisdom in Scientology is exactly that: Life has been examined and knowledge has been gained by making deductions based on what was observed and then trying them out to see if they work. The deductions that didn't work were thrown out and the ones that did work were kept and expanded upon.
Let's take an example. The book Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science tells you, step-by-step, how L. Ron Hubbard went about figuring out how the mind works and a therapy to handle psychoses, neuroses, psychosomatic ills, repressions, obsessions, fixations, etc., etc. He observed, made deductions, tried them out to see if they worked, kept them if they did, threw them away if they didn't and refined the workable ones until he had completely workable methods for improving the mind. He spend many years doing this. Now, sixty years later, millions of people around the world use these techniques to improve themselves and those around them.
That is an example of "accumulated knowledge" that was "gained through experience".
More on this tomorrow.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Scientology is ...??
As I've been showing in a series of recent posts, Scientology is Solutions. By that I mean it contains solutions to common problems in life. See my recent posts for examples (Scientology is Solutions).
But Scientology is more than just solutions. It is something that underlies solutions, something that enables you to figure out brand new solutions for yourself, solutions to the problems you face in your own life and that no one may have come up with before. So what is that?
It is wisdom.
A simple word with several definitions. The one that apply here is, "accumulated knowledge of life or of a sphere of activity that has been gained through experience".
The wisdom that Scientology contains is knowledge that is fundamental to life. For example: What is the dynamic force that drives life? If you knew that, you could understand why people do what they do and why you do the things you do.
Other practical questions that Scientology answers are: What causes people to act irrationally? What causes psychoses, neuroses, compulsions, repressions and a whole long list of other mental problems that the human race is beset with?
On a more philosophical level Scientology contains answers to such questions as: What happened before the beginning? What is the highest purpose in the universe? What happens to a person after they die? What is your true potential?
In the next few days, I'll be writing articles on "Scientology is Wisdom", and I'll answer some of those questions.
But Scientology is more than just solutions. It is something that underlies solutions, something that enables you to figure out brand new solutions for yourself, solutions to the problems you face in your own life and that no one may have come up with before. So what is that?
It is wisdom.
A simple word with several definitions. The one that apply here is, "accumulated knowledge of life or of a sphere of activity that has been gained through experience".
The wisdom that Scientology contains is knowledge that is fundamental to life. For example: What is the dynamic force that drives life? If you knew that, you could understand why people do what they do and why you do the things you do.
Other practical questions that Scientology answers are: What causes people to act irrationally? What causes psychoses, neuroses, compulsions, repressions and a whole long list of other mental problems that the human race is beset with?
On a more philosophical level Scientology contains answers to such questions as: What happened before the beginning? What is the highest purpose in the universe? What happens to a person after they die? What is your true potential?
In the next few days, I'll be writing articles on "Scientology is Wisdom", and I'll answer some of those questions.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Scientology is Solutions: Handling Drug Abuse
Scientologists are serious about ending drug abuse. Here is an article about action being taken by Scientologists in France: Scientology Churches in France Cycle Against Drugs.
The materials the article talks about can be obtained here: Foundation for a Drug Free World
The materials the article talks about can be obtained here: Foundation for a Drug Free World
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