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.

The Mosque Next Door - What should you do about it?

A huge Islamic Center is about to be built next door to your local church. What do you do?

Unfortunately, due to misrepresentation in the media and outright lies by people with a vested interest in creating conflict, the all to common reaction is protest and outrage.

Lies such as "They're funded by Saudi Arabia," and "It's a breeding ground for terrorists," get yelled out by intolerant bigots and passed on by a media that thrives on controversy and conflict.
Luckily there are still sane and tolerant people in this world who instead welcome their new neighbours. Here is a wonderful tale of such tolerance and sanity: Cordova Christians put out welcome mat for mosque.

Well done to the pastor and congregation of Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tennessee. They are applying the tenets of their faith and not only offering the hand of friendship, but are also communicating with the "Muslims next door." The result is peace and understanding as it should be between us all whatever our religion or lack of.

I wish the so called "Christians" in other parts of the country would take a lesson from these good people and act likewise.

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How supported is Al Qaeda by Muslims?

Too often the media portrayal of Muslims implies that they support Al Qaeda. Too often the media portrayal of Islam is that it is a violent and hate driven religion.

Both of these ideas are false generalities and, just to prove it, there is a very interesting diagram on the "Anonymous Arabist" blog which you can see below.

Notice that the Al Queda population is at most 0.00063% of the Muslim population of the world. Not exactly a significant amount.

So let's realize that Muslims are just human beings like the rest of the population of the world and stop creating controversy over building Mosques in New York and stop the misrepresentations of their intentions in the media.

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Scientologists: Looking after your human rights

Your Human Rights are listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But do you know what they are? Does your government allow you those rights? Or better yet, does your government enforce those rights?

Those rights were put into document form after World War II and were ratified in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. They are rights that had to be fought for. It's pretty obvious that if the Nazis had won WWII these rights would never have seen the light of day.

So it is up to each one of us to keep these rights alive by knowing what they are and insisting they be applied by our governments.

Churches of Scientology and their members all around the world are very active in making human rights known and insisting on their application. Just a couple of weeks ago Churches of Scientology in 14 countries joined forces with Youth for Human Rights International to conduct a global petition drive in support of human rights education. You can read about it here: Churches of Scientology: Petition Targets Human Rights Education.

Scientology Question: Best way to study the Basics

Andrew S. Doub (a Grateful Dead Fan as you can tell from his chosen screen name) asked:
I am new to Scientology and recently began investigating the church. The nearest mission is about 8 hours away, so I am not in an area where I could go a take a course. I recently purchased the 18 Basic Books and two lecture sets (Professional Course and Clearing Congress). I was wondering, what would be the best way for me to study? I know chronologically reading the books is suggested, but are there any home study courses or study guides I could use? How can I get the most from my time, other than just reading the books?

The best way to do the Basics for someone new is to start with the Scientology Beginning Books and study them at a Church or Mission, but given your situation the next best is to do the Scientology Basics Extension Courses. These are home study courses which will guide you through the books and lectures, plus you have someone that you send your lessons to who can help you with questions, etc.

What I'd suggest is that you contact your nearest Scientology Mission and enroll on the first extension course there. You can find the nearest Mission here: Scientology Global Locator (Mobile version) or Scientology Global Locator (Full version).

Good luck. Tell me how you get on.