Help with trauma

One of the simplest and most effective ways to help a person who has their attention fixed on something unpleasant, such as an accident or disaster, is the Locational Assist.

I've used it many times to help people in such a condition and it never fails. Just a couple of weeks ago I helped a guy who was having a panic attack. It took about 30 minutes but at the end of the assist the attack had gone and he was bright and smiling.

Southern California Wild Fires

When the wild fires struck Southern California a call went out to Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Los Angeles to mobilize and give assistance to the Red Cross. A group immediately went out to the evacuation area at San Bernardino Airport giving comfort and help to the people who had lost their homes or were waiting to see if they still had a home to return to. More help is on-going and I'll post it here as I learn more.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers are experienced in disaster relief having assisted in rescue and relief operations all over the world. They not only give the sort of physical help people need, such as providing food and shelter, but they also provide the practical spiritual help needed to overcome the stress and trauma of disaster situations.

If you or someone you know needs help with the stress or trauma of a disaster, or even of a small disaster of everyday life then call 1 800 HELP 4 YU.

Contributions to Disaster Relief

To donate to the Volunteer Minister Program call Volunteer Ministers International at 1-800-435-7498 or (323) 960-3560 or sent to Volunteer Ministers International, 6331 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 708, Los Angeles, CA 90028.

For details on how to donate to the Red Cross in Southern California go to http://www.acrossla.org/

You can also donate via "Operation: Lend-A-Hand", being run by a local radio station. Just go to http://www.kabc.com/viewentry.asp?id=285197&pt=detailed%20information.

All the above donations are tax deductible.

What is Truth?

Now that is quite a philosophical question isn't it? Well, it is answered in the Scientology Axioms. By-the-way, Axiom has various definitions, the one being used here is "an established rule or principle or a self-evident truth."

In Axiom 38 Truth is defined as:
   1. Truth is the exact consideration.
   2. Truth is the exact time, place, form and event.

(My note: A consideration is a thought or idea about something, so this definition covers both the subjective and objective spheres.)

This definition has many applications in life. Example: a friend of mine was very nervous when it came to speaking in front of groups. Using a technique in Scientology called "false data stripping," I helped him to find the idea (consideration) he had about groups that was causing this. It turned out he had a fixed idea that groups always heckled speakers. This came from a difficult situation he'd been in with a group and shortly after, while still under a great deal of stress, someone had said to him that groups always heckled speakers. He had taken this as true and as the explanation for his difficulties. Later he forgot that he'd accepted this idea but it hung around and caused him endless problems. Getting the exact consideration he had about groups (the truth in other words) enabled him to change his mind and the problem with groups ended right there and then.

Another, more objective example, and something I do almost every day is finding and correcting bugs in computer programs. "It's hanging up" says the user. So I get her to define this more exactly - When does it hang up? Where in the program? What does the screen show at the time? What happens exactly? I get the exact time, place, form and event of the problem then I know where to look in the program and can solve it.

So this is a very practical definition of truth.

Scientology and Metaphysics

I've been gradually moving through the branches of philosophy and showing how Scientology encompasses each. Now we come to metaphysics. This is probably the most difficult branch of philosophy to define. Wikipedia gives a long definition while Webster's 1828 dictionary gives a simpler one.

Originally metaphysics was used to describe the books (and hence the subjects in those books) by Aristotle that came after (meta) his books about physics. Metaphysics has expanded over the centuries to include anything that doesn't fit into the rest of philosophy, so in a way it still lives up to its original definition although it could now be called meta-philosophy. To keep it simple, or as simple as I can, I'll define it like this: it covers the basic concepts of what underlies existence. Concepts such as being, existence, causation, space, time, knowledge, mind, spirit and many more fall into metaphysics. Unfortunately the more you dig into what it means the more complicated and convoluted it becomes. So I'll stop there.

Scientology covers the area of metaphysics in its usual practical way. The Prelogics are probably the first summation of L. Ron Hubbard's discoveries in this area, defining the common denominator of all life impulses and how universes are created. Next came the Factors which cover being, existence, causation and much more. Finally the Scientology Axioms sum up everything (literally).

These fundamentals are given very concisely and when you first read them may be too concentrated to easily digest, so in the next couple of days I'll give you examples of how they can be used in life.

Rekindle the failed purpose

While researching how to get things done (as part of the organizational philosophy of Scientology) L. Ron Hubbard hit the problem of mankind's tendency to stop things. For example stressing what shouldn't be done rather than what should be done - most laws epitomize this.

From this research he discovered that behind every stop there is a failed purpose. An example of this was a friend of mine who just couldn't seem to have a successful relationship, everything he did in the area seemed to hit a barrier - a stop - and he was very apathetic about the whole thing. When I was helping him it turned out that he'd had the purpose to have a successful marriage but his first marriage had failed dismally.

The solution? Mr. Hubbard discovered a law - "All you have to do to restore life and action is to rekindle the failed purpose. The stops will at once blow." ("blow" = go away). I had my friend look at his original purpose and times when he'd had success with it and he once more got the idea that the purpose could be attained. Within a week or two he was dating and a year later had remarried - a big improvement over 3-years of nothing happening.

The data on failed purposes can be found in Organization Executive Course Volume 0.

Scientology Philosophy - The Basic Formula of Living

People tend to think of politics as the bickering of politicians rather than ideas about social organization, administration and forms of civilization, so using the term "politics" could easily be misunderstood. The religion of Scientology is very careful to stay out of politics as it is most often defined. Scientologists very much agree with the US constitution on that one - Church and State should be separate. Therefore I will use the term "social organization" to name the branch of philosophy that Will Durant calls "politics".

Something L. Ron Hubbard discovered in his research into social organization was the Basic Formula of Living. The basic formula of Living is : HAVING AND FOLLOWING A BASIC PURPOSE.

That may sound simple, but it has very wide ramifications. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to observe that people with no purpose in life drift along getting nowhere, the aimless teenager getting into drugs and gangs is a prime example of this. If you observe a successful man or woman you will see a person who knows what their purpose is and is going for it. When you read of successful people and their habits you will see the same thing - they know what their goals are and they are working toward them.

This simple formula can be applied by any individual to better their own life. For example, if you are not enjoying your life, you feel you are drifting or living is not much fun then ask yourself what your basic purpose is. Do you have one? If you do is it actually something you want to follow?

If you find that your basic purpose is nonexistent or you have one you don't want then create or choose a new one. It could be your very own purpose you dream up or it could be a purpose that already exists that you adopt as your own.

Now you have a purpose the second part of the formula is to follow it. What do you need to do to achieve it? In what sequence must you carry out these actions? Make plans and then carry them out.

Applying the Basic Formula of Living to your own life can have exciting and far reaching effects.

The Basic Formula of Living and many other such discoveries can be found in The Organization Executive Course Volume 0 available in 15 languages.

Scientology and Organization

In an earlier post I mentioned the five rough divisions of philosophy and described "Politics" as "the subject of social organization - not just how to get elected". How to organize everything from your own life to an international religion is covered in Scientology. As always it is covered in a very practical manner.

What is the ideal form that an organization should take? How do you help people to be effective on the job? How do you choose who should be in charge? How do you fairly and equitably administer justice to the individuals in the group? How do you measure how successful a person is at their job and how successful the organization is? How do you effectively manage a group? How do you as an individual or as a manager plan and carry out the plan to achieve your goals? All these questions and more are answered in the several volumes of the encyclopedic Organization Executive Course and Management Series. These books can be found here: Scientology Administration.

Another useful reference containing the most important basics of this technology of how to organize and handle groups is contained in the Scientology Handbook.

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.