Scientology and New Year Resolutions - Part 3 - Want Your Product

The next thing to examine in making your New Year Resolutions become a reality is "want". Do you really want the product you have named?

I strongly recommend that you read the article "Want Your Product". It is dated 7 August 1976 and can be found in the Admin Know-How Series of articles in Management Series Volume 1.

Sometimes people make a New Year Resolution because of pressure from relatives or peers. "I'm going to give up smoking!" Is that your choice or is it a choice that has been forced on you by others? If it is not your choice then it won't happen. You have to make the decision for yourself and not because others are forcing you.

Another possibility is that although the resolution is a good idea and is something you should want, your "want" seems either not be there or comes and goes. One day you want it and the next you don't care. The usual reason for this is that someone in your environment is an anti-social personality and is not interested in you improving. This can be handled by understanding the situation and becoming knowledgeable in how to deal with such people. There is a course called "Overcoming Ups and Downs in Life" that gives you the knowledge and tools to handle the situation.

The other possibility is a tough one to face. If a resolution is a positive thing that will help you or others and you still don't want it, then it is possible you have a problem with personal integrity. You've done things (or are doing things) that are harming yourself or others and deep down you don't think you deserve to improve. This is the toughest one for a person to face because we usually have such actions very well explained and justified or we just want to forget that we ever did them. The husband who cheated on his wife, the employee who stole from his employer, etc., etc. We live in a rather unethical society where "everyone does it, so why shouldn't I?" But deep down we know something is wrong. Well, luckily there is an answer for this condition too. The Personal Values and Integrity Course can help. It gives you practical methods to handle the situation and regain your personal integrity.

Now that you want the resolution you have named you can go on to the next step ...

Scientology and New Year Resolutions - Part 2 - Name Your Product

I strongly recommend that you read the article "Name Your Product". It is dated 7 August 1976 and can be found in the Admin Know-How Series of articles in Management Series Volume 1. Mr. Hubbard explains it much better than I can. Anyway, here is my attempt:

If you want to achieve something then the first step is to name it fully and completely and to the level of detail necessary to really know what you are going for. Maybe that sounds obvious, but let's look at a common New Year Resolution: "I'm going to lose weight". Okay, so you lose an ounce - resolution achieved, you lost weight. Hmmm, perhaps you were intending more than that. How about "I'm going to lose 10 pounds." So you go on a diet for 2 months and lose 10 pounds but by the end of the year you've put the 10 lbs back on. Well, how about this wording, "I am going to reduce my Body Mass Index to 23 and I am going to keep it at or below that level permanently." Now you have taken the first step in achieving your goal, you have accurately named the state or thing you are going to create.

One last important point - you are naming something you are going to have, not what you are going to do. "I'm going to eat less" is not a product, it is not something you can have, it is something you are going to do to achieve the thing you are going to have. In this first step you don't look at what you are going to do, you look at what you want to have. Doing comes later.

Scientology and New Year Resolutions - Part 1

How many times have you looked back at the New Year Resolutions you made last year only to see that they were not achieved? For some people it's gotten so bad that they don't even bother with resolutions because they know they'll never keep them. Often it becomes a joke: "I've given up smoking 16 times."

Well, there is a way to make your resolutions happen. In 1976, L. Ron Hubbard wrote a series of articles on how to get things achieved. They were titled "Name Your Product", "Want Your Product" and "To Get You have To Know How To Organize." They are found in The Management Series Volume 1. They cover the three basic steps needed to achieve anything and in the next three days I'll tell you how they can be used to make your resolutions happen.

Christmas Day

Well, all that I can say today is: Merry Christmas!

A Scientologist's Take on Christmas

In Scientology we don't have any traditional special dates such as the winter solstice/Christmas/Chanukha or the spring equinox/Easter. We have our own special dates such as the birthday of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the religion, the date of the founding of the International Association of Scientologists and a few others like that. However, being a happy bunch we are pleased to celebrate the same traditional holidays as everyone else in the societies in which we live. So, for example, tomorrow I'll be giving and receiving gifts over at our in-laws (who are Jewish but celebrate Christmas anyway).

Tonight my wife and I and our kids will be meeting some close friends at a superb local restaurant where there will be carolers and traditional Christmas fare available. We'll be singing along and having a good time getting into the Christmas spirit.

As I've said before in my Scientology Blog, to me, when you are trying to get at the commonalities between religions, religious philosophy is more important than religious practice. The philosophy behind Christmas is hope for the future, helping others less fortunate and goodwill to all mankind. So for me that is what Christmas represents and based on that I try to "practice" Christmas according to those three ideas. For example, I give gifts to the kids and a few close friends and family, but most of my gift giving consists of donations to charitable organizations that are doing something to help others less fortunate and protect human rights.

Several years ago I began making donations to such organizations on behalf of family members. I thought, why give some meaningless present to a family member who you maybe see two or three times a year, or who perhaps lives far away and you see once or twice in a decade? So I made the donations, created fancy certificates to represent them and gave the certificates as presents. I was very surprised at how well this was received. And with my more distant family this has become our own Christmas tradition. For example, my dad gives to a cancer research organization and to Oxfam on my behalf and I give to The World Literacy Crusade and The Citizens Commission on Human Rights and others for him.

So whatever your religion, or lack thereof, you can still get into the spirit of the season by using the philosophy behind Christmas to guide your actions.

Christmas

Staying on the topic of Religious Philosophy versus Religious Practice let's look at the ideas behind Christmas.

The history of Christmas is quite fascinating. Since our earliest recorded history the time of year when the days stop getting shorter and the sun "returns" (the Winter Solstice) has been celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere.

No matter what the practice surrounding the celebration (whether sacrificing the mock king to assist the god Marduk in his battle against the forces of evil, the sending of scouts to report the return of the sun to the dark northern skies or what looks like just plain ole partying by the Romans during "Saturnalia") the essential message was one of hope for the future.

It wasn't until the 19th Century that what we now think of as the Christmas tradition began. What happened essentially was that by creating popular literature about a "tradition" that didn't really exist, the tradition was brought into being. This new "tradition" stressed the importance of helping others not so fortunate as ourselves and good will towards all mankind.

Despite the commercialism of modern day Christmas, I think those three messages of hope for the future, helping others and good will towards all, still manage to cause good things to happen at this time of year.

So no matter what your religion, if you recognize the philosophy behind the practice called "Christmas", you can join in a celebration of those three messages and better yet, you can practice them in whatever way you wish according to your beliefs.

Scientology as a Religion - Part 4

Exclusivity

Another difference in Scientology is that it does not regard itself as the only way to spiritual improvement but merely as a workable way. It contains practical, workable philosophy and methods of application of the philosophy which have been tried, tested, improved and validated over a period of more than 50 years.

Theology

Theology means "a particular system or school of religious beliefs and teachings". So if Scientology is a religion what is the theology behind it? Well you can read a book on the subject online in HTML or PDF format:

• HTML: "Theology & Practice of a Contemporary Religion"
• PDF: "Theology & Practice of a Contemporary Religion" (large file so the link may take a little time to load)

Scientology as a Religion - Part 3

Scientology is Applied Religious Philosophy

Scientology is something rare in the field of religion, it is an applied religious philosophy. It is religious philosophy that is aimed at application in everyday life and in helping ones fellow man attain spiritual freedom. Unlike most religions it does not encapsulate its philosophy in allegorical stories or religious practices, instead it presents its spiritual ideas and practical methods for spiritual improvement directly.

That is not to say there is anything wrong with allegorical stories or religious practices because there isn't, Scientology simply takes another approach. In the religious field the earliest example of this approach that I know of was in the original form of Buddhism. Gautama Siddhartha developed a philosophy, a set of rules to live by, a set of techniques for spiritual improvement and taught them as-is with no embellishment.

The Scientology Logics, which I wrote a set of articles on over the past few weeks, are good examples of the religious philosophy of Scientology. They are very practical. Thus Scientology presents itself on a "take-it-or-leave-it" basis. A piece of practical philosophy is presented, the individual studies it, understands it and then uses it. In this way he can observe for himself if it is true by whether it worked for him or not. If he decides it is not true then as far as he is concerned it isn't true and no one is going to force him to believe it.

This method of presentation of the Scientology religion means that it can be approached by people of any religion without compromising their own beliefs.

Scientology as a Religion - Part 2

Religious Philosophy and Religious Practice

There is an important distinction in religion between religious philosophy and religions practice. In the west a religion is usually thought of as a set of beliefs and methods of worship relating to a god. For example, many people think of Christianity as simply being a belief system with various methods of worshiping a supreme being called "God". In other words they think of it merely as a religious practice. What they miss by this limited understanding is the rich religious philosophy of Christianity. They read a biblical story and think it's just a story or a piece of history and completely miss the philosophic message contained in it. For example, the story of the Good Samaritan encapsulates the idea that there is good in everyone.

The religious philosophy contained in the Christian Bible has led to literally thousands of different religious practices: the Catholics, the Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc., etc.

As I will explain in more detail tomorrow, Scientology is mainly a religious philosophy with relatively little religious practice.

Scientology as a Religion - Part 1

How Scientology is a religion is sometimes difficult for a westerner to grasp because of some western religious traditions that Scientology does not conform to. In the next few days I'll go over how Scientology differs from the traditional western view of religion and how it is nevertheless a religion.

All Denominational

Being a Scientologist does not prevent a person from joining or remaining in another religion. A man or woman can be a Scientologist and a member of any other religion. I personally know Scientologists who are also Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Methodists and Buddhists.

Dogma regarding the Supreme Being

Scientology does not intrude into the realm of the Supreme Being. The individual is allowed to have his own beliefs and faith regarding the Supreme Being. Scientology regards each individual as a spiritual being (an idea held in common by all religions) and its applied religious philosophy revolves around this concept of an individual spiritual being.

Your Chance to Apply the Scientology Logics

I found a site that contains some interesting data on Scientology and people who don't like it. So here is your chance to apply the Logics to the evaluation of some knowledge

Have a read of this page: "Scientology" and as you go through it evaluate the data. You can use all the Logics, but the main ones in this case are Logics 6 - 8, Logics 9 - 13, Logics 14 - 18 and Logics 19 - 22.

Have fun.

Scientology Logic 24

Logic 24 - The resolution of the philosophical, scientific and human studies (such as economics, politics, sociology, medicine, criminology, etc.) depends primarily upon the resolution of the problems of the human mind.

Which explains why philosophy has fallen into disrepute (being viewed by the common man as so much vacuous mumbo-jumbo), economics has created an almost slave society were the average family needs two bread-winners to survive, why politics has decayed into some sort of sporting event, why sociology seems to be a mere gathering of statistics, medicine kills more patients annually than an average war, criminology is a dismal failure that is unable to predict criminal behavior with any level of accuracy and psychology and psychiatry have become methods of selling drugs and torturing restrained patients.

Until now the problems of the human mind have never been solved. Now that Dianetics has solved those problems the humanities have a chance to be the solutions for man that they have long promised, but never managed, to be.

Scientology Logic 23 (continued)

The corollary to Logic 23 states: The human mind is capable of resolving the problem of the human mind. The borderline of solution of this science lies between why life is surviving and how life is surviving. It is possible to resolve how life is surviving without resolving why life is surviving.

This is another very bold statement which flies in the teeth of the failures and excuses of psychology and psychiatry. Those two fields have so dismally and completely failed to resolve the problem of the human mind that they now resort to drugs, shocks and surgery. They "know" that nothing can be done about it so it doesn't matter what they do. Their treatments add up to profits for them and brain damage for the patient.

The problem of the human mind not only can be solved but has been in Dianetics, the first workable science of the mind. The therapy is easy to administer and has been validated over a 54 year period. I recommend you find out about it.

Scientology Logic 23 (continued)

In Logic 23 a postulate is put forward which could be easily passed over without realizing its importance. The postulate is: The human mind and inventions of the human mind are capable of resolving any and all problems which can be sensed, measured or experienced directly or indirectly.

This is a very bold statement. How many times in the past have we been told that some problem is unsolvable or that man will never understand some area of knowledge? This postulate shoots an arrow straight into the heart of the superstition, apathy and excuses which need to justify themselves by saying man will never know or will never resolve some mystery. It lays bare the intentions of the high priests of ignorance who wish to rule and profit from the currency of unknowingness in their pathetic kingdoms. It is also a direct attack on those who use the "you can never solve this problem" idea to trap men in lives of economic and social slavery.

The human mind and inventions of the human mind are capable of resolving any and all problems which can be sensed, measured or experienced directly or indirectly. I don't know if this is the first time in the field of philosophy that someone has said that man can know and can solve any problem he can be aware of, but I think it is the first time it has been stated so boldly and unequivocally.

Scientology Logic 23

Logic 23 - The human mind is a servomechanism to any mathematics evolved or employed by the human mind.

POSTULATE: The human mind and inventions of the human mind are capable of resolving any and all problems which can be sensed, measured or experienced directly or indirectly.

COROLLARY: The human mind is capable of resolving the problem of the human mind. The borderline of solution of this science lies between why life is surviving and how life is surviving. It is possible to resolve how life is surviving without resolving why life is surviving.

This can be a tough logic to get your wits around if you don't have a good concept of two things: 1) What is a "servomechanism" and 2) who creates the mathematics in the first place?

1) A servomechanism is a device that monitors the performance of another device and causes adjustments in the running of that device to bring it closer to an optimal performance.

2) The logic itself answers this one: Mathematics are created by the human mind.

To make Logic 23 more concrete let's take an example. We have to calculate the cost of items we are selling. The total is the cost of the item plus the sales tax which has a rate of 8%. We figure out a formula (mathematics) to calculate this as total = cost * 1.08. We use this successfully for some time then the state decides that the rate must increase to 8 1/4%. So we adjust the formula to total = cost * 1.0825. It's as simple as that. The human mind in this case evolved the mathematics (the first formula) and then acted as a servomechanism by monitoring the mathematics and adjusting it to make it produce correct results.

More on this Logic tomorrow.

Scientology Logic 22

Logic 22 - The human mind is an observer, postulator, creator and storage place of knowledge.

The human mind by definition includes the awareness unit of the living organism, the observer, the computer of data, the spirit, the memory storage, the life force and the individual motivator of the living organism. It is used as distinct from the brain which can be considered to be motivated by the mind.

Usually when the mind gets a mention in the media or in a book it is to show how crazy it is. The subjects of psychiatry and psychology have been so obsessed with the study of deranged minds that it seems they have never looked at functioning, sane minds. Here at last, in Logic 22, is a look at the mind as something positive and vital to mankind.

The story of civilization has so often been a battle between the great minds and the deranged. So let's recognize the fact that, although things are far from perfect, the great minds are winning. If you compare the state of the world 1,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago or 3,000 years ago to how it is now you will see a steady improvement. For example in Hellenic Greece at the height of its "Golden Age" (5th Century BC) slavery was a normal part of society and so accepted that it was rarely if ever questioned. Although slavery still exists it is now an illegal and debased activity and the concerned institutions of our civilization fight against slavery.

The human mind has been able to observe, postulate, create and store more and more knowledge as the centuries have gone by. The knowledge we need to overcome the challenges that face us and create an even better civilization exists but we must use the other logics to evaluate the vast amount of knowledge we now have so we can select out the true from the false, the vital from the dross and the survival data from the destructive.

Scientology Logic 21

Logic 21 - Mathematics are methods of postulating or resolving real or abstract data in any universe and integrating by symbolization of data, postulates and resolutions.

Mathematics is a very broad subject and it is important to understand from the outset that it is not just arithmetic and algebra. There is an excellent description of mathematics on Wikipedia. That article begins with "Mathematics is commonly defined as the study of patterns of structure, change, and space." Math (American abbreviation) or Maths (rest of the English speaking world abbreviation) has been used not only to figure out your taxes but also to figure out complex physical universe laws (such as relativity). Once you have an understanding of the wide field of Math, you will see that Logic 21 is a pretty good definition of the subject that successfully covers all its aspects.

It's also important to realize that mathematics is more logic than counting. An example is working out the tip to pay your waiter. Even if you use a calculator there is a sequence with decisions (both elements of logic) in which you do things: 1. take the sales tax from the total cost, 2. get the actual cost of the food, 3. if the service was exceptional then multiply by 20%, 4. if the service was average then multiply by 15%, 5. if the service was less than average then multiply by 10%, 6. if the service sucked then multiply by 0%.

In order to generalize this formula to take into account fluctuations in tipping amounts we could create this formula:

t = f * s
where t is the tip amount, f is the cost of the food and s is the value of the service,

s = v - q
where s is the value of the service, v is the highest service value (in our example 20%) and q is a factor depending on the quality of the service (in our example, average service would have a q value of -5%, terrible service would have a value of -20%)

f = b - e
where f is the cost of the food, b is the total on the bill and e is the extras such as sales tax or other fees not related to the cost of food.

Now we have a general formula for calculating the amount of the tip and if you compare what we did to Logic 21 you will see that many of the elements of the logic were used to do this.

Scientology Logic 20

Logic 20 - A science may be considered to be a large body of aligned data which has similarity in application and which has been deduced or induced from basic postulates.

This may seem like "just a definition for science" but if it is applied to a field claiming to be a science then we can validate if the field really is a science.

Take Physics as an example. It is a large body of data which is aligned, e.g., what Einstein says doesn't disagree with what Newton says, they both apply and fit together. There is similarity in application - if scientist X applies theory A and scientists Y also applies theory A then they get the same results. We can also look at the basic principles of Physics, its basic postulates, and we can see how later data derives from them. So we can say that Physics is a science.

Now let's take a look at psychology and psychiatry. Well, first we have Wundt's theories, which contradict Adler, who disagreed with Freud. We see that Dr. Phil's latest ideas are different to Dr. Laura's whose are different to Dr. Kinsey. There is no alignment except perhaps around money. If psychiatrist A gives drug X to patient Q the patient becomes very docile. If psychiatrist A gives drug X to patient R the patient becomes psychotic and kills his wife. If psychiatrist A gives drug X to patient S the patient commits suicide. There is no similarity in application. When we look for basic postulates in these subjects we don't really find any. So it is clear that psychology and psychiatry are not sciences but pseudo-sciences - i.e., frauds.

Scientology Logic 19

Logic 19 - The workability of a postulate is established by the degree to which it explains existing phenomena already known, by the degree that it predicts new phenomena which when looked for will be found to exist, and by the degree that it does not require that phenomena which do not exist in fact be called into existence for its explanation.

If I tell you that the United Nations is about to take over the USA (an idea I have actually heard) then to tell how workable this postulate is you would look for existing, known phenomena that it explains. Personally I can't think of any, so let's look for phenomena it predicts. Well first of all, if the UN was that powerful militarily then if some small country were having a war and the UN told it to stop and it didn't stop, you would expect to hear that the UN's mighty military arm had gone in and blasted the miscreants out of existence. Hmmm, the last I heard the UN was pretty useless in anything that involved military action - look at the Balkans for example, the UN was so ineffective that NATO had to go in to stop the genocide. So lacking actual phenomena and lacking phenomena which can be predicted and found to exist, the "the UN is coming! The UN is coming!" theorists then call into existence phenomena which do not exist - for example the silent "black helicopters" (so cleverly used in the movie "Conspiracy Theory"). Now notice that per the definition of "knowledge" in Logic 1, the idea itself is a piece of knowledge but when we evaluate it we find that it is not a workable piece of knowledge - except perhaps for a Hollywood script writer.

Now you may think the postulate "Santa Claus exists and all the stories surrounding him are true" is similarly unworkable merely because he has no physical existence, but if you look at the Santa Claus story as a myth containing philosophical ideas then it starts to have workability. For example, the story contains the idea that if you give to others without expecting anything material in return you will be rewarded spiritually. We look at this and we see that people give to charities and donate food so poor people can enjoy a good meal at Christmas and poor children can receive presents. They receive nothing in return but they feel better about themselves and others. So that part of the Santa Claus story is a workable postulate.

Now we can predict that if there is a disaster and homes and businesses are destroyed, people will pitch in to help those in trouble. And sure enough we see this all the time, the California Wild Fires were a recent example of this.

So remember Logic 12: "The value of a datum or a field of data is modified by the viewpoint of the observer." And realize that sometimes if you change your viewpoint an apparently unworkable postulate can become workable.

Scientology Logic 18

Logic 18 - A postulate is as valuable as it is workable.

Postulate: a proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning.

Workable: capable of being done with means at hand and circumstances as they are.

This Logic may seem obvious but how often have we seen some idea put forward and accepted that is completely unworkable.

Blood-letting was a postulate put forward by doctors from antiquity up to the late 19th century. The doctor drained blood (sometimes lots of it) from the victim, oops, I mean patient in the belief that this would cure or prevent disease. Believe it or not this technique actually doesn't work and was what killed George Washington.

Another obviously bogus postulate was that blasting between 180 and 480 volts through the brain would cure a patient of mental problems. The technique was initially so damaging that some patients broke teeth and even sometimes their backs due to the agony caused by the technique. The solution was to tie them down and put a piece of wood or rubber in their mouth. In later years the patient was also given a shot of a muscle relaxant to prevent the broken bones. This obviously damaging practice was in use in the supposedly civilized world of the late 20th century. We look back at it now as simply a means of torturing the patient into a state of apathetic quiet so he won't bother anyone with his ... What was that? It's still in use? No way! Let me see that : Electroshock and Psychosurgery. Well, I guess if we allow such things to go on we aren't as civilized as we thought.

Scientology Logic 17

Logic 17 - Those fields which most depend upon authoritative opinion for their data least contain known natural law.

If a scientist comes along and gives an authoritative opinion about the stress bearing capabilities of concrete and then the bridge that was built using this opinion falls down, it is clear his opinion was wrong. The fields of physics and engineering are fields containing a great deal of known natural law so the accuracy of authoritative opinions can rapidly be established and thus these fields suffer less than most others from this disease.

But what about art? "That is a great painting," asserts one man. "It's a piece of crap," asserts another. Then an art critic gives his authoritative opinion and the picture becomes worth millions. How can that be? It is because there is little or no known natural law in the field.

What about the field of the mind? In the 19th Century there was a well known disease called "Brain Fever". If you look up the term in a current dictionary it now has a meaningful definition, but in the 19th Century it was used as a catch-all to explain any kind of "mentally fevered" reaction or state. As a Sherlock Holmes fan I can recall three stories where characters had "brain fever", it seemed to be a combination of nervous breakdown and fever - very handy for a writer who needed a character to be incapacitated for a while. Of course now we know there is no such thing as "brain fever" as it was defined back then.

Earlier than the 19th Century everyone knew that mental derangement was cause by demonic possession and the cure was exorcism.

We look back at these ideas which were put forward by the very best authorities of the time and perhaps we shudder at the thought of how the poor patient was treated or perhaps we laugh at the idiocy of it. The thing to realize is that the field of the mind contains no known natural law and so "authorities" can get away with such nonsense.

Of course nowadays we are so advanced in this field that we know for certain that all mental derangement comes from a chemical imbalance in the brain. And instead of paying lots of money to exorcists to remove the demons we pay lots of money to psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies who provide addictive mind-altering drugs to cure the imbalance. I wonder what they'll be saying in a hundred years about that authoritative opinion?

Scientology Logic 16

Logic 16 - An abstract postulate must be compared to the universe to which it applies and brought into the category of things which can be sensed, measured or experienced in that universe before such postulate can be considered workable.

This is an important datum. This is where a lot of people go wrong. They come up with a solution to a problem and then without comparing it to reality and without bringing it into the realm of reality, they try to implement it.

A horrible and highly damaging example of this is the psychiatric theory that insanity is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. To compared that theory to the universe to which it applies and bring it into the category of things which can be sensed, measured or experienced we would have to have a test that could be performed that would show the imbalance. No such test exists, so this theory has never been validated, yet the theory is used daily to "treat" people with "mental problems" by filling them up with drugs whose adverse side-effects include psychotic behavior and suicide. The consequences are profits for the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries and immeasurable harm to the patient.