29 years working in a Scientology Church

I just wanted to acknowledge Alex Car who writes the blog for the Church of Scientology of Kansas City. Alex has been on staff in Kansas for 29 years! Wow. That is an awesome achievement.

The longest I ever worked at one place was twelve years and that was broken into three slots because I twice left to work at startups that didn't.

Alex' blog can be found here: Church of Scientology of Kansas City "Ideal Org" Blog

Is Scientology a Perfect System?

Luis said: Hi Grahame. I am glad to have found a pro Scientology set of opinions and perspectives. From my viewpoint, personal growth, freedom, sanity, strength and greatness requires being able to examine honestly and objectively all viewpoints available pro and con and being able to recognize and admit to the one that is being perceived as having the most truth in it, even if painful, even if it makes one, or one's viewpoint, or one's group flawed.

While the Mantra "what is true for you..." is frequently used by Scientologists to point out the intention of the Church to encourage freedom to think, it, from my experience, is neither encouraged, nor applied nor nourished, but used to “impossibilitize” the existence of mass production of blinded followers because there exists this precept.

Grahame said: I don't know what your experience is, but that is not mine. I've found Scientologists to be strong individuals who definitely think for themselves. A lot of Scientologists I know own their own businesses, you can't be successful in business if you can't think for yourself and think on your feet.

Luis said: From the moment you read Keeping Scientology working, and from the statements I have seen of Ron Hubbard claiming to have THE only valid viewpoints and technology, THE only person able to be the source of spiritual-growth-producing” data, THE only “bridge to total freedom”; THE only person capable of decoding life….the nourishing of critical thinking and examination of information presented begins to be slowly stultified.

Grahame said: What you say is not accurate. The article "Keeping Scientology Working" says that Scientology is "workable". It is a workable way to achieve spiritual improvement. That is why the article is called "Keeping Scientology Working".

There is a whole set of articles called the "Keeping Scientology Working Series." Number 4 in the series is called "Safeguarding Technology" and in it L. Ron Hubbard says, "Scientology is a workable system. This does not mean it is the best possible system or a perfect system. Remember and use that definition. Scientology is a workable system."

If a system claims to be workable then a person can figure out pretty quickly for themselves if it is or is not. If the system says do A, B and C and you will get result D, then you can test that out easily. That is what the "what is true for you" quote is all about, seeing for yourself if it works or not.

If you decide it is not a workable system then fine. Go find another religion. But if you do find that it is workable then follow it correctly, so it works.

LRH also says in the same article, "People have following the route mixed up with 'the right to have their own ideas.' Anyone is certainly entitled to have opinions and ideas ...."

Luis said: If Ron would have presented his viewpoints as HIS viewpoints and not THE viewpoints to be had, he would have been encouraging (by allowing the space) for evaluation of his precepts and, moreover, for development of the capacity for individuals to think for themselves, to be determining for themselves, even while in The Church, what is or is not true, what makes sense and what does not.

Grahame said: I covered this point in my article, Scientology: What is true for you. Briefly, LRH presented the technology as something that works and that should be exactly followed to get the results because that is what he found. He presented his opinions as merely opinions that you can take or leave. But read the whole article and the comments as it covers that and more.

The most common statement I hear from Scientologists is "This is what Ron says..." and not "This is what I think". That is, to me, an indication of the loss of the ability to establish and be faithful to ones own viewpoints.

That is why, in my opinion, the perception exists, in some people, including myself, that in talking to a Scientologist, you are most likely to get canned responses, including "what is true for you....."

Grahame says: If you are referring to talking to Scientologists about Scientology then, sure, you will probably hear "Ron says" a lot, because he's the one who wrote the materials that make up the subject. It's like talking about Christianity and saying "the bible says" or talking about General Relativity and saying "Einstein says". Of course the people taking about it will refer to those sources because they define the subject.

Also, has it never crossed your mind that someone saying "Ron says ..." may be telling you what is true for him personally?

When it comes to other subjects I don't find Scientologists saying "Ron says ...." For Example, when I am solving problems in my job, I often am working with a team to solve them. If I think we should do something I say "I think we should do blah. What do you guys think?" I go out of my way to get collaboration going because that's what I've found works in my profession.

Luis said: In my opinion, once you become a “Keeping Scientology Working Scientologist”, the conduct and intention, in any situation, becomes promoting the illusion that Scientology and Ron are flawless, pure, the greatest ever, and incapable of sinning.

Grahame says: That is your opinion and "in any situation" is a huge generality. It is certainly not my observation. Scientologists will insist that the technology is applied correctly because they have seen for themselves that applying it correctly gets desirable results and they want to help their fellow man. That's where they will be insistent.

Your insistence that we think Scientology and Ron are "flawless ..." etc., is not correct. I can only give you my own personal viewpoint and that of the Scientologists I know personally: L. Ron Hubbard was a great guy who figured out how to help us raise ourselves spiritually to new heights. He never claimed to be perfect, above others or something special. Scientology is a workable system of spiritual improvement. Ron never claimed it was perfect (see my comment earlier).

Luis said: These, of course, are my viewpoints. Regards, Luis

Grahame says: thanks for your comments.

My Hands Just Turned Purple

The gullibility rating of the Internet hit a new high yesterday when a highly reliable (sorry if the sarcasm dripped onto your computer screen) source of entertainment news reported that Katie Holmes' hands had turned purple. Don't laugh. Someone did actually report that and several "news" (that may not be the right word, if you can think of a better one then please tell me in the comments) sites picked it up and began repeating it, in the usual mindless fashion of news sites, as if it were true.

The "source" of this nonsense? A paparazzi pic that, if you zoomed in on it, made her hand look a bit dark. Perhaps a shadow? - No way. Let's take the much more logical explanation: her hands have turned purple.

Freedom of speech is threatened when it is abused like this. What is its value when any jerk can make up some news story because he needs to attract eyeballs?

That people believed such nonsense is also scary. Is the general public so gullible? I hope not. What do you think?

BTW, if you are interested, here are some other shots of her hands taken on the same day: What's wrong with Katie Holmes' Hands?. Gee, I wonder why the reporters never looked at these? I guess they didn't want to spoil a perfectly good story by injecting some pesky truth into it.

Clearing the Planet Question

CD said:

I haven't asked any questions in awhile, and I have actually just quietly read your work. I have enjoyed your patient explanations, as well as your humor.

I just had one question this time, rather simple really,

I understand that the Church of Scientology, among other goals, has its main mission to "clear the planet" or rid the world of reactive minds thus bringing about a utopian world where the goals of Scientology are reality.

But to do courses, auditing, training etc. in the Chruch one must pay a great deal of money to advance.

Of course books are rather cheap, and the simpler the course the cheaper the donation, but to ascend in such a manner to become "clear" or "OT" either a great deal of money is required or one can work for the church and recieve a discount.

So, with that prologue,

How does the Church of Scientology expect to clear every person on Earth with such donation prequisites?

Most middle class Americans, with such considerations as rising gas prices, rising food prices, mortgage rates, house forclosures, and economic instability, are unwilling to pay such donation rates, and middle class americans by world standards, are rather wealthy indeed.

So how then, does the Chruch plan on clearing the impoversihed villages of Africa?

Or the war torn Eastern European states?

Or the dictatorships and drug ridden towns in South America?

Or the simple aborigines of Australia?

Or the starving in India, where cannibalism practice rates have risen as high as 2% of the population over the years?

Don't get me wrong, I understand fully that all religious organizations, rely on the support of their parishoners for their well being. Many Chruches require tithing for membership, such as the LDS church.

But given the goal of a "clear planet", how does the Church expect to reach, disseminate to, and clear war torn, impoverished, starving regions of the world?

Or even, just the majority of the world, such as in South America, Africa, and parts of Aisa, where people, matter of factly, live simply, with almost no money?

If many Americans will not pay such donation rates, how does the Church plan on acquiring such extensive donations from such poverty stricken or even just simple populations, which make up the majority of the world?

Best,

C.D

One question? I counted a lot more than that :) If you could ask one at a time, I'd appreciate it. I'm pressed for time right now.

The actual aims of Scientology are given here: Aims of Scientology (the brief version is "A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights").

People use the slang phrase "Clear the planet" but the actual aims are as given on that link.

I can't speak for the long-term planning of the Church, but I'll give you my ideas on how the things you asked about will be handled:

Scientology services currently cost money. This is simply a necessity of survival. In the Western World you need money or you go under. Scientology doesn't have a couple thousand years of history in which to have gathered massive resources so the Church has to request donations for its services that enable it to survive. This could change in the future.

Currently if a person has an income so low that it precludes paying for services then the idea is to help them gradually become more able via free, intro and other low cost services. Then once they are more able and therefore more able to earn income they will be able to donate. This is a win-win scenario.

As Churches grow there will be more people able to deliver free services such as students in training to become ministers (auditors). Therefore, more and more people in difficult situations can be helped. It's all a matter of resources. Also, co-auditing can be done with basics such as Dianetics with little or no outlay of money.

On helping people in third world countries: The Church currently has Volunteer Minister projects running in many third world areas. The idea is to help these people raise their countries to a higher level of prosperity. Right now there are a lot of Scientology and Dianetics groups in African countries where people are co-auditing with basic auditing procedures. There are also several African countries that use Study Technology in their school systems.

I hope that gives you an idea. I am not privy to the long term plans and strategies of Church Management but I'm sure they have much more in mind to achieve the Aims of Scientology and help the people's of Earth.

More evidence that ADHD is a fake

Just published in the British Medical Journal are the results of a study that shows a clear connection between hyperactivity in children and chemical additives in foods.

Removing junk food from a child's diet is a simple treatment that has no side-effects and plenty of positive effects compared with drugs which have horrendous side-effects such as nervousness, insomnia, anorexia; nausea; dizziness; palpitations; headache, cardiac arrhythmia; abdominal pain etc., etc.

A study by the Montreal Children's Hospital found that after five years hyperactive children who received drugs (either Ritalin or Chloropromazine) did not differ significantly from children who had not received them. Although it appeared that hyperactive kids treated with Ritalin were initially more manageable, the degree of improvement and emotional adjustment was essentially identical at the end of five years to that seen in a group of kids who had received no medication at all.

Of course the big difference between the kids who took no drugs and those that took the drugs was that pharmaceutical companies made no profit from the kids who took no drugs.  And the non-drug kids didn't get any of the horrible side-effects.

So why are these drugs used at all if the end result is the same as if the kids took nothing?  As the legal profession says "cui bono?"  (who benefits?)

Cost of Scientology Services - Again

This question has been covered extensively here: Cost of Scientology Services. However, it seems from Tom's question that there is still some misunderstanding, so I will answer it again in order to clear up any confusion.

Tom Newton asks:

Ok, my question is this. You say "training" in scientology costs very little compared to a 4 year degree in any other religion.

OT VIII costs upwards of $300,000 USD to attain, assuming you have no "overts" to "go over again" (aka another intensive at $12,500USD). - Amounts taken from ASHO ordering form.

A 4 year degree cost at most $50,000USD from any recognized theological college.

Would you care to explain possibly where my data is incorrect in regards to this?

Hey Tom Newton, I will try to explain where your data is incorrect.

First of all, your data confuses Scientology Training with Scientology Auditing. For example, OT VIII is not training, it is a level of spiritual ability reached through Auditing.

Training is what you do to learn how to apply the spiritual technology of Scientology to help others. This would compare with the degree at the theological college. I don't have price lists handy but $50,000 would be more than enough to get you up to Class VIII, the highest level of auditor training if you are not working in a Church. This is actually equivalent to more than a four year degree.

Auditing is the spiritual counseling that uses the spiritual technology. Auditing is more expensive than training because it is one-on-one and requires a lot of support staff for it to be delivered standardly. There is a very large amount of auditing available in Scientology. For example I am on OT VII and it has taken me over 30 years to get that far and it has NOT cost me $300,000. I don't know where that figure comes from but it is not accurate.

Also, if you want to pay less for auditing then you can get trained and find someone else to "co-audit" with - you audit them and they audit you. Or you can work in a Church and get your auditing for free. The way it works is the more you help others the less it costs you.

On your data that intensives (12 1/2 hours of auditing) cost "$12,500" - I have never ever paid that much for an intensive. Also the statement "Amounts taken from ASHO ordering form" means that your figures for such things as the cost of all services up to OT VIII are going to be wrong because ASHO doesn't deliver even half of those services. It is primarily a training Church that delivers very specialized auditing services, so any figures you get from an ASHO donations list are not representative of other Churches. (Perhaps that's what the $12,500 figure was, something very specialized.)

I hope that answers your questions.

I'm getting behind on comments

Sorry to everyone who is waiting to see their comment/question and get an answer.  I moderate my comments and I'm nearing the end of a major software project so work hours have increased and I don't have as much time to devote to blogging :(

But I will get to them, so be patient. 

(If a comment violates my comment rules then I don't guarantee anything.)

The life of a 15 year old Scientologist

Here is an interview with Mickey, an Italian teenager who is also a Scientologist. Raise by Catholic and Scientologist parents she has a tolerant attitude toward religions. Schooled in study technology, she speaks three languages and can read recipes in a fourth (she wants to be a Chef).

Here is her story: "It takes smarts to think for yourself- it only takes a semi-good memory to act like everyone else."

What we don't believe

It is quite amazing the weird ideas people get about what Scientologists do and don't believe.  Here are a couple of weird ideas that Julia has encountered:

Scientology and... Mint?
Scientologists - What Do We Believe About Hell and Earth?

There are plenty of others, here is one I blogged about in May: Scientology and Weird Stuff

I often wonder where they get all this stuff from.  Someone has a good imagination.

So what do we do in Scientology?

I was trying to think of a simple way to answer this question and then I saw that Desi did it for me in her blog post today. 

She said a lot, but one particular item I thought deserved emphasis:

The ratio on this is amazing:

Cumulative hours of time spent worrying or grappling with or refusing to confront these three problems on my own: 36 years

Cumulative time spent resolving these three situations in or out of counseling since last weekend: 8 hours

I've found that myself.  There is something in your life that has affected you for years and years and in a couple of hours of Scientology Auditing it's handled, gone, no-longer-a-problem, fixed.  That is an example of the magic of Scientology.

Here is her full post: Get a Better ROI on Life

So what do we believe?

Having told you, in my last two posts, what Scientologists don't believe, I thought that it was now time to tell y'all what we do believe.

The Scientology home page says this:

The word Scientology literally means "the study of truth." It comes from the Latin word "scio" meaning "knowing in the fullest sense of the word" and the Greek word "logos" meaning "study of."

Scientology is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. The Scientology religion comprises a body of knowledge extending from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these:

Man is an immortal, spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized — and those capabilities can be realized. He is able to not only solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also achieve new, higher states of awareness and ability.

In Scientology no one is asked to accept anything as belief or on faith. That which is true for you is what you have observed to be true. An individual discovers for himself that Scientology works by personally applying its principles and observing or experiencing results.

(I emphasized that last bit.)

I think that's a pretty good start.  I'll continue with more tomorrow.

Why Aliens?

This is the second article on this subject. The first is here: Aliens and Counting Planets

Here are some questions and answers regarding Scientology and aliens:

1. Do Scientologists worship aliens? No.
2. Do Scientologists believe that someone in the religion is in contact with aliens? No.
3. Do Scientologist believe we are descended from aliens? No.
4. Do books on Scientology mention aliens? No.
5. Are aliens contained in the beliefs of Scientology? No.
6. When religious scholars have examined Scientology have they found that Scientology contains a belief in aliens? No.

So why do you find descriptions of Scientology on the Internet that insist that we do believe such things?

The two simplest explanations I have come up with are Religious Bigotry and the thing the media seems to worship called "Controversy."

Bigotry

People who, for whatever reason, hate Scientology and Scientologists are the ones who started this whole "they believe in aliens" thing. It's an old technique: you make the target of your hatred look weird, strange or dangerous so that people won't object when you attack them.

One of the most famous uses of this technique was in the creation of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", a fabricated document that was claimed to be the Jewish plan for world domination. Despite being proven over and over and over and over again to be a complete fake, it is still being used to this day, a hundred years after its first publication, by anti-Semitic groups to attack Jews.

So I guess Scientologists have to expect that the same old lies about us will still be circulating in a hundred years. It seems to be part of human nature to hold onto false data to justify hatred or bad acts.

Controversy

The media seems to think that controversy is essential to a news story. Forget such unimportant things as facts or truth. Controversy, Conflict, Big Names, Harm, Sex, Money - these are the things the media believes attracts eyeballs or sells newspapers. So if some bigot says "they believe in aliens" then that is far more attractive to the news hounds than "they believe man is a spiritual being."

Truth

From the article "Doctrine of the Scientology Religion"

Scientology religious doctrine includes certain fundamental truths. Prime among them are that man is a spiritual being whose existence spans more than one life and who is endowed with abilities well beyond those which he normally considers he possesses. He is not only able to solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also to achieve new states of spiritual awareness he may never have dreamed possible.

Because we believe we have lived before (something we share with most Eastern religions), because we believe we've been around for a very, very long time, because we believe that we (as spiritual beings) existed before this planet did and because we can recall existences prior to this planet, the bigots twist this to mean we believe in aliens and try to position us with the "UFO Religions" who believe they are currently in contact with aliens. I hope my post yesterday and this one show how false that is.

Bigots don't care about truth. They will twist it to suit their own ends (Just look at how "Jeff" twisted the beliefs of Christianity to make it look like a UFO Religion). The order of magnitude of the attacks on Scientology is nothing compared to what the Jews have had to deal with for thousands of years or the Mormons for 150 years, but the same methodology of misinformation, twisted facts and outright lies is being used.

So the moral of the story is "don't believe everything you read: think for yourself".

Aliens and Counting Planets

In the last couple of months I've been challenged in anonymous comments (from their style I think they're all from the same guy) regarding Scientology and "Aliens".

I've already said a couple of times that Scientologists don't believe in "Aliens" but this doesn't seem to satisfy Mr. (or Ms.) Anonymous.  So let me try for a definitive answer.

Let's start by examining the scientific view of aliens.  In our galaxy there are an estimated 100 billion stars and 30 billion Earth-like planets.  There are an estimated 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe.  So that means there are about 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Earth-like planets in just the observable universe.  (That is 6 sextillion, if my arithmetic is right and I didn't mistype any zeros.) 

Even if the odds of life forming on such a planet are one in a billion that still leaves a lot of Earth-like planets with life on them out there.  So I think the chances of there being life on other planets are pretty good. Someone else did a similar calculation here: Is there any other life in the Universe?, and, using the Drake Equation, Frank Drake came up with an estimate of 10,000 technological civilizations in our galaxy alone.

So, do I believe in that sort of alien?  Sure and I'm in good company: The SETI Institute.

Now let's move on to the "space alien" theories that you can find around the Internet.  I'm not very familiar with them, but I did read a book a couple of years ago that was supposed to be historical but by the end it was telling me all about the "Twelfth Planet".  It was very entertaining and would make a great sci-fi story but there are such obvious gaping holes in the theory that I am amazed that so many people take it seriously.

So, do I believe in that sort of alien? No.

Now what about the "UFO Religions" which cover such movements as Raelism, Zetatalk and the Aetherius Society.  Such movements have belief in the existence of extraterrestrials and/or UFOs as a central component of their belief system.  In order to write this article I took a quick look at those three so that I could answer the question:

So, do I believe in that sort of alien?  No.

So, if I, a typical Scientologist, say I don't believe in aliens (except in the first example above) and I insist that other Scientologists don't either, then why are there claims around the Internet that we do?

Stay tuned and I'll tell you tomorrow.

Student that "cannot learn" wins at HELP Miami

Here is a wonderful story from HELP Miami of a "problem" child who jumped three grades in four weeks.

Summer school has been in session for just four weeks and in that time H.E.L.P. Miami has done what 10 years of schooling could not for one of our students... we got a him to learn. (And oh my DOG...it was sooo simple!) I met this 10th-grader in June. He had failed the grade, which was just another loss in a chain of educational upsets. When he was younger, he was labeled and medicated against his will and his academics and attitude got worse. So here is this hopeless teenager in my office being "ordered" to summer school and not very happy about his situation. When I asked him and his mother why he was put on medication their answer was that he was "bored in school." (Can you imagine...a 10-year-old boy...bored...in school...being the basis of a "mental disorder"?) I probably should be put in a straight jacket with my viewpoint on modern education! Anyway, the boy has struggled and struggled and now is being held back because he failed a class. He tested out around 5th grade in most of his subjects and was put on a study program addressing grammar and English (the class he failed). The end of his first week in summer school, he came into my office and said that he FINALLY understood Shakespeare! The second week he cleared up misunderstandings in grammar and handled a few things in math as well. This week he retested and has gone up three full grade levels in reading and language arts! He says he is learning...ACTUALLY learning! And get this...he is having fun! OH MY DOG! A STUDENT LEARNING SOMETHING AT SCHOOL...THAT'S CRAZY!!! Anyway, he is happy and so is his mother!

Barbie Rivera

More data on H.E.L.P.

Another Civil Right Goes Down the Drain

Despite pleas from Civil Right groups and activists (see the video below), the FISA bill was given final approval by the Senate. We can now be wiretapped at the whim of a government official. The founding fathers must be spinning in their graves.

Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers



What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Wed., July 9th from Tim Ferriss on Vimeo.

You can read more about it here: FISA Vote and FISA Passes the Senate.

What is a Church of Scientology Like?

Here is a video that shows you the inside of a Scientology Church:

Inside a Church of Scientology

It's amazing what this video covers in four minutes. I think it will answer a lot of questions that people have.

If you have any other questions then check out other videos at Scientology Video Channel on YouTube. You can select videos from the fancy menu or you can see them all listed here: All Scientology Videos on YouTube.

If you still have questions then ask me: I will answer your questions about Scientology (I sometimes take a few days so be patient.)

Video about L. Ron Hubbard

In case you ever wondered who L. Ron Hubbard was, here is a video presentation of the major events of his life.

Scientology Video: L. Ron Hubbard: Founder

As you can see Ron had a very full life but he was always observing humanity and walking the path to figure out what makes us tick.

I'm glad he successfully figured it out.

"I hate Scientology," he said

While out exercising, a friend of mine got into a conversation with a guy and just as they were ending the chat, the fellow said, "You'd better not hang around here. The Scientologists will recruit you." (They were not far from the local church.)

In a light, joking tone, my friend said, "Too late. I was already recruited." To which the man replied, "I hate Scientology. I hate Tom Cruise. I hate John Travolta ..." and more.

My friend could have just told the guy to stick his opinions where the sun doesn't shine, but she decided to find out why he "hated" everything about Scientology.

It turned out that he had never been to a Church of Scientology and he had never met or spoken to a Scientologist. His only source of data had been nasty Internet web sites.

After two hours of finding out what his objections were and handling them with factual data, the man apologized for his earlier attitude and utterances. He now knew some facts, whereas before he had known only rumors.

They parted on friendly terms. He was no longer antagonistic toward Scientology and my friend had found a new friend.

So, the moral of the story is: don't blindly believe everything you read on the Internet. Find out for yourself and make up your own mind.

July 4th - Support a Government Designed and Run for All the People

I agree with the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. I view these as three of the most important documents in the history of the world. (Other important docs are such things as the Magna Carta, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Greek philosophy that led to such documents).

I support a government that is designed and run for the benefit of all the people. Here is a video on that topic:


Click here to view other Public Service Announcements

This video covers one of the chapters of the book, The Way To Happiness. This book really does cover how to have a happy life for yourself and those you love.

Scientology: What is true for you

Jeff asked: Hi Grahame, I posted a question earlier, don't know if you got it or not. L. Ron Hubbard says that people should only accept things in Scientology if they find them to be true for themselves, and not accept anything on blind faith. I'd like to know if there were any things in Scientology which you have personally found to be not true for you based on your own observation and thinking? Thanks.

Thanks for your question. I have come across things in Scientology that I was doubtful about when I first studied them. However, when I went over them thoroughly and 1) made sure I understood them and 2) applied them to life, myself and those around me, I found they were true for me.

As of right this moment I can't think of anything which I have personally found to be not true for me. There have been things I've sort of "flagged" for later inspection because at the time I came across them I was not able to immediately verify them or apply them to my life. I don't think I have any of those still unanswered.

An example was on the first course I ever did. The idea of a "thetan" (Scientology term for a spiritual being) came up and I could not accept it at that time because I was an atheist. Later when I became aware of myself as a spiritual being that could exist separate from a body I saw that it was true.

Another would be the idea of past lives. Being an atheist I couldn't just accept such a concept when I first came across it. Later when I actually began to recall past lives and had improvements occur in my life due to erasing past bad experiences in those lives, it became very real to me.

I hope that answers your question

War with Iran

I just read an article that says to me that the current administration in the US is hell-bent on a war with Iran (Preparing the Battlefield: The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran).

I talked about war a year ago in this post: The Insanity of War. My attitude has not changed and what I quoted in that post still applies:

Back in 1950, in the book Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard said something about war that is 100% applicable today: Wars never solve the need of wars. Fight to save the world for democracy or save it from Confucianism and the fight is inevitably lost by all. War has become associated in the past with competition, and it has been believed, therefore, by shifty logic, that wars were necessary. A society which advances into a war as a solution of its problems cannot but depress its own survival potential. No government was ever permitted to enter a war without costing its people some of their liberties. ... A democracy engaging in war has always lost some of its democratic rights. As it engages in more and more wars, it eventually comes under the command of a dictator. ... So went Greece, so went Rome. So goes England. So goes Russia. And so goes the United States and with it goes mankind.

What do you think of the warlike activities of the current US government? What effect is it having on our liberties?