Scientology is Solutions: Laughter

There is a great website that posts articles about Scientology based solutions. It is called "Tips For Success" and they have a blog that you can follow.

The latest article fits nicely into my "Scientology is Solutions" series, so I am going to point you at the article: You can Laugh.

Read it and try the solution they suggest for facing problems in life.

They have a great quote from L. Ron Hubbard, that I just had to use here:

"Man, if sane, is a child of laughter." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Scientology is Solutions: People (Who can you Trust?)

People can be a blessing or a bane. There are people who are so awesome that just by being around them you feel good. And there are people who are such creeps that they leave you feeling like someone poured a bucket of slime over you.

How can you predict how the people you come into contact with are going to behave? Which ones do you want to keep as friends and which ones do you want to dump, pronto?

Who do you want to employ and who do you want to lose the telephone number of?

Who can you trust with your personal secrets and who will blab them all over Facebook?

There is a way to tell. It is called the Emotional Tone Scale and you can see a video all about it here: The Emotional Tone Scale.

You can read the basics of what it is and how to use it here: Understanding and Predicting What People will Do.

I've used the tone scale very successfully in my life. I've helped friends solve some pretty rough problems and I've used it to make many wonderful new friends.

Study the tone scale, use it in life and tell me what you found.

More data on Scientology is Solutions: People (Who can you Trust?)

Scientology is Solutions: Marriage

My previous post in this series was about relationships, so for this post I thought I'd move on to a special sort of relationship: marriage.

So what is marriage anyway? You stand before a minister or a priest or a judge or some other official and you say "I do" and then you are expected to stay with the other person the rest of your life. Easier said than done, as many people have found out.

I'll admit that I didn't do very well the first time I tried it. It lasted five years and was on and off happy, on and off unhappy. When it finally ended it was a relief for both of us.

But the second time I got it right - big time! After my first dismal failure, I realized I needed to know more about marriage and how to make it work, so I did some study. One of the things I studied was this: Marriage. I also took this course: Starting a Successful Marriage Course and this one How to Improve Your Marriage Course and How to Maintain a Successful Marriage Course. I wasn't kidding. I wanted a successful stable marriage and I used what I learned to make sure I got one!

The keys to a successful marriage are contained in those courses and materials. My wife and I have been married for sixteen years now and we have never had an argument. I know you probably think that is impossible but it is true. We once came close over a game of Monopoly, but it fizzled out. The kids were disappointed, they were looking forward to seeing sparks fly for the first time, so they could say they were there.

More information on Scientology is Solutions: Marriage.

A Question from "Magnolia"

Hey Magnolia,

Thanks for your question. You say: I'm curious by nature. I've been searching for a while sites about Scientology. The majority of them, no offence intended, say it is "trash". I can't help but ask myself "why?".

There are sites on the Internet attacking Scientology, but they are not the majority. I just did a search on the word "Scientology" on the three leading search engines and I found 69% of the sites that came back on the first page of results were positive and 14% were neutral. So that leaves only 17% negative. That is not a majority.

There are millions of Scientologists all over the world who are very happy with their religion and how it helps them in life compared to a small number of very noisy people who attack it. The majority who like it are busy getting on with their lives and helping others. The minority are so consumed with hatred that they spend hours and hours each day spreading lies and distortions.

Here is a video of Scientologists giving their opinions about their religion

So now the question, "Why do they attack my religion?"

There are a several answers:
First is the fact that any religious movement and any group that seeks to improve the world and help their fellow man will be attacked by a small minority of bigots:

• The Jewish religion has a huge website devoted to defending itself: Anti-Defamation League.
• According to the "Watch Unto Prayer" movement the Roman Catholic Church is actually a renewed version of the cult of Mithra and other extremist fundamentalist Christians say the Pope is the Antichrist.
• Examples of attacks on the Internet on well known people.

Scientology is just another group being attacked by the same type of Internet crazies.

There are those who make a living out of attacking new religious movements:

• Article on The (old) Cult Awareness Network
• Why do some people oppose Scientology?
• Anti-Religious Extremists

One of the main methods used by these bigoted extremists is to spread lies about a new religion on the Internet. In a paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for Sociology of Religion (ASR), in Chicago in August 1999, Massimo Introvigne said:

Authoritative scholars of information terrorism via the Internet, such as Denning (1999, 101-129), include "perception management" in their studies, in the form of "offensive operations [which] reach the minds of a population by injecting content into the population’s information space". She lists systematic "lies and distortions", fabrications, hoaxes, social engineering, "denouncement" ("messages that discredit, defame, demonize, or dehumanize an opponent"), and -- strictly related to the latter -- "conspiracy theories". Denning also includes harassment through hate mail or "spamming", and even systematic copyright infringement (90-94). The latter, she argues, may in fact become part of a terrorist "offensive information warfare" when aimed at destroying an organization or corporation through the destruction of copyright as one of its most valuable assets.

The sites you have come across calling Scientology "trash" are using "messages that discredit, defame, demonize, or dehumanize an opponent" as described here.

In the same article Introvigne says:

The Church of Scientology is the subject of the largest number of such assaults.

He describes one of the largest websites that attacks Scientology:

Among hundreds of pages, one can hardly find any reconstruction of Scientology’s beliefs, or a philosophical, or theological, criticism of its worldview.

This particular website also attacks individuals who are Scientologists, attempting to encourage others to discriminate against them:

It is difficult to be amused when reading Hausherr’s Web page laundry lists of individual Scientologists and of "companies and organizations owned or managed by people listed as Scientologists". Some are well-known Scientologists such as Kristie Alley or John Travolta. Most, however, are private individuals unknown to the general public. Companies "owned or managed by people listed as Scientologists" (an ambiguous concept) range from law firms to architects, computer businesses, and to Elvis Presley Enterprises (Priscilla Presley is a Scientologist). Finally, there is a list of "miscellaneous support for Scientology", including both academics and other scholarly "cult apologists" (Hausherr maintains an encyclopedia of cult apologists in the form of a FAQ, and posts it regularly to Usenet groups), as well as others accused of being "soft" on Scientology. The latter include the CNN (accused of having "a long record of supporting Scientology"), the IRS (because of the 1993 settlement), the Los Angeles Police Department, and even a lawyer who actually fought against Scientology but settled in terms Hausherr did not approve of. It is unlikely that CNN or Elvis Presley Enterprises will really suffer from being listed in Hausherr’s Web page. A doctor, dentist, or architect in a small town, or a small business, on the other hand, may be easily discriminated against. If "Scientology is evil", nobody should associate with an "evil" business. And who would want a Scientologist as a doctor or architect if Scientologists are "often mentally ill"? Although no actual violence is advocated, the list, a main feature of Hausherr’s site, becomes in fact a "hit list".

Why Tilman Hausherr maintains his hate site is a difficult question to answer but then hatred and bigotry are difficult to understand in this modern world.

Then there are those who see Scientology as a threat to their livelihood:

• This article talks about the motives behind the attacks of "Anonymous" on the Church of Scientology.

Does that answer your question?

Scientology is Solutions: Relationships

Relationships can be a major source of problems in a person's life and the problems can be as varied as the people who have them.

Examples are endless:

• You really like that girl or that boy but you never seem able to say the right thing.
• You want a raise but don't know how to approach your boss.


• Your spouse and you are having fights and things are looking bad.


• You have kids and over the last few years you have noticed that they are growing apart from you.
• You have parents who just don't seem to understand you.

Is there something that could help you in these and all the other relationship situations you can get into?

Well, luckily the answer is: Yes!

In Scientology the underlying principles of relationships have been figured out and by understanding them you can figure out how to create or improve any relationship. That sounds like a pretty wild claim, but I can tell you from personal experience that it is true. But don't take my word for it.

1. Watch this video: The Components of Understanding.
2. Read this data on Relationships.
3. Try it in your life and tell me what you find

More data on improving relationships: Scientology is Solutions: Relationships

Scientology is ... what?

Recently someone at work asked me "So what is Scientology?' I gave her my usual "short"answer but at the end I could see that it had not really communicated.

The problem with describing Scientology in a few words is the same problem you'd have describing any large subject that doesn't have anything you can easily compare it with.

It's sort of like answering the question "So what is the Internet?" to someone who has never been online. "It's a network of computers." No. "It's this cool way to stay in touch with friends." No. "It's like an unlimited video player." No. "It's like a big book where you can jump from a page to related pages." No.

It's just too big a subject and there is nothing to compare it to.

Same with Scientology. "It's a religion." True, but most people think of religion as praying or singing hymns - not Scientology. "It's an applied religious philosophy." True, but few people in the western world know what a religious philosophy is and almost no one in the west has any concept of a religions being something you can apply to everyday life to handle your problems.

So it is rather a challenge to describe the subject in a single paragraph, never mind a single sentence. But, I have decided to take up this challenge and see if I can use not a single paragraph, not a single sentence, but a single word.

So for the next few days I'm going to be posting about "Scientology is Solutions".

Pharmaceutical Industry Hustlers

Here is a powerful expose that starts:

After twenty long years, it appears that the epidemic in mental disorders in America might be coming to an end. It won't happen because of any great medical breakthrough but rather because the perpetrators of the greatest healthcare fraud in history are finally being exposed.

Read it and make up your own mind: Pharmaceutical Industry Hustlers – Part I

Feeding on children

Psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman has been in the news quite a bit recently. First we learned that while championing the use of powerful anti-psychotic drugs on toddlers, he was accepting over a million dollars from drug companies without disclosing it (Harvard Researchers Face Heat Over Drug Company Payments).

Now we learn:

Newly disclosed court documents portray Dr. Joseph Biederman, a leading Harvard child psychiatrist, as courting drug company money by promising that his work at Massachusetts General Hospital would help promote the use of antipsychotic drugs for youngsters diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

We also learn:

In one 1999 e-mail, a Janssen employee seeking to make sure Biederman receives $3,000 that the company owes him writes frantically to his superiors: "Dr. Biederman is not someone to jerk around. He is a very powerful national figure in child psych and has a very short fuse."

Does that sound like a man dedicated to the furtherance of science or a money-motivated ghoul feeding off a sector of society that is least able to defend itself against such abuses?

Read the article and make up your own mind: Papers reveal push on drug firm funds.

Other related articles:
Congressional investigation of Harvard psychiatrist

Generation RX

It seems that Scientologists are not the only people who recognize the dangers of psychiatric drugging of children. A new movie, GenerationRX, by critically acclaimed director Kevin Miller, examines the "mass abandonment of medical ethics, and the routine betrayal of an entire generation" and investigates "collusion between drug companies and their regulatory watchdogs at the FDA and focuses on the powerful stories of real families who followed the advice of their doctors - and faced devastating consequences for doing so."

Here is the trailer:

Cute Story About a Cute Girl

It seems that even a 2-year-old can have a big impact on the world. According to Forbes magazine, Suri Cruise is the most influential tot in Hollywood: Suri Cruise Voted Hollywood’s Most Influential Celebrity Tot!

Grand Opening of SoMa Mission's New Location

The Church of Scientology Mission of SoMa, in San Francisco will be having its ribbon cutting in early December.

The details are given on their blog: Grand Opening Celebration!

Psychiatrist Radio Host Has Drug Company Ties

A psychiatrist who is the host of a popular radio show on health, and who promotes drugs as the preferred treatment, has been exposed as receiving at least $1.3 million in the last few years from drug companies without disclosing it to his producer or his listeners.

Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin has been exposed by Senator Charles E. Grassley as part of Grassley's ongoing investigation into conflict of interest amongst the nation’s leading researchers and doctors. He is comparing their conflict-of-interest disclosures with records of actual payments from drug companies. And he is finding that the records often conflict, sometimes starkly.

The full story of this psychiatrist and his selling of his professional soul to drug companies is given here: Radio Host Has Drug Company Ties

Making a Killing, Part 10

Part 10 of the documentary:

Scientology and Germany - Latest News

The German government's announcement last week that it is dropping its attempts to ban the Scientology religion in Germany is something that could probably have been predicted by simply looking at the history of such attempts.

In his 1974 book "The Hidden Story of Scientology", investigative writer Omar V. Garrison says:

I have read through thousands of pages of transcripts covering such hearings, official enquiries and parliamentary debates in the U.S., Australia, South Africa, Rhodesia, New Zealand, Canada and Britain. Yet in not a single instance that I have been able to discover have any of these lengthy proceedings produced a shred of evidence that Scientologists or Scientology's founder have been guilty of anything actionable under the criminal or civil laws of the countries conducting them.

The inquiries in South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) were conducted by repressive, apartheid governments, and even they couldn't find anything wrong.

I'm not familiar with the Canadian investigation, but as far as I know the inquiry in New Zealand was probably the quickest and most honest of them all. The New Zealanders found one minor policy they didn't like so the Church canceled it.

In Australia, in the late 1960's an inquiry in the state of Victoria banned Scientology. But in 1975 after many years of legal attempts to right this blatant wrong, the Supreme Court of Australia fully recognized Scientology as a religion and the ban went the way of the dinosaur.

In the UK in the early 1970's a government inquiry resulted in a ban on foreign Scientologists entering the country. No evidence was ever presented as to why such a ban was put in place and after a decade the ban was lifted after demands were made in the House of Commons for the evidence to be made public.

In Spain, an investigation went on for seventeen years and resulted in full religious recognition just last year.

The US government has the record for the longest history of harassment and bogus investigations: after 35 years of "investigations", which included infiltrating agent provocateurs into the Church, attempting to plant false documents and other illegal activities, the IRS fully recognized every Scientology Church and related organization as religious, public benefit organizations.

So, now it is Germany's turn. After eleven years of wasting tax-payers money while they spied on the Church in Germany, they have found that the Church of Scientology and its members have not been guilty of doing anything wrong. (For the history of this up until 2003, scroll down to "fact sheet".)

You can probably see a repeating pattern in all this:

1. Accusations are made.
2. Measures are taken or investigations are instigated.
3. After many years, and millions of taxpayer dollars, marks or euros being spent, no wrong doing of any kind is found.

Because governments are limited in their activities by the law, eventually the fact that no evidence of wrong doing exists forces them to stop their harassment and remove the false reports they have been gathering and disseminating.

Unfortunately this is not the case with the Internet. Accusations can be made, lies can be told and no one has to prove it in a court of law, so the lies can go on forever. Entities such as "Anonymous" can gather supporters based on accusations backed by nothing that would stand up in a court of law and the poor dupes who believe them then go on spreading the lies and getting themselves into trouble.

Hopefully, this article will be instructive to people who have been duped and will help them to re-examine their ideas about Scientology and perhaps they will begin to use the requirements of legal evidence as their yardstick when examining information they encounter about Scientology, the Church and Scientologists.

More Information:

• Scientology: Religious Recognition


• Official Recognition of Scientology as a Religion


• What Religious Scholars Say About The Scientology Religion


• Governments and courts of countries worldwide recognize the religious character of the Church of Scientology


• What is Scientology? Religious Recognition

 

Making a Killing. Part 9

Part 9 of the documentary:

Making a Killing. Part 8

Part 8 of the documentary

Making a Killing, Part 7

Part 7 of the documentary

Hope for the Congo

Amidst the confusion of the fighting in the Congo it seems there is a ray of hope. It is mentioned in an article in the New York Times, although the journalist probably didn't even realize it. See paragraph 3: Confusion Reigns on Congo’s Front Line.

There is a tenuous cease fire in place at the moment, so let's hope that The Way to Happiness can help spread some calm in a place where it is sorely needed.

Making a Killing, Part 6

Part 6 of the documentary

Traveling down the Amazon

Nowhere is too remote for the Scientology Volunteer Ministers. The Amazon Goodwill Tour is certainly proof of that.

Having travelled through Columbia and Peru they have now reached Brazil: Scientology Volunteer Ministers Amazon Goodwill Tour Arrives in Brazil

Making a Killing, Part 5

Part 5 of the documentary

Making a Killing, Part 4

Part 4 of the documentary:

Making a Killing, Part 3

Third part of the documentary:

Making a Killing, Part 2

Second part of the documentary:

A note for Truth

Some guy calling him/herself "Truth" is whining about me not posting or answering his/her comments/questions.

Well, firstly "Truth", you should have read my commenting guidelines because your antagonistic tone violated them. See my Rules.

Despite that, I was going to answer them. Unfortunately you posted a ton of questions and I have a life, which means I have a limited amount of time to answer your questions. You may not realize it but to give a proper answer can sometimes require research to give accurate information or can require digging around to find the correct url to link to. So when you post 6 comments containing 15 questions and a whole lot of statements/assertions that each require a response, then you are asking me to devote hours and hours of my precious time to someone who is clearly opposed to me and my religion.

So you will just have to chill and be prepared to wait until I get the time to answer them.

Of course, now that you have made another antagonistic comment today about the fact that I haven't yet answered your earlier antagonistic comments/questions, I'm debating whether to just click the "reject" link on them all.

Hmmm ... I'll give it a couple days and see if I feel like answering them then.

P.S., If I misinterpreted your comments as antago when they were not meant that way, then sorry, but try reading them from my viewpoint and I think you'll find that they come across as very unfriendly.

Making a Killing, Part 1

This is the first part of a frightening documentary, but a documentary you need to see.



A user calling him/herself "Truth" asked why the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights would be interested in prescription drugs. This video is the answer.

Scientology Materials Guide Chart

You can get a free Scientology Materials Guide Chart (click here: Dianetics and Scientology Materials). The Guide Chart shows you everything that is available to study in Dianetics and Scientology and the sequence in which it should be studied.

For beginning books that I recommend, just look at my side-bar, or click here: Basic Scientology Books.

Another Criminon Success

Criminon's results speak for themselves:

When I first begin these 7 courses I didn't feel a whole lot of confidence in myself, now 4 courses later I can proudly stand up and say I'm a changed man!

I'm no longer "thinking" about helping myself become a better person. I'm doing it! Those around me see the changes in my everyday attitude. These courses are helping me to help others over come obstacles and addictions.

Recently I had another inmate come to my cell and ask me if I was the "Criminon dude" everyone is talking about. When I told him I was, he held his hand out and when we shook hands he said to keep on helping these "cats" because they really need the kind of caring, understanding and willingness in their lives I've been showing them. He then asked me if he could maybe get the address to "Criminon" so he could take the courses for himself.

With tears in my eyes I gave him that address!

If anyone ever has doubts about these courses, just ask an inmate that's had the world turn its back on him and see the look in his eyes. You'll find your answer. I will always help those who have a willingness to change.

An inmate from Arkansas

In case you didn't know, Criminon (which means "no crime") is an international non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to addressing the causes of criminality and restoring the criminal’s self-respect through effective drug detoxification, education and common sense programs. By making them responsible for their actions, people under the Criminal Justice system can become ethical and productive citizens. Criminon uses secular methods developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

First pictures of the new Mission of SoMa

The first pictures of the new premesis of the Church of Scientology Mission of SoMa are now on the web!.

These are very nice looking quarters. They've done a great job.

Check out the pics: Photos of New Space!

Scientology & Dianetics Holiday Catalog

It is easy to buy Dianetics and Scientology Books this holiday season. Everything is available online. A fellow blogger posted this great article giving all the data and links you need to find what you want:

2008 Scientology & Dianetics Holiday Catalog « Scientology Organizations Around the World

You may notice that I also have some links to basic and intro books in my right-hand sidebar, just in case you want to go directly. If you want to browse you can click the link to the article or you can try this one: Scientology Books.

Prescription Drugs Kill 300 Percent More Americans than Illegal Drugs

Here is some more data on the problem I posted about earlier (Prescription Drugs More Deadly Than Cocaine, Heroin, Amphetamines). This new article has more data from more sources showing that we have an epidemic of prescription drug abuse and addiction.

A report by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission has concluded that prescription drugs have outstripped illegal drugs as a cause of death. An analysis of 168,900 autopsies conducted in Florida in 2007 found that three times as many people were killed by legal drugs as by cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines put together. According to state law enforcement officials, this is a sign of a burgeoning prescription drug abuse problem.

...

According to the DEA, the number of people abusing prescription drugs in the United States has jumped 80 percent in six years to seven million, or more than those abusing cocaine, Ecstasy, heroin, hallucinogens an inhalants put together.

Prescription Drugs Kill 300 Percent More Americans than Illegal Drugs

New Dianetics Site for London

London, England now has its own Dianetics website. You can find it here: Dianetics London.

For those of you who are not familiar with Dianetics here is one description of it that I like:

There's been a discovery about the human mind that is so simple, so incredible and so powerful that it makes psychiatry, psychology and self-hypnosis obsolete.

A nice simple, to-the-point definition.

MC Lyte talks about Scientology

MC Lyte was interviewed in the latest Celebrity Magazine. Check out my article on the interview: MC Lyte Interview. She had some things to say that are inspiring for anyone (not just Scientologists).

Scientology Mission of SoMa has moved

Here is some news for anyone who lives in San Francisco, the Mission of SoMa has moved to a new location.

They'll be posting pics soon put in the meantime you can go visit:

We have moved!!

They have a map and everything you need to locate them.

Foundation for a Drug Free World

The new website for the Foundation for a Drug Free World is awesome. That's the best word I can come up with, anyway.

It has an amazing "Flash" home page and a superb video channel.

Check it out.

Meet A Scientologist

I just found a new area in the Scientology Video Channel called "Meet A Scientologist". It has fifty interviews with Scientologists from all walks of life and from many different countries.

They are very cool videos that will introduce you to Scientologists and tell you who we are and what sort of lives we lead.

(Update 9/12/2010:) Here is a direct link: Meet A Scientologist

The Truth about Psychotropic Drugs

There is a new video on psychotropic drugs, such as antidepressants, the effects they have and the huge profits they make for the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industry.

The video features interviews with psychiatrists, psychologists, medical doctors, former drug sales reps and others. The truth about these drugs is exposed.

If you know someone on these drugs or who is thinking of starting on these drugs then please have them watch this video.

Watch every chapter, especially the last couple which tell you what you can do about it.

Making A Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging

Past Philosophers and L. Ron Hubbard

Here is a cool article I found called Past Philosophers and L. Ron Hubbard.

Check it out and then get the free eBook that is offered. The best way to investigate a new subject is to find out for yourself. Read what it has to say and try out the methods it offers for a better life. If they work then you will know for yourself.