Church of Scientology Opens National Office in Washington, D.C.

On September 12th the Church of Scientology opened the latest in a long list of new churches and facilities, with the grand opening of the National Affairs Office in Washington, D.C.

The Church will use the new office to coordinate its many social and humanitarian initiatives on a national and international level.

You can read the full article here: Church of Scientology Opens National Office in D.C. Landmark

Basic Questions about Scientology Principles

martin jeffrey asked:

Hi Grahame,

I'm curious as to what the differences are between the mind and thetan. More specifically, I would like to know if memories and emotions are a product of the brain, or if the brain is more so used as a machine to interpret such things as memories and emotions that are a property of the thetan itself.

Further I am curious if the reactive mind is solely contained within the brain itself, or part of the thetan?

Sorry if my question seems a bit off mark, Scientology is an entirely new set of concepts for me.

Thanks

Hey Martin,

Excellent questions. They are totally answered in the book "Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought", but to save you the wait after you order it :) , here is the short version:

I'd recommend watching this video if you haven't already: "The Parts of Man". It gives you some useful background data in just a couple of minutes. I think it will help with understanding my explanation.

Now let's define our terms. Definitions from The Scientology Glossary.

Thetan: the person himself - not his body or his name, the physical universe, his mind, or anything else; that which is aware of being aware; the identity which is the individual. The term was coined to eliminate any possible confusion with older concepts. It comes from the Greek letter Theta (Theta), which the Greeks used to represent thought or perhaps spirit, to which an n is added to make a noun in the modern style used to create words in engineering.

Mind: a control system between the thetan and the physical universe. The mind is not a brain.

Body: the organized physical composition or substance of an animal or man, whether living or dead. The body is the thetan’s communication center. It is a physical object. It is not the being himself.

Your Questions:

Q1: I'm curious as to what the differences are between the mind and thetan.

A thetan is the person him or herself. The mind is the computer a thetan uses to store memories, make decisions, calculate things, etc.

Q2: I would like to know if memories and emotions are a product of the brain.

No. They are products of the thetan.

Q3: or if the brain is more so used as a machine to interpret such things as memories and emotions that are a property of the thetan itself.

No. The brain can be thought of as a sort of switch-board for the nerve impulses sent around the body. Emotion comes from the thetan, but can be influenced by the body and environment. Memories are recordings of the physical universe and the thoughts and conclusions of the thetan.

Q4: I am curious if the reactive mind is solely contained within the brain itself, or part of the thetan?

Definition of reactive mind: that portion of a person’s mind which works on a totally stimulus-response basis, which is not under his volitional control and which exerts force and the power of command over his awareness, purposes, thoughts, body and actions.

The reactive mind is not part of either the brain or the thetan. It is the part of the mind where moments of pain and unconsciousness are stored and thus is a difficult place for the thetan to get his attention into and is therefore not under his control.

I hope I've answered your questions. For more details you really have to read the book I linked to above.

If I haven't answered well enough or my answers have brought up more questions, then just ask some more.

The Basic Individual

Here's a quote I really like from the book Dianetics: The Original Thesis.

The basic individual is not a buried, unknown or different person, but an intensity of all that is best and most able in the person.

This is not just an opinion, but is what was actually discovered during the early days of Dianetics research.  The basic individual is you once the traumas, large and small, have been released from your life.  That's something you can achieve through Dianetics and Scientology.

Acting Contrary to Survival - Why?

I'm currently studying the fundamentals of Scientology. What we call the "Basics". What I'm doing is studying everything chronologically. I started with the book "Dianetics: The Original Thesis", which was the first description of Dianetics, passed around from hand-to-hand first by friends of L. Ron Hubbard and then by many more interested people.

I'm well past Original Thesis now, but today I was looking back at some of my notes and I found some things that I thought I'd share.

This first quote explains what is behind actions that you or others have taken that didn't make any sense.  For example, with all we know now about the damage drugs such as cocaine and heroine can do, why is it that people still take them?  Why is it that a suicide bomber does what he does?  Why is it that Joe yelled at Mary when in fact he loves her?  Why on earth did a seemingly successful marriage suddenly break up?

The explanation is in this first quote.  And it leads to solutions for all of the examples I gave and for any other behavior that just doesn't seem to make any sense.  Those solutions can all be found in Scientology.

Here is the quote from the book Dianetics: The Original Thesis:

When the individual is acting contrary to the survival of himself, his group, progeny, race, mankind or life, he can be considered to be unintelligent, uninformed or aberrated.

Unintelligent and uninformed are relatively easy to handle, but "aberrated" can be much more difficult.  The good new is that it is what Scientology and Dianetics handle successfully every day.