Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Nonreligious
Ask a Scientologist–Five Questions Answered Including “What Are the Core Beliefs of the Scientology Religion?”

Ask a Scientologist–Five Questions Answered Including “What Are the Core Beliefs of the Scientology Religion?”

Last updated on: October 24, 2017 at 5:05 am by ScientologyBeliefs

Ask a Scientologist–Five Questions Answered Including “What Are the Core Beliefs of the Scientology Religion?” 2017-10-24T05:05:35-07:00 ScientologyBeliefs

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Tad Reeves, of the Scientology Parent blog, answers 14 questions posed by a student about Scientology. Here are his first five answers. Published courtesy of the Scientology Parent website.

6)HOW HAS AUDITING POSITIVELY AFFECTED YOU?

The broad answer to that is that auditing has, by and large, made me more honest with myself and others, more generally happy, more stable, and more tolerant of having more moving parts and individual things going on in my life that I’m actively working on.

In Scientology, each auditing action that is done has its own specific thing that it is addressing, and an end result in mind for that individual. These are specifically arranged in a sequence of action which makes sense, building one upon the next.

For example, there is an auditing action I referred to above called the Survival Rundown which is specifically directed toward getting an individual to operate in the here & now as opposed to having unwanted fixed attention in the past, or on unwanted thoughts & feelings. This action had a deep & profound impact on my ability to focus on a given task and take it to completion, as well as being much more in the here & now when dealing with my family and kids.

There are numerous other specific auditing actions I’ve done, some focused on handling one’s ability to communicate with anyone on any subject, others on being able to recognize the source of life problems and not feel compelled to “have problems”, on being able to be free from the weight of past upsets, and to be able to get out of fixed, unwanted conditions.

On each one, the effects on my own life have been positive and extremely freeing. There are just so many conditions in life that I’ve seen others be entirely convinced are impossible to change, but I’ve seen them change in myself and friends within a few weeks’ time as a result of auditing they did. I think it’s factually pretty amazing.

7)WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH MISSION TRIPS?

Not sure what you’re asking here. Scientologists don’t really have an analogue to required missionary work like the Mormon church does, though Scientologists do frequently travel on their own bat to do volunteer work. Owing to the fact that I do website work, I’ve done a lot of work over the last 10-15 years to coordinate volunteers going to disaster areas like New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina, to India / Thailand / Banda Aceh after the Indian Ocean tsunami, and Japan following the tsunamis there, as well as closer to home when we’ve had flooding and other more minor disasters here. I’ve also been involved in drug education programs and such, to get materials out to schools & seminars to educate kids & adults about drugs.

If you have other more specific questions on this, let me know.

8)I HAVE HEARD THAT SCIENTOLOGISTS BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION. IS THIS TRUE?

To an extent. It is a key part of the Scientology religion that people are treated as spiritual individuals, as separate from their mind or their body. This video describes such in more detail:

That being said, there is not some specific part of Scientology beliefs or scripture that deals in reincarnation, as in, “make sure you do don’t do xyz or you’ll be reincarnated as a toad”, nor is there a particular focus on such as there is in some Buddhist traditions. The main factor is in the orientation of Scientology application to the individual as a spirit not as his body.

9)IS EVERYTHING WRITTEN OR SPOKEN BY L. RON HUBBARD CONSIDERED SCRIPTURE IN SCIENTOLOGY?

It is not. LRH wrote quite a lot, with the basics of the religion comprising 18 different books and literally hundreds of recorded lectures, as well as thousands of pages of church policy and technical material.

But there is a firm dividing line between what comprises the policy of the church and the scripture of Scientology, and what is an individual advice or personal communication aimed only at one individual or to a small group.

It came up even in the very early days of Scientology, where he’d make an offhand comment to somebody while visiting a local church, and then come back years later to find that folks had taken this comment entirely out of context, and assumed it was hard policy from then on, applying to everything all the time. So, there’s even specific policy on what is church policy, and what is merely information, and what’s to be disregarded entirely as not relevant to the church at all.

10)WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR CORE VALUES AS A SCIENTOLOGIST?

There’s values, and there’s beliefs, and there’s overlap between the two. I’ve written longer articles about what Scientology is to me, but let me see if I can sum up in a few bullet points, along with some reference material as appropriate that you may find enlightening.

I believe that I’m a spiritual individual, and am not “my body”. I believe I have a body, but that concepts like love, fear, honor, friendship, and one’s own goals and purposes in life are positively not a part of the body or brain, but are something we create as individuals. This video on the parts of man illustrates this further.
I believe that it is possible to know about the mind, the spirit, and life. Meaning, I do think that solutions to one’s problems as an individual, a family or group member, are not out of one’s hands, or can only be understood by the infinite, or “transcend the boundaries of human understanding” like old-time philosophers thought. I believe that no matter how hard one’s problems are in life, that something can be done about them, and Scientology contains intensely workable solutions for such.
I believe that religious choice is an intensely personal thing and that anyone, studying Scientology, should do so for themselves, should read actual Scientology books for themselves, and should make up their own mind about it. I think that Scientology (or any religious philosophy) cannot be forced on someone because there is nothing at all more individual and personal than how one feels about himself. Nobody can tell you how you feel about yourself because nobody else is you. Therefore, a personal, spiritual philosophy can never, ever be jammed down your throat. There is no replacement for quality time, by yourself, in front of a book.

Previous Post

June 9, 2017

ASK A SCIENTOLOGIST – 14 STUDENT QUESTIONS ANSWERED ABOUT SCIENTOLOGY

Next Post

June 11, 2017 Ask a Scientologist–Scientology Parent Answers Four Questions Including "What Are Common Misconceptions About Scientology?"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category anti-Scientology hate Church of Scientology Citizens Commission on Human Rights Community activities conflict Coronavirus critics David Miscavige Dianetics Discrimination Documentary Showcase Drug Prevention fake news families Florida Foundation for a Drug-Free World Freewinds religious retreat holidays Hollywood Village homeschooling kids during the coronavirus lockdown How I Became a Scientologist human rights I Am a Scientologist Ideal Scientology Organizations Interfaith L. Ron Hubbard media Meet a Scientologist Neighborhood Cleanups Psychiatry Religion Religious Freedom Religious Studies Scientologist Scientologists Scientology Scientology Beliefs Scientology cathedral Scientology celebration Scientology Humanitarian Campaigns Scientology Media Productions Scientology Mission Scientology Network Scientology Parent Scientology TV Scientology Volunteer Ministers STAND Stay Well The Way to Happiness tolerance Truth About Scientology Uncategorized Voices for Humanity What is Scientology? What Scientology is all a out Youth for Human Rights

Select a Month March 2025 October 2024 July 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 February 2016 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 October 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 December 2013 August 2013 December 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I include truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the Spirit. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The shield of faith The armor of God Spiritual weapons The breastplate of righteousness