SCIENTOLOGY^® BASICS

 The word Scientology means "the study of knowledge" or "knowing about knowing" from the Latin word scio which means "know" or "distinguish," and from the Greek word logos which means "reason itself" or "inward thought." So it means the study of wisdom or knowledge, or "knowing how to know." Scientology is further defined as the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life. The word was coined by L Ron Hubbard.

 Developed by L Ron Hubbard, Scientology provides exact principles and practical technology for improving self-confidence, intelligence and ability. Scientology does not require faith or belief-one can apply the principles and see for oneself if they work and are true.

 Scientology addresses the spirit-not simply the body or mind-and is therefore completely apart from materialistic philosophies which hold that man is a product of his environment-or his genes.

 Scientology is a religion by its basic tenets, practice, historical background and by the definition of the word religion itself. It is recognized as such by courts in country after country around the world, including the highest courts in the United States, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Denmark and many others.

 All denominations are welcome in Scientology.

 Scientology is a route, a way, rather than a dissertation or an assertive body of knowledge.

 Through its drills and studies one may find the truth for oneself. It is the only thing that can show you who you really are.

 The technology is therefore not expounded as something to believe but something to do.

 L.Ron Hubbard began his studies of the mind in 1923. In 1947 he wrote a manuscript detailing some of his discoveries. It was not published at that time, but circulated among friends, who copied it and passed it on to others. (This manuscript was formally published in 1951 as Dianetics®: The Original Thesis and later republished as The Dynamics of Life.)

 As copies of the manuscript circulated, Mr. Hubbard began to receive an increasing flow of letters requesting further information and more applications of his new subject. He soon found himself spending all his time answering letters and decided to write a comprehensive text on the subject.

 His first published article on the subject, "Terra Incognita: The Mind," appeared in the Winter/Spring 1950 issue of the Explorers Club Journal, followed by the book Dianetics: The Modem Science of Mental Health, which was published in May 1950. It became a nationwide bestseller almost overnight. By late summer, people across the country were not only reading the book, but were also organizing their own groups for the purpose of applying Dianetics techniques. The book has remained a bestseller ever since, again becoming number one on the New York Times bestseller list, almost four decades after its initial publication. It continues to appear on bestseller lists around the world.

 During the course of thousands of hours of Dianetics counseling on thousands of individuals all over the country, incontrovertible evidence was amassed about the fundamentally spiritual nature of man. L.Ron Hubbard himself had discovered early in his research that man was a spiritual being, inhabiting a body and using a mind. These discoveries led him to realize that he had entered the realm of religion.

 In 1954, the first Church of Scientology was formed in Los Angeles by a group of Scientologists. Within a few years churches had been formed across the country and around the world.

 In the years that followed, L. Ron Hubbard completed his research into the spiritual nature of man. Today, all his writings on the subject are available to anyone who wishes to study Scientology. Although Mr. Hubbard departed his body in 1986, he is still with us in spirit and the legacy of his work continues to help people around the world.

 In the early 1950s, L. Ron Hubbard wrote: "Acknowledgment is made to fifty thousand years of thinking men without whose speculations and observations the creation and construction of Dianetics would not have been possible. Credit in particular is due to:

 Anaxagoras, Thomas Paine, Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Socrates, Rene' Descartes, Plato, James Clerk Maxwell, Euclid, Charcot, Lucretius, Herbert Spencer, Roger Bacon, William James, Francis Bacon, Sigmund Freud, Isaac Newton, van Leeuwenhoek, Cmdr. Joseph Thompson (MC) USN, William A. White, Voltaire, Will Durant, Count Alfred Korzybski, and my instructors in atomic and molecular phenomena, mathematics and the humanities at George Washington University and at Princeton."

 Religion is defined as "Any specific system of belief and worship, often involving code of ethics and a philosophy. . . ." (Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition)

 Religious philosophy implies study of spiritual manifestations, research on the nature of the spirit and study of the relationship of the spirit to the body; exercises devoted to the rehabilitation of abilities in a spirit.

 Scientology is a religion in the most traditional sense. It deals with man as a spirit and is distinguishable from material and nonreligious philosophies which hold man to be a product of material circumstances. Scientology does not demand blind faith, but endeavors to help the individual discover past experiences and shed the trauma and guilt (sin) which encumber him.

 The Church of Scientology also conducts basic services such as sermons at church meetings, christenings, weddings and funerals.

 The word church comes from the Greek word kurios meaning "lord" and the Indo-European base kewe, "to be strong." Current meanings of the word include "a congregation," "ecclesiastical power as distinguished from the secular" and "the clerical profession; clergy."

 The word church is not only used by Christian organizations. There were churches ten thousand years before there were Christians, and Christianity itself was a revolt against the established church. In modern usage, people speak of the Buddhist or Moslem church, referring in general to the whole body of believers in a particular religious teaching.

 A church is simply a congregation of people who participate in common religious activities; church is also used to refer to the building where members of a religious group gather to practice their religion and attain greater spiritual awareness and well-being.

 Scientology helps man become more aware of God, more aware of his own spiritual nature and that of those around him. Scientology scriptures recognize that there is an entire dynamic (urge or motivation in life) devoted to the Supreme Being (the eighth dynamic), and another dynamic that deals solely with one's urge toward existence as a spirit (the seventh dynamic). Acknowledgment of these aspects of life is a typical characteristic of religions. Thus, Scientology is a religion and the use of the word church when referring to Scientology is correct.

 In the 1950s, Scientologists recognized that L. Ron Hubbard's technology and its results dealt directly with the freeing of the human spirit, and that greater spiritual awareness was routinely being achieved. There was no question in their minds that what they were dealing with was a religious practice; thus, in the early 1950s, they voted that a church be formed to better serve the needs of Scientologists. The first church of Scientology was incorporated in 1954. Since that time, dozens of court rulings in many different countries have upheld the fact that Scientology is a religion.

For related information visit and read. . .

The True Story of Scientology - an article by L. Ron Hubbard
www.realscientology.org

Information about Scientology
www.exactscientology.net

Founding Scientologists Talk about Dianetics and Scientology
www.traditionaldianetics.org