SCIENTOLOGY: ITS BACKGROUND & ORIGINS                               Home Page

Scientology follows a long tradition of religious practice. Its roots lie in the deepest beliefs and aspirations of all great religions, thus encompassing a religious heritage as old and as varied as man himself.

Though drawing upon the wisdom of some 50,000 years, Scientology is a new religion, one which has isolated fundamental laws of life and, for the first time, developed a workable technology that can be applied to help one achieve a happier and more spiritual existence. Scientology is therefore something one does, not merely something one believes in — an important point which will be greatly clarified as you continue reading.

That Scientology’s development and rapid promulgation was made possible, in part, by advances in the physical sciences through the first half of the twentieth century is significant. Scientology constitutes man’s first real application of scientific methodology to spiritual questions.

THE SCIENTOLOGY RELIGION
Thanks to scientific and technical advances over the last hundred years, most people are today materially wealthier than their forefathers. Yet, by their own accounts, the improvement in the quality of their lives has not matched their material gains. In fact, it may be argued that people once were happier and more fulfilled. For some, material affluence breeds anxiety, a gnawing fear that if someone doesn’t take away their hard-earned acquisitions, the end of their days will prematurely arrive to finish the job. Others find death easier to face than a lifetime of assembly-line slavery, while most, in a less dramatic fashion, simply buckle down to lives of quiet desperation.

Most individuals have no real grasp of the factors governing their existence. And yet, simply stated, if they had a greater understanding of themselves and their fellows they would be able to improve conditions and thus live happier lives. This, then, is the purpose of Scientology: to enable man to improve his lot through understanding.

Before Scientology, the tremendous scientific advances of this era were not matched by similar advances in the humanities. Man’s knowledge of the physical universe had far outdistanced his knowledge of himself. The resulting pressures from such an imbalance account for much that has unsettled society and threatens our future. What Scientology represented to many when it appeared in the early 1950s was a restoration of the balance.

Despite its many successes, science has not provided answers to questions man has been asking himself since time immemorial: Who are we? What do we consist of? Where do we come from? Where are we going? What are we doing? These questions have always been the province of philosophy and religion, but traditional answers became inadequate in the face of the H-bomb. Scientology, drawing on the same advances in knowledge that led to the understanding of nuclear physics, provides modern answers to these questions. And it supplied workable methods of application which made it possible for man to reach the ancient goal he has been striving toward for thousands of years: to know himself and, in knowing himself, to know and understand other people and, ultimately, life itself.

Scientology is a religion. It holds in common many of the beliefs of other religions and philosophies. Scientology considers man to be a spiritual being, with more to him than flesh and blood. This, of course, is a very different view to that espoused by prevailing scientific thought which views man as only a material object, a complex combination of chemical compounds and stimulus-response mechanisms.

Scientology believes man to be basically good, not evil. It is man’s experiences that have led him to commit evil deeds, not his nature. Often, he mistakenly seeks to solve his problems by considering only his own interests, which then causes trouble for both himself and others. Scientology believes that man advances to the degree he preserves his spiritual integrity and values, and remains honest and decent. Indeed, he deteriorates to the degree he abandons these qualities.

But because man is basically good he is capable of spiritual betterment, and it is the goal of Scientology to bring him to a point where he is capable of sorting out the factors in his own life and solving his own problems. Other efforts to help man have tried to solve his problems for him and in this respect Scientology is different. Scientology believes that an individual placed in a position where he can increase his abilities, where he can confront life better, where he can identify the factors in his life more easily, is also in a position to solve his own problems and so better his own life.

Dianetics constituted L. Ron Hubbard’s first breakthrough, and it was his initial discoveries in this area which led to further researches and the exact isolation of the source of life itself. Man does not have a spirit. He is a spirit. He has a mind and he has a body. Dianetics addresses and handles the effects of the spirit on the body. Dianetics thus helps provide relief from unwanted sensations and emotions, accidents and psychosomatic illnesses (ailments caused or aggravated by mental stress).

The word Scientology is taken from the Latin scio, which means "knowing in the fullest sense of the word," and the Greek word logos, meaning "study of." It literally means "knowing how to know." Scientology itself is defined as "The study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life."

Scientology addresses the spiritual being. It directly raises his awareness and ability, and by so doing, he also becomes increasingly able to overcome the negative factors that impair him.

In over half a century of investigation, Mr. Hubbard isolated many, many fundamental truths about life, leading to his development of Scientology and the subsequent growth of the Scientology religion.

Life has tended to force the individual into certain values. The stresses of existence have tended to fixate his attention to a point where his awareness of himself and his environment has been greatly diminished. Attendant to this lowered spiritual awareness are problems, difficulties with others, illness and unhappiness. The goal of Scientology is to reverse this diminishing awareness and, in that sense, wake the individual up. As one becomes more and more alert, his abilities increase and he is capable of greater understanding and thus better able to handle his life.

Scientology, then, contains solutions to the problems of living. Its end result is increased awareness and spiritual freedom for the individual and rehabilitation of his basic decency, power and ability. It can and does accomplish these ends routinely, daily, all over the world.

The source and founder of the Scientology religion is L. Ron Hubbard, who devoted his life to finding answers to questions that have troubled mankind for millennia. Mr. Hubbard’s intellectual rigor, his curiosity and boundless spirit of adventure inspired his search, even as a young man.

The first widely released results of Mr. Hubbard’s researches did not lie in Scientology, however, but in another field of endeavor, "Dianetics." The word Dianetics comes from the Greek words dia, meaning "through" and nous, meaning "soul," and is defined as "what the soul is doing to the body."

A testament to the truths contained in Scientology lies in the fact that the Scientology religion flourishes on every continent with thousands of churches, missions and groups touching millions of lives daily. Found in every facet of society, Scientologists are businessmen, housewives, students, artists, celebrities, laborers, scholars, soldiers, doctors, policemen and on and on.

Scientologists, ever involved in the world around them, naturally share with others what they have learned in Scientology. Others, seeing the relevance Scientology can have in their lives too, also become interested in what Scientology can offer them. And so Scientology grows, in much the same way as every great religion in history has grown, from individual to individual, bringing knowledge, wisdom and hope for a better life.

With Scientology, millions know life can be a worthwhile proposition, that man can live a fulfilled life in harmony with others and that the world can be a happier place. Scientologists work to create such a world every day, joined by others who share this dream. The undeniable relevance of Scientology to the lives of these millions assures its permanence in our society. Millions upon millions more will follow in this quest to create a better world.

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