The Way Of Awakening: Scientology

Siddhartha Gautama saw that things are constantly in motion, changing from one thing to another and that inability to accept this change is what leads to human suffering (The Way of Awakening). Often times, survival hinges on the ability to adapt to changing times and evolve. The US Constitution is based on this principal that what worked in 1789, might not always work and that there should be room for evolution. So it’s no mistake that often times, a defining feature of a religion or system of beliefs is its ability to adapt, as the world around it changes. For most religions, the answer is passive, to themselves change. This can be seen in the Protestant Reformation, in which Martin Luther declared the ways of the Catholic Church to be outdated

(Protestant Reformation), but Scientology is special, in that instead of changing itself, it fought back, holding true to its roots.
Scientology began in the 1950’s, making it the youngest of the religions studied this semester, which admittedly means it was built for the modern world, but that makes it no less contested (Jones, 2004). The biggest battle of which Scientology fought in was for its IRS tax exempt status as a religion, which they refer to themselves as “The War.” As trivial as being officially classified as a religion might seem, success earned them millions in potentially lost tax revenue and in a sense legitimized the movement (Urban, 2011).
Beginning as Dianetics, a self-help movement, L. Ron Hubbard repositioned it as The Church of Scientology and began attempting to take advantage of the religious freedoms such a title provided. But whether or not Scientology is at its core a religion, or if that status is a deliberate attempt to “game the system” is another question for another day. When called into question, Scientology stood its ground, fighting in various ways for what it felt it deserved. Including numerous lawsuits, a division of the Church devoted to fighting against attacks on it (Urban, 2011) and practices to suppress former members they themselves refer to as suppressive persons (SPs).
The church has even gone as far as to create its own division, with the sole intention of protection from outside threats, the Guardian’s Office. The Guardian’s Office undertakes tasks of surveillance and espionage in the church’s name, in an attempt to protect the church from outside influences and keep its secrets closely guarded. This agency played a crucial role in Scientology’s battle with the IRS, in attaining tax exemption. Over the course of the war, representatives of the Church of Scientology stole tens of thousands of pages of documents from the IRS, with the intention of using the information to help win tax exempt status. Ultimately, in what sounds like a scene out of The Godfather, Scientology’s leader, his top lieutenant and the IRS Commissioner, Scientology made the IRS “an offer they couldn’t refuse” and ended the war in an undisclosed settlement (Urban, 2011).
With the dawn of the Internet, Scientology has been at war with its most privileged information being leaked online.

This is especially important given Scientology is a tiered religion, which opens more of its secrets up as a member moves throughout its ranks. Some of Scientology’s beliefs, such as Xenu, are extremely hard to palate for the uninitiated, so Scientology is right to hold that off for its more senior members but with the vast information found within the internet, now anybody can read such information meant only for Operating Thetans. But given Scientology’s love for suing people, this level of information raises questions of copyright law versus freedom of speech and religion, with both sides arguing that it’s their right to use the information as they choose (Urban, 2011).

As previously stated, most major religions go through a period where they bring in a level of portability, which helps the religion be accessible to a higher number of people. Most religions just want their message to reach as far as it can, so as to save as many people as possible but Scientology prefers to control its message and image more so then the other world religions, so it makes sense in a way that they would take such measures to protect themselves. Though of course, this approach does present an issue with their public image, as they are now seen as being law suit

happy.
It should be acknowledged that the earliest beliefs within Scientology, have merit.

The idea of an analytic and reactive mind, is valid. The reactive mind, to me sounds like decisions made in times of high stress, when filled by adrenaline or what psychologists might call being manic; while the analytic mind is calm and collected, makes level headed decisions. While I don’t know the validity of e-meters, their use in auditing, essentially sounds like talking with a psychologist, that can measure if they are being successful or not.

World religions don’t always share features or traits, but a lot of the patterns are similar. All religions have a unique problem and solution, those religions being contested is often an issue, succession from a founder brings changes and eventually, religions typically have an offshoot which seeks to get back to that religions roots. If there’s one positive note to leave off on, which I truly see as hopeful, it’s that maybe, one day, Scientology will see an offshoot which seeks to get it back to its Dianetics roots and reclaim what the movement was, before it took on the shape of a

religion.