A Brief Description of Scientology from a Scientologist

A writer recently messaged me, and asked me to summarize for her a few things about my beliefs and what they’ve done for me. I figured the questions may be ones other readers might have, so I’ll share them here. I’m always willing to field honest questions about my beliefs and on the subject of Scientology as a whole, so if the below raises more questions, please hit me up on my Facebook page.

Table of Contents

Can you briefly describe Scientology?

I’ll try to sum it up succinctly. Scientology is a 62-year-old religion, founded by American philosopher L. Ron Hubbard. Our first churches opened in 1954 in LA and Washington, DC, and it is now a global movement. Scientology is an applied religious philosophy. That means that Scientology as a religion is something you do, rather just something to simply believe in.

Some key tenets that make up much of the backbone of the religion:

That the individual is spiritual in nature, not just a bag of meat and fluids, and that there is so much more to an individual than his or her body.
That it is possible to know about the mind, spirit and life. Meaning, solutions to your problems as an individual, a family or group member, are not out of your hands, and that no matter how hard those problems are, something can be done about them, and Scientology contains intensely workable solutions for anything you want to better in your life.

I had a more complete explanation on what it all means to me here if you’re interested.

Can you briefly describe auditing?

Auditing is one of the fundamental practices of Scientology, and is a set of counseling techniques which (1) helps the individual rid themselves of spiritual disabilities, and (2) helps the individual increase his own spiritual abilities. Auditing actions done in Scientology address specific areas of a person’s life that they wish to handle, and help them to become happier, more stable and more able to handle life. These procedures are arranged in a gradient approach on what we call The Bridge to Total Freedom. There is a great video here which explains the practice but I’ll give a few specifics, to give you an idea on how this could help parents like us.

An early Auditing action most Scientologists do is known as Objectives. The aim of this procedure is to get a person able to live in the present moment, and to be able to handle and react to life as it is right now, as opposed to having one’s attention stuck in the past or somewhere else. With all of the things in our modern world that can have the effect of driving one AWAY from living in the present (drugs, alcohol, video games, mobile devices, etc) the importance of being able to react sanely in the here & now can’t be overstated.

Another early action addresses the subject of PROBLEMS. Have you ever seen someone that always seemed to have problems, and no matter how hard you tried to solve their problems for them, they always seemed to invent more ways that their life was a problem? This Auditing action addresses why a person feels he needs to have problems to survive, and allows them to spot the source of problems and make them vanish. Both my wife and I have done this, and the calmness it’s brought to our house is amazing. We’re both more constructive when it comes to solving the problems of the family (we have 3 kids – of course, there are many!) and don’t get mired into having our “pet problems” that never seem to go away.

There are countless others – actions addressing one’s ability to communicate, one’s ability to deal with upsets & big changes, marriage counseling, and whole field of techniques dealing with past incidents of pain and painful emotion which, when un-handled, adversely affect how one handles the present.

How has it helped your family?

There’s almost no way it hasn’t helped. I’d say the biggest benefit has been the general emotional and personal stability that we’ve gained through Scientology. My wife and I have found that the more we’ve done in Scientology, the more even-keeled we can be as individuals and as parents despite the inherent randomness and stress that comes with having three kids. We’ve found ease in being able to communicate about problems we face as a family, and can therefore be a more unified and involved team when it comes to working with our kids, and with our broader goals as a family.

I think a huge part of our participation in Scientology has been the constant opportunities for productive introspection upon our goals, our strengths and our shortcomings, and has given so many avenues to us to improve areas where we feel we could do better. As parents, we don’t have any other standard than wanting to have done the best job possible for our kids, which is what it’s all about anyhow.

Much of the space on this site has been devoted to explaining in detail the little ways that my religious beliefs have influenced my approach to family, as well as stories from other families on the same.

Again, if there are other specific questions the above has raised for you, I’d be more than happy to respond.