preview

Scientology Research Papers

Decent Essays

Eric Svitok
Professor Szwed
ANTH 100_18
9 October 2016

The World of Scientology

The religion of Scientology is a very controversial topic all over the world and is even considered a cult by many. Those who chose to participate in the beliefs and practices of this faith form their own unique culture with other like-minded individuals. The purpose of my research is to gain insight into the world of Scientology by closely examining the lifestyles and opinions of its followers. What are the lives of Scientologists like and how does it affect them psychologically? Scientology was created in 1954 by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. It is considered a body of religious beliefs and practices mainly focusing on the human mind and spirit. …show more content…

An example of one of these core beliefs would be Dianetics and having what they call a reactive mind and analytical mind. These divisions of the mind can be thought of as the subconscious and conscious thinking. Scientologists believe that subconscious reactive mental images have a great impact on the spirit of the individual causing them to stray from their true identity. Getting rid of these negative mental images is a way for them to progress towards what they call the Clear State. This is a state where an individual is freed from being controlled by their subconscious thought processes and can be their own person in a sense. In order for a Scientologist to transition to the Clear State, they undergo a process known as auditing. Auditing is something similar to the confession that Catholics practice. It is a one on one session where the individual speaks with an auditor about difficulties in an effort to alleviate negative reactive thoughts. A device called an electropsychometer is used on the auditee which is believed by Scientologists to locate spiritual difficulties from reactive images and confirm if they have been eliminated from the mind or not. Neither the E-meter nor the beliefs behind the reactive and analytical mind hold any scientific evidence. Moreover, the idea of the Clear State fails the scientific method simply because it cannot be measured or tested. However, this does not take away from

Get Access