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Is scientology a valid belief system?
hermitwin
Veteran
Is scientology a valid belief system?
0
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What does Oprah have to do with this?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAHAHAHAAHAHA
HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Only joking. Sort of.
Back to Ophra!
"south park :this is what scientologists really believe"
All in all though i see nothing positive in truely bashing other religions and beliefs. It only increases our own ego and tendancy for judgement.
I like to think about how religions/belief systems come into being in the first place. Today, Buddhism is pretty well fleshed-out as a belief system, but then it's over 2000 years old. Scientology is less than 100 years old. What was Buddhism like when it was only 100 years old? Who would have called it valid at that time? How did it develop/evolve into what it is now? What steps did it take?
One of my favorite books is Gore Vidal's "Messiah". It tells the story of how one man, giving talks in mortuaries, became the basis for a new religion's meteoric rise from those obscure beginnings to the predominant religion in the world in the space of a single generation. It's a cynical view on Vidal's part, but gives the reader serious food for thought.
And it's a pretty good read, if you can find a copy.
So, how did a single man's teachings in India 2500 years ago, probably somewhat obscure himself, evolve into the worlds 4 largest religion?
Similarly, how will a self-help regimine, authored by a pulp sci-fi writer (and not a very good one), rapidly becoming a religion, evolve into the future, if at all? If we follow Vidal's scenario it will be up to the commitment of the people in the front office.
It would be a grand thing to observe.
Cruise is nuts.
Scientology is nuts too.
But is one related to the other?
Maybe?
We ought to give it as fair an examination as we want other religions to give to Buddhism.
I have a problem with its views of psychiatry and psychology. But I don't know very much about that.
So, joking aside, what do we all feel about Scientology.
But Cruise - did you not see him on Oprah? People on needle drugs aren't that crazy.
I'm with you too, that Scientology should be taken seriously - a lot of people seem to get something out of it.
There's the dark side of it, too, but a coin always has two side, right?
#1 you hear a lot of Buddhist say that religion X and Y are compatible, e.g. vipissana and Christianity. Mindfulness and Judaism. And so on.
#2 you hear people say, "We all pray to a higher being, but with a different name, God, Vishnu, Buddha, or..... Xenu*" *Scientology's ancient superbeing
#3 you see a lot of people say that religions are basically the same, they have similar ethical systems and a cosmological myth that would make for a good Hollywood movie. Maybe starring Cruise or Travolta. Buddhism too has a fancy cosmology system with multiple heavens and hells and myths about the battles between the asuras and devas.
My 2cents on Scientology:
The founder appears to have had schizophrenia/been a functional schizophrenic. Behind the schizophrenia, the guy seemed to want to invent a new form of psychology, something that moved along the edge of psychology and religion, a feature shared by Buddhism. When people sign up for Scientology, they are interested in that part, they aren't even allowed to know about the secret teachings about Xenu and the space opera and so on-- so the motivations of the people who join appear to be okay. That they seem to hold on after they learn about the space opera and schizophrenic ramblings... that doesn't reflect well on the followers.
The subsequent leaders of the organization seem to have no problem with getting rather rich off the members and has all the features of a cult (in the bad sense of the word).
I'm skeptical of organizations in general-- the abuses of mainstream churches are a matter of degree. Ideally, religion would be practiced independently or in ad hoc groups at home, sort of the way that Christianity is practiced unground in China. (lemme make clear that I don't think institutions should be banned to bring this about-- it just would be a good thing if people could practice religion outside of an institution.)
This gal my wife and I knew in college went to LA with her mom to be scientologists. They ended up having to sneak out in the middle of the night a year or two later. Those stories are not uncommon with Scientology.
The same could be said for many other religions. I was threatened with my life (god would kill me) if I left the group I was with. That was 40 years ago and there are still people faithful to the group. Can my experience be used to totally disparage a group like that? I dunno. Does one bad experience trump the experience of 100 other good ones? For some, maybe.
How about Mormonism?
Pentacostalism?
I've never heard of such a thing happening in Buddhism, but that doesn't mean it doesn't. It wouldn't suprise me if I heard about though? Buddhism's problem? No. Religion is just a collection of ideas. It's people who do screwed up things with it.
I have gotten the idea from some that amongst Buddhists there is some contention
about Theravada or Tibetan or the Prajnaparamita not being the Buddha's teachings.
From my view most religions teach positive values like human kindness and handling personal stains and living a better life. I think Scientology fits into that scheme pretty well. Of course some would disagree. That is fine with me. Personally I hold to the teachings of the Prajnaparamita, the heart and diamond sutras and Tibetan Buddhism.
I think Christians should try to be good Christians and try to live a valuable life. Ditto Scientologists. Namaste
And a scholarly paper on comparing Scientology and Buddhism.
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/kent/eastern.html
I think the take away is that the two are no more similar than any other pairing of Buddhism with a non-dharmic religion.
Ooo. Here is a good chart:
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Buddhism_vs_Scientology
Except for the space opera and psychology stuff, Scientology is very Christian influenced. hmm.
Otherwise here is the advertisement: http://www.scientology.org/what-is-scientology.html?link=top_beliefs
Sorry I have to leave this here, South Park did a great job and I am sure it has been posted before.
Sorry been posted already
:rolleyes:
Thailand: Bangkok Church of Scientology Mission of Bangkok
[For what it's worth, I suspect the historical Buddha had a bout of depression]
"The Australian Report said that "expert psychiatric witnesses" were of the opinion that Hubbard's writings indicated "symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia of long standing with delusions of grandeur.""
ref: http://www.xenu.net/archive/books/tsos/sos-20.html
"Sara (Hubbard's ex wife) left Hubbard early in 1951, accusing him of being "paranoid schizophrenic." Hubbard, perhaps having a legitimate worry in this regard, retaliated by first kidnapping Alexis from the Church of Scientology premises in Los Angeles, and then by kidnapping Sara and trying to have her declared insane in order to prevent her from doing same to him. "
ref: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us-02.html
"Ron Hubbard meets all seven of the DSM IV criteria for diagnosing a person with antisocial personality disorder as shown by Russell Miller in "Bare Faced Messiah"
ref: http://www.quora.com/Was-L-Ron-Hubbard-a-sociopath
"The FBI had a lengthy file on him, including a 1951 interview with an agent who considered him a "mental case""
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard
You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.
Response to a question from the audience during a meeting of the Eastern Science Fiction Association on (7 November 1948), as quoted in a 1994 affidavit by Sam Moskowitz.
This statement is similar or identical to several statements Hubbard is reported to have made to various individuals or groups in the 1940s. Variants include:
The incident is stamped indelibly in my mind because of one statement that Ron Hubbard made. What led him to say what he did I can't recall — but in so many words Hubbard said: "I'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is!"