Scientology

Dianetics

Dianetics contained the key Scientology ideas of engrams, auditing, the clear state, and the dynamics. Engrams are traces of pain or trauma, recorded by what Hubbard termed the reactive mind (defined as the part of the mind that works on a stimulus-response basis) and extending back to the fetal stage. These engrams may cause aberrant behavior later in life. Auditing is considered by Scientologists to be a form of counseling, whereby individuals activate what Hubbard called the analytical, or active, mind in order to remove engrams. Auditing encompasses both listening and computing and is done only on a verbal level. Members who have done Dianetic auditing serve as auditors to newcomers. Aperson freed from aberrant engrams is called “clear” (by analogy with pushing the “clear” button on a calculator to reset it) and is reopened to the dynamics at the levels of self, sex (marriage), group survival, and humankind in general. (Dynamics are ascending levels of the urge toward survival.) Dianetics had no central authority; there were just loose associations of people applying the auditing techniques Hubbard had discovered. The “tech” as expounded by Hubbard, however, was and is deemed authoritative.

[Page 1209]The evolution from Dianetics to Scientology was both continuous and discontinuous. Even today, the church considers Dianetics a substudy of Scientology. The Founding Church of Scientology was established in 1954 in Washington, D.C. In Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought (1956) and related writings, Hubbard added the use of the E-meter (an electrogalvanometer) to help find areas of spiritual problems during the auditing process. He also introduced the concept of the thetan (spirit, soul), extended the concept of engrams to include past lives, introduced more advanced auditing levels, and revealed four additional levels of dynamics (life forms, universe, spirit, and Infinity, or God). The goal was no longer simply to become clear but to become an operating thetan, fully active on all eight dynamics and with mastery over MEST (matter, energy, space, and time).

The Development of the Church

The organization of the movement likewise underwent an evolution. The loose association of Dianetics practitioners from the early 1950s began to take on more of the characteristics of an organized, hierarchical church. At first, authority was centered in Hubbard and the Executive Council Worldwide, but this arrangement was to prove unsatisfactory in the long run. Hubbard resigned all administrative positions in 1966, but he remained the sole researcher into and sole guarantor of a standardized auditing “tech.”

Today the highest ecclesiastical authority in the Church resides in the Church of Scientology International (CSI) and the Religious Technology Center (RTC), both located in Los Angeles. The CSI is the mother church and has the mission of propagating the Scientology creed around the world. The all-important function of the RTC is to preserve, maintain, and protect the purity of the Scientology technology in accord with Hubbard's original research and to insure its proper and ethical delivery. Under the auspices of the CSI and RTC stands Scientology Missions International (SMI), which functions as the central church to Scientology missions worldwide. There are centers for advanced-level auditing in the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and Australia. In addition to these official [Page 1210]ecclesiastical structures, there is also the Sea Org(anization), whose members take vows of service and which, like the Vatican staff in Roman Catholicism, provides the top church leadership and management. The Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Florida, named after the flagship Apollo on which Hubbard sailed, is a special retreat center for advanced instruction and auditing. The church claims 8 million members worldwide, but this figure includes many who have taken only entry-level auditing courses.

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