Scientology Word of the Day: Scientology

2006-08-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome to the new Scientology Nomenclature weblog!

This is a blog about Scientology words and nomenclature. Starting today, I'll be posting a new word each day. If there are any words you would like to see featured, please leave a comment on my blog.

It is only fitting to begin this blog with the definition of Scientology from the chapter "Scientology, Fundamental Questions and Answers" in the book Fundamentals of Thought by L. Ron Hubbard.

WHAT IS SCIENTOLOGY?

SCIENTOLOGY EMBRACES AND TREATS OF HUMAN ABILITY.

The term Scientology is taken from the Latin word scio (knowing, in the fullest meaning of the word) and the Greek word logos (study of). Scientology is further defined as "the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life."

Dianetics is a forerunner and substudy of Scientology. Dianetics comes from the Greek words dia (through) and nous (mind or soul). Dianetics is "what the soul is doing to the body."

Neither Dianetics nor Scientology should be confused with "modern" psychology. More acceptable and normal psychology, such as that begun by Saint Thomas Aquinas and extended by many later authors, was, in 1879, interrupted severely by one Professor Wundt, a Marxist at Leipzig University in Germany. This man conceived that Man was an animal without soul and based all of his work on the principle that there was no psyche (a Greek word meaning spirit).

Psychology, the study of the spirit, then came into the peculiar position of being "a study of the spirit which denied the spirit." For the subsequent decades, Wundtian "psychology" was taught broadly throughout the world. It taught that man was an animal. It taught that man could not be bettered. It taught that intelligence never changed. This subject, Wundtian psychology, became standard, mainly because of the indifference of lack of knowledge of people in charge of universities.

Scientology is actually a new, but very basic psychology, in the most exact meaning of the word &mdash "a study of the spirit." It can and does change behavior and intelligence, and it can and does assist people to study life. Unlike Wundtian pseudo-psychology, it has no political aspiration. Scientology is not teaching dialectical materialism (the Marxist theory that all things are material, including the mind and spirit) under the heading of "psychology." As has been the tradition for thousands of years, the study of the spirit and all spiritual matters rightfully belong to religion.

Scientology, used by the trained and untrained person, can improve the health, intelligence, ability, behavior, skill and appearance of people.

The Scientology religion is precise and exact, designed for an age of exact sciences.

&mdash L. Ron Hubbard, The Fundamentals of Thought

DEFINITIONS

treats of: to be concerned with, occupied with or have to do with (a subject); to deal with.

Aquinas, Saint Thomas: (1225-1274) Italian philosopher and religious scholar who insisted that reason and faith are fully compatible and complementary and that religion is the highest science. He professed that the human being consists of a soul and a body and that the soul survives after death.

Wundt: Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), German psychologist and physiologist; the originator of modern psychology and the false doctrine that Man is no more than an animal.

dialectical materialism: a theory adopted as the official philosophy of communism, based on the works of German philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883). The theory maintains that everything is material, including human culture which is seen as the product of economic forces. Matter is seen as the only thing subject to change and all change is the supposed resolution of constant conflicts between opposites arising from contradictions inherent in all events, ideas and movements. From the Greek word for (art of) debate.

For more information on Scientology, visit these sites:
What is Scientology?
The Religion of Scientology
This is Scientology - A Presentation by Mr. David Miscavige