I've long since parted ways with the Church and moved on from hopes for the tech outside the church, but still always had the nagging unknown of why it didn't all work. I think I have finally come to understand.
I had thought that its just that very few people really truly did scientology right, it would work if only.. Well even that is hard to maintain as a belief with the abundance of evidence.
The tech was good, it was the people. Well wrong. There is a fundamental flaw in the whole gestalt of scientology and that is the imbalance inherent in the tech toward being cause. The tech is based on the idea that survival is the root motivation of man. BUT scientology is supposed to be about the animating spirit OF man. Something that is inherently unable to do anything but survive, at least in human terms.
The incessant drive to increase "cause levels" and not be the effect, (SP's, life problems etc) has created a culture and a body of people who are wholly unbalanced.
It shows. You have a church supposedly based on communication that can only yell, but not be yelled at, or even listen if it is to something that puts them at effect.
People or spirits or life needs to do both, be able to experience effects and cause them in some roughly equal measure. Scientology tech does not promote balance, but trains and rewards imbalance.
I know that there are plenty of examples of Hubbard himself making this very point, and that man is inordinately effect, but scientology fails to remedy this. It creates imbalance in the direction of cause, and negates the ability to receive effects. Most discrete parts of scientology tech do work, but as a whole there is a fundamental flaw.
As a "spiritual practice", I agree that the fundamental flaw is Hubbard's total fixation on SURVIVAL!
The Hindu Vedas explain that there is the Unmanifest, which could be correlated somewhat to "Theta" (i.e. Static), and then there is the Manifest, or everything else that exists as part of the illusion (Maya), and exists in terms of endless "cycles". The idea is that the Unmanifest is Spirit - invisible, out of time and space, pure "mind", and the BASIS of all else. The idea is that the Manifest includes MEST, but as that it is always changing, waxing and waning, becoming something else.
When Hubbard focused on SURVIVAL, he took the middle part from "create - survive - destroy". The Hindu trinity is of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They are respectively the
creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe. Hubbard switched "preservation" to "survival". And, Hubbard
exaggerated it way out of importance and significance in terms of ANY cycle. Thereby he concentrated and gave undue attention to MEST (thus fancy buildings, make money, make more money, expand, persist, etc.). Most Scientologists I ever knew had very LOW sense or display of any type of "spirituality" and were VERY obsessed with MEST.
For me, I found that SOME of the auditing helped ME contact the spiritual aspect, the observer behind what is being observed, the Silence that underlies all movement and action. But, the culture of Scientology, based on the organizational materials and especially on the ETHICS TECH (which focuses on "helping things to survive") forces a person away from any sense of Spirit and towards MEST.
There is no doubt that an
urge to survive is a very basic aspect of what underlies the ILLUSION part of it all - the cycles of action - the entire range of universes. But THAT does NOT have
anything to do with becoming more aware of Spirit, self or awareness.
It is part of Hindu ideas that one learns about BOTH, the nature and behavior of the invisible Spirit that underlies all else, and nature and behavior of the endless cycles of action. But, it makes a great difference what one focuses upon and spends the majority of their time "looking at" or "thinking about".
For me, I can conceive or a version of Scientology that might be okay, granted it would take a GREAT DEAL of editing, removal of crap, and added explanations. A large majority of that crap has to do with the purpose and behavior of the Scientology organization. See here is the problem:
The top goal of Scientology is the survival and expansion of Scientology.
That is based on Hubbard's own statements, assertions and claims, and this TOP CLAIM links directly to a great many other LRH statements about the validity and sole workability of Scientology (Ref: KSW).
Once Hubbard set up the Church of Scientology's SURVIVAL as the TOP GOAL, far above all else, then everything else he ever wrote gets INTERPRETED with THAT in mind. Ethics is defined as "removing counter-intention from the environment", and "removing other-intention from the environment". Thus, anything that distracts or takes away from expanding Scientology becomes "unethical". And, as we know Scientology has a GROSS EXTREMELY OVER-EXAGGERATED FOCUS on "ethics". With how Hubbard set it all up, any adherent MUST become obsessed with "ethics", which REALLY is ONLY "making Scientology survive".
Hubbard's organization "tech" (OEC) is all about making his group survive and expand. The Data Series, and all Management Series are ONLY about that same thing. A very LARGE realm of data and active concern and behavior FOCUS almost exclusively on the
middle aspect of the illusion (as defined by the Hindus). He gets Scientology adherents all terribly worked up about SURVIVAL.
The sad truth is that if one has a more balanced understanding of the "way things are" in this universe, one would grasp that
nothing lasts,
everything changes into something else,
all things must pass, and NOTHING can be coaxed into "expanding forever" (example - study the recent stock market crash). A more balanced "spiritual" groking of all of this leaves one CALM and RELAXED about "making things survive", and one does NOT get all horribly insanely dedicated to making ANYTHING survive. The
frantic manner of the Sea Org, staff and many Church members was always so distasteful to me.
This is a far better "basic truth" than Hubbard's dumbass notion of "survival is the basic":
All Things Must Pass
But, even over-attention on that line can cause one to settle into too much focus on MEST.
That is why I like and enjoy forms of meditation. Meditation practices provide daily time each day where I settle into the Silence behind the Activity. I also enjoy reading writers who talk of the
Invisible Source of It All.
I like the analogy of food and dieting. You ARE what you eat - and this is also very true when it comes to what you focus mental attention and action upon. When one is constantly obsessed with making something survive, this "diet" of ideas and behaviors takes over. That is surely the case for many over-indoctrinated Scientologists.
That is why I live on a small mountain surrounded by Nature, read "spiritual stuff", and do my best to "be in the now".
Now, if one wants to use Hubbard's crap on survival and succeeding like one would use any "achievement-oriented subject", well there is probably
some value to THAT BY ITSELF. But linking together a "spiritual practice" (some auditing, OT TR0 & TR0) with a decidedly "success practice" (OEC volumes, management series) was INSANE! They push any person in opposite directions, though of course, THAT may have been Hubbard's intention too. :confused2:
As a "spiritual practice",
when taken as a whole, Scientology is USELESS.
Just look at the qualities and characteristics of the people who heavily support it. They are often arrogant, pushy, self-serving, ego-obsessed and often nasty people (pretty much just like Hubbard himself). Then look at a fellow like the Dalai Lama who exudes
compassion and
love.
See that difference? That is because of how and what one focuses on as valid and important.
A person who is locked into MEST, into survival, FIGHTS and wants to WIN against others. Life is seen as a battle - just as it is with Scientology versus the World.
But, a person who focuses on the Spirit sees and feels the calm Silence behind it all, brings THAT into every behavior and relationship, grasps the deep connection we all have, and NATURALLY exhibits love and compassion. THAT is NOT at all evident in most Scientologists.
Is genuine Love and Compassion there, visibly evident in the person? If not, the
Path is probably NOT "improving one spiritually".
The utter lack of any mention of the concepts of
compassion and/or
love in Scientology is very telling. I mean the "higher love". And, when coupled with the extreme obsession of "making Scientology survive", it is truly a dog's breakfast as ANY sort of "spiritual practice".
I have thought of Scientology as a "spiritual practice" for self-obsessed people who want to
pretend that they are "spiritual" when really they are almost entirely immersed in MEST.
