When I was a kid I loved science fiction ... movies, books, cartoons, whatever. I was fascinated by flying saucers, Star Trek and time travel but it never occured to me that the words used by talking robots could ever be used to form a new religion.
Pulp author L. Ron Hubbard apparently had more imagination than the rest of us, and launched the Church of Scientology back in 1952. Soon afterwards, Scientology left earth's orbit and departed for celestial space .... boldly going where not even Mormons had gone before.
You may've already heard a little about Scientology through headlines about Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Silent Birth. Here's some of Scientology's other basic beliefs:
-We are all immortal spiritual beings, known as thetans.
-Through the process of "auditing", a person can become free of "engrams" and "implants" to reach the state of "Clear," followed by the state of "Operating Thetan". Each state represents the recovery of the native spiritual abilities of the individual, and confers dramatic mental and physical benefits.
-The thetan has lived through many past lives and continues to live beyond physical death.
-A person is basically good, but becomes "aberrated" by experiences of pain and unconsciousness in his or her life.
-What's true for you consists of what you have observed. No other beliefs should be forced as "true" on anyone.
-Humans retain many emotional problems caused by early stages of evolution [suddenly sprouting feathers or having your tail fall off tends to do that].
-The ultimate goal is to get the soul (thetan) back to its native state of total freedom, thus gaining control over matter, energy, space, time, thoughts, form, and life. This freed state is called Operating Thetan, or OT for short.
I'm not sure what any of all that means but I'm sorta disappointed not to find light sabers, wookiees, or Queen Amidala's handmaidens mentioned anywhere (Sabe's a real hottie). Bummer.
Thursday's Thetan's All-Clear (so turn loose the asteroids) Playlist:
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - Klaatu
[I liked Klaatu better when I still thought they were The Beatles. Oh well.]
Freaks Come Out At Night - Whodini
O Superman - Laurie Anderson
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