Scientology crap

Scientology has its roots in Dianetics, which in turn is based on what is called the "engram". Scientology would have you believe that this "engram" was discovered by L. Ron Hubbard, and he used it while in the military to rid himself of his medical problems.

However, for starters, it turns out the theory of the Engram, and the basis of Dianetics, was not first conceived by him... though that is certainly what he wants everyone to believe. Check out the following about his "engram" that a search on the web will yield:

"The term engram was coined in 1904 by the German scholar Richard Semon, who defined it as a "stimulus impression" which could be reactivated by the recurrence of "the energetic conditions which ruled at the generation of the engram."

Semon's concept was re-used by L. Ron Hubbard when he published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health in 1950. He conceived of the engram as a form of "memory trace", an idea which had long existed in medicine. According to Dr. Joseph Winter, a physician who collaborated in the development of Dianetics, Hubbard had taken the term "engram" from the 1936 edition of Dorland's Medical Dictionary, where it was defined as:
"a lasting mark or trace .... In psychology it is the lasting trace left in the psyche by anything that has been experienced psychically; a latent memory picture." He had originally used the terms "Norn", "comanome" and "impediment" before alighting on "engram" following a suggestion from Winter."

Sure enough, search through the online Dorlans Dictionary and you'll find this definition of an engram:
"a lasting mark or trace. In psychology, it is the lasting trace left in the psyche by anything that has been experienced psychically; a latent memory picture."

So fact number one... L. Ron Hubbard did not discover engrams as he would like people to believe. He basically grabbed an old existing term and then proceeded to create a religion around it.

So here we have a man who lied about his military experiences, lied about his past health issues, lied about his college education (IE: He claims to have attended and excel in his studies at George Washington University, see:
http://www.xenu-directory.net/documents/hubbard-gwu.html
and see the image Transrcipts.jpg). Then this known liar proceeds to create a religion based on the engram. This was postulated way before L. Ron Hubbard came along, yet he claims to have discovered it. Then if you delve more into Scientology, it becomes clear that the whole thing is closer to pure science fiction than any kind of science. And what do you know... he's a science fiction writer!

All Scientology has done is make L. Ron Hubbard a rich man, and swindled people out of their money.

If the people really want to show us that Scientology is based on science, then show us! Show us the proof. Show us the evidence. Show us SOMETHING! But of course they don't, and they won't. Why? Obviously they won't show proof because they can't. All of it is based on the ramblings of a liar who couldn't even pass 2 years worth of college courses, and yet we are to swallow it all without question because to do so would be to question the man who created it all, and of course he could not be wrong!

How is it that people can totally accept something from a liar and a swindler? If you knew that a car salesman was crooked, and could not be trusted, would you buy a car from him?

Yet here we have L. Ron Hubbard, an obvious, blatant liar, who stole a concept way before his time and wrapped a religion around it, and sold it via his grand bogus stories. Then people bought into it, and gave away all their money, making Hubbard a rich man.

And think about this... the people in Scientology who have reached the level of OT (Operating Thetan), will have you believe that they can leave their bodies at will and float about, looking down at everything. Fine, that's just great. So why on earth aren't any of these people collecting their 1 million dollars? What $1 million you ask? The million dollars that James Randi offers to anyone who can prove the occult, psychic or supernatural powers. See his site at: http://www.randi.org/site/

So come one OTs, go on over to Mr. Randi's place, float around out of your body and prove that you can do it, collect your million and go home and buy all the auditing that you can! What are you waiting for?

Yeah, and I can just hear them now. "Well gee Jeff, I won't do it because I don't want to feel like some circus side-show act, and don't want to be questioned about my claims to the point that I have to prove it". To that I say "OK, so in other words you cannot do as you claim, so shut the fuck up!". Tell you what, let's say that I tell you that I can lift 2,000 pounds over my head. You then say "Hey, there's 2,000 pounds sitting right there, so go ahead and show me". I then refuse, and perhaps use the same reason that you use about going to the lab and proving your claims.

Are you going to walk away from me believing that I can do what I claim? Of course not. And now imagine that not only did I not choose to do my feat, but I chose not to do it in lieu of making a million dollars. WOW, come on, OBVIOUSLY a person makes such a choice BECAUSE THEY CAN'T DO WHAT THEY CLAIM!

Now with that said, I do have to admit that there is SOME redeeming things in Scientology. There communications course can actually get one to be more in tune with conversations, and less caught up in one's own "reactive" mind. I would also tend to believe that there is some merit to the engram theory. However, to wrap this all up into a religion that takes hundreds of thousands of dollars, and with claims that NOBODY can prove is ridiculous! One could probably setup some sort of small class or work group, incorporate the basic concepts taught in their communications course, then even put the engram to use, but with SCIENCE instead of all the hocus-pocus that L. Ron Hubbard puts onto it, and you'd have a very viable "product"... and it would probably all be done within a few weeks and at the cost of only a few hundred dollars!!!