From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 1 - May 1991
Philosophical Considerations
By Todde Salén, Sweden
Religion
If you study other subjects than Scientology and it's free zone, you
rapidly find out that there is an incredible number of different
beliefs and viewpoints on the subject of God and Truth.
When I studied Eastern mysticism recently I encountered a system of
classifying religion in various levels. This is how I interpreted it
(starting with the 'Lowest' level as the most 'low on the tone scale
level' or the level most far from the truth):
1) Rites and rituals.
2) Morals and moral codes.
3) Dharma (the teaching of the laws of life and the meaning of life).
4) Ethics.
5) Meditation.
6) Direct personal contact with Truth (or God).
With this scale it becomes a lot easier to compare various different
religions and belief systems with one and another. If we study the
religion of Scientology using this scale we should soon find that it
falls all over the scale. Many of the methods Hubbard developed have
fallen down to 'rites and rituals' today (at least in the C of $),
when the performance has lost contact with the ARC and purposes that
are necessary to use to achieve this 'standard result'. For instance a
'Gang Sec Check' has very little to do with meditation and would
hardly help anybody raise his awareness of truth. The original
Auditing Confessional procedures however were real meditation (guiding
procedures to raise an individuals awareness of truth).
Most of the rules of conduct and policies of the C of $ that a 'Good
Scientologist' is supposed to abide by are just moral codes (to
protect the group) of level 2) above.
Almost every HCO Bulletin and book issued by Hubbard deals with the
Dharma of Scientology (the teachings of the way the mind works) and
belongs to level 3). It is quite interesting to notice how the various
different religions seem to get more and more in agreement with each
other as you go closer to truth on this scale.
Ethics is different from morals in that it grows out of the
individuals judgement, which gets it's level of 'Goodness' out of the
amount of knowledge the individual has acquired in any area of life.
The level of ethics for a certain individual is determined by his body
of knowledge.
The Auditing technology of Scientology and the practice of it in
sessions belong at the level of Meditation (the word meditate
originally meant 'performing the right action' in the indo-European
language).
Once you no longer need a system or any devices to reach higher levels
of truth you have reached the highest level of religion. From there on
you can grow in KRC to become a guru (who can assist others in
reaching the highest level of religion).
I hope this can assist you in finding your way on the 'road to truth'.
Between level 3 and 4 you could enter a level of ARC where you grow
into understanding more and more and thus increase your knowledge.