Dear Julia:

The other day I saw my grown son reading a book about Scientology. He told me that he is thinking about getting involved by taking some classes. For some reason, this has me feeling uneasy, but all I know about Scientology is that some celebrities are into it. What is it all about, and do you think I have reason to feel uneasy about this?
- M.

Dear M.:

I have had no personal experience with Scientology, so please note that what I'm writing here is based on my research and what I've heard about it over the years. I'm also comparing and contrasting its tenets with my own personal belief system, which is ever evolving. I don't think that just because someone's views differ from my own, I am necessarily more "right" than they are. What people believe is generally right for them at the time.

From what I understand of Scientology, some of its tenets are in harmony with my own spiritual beliefs. These include a belief in reincarnation, the idea that there are many dimensions beyond the physical realm, and the notion that we can have non-physical (lower astral) entities attached to us that may try to influence our thoughts.

Scientologists also believe that through personal growth, we can raise our energetic vibration (they use the term "tone"), which will result in greater personal power, happiness, well-being and freedom. The lower our vibration, the more limited our personal power and abilities, and the more difficult our daily lives tend to be, so raising our vibration is beneficial in many ways. I also believe this is true.

To some people these ideas will seem far out, but they seem pretty basic to me. Then again, I could be as blinded by my own belief system as anyone else. This is why we are wise to ever question our beliefs, study the teachings of the masters, and explore spiritual ideas for ourselves.

For example, I have personally had memories of past lives, have examined the evidence of children who remember past lives, and have studied what various esoteric teachings have to say about the subject. This is how I came to "believe in" reincarnation. Similarly, I have had out of body experiences that correlated with those of experts on the subject, so I'm inclined to trust what they say about other dimensions I've yet to explore. I have encountered and experienced the attachment of non-physical entities and read of many similar accounts throughout various cultures/belief systems around the world - that's why I believe this sort of thing happens all the time.

There are some things I believe simply because they seem self-evident given the sum of my experiences and observations throughout life. For example, I believe that we have many spiritual abilities that most of us have yet to fully develop and utilize, and that acknowledging this and exploring those abilities can naturally lead us to new personal power and potential.

In these ways, Scientology seems to have tapped into some basic spiritual truths. There are many ways, however, that this path seems to go astray, and may mislead or prove harmful to its followers.

For example, a main tool for personal growth in Scientology is a process called "auditing," in which a person is hooked up to something called an "e-meter," which is like a neuro-feedback machine. In one-on-one conversations, a trained Scientology counselor asks many questions, and the e-meter measures one's inner responses. The questions are designed to dig up all the negativity in the past in order to release it, so they center on every traumatic event and mistake a person may ever have experienced in this life or a previous life. It's a bit like the Catholic practice of confession, except you would pay a lot of money for these sessions, and the priest would essentially grill you on every bad thing you'd ever done or experienced since the beginning of time.

I do believe that uncovering the roots of troubling fears, habits and personal issues can be freeing and empowering, whether those roots lie in this life or a past life. However, in my view, going over and over one's "problems" and looking for negative issues is a recipe for MORE problems and more negativity. (For this reason, I also see traditional psychotherapy where one endlessly talks about their problems as very limited in its power to help us affect real healing and positive change.)

What we focus upon expands in our lives. While self-awareness and understanding is important, I don't believe we should endlessly dredge up the past or go looking for problems. (In fact, many claim that the auditing process frequently causes mental breakdowns and suicidal tendencies.) Instead, we should focus on what we want to become and create in our lives now and in the future. If we do that, we'll naturally grow out of whatever we used to be and into who we desire to become.

While many Scientologists claim that founder Ron Hubbard's teachings have empowered them to overcome addictions, mental illnesses, learning disabilities and other problems, there are many people who have firsthand experience with Scientology who are speaking out against it. Some of these are politicians who felt pressured by Scientologists to align with their agendas. Others are people who spent years in Scientology, who feel they were brainwashed by its practices. Many who have spoken out about their experiences clam to have received threats and harassment as a result.

In The Road to Zenu, a firsthand account of Margery Wakefield's twelve years in the Church of Scientology, the author describes a cult-like organization bent on extracting as much money from its followers as possible. She explains how detractors were punished and silenced, and tries to help the reader understand how even without this overt pressure, she became so brainwashed by the indoctrination process that she could no longer think for herself.

She writes, "My prison did not have locked doors. They were not needed. My prison consisted of the locked doors in my mind...I still have nightmares about Scientology. The healing process continues. But I am free. And having been once deceived by a great master of deception, I know I can never be deceived in the same way again. I will never again cede away the deed to my mind, not to anyone, no matter how convincing they may be. My freedom has been purchased at a tremendous cost, and neither my freedom nor my mind will ever be for sale again."

We would all be wise to learn from such experiences by questioning everything - even those beliefs we have adopted as central to our sense of reality. As there certainly must be a lot that is real and true that I have not yet personally encountered, I try to hold no strong opinions about the nature of those aspects of reality. While I can study others' opinions and experiences, I must wait until I've had my own validating experiences before forming my own views. In this way, I hope to be as free from limiting (and mentally enslaving) dogmatic beliefs as possible.

For more information about Scientology, try What is Scientology?, which has lots of links to more information. For an expose on Scientology's darker side, you might explore The Total Freedom Trap by Jon Atack.

All of these issues aside, I feel you would be wise to listen to your intuition about this, for mother's intuition is powerful stuff. Trust your own inner guidance to lead you to the best way to help your son find the spiritual path that is right for him.

- Julia