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Archive-name: scientology/users/welcome
Last-modified: 1995/2/7 Version: 1.7 See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
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W e l c o m e !
...to the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup. This article (posted every
week) is one of several that will be posted periodically. The list of other
periodically posted articles includes:
A Scientology Catechism (Parts 1, 2 and 3) [Every two weeks]
The Codes and Creeds of Scientology [Every two weeks]
Scientology Users FAQ [Every two weeks]
List of Books and Tapes on Scientology [Every two weeks]
International List of Scientology
Organizations (Parts 1, 2, and 3) [Every three weeks]
In addition to these periodically posted articles, there is an FTP
site which contains a great deal of information on Scientology,
Dianetics, and L. Ron Hubbard. It is located at FTP.PCNET.COM in
the directory: /users/brianw (If you are new to the Internet and
are not familiar with how to FTP, see the instructions for FTPing at the
end of this file.)
The files available via anonymous FTP at the FTP.PCNET.COM site include:
/00INDEX Descriptions of the following files.
/WELCOME A "Welcome to the FTP Site" message.
/cchr/ Citizens Commission on Human Rights files.
/dianetics/medical-opinion Medical Opinions of Dianetics.
/lrh/lrh-faq Biography of L. Ron Hubbard.
/lrh_essays/ Essays on life by L. Ron Hubbard.
/misc/ Miscellaneous files related to Scientology,
including Scientology's responses to critics.
/purif/ Scientific studies of Purification Rundown.
/scientology/books-tapes-faq Books/Tapes on Scientology (same as above).
/scientology/catechism A Scientology Catechism (same as above).
/scientology/codes-faq Scientology Codes and Creeds (same as above).
/scientology/orgs List of Scientology Orgs. (same as above).
/scientology/scn-helps-quake "Volunteer Minister's Corps" newsletter; 1/94.
/scientology/users-faq Scientology Users FAQ (same as above).
/successes/ Successes from Scientologists.
/wis/ The "What is Scientology?" book. (Most chaps.)
/wise/wise-bbs World Inst. of Scientology Enterprises BBS
There currently is no charter for the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup, and
it is unmoderated. An Internet mailing list (e-mail discussion group) for
Scientologists has been established. For more information and/or to subscribe,
send a message to:
STUS@PSSI.COM
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But what exactly is Scientology? What is its philosophy? What are its aims?
The above files will begin to answer these questions for you, but below, I've
included two essays -- "My Philosophy" and "The Aims of Scientology" -- writ-
ten in 1965 by the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. (Note: Grateful
ackowledgement is made to the L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to re-
produce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.)
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My Philosophy
by L. Ron Hubbard
[1965]
The subject of philosophy is very ancient. The word means: "The
love, study or pursuit of wisdom, or of knowledge of things and
their causes, whether theoretical or practical."
All we know of science or of religion comes from philosophy. It
lies behind and above all other knowledge we have or use.
For long regarded as a subject reserved for halls of learning and
the intellectual, the subject, to a remarkable degree, has been
denied the man in the street.
Surrounded by protective coatings of impenetrable scholarliness,
philosophy has been reserved to the privileged few.
The first principle of my own philosophy is that wisdom is meant
for anyone who wishes to reach for it. It is the servant of the
commoner and king alike and should never be regarded with awe.
Selfish scholars seldom forgive anyone who seeks to break down the
walls of mystery and let the people in. Will Durant, the modern
American philosopher, was relegated to the scrap heap by his fellow
scholars when he wrote a popular book on the subject, _The Outline
of Philosophy_. Thus brickbats come the way of any who seek to
bring wisdom to the people over the objections of the "inner
circle."
The second principle of my own philosophy is that it must be
capable of being applied.
Learning locked in mildewed books is of little use to anyone
therefore of no value unless it can be used.
The third principle is that any philosophic knowledge is only
valuable if it is true or if it works.
These three principles are so strange to the field of philosophy,
that I have given my philosophy a name: Scientology. This means
only "knowing how to know."
A philosophy can only be a *route* to knowledge. It cannot be
crammed down one's throat. If one has a route, he can then find
what is true for him. And that is Scientology.
Know thyself...and the truth shall set you free.
Therefore, in Scientology, we are not concerned with individual
actions or differences. We are only concerned with how to show man
how he can set himself free.
This, of course, is not very popular with those who depend upon the
slavery of others for their living or power. But it happens to be
the only way I have found that really improves an individual's
life.
Suppression and oppression are the basic causes of depression. If
you relieve those a person can lift his head, become well, become
happy with life.
And though it may be unpopular with the slave master, it is very
popular with the people.
Common man likes to be happy and well. He likes to be able to
understand things, and he knows that his route to freedom lies
through knowledge.
Therefore, for 15 years I have had mankind knocking on my door. It
has not mattered where I have lived or how remote, since I first
published a book on the subject my life has no longer been my own.
I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life
to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.
These shadows look so thick to him and weigh him down so that when
he finds they *are* shadows and that he can see through them, walk
through them and be again in the sun, he is enormously delighted.
And I am afraid I am just as delighted as he is.
I have seen much human misery. As a very young man I wandered
through Asia and saw the agony and misery of overpopulated and
underdeveloped lands. I have seen people uncaring and stepping over
dying men in the streets. I have seen children less than rags and
bones. And amongst this poverty and degradation I found holy places
where wisdom was great, but where it was carefully hidden and given
out only as superstition. Later, in Western universities, I saw man
obsessed with materiality and with all his cunning; I saw him hide
what little wisdom he really had in forbidding halls and make it
inaccessible to the common and less favored man. I have been
through a terrible war and saw its terror and pain uneased by a
single word of decency and humanity.
I have led no cloistered life and hold in contempt the wise man who
has not *lived* and the scholar who will not share.
There have been many wiser men than I, but few have travelled as
much road.
I have seen life from the top down and the bottom up. I know how it
looks both ways. And I know there *is* wisdom and that there is
hope.
Blinded with injured optic nerves, and lame with physical injuries
to hip and back at the end of World War II, I faced an almost
nonexistent future. My service record states: "This officer has no
neurotic or psychotic tendencies of any kind whatsoever," but it
also states "permanently disabled physically."
And so there came a further blow...I was abandoned by family and
friends as a supposedly hopeless cripple and a probable burden upon
them for the rest of my days. I yet worked my way back to fitness and
strength in less than two years, using only what I knew and could
determine about man and his relationship to the universe. I had no
one to help me; what I had to know I had to find out. And it's
quite a trick studying when you cannot see.
I became used to being told it was all impossible, that there was
no way, no hope. Yet I came to see again and walk again, and I
built an entirely new life. It is a happy life, a busy one and I
hope a useful one. My only moments of sadness are those which come
when bigoted men tell others all is bad and there is no route
anywhere, no hope anywhere, nothing but sadness and sameness and
desolation, and that every effort to help others is false. I know
it is not true.
So my own philosophy is that one should share what wisdom he has,
one should help others to help themselves, and one should keep
going despite heavy weather for there is always a calm ahead. One
should also ignore catcalls from the selfish intellectual who
cries: "Don't expose the mystery. Keep it all for ourselves. The
people cannot understand."
But as I have never seen wisdom do any good kept to oneself, and as
I like to see others happy, and as I find the vast majority of the
people can and *do* understand, I will keep on writing and working
and teaching so long as I exist.
For I know no man who has any monopoly upon the wisdom of this
universe. It belongs to those who *can* use it to help themselves
and others.
If things were a little better known and understood, we would all
lead happier lives.
And there is a way to know them and there is a way to freedom.
The old must give way to the new, falsehood must become exposed
by truth, and truth, though fought, always in the end prevails.
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The Aims of Scientology
by L. Ron Hubbard
[1965]
A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war,
where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and
where man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of
Scientology.
First announced to an enturbulated world fifteen years ago, these
aims are well within the grasp of our technology.
Nonpolitical in nature, Scientology welcomes any individual of any
creed, race or nation.
We seek no revolution. We seek only evolution to higher states of
being for the individual and for society.
We are achieving our aims.
After endless millennia of ignorance about himself, his mind and
the universe, a breakthrough has been made for man.
Other efforts man has made have been surpassed.
The combined truths of fifty thousand years of thinking men,
distilled and amplified by new discoveries about man, have made for
this success.
We welcome you to Scientology. We only expect of you your help in
achieving our aims and helping others. We expect you to be helped.
Scientology is the most vital movement on Earth today.
In a turbulent world, the job is not easy. But then, if it were, we
would not have to be doing it.
We respect man and believe he is worthy of help. We respect you and
believe you, too, can help.
Scientology does not owe its help. We have done nothing to cause us
to propitiate. Had we done so, we would not now be bright enough to
do what we are doing.
Man suspects all offers of help. He has often been betrayed, his
confidence shattered. Too frequently he has given his trust and
been betrayed. We may err, for we build a world with broken straws.
But we will never betray your faith in us so long as you are one of
us.
The sun never sets on Scientology.
And may a new day dawn for you, for those you love and for man.
Our aims are simple, if great.
And we will succeed, and are succeeding at each new revolution of
the Earth.
Your help is acceptable to us.
Our help is yours.
----------------------------< End of Essays >---------------------------------
------------------------------< How to FTP >---------------------------------
FTP is a method of transferring files from one place on the Internet, to
another place. The usual use of FTP is called "anonymous FTP" in which one
site holds software, documents, programs, etc. and people at other sites on
the Internet login as "anonymous" to copy those files to their own account.
Following are the steps that you can use to FTP to the FTP.PCNET.COM site,
and download the files listed above to your account:
1. At your system prompt, type: FTP FTP.PCNET.COM (If you are working
from a menu, choose the FTP choice, and enter FTP.PCNET.COM when it
asks for the FTP address. If you are not sure if you have access to FTP,
ask your system administrator.)
2. At the FTP.PCNET.COM> prompt, type: login anonymous
3. At the Password: prompt, type in your e-mail address. (It will not show
up on the screen.)
4. You should then get the message: <Guest login ok, access restrictions apply
followed by the FTP.PCNET.COM> prompt again.
Type: cd /users/brianw
5. This will put you into our directory. You can type: dir to get
a listing of files and directories. Lines that begin with "d" are director-
ies, and lines that begin with the dash ("-"), are files.
6. To download a file, type: get filename1 filename2 (where 'filename1' is
the name of the file you are downloading, and 'filename2' is name you'd
like the file called in your account.) For example, the command:
"get 00INDEX index.txt" would download the "00INDEX" file into your
account and call it "index.txt". [Note: For 'filename1', be sure to use
the same case letters as appear in the directory in step 5.]
7. To change into a directory, you can type: cd dirname (where 'dirname'
is the name of the directory you are changing into). Once into the new
directory, follow steps 5 and 6 again to get a listing of and to download
files.
8. To back out of a directory, use: cd ..
9. To exit from FTP, type: quit
NOTE: All of the files in the /pub/users/brianw directory are ASCII, and are
not compressed. They can be read by any standard word processor or
text editor.
----------------------------------< End >------------------------------------
For more information, send e-mail to : scninfo@pcnet.com
==============================================================================
"Dianetics," "Hubbard," and "Scientology," are trademarks and service
marks owned by the Religious Technology Center and are used with its
permission. "Scientologist" is a collective membership mark designating
members of the affiliated churches and missions of Scientology.
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