Posts tagged - Scientology

E Pluribus Unum?

Posted on: March 13, 2023, in: , , ,

E pluribus unum means “out of many, one,” and it’s the motto of the United States. You’ve probably seen it on coins and bills, and since Latin is a dead language you might have thought it meant something like “spend this quick, before inflation.”

“Out of many, one,” is actually a pretty good idea when you think of it. A family that is united in love and purpose is much more powerful than a squabbling, divorced, get-the-children-on-alternate-weekends, restraining-ordered bunch of individuals at war with one another.

“Out of many, one,” is such a powerful force, that one of the oldest strategies in warfare is to “divide and rule” one’s enemies, weaken them, get them fighting amongst themselves. The British, for example, during their colonial era, got the Muslims fighting the Hindus to “Divide and Rule” them and make them less effective at resisting the British, an animosity that once lit, can flare up even today.

The United States was once united by a European culture, a common religion, etc., and became one of the most powerful nations on Earth. It even survived a Civil War that killed 2 percent of the population – a percentage that if applied to today’s population would mean the deaths of six million people! Even though its population was made up of immigrants, its Constitution and Bill of Rights unified its citizens to a common purpose regardless of religion, culture or economic standing. And today, in spite of its many detractors, it is still a magnet for people fleeing terror, injustice and economic collapse.

However, the United States have become less united and seem to be heading toward separation if not outright divorce. But that didn’t just happen, it was caused.

We’ve had glimpses of who might be employing the old “divide and rule” idea. Russia, for example, is ruled by a former KGB agent and there is evidence that he is sowing discord among Americans. The strategy is very simple: Find the racial, religious, political, economic and cultural differences – any significant divide among individuals or groups of people – and widen it, heat it up and then strike a match.

It is not the issues that divide us, it is a third party, an individual or a group, secretly hard at work to inflame our differences wherever they exist.

And we are stupidly falling for it, blaming each other, blaming the issues, dwelling on grudges and the injustices that arise in such a hostile environment. But it is not the Republicans, the Democrats, the Christians, the liberals or conservatives, the Muslims, the” fat cats” the socialists, the Blacks,or the Whites at fault, it is the hidden third parties fanning the fires of intolerance and bigotry that lie somewhere within each of us, so that we find a target instead of a perpetrator.

There is another motto which has been at the heart of every great civilization that fell, and which applies in this time and in this place. It is: “United we stand, divided we fall.”

There is a remedy to this creation of division and conflict, the exact steps of which are defined in something Scientologists call “The Third-Party Law.” Check out this short video online.

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Blessed are the Peacemakers in a Time of Injustice and Violence

Posted on: April 24, 2019, in: , , , , , ,

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.

The Dalai Lama by Christopher Michel CC 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

The Dalai Lama by Christopher Michel CC 2.0

On Sunday, April 21, 2019, the world reacted with shock and dismay at the news of more than 200 Christians killed and some 500 people injured by eight coordinated bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, most as victims celebrated Easter services. Islamic State claimed responsibility, and while conjecture focused on the Easter bombings as possible retaliation for the Christchurch murders of some 50 Muslim worshipers, evidence was still being gathered at press time.

The messages flowing from those horrific events were laden with anger, grief, and despair at the seeming inability to rein in mankind’s outbreaks of violence and cruelty. And while media focuses on “news” of inhumanity, death and destruction, others – known as the peacemakers – gather up the threads of mankind’s goodness and weave a tapestry of peace.

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called Children of God,” says the Bible. And humanity has been blessed with a number of peacemakers, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and others who provide inspired examples of how we may pursue justice without resorting to violence and cruelty.

One of those peacemakers, Tenzin Gyatso Tibet’s 14th Dalai Lama, was featured the same Sunday on Scientology.tv’s Documentary Showcase. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, was proclaimed leader of Tibet in 1950, as China rejected Tibet’s sovereignty and incorporated it into the People’s Republic of China. The Dalai Lama and 80,000 Tibetans were forced out of their country in 1959 by Chinese authorities and His Holiness has never returned, living as an exile in India, but traveling throughout the world bringing a message of peace and non-violence.

The documentary, “Road to Peace,” by Leon Stuparich, shows portions of many lectures and presentations illustrating the Dalai Lama’s sense of humor and joy of life, and the profound effects he creates on people of many faiths, dissolving the barriers which separate mankind, with love, “warm heartedness” and compassion. “Destruction of your enemy is destruction of yourself,” he said, carrying a message of “universal responsibility” for one’s fellow man.

Coming up on Documentary Showcase – “a platform for independent filmmakers who embrace a vision of building a better world” – a is a special presentation on April 26th of “Children of the Light,” about Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu who helped end South African apartheid and led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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Scientologists Help Residents, Churches Recover from Hurricane Florence

Posted on: October 24, 2018, in: , , , ,

Wyatt in NCNow that hurricanes Florence and Michael have faded away, news cameras are switched off and reporters have departed. But as the floodwaters receded, thousands of residents stood in the mess, trying to reconcile what they remember of their homes, businesses and towns with the flood-damaged buildings, debris and mess left by the hurricane.

Now among the thousands of people pitching in to clear away the rubbish, remove damaged equipment and begin the task of rebuilding, are a corps of Scientology Volunteer Ministers. Volunteer Ministers (VM), who follow the principle “Something can be done about it,” were launched in the 1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to provide assistance wherever it was needed around the world. Since then Volunteer Ministers have answered the call in 9/11 the Haiti earthquake, the Japanese Tsunami and many other disasters.

Wyatt Brooks, an Emergency Medical Technician and new Scientologist, worked in June as a VM near Redding, California, sifting through the ashes of homes following the Carr Fire, helping residents find valuables and personal items that may have escaped flames that in some cases melted aluminum car wheels into puddles. Then he went to North Carolina.

Brooks left Sacramento – where he is a parishioner of the Church of Scientology Mission of River Park – on Sunday Sept. 23rd for North Carolina. Contacted by phone, he said that the 12 days since are somewhat of a blur, but that at latest count, he and his team had removed 147 trees and 80,000 pounds of tree branches. They also were mucking out flooded homes, removing furniture, ripping out carpeting and soaked drywall. His team – consisting of 35 Volunteer Ministers from Oregon, Florida, Tennessee, New York and elsewhere – had just finished mucking out the Mt. Rena Missionary Baptist Church in Rocky Point, N.C. His team also included a number of students from the Delphian School which  uses Scientology Study Technology, and Brooks said that a group of volunteers from the Nation of Islam were also en route to help.

Brooks said his team helped a disabled veteran who was trying to cut trees in her yard. She paid a contractor $1,500 to do the work, but the contractor cut down the trees and then left with the money, and her husband, also disabled had a heart attack trying to clean up the mess that was left. So the VM crew pitched in, and worked all day clearing away the trees. Everyone was very appreciative, said Brooks, the homeowner put them on Facebook and a restaurant in town fed them. “We have an unlimited supply of people in need,” said Brooks.

Meanwhile, the cleanup continues in North Carolina, Florida and elsewhere and Scientology Volunteer Ministers, residents and thousands of others continue the work of digging out from Hurricanes Florence and Michael. “We’re helping a lot of people,” said one volunteer.

 

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What if You Were a Spirit Playing the Video Game of Life?

Posted on: September 09, 2017, in: , , , ,

What if you were a spirit? Hold that thought and check out this analogy.

Let’s say you have a computer game in your house, and you want to play it. But a computer game is made up of hardware, software, and some way for you to control it — a keyboard, mouse, joystick, etc. Maybe your game is out there in the cloud. Pretty simple really. But you, as a human being can’t enter the game yourself, you are made out of different stuff. The game is a thing made of electrons, and you think you are a squishy thing made of meat, so in order to enter the game you must choose an avatar to represent you.

So you choose an avatar, and control what it does on the screen through a mechanical device like a joystick. So far, so good.

So what if you were a spirit, made of spiritual stuff, and wanted to play a game on Earth, in a universe made of mud and stars? You might pick up an avatar in the form of a human body. You would run it like a computer game. Your intentions as a spirit would be carried by nerves (electronic circuits) connected to a brain (game program) that moved your body (avatar) by electrical signals. Unlike a video game, however, you would have to spend 15 years or so getting your body ready, feeding it, letting it sleep, exercising it, washing it, emptying its wastes, putting clothing on it, keeping it warm or cool, dragging it to school, etc. Along the way, your mind (cloud) would store useful information – what worked and what failed, what to avoid, and so on to help you in the game.

Somewhere along the way you would discover you are playing the game of life. You find a mate, get a job you enjoy doing, so you can earn credits to buy things you need – like food, clothing, shelter. Or if you have enough extra credits you can buy cool things you want – like a sports car, a big-screen TV, Internet, the latest phone, etc.

In any game you have successes and failures. Your marriage breaks up, you get a promotion at work and a raise, your dog is run over by a car, you start your own business and try to get it running, but taxes take most of your earnings. Your youngest child gets into drugs, your parents die, a video you made goes viral, you write a best-selling book and win an award. You have a car wreck and spend two weeks in the hospital, but get a $40,000 insurance settlement from the other driver, and a $200,000 medical bill.

And in the game of life things keep changing. Your avatar becomes 50 years old and begins to have medical issues. It has less energy and so you take it to the gym three times a week. Your kids move away, you get married again, get another dog, move to a better house, get a colonoscopy, take up yoga. And then you retire, hoping to do only things you like, but your credits run low and you lose your house, move to assisted living, your mate dies and then you die.

When you die, you discover to your surprise that you still exist. Your avatar died and is cremated and spread out somewhere nice and your kids inherit all your stuff, including your 1968 GTO you spent years polishing, which they sell on ebay. So there you are, a spirit hanging around without a game to play, no stuff, unable to talk to anybody, feeling bad with nothing to do. You’ve got no hands to move things around and no legs to take you places, and everybody thinks you’re dead. Bummer. You’ve heard all these stories about ghosts and now you are one.

Funny thing is, you can still see and hear and think, because you can perceive with your own spiritual eyeballs and eardrums, you’re still connected to your mind there in the cloud, and it’s full of pictures and decisions and notes to self. And surprise! There’s a lot more there than the game you just played. There are games going back further and further until they disappear in the distance. You’ve had lots of avatars, it turns out. You had big avatars, little ones, male, female, black white, brown, sick, healthy and so on. You’ve played good games and bad ones, but they always ended up the same: “Dead avatar, now what?”

Well, pretty soon you see a pregnant woman and in you go. Another avatar, another game. In order to make it more interesting most spirits forget what just happened so they can start fresh, kind of like bankruptcy. The ones that remember previous lifetimes are called crazy, although religions like Buddhism and Hinduism don’t agree.

Anyway you get a new body and once again start learning to run it. You have to feed it, let it sleep, exercise it, wash it, empty its wastes, put clothing on it, keep it warm or cool, drag it to school, etc. All over again. And since you declared spiritual bankruptcy the last time you died, you have to learn to use the toilet, feed yourself and find out what a hypotenuse is all over again. And then there you are, playing the game again, getting a job, finding a mate, saving up credits, and so on, all the while wondering what life is all about.

Somewhere along the line a spirit is likely to get upset. What’s this game all about anyways? The most money wins? Happiness? God? The lottery? Doing good? Staying away from booze and creeps? Spirits can get upset and make mistakes, take drugs, kill themselves (ha ha), or go fishing. They do stupid things and end up in jail or in front of a psychiatrist.

Now a psychiatrist thinks you are a brain, and treats you like a brain. You aren’t an immortal spiritual being with troubles sticking out in various directions, you are a brain with a chemical imbalance and so he gives you drugs that make you dull and dumb as dirt, or which swap out your personality for another one over there in the cloud. Instead of Fred the plumber you become Wilma the sniper. A psychiatrist is a guy who looks at a business and thinks the telephone system makes all the decisions. “You brain, me psychiatrist.” And when they get really frustrated and angry they tie you down and shoot electricity through your brain which can mess you up for a few lifetimes.

So what’s the answer to this video game called life? “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” is pretty good for starters. But the big answer is getting away from the eternal video games of life. “Escape from the cycle of birth and death,” as some have said it. Get up from the game, have a stretch, realize that life is all around you and find bigger games to play. If you’re winning the video game, you may not want to take a break, but it’s just a video game, and it has very little to do with you. For that you need spirituality, love, hope, all the things that aren’t made of mud, but are made of spirit stuff.

I found what I was looking for in Scientology, and I’d encourage you to check it out. Nothing in Scientology or in life is true unless it is true for you, so take a look and see for yourself.

 

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