Malaspina Great Books Quotations Blog

Scientology: misappropriated Stoicism

2008-01-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

The Church of Scientology claims to be a "philosophical religion." Critics have called it a cult. A famous 1991 Time Magazine article on Scientology by Richard Behar, The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power, was awarded the Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism, the Worth Bingham Prize and the Conscience in Media Awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. [1] In more recent times religion critic Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, has used the word “gullibiligy” in describing Scientology. [2] Its claims he said are "purely made-up." Dawkins’ word gullibiligy has not yet made it into the standard Oxford dictionary, but the meaning seems to refer to a practice that is inimical to reason. While I certainly side with Dawkins on the gullibiligy front, I cannot agree that Scientology’s core philosophy is "purely made up." In fact, the "philosophy" at the core of Scientology is not fabricated. It’s very old - and there’s nothing wrong with that. There are plenty of tried and true philosophical ideas floating about in world culture. Many of the great ideas that lay at the root of modern institutions are built on successful philosophical platforms.

My problem with scientology’s philosophical basis is that this "Church" does not acknowledge its sources. This is intellectually dishonest. As I will argue below the philosophical basis of scientology is based on the ancient philosophy of Stoicism with several unsubstantiated detours. Scientology is not a philosophical religion. Scientology is a distortion of Stoicism.

I just finished writing a book, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained. [3] This book has absolutely nothing to do with Scientology. It has everything to do with the ancient practice of Stoicism, an intellectually defensible philosophy with roots in the best of the great Greek philosophers beginning with Socrates and Plato right on down to the Romans Seneca and Epictetus, and of course the emperor Marcus Aurelius who captured the best of Stoic thought in his famous Meditations. Because those original meditations are presented in no particular order, there is no obvious philosophical coherence in their presentation. So, I've reordered (and rewritten) the key passages as a handbook on Stoicism. In doing this the reader will discover that Stoicism rests firmly on the bedrock of reason.

The Stoic argument is centered on the notion that morality comes not from divine authority, or faith, or "revelation," but from a close study of nature - a study that makes strong demands on reason. Three principles of Stoicism come from this study of nature: first, we as human beings are social; second, our core humanity resides not in our physical bodies but in our psyche or mind (or soul or "spirit"); and third, the psyche is distilled from what stoics call the active principle of the universe, an intelligence that is all pervasive, perfect, and inherently good and beautiful. [3, p 234] This last principle implies that the human psyche is effectively "invincible" when we live according to nature. The active aspect of nature is called Logos. Stoics live well when their activities are directed away from the self and outwardly, toward others. Stoics describe these activities using the word "virtue." Virtuous activity is what life is all about, and it is virtue that makes us happy. There’s much more of course, but this is the core idea.

I was surprised a few months after sending this book off to the publisher when I stumbled upon a Scientology website. [4] What I discovered was a distorted version of Stoic philosophy. Here are my top ten reasons for this conclusion:

10. It was the etymology of the word "scientology" that grabbed my interest. [4] This compound word is derived from the Latin sciare (to know) and the Greek Logos (reason or truth) Scientology means "knowing reason." But "knowing reason" is what Stoicism is all about. [3, p xx]

9. Scientology maintains that "human capabilities are unlimited, even if not currently realized." [4] This clearly has its origin in the "invincibility" principle of Stoicism. [3, p xxxii]

8. Elsewhere I read that, “Scientology holds man to be basically good, and that his spiritual salvation depends upon himself and his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.” [4] This idea is based almost literally on the social principle of Stoicism: that humans are social because we are all connected through and derived from Logos (also referred to in Stoicism as universal intelligence) and that Logos is good. [3, p xxix]

7. Scientologists assert that their creed "is not taken on faith." [4] In other words scientology maintains, just as Stoicism did, that it is reason, not faith, that drives the search for truth. [3, p xxvi]

6. Also central to this "religion" is the position that "thinking for yourself" is essential. [4] But it was the Stoics who first maintained that "right thinking (opinion)" was one of three powers (along with desire and action) that are solely independent of external interference. [3, p 12-13]

5. Scientology also maintains that a lack of knowledge and awareness about the self, or lack of "clarity," leads to "unhappiness." [4] For Stoics "unhappiness" comes from living in opposition to nature (because it is through nature we come to truly know ourselves using reason). [3, p 132]

4. The practice of Scientology involves a process of "clearing." Practitioners describe clearing as the removal of "harmful three-dimensional sensory images, or engrams, from the mind." [4] Stoics do the same thing. But what a Stoic clears from the mind is not an engram but "ignorance," and that's done by developing what Stoics call "true opinion." There's nothing secretive or mystical about this form of Stoic clearing. It's called "meditation." [3, p 172/3]

3. There’s more. Influenced by the principles of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, the substance abuse program called Narconon (not associated with Narcotics Anonymous (NA), or is it related to Nar-Anon) was founded by William Benitez, in 1966. [5] The famous Serenity prayer of Alcoholics Anonymous (which is recited in all AA meeting) reflects a strong Stoic influence. [3, p 190/1]

2. Scientology uses a process called "auditing" which is designed to rid one's soul of traumatic experiences. But auditing in Stoicism (although that word is not used) involves what stoics would call removing false opinion.

1. The process Scientology calls "Dianetics" is a methodology designed to alleviate unwanted sensations and emotions and irrational fears. [4] This seems essentially the same result that is at the base of the Stoic mind-set and responsible for the popular image of the Stoic as detached, unemotional and indifferent to pain. [3, p 203]

Of course there are striking differences between the philosophy of Stoicism and the “philosophical religion” of Scientology. The most obvious difference is the cost of entry. Stoicism is free (unless you count the cost of a book). Stoicism is also completely open. There are no “secrets.” Stoicism is also atheistic. There is no transcendent God (the divine in Stoicism is in nature) and there are no churches. Stoicism is also egalitarian and cosmopolitan and non-hierarchical. Stoicism encourages, in fact demands, free and open and fair democratic debate. A Stoic will never launch a law suit over a philosophical difference or engage in barratry, the practice of bringing repeated legal actions solely to harass. Stoics have nothing to lose. There is also no afterlife in Stoicism: no heaven, no hell, and certainly no reincarnation – and most importantly, there are no mythologies, no aliens, and no galactic fantasies.

Stoicism is not a religion. It is a philosophical orientation with spiritual consequences. The Stoic approach to living is not contingent on the belief in a God. Stoicism offers happiness without God, joy without heaven and love without religion. Stoicism is a natural philosophy rooted firmly in critical thinking and reason - and reason is rooted firmly in the laws of nature and physics as understood in the ancient world. The qualitative aspects of those laws, particularly the laws of thermodynamics and Stoic cosmology, retain their validity today. The methods of Stoicism can be applied to address personal, political, and environmental challenges of the 21st century. Genuine happiness in Stoic terms does not stem from reputation, material success, the pursuit of physical pleasures, or the avoidance of pain. Stoics do not need E-meters, Dianetics, auditing, or clearing to address the practical challenges of today's world. A Stoic can approach such challenges using her own capacity for right reason to develop innovative approaches toward war, climate change, mental health (anxiety and depression), anger management, aging, illness, death, and addiction (sexual, drug and alcohol).

[1] The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power. Time Magazine. May 6, 1991 page 50. Special Report (cover story)

[2] Scientology. Wikipedia. Retrieved on Jan 19, 2008

[3] McNeil, Russell. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained. Skylight Paths Publishing Oct 2007

[4] Church of Scientology Official Web Site. Retrieved on Jan 19, 2008

[5] Narconon Web Site. Retrieved Jan 19, 2008

Contribute to Amazon Discussion on Stoicism

2007-11-07T08:17:00.000-08:00

There are three discussion topics available:

1: The relationship between Stoicism and Buddhism

2: Stoic Morality rooted in Physics

3: An Interview with Russell McNeil about the "Meditations of Marcus Aurelius"

4: Book Review

Zoroaster (c 660 BCE-c 600 BCE)

2007-11-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

Suffer no anxiety, for he who is a sufferer of anxiety becomes regardless of enjoyment of the world and the spirit, and contraction happens to his body and soul.

Books from Alibris: Zoroaster

Zenobia Queen of Palmyra (c 231 CE-c 271 CE)

2007-11-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

Queen of Palmyra, one of the heroines of Antiquity. Her native name was Septimia Bath-zabbai, a name also borne by one of her generals, Septimius Zabbai. This remarkable woman, famed for her beauty, her masculine energy and unusual powers of mind, was well fitted to be the consort of Odainatti in his proud position as Dux Orientis; during his lifetime she actively seconded his policy, and after his death in A.D. 266-7 she not only succeeded to his position but determined to surpass it and make Palmyra mistress of the Roman Empire in the East. Wahab-allath or Athenodorus (as the name was Graecized), her son by Odainath, being still a boy, she took the reins of government into her own hands. Under her general-in-chief Zabda, the Palmyrenes occupied Egypt in A.D. 270, not without a struggle, under the pretext of restoring it to Rome; and Wahab-allath governed Egypt in the reign of Claudius as joint ruler with the title of king, while Zenobia herself was styled queen. In Asia Minor Palmyrene garrisons were established as far west as Ancyra in Galatia and Chalcedon opposite Byzantium, and Zenobia still professed to be acting in the interests of the Roman rule. In his coins struck at Alexandria in A.D. 270 Wahab-allath is named along with Aurelian, but the title of Augustus is given only to the latter; a Greek inscription from Byblos, however, mentions Aurelian (or his predecessor Claudius) and Zenobia together as Augustus and Augusta. When Aurelian became emperor in 270 he quickly realized that the policy of the Palmyrene queen was endangering the unity of the empire. It was not long before all disguises were thrown off; in Egypt Wahab-allath began to issue coins without the head of Aurelian and bearing the imperial title, and Zenobia's coins bear the same. The assumption marked the rejection of all allegiance to Rome. Aurelian instantly took measures; Egypt was recovered for the Empire by Probus (close of 270), and the emperor himself prepared a great expedition into Asia Minor and Syria. Towards the end of 271 he marched through Asia Minor and, overthrowing the Palmyrene garrisons in Chalcedon, Ancyra and Tyana, he reached Antioch, where the main Palmyrene army under Zabda and Zabbai, with Zenobia herself, attempted to oppose his way. The attempt, however, proved unsuccessful, and after suffering considerable losses the Palmyrenes retired in the direction of Emesa (now Horns), whence the road lay open to their native city. The queen refused to yield to Aurelian's demand for surrender, and drew up her army at Emesa for the battle which was to decide her fate. In the end she was defeated, and there was nothing for it but to fall back upon Palmyra across the desert. Thither Aurelian followed her in spite of the difficulties of transport, and laid siege to the well-fortified and provisioned city. At the critical moment the queen's courage seems to have failed her; she and her son fled from the city to seek help from the Persian king; they were captured on the bank of the Euphrates.

Among the traditions relating to Zenobia may be mentioned that of her discussions with the Archbishop Paul of Samosata on matters of religion. It is probable that she treated the Jews in Palmyra with favour; she is referred to in the Talmud, as protecting Jewish rabbis. The well-known account of Zenobia by Gibbon (Decline and Fall, i. pp. 302-312 Bury's edition) is based upon the imperial biographers (Historia Augusta) and cannot be regarded as strictly historical in detail. An obscure and distorted tradition of Zenobia as an Arab queen survived in the Arabian story of Zabba, daughter of Amr b. Zarib, whose name is associated with Tadmor and with a town on the right bank of the Euphrates, which is no doubt the Zenobia of which Procopius speaks as founded by the famous queen. - Malaspina Biography

Books from Alibris: Zenobia

Zeno of Citium (333 BCE-264 BCE)

2007-11-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Fate is the endless chain of causation, whereby things are; the reason or formula by which the world goes on.

Books from Alibris: Zeno of Citium

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745)

2007-11-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Zelenka was a court musician in Dresden for most of his career. Except for brief periods of travel during which he studied or participated in music research, he served as a double bass player in the court orchestra and later aided the ailing Kapellmeister in his duties. Upon the death of the Kapellmeister, the position was awarded to another musician, an event that led Zelenka to feel disillusioned by the lack of recognition he had received for his acheivements. He was a skilled contrapuntalist and a creative harmonic composer. His works are marked by extremely precise dynamic directions and some contain the unusual notation for crescendo that describes each progression in intensity, for example the words "piano", "forte" and "piu forte" written under one instrumental note. - Malaspina Biography

Sheet music: Jan Dismas Zelenka

Abul Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) (936-1013)

2007-11-06T13:17:00.000-08:00

Abul Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahravi (known in the west as Abulcasis) was born in 936 A.D. in Zahra in the neighborhood of Cordova. He became one of the most renowned surgeons of the Muslim era and was physician to King Al-Hakam-II of Spain. After a long medical career, rich with significant original contribution, he died in 1013 A.D.

He is best known for his early and original breakthroughs in surgery as well as for his famous Medical Encyclopedia called Al-Tasrif, which is composed of thirty volumes covering different aspects of medical science. The more important part of this series comprises three books on surgery, which describe in detail various aspects of surgical treatment as based on the operations performed by him, including cauterization, removal of stone from the bladder, dissection of animals, midwifery, stypics, and surgery of eye, ear and throat. He perfected several delicate operations, including removal of the dead foetus and amputation.

Al-Tasrif was first translated by Gherard of Cremona into Latin in the Middle Ages. It was followed by several other editors in Europe. The book contains numerous diagrams and illustrations of surgical instruments, in use or developed by him, and comprised a part of the medical curriculum in European countries for many centuries. Contrary to the view that the Muslims fought shy of surgery, Al-Zahravi's Al-Tasrif provided a monumental collection for this branch of applied science.

Al-Zahravi was the inventor of several surgical instruments, of which three are notable: (i) an instrument for internal examination of the ear, (ii) an instrument for internal inspection of the urethra, and (iii) and instrument for applying or removing foreign bodies from the throat. He specialized in curing disease by cauterization and applied the technique to as many as 50 different operations.

In his book Al-Tasrif, Al-Zahravi has also discussed the preparation of various medicines, in addition to a comprehensive account of surgical treatment in specialized branches, whose modern counterparts are E.N.T., Ophthalmology, etc. In connection with the preparation of medicines, he has also described in detail the application of such techniques as sublimation and decantation. Al-Zahravi was also an expert in dentistry, and his book contains sketches of various instruments used thereof, in addition to a description of various important dental operations. He discussed the problem of non-aligned or deformed teeth and how to rectify these defects. He developed the technique of preparing artificial teeth and of replacement of defective teeth by these. In medicine, he was the first to describe in detail the unusual disease, hemophilia.

There can be no doubt that Al-Zahravi influenced the field of medicine and surgery very deeply and the principles laid down by him were recognized as authentic in medical science, especially surgery, and these continued to influence the medical world for five centuries. According to Dr. Cambell (History of Arab Medicine), his principles of medical science surpassed those of Galen in the European medical curriculum. [Adapted from Personalities Nobel]

Books from Alibris: al-Zahrawi (Albucasis)

Brigham Young (1801-1877)

2007-11-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

There is no knowledge, no light, no wisdom that you are in possession of, but what you have received it from some source.

Books from Alibris: Brigham Young

Xenophon (444 BCE-357 BCE)

2007-11-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Wherever magistrates were appointed from among those who complied with the injunctions of the laws, Socrates considered the government to be an aristocracy.

Books from Alibris: Xenophon

St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

2007-11-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

Give me the children until they are seven and anyone may have them afterwards.

Books from Alibris: St. Francis Xavier

Joseph Wright (1734-1797)

2007-11-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

Styled Wright of Derby, English subject, landscape and portrait painter, was born at Derby on the 3rd of September 1734, the son of an attorney, who was afterwards town-clerk. Deciding to become a painter, he went to London in 1751 and for two years studied under Thomas Hudson, the master of Reynolds. After painting portraits for a while at Derby, he again placed himself for fifteen months under his former master. He then settled in Derby, and varied his work in portraiture by the production of the subjects seen under artificial light with which his name is chiefly associated, and by landscape painting. He married in I773, and in the end of that year he visited Italy, where he remained till 1775. While at Naples he witnessed an eruption of Vesuvius, which formed the subject of many of his subsequent pictures. On his return from Italy he established himself at Bath as a portrait-painter; but meeting with little encouragement he returned to Derby, where he spent the rest of his life. He was a frequent contributor to the exhibitions of the Society of Artists, and to those of the Royal Academy, of which he was elected an. associate in 1781 and a full member in 1784. He, however, declined the latter honour on account of a slight which he believed that he had received, and severed his official connexion with the Academy, though he continued to contribute to the exhibitions from 1783 till 1794. He died at Derby on the 29th of August 1797. Wright's portraits are frequently defective in drawing, and without quality or variety of handling, while their flesh tints are often hard. He is seen at his best in his subjects of artificial light, of which the Orrery (1766), the property of the corporation of Derby, and the Air-pump (1768), in the National Gallery, are excellent examples. His Old Man and Death (1774) is also a strikingand individual production. An exhibition of Wright's works was brought together at Derby in 1883, and twelve of his pictures were shown in the winter exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1886. His biography, by William Bemrose, was published in 1885. - Malaspina Biography

Books from Alibris: Joseph Wright

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

2007-11-06T10:06:00.001-08:00

Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better in the future.

Books from Alibris: William Wordsworth

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

2007-11-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Different though the sexes are, they inter-mix. In every human being a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness, while underneath the sex is the very opposite of what it is above.

Books from Alibris: Virginia Woolf

Flossie Wong-Staal (1947-)

2007-11-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

Flossie Wong-Staal received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from UCLA and conducted postdoctoral work at UCSD. She was a research investigator at the National Cancer Institute and Section Chief of Molecular Genetics of Hematopoietic Cells in the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology. Dr. Wong-Staal serves on the editorial board of many journals and is the Florence Riford Professor in AIDS Research.

Books from Alibris: HIV Research

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)

2007-11-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

Women are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial attentions which men think it manly to pay to the sex, when, in fact, men are insultingly supporting their own superiority.

Books from Alibris: Mary Wollstonecraft

Oswald von Wolkenstein (c 1377-1445)

2007-11-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

Herz, Muet, Leib, Sel un was ich han. - Lied Title

Sheet music: Medieval Music

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

2007-11-06T06:47:00.000-08:00

Humor is not a mood but a way of looking at the world. So if it is correct to say that humor was stamped out in Nazi Germany, that does not mean that people were not in good spirits, or anything of that sort, but something much deeper and more important.

Books from Alibris: Ludwig Wittgenstein

Owen Wister (1960-1938)

2007-11-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

When you can't have what you choose, you just choose what you have.

Books from Alibris: Owen Wister

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)

2007-11-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person. But these seemingly fragile people are the strong people really.

Books from Alibris: Tennessee Williams

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

2007-11-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.

Books from Alibris: Oscar Wilde

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947)

2007-11-06T06:22:00.000-08:00

Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern.

Books from Alibris: Alfred North Whitehead

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

2007-11-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

You should not say it is not good. You should say you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.

Books from Alibris: James McNeill Whistler

Rogier van der Weyden (c 1399-1464)

2007-11-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

Belgian Painter, b. at Tournai, 1399 or 1400; d. at Brussels, 1464. His original name was De la Pasture, which was transformed in Flemish into Van der Weyden. His family, settled in Tournai since 1260, were people of means. He is believed to have commenced his artistic life as a goldsmith, and his figures show that he understood some kind of sculpture. He was apprenticed to Robert Campin in 1427, became a master painter, was admitted into the Guild of St. Luke in 1432, and three years later was painter in ordinary to the municipality of Brussels. He only had the appointment, however, for a year, when the office of town painter was abolished. He was said to have been a pupil of van Eyck, e.g. by Vasari and other writers, but the researches of Weale in Flemish documents proved this incorrect, and showed that Campin was Rogier's master. His work is far more religious than that of van Eyck, and the figures in his pictures much more dramatic, animated, and at times almost tragic. He was full of employment and obtained high prices. He lived at Brussels, and had four children, Cornelius, who became a Carthusian, Peter, who was a painter, John, who was a goldsmith, and one daughter, Margaret. He was a generous benefactor, especially to Carthusian houses. One of his important altar-pieces, now in Berlin, was painted for the Cartuja of Miraflores in Spain, another, now in the Escorial, for the Carthusian house at Scheut, a third, at Antwerp, for the Bishop of Tournai, who desired to give it to a Carthusian house, and a fourth for the Carthusian monastery of Herinnes, where Cornelius resided. The Joys and Sorrows of our Lady of Pity, now at Berlin, the Seven Sacraments, at Antwerp, the Adoration of the Magi, at Berlin, and the marvellous triptych in the Prado, are his greatest works. There are also paintings by him at Frankfort and Munich, and others attributed to him elsewhere. - Malaspina Biography

Books from Alibris: Rogier van der Weyden

Mae West (1893-1980)

2007-11-05T22:54:00.000-08:00

I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.

I enjoyed the courtroom as just another stage but not so amusing as Broadway.

I never loved another person the way I loved myself.

I only like two kinds of men, domestic and imported.

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.

I've been in more laps than a napkin.

Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.

To err is human, but it feels divine.

When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before.

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried.

Books from Alibris: Mae West

Benjamin West (1738-1820)

2007-11-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

A kiss from my mother made me a painter.

Books from Alibris: Benjamin West