Narratives and Civilizations
Hubbard stated that the first key incident in the material universe occurred four quadrillion years ago. He related that a thetan encountered loud cracks and brightness and then observed a cherub and chariot before experiencing total darkness. In Scientology, this is known as "Incident 1". Hubbard discussed subsequent encounters between thetans and civilizations in space trillions of years in the past. One important event in Scientology's early chronology of the universe occurred on a space city known as Arsclycus, the inhabitants of whom brought about an incident when capturing thetans.
The best-known portion of Scientology's space opera is the myth of Xenu, known as "Incident 2". Hubbard stated that there was a group of 76 planets around stars that are visible from Earth that organized in a Galactic Confederacy about 75 million years ago. Xenu, an evil and corrupt dictator, led the confederacy. The confederacy became overpopulated: each planet had 178 billion inhabitants. In an attempt to solve his overpopulation issue, Xenu placed several billion of his citizens onto DC 8 planes in refrigerators and sent the planes to the planet Teegeeack (now known as Earth). Hubbard stated that Xenu told the subjects that they were being transported there for tax auditing. When they arrived on Teegeeack, hydrogen bombs were detonated inside volcanoes, killing the aliens. After their deaths, their thetans were captured and brought to Hawaii and the Canary Islands, where Xenu's priests and psychiatrists brainwashed them. These instructors lectured on invented ideas, such as the myth of Jesus, to deceive thetans about their nature. Eventually, a group of officers of the Galactic Confederacy launched a rebellion against Xenu. They pursued him for six years before capturing him and placing him in an electrified prison cell in the center of a mountain. Hubbard taught that the thetans who had been brainwashed by Xenu's forces remained on Earth. When humans evolved, he said, the "body thetans" that had been wandering the Earth began to contribute human problems. He believed that individuals could be freed from these brainwashed thetans and thus attain a type of salvation.
Hubbard taught that, upon the deaths of humans, thetans left their bodies and went to "implant stations", including locations on planets near Earth, where their memories were erased and new ones were added. Some "implant stations" were better than others, Hubbard advised his followers to avoid the one on Venus. After going through an implant station, he taught, the thetan was put in a capsule and returned to Earth, where it would seek an infant to dwell in. Hubbard taught that the Christian concept of heaven was based on a physical location on another planet, which he claimed to have visited. He compared its appearance to Busch Gardens in Pasadena, California, and noted that it contained effigies of characters from the New Testament. Over time, he recalled, the location fell into disrepair. There was a town nearby that contained an implant station, at which thetans were convinced to attempt to return there.
Another significant encounter in Hubbard's narrative about thetans and attacking forces occurred when a large group of planets united two hundred thousand years ago, forming the Marcab Confederacy. The Marcabians, Hubbard said, were an evil group who sought slaves; he saw their confederacy as a "decadent" society. He related that this civilization formed an invasion force that caused a significant implant upon their encounter with thetans.
Hubbard discussed the history of human civilizations on Earth, and the lives of ancient sea monsters and fish people, as well. He also taught that humans could recover memories of life that occurred in previous ages of evolution on Earth, such as the experiences of clams and Neanderthals. He spoke about the city of Atlantis, which he believed had been an actual location, saying that it was a completely electronic civilization, whose inhabitants possessed disintegration guns. He stated that Earth was invaded by multiple groups around 1200 BCE, at the time of the ancient Egyptians; he recalled that the "fifth invader force from Martian Command" met the "fourth invasion force from Space Command" in a battle that took place on Earth.
Because thetans had been forced to believe various faulty ideas; the church teaches that their courses allow "theta beings" to be freed from these faulty beliefs and regain their former abilities. Committed Scientologists pursue courses and procedures offered by the church in the hope of gaining freedom and enlightenment. Hubbard believed that thetans could regain their seemingly miraculous powers and travel around the solar system. He referred to the process of a thetan leaving its human body as "exteriorization", which he said allowed for space travel. Urban notes that this is similar to Aleister Crowley's teachings about astral projection, although he adds that Hubbard did not use that term.
Read more about this topic: Space Opera In Scientology Scripture