Origins
L. Ron Hubbard created a self-help therapy known as Dianetics, which he promoted as a scientific, not religious, teaching. Until the early 1950s, he had a negative view of organized religions, but he changed his mind that decade and began to discuss spiritual topics. In these teachings, he focused on unconscious memories of past events, which he called "engrams", stating that they were the root of human suffering. By 1950, he had begun to ponder past lives, believing that they could be recalled; he attempted to use these recollections to develop a comprehensive narrative of the universe. He founded the Church of Scientology in 1953, advancing his beliefs as religious doctrines. The church was distinct from Dianetics-based groups but incorporated some of their views. Hubbard saw Dianetics as focused on the physical body but viewed Scientology as a way to address spiritual matters.
In Hubbard's efforts to shift from psychotherapeutic treatment to a spiritual program, he introduced the concept of thetans, the treatment of which was to be Scientology's focus. He taught that thetans were originally godlike, non-corporeal entities capable of creating and shaping universes. Eventually, he believed, they had become trapped in the MEST, the physical universe, and lost awareness of their powers while confined to physical bodies. He stated that thetans had been reincarnated into different species throughout the universe over trillions of years. Hugh Urban of Ohio State University states that these teachings bear similarities to Gnosticism, although he doubts that Hubbard was well versed in Gnostic thought.
In the 1950s, as Hubbard's followers recalled their past lives; he recorded many details of these recollections. He used these to describe the history of Earth, as well as accounts of other planets. Over time, he constructed an intricate history of the universe to provide insight into thetans; this record is often referred to as a "space opera". Although Hubbard believed that he had developed a comprehensive history, Urban notes that it is very difficult to tie his teachings together in a narrative, owing to the isolated and incomplete record of the statements.
Hubbard taught that there was a thetan universe that was separate from the material universe in which humans live. He stated that the thetan's universe was created by the power of these beings. The material universe, in Hubbard's view, began when other universes created by thetans collided. He believed that they entered the material universe in six invasion groups roughly 60 trillion years ago and became trapped there. Thetans, Hubbard taught, have been separated from their previous knowledge; he described a series of events that divorced thetans from the truth, referring to them as "incidents". He maintained that thetans could regain their former capability to act as gods, and referred to thetans that freed themselves from the material world as "operating thetans".
Read more about this topic: Space Opera In Scientology Scripture
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