ith a recognition of our immortality, our essential goodness and inherent capabilities, Scientology became “a religious philosophy in its highest meaning as it brings man to total freedom and truth.” It may be further defined as, “the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life,” and comprises “a wisdom in the tradition of ten thousand years of search in Asia and in Western civilization.”
Beyond these statements, no intellectual appreciation is sufficient. Given a thousand years of Christian doctrine, it is easy enough to form some conception of a Christian heaven. While given the preponderance of the twentieth-century scientific theory, it is even easier to imagine our lives in strictly material terms—striving for reasonable happiness until the neural cortex breaks down and we are plunged into absolute unconsciousness forever. But without some subjective experience, even L. Ron Hubbard, in this perfectly succinct 1966 explanation, can only suggest the “tremulous wonder” of all Scientology offers.
