Lies Debunked: Is man a spirit?

And now for the truth

Pretty nutty but then L. Ron Hubbard wasn't a nuclear scientist, after all. Thinking of cats is some how evidence that "spirits" exist. The notion is nutty yet it's somewhat akin to other like-minded notions that relatively sane people have come up with. Still, Scientology isn't telling you some things.

What Scientology isn't telling you is that Scientology doesn't actually believe in "spirits" in any sense of the word that real people use out in the real world.

1.a. The vital principle or animating force within living beings. b. Incorporeal consciousness. 2. The soul, considered as departing from the body of a person at death. 3. Spirit. The Holy Spirit. 4. Spirit. Christian Science. God. 5. A supernatural being, as: a. An angel or a demon. b. A being inhabiting or embodying a particular place, object, or natural phenomenon. c. A fairy or sprite. 6.a. The part of a human being associated with the mind, will, and feelings. b. The essential principle. 9. spirits. A mood or an emotional state. 10. A particular mood or an emotional state characterized by vigor and animation. 11. Strong loyalty or dedication. 12. The predominant mood of an occasion or a period. 13. The actual though unstated sense or significance of something. 14. Often spirits. (used with a sing. verb). An alcohol solution of an essential or volatile substance. 15. spirits. An alcoholic beverage, especially distilled liquor.

1. To carry off mysteriously or secretly. 2. To impart courage, animation, or determination to; inspirit.

When Scientology uses the word "spirit," they want you to believe that they hold the religious notions embodied in the traditional use of the word yet nothing could be further from the truth. In fact Scientologists are told to believe that they reincarnate and in between each session of bodily existance they're told to believe that their "thetans" are kidnapped by aliens from outer space, transported to "implant stations" (often on Mars) where they are subjected to a systematic brainwashing which reprograms the "thetan" with notions -- such as religion -- by the space aliens to keep humanity enslaved.

After implantation, people's "thetans" are apparently frozen and dropped into the oceans of Teegeeack where they thaw out and start looking for human babies being born to take over their bodies. (When I read Hubbard's writings about it on the Internet, I'm always fondly reminded of the old movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.")

Of course Scientology's leaders don't tell their followers that this is what they're going to be ordered to believe until after followers purchase what the organization calls "OT3" or "Operating Thetan Level 3." In those series of documents followers finally learn all about the Galactic Lord Xenu, and the invisible murdered space alien fragments called "Body Thetans" that infest humans here on Teegeeack (now called "Earth.") Followers eventually get informed that the evil Marcabians from outer space are the villans that wish to keep humanity enslaved, using government agencies as pawns and using the mental health industry as strong arms.

Does this sound like the usual notions regarding "spirits" to you? If it sounds like a Space Opera, that's because it is. L. Ron Hubbard called it just than when he wrote the OT3 series when he added the comment -- perhaps a note to himself or a hoped-for editor -- "very Space Opera." Hubbard was a science fiction author, after all.