From: Elizabeth.Mccoy@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Elizabeth Mccoy)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Two questions
Message-ID: <4732@beguine.UUCP>
Date: 24 Jul 91 21:35:49 GMT
Sender: usenet@beguine.UUCP
Followup-To: Elizabeth.Mccoy@bbs.oit.unc.edu
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Lines: 64

>From: derek@mtlion.cs.wisc.edu (Derek Zahn)
>Message-ID: <1991Jul24.155301.27444@spool.cs.wisc.edu>

>1) How does religion enter into it?  _Dianetics_ seems more like
>psychology than religion.
You are right there. Dianetics was done first. It's *supposed* to be
scientific, but I really wish that Ron had had the time to do a re-write
so that what was conjecture when it was written could have been updated
with regards to new findings.  Anyway, it was supposed to be a
"science," and have nothing to do with "entities-beyond-the-physical."
However, people kept bring up pre-pre-natal stuff, so it had to be
expanded.

>Is Scientology different from Dianetics?
Yep -- it's the expanded version, sort of. It deals with "spiratual"
stuff, and adds things that were left out of _Dianetics_ -- like having
8 dynamics instead of just 4. 

>Is it possible to explore Dianetics, which is essentially a
>theory of how the mind works, without caring about any
>mystical/moral dogma?  Emptying the engram bank seems like
>a secular idea to me.
It is -- what puts it into the "mystical" is the generally accepted (but
I don't think it's required to believe this) notion of "past lives."
Dianetics is only intended to go back to pre-natal. Scientology is
intended to be able to go back further.

>2) I'm sure that this question is asked often -- my apologies.
>How much does it cost to try Dianetics long enough to make
>an evaluation of its effectiveness?  Can poor people like college
>students (who have little money to spend on what must be considered
>an experiment) explore Dianetics, or is it only for the rich?
Well, for the *really* cheap version...  Get a friend. Ask the friend to
read the book.  Assuming the friend is interested too, you then have the
requisite two people to do Dianetics-style auditing. (No, you don't
*have* to get that controversial E-Meter -- it's useful, though, later.)
 However, be sure that your friend isn't going to get too upset if by
chance you start remembering someting about the Bug-Beasties from Alpha
Dime-tauri (BIG SMILEY!). Be sure that *you* won't be too upset if your
friend does the same.  *Don't* do too much with a Significant Other
(unless you are a Trained Professional) -- my parents did this, and as a
result one is not rational about the other's parents for reasons that
are no longer valid. (Parents and children also get the same Trained
Professionals warning, since things can come up <"I felt so [loaded
verb] when you spanked me that time!"> that can muddle the auditing
person.) 

Note: 8 dynamics. (Page 537, soft-cover _Dianetics_) "DYNAMIC: The urge,
thrust and purpose of life -- SURVIVE! -- in its four manifestations:
self, sex, group, and Mankind." Expanded to (my paraphrasing probable)
self, sex/family/Relationships <note the "R">, group/club/ethnic-stuff, 
mankind, mamailian life <I think>, All Life <yep, plants too>, all
physical things, and the Infinite <all things/god/whatever>. Explaining
further would be another post.

Disclaimer: I am only human, and not even Clear. :-) And *I* don't care
*what* people believe, so long as they're polite about it.
--Elizabeth.McCoy@bbs.oit.unc.edu 
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
   =20 North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 128.109.157.30