Category Archives: Minute Faith

The Fascinating & Bizarre Story Behind Scientology

In 1950 L. Ron Hubbard, often called LRH, wrote a book called Dianetics, the modern science of mental health. The book became very popular in a short amount of time in the early self-help movement, but quickly lost its steam as a fad, and the Dianetics foundation went into bankruptcy. Hubbard then recharacterized the subject as a religion and renamed it Scientology, building and expanding upon the writings of Dianetics.

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According to this book, humans are limited by engrams, bad experiences stored in the unconscious mind that affect behavior long after the traumatic experience. These experiences may be from earlier in one’s life, from the womb, or even from past lives. Engrams can be removed from a process called “Auditing” – which involves answering questions in a reflective manner, either using the book or in a professional environment connected with a device called an e-meter. Psychiatry, in contrast, is rejected as harmful, particularly in its use of drugs.

Those who complete this process are called Clears. Hubbards subsequent teaching states that a Clear can further develop the inner self, called a Thetan. A scientologist seeks to become an operating Thetan, or OT, and then to pass through the various levels set out for them. At OT3, a Scientologist learns a deeper basis of the religion, that Thetans were brought to the earth by Xenu, a galactic dictator, in traumatic circumstances 75 million years ago. However, this knowledge is believed to be dangerous to the unprepared, and will be meaningful only if revealed in a ritual context. Hubbard claimed to have learned this through scientific investigation, not through revelation, although some Scientologists regard the story as allegorical.

The word Scientology is the pairing of the latin word Scientia, meaning Knowledge or Skill,and Greek word “Logos” – meaning the word, or account of. Their logo comprises of two triangles with an S wrapped around them. These triangles are called the ARC and KRC triangles. ARC meaning Affinity, Reality, and Communication, where the KRC triangle stands for Knowledge, Responsibility, and Control.

Scientologists seek to attain spiritual development through the study of the Scientology materials. Members are required to make donations accordingly for study courses and auditing as they move what they call the Bridge to Total Freedom, and Scientologists usually move up the bridge at a rate governed by their income.

Hubbard is reported to have said in the 1940’s that he would like to start a religion in order to make money, and skeptics allege that Scientology is not a real religion. In 1967, Hubbard stepped down as executive director of Scientology to form the ship-based Sea Organization, or Sea Org, in which volunteers would work for between 6 to 40 cents per hour as they travelled through international waters, only stopping occasionally at various ports for supplies.

Throughout the 1970’s it was beset with allegations of criminality in more than one country, and in 1978, Hubbard was facing so many criminal charges that he went into hiding in California, cutting off from everyone except for 10 messengers for many years. In 1986, LRH died of a stroke at his ranch, but he had left no plan for succession. Without a leader, the ambitious David Miscavige stepped forward, and by bending arms and making deals, took control of the church, and installed a new generation of lieutenants.

A decade into miscavige’s leadership, a simmering crisis finally came to a boil. For years, Hubbard had insisted that Scientology was a religion and was tax exempt. Thus, they had refused to pay any taxes. In the 1980’s, the church of scientology faced a tax bill of over a billion dollars from the IRS. Their total assets at the time was only about a quarter of that.

Thousands of scientologists all filed lawsuits against not just the IRS, but individual IRS employees. 2400 total lawsuits, all going at the IRS at one time. They not only sued the IRS for litigations against them, but also against general crimes against the general public. They also then went to publish their findings in public magazines.

In the end, the IRS made a deal with Scientology that, both of them would simply drop all charges. Scientology became an official tax exempt Religion, and the lawsuits against the IRS were dropped.

The Church is known for having an overly aggressive, and sometimes even violent attitude towards critics, citing their claim of “Fair Game”, from Hubbard’s policies in the 60’s, which described that they never defend, they always attack, and thus, anyone who criticizes scientology is fair game. In fact, a large number of cases were filed regarding burglary, harassment, suing, framing, beating people up, and even poisoning the dog of a reporter who was researching the church.

Many former members described that Scientology was a dangerous, and deeply paranoid organization. Scientology has also been known for specific celebrity involvement throughout the years.

John Travolta claimed to have gained a great deal of courage for his acting from Scientology, but later, many ex-members described that he became trapped against his will. And of course, Tom Cruise, celebrated as one of the highest level members of Scientology, which the church has spent millions of dollars tricking out his cars, motorcycles, throwing massive parties, and even a hanger in santa monica.

Today, there are roughly 10 to 15 thousand Scientologists in the world, most of them in the United States.

The Secret Christianity that Catholicism Doesn’t Want You to Know About

It’s called Gnostic Christianity, and it is radically different than any other Christianity you’ve heard of. In fact, it’s so radically different, that when you learn about its origins, you might begin to question everything you think you know about Christianity…

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Before Catholicism was decreed the state religion of Rome by constantine in the 4th century AD, the empire was very diverse in its spirituality. They worshipped many gods, including Greek and Roman deities, many of which were based upon philosophical concepts like love, virtue, justice, wisdom, and time, and celestial bodies such as the planets, constellations, and even the spirit of planet earth herself.

During this time, early forms of Christianity were developing, and between the beginning of the AD calendar cycle and for about 300 years, there were 2 predominant christianities that were known. One was a sort of Literalist Christianity, rigidly authoritarian, which would eventually become the basis for the Roman Catholic Church… The other was known as Gnostic.

Between 312 AD and 325 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine the 1st converted to Catholic Christianity, and began the process of rigidly suppressing all Gnostic and Pagan faiths until they had all but disappeared from the collective mind. Those who did not convert were tortured, killed or fled, and for over 1600 years, all knowledge of Gnosticism had vanished. Very little was known about them or their beliefs, until in 1945, a small library of Gnostic scriptures were discovered in a cave near Nag Hammadi in Egypt. The information writ on these scriptures has revolutionized our modern understanding of early christianity.

A core tenet of Gnosticism is that our world is the creation of a false god, or demiurge, who pretends to be a benevolent creator but is in fact a malevolent impostor intent on keeping humans imprisoned in an artificial world of illusion and suffering. This Demiurge is the same God worshipped by the core Abrahamic teachings. The only means of escape is gnosis (Greek for knowledge) —rising up from base materialism to reject the demiurge and break through into the higher world of the spirit.

At its core, Gnosticism was a broad, vibrant, and sophisticated spirituality which considered the Old Testament of the Jewish faith irrelevant. Jesus was claimed as a gnostic leader, as are several of his apostles, including Thomas the Apostle, who founded the Thomasine form of Gnosticism, as well as Mary Magdalene, who is considered superior to the twelve apostles by several gnostic texts.

Unlike Catholics, who believed that the true Christian believed in Jesus as preached to them by the bishops, the Gnostic faith believed that the true Christian experienced Gnosis, and then would literally become a Christ themselves. Belief in Jesus, then, was that he was a divine being who appeared in human form, and then transcended the physical world, rather than the modern view that he was a being who was both fully human, and fully divine.

The Gnostics believed that there is an element of divinity within each person, and that that divinity wants to join again with God. They believe that through secret knowledge of the Cosmos and God, that salvation can be attained. Some believed that it did not really matter what you did in life, since the body was not eternal. The Gnostic faith was subjugated out of existence before the creation of the canonical bible, from roughly the year 1 till the persecution of Constantine in 312 AD and the Council of Nicaea in 325AD, there were plenty of Christian texts that were available to the public, which the Gnostics all followed and believed in.

Although remembered as heretics, the Gnostics saw themselves as genuine Christians. In a Gnostic gospel called “The Apocalypse of Peter”, the resurrected Jesus calls literalist christianity an “imitation church” that distorted the teachings and ways of Christ.

Thanks for watching, and reading!

With love,
Jordan Pearce

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They Fought for Spiritual Freedom in the US… And they Won!

Back in ancient antiquity, long before the United States was established, there were many tribal groups of people in the southern parts of the US, as well as Mexico, who practiced deep spiritual rituals utilizing various ceremonious tools. One in particular was a psychadelic cactus called Peyote.

Peyote has been known for many of its healing properties, as you likely have found out from that video above. However, when the United States was established, the Native Americans were prohibited from using it any longer, and this caused a great deal of strife.

The Natives fought for their Spiritual freedom in the united states. It was actually quite a difficult battle, with the federal government stopping at nothing to try and demean and shut down any and all ceremonious activity involving the Peyote Cactus…. However, in the end, they won![shareaholic app=”share_buttons” id=”5111567″]

While this was a great victory for the Native American Church, the war on drugs was still in full effect in the United States. This senseless battle was created seemingly to keep the population in a state of panic and withdrawal, as the healing abilities of such psychedelics have a remarkable effect on awakening the consciousness of any individual who takes it in a ceremonious and community light.

Please help us share these videos through this article, and lets bring about a new era of awareness about the nature of our own consciousness!

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Team Spirit

According to this Vietnamese Faith, we have now entered into the 3rd Era of recognizing Oneness Worldwide!

Based on Universal Love, the effort of Cao Dai is to unite all of humanity through a common vision of the Supreme Being, whatever our minor differences may be, in order to promote peace and understanding throughout the world.

Caodai does not seek to create a gray world, where all religions are exactly the same, but only to create a more tolerant world, where all can see each other as sisters and brothers from a common divine source reaching out to a common divine destiny realizing peace within and without.

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Cao Dai was established in southern Vietnam in 1926. It teaches that the religious founders and other great figures of the past represent two earlier eras of divine communication with the world, and that today we are living within the 3rd Era.

In this, the Third Era of Salvation; world religions are united in the worship of the Supreme Being, and there is communication with the spirit world once again.

This Ancient African Faith is based around obtaining God Consciousness!

Yoruba is an indigenous tradition to Africa which has expanded around the world and fused with other religions thanks to the white man and their damnable slave trade.

The basis of this faith is collectively striving for God Consciousness along with the rest of humanity, and with support from the higher beings and spirits of the cosmos.

Their understanding of God is a grand infinite Oneness, and through their many different forms of rituals and spiritual practices, they can come to know God as one of His Children.

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A creative energy called “Ashe(ah-shay)” flows through everything, and Ashe literally translates to command and authority. It also often means “So Be It” or “So it is”

This is an African philosophical concept which the Yoruba conceive to make things happen and produce change. It is given by Oludumare to everything, gods, ancestors, spirits, humans, plants, rocks, rivers, and even songs and conversations. Existence, according to Yoruba, is dependent upon it, and a person who, through training, experience, and initiation, learns how to use this essential life force is called an Alaashe.

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Demonized by the Media, Wicca is based around Love and Connection with Nature!

Have you ever heard of Wicca? If so, its quite probable that, unless you’ve practiced it, you don’t know very much about it. This is because there is such a wide array of belief systems associated with Wicca, and other “Modern Pagan Faiths”, that its nearly impossible to pin down exactly what followers of Wicca believe.

However, if you do observe all of the branches of Wicca, you do find many common strains! One of the biggest ones being the intimate connection with nature, and other human beings, on a deeply spiritual level.

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To this group, the diverse practices are considered as denominations, and further, not all members of these faiths or beliefs even self-identify themselves as Pagans, Wiccans, or what have you, for the very word Pagan was a title given to them by Catholics in the 3rd century AD, when the Roman state declared them heretics and killed anyone who did not convert to christianity. The word Pagan literally translates to country dweller, and was named as such purposefully as an insult.

The best known and largest strand of Neopaganism today is called Wicca, which stresses the notion of a Goddess of fertility and rebirth, and her male consort, the Horned God of the forest, Yin and Yang of the same unifying spirit. Wicca is a Polytheistic Monotheism, and generally regards the supreme God as the All or the One, which little is known about, and which has many aspects making up the grand unifying whole.

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