Scientology blogger Tad Reeves, also known as the Scientology Parent from the name of his website, was asked six questions about Starting in Scientology by a Reddit user. Here are the first three questions as published on the Scientology Parent website.
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I was asked a series of questions by a user on Reddit, and in the interest of anyone else who might have similar questions about Scientology, I’m posting the questions & answers here.
How did you initially get into Scientology?
I told a fuller story of what precipitated my calling myself a Scientologist here. But to summarize, my parents got into Scientology a few years before I was born, and by the time they had my sister and I were quite involved as Scientologists. We lived in mid-coast Maine at the time, which was a good ways away from our nearest Church of Scientology in Boston, so it wasn’t until I was about 11 or so that we were spending regular time in and around a local church. But I did take a course on communication when I was 9, and by the time I was 11 I had taken a number of courses at churches in Boston and New Haven, CT, and very much considered myself a Scientologist.
There was another interview I did (coincidentally with another Redditor) where I talked about how I got involved:
I think that’s a fair view of it, and yes – I’d absolutely recommend Scientology. I love being a Scientologist, personally.
There are a lot of things I like about being a Scientologist, and to your question of whether or not I’d recommend it, I think the biggest reason to recommend it is that it puts solutions firmly in your control to whatever problems, issues, or factors in your life that you feel need to be addressed.
In terms of why it is that I’d recommend being a Scientologist, I think I summarized it fairly well in this interview:
It was about 75 seconds into the video above where I get to the pertinent part, in terms of what I personally like most about it – but I really do like the opportunity for continual improvement that being in Scientology affords.
I like to be able to pick something in life that’s troubling me or which I think could be better, to handle that, and then to go and live life some more and see what new parts of life I want to select for improvement.
If I wanted to get into Scientology, what books would you recommend? Is Dianetics enough, or is there a more fitting book?
If what you want is a rapid-but-thorough introduction to what Scientology is, what its basic principles are and how it works, I would recommend the book Scientology: Fundamentals of Thought.
Thankfully, too, most of that book has been made into a film, which you can watch for free online. Here is an excerpt
Also, as getting involved with Scientology implies that you’re studying something that you can pick up and actually use, another fabulous book to get started is The Problems of Work, which also has been made into a book-on-film.
Call me old-fashioned, but as much as I love how much understanding one can rapidly impart in a video, I do personally prefer the act of sitting in a comfy chair with a book, so that I can sort of grok it at my own pace, come to my own conclusions about it, etc. But those two books would be my favorites to start with, to get an understanding of Scientology.
This covers the first three questions and answers. The remaining three questions of the six questions about Starting in Scientology will be covered in a later blog.
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The Scientology religion was founded by author and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard. Mr. David Miscavige is its ecclesiastical leader. The first Church of Scientology was formed in Los Angeles in 1954 and the religion has expanded to more than 11,000 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 countries.
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