Scientology Régis Dericquebourg Professor, Sociology of Religion University of Lille III Lille, France I. IS SCIENTOLOGY A RELIGION?   A. AUDITING      The primary Scientology religious practice is known as auditing. For Scientologists, auditing is a methodical spiritual path.      What is it?      Auditing permits an individual to recover all events in this life as well as in past lives—on the time track. The most significant events found are the traumatizing events in which a quantity of energy has been alienated that reduces capacity by blocking action and rational thinking. The recall of these events and the running of them2 releases, by abreaction, the energy linked to the incidents, which is thus made available. This produces a feeling of well-being. Moreover, past incidents are considered sources of physical or psychic diseases. Their recognition and the work that the audited person does on them are supposed to erase them. For example, someone in pain may discover in auditing that he has been strangled in an earlier life. Running the traumatic incident, he releases the pain accompanying the past incident. This reminds one of the construction of a personal myth in the shamanic cure as discussed by Levi-Strauss in his book Anthropologie structurale.3      In Hubbardian terminology, Scientology auditing uses the capacities of the analytical mind to empty the reactive mind of its damaging engrams, which hamper the ability to recover the power of the incarnated thetan.      Auditing produces two things: (1) through exploration of the past, it quickly shows the adept that he is an all-powerful incarnated spirit limited by his human condition; (2) the erasure of engrams leads to the state of “Clear.”4      The elimination of engrams helps to regenerate the being. It shows in an increase of the life force, with a greater capacity to survive, with a feeling of power and with better abilities which can be measured on a tone scale.      For Scientologists, auditing is a form of pastoral counseling. Bryan Wilson shares those views (in “Scientology,” 1994) by considering that Scientology manifests the systematization of the relationships with spirituality, an orientation that one finds in “methodism.” For us it is a form of rationalization of religious life.      To Scientologists, auditing is first and foremost a spiritual adventure which gives one access to the spiritual, immortal part of Man, as in oriental religions.      It is through auditing that the thetan becomes certain of its immortality and is able to grow spiritually. Through auditing, Man gains a greater understanding of his spirituality and his relationship with the Supreme Being. Auditing also enables Man to become more understanding and capable along all eight dynamics.      Some detractors of the religion have compared Scientology to a form of psychotherapy. However, the methods and rituals are not the same, and they have totally different goals: psychotherapy deals with the mind; the goal of Scientology, on the other hand, is salvation of the spirit. 1) The audited person comes to understand the duality of Man and, through the discovery of past lives, understands the permanence of a single principle throughout all lives; 2) Scientology also deals with the thetan. By unburdening the thetan of the mental and corporal masses he recovers his initial power; the individual that the thetan represents would become “freed-alive” (jivan mukti).

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