RELS 225 2009-02-16: Secret Societies

1. RELS 225 2009-02-16: Secret Societies • Attendance • Announcements • Review of last class • Scientology Beliefs • Rosicrucians • Freemasons • Illuminati • Midterm review

2. Review of Scientology • Controversy • Legal actions • Successful (organized) • Refusing medical help (Lisa McPherson case) • L. Ron Hubbard • Conventional life, except father was in Navy. • Wounded in WW2. hospitalized (shell-shocked). • Veterans admin not helping. • Indiana Jones? Or Fantasy world? • Influenced by occultist Alisteir Crowley • Had read Freud and learned psychoanalysis in the Navy. • 1950: conformity. Soldiers. Little boxes. • First non-fiction book was 1950 Dianetics. • Claimed a cure for anything. All illness is psychosomatic. • In 1954, asserted legal control over the movement’s technology. • In 1956, Scientology: The foundations of thought was published.

3. Engrams • Engram: unconscious sensory impressions • Reactive Mind = Unconscious mind; has corrupted files. • Analytical Mind = conscious mind. Doesn’t make mistakes. • Unlike psychotherapy, Scientology is pragmatic; the analytical mind can dispel engrams. • Each person has 100’s of past lives, yielding engrams.

4. Auditing • Hubbard’s true genius • Structured form of questioning and listening • Hundreds of exercises / tests to break down your basic understanding of who you are and how you can change them. • Very first self-help • Simultaneously patient and practiser • Helping others.

5. Status • Clear • The status of “clear” means having no basic engrams. • Operating Thetan (OT) • A Thetan is a static immortal. • Thetans got bored and created universes. Enthralled by their games, they were absorbed into them, and became lost in MEST. They forgot who they were. • Escaping from MEST (reminiscent of Q from Star Trek) is the quest of the OT. • Higher levels • Pay-per-use organization: • To reach these, one can pay for courses, or render services in lieu of payment.

6. Promises • Freedom from fears • New creative capacity • Improved physical health • Improved appearance • Peace of mind

7. Concept of divine/ transcendent • Recognize social and personal value of belief in God. • But scientology has no doctrine of God of its own. • It is not their concern. • You can be part of any religion and be a Scientologist • It is a pan-denomination applied religious philosophy. • 8 dynamics; urges to exist as • Self • Sex • Group • Humankind • Animal • Universe • Spiritual • Infinity = God • Gnostic element: you have a spark of the divine in you.

8. Being Human • Humans are beautiful Thetans that have become lost • Run an anti-virus program on your mind to recover your hidden capacity • Objective: Become not only “clear”, but “at cause” • You become the cause of things, not the effect. • Go exterior = separate from body and go places (like astral projection) • Hubbard’s book is like the Bible – unalterable. • Stresses Free Will. • Provides you with a means (“the technology”) to maximize your own free agency. • You declare a “win” – when to move on to the next level.

9. Death • The end of your present existence. • Your Thetan will be reincarnated in another • No doctrine (like karma) other than that reincarnation happens. • Evolve back to (pure) Thetan.

10. Good life • Non-prescriptive religion • No “ethics” because focussed on technology • Auditing practices • Extremely litigious • not open to being studied. • 30-year legal case with IRS • Whether it is a religion or not. • Resolved in 1993 in Scientology’s favour. • Ethical crusades. • War with psychiatry (in competition); practicing medicine without a license? • Government surveillance (IRS).

11. Rosicrucians • Occult-cabalistic-theosophic "Rosicrucian Brotherhood", described in the pamphlet "FamaFraternitatis R.C." (Rosaecrucis), which was circulated in print in 1614 • Beginning with the fourth edition in 1615, "ConfessioderFraternitat", was added to the "Fama". • According to these, the Rosicrucian brotherhood was founded in 1408 by a German nobleman, Christian Rosenkreuz (1378-1484), a former monk, who while travelling through Damascus, Jerusalem and Fez had been initiated into Arabian learning (magic), and who considered an antipapal Christianity, tinged with theosophy, his ideal of a religion. • For 200 years: • Concern: that their names should appear in the Book of Life. Alchemy was unimportant but easy • apply themselves in secrecy to study Nature and make discoveries known to the order and profitable to humanity. (Cure the sick for free.) • Assemble annually at the "Edifice of the Holy Spirit" (the secret head-quarters)

12. Rosicrucians • The "Fama", invited "all of the scholars and rulers of Europe" to try to get admitted. • Generated excitement! Including Descartes and Leibniz • A hoax. Luther's motto: "Des Christen Hertz auf Rosen geht, wenn's mitten unter'mKreuzesteht" • Pseudo-Rosicrucian societies arose, falsely claiming descent from the genuine fraternity of the "Fama". • After 1750 occult Rosicrucianism was propagated by Freemasonry, • Since 1866 "colleges" of a Masonic Rosicrucian society, whose members claim to be direct descendants of the brotherhood founded in 1408. • Only Master Masons are eligible for membership. • "the aim of the Society to afford mutual aid and encouragement in working out the great problems of life and in searching out the secrets of nature; to facilitate the study of philosophy founded upon the Kabbalah and the doctrines of Hermes Trismegistus, which was inculcated by the original FratresRoseaeCrucis of Germany, A.D. 1450; and to investigate the meaning and symbolism of all that now remains of the wisdom, art, and literature of the ancient world".

13. Modern Rosicrucians: AMORC • Is AMORC a Religion? • No. AMORC, which stands for Ancient and Mystical Order RosaeCrucis, is not a religion and does not require a specific code of belief or conduct. • The Rosicrucian path incorporates both metaphysics and mysticism. • Metaphysics is that which falls beyond the five physical senses; for example, intuition, visualization, and healing techniques. • Mysticism is simply the process by which you may eventually experience direct, conscious union with the Absolute, Divine Mind, Universal Intelligence, or what some Rosicrucian students call the God of their Hearts. • This is not done by adhering to specific tenets or beliefs, but by learning and applying natural laws which, over time, allow you toexperience Divine or Cosmic Consciousness.

14. Freemason beliefs / practices • Private: • modes of recognition amongst members • "secrets of Freemasonry", are the signs, tokens and words associated with recognition in each degree • elements within the ritual • Each lodge is independent, and can set its own rituals. • central preoccupations: • charitable work in the community • moral uprightness • belief in a Supreme Being) • Developing fraternal friendship

15. Anti-Masonry Conspiracy theories • Because it is secretive, Freemasonry is implicated in conspiracy theories in which it secretly controls world politics. • Masons are accused of secretly plotting to create a society based on liberty, equality, fraternity, separation of church and state and (in Nazi Germany) a Jewish plot for religious tolerance. • Freemasonry has been accused of being a Jewish front for world domination in the forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. • 1786 Disclosure of the System of Cosmopolitan Politics claimed a conspiracy of Freemasons, Illuminati and Jesuits were plotting world revolution. • 1797 John Robison pamphlet Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the secret meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati and Reading Societies.

16. Christian anti-Masonry • These theory was repeated by many Christians • other conspiracy theories claim • all the US Presidents were Masons • Masons were involved in the JFK assassination • there are Masonic symbols in federal buildings and architecture. • Charles Finney, The Character, Claims, and Practical Workings of Freemasonry • Some Protestant and Eastern Orthodox denominations discourage joining Masonic lodges, ranging from mild concern to accusations of devil worship. • The Roman Catholic Church punishes membership in the Masons with barring an offender from the Sacraments.

17. Freemasonry and Religion • Freemasonry is not religion • nor is it a substitute for religion. • Requires belief in a Supreme Being • provides no system of faith of its own. • open to all religious faiths. • discussion of religion at meetings is forbidden. • Freemasonry lacks the basic elements of religion. • a) no theological doctrine, and prevents one from developing • b) no sacraments. • c) does not claim salvation by any means. • The Supreme Being • no separate Masonic God; a Freemason's God is the God of his religion. • Volume of the Sacred Law • The Bible is “the Volume of the Sacred Law”, open at every Masonic meeting. • The Obligation of Freemasonry • Masons swear on the Volume of the Sacred Law (to keep secret, to follow Freemasonry). • The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with modes of recognition. • Freemasonry Supports Religion • Expects faith, and to place duty to God above all else

18. Illuminati • Founded on May 1, 1776, in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Adam Weishaupt • Freethinkers. AKA "Perfectibilists". • Secret societies banned in Bavaria in 1784 • pledged obedience to their superiors • three main classes, each with several degrees. • Ended in 1785.

19. Modern Illuminati theories • Dan Brown merges them with the Freemasons, as a resurrected society.

20. Midterm preparation • 50 Multiple choice questions (50 marks) • On topics covered in Comprehending Cults • On Theosophy , Scientology • 2 or 3 paragraph answers (25 marks) • On ISKCON, Unification

21. Homework • Wednesday: • Midterm test • For Monday: • Have a nice break. • See you on the 2nd! • Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints