Scientology's Religious Practices – Auditing And Training

Being a religion distinct from all other established religions in the world, Scientology has its own religious practices that are basically primed for the spiritual development of an individual.

The basics of scientology's concept of salvation
Scientology is no different from other religions in its belief in the salvation of the spiritual being. However, the principles that govern Scientology's concept of salvation are very distinct from those practiced by other religions.

For one, Scientology upholds specific routes or methodologies that help individuals achieve Total Freedom. These are the auditing and training, the central processes of Scientology.

Auditing
In Scientology, auditing is considered the ultimate route for achieving higher states of spiritual awareness. The goal in this process is to rehabilitate the physical being and allow the thetan or pure spirit to manifest, thereby restoring the innate qualities of the thetan which are unlimited abilities, goodness, and omniscience. Without auditing, these qualities cannot be put back to their original states.

Auditing works by deleting the painful experiences of a Scientologist. According to the beliefs of this religion, a person has three different minds – the reactive mind, the analytical mind, and the somatic mind. The analytical mind is that component which observes, analyzes, and is generally responsible for thinking. The reactive mind is that which, if translated in Freudian term, is the subconscious mind. This is the collection of traumatic and painful experiences that hamper a person from becoming spiritually aware. This is also what causes illnesses and psychosomatic disorders to manifest in the body. The solution therefore is to delete this collection of traumatic experience through the methodologies prescribed by auditing.

Auditing is performed by a qualified individual who is called an auditor who is either a minister or a minister in training in any of Scientology's churches. As the name suggests, the auditor listens to the person as he clears his reactive mind and gives auditing command to guide the person.

This technique uses tools called 'processes', which are basically sets of questions or directions given by an auditor to help the subject address the specific problems that are causing him spiritual distress. These questions are also directed to resolving any questions the subject may have regarding himself, his life, and the universe.

The process of auditing ends when the specific objective of the current process has been achieved. Another process may then be called for to address the other issues or barriers that are inhibiting a person from becoming 'Clear', a state similar to what the Buddhists call 'enlightenment'.

During the entire process of auditing, the subject remains conscious and alert. Auditors follow strict Code of Conduct called the Auditor's Code which is said to ensure the success of each session.

Training
A complimentary process of auditing is training. Auditing is letting the subject see why some things happen and training teaches why these things happen. Training is basically the stage where the knowledge gained in learning about Scientology is applied. By becoming trained, the Scientologists can better see the truths upheld by the religion.