Scientology's core belief is that a person is a thetan, an immortal spiritual being that resides in a physical body. A thetan has had innumerable past lives, some of which were lived in extraterrestrial cultures. Scientology doctrine states that a person undergoing the practice of auditing will eventually come across and recount a common series of past-life incidents.

Scientology describes itself as the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others, and all of life. Scientologists also believe that a thetan has innate, yet suppressed, powers and abilities which can be restored through auditing by the removal of the "reactive mind" which is said to be responsible for unconscious behavioral patterns and discomforts. Believers reach their full potential "when they understand themselves in their true relationship to the physical universe and the Supreme Being." The Church of Scientology believes that "Man is basically good, that he is seeking to survive, (and) that his survival depends on himself and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe", as stated in the Creed of the Church of Scientology.

Beliefs

Thetan

Physical universe (MEST)

Exteriorization

In Scientology, exteriorization refers to the thetan separating from the physical body and operating independently of it. Scientology auditing seeks to bring about this state by enabling the thetan to operate near the body without being "inside" it.

Past lives and immortality

Scientologists believe that the individual is an immortal spiritual being, a thetan, who has lived through many past lives and will continue to do so after the death of the body. Scientology distinguishes this from common definitions of reincarnation, framing it instead as the thetan taking on a newborn human body rather than being reborn as a different life form, and describes this cycle of life and death as ongoing rather than final.

Hubbard wrote about past lives as early as 1951 and presented recountings in his 1958 book Have You Lived Before This Life?. His book Mission Into Time describes a 1968 expedition undertaken to verify Hubbard's own claimed past-life memories. Scientology's elite staff level, the Sea Org, expresses this belief with its billion-year contract signed by its members, and in its motto ("We Come Back").

Hubbard wrote much about a thetan's between-lives, and one's past-life traumas are believed to negatively influence a person's present condition. Scientology auditing aims to address these effects and recover past-life memories as part of one's spiritual advancement.

Eight dynamics

Scientology teaches that life is best understood through eight "dynamics", or urges toward survival, ranging from the individual to the supreme being. The eight dynamics are: (1) the self; (2) sex and family; (3) groups; (4) humankind; (5) all life forms; (6) the physical universe (MEST); (7) spiritual beings; and (8) the supreme being or infinity. According to Hubbard, the optimum solution to any problem is the one that brings the greatest benefit to the greatest number of dynamics. Hubbard introduced the Scientology cross in the mid-1950s as a religious symbol for Scientology, with its eight points symbolizing the eight dynamics.

Supreme being

Scientology does not define a specific doctrine of God, and members are encouraged to form their own understanding of a supreme being. Hubbard described the idea only in broad terms, placing greater emphasis on the spiritual potential of the individual than on the nature of a deity.

Tone scale

The tone scale is a numerical hierarchy of emotional states created by L. Ron Hubbard in Science of Survival (1951) and later expanded. Scientologists use it to describe and interpret human emotions and behavior, to gauge someone's value in society, and to determine how best to control or communicate with someone. The concept is a vertical scale of points from −40.0 to +40.0, each representing an emotion or other mental concept. The midpoint is 0.0, labelled "body death". From 0.0 upward is the emotional tone scale, including such points as apathy, grief, fear, anger, boredom, contentment, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, and serenity of beingness. Points below 0.0 are mental concepts rather than emotions, such as shame, blame, regret, sacrifice, hiding, and total failure. In common Scientology parlance, a person high on the tone scale is called uptone or high toned, and one low on the tone scale is called downtone or low toned.

According to Hubbard, one's tone affects a person's attitude, their ability to relate with others, and even body odors. The higher on the scale, the more emotionally alive someone would be. Lower tones, Hubbard asserted, should be exiled from society. During the auditing process, the auditor is trained to observe the client's emotional state using the tone scale, to raise an individual on the tone scale and improve his abilities.

ARC and KRC triangles

The Scientology symbol is made up of two triangles with an "S" connecting them. The top triangle is called the KRC triangle, symbolizing the related concepts of knowledge, responsibility, and control. The lower triangle is called the ARC triangle, symbolizing the related concepts of affinity, reality, and communication, and all three together represent understanding. The large connecting "S" stands for "Scientology". in

Scientology teaches that improving one of the three aspects of the KRC or ARC triangle will increase the other two. In the ARC triangle, communication is held to be the most important.

Among Scientologists, the letters ARC are used as an affectionate greeting in personal communication, for example, at the end of a letter. Social problems are ascribed to breakdowns in ARC – in other words, a lack of agreement on reality, a failure to communicate effectively, or a failure to develop affinity. These can take the form of overts – harmful acts against another, either intentionally or by omission – which are usually followed by withholds – efforts to conceal the wrongdoing, which further increase the level of tension in the relationship.

Morals and ethics

Scientology teaches that progress on The Bridge to Total Freedom requires and enables attaining high moral and ethical standards. According to Hubbard, the goal of ethics is to remove impediments to survival, and ethics is essentially a tool to "get technology in", meaning Scientology's use of the term technology.

Hostility toward psychiatry

In the early 1950s, the psychiatric establishment rejected Hubbard's theories, and Hubbard thereafter vehemently opposed psychiatry and psychology. He taught that psychiatrists were responsible for genocidal acts in the ancient past, including in the Xenu narrative. Scientology views psychiatry as a barbaric and corrupt profession and considers mental illness a fraud. Initially, Hubbard taught that psychosis was not something Scientology addressed, but later developed the Introspection Rundown, a brutal and inhumane method that allegedly solves psychotic episodes without psychiatric intervention.

Scientology established the anti-psychiatry lobby group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) which operates an exhibit Psychiatry: An Industry of Death. They allege that psychiatrists were responsible for the Holocaust, apartheid and 9/11. CCHR has helped legislators draft bills, though bills in Florida and Utah failed which would have made it a crime for school teachers to suggest to parents that their child might be suffering from a mental health condition.

Practices

The Church makes it clear that Hubbard is considered the sole source of Dianetics and Scientology: "The Scientology religion is based exclusively upon L. Ron Hubbard's research, writings and recorded lectures – all of which constitute the Scriptures of the religion." His work, recorded in 500,000 pages of writings, 6,500 reels of tape and 42 films, is archived for posterity. The Religious Technology Center holds "the ultimate ecclesiastical authority and the pure application of L. Ron Hubbard's religious technologies."

Individuals applying Hubbard's techniques who are not officially connected to the Church of Scientology are considered part of the "Free Zone". Some of these individuals were litigated against for using and modifying the practices for their own use and that of others, thereby infringing the law on patent, trademarks, or trade secrets.

Auditing

The central practice of Scientology is an activity known as auditing, which seeks to elevate an adherent to a state of Clear, one of freedom from the influences of the reactive mind. The practice is one wherein a counselor called an "auditor" addresses a series of questions to a preclear, observes and records the preclear's responses, and acknowledges them. An essential element in all forms of auditing is not to suggest answers to the preclear or invalidate or degrade what the preclear says in response. It is of utmost importance that the auditor create a safe and distraction-free session environment.

The term clear derives from a calculator button that deletes previous calculations. According to Scientology beliefs, Clears are "optimal individuals", and "they have been cleared of false information and memories of traumatic experiences that prevent them from adapting to the world around them in a natural and appropriate fashion." Scientologists believe that clears become more successful in their daily lives and are "healthier, experience less stress, and possess better communication skills than non-Scientologists."

"Auditing" is sometimes considered controversial, because auditing sessions are permanently recorded and stored within "preclear folders". Scientologists believe that the practice of auditing helps them overcome the debilitating effects of traumatic experiences, most of which have accumulated over a multitude of lifetimes. The folders are kept in accordance with the Priest/Penitent legal parameters which do not allow these folders to be seen or used for any other purpose or seen by any others who are not directly involved in supervising that person's auditing progress.

Auditors are required to become proficient with the use of their E-meters. The device measures the subject's galvanic skin response like a polygraph (lie detector), but with only one electrode per hand rather than multiple sensors. The E-meter is primarily used in auditing, which "aims to remove (engrams) to produce a state of 'clear.'" Auditors do not receive final certification until they have completed an internship, and have demonstrated a proven ability in the skills they have been trained in. Auditors often practice their auditing with each other, as well as friends or family. Church members sometimes pair up during training, doing the same course simultaneously so that they can audit each other up through the various Scientology levels.

According to scholar Harriet Whitehead, the Church of Scientology "has developed a fine-tooled hierarchically organized system of audit (training) sessions where the technology of these sessions, in fact, is the treatment leading to processes of renunciation and eventually reformulation in the individual," which is similar to psychoanalysis.

Traumatic memories and the reactive mind