Space Opera in Scientology

Scientologists often publicly deny the existence of certain elements of the cosmoopera in their teachings, or try to belittle their significance ^[6] . At the same time, there are secret texts in Scientology that are not available at the initial stage. Those who did not gain access to these texts know almost nothing about the elements of the cosmic opera in Scientology. Stories about aliens begin at OT III level ^[7] . Because this information must be kept secret, the Scientologist must publicly deny the existence of this information when asked about it. By gaining access to OT III, Scientologists give a non-disclosure subscription. They are told that this is such dangerous information that an unprepared person can die if he finds it ahead of time ^[8] .

In the Scientology glossary, “space opera” is defined as “happening millions of years ago in this and other galaxies.” The space opera has space travel, space ships, astronauts, intergalactic travel, war, conflict, extraterrestrial beings, civilizations and communities, as well as other planets and galaxies. This is not fiction, but real incidents ” ^[2] .

Church of Scientology Head David Miscavige ^[9] and other prominent Scientologists publicly deny the importance of cosmoopera elements in teaching. In this way, they follow Hubbard’s instructions, according to which the publicity of these teaching elements should be minimal. In 1990, the Los Angeles Times wrote:

Hubbard realized that stories of past lives, implants and extraterrestrial beings sound suspicious to outsiders. Therefore, he told his followers to remain silent. Hubbard said: “Do not tell everyone in a row about the space opera, because they will not believe you,” “they will tell you“ this is Hubbard ”” ^[10] .

Scientology was particularly closely associated with science fiction in the early years. Hubbard originally wrote science fiction and adventure stories in pulp magazines , and he advertised his book, “Dianetics: The Modern Science of the Mind,” through John Campbell 's Astounding Science Fiction . Hubbard was looking for new followers among science fiction writers. In the 80s, Hubbard again engaged in science fiction and wrote the books “ Battlefield Earth ” and “ Mission Earth ” (in ten volumes).

Hubbard’s Scientology texts cite Scientologists telling about past lives with details typical of science fiction: they had robots instead of bodies, they were killed with blasters , they lived on spaceships that could overcome “a trillion light-years per day” ^{[ 11]} .

In the 1970s, Hubbard made a movie script from the history of Xenu called Revolt in the Stars , but not a single studio bought it. His books, Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth, are not directly related to Scientology, but critics note the similarities between those books and Scientology, in particular, “a very strong rejection of the psychiatry and psychology of the 20th century, considered as a key source of evil” ^[12] .

Hubbard argued that it was not Scientology based on science fiction, but rather science fiction - it was unconscious memories of real past lives that can be recalled in detail through Scientology auditing :

“You say,“ well, it's just science fiction. “No. No no. Not. The only science fiction that there is is the mistakes of science fiction writers that they made while talking about their own past ”(“ The Helatrobus Implants ”).

Some aspects of the Scientology cosmoopera are told only at the secret levels of Scientology training. For example, the story of Xenu is part of the OT III course, that is, the “acting thetan III.” Access to this level requires long and expensive preparatory courses. In the early years of the Church of Scientology, there were no secret levels, and elements of the cosmic opera were not kept secret. Later, many "advanced" materials were removed from open access.

But a substantial part of the Scientology cosmoopera is still publicly available. The Technical Dictionary of Dianetics and Scientology ( ISBN 0-88404-037-2 ) contains definitions of extraterrestrial civilizations and brainwashing incidents, and L. Ron Hubbard's publicly available works contain detailed references to space opera. In journals dedicated to Scientologists, aspects of the Scientology cosmoopera are often popularly presented to the "preclears." So, in the 3rd issue of International Scientology News magazine, there is the following advertisement for the 10th volume of Hubbard’s book Research and Discovery Series ( ISBN 0-88404-218-9 ):

Your mind is absolutely NOT READY for what will soon happen to your REALITY ...

Volume 10: The Infinite Potential of Theta Unrivaled: Nowhere will you gain more knowledge of the mysterious ESSENTIALS, known as theta bodies, inhabiting a person, talking to him, and driving him astray. It is unlikely that somewhere you will find more information gathered in one place about ZONES BETWEEN LIVES and about the tremendous opening of LRH about BODIES IN A WEST .

Does YOU have a mortgage body?

Read Volume 10 , because when you know EVERYTHING about it, you will no longer be bothered by nightmares, inexplicable somatics , strange visual images of cylindrical tanks, bodies floating in a green liquid ...

(3rd issue of International Scientology News, 1997; retained original formatting)

It is not clear to what extent the typical Scientologist shares the official belief in space opera, although the ad cited above was placed in a beginner's publication. The views of individual Scientologists were recorded in a 60-year book, “ Have You Lived Before This Life? ” ( Have You Lived Before This Life?, ISBN 0-88404-958-2 ). It contains the recollections of 43 Scientologists about past lives obtained through auditing at a conference in London in 1958 ^{[13] [14] [15] [16]} . Conference participants shared the following memories.

• Life in the body of a robot working in a factory in space, around which "gold animals, mainly elephants and zebras," were concentrically concentrated in all directions. "They seemed solid, but occasionally shrank or exploded." Small animals were made in the factory by breaking the discs. "After these animals appeared through the totem and the devil-cat, they were inflated and sent to other planets." The planet exploded, and the robot was blamed for this. He was sentenced to work on a breaking machine ^{[13] [17]} .
• The past life of “55 quintillion years ago,” in which a creature had to go into outer space to repair a spaceship. It received burns from radiation and fell onto a planet, into the ocean. There he was killed by a manta ray , and it inhabited this manta ray ^{[13] [15] [17]} .
• Past life on the planet Mars "469,476,600 years ago." The restless creature entered the "body-doll", but she was caught and beaten. The Martian bishop shot her from a blaster , and then she "was moved by a large car and a steam rink." Then the creature was frozen in an ice cube and dropped onto the planet ZX 432. There, it moved into a robot and shot another robot. It tried to fly away on a flying saucer and died when the saucer exploded ^{[13] [15] [17]} .
• A past life in which a creature went to a planet on which the forces of good fought against evil black magicians. After 74,000 years of battle, implants and hallucinations, he lost the battle and joined the black magicians. He went to another planet on a spaceship, and there he was "drawn into a love relationship with a robot depicting a beautiful red-haired girl" ^{[13] [17]} .
• A past life in which “a very happy creature wandered into the planet Nostra” 23,064,000,000 years ago ^{[13] [17]} .

The announcement of the creation of the Free Zone is also in the genre of space opera. According to Bill Robertson, on November 10, 1982 , the Free Zone Decree was transmitted from the uterus of Sector 9 to Earth:

Official Decree - Galactic Great Council

1. The planet, known as Tijiak - in the local dialect "Earth" or Terra - 12 sun, Sector 9, is now proclaimed the Free Zone.

2. No interference in its affairs by any other part of the Sector or Galaxy is unacceptable.

3. No economic interference in its affairs by any extraterrestrial forces or intermediaries is unacceptable.

4. All its inhabitants are now proclaimed citizens of the Free Zone, free from external political or economic interference ^{[18] [19]} .

According to Bill Robertson, the Marcabians, members of the Marcab Confederation (several star systems in the North Star region), are of particular danger. “Over the past 50 years, about 200,000 Marcabian“ junior leaders ”have been secretly transported to Earth in order to assist Xen and his associates in capturing the planet.” ^[18]

Elements of the cosmic opera are found not only in Scientology, but also in some earlier teachings, for example, in the teachings of the mystic and philosopher of the early 20th century, George Gurdjieff ^[20] . Gurdjieff describes spaceships, flights through the universe and many other similar phenomena:

The ship of the “trans-dimensional” message “Karnak” flew through the Universe. He flew from the space of "Assuparasata", that is, from the spaces of the "Milky Way" from the planet Caratas to the solar system "Pandetsnokh", the sun of which is also called the "Polar Star". Beelzebub with his relatives and close associates was on the said “trans-dimensional” ship. He went to the planet Revozvradendra to a special conference in which he agreed to attend at the request of his old friends ^[20] .

Nevertheless, for Gurdjieff, unlike Scientologists, the space theme was nothing more than a humorous way to color the narrative, and the “cosmic” texts in Gurdjieff’s teachings did not carry any special semantic load.

Elements of cosmo-operas are also present in the doctrines of the “ Nation of Islam ” and UFO-religions .

• Xenu