As we remember the victims of Hurricane Katrina, let us also remember those who gave of themselves to help the survivors. Nearly 1,000 Volunteer Ministers aided survivors of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, providing, among other things, food and water. Without them, the disaster would have been much, much worse.

I have been a Scientologist for a good many years. I have watched more and more churches open, I have seen an incredible rate of expansion occurring and I know that this is because the philosophy of L. Ron Hubbard helps people.

It is something people can use in their everyday lives; it can help them with their kids, their jobs, their lives.

For more about tools that you can use yourself, see the Scientology Handbook website and go ahead and use it.

Knowing How to Know

Did you know that Scientology means "Knowing how to know?"

There's a terrific book on the subject that really explains why name was chosen and why Mr. Hubbard emphasized learning as the keynote to spiritual progress. The name of the book is Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought.

Last week it was the annual Gala at the Church of Scientology International in Hollywood, this is featured on the Celebrity Centre website, which is one of my favorites. It was recently redesigned and has a beautiful photo of Kelly Preston and her daughter.

It also has an article about the Dianetics NASCAR team.


There are many other interesting articles on this website, including what other celebrities are doing and how they are finding Scientology principals help them with their careers.

Scientology Books

I've been re-reading some of the books I read when I first got into Scientology. Each one I read I go "that's my favorite" until I read the next.

I remember a philosophy class I took in high school. I was pretty proud to be in the class to begin with - an honors class. But I was so disappointed with the philosophy I read. I was fully expecting to find answers that made sense to me. Instead what I read was very esoteric and had no application to my life.

When I found out about Scientology I realized that was what I always expected philosophy to be like, because it all makes sense and whenever I tried it out it worked for me. And that's one of the most basic principles of Scientology - if it's true for YOU it's true.

Helping Children

I read on the Scientology Newsroom tonight about the Youth for Human Rights World Tour in the Philippines.

I was a bit surprised to read: "Human rights is a vital issue in the Philippines where millions of people live in urban slums lacking sanitation and water, many fall victim to sexual trafficking and poverty all too often forces children into the job market."

I hadn't realized that kids are in such danger in the Philippines. Protecting children from these kinds of abuses is vital and I'm very glad this education campaign is going in, in this country.

I thought this posting by VM was so interesting. I guess most people would call her nosey. And I guess she is. But what's politely walking by when you see someone destroying something that's probably really important to him compared to being considered meddlesome, perhaps, but saving someone's marriage?

What do you think?

Honesty and Success in Marriage

A few years ago I was flying out of Las Vegas on a business trip. Standing on line waiting to board the plane I heard a guy talking to he secretary over his cell phone. He was describing how he and his buddy called in sick that day and flew to Las Vegas to have some fun. He stood up his client, telling him he had a flat tire (the guy was an insurance salesman, I think), and he blew $1000 bucks gambling. He was telling his secretary what to say if his wife called and asked where he'd been.

My "crystal ball" told me that a year or two down the line there would be no wife. Because living like this with this level of dishonesty will destroy a relationship.

So being a Scientology Volunteer Minister, I decided to do something about this, and I told him I'd overheard what he said. I asked him if his marriage was important to him -- did he want to stay married or didn't it matter to him. He was surprised that I'd ask him this, but he told me that yes, he really loved his wife.

I shared with him my experience patching up wrecked marriages that started on the downward road with just this kind of "minor" (to him) dishonesty.

I don't know if he took my advice or got his act together. I hope he did. I think there are far too many broken homes that could easily be handled with a bit of Scientology technology.

The chapter on "Marriage" in the Scientology handbook is well worth reading. An excerpt from this is online the Scientology handbook site.

David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center refers to the messes we make of our lives in a speech her gave a couple of years that is referred to as "This is Scientology." Mr. Miscavige calls this a "Code Orange."

Mr. Miscavige says, "What about the terror alerts that are a part of everyday existence? The upsets at home that are so common it’s considered part of the daily grind called life? That’s a Code Orange taking place in millions of households every day. Or what about raising a child today? If it’s not the drugs, then it’s the all too common worry that they’ll actually get an education. That’s the real terror alert and it’s at Code Red."

Scientology churches, like the Church of Scientology of New York or the Church of Scientology of San Francisco (or any other church, really) are open seven days a week and are there to help the community with just this kind of problem (or anything else a person may need help sorting out). If you need help, take advantage of the offer.

Church of Scientology of San Francisco

San Francisco is a great town, and the Scientology church in that city has recently moved to new quarters and is expanding faster than at any time in its history.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Scientology religion take the time to go in and check it out. The staff are really friendly and helpful, they have an excellent exhibit on the ground floor that explains what Scientology is, and they have many introductory Scientology and Dianetics services.

Two years ago Mr. David Miscavige was the keynote speaker at the grand opening, as he has been at a number of other such events - one example was at the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg.

Another grand opening was in New York.

New Scientology Missions

At a recent event aboard the Freewinds motor vessel, David Miscavige announced that 43 new Scientology Missions had opened their doors so far this year. Mr. Miscavige then went on to show photos and video footage of the grand openings of missions from Salt Lake City to Siberia and from South Africa to the Czech Republic.


Here's a photo of one of the recent grand openings. The Church of Scientology Mission of Montpellier in France (I found this on the web site of the Church of Scientology of Tampa)

This is a team of teachers who were trained in providing trauma relief by the Scientology Disaster Relief Team in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The volunteers came from the Medan Scientology Disaster Relief Center (which was established following the Dec. 2004 tsunami) and Scientologists from Australia, but volunteers from as far away as Sweden and the US joined them to help after the Java earthquake.

Makes me very proud to be a member of the Scientology religion.