Scientology
proper nounattested in dialogue
- United States
A cult with certain religious aspects, developed in 1952, focused on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.
proper noun
- 1
A cult with certain religious aspects, developed in 1952, focused on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.
Werner Erhard's highly successful est cult is partly derived from Scientology. Erhard had some experience with Scientology in 1969. Then he worked for a while in Mind Dynamics, itself an offshoot of Jose Silva's Mind Control.
Est (Erhard Seminars Training) has been a singularly successful synthetic derivation, which has itself gone on to generate new movements, transmitting aspects of Scientology thought or practice far from the domain of L. Ron Hubbard.
L. Ron Hubbard repackaged Scientology from occultism, and est/Forum was a repackaging of Scientology by Werner Erhard, but few Scientologists or estians ever see the connections, and both leaders seem to have gained little from their teachings. This is what the followers of Erhard found so unsettling; he was the great pop artist of spirituality, yet was unable to apply his insights to himself.
Etymology
From the stem of Latin scientia (“knowledge”), from sciō (“to know”), + -ology.
Scientology · A cult with certain religious aspects, developed in 1952, focused on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.
scissors · A tool used for cutting thin material, consisting of two…scold · A person who habitually scolds, in particular a troublesome…scolding · An unloving succession of critical remarks, such as those…