Thursday, December 29, 2022

(13) Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism

 Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism



Influences on NXIVM beliefs and practices, sourced from Natalie et al (2019), rendered in the mode of W.S. Bainbridge, e.g. Bainbridge 1978. |NXIVM teachings drew upon diverse influences, including Ayn Rand ("parasites"), L. Ron Hubbard ("suppressives"), Milton Erickson's hypnosis, Isaac Asimov's science fiction, Rudolf Steiner, Tony Robbins, and neuro-linguistic programming. NXIVM incorporated elements of multi-level marketing and practices from judo, with colored cloth for rank and bowing.

This is the thirteenth post in a series that examines the book Scarred: The True Story Of How I Escaped The Cult That Bound My Life by Sarah Edmondson.

I recommend reading these posts in sequential order and have listed them in order to make reading them in order easy.

Unless noted otherwise, all quotes used in this series are from that book. 


"Nancy explained that the people in the higher ranks, under Keith, had reached their respective levels of success by truly living the foundational philosophy of ESP: "being at-cause." This concept was defined as the understanding that we, as individuals, cause everything that happens to us. Whether it's money, success, romance, or anything else we seek, ESP would deliver a perceptual shift that we are "causing agents" in our lives. "Being at-cause is taking responsibility for your participation in the laws of cause and effect," Nancy said. She revealed that being at-cause allows one to make better decisions and to own all of his or her choices."  (Scarred page 42)

"To be "at-cause" also meant that we choose our emotions."

 (Scarred page 42)

"Being at-cause is a way of life, Nancy said. Living this way means you recognize that you are the cause of everything in your life. For someone to be "out of cause" means that they're choosing to be a victim instead of recognizing their "at-causedness," or how their role in the situation caused what happened."  (Scarred page 42)


Scientology has many parallel ideas regarding cause.

At-cause is a term many Scientologists use to describe the idea of a person recognizing that they are the source of something. 

It is a concept used extensively in Scientology and perhaps best described in the following article from the book Fundamentals of Thought:

"Causation and Knowledge


SCIENTOLOGY IS COMPOSED of many axioms (self-evident truths). There are some fifty-eight of these Axioms, in addition to the two hundred more Axioms of Dianetics which preceded the Scientology Axioms.


The first ten Axioms of Scientology are:


Axiom 1  Life is basically a Static.


Definition: A Life Static has no mass, no motion, no wavelength, no location in space or in time. It has the ability to postulate and perceive.


Definition: In Scientology, the word “postulate” means to cause a thinkingness or consideration. It is a specially applied word and is defined as “causative thinkingness.”


Axiom 2  The Static is capable of considerations, postulates and opinions.


Axiom 3  

Space, energy, objects, form and time are the result of considerations made and/or agreed upon or not by the Static, and are perceived solely because the Static considers that it can perceive them.

Axiom 4  Space is a viewpoint of dimension.


(Space is caused by looking out from a point. The only actuality of space is the agreed-upon consideration that one perceives through something and this we call space.)


Axiom 5  Energy consists of postulated particles in space.


(One considers that energy exists and that he can perceive energy. One also considers that energy behaves according to certain agreed-upon laws. These assumptions or considerations are the totality of energy.)


Axiom 6  Objects consist of grouped particles and also of solid masses.


Axiom 7  Time is basically a postulate that space and particles will persist.


(The rate of their persistence is what we measure with clocks and the motion of heavenly bodies.)


Axiom 8  The apparency of time is the change of position of particles in space.


Axiom 9  Change is the primary manifestation of time.


Axiom 10  The highest purpose in this universe is the creation of an effect.


These first ten Axioms of Scientology are the most fundamental “truths” (by which we mean “commonly held considerations”) as defined by Hubbard for Scientologists in Scientology doctrine. 


Ronald Hubbard, Scientology founder


Here we have thought and life and the physical universe in their relation, one to the other. Regardless of further considerations, ideas, assumptions and conditions, there lie beneath them these first ten truths.


It is as though one had entered into an honorable bargain with fellow beings to hold these things in common. Once this is done, or once such a “contract” or agreement exists, one has the fundamentals of a universe. Specialized considerations, based on the above Axioms, make one or another kind of universe. The physical universe, which we see around us and in which we live, was created on these fundamentals without regard to Who created it. Its creation was agreed upon. In order to perceive it, one must agree that it exists." (Fundamentals of Thought, Ronald Hubbard 1956)

I merely posted an excerpt from Causation and Knowledge to get across the point that Scientology has the core concept that you are an immortal spiritual being who creates the literal space, matter, energy, and even time that exists by decision.

This is not a metaphor or recommendation to have a positive attitude. It's taken entirely literally by Scientologists.

I recommend reading the full article Causation and Knowledge which Scientology organizations have posted online for free and The Factors which Scientology has also posted online to get a good understanding of how much the idea is a fundamental to Scientology. 

In Scientology a postulate goes from its English definition of a thought to a "causative thinkingness" and this is the way matter, energy, space, and time are created according to Scientology doctrine. 

It's quite clear that Scientology shares the trait of magical thinking with NXIVM and they are certainly not the only practices that have this quality but two things are noteworthy regarding this.

Scientology perhaps takes this concept to the absolute extreme as a person is treated as causing absolutely everything that happens to them routinely. This really can't be over stated.

The second thing that is worth pointing out is that while many groups have some degree of magical thinking the exact term "at-cause" is generally specific to Scientology and it is used in the same way in NXIVM. 


Keith Raniere, NXIVM leader















Scientology and NXIVM - Parallels and Plagiarism

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