In Nelson Mandela's famous speech, I am prepared to die, he stated:

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

I am very happy he didn't have to die to make the point. South Africa is a living example of what one man can accomplish toward humanitarian goals.

The Scientology Handbook

The Scientology Handbook web site has been redesigned.

And it's terrific.

Much easier to navigate, and they've added news of how the Scientology Handbook is used - particularly by Scientology Volunteer Ministers.

The Individual Vs. the Group

I had a friend who once told me that it doesn't matter what you do for the individual - that it's the group that matters. He wasn't interested in getting better or in helping people - just in overthrowing the government.

He wasn't really much of a friend. As a matter of fact he was pretty crazy.

And I've since come to realize how completely wrong he was in terms of the individual vs. society.

It is individuals, and particularly a few great men and women, who create our civilization. It is the single person who treats others well and works hard to get decent products and who genuinely cares and helps others that make it possible for our civilization to go on.

There have been many great people in the last hundred years or so.

I categorize L. Ron Hubbard at the top of the list for what he has done for so many millions of people and for the legacy of his technology and what it means to the future.

Here is a list of some of the people I consider to have made the greatest contributions to mankind in my lifetime:

L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of the Scientology religion.
Ghandi, the father of the non-violence movement and
Martin Luther King Jr. who used non-violence to government-sanctioned oppression of African Americans in the United States.
Nelson Mandela who brought down Apartheid and returned his people to dignity and self-rule
Pope John Paul who was an infuence for kindness and decency not only to his own church but to the whole world.
David Miscavige, who, as Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, has preserved the Scientology scriptures in their true, accurate form, ensuring that Mr. Hubbard's legacy to mankind is preserved and in full and exact use.

Child Rights

One oblog I enjoy reading is Creative Expressons

Here's an interesting point she made this week about human rights:

Child Rights

I learned something I never knew from reading the Human Rights Watch web site tonight.

"The United States is one of only two countries in the world that have not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Somalia –a country without an internationally-recognized government–is the other. The Children’s Rights Division has focused its efforts on U.S. practice in three areas that fall measurably short of standards included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child — conditions for children in the justice system, detention of children by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and the use of children as soldiers."

Here is the most shocking fact in this article — there are 2,225 youth offenders currently serving life without parole in the United States.

“Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.”

L. Ron Hubbard

Religion4life said:

I remember clearly when I first read Dianetics.

I was REALLY not doing well in life at the time, and my best friend's brother, who was a Scientologist, gave me his copy of the Dianetics book.

He told me a bit about it, and I almost didn't read the book. I knew life was so much more complicated than he was telling me.

But I liked the guy, and he was so sure, I figured what harm would it do to read the book. I didn't really expect much from it.

Boy was I wrong.

This one simple book - even just the first 100 pages or so -- answered SO many questions for me!

And, amazing as it may sound, the more I study it the more simple life gets.

And the more fun, too.

It reminded me how much I gained from reading the Dianetics book the first time!

One Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

It hardly seems possible that a year has gone by since Hurricane Katrina.

Of course, to the people of the region I'm sure it is very real.

At several international Scientology events, David Miscavige has specifically brought up the work the Scientology Volunteer Ministers did to help the people of the region.

This is certainly something to be very proud of!


Scientology Volunteer Ministers personally helped over 70,000 people, delivering hundreds of tons of life-saving supplies, reuniting families, and assisting hundreds to find new homes and jobs.

Cruz praises Scientology for anti-drugs work

Here's a terrific article on Penelope Cruz views of Scientology

07/08/2006 - 08:45:55

Penelope Cruz has praised her ex-boyfriend Tom Cruise's controversial Scientology religion for helping "thousands" of drug addicts find sobriety.

Narconon, an in-patient rehabilitation programme for drug abusers based on a doctrine by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard, claim to have a success rate of 70%, although an independent Swedish research study found such rates as low as 6.6%.

During her two-and-a-half year relationship with her Vanilla Sky co-star, Cruz read many books on the religion, of which Cruise is a devout follower.

She explains: "I have read a lot of books about it and some of those things I have studied have helped me with things in my life. I would feel bad with myself if I didn't say that I was grateful to it because of what I learned about it.

"A lot of my friends have been helped by their programme - they have the most successful anti-drug problem in the world and they deserve a lot of credit for it.

"They have places everywhere. It is amazing because it is about helping the person find the reason why they started in the beginning instead of creating guilt."

Cruise claims to have helped dozens of people conquer their drug addictions through Scientology programmes, saying: "I think it's appalling that people have to live a life of drug addiction when I have personally helped people get off drugs… I have an easier time stepping people off heroin then I do these psychotropic drugs."

Church of Scientology of San Diego, Human Rights Campaign

The Public Affairs Director of the Church of Scientology of San Diego is working to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to combad trafficking in children for sexual purposes in his city.

Here's a bit from a press release he posted recently:

Across the globe today, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year as a commodity for exploitative labor or sex slavery, at any given time over 300,000 child soldiers — some as young as 8 — are exploited in armed conflicts, and 115 million primary school-aged youth are out of school. The need for broad-scale human rights education could not be more urgent.

I think it is really admirable that he and his church are doing this.

Why I Help

I've always loved helping people, but I didn't always know how.

As a Scientology Volunteer Ministers, I DO now, and it makes it much easier to reach out to people when you are confident you can do something for them.

How to Improve Conditions in Life Course

On the Scientology site there is a description of a course anyone can take to learn how to improve conditions in life. Here's the description.

"Conditions in your life either improve or get worse. They don’t stay the same.

"Have you had a career setback? Do you have a worsening relationship with someone? Have you been stopped from achieving your goal? A worsening condition in any area of your life can bring you down and send your whole life sliding toward failure.

"There is an exact technology for improving conditions in life — any condition. The How to Improve Conditions in Life Course reveals the secrets of spotting accurately the true condition of anything or any relationship, and guides you through exact, proven steps to improve it.

"Exactly followed, the precise formulas on this course bring results not otherwise possible. Don’t let failures and setbacks ruin your life. Start today towards a better life. Begin this course now!"

This is such a simple course, but it is also really effective.

Improving conditions is a basic concept in the Scientology religion.

Shoah Foundation

I learned about the Shoah Foundation about a year ago. I am very impressed by the work Steven Spielberg has put into creating a legacy of tolerance.

To accomplish the intention "never again" requires human rights education.

Improving Society

I chose this name for my blog because I really believe that if everyone worked on improving society, one person at a time, we would have a far better world.

My father used to say I was just being an idealist and that the world is just heading down and is going to stay down. My sister used to tell me that things were already getting better and it would take care of itself. My father's views were just defeatist. My sister's simply didn't match with what I saw around me.

So I just get on with helping people and doing as much as I can to improve things.

That's what I love about the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program -- it provides effective tools through the Scientology Handbook that empowers anyone to improve things around himself/herself.

With over 6 billion people on Earth, that's a lot of individual help that's needed to improve society. But if everyone can just grab the ball so we all help each other out it wouldn't take that long to make this place a decent place to live.

VM wrote:

Needed -- Real Solutions

In his speech at the Grand Opening of the Church of Scientology of New York, Mr. David Miscavige made a very important point. Mr. Miscavige said:

"...the high technology of this 21st century science can't yet prevent war. And what about the terror alerts that are a part of everyday existence?

"The upsets at home that are so common it's considered a routine part of life? 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.

"The answer to this planet's problems will not be found in the material. Of this there can be no question.

"For if those solutions can't prevent war, nation to nation, how then can it be expected to answer questions like love, happiness or compassion?"

There are effective Scientology solutions to each of these problems.

Anyone wanting help is welcome to come to the Church of Scientology of New York. We're open all day, 7 days a week.

Other speeches by Mr. David Miscavige at church Grand Openings:

Church of Scientology of San Francisco
Church of Scientology of Spain
Church of Scientology of Buffalo
Speech at Church of Scientology of Johannesburg and article about the event.

I really agree.

I watch TV or crack open a magazine and if the ads are any measure of how people are doing we are in pretty rough shape. The psychiatric drug ads are pandering on the fact that most people don't live the happy lives of the rich and famous. Most people have trouble at work, can't get along with the boss (or have a stupid employee who always get them in trouble) wonders if her husband will keep her around when her cellulite hits a certain level or will he trade her in for a more Victoria Secret-esque model. Most people are worried about their kids or are beyond being worried.

And the pity is that the pain and turmoil from things like this don't have to be that way at all. In fact there isn't a thing I wrote about above here that can't be handled with Scientology.

I'm sharing this post from humanrights.motime.com because I think it is very important indeed:

Israel/Lebanon

Amnesty International reports that "In the past week some 300 Lebanese civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed and hundreds injured in a large-scale bombing campaign by Israeli forces" and "Hizbullah’s armed wing, for its part, has killed 15 Israeli civilians, including three children, and injured hundreds in rocket attacks into Northern Israel, as well as 14 soldiers."

But while this is enforced or negotiated, there will be no permanent improvement until the underlying causes are addressed.

To begin with, these actions on both sides are a clear violation of the human rights of all civilians in the area.

Without respect for human rights there is no restraint an external body can enforce.

But the real source of the conflict is described in an article by L. Ron Hubbard, printed in Freedom Magazine. This article called The Cause of Conflict" bears repeating here.

The article states:

"Violence and conflict amongst individuals and nations have been with us for ages and their causes have remained a complete mystery, a mystery finally solved in Scientology. "If Chaldea could vanish, if Babylon turn to dust, if Egypt could become a badlands, if Sicily could have 160 prosperous cities and be a looted ruin before the year zero and a near desert ever since—and all this in spite of all the work and wisdom and good wishes and intent of human beings, then it must follow as the dark follows sunset that something must be unknown to man concerning all his works and ways. And that this something must be so deadly and so pervasive as to destroy all his ambitions and his chances long before their time. "Such a thing would have to be some natural law unguessed at by himself. "And there is such a law, apparently, that answers these conditions of being deadly, unknown and embracing all activities. I don't want to reprint the entire article here, but any one serious about handling this conflict should read it here.