SCIENTOLOGISTS from the church’s national headquarters in Dundas lost a lot of blood over the last two weeks, but it was no accident.
Rather the members of one of the youngest religions were trying to help those who had been in road accidents during the holidays by donating blood.
Cyrus Brooks from the church led a group of almost 20 Scientologists, some of whom live at the Dundas base, to give blood at the Red Cross in Parramatta.
He said he was moved to action by the holiday road toll.
“You hear the holiday road tolls and it’s the sad part of the holidays,” he said. “I heard that over the holidays specifically, the supply of blood is very low. That was the kicker for me to get involved.”
Mr Brooks had to cajole some of his fellow parishioners to donate for the first time, but said they were happy they did.
“There was the apprehension of giving blood, the apprehension of the needle, but they felt really good about it,” he said.
“They realised it wasn’t going to kill them to donate, and it’s a gift you can’t buy.”
He said giving blood fitted in with the life that Scientologists are expected to live.
“It’s part of our faith that you contribute to society,” he said.
Scientology volunteers from the Church of Scientology in Sydney, Australia have stayed on to help survivors recover in post-tsunami Samoa (picture showing Dianetics co-auditing)
Scientology volunteers from the Church of Scientology in Sydney, Australia, are still in Samoa nearly two months after the devastating September 29 tsunami, extending the relief effort they launched when the tsunami hit. With damage estimated at $130 million, 143 dead and thousands left homeless, no Samoan has been unscathed by the disaster.
The trauma goes far beyond loss of property. It drives into the heart of personal and community loss, and that’s where the compassion and skill of the Scientologists come into play. Once an individual’s physical well-being is assured, the emotional aspect can be addressed—the reason the Scientologists have remained on the island.
One morning at the Apia Fire Station a Scientology volunteer, Darryl, asked the receptionist a casual “How’s it going?” As cheerful as the woman’s automatic “fine” appeared to be, her eyes said otherwise.
When Darryl gently asked her, “Where were you that day?” the woman choked up as she told her story. The day the tsunami hit she waded into the debris with the firemen, searching for survivors and pulling them from the rubble—along with the bodies of friends and neighbors who did not survive.
Now, weeks later, this heroic woman was suffering despite her bravery under gruesome circumstances. In fact, it was because of her bravery. The way the human mind is rigged, the intense stress she experienced could rebound on her with grave consequences for the rest of her life, with depression, anxiety, even psychosomatic illness.
The Scientology volunteer decided her plans for the morning would simply have to wait. She cared too much to leave without helping this woman first, especially knowing she could help ease the pain with Dianetics counseling.
Darryl wasted no time. She gave the woman a Dianetics session, and two hours and many tears later the woman emerged smiling, saying she felt relieved for the first time since her harrowing experience. This is just one of the many “miracles as usual” Scientology Volunteer Ministers bring to people in need.
Dianetics counseling is described in Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard. Derived from the Greek words dia, meaning through, and nous, mind or soul, the full definition of Dianetics is what the mind (or soul) is doing to the body.
To learn more about the Scientology Volunteer Ministers visit their web site at www.volunteerministers.org. To learn about Dianetics or attend a Dianetics seminar visit www.dianetics.org.
Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Australia delivered a workshop to the village of Pangaimotu in the Kingdom of Tonga.
When the Scientology Volunteer Ministers South Pacific Goodwill tour moved their operation to the island of Vava’u last month, residents of the village of Pangaimotu heard about the volunteers from Australia through radio and TV broadcasts and invited them to come to their island to deliver a workshop.
Pangaimotu is the name of a village and an island a half hour by boat from the capital of the Vava’u district of Tonga. The Town Officer welcomed the Scientologists to the village and found them a hall in a local church where they could deliver their workshop. Then he brought them to visit each of the 185 houses in the village to invite every family to attend.
While walking through the village, one of the couples they met thanked the Scientologists for helping them through a very rough period in their lives. The volunteers were surprised and the couple explained that a short while earlier, they had picked up some of the Volunteer Minister booklets when the Goodwill Tour was in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga. Then, when trouble struck, the couple had the solutions they needed, to pull them through the crises they experienced.
Just as the Scientologists were about to begin presenting the workshop, a baby in the audience began to cry. The Scientology Volunteer Ministers showed those attending a simple technique anyone can use to help someone calm down. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology religion, developed a body of technology called Scientology “Assists.” An assist is a Scientology process that alleviates present time discomforts or difficulties. The particular assist the Scientology Volunteer Ministers demonstrated is called a “Locational Assist.” Easy to learn and do, a locational is done by directing a person’s attention off the painful area of his body or his difficulties and out onto the environment. When the parents used it, the child immediately stopped crying and became cheerful again.
Carrying on with the agenda they had planned, the Scientologists then covered techniques to improve the ability to learn, communicate and resolve conflicts.
Having attended the workshop, the people of the village of Pangaimotu understand why the motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers is “Something CAN be done about it”, and they now have tools they can use to improve their lives.
