The Afterlife for ScientologistsWhat will happen to Isaac Hayes' legendary soul?
Posted Monday, Aug. 11, 2008, at 7:13 PM ET
Singer Isaac Hayes died on Sunday at the age of 65. Besides being a sex symbol, a soul-music legend, and a beloved voice-over artist, Hayes was also a dedicated Scientologist. According to his religious beliefs, what happens to Hayes now that he's passed away?
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StumbleUponHis soul will be "born again into the flesh of another body," as the Scientology Press Office's FAQ puts it. The actual details of how that rebirth occurs are not fully understood by church outsiders, but some core beliefs of Scientology are that every human being is really an immortal spiritual being known as a thetan and that the "meat bodies" we inhabit are merely vessels we shed upon death. (Members of the elite church cadre known as Sea Org, for example, sign contracts that pledge a billion years of service throughout successive lives.)
When a body dies, its thetan forgets the details of the former life, though painful and traumatic images known as engrams remain rooted in its unconscious. In order to move up the path of spiritual progression—known as the Bridge to Total Freedom—one must eradicate these psychic scars, which cause a person to act fearfully and irrationally. Once a Scientologist has purged them through the counseling process known as auditing, he or she is said to be "clear."
According to an avowed Scientology antagonist who claims, on her Web site, to present factual information typically omitted from church press materials, the official Scientology publication Celebrity announced that Hayes attained "clear" status around 2002, though it is not known whether he progressed onto the highest parts of the Bridge, the "operating thetan" levels. Details about what happens in these advanced stages remain closely guarded Scientology secrets, but at the very end of the process, thetans are supposed to gain power over the physical world; consequently, according to founder L. Ron Hubbard, they "feel no need of bodies," ending the cycle of birth and death and becoming pure, incorporeal souls.
If Hayes had progressed high enough on the Bridge, he might have begun preparing for his next life in the final days of this one. According to former Sea Org member Chuck Beatty, some upper-level operating thetans are said to possess the ability to choose their next set of birth parents.
In a widely reprinted 1990 Los Angeles Times article, Hubbard was quoted (apparently from a lecture given in the 1950s) describing how, after death, a thetan is carried to a "landing station" on Venus, where it is "programmed with lies," put in a capsule, and then "dumped" back on Earth, where it wanders in search of a baby to inhabit. Yet according to Laurie Hamilton, who says she has been a Scientologist since 1968, adherents are "free to accept or discard" such stories so long as they embrace the "methods and practices" of Scientology. One of the church's official Web sites stresses that a belief in past lives is not mandatory dogma but, rather, a personal truth that most Scientologists come to as they go through auditing.
The Web site also stresses that Scientologists do not believe in "reincarnation." Unlike religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, in which reincarnation functions as a kind of justice system—i.e., an individual's behavior in one life determines the caliber of the next—rebirth in Scientology is a more mechanical process. Hubbard described it as "simply living time after time, getting a new body, eventually losing it and getting a new one."
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Chuck Beatty, Stephen Kent of the University of Alberta, and Hugh Urban of Ohio State University. Thanks also to reader Mark Allender for asking the question.
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Remarks from the Fray:
Some years ago, I met Isaac Hayes. He did not talk of Thetans. He was a warm, personable human being. I honor his choice to follow the path of Scientology while he was alive. However, the details outlined in this article are just a sideline in my eyes. I don't think Scientology had even come into existence when he wrote "Soul Man", the salad-maker made popular by Sam and Dave. Hayes' soul did not come from Scientology. It is his singular eminence.
--sobrevivir
(To reply, click here.)
There are so many people banking on "another" life they forget to enjoy this one. They spend this life following layers of rules to insure they get what they already have. I would not make a case to remove anyone of their personal belief but it may be one of the saddest parts of most belief systems that life that you have is rarely recognised. I guess that is why the Native American Indian beliefs seem so peaceful, wise and mysterious to many, they are so well connected with the earth we all exist on but few acknowledge as they reach for a heaven somewhere while most religions are connected to something you have to die to prove true or false.
Heaping layers of complexities and rules to follow while breathing may make us miserably happy but in truth we only know dead is dead and very over-rated. Why let it steal our real life too. As with all believers of all faith I hope Isaac found what he placed so much belief in but I also hope he truly lived this stunningly simple and beautiful life.
--marylb
(To reply, click here.)
Hey everyone, say hello to gnosticism beta!
The idea of shedding one's physical body after attaining some level of purity and secret knowledge isn't a new one. It has been around for thousands of years. Scientology is simply gnosticism gift wrapped in the 21st century.
Like the wise man says, "There's nothing new under the sun."
--kay611
(To reply, click here.)
Regardless of what we believe we are and where we go, how about we all wish Love and Thanks to a bonafide Messenger Of Love, Isaac Hayes. Through his compositions, playing and especially his incredible voice of a vibration from beyond, Isaac Hayes was truly the embodiment of Soul here on earth.
He never forgot his Roots after attaining success for himself. His help and support for urban community improvement activities never ceased. And his help and assitance to young aspiring musicians and writers is legendary within the music industry. If anyone had The Look Of Love, it was certainly Isaac Hayes.
Via con Dios, Bon Voyage, and Walk On, Brother Isaac, Walk On...................
--wiseoldude
(To reply, click here.)
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