[I]n Scientology, like the realization traditions of the East, individual effort is central. This process of realization or movement towards total spiritual freedom involves auditing and training within Scientology.

More familiar forms of worshipping activity are to be found in the communal rituals that occur when Scientologists gather for rites and observances. The literature of Scientology contains rites and rituals that mark major events in the life cycle: birth, naming, marriage, and death. These rites and rituals link these life events to the sacred depths of life as seen by the Scientology community. (See L. Ron Hubbard, The Scientology Religion, London, 1950 for descriptions of some of the rites and rituals.) These life-cycle rituals of Scientology find their analogs in virtually every other religious tradition. Such rituals enact the conviction that human life is linked to unseen, spiritual dimensions that must be recognized and acknowledged if human life is to achieve its wholeness and fulfillment.

Acts of worship can be individual as well as communal. This is probably most obvious in relation to prayer, but it is also true in relation to meditational acts and spiritual disciplines. Whether it is a Sufi praying alone or joined with others in a whirling dance prayer, one is engaged in worshipping activity. Whether it is the Buddhist alone on the hillside deep in meditation or joined with others in chanting a sutra, one is encountering acts of worship.

In Scientology one encounters both the individual and communal acts of worship. But in Scientology, like the realization traditions of the East, individual effort is central. This process of realization or movement towards total spiritual freedom involves auditing and training within Scientology. The analogy is the “guru-disciple” relationship within Eastern traditions. In the “guru-disciple” relationship the principal acts of worship are interior acts which facilitate, in Hinduism, movements towards the realization of atman, the soul, which is also the Ultimate. These inward movements may be linked with certain outward actions like yogic postures or breathing techniques or even certain inward actions like visualizing an image. These inward spiritual movements can unfold over shorter or longer periods of time and are part of the worshipping activity of the devotee. In many Eastern traditions, the ascetic and meditative acts of training and discipline of an individual for growth in the spiritual life may unfold over many months or years or in essential solitude once direction is given by the master. Though the practice is carried out in solitude, it is still linked to the life of a community through shared convictions, beliefs, and shared acts. In Scientology, this is the proper context for auditing and training where the relationship between the religious counselor and the individual initiate is pivotal. Again, the analog is there with the spiritual director in Christian monastic traditions, the pastor in the Protestant traditions, the guru in the Hindu traditions, the Lama in Tibetan Buddhist traditions.