A weekend of healing at Mosque Maryam

By Charlene Muhammad -National Correspondent- | Last updated: Jul 5, 2012 - 10:55:29 AM

CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - The Nation of Islam opened the doors of its international headquarters to the public for a weekend of healing through its life repair seminar on June 29-30.

The gathering stemmed from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s desire to share a tool that helps promote healing: Dianetics.

Dianetics was created by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and addresses the reasons for stress, depression and anxiety. It helps people uncover and deal with subconscious negative emotions and reactions.

Brenda Stoxstell, a retired nurse, thought she was in the wrong place when she arrived at Mosque Maryam for the life repair seminar because she saw the word Dianetics. She was sure the gathering would be a positive event, she wasn’t sure if she would benefit.

Always a very organized person, her home life has been in shambles for the last two years, according to Ms. Stoxstell. She thought she’d dealt relatively well with the death of her mother, the life imprisonment of her brother, who was 17 at the time he was convicted, and the loss of the beloved grandmother who reared her.

She found relief during a Nation of Islam’s Dianetics Co-Audit session. Audit means to listen.

“When I poured out my heart and let that go, which was that sensation that was here (she said clutching chest and stomach), I had ulcers but it wasn’t the ulcers. It was what I truly was holding within and when I was given the opportunity here to address my personal history, they came out and I feel like I can fly,” Ms. Stoxstell said, motioning her arms.

“This is a power I’ve never felt before and I wish to tell you all I now have a four-point plan for cleaning out my house of that clutter, which was a direct reflection of what was happening in my innermost self!” Ms. Stoxstell added.

Lee Ware said he found the ability to release feelings of revenge. For much of his life, he carried the pain of betrayal by people he thought were friends but turned out to be enemies.

“I’m here to tell you today is a new day. This new beginning, because of this one seminar, has been a life-changing experience for me,” Mr. Ware said in a soft-spoken manner. “It’s finally a day to release things off my back ... I found a better way to release things that I’ve tried to release for umpteen years,” the 26-year-old said. His pain stemmed from an accident in which friends would say what they knew happened to him. If left him physically injured and feeling deprived of justice.

Ariel Beloch’s pain came from family. “It started when I was younger with my cousin making fun of my dark complexion and I’ve always been uncomfortable in my skin. And now I’m very proud of it,” she said as the sanctuary of Mosque Maryam exploded into applause and a standing ovation.

Ms. Beloch accepted a friend’s invitation to the seminar, but was nervous. Though initially uncomfortable with the thought of talking about her experiences, she was able to tap into hidden emotions.

Word of wisdom and explanation

Min. Farrakhan dismissed criticism by naysayers upset over the Nation of Islam using techniques from Scientology for the benefit of Black people and the world. He said he isn’t upset and doesn’t mind criticism that comes from misunderstanding.

“As the Qur’an says, unfortunately, you are a people that dispute without knowledge,” Min. Farrakhan said, during his July 1 Mosque Maryam address titled, “All Is Vanity.”

“The critics are saying, ‘Farrakan’s talking all this Black talk and went over to this White man, L. Ron Hubbard ... I am you. I haven’t changed my religion. You know all the prophets taught us to seek truth from the cradle to the grave and wherever knowledge is, you should seek to be a possessor of it,” Min. Farrakhan said.

He asked audience members with degrees to raise their hands. He then asked if all their teachers were Black. “No sir!” some replied.

“You mean to tell me you sat in a class with a White professor and got you a degree and now you’re working for White people? Getting a salary? Did you ask your teacher, ‘How many times have you called Black people n----r?’ ”

“So it didn’t matter what religion that person was, what race or ethnic group they belonged to because you didn’t go there to join their ethnic group or to condemn them for being White or Asian or Hispanic or Black. You went there to get some knowledge to help you be better at what you wanted to do with your life,” Min. Farrakhan said.

Black suffering is worse than any other ethnic group’s because Blacks have been deprived of self knowledge and suffered unspeakable acts during enslavement by their slave masters, Min. Farrakhan said.

Though Blacks bury the pain, inside of their heads are impediments to their human development and progress, he explained.

The Minister found value in the auditing and teaching of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics.

“The auditing process brings (negative experiences) up and it’s like bringing up demons out of us and just as this book Bible says, that was the work of Jesus. How can you say you love Jesus the Christ when he was an excorcizer of demons out of the people?” Min. Farrakhan rhetorically asked.

Dianetics auditing brings personal demons from unconsciousness into consciousness so they can be eliminated and people can make a better future for themselves, Min. Farrakhan explained.

“How could I see something that valuable and know the hurt and sickness of my people and not offer it to them?” he asked.

“So you can continue to criticize me. I’m not going to argue with you. I’m not going to be displeased with me. I’m going to continue loving you until I love you with sense because you can’t break me down,” Min. Farrakhan said.

Army of Auditors

Min. Farrakhan’s desire for the first Nation of Islam public Dianetics Seminar came two years after he first introduced the study to his followers on May 8, 2010 in Chicago.

By 2011, more than 1,000 members of the Nation of Islam had become certified Dianetics Auditors. They acted as conduits over the June 29 weekend for technology to help men, women and children.

“It has been a long journey but quite rewarding,” said Tadarah Muhammad “I’m elated to watch a person go through that (painful) moment again and me being able to be the one to go through it and then come out of it and feel some sort of relief. Watching them go through that, we feel that pain. It’s like you have a connection with that person from that moment on and after it’s so overwhelming, it’s just powerful,” she said.

Patricia Muhammad caravanned in a car without air conditioning from Louisiana to Chicago with her husband and several others. The 13-hour drive in heat-stroke weather was almost unbearable, but they had to be in Chicago.

“This is going to go down in history because of what it is ... you’re being part of the process of that process. We’re becoming saviours. So unless my leg was broken I was going to be here,” Patricia Muhammad said.

She was among more than 100 auditors who assisted participants for the weekend seminar. Guests spent day one watching videos explaining the process of Dianetics. The rest of their time went to auditing and being audited.

“This is not a pill. This is not hypnosis. This is not psychology. This is not traditional psychiatry. This is you being able to do what you have always wanted to do, and that is to be able to express and communicate those things that trouble you to a listening and attentive ear,” said Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, national assistant to Min. Farrakhan.

“You are at home,” he continued as he introduced Reverend Alfreddie Johnson, Scientologist and founder of the World Literacy Crusade. Rev. Johnson said in his 30-year Christian walk, Min. Farrakhan has guided him. Min. Farrakhan still has the courageous fortitude to do what is best for Black people, said Rev. Johnson.

“I don’t know about you but I know of no other leader, legitimate leader, for our people and mankind in general who has the courage and integrity to find something of value that comes from somewhere else and does not fear what the hell people think and brings it to his people because it relieves them,” Rev. Johnson said.

A’ishah Muhammad, National Student Auditing Coordinator, and Student Minister Nuri Muhammad presented day one of the seminar and Jason 2X, Assistant Director of the Muhammad University of Islam, presented day two. Shane Woodruff, vice-president of the Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Centre International, and a team of staff helped to facilitate the event.

“All of us need to be free from the pain that has afflicted so many of us. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to help serve you. And for those of you who have never been here, I have to say this is a home for you as well. You never have to pass by and say, ‘That’s for the Muslims.’ You all are welcome,” said A’ishah Muhammad.

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