These events are known within Scientology as "Incident II", and the traumatic memories associated with them as "The Wall of Fire" or "R6 implant". The narrative of Xenu is part of Scientologist teachings about extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in earthly events, collectively described as "space opera" by L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard detailed the story in Operating Thetan level III (OT III) in 1967, warning that the "R6 implant" (past trauma) was "calculated to kill (by pneumonia, etc.) anyone who attempts to solve it"
Discussion
In Scientology, Operating Thetan (OT) is a state of complete spiritual freedom in which one is a "willing and knowing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time". The Church of Scientology offers eight "levels" of OT, each level costing thousands of US dollars. The OT levels are confidential and not revealed to Scientologists until they reach the third Operating Thetan level. In practice, the objective of these levels is to remove "body thetans" which are "confused, disembodied souls from other planets who have attached themselves to us"
The OT levels are the upper part of "The Bridge to Total Freedom", which is the set of levels within Scientology. After having removed one's own "reactive mind" and thus attaining the state of "Clear", Scientologists may then go on to the OT levels. Scientology doctrine defines OT as the "highest state there is". Operating Thetan is represented by a symbol consisting of the letters OT with the T inside the O and each of the points of the T ending at the O's circumference.
An Operating Thetan (OT) is described within Scientology as a state of godliness, and Scientologists are taught they will have godlike control over "matter, energy, space and time" (known in Scientology jargon as MEST). Hubbard claimed that thetans were once tricked into following religions, which prevented them from using their own power to create and destroy universes. The Church claims that an OT is not dependent on the physical universe, and Scientologists who have attained the highest Operating Thetan level claim that they have control over their lives and can "go exterior" from their bodies.
According to religious scholar J. Gordon Melton, "[The OT levels are] basically a variation of the Gnostic myth about souls falling into matter and the encumbrances that come with that. ... In the OT [levels], you're finding out that you're a thetan, that you've come into bodies before. Part of what you're trying to learn is exteriorization — how to get out of your body. You also learn that you carry a lot of encumbrances from past lives."