To the degree that Scientology – or any other mental/spiritual practice – affords a person the opportunity and ability to safely view his life and mind and communicate his observations and conclusions with no hint or possibility of evaluation, invalidation or repercussion, it is a positive methodology for assisting a person to increase awareness and ability.
To the degree that Scientology – or any other mental/spiritual practice – departs from that formula it is a practice potentially destructive of awareness and ability.
Means by which Scientology adheres to and departs from this workable formula are covered in the books What Is Wrong With Scientology? Healing Through Understanding (Amazon Books, 2012) and Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior (Amazon Books, 2013).
Other means by which Scientology routinely, and as a matter of policy, departs from its own workable formula:
- Requiring membership in Scientology accompanied by the label and assumption of the personality traits of Scientologist.
- Issuance and enforcement of codes of conduct for Scientologists to guide and control their behavior.
- The invalidation of gains that people assert they have attained through practices other than Scientology.
- Indoctrinating people in detail what incidents they should address and what events lie on their own experiential tracks.
- Appealing to fear in order to persuade or coerce people to engage in or continue Scientology practices.
To the extent any purported Scientology practitioner engages in any of these departures, I recommend people steer clear of them. To the degree they do participate in them is the degree to which they will ultimately contribute to a decrease in your awareness and ability. These departures may indicate either of the following in the practitioner: a) a lack of understanding of the mechanics of what makes witnessing (including Scientology auditing) a therapeutic activity, and/or b) their own unhandled subjugation to any or all of 1-5.
The fundamental two-way communication process that all Scientology processing derives its workability from existed before L. Ron Hubbard ever wrote a word on the subject of the mind. It would behoove Scientology auditors to study of it. A great place to start would be On Becoming a Person by Carl R. Rogers (Houghton Mifflin, 1961). One of Ron Hubbard’s greatest contributions to the improvement of mind and spirit was simplifying the codification of such principles thus opening the process of self-actualization to far more people. Unfortunately, as his group evolved much of that contribution was lost as Scientology became more mass-production oriented, expensive, exclusive, and cult-like. The training of practitioners became progressively more assembly-line like. On the one hand that helped to thoroughly drive home some workable skills while on the other hand it omitted a more contemplative, intellectual appreciation for the mechanics at work and the responsibilities incident to such practice.
Many veteran auditors reacted with some surprise when I noted the vital importance of the First Act (the one paragraph contemplation exercise an auditor is advised to engage in so as to have his own head right in order to audit, from Advance Procedures and Axioms) in What Is Wrong With Scientology? Some noted that there was next to no emphasis placed on that in their auditor training. That may well be. But, the book (AP & A) is part of the auditor training line up. I would suggest that the fact that a single paragraph is devoted to the issue is a flaw in the Scientology line up. On Becoming A Person is a four-hundred page treatise on the First Act – relating it to every aspect of the actual auditing (or generic, counseling) process. I believe that an auditor ought to study the book so that he fully appreciates why and how auditing works; and why and how an auditor must become the being (not simply ‘assume the beingness’) that naturally (not mechanically) duplicates, understands, accepts, and fully acknowledges (not with a mere ‘good’, ‘thank you’, ‘I got that’), all while genuinely – and unreservedly – intending the client to regain his or her genuine self and his or her determinism.
It cannot be gainsaid that Scientology is rife with datums, dictates, rules, and policies that detract from this pure, undiluted intention and being. It therefore would behoove anyone trained in that discipline to read and contemplate On Becoming a Person so as to orient himself to what actually creates gains for an individual, and how the slightest departure from it spoils the process, any process.
Even if you are not an auditor or training to become one, I recommend On Becoming A Person. It is all about becoming a better person, more of who one really is.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 