With the recent release of the movie THE MASTER, Scientology has become a subject of broad interest. There is plenty that can be read about this subject in books and on Internet. I have done a close study of this subject over a period that started in 1969 (see My Introduction to America). I even spent a few years aboard Hubbard’s yacht Apollo in the seventies (see Memories at Sea (1972-75)). Here is my summary assessment of Scientology.
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Scientology consists of much ground breaking work by Hubbard.
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Scientology introduces a whole new plateau to addressing the problems of the mind.
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The work on this breakthrough is, however, far from complete.
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The success from the application of Scientology is far from consistent.
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Any lack of success gets blamed on the practitioner of Scientology.
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Unmanageable difficulties seem to exist in the application of Scientology.
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Correction lists have become a part of “Standard Scientology.”
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A closer look at Scientology shows a lack of application of the principle of poka-yoke.
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The Discipline of Mindfulness is the key to successes in Scientology auditing.
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Scientology does not seem to put emphasis on Mindfulness.
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Scientology takes up aspects of mindfulness on TR0, Obnosis, and Data Series, but it fails to treat mindfulness systematically, and fails to highlight its importance in auditing.
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The principles of Mindfulness were first elucidated by Buddha 2600 years ago.
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Mindfulness seems to provide poka-yoke to Scientology processes.
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The principles of Mindfulness are presented under The Discipline of Mindfulness.
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Here is an example of application of mindfulness to Scientology processes – Running Scientology Grade 0 with Mindfulness (Part 1)
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Thetan (a concept that identifies awareness with soul rather than with the body)
…..Hypothesis: All physical and spiritual phenomena derives from thought
……….(Thought is not separate from the phenomenon observed)
…..Hypothesis: Life derives from thought and not matter
……….(Life is observed to be composed of both thought and matter)
…..Hypothesis: A life organism is animated by theta
……….(Animation is inherent characteristic of life organism)
……….(Animation is not brought about by something else)
……….(Theta and MEST are simply two aspects of life)
…..Hypothesis: Human being is essentially an immortal “theta being”.
……….(Any beingness is constructed out of theta and MEST)
……….(MEST is basically an inertia-less primordial field.)
……….(Theta s basically an activity-less primordial energy)
……….(The interaction between Theta and MEST produces all phenomena)
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Awareness is inherent in all phenomena that is observed. It is not separate. To think it is separate is a wrong assumption.
All is phenomena. Theta and MEST are aspects of it. A human being, or any idea of being, is simply a phenomenon. The idea of a creator is not needed. Self-realization is simply the understanding of this phenomenon.
Past death and past lives
…..This idea comes from recalls/visualizations
…..A “recalled” picture is not necessarily a copy of something real
…..It could be an imaginative reconstruction of something indescribable
…..It may still lead to the resolution of some unwanted condition
…..It may duplicate some pattern even with a manufactured content
…..This doesn’t necessarily imply continuation of some entity
…..Thetan is simply the center of awareness
…..There is nothing permanent about a center of awareness
…..It is part of the configuration like the center of mass of an object
…..A center of awareness is not some entity that leaves at death
…..Or hangs around a dead body after death
…..A center of awareness seemingly disintegrates at death swiftly or gradually
…..Recall of past life or death is not a proof of some eternal thetan
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Recalled memory is a phenomenon that needs to be studied in more detail.
Exteriorization
…..One feels that one is outside the body
…..What is that which feels it is outside the body?
…..It is the center of awareness that is no longer identifying itself with the body
…..It is separation from an idea and not from the body
…..One has more possibilities now from which to imagine or visualize
…..”Exteriorization” diminishes when one is identifying with the body
…..”Exteriorization” is stable when one knows that
……….One is not restricted by the body in one’s imagination or visualization
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Operating Thetan
…..Somebody who can stably be and act outside the body (Scn defn)
…..In other words,
……….It would be a point awareness no longer identifying itself with the body
……….It is no longer restricted by the body in its imagination and visualization
…..The degree of “exteriorization” would depend on
……….The degree to which one is not fixated to an idea
Mental Image Pictures
…..Charge is amount of inconsistency in what one is looking at
…..The actual content of the picture does not matter
…..It is the resolution of inconsistency that really matters
…..It doesn’t matter who made those picture
…..It does not matter who is looking at those pictures
…..Identification with certain pictures as “mine” is another level of interiorization
…..Scientology makes “borrowed pictures” an issue (wrong issue)
…..Pictures should be observed without the idea of “mine” or “not mine”
…..Pictures are “energy configurations” floating around
…..Inconsistencies in pictures needs to be resolved when attention fixes on them
…..Resistance seems to be a constituent of inconsistency
…..To resolve inconsistency the resistance needs to be resolved
…..The resistance appears as a ridge “stably” in place
…..A fixation is a ridge. There is resistance in it.
…..For example, if one is fixated on “sex” there some resistance involved in it
…..Unconsciousness could be an extreme form of resistance, or ridge
…..An engram could be seen as a knot formed of ridges or resistance
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GENETIC MEMORIES
…..”Home-made” pictures
…..”Foreign-made” pictures
…..”Genetic” images (cellular awareness)
……….pictures to do with evolutionary development
Genetic Entity
…..Entities are self-regulating energy configurations
…..GE is the “sum total” or the apparent “center of awareness” of basic entities
…..It is where the cumulative awareness at basic level seems to appear
…..The being seems to have a structure similar to that of an atom
…..GE interactions seem to make the “inner shell” around the nucleus of a being
…..These interactions of “inner shell” are, collectively, called the SOMATIC MIND
…..Thetan interactions seem to make the “outer shell” around that nucleus
…..The interactions of the “outer shell” form the CONSCIOUS MIND
…..At death, the “outer shell” of thetan seems to disintegrate first
….. And then the “inner shell” of GE disintegrates
…..How “interactions amounting to awareness” occur is a matter of further research
…..There ought to be laws that govern such interactions
…..A being is a composite of energy configurations (GE and Thetan)
…..GE and Thetan are themselves composite of smaller entities
…..There is no theta being in charge of the ‘composite being’
…..These entities (ridges) may be tracked by feeling the resistance
……….and inconsistencies associated with them
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GAMES AT THE DAWN OF TIME
Man is sum total of energy configurations at mental and physical levels
…..Patterns of energy configurations may continue from one life to the next
…..But no identity is permanent enough to continue from one life to the next.
…..The hypothesis of immortal beings is questionable
…..Scientology assumes Thetan to exist before MEST came about
……….But that seems to be inconsistent on many levels.
…..Exteriorization is simply freedom from fixation on the body
……….There is no thetan hanging around outside the body
……….Thetan without the body is a questionable concept
…..Intention beams, pictures, and ridges are various energy phenomena
…..The energy phenomena becomes more fluid as fixation is eliminated
……….But there is no such thing as “Operating Thetan”
…..At best “Operating Thetan” could be a modified energy configuration
……….That thinks it is an immortal being (ego)
…..Hubbard misunderstood Vedic hymns
……….Spiritual power inherent in Man is mindfulness, not ego
……….Auditing works only when there is mindfulness in action
…..There are no spiritual “powers”; there is just greater simplicity
…..There is awareness of what is there; what is there may come from awareness
……….What persists among consistency are inconsistencies
……….As inconsistencies are removed, consistency seems to become thinner
……….Finally both consistency and inconsistency seem to vanish
…..This applies to fantastic visualizations of past lives and present imaginations
…..Cultural, country, planetary characteristics are part of awareness of identity
……….Rare or very different characteristics may be deemed foreign
…..Pictures seemingly from another’s track is just an inconsistency
…..The whole idea of GAMES AT THE DAWN OF TIME is part of a hypothesis
……….There can be many different hypotheses
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SUMMARY
Man has a composite structure like that of an object
…..The structure of an object is composite down to the atom
…..The structure of man is composite down to its soul or thetan
Thetan is also made of a composite energy phenomenon
…..There is a hard core, or nucleus, of energy
…..Surrounding it, in a lower orbit or shell, is GE configuration
…..Surrounding it, in a higher orbit or shell, is Thetan configuration.
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I have a new take on Game Theory:
Game = impulse to get other impulses to resonate with it
…..it requires other impulses
…..it requires some overlap
……….no overlap is no chance of making it resonate
……….complete overlap is also no chance of making it resonate
Self-determinism is the impulse in a game
…..The game is to survive as that impulse
…..By overcoming other impulses
Pan-determinism is the game itself
Other-determinism occurs when an impulse is overcome by another impulse
…..The game is lost at this point for that impulse
THE EMOTIONAL TONE SCALE
A set pattern of moods associated with survival
…..Apathy (0.0) – Grief (0.5) – Fear (1.0) – Anger (1.5) – Antagonism (2.0)
…..Boredom (2.5) – Interest (3.0) – Cheerfulness (3.5) – Enthusiasm (4.0)
Half-tone spacing
…..Lead the other person by half-tone to bring him up tone
…..It is how you resonate with the person while leading him in tone
…..The content of what you are saying may also resonate
……….but on a secondary basis
The whole scale goes from Total Failure (-40) to Serenity of Beingness (+40)
…..Total Failure (-40): to be overcome completely by another impulse
…..Serenity (+40): prevailing effortlessly as an impulse
I have updated the OP – A LOOK AT SCIENTOLOGY mainly to replace the word “Looking” by the word “Mindfulness.” There are other slight changes, such as, the modification of step 16.
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/standard-scientology-2/
Marty makes the following points in his first paragraph:
(1) Continual revisions and repackaging is built into the nature of Scientology.
(2) There is no such thing as Standard Technology.
(3) Standard Technology is just a subjective consideration.
I would say that there is a standard framework a Grade Chart that Scientologists follow. This framework segregates processes by Grade Levels. It assigns sequence to those grades.
Another standard aspect that was communicated to me at the Cambridge mission, where I started in 1969, was that I must keep my TR0 in during the auditing. This was a great help. For me, it was like being mindful (seeing things as they are). This mindfulness became the fundamental basis of KHTK, after I observed its critical and beneficial use in Idenics. Unfortunately, I do not see this aspect emphasized by LRH. I was lucky to have used it throughout my auditing with great benefit.
I found little use for the e-meter in my auditing when I was using mindfulness. Auditor, who was going by the e-meter made enough errors in acting by the reads that I relied more on mindfulness. If there was a flash response to a question in my mind I followed it up, otherwise, I told the auditor that nothing came up. This led to a lot of grinding on Dianetics after some initial fantastic gains. I must have been completed on Dianetics. So, I wasn’t very impressed with the C/Sing and the use of e-meter.
So, yes, even when there is a standard framework of Grade Chart, the nitty-gritty of auditing is very much in disarray with fundamentals of “looking” not in place. So all kind of revisions keep on getting introduced.
Marty makes the following points in his second paragraph:
(1) Hubbard blamed others when his technology did not work. It was never the fault of his technology.
(2) He continually justified for his technology not meeting the expectations that he put there, and that the results were forthcoming with the next “breakthrough” he was working on.
I think Hubbard was very excited by some advances he did make and gushed over them with over projections. That was his personality. He couldn’t help it.
A person is a product of his genetic code which covers both his spiritual and physical aspects. These aspects may be modified somewhat by the environment one grows up in and the education one receives.
But a person is essentially determined by his genetic makeup. Nobody can be totally self-determined. That was the case with Hubbard too. But he tried.
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This is one of the rare exchanges with Mark (Marty) Rathbun.
Vinaire
“Marty, how do you plan to patch up with people who were hurt by your past actions, and who still feel upset with you. One such person is Bill Franks. I am curious to know because Bill Franks is a friend of mine. He is a good guy like you are. Like you he was also enmeshed in the evil system of Scientology.”
Mark C. Rathbun
“You have just proven your philosophy and practice – that I have allowed you to pontificate on endlessly here – may induce severe deterioration of cognitive faculties. Franks’ megalomania apparently knows no bounds. He never even arose as a blip on my radar screen. Adios.”
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Looks like I touched some raw nerve. He seems to be going through a rough time. Most of his communications to others have been similar put downs. I shall let him be and not write on his blog.
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In his article “Personal Integrity” Hubbard says, “What is true for you is what you have observed yourself. And when you lose that, you have lost everything.” What Hubbard does not say is that one usually observes through the filters of bias, prejudice and fixed ideas, and until those filters are removed the observation is distorted. A person is usually not aware of his filters, especially the deepest ones.
So, a person’s observations are usually distorted but he is not aware of it. They are not objective in the first place. They are subjective according to his biases. But Hubbard is asking one to accept such subjective observations as true. That advice discourages one to question their observations.
Naturally, a person then encounters inconsistencies that tend to create cognitive dissonance. He feels uncomfortable. He is then told to study LRH and think on the basis of what LRH would do to handle those inconsistencies. Then all the inconsistencies and cognitive dissonance shall dissolve.
So a person is told to follow LRH, use his definitions of things, and think like LRH does to resolve his inconsistencies and cognitive dissonance. This way Hubbard installs himself as a filter in the person’s mind.
The person would then be observing as himself, but he would be doing so through the filter of Hubbard. Hubbard can then conveniently say, “What is true for you is what you have observed yourself” because he is assured that you are observing through the “Hubbard filter”. But because it is “you” who is observing so everything is ok. This is an interesting twist that brings about conditioning in Scientology.
To keep this conditioning in place, you are told not to see, hear, or speak anything that goes against Scientology. You are not supposed to go on the Internet and google Scientology. You are not supposed to discuss Scientology or your experiences in Scientology among yourself and compare notes for real. Such injunctions are, in themselves, inconsistencies. But, thinking like Hubbard, you would say “Such rules keep entheta and enturbulation away from my case.” How convenient!
Scientology is creating a brave new world.
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