Reference: Scientology versus KHTK
The whole idea underlying personal improvement is to remove confusion and bring about a clarity that helps one resolve problems in life. Any valid technique of personal improvement must improve clarity in observation and ability to resolve problems.
Personal improvement means greater clarity in observation and increased ability to resolve problems.
The primary techniques for personal improvement have been meditation, psychoanalysis, psychiatry and, more recently, the auditing in Scientology.
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MINDFULNESS
In meditation, the earliest and most powerful technique is mindfulness. Mindfulness directly improves one’s ability to see and resolve problems. The basic approach in mindfulness is:
Observe things as they are, without assuming anything.
Buddha taught this technique 2600 years ago. It has been very successful all through these years. But, today, most people do not practice mindfulness, when they need it the most.
It seems that most people are in a great hurry to resolve their problems, and they are looking for short cuts. They are basically introverted into their problems, but that very introversion is preventing them from resolving problems. We need to resolve “introversion” before we can practice mindfulness.
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INTROVERSION
The primary introversion relates to the problems with the body. Body is important because it supports the mind and the higher intellectual functions.
There is physical sickness, but there are also the physical needs of shelter, food, and sex. These needs, when thwarted, introvert a person. The need for shelter and food are very basic. We have mostly resolved these needs, but wars and terrorism aggravate them. The need for sex serves as an escape from the harsh realities of life, just like drugs do.
A different kind of introversion comes about when one loses touch with reality. This happens when the sense channels get overloaded. Here restoration of mental sense requires restoration of the physical senses first. This is the level of mental sickness.
And then there is introversion into self. This expresses itself in egoistic thinking and selfish behavior. This is the level of spiritual sickness.
It seems that introversion and sickness needs to be addressed in the following order.
- Sickness of physical body
- Sickness of physical senses.
- Sickness of mental sense
- Sickness of self
Scientology does not address the last point very well. In fact, Hubbard was quite introverted on the subject of self, and Scientology carries forth that aberration.
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CONFUSION TO CLARITY
Recovery from confusion and progress towards clarity starts as one begins to feel physically well and gets in touch with the physical reality. It is only then that the problems with the mind and spirit are fully addressed.
Hopefully, Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis will do more to recover a person’s sense of reality by addressing sickness of physical senses, as it is their weak point.
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