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This paper presents Section 45 from the book SCIENTOLOGY 8-8008 by L. RON HUBBARD. The contents are from the original publication of this book by The Church of Scientology (1952).

The paragraphs of the original material (in black) are accompanied by brief comments (in color) based on the present understanding.  A person may apply the procedure oneself in mindfulness meditation.

The heading below is linked to the original materials.

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Standard Operating Procedure, Issue 3

This process is done in steps. The auditor with EVERY preclear makes no other judgment than to begin with Step I and, failing to accomplish that immediately, to go to Step II; if he fails to accomplish this immediately, he goes to Step III and so on. When he is able to accomplish a step he labels the case as that step number, i.e., a III. He then begins working with that step. After a few hours’ work, he again starts at the top with the preclear with Step I and progresses on through. Eventually the preclear becomes a Step I.

Hubbard is creating a system of auditing that can be easily followed.

Step I—-POSITIVE EXTERIORIZING: Ask the preclear to be a foot back of his head. If he does, make him go back further, then up, then down, practicing placement in space and time. Then one asks him to see if there are any items in the body he would like to repair and proceeds to let the preclear repair them according to the preclear’s own ideas as to how he should do it. Then educate the preclear by making him create and destroy his own illusions into finally getting a certainty of illusion and from this a certainty of perceiving the real universe with all perceptions. (Note: The most real universe is, of course, one’s own illusory universe and should be completely rehabilitated before one attempts to perceive or handle or worry about the MEST universe. Rehabilitated, sonic, visio, etc. of the MEST universe are very clear and very certain. Clear perception in early stages is not a test of being outside. The only test is whether the preclear KNOWS he is outside.) Failing the first line of this step, go to Step II.

This step is basically an effort to extrovert your attention. Most people have their attention fixed at the center of their head. They have never visualized how they look from a position one foot behind their head. When you make this visualization, it gives you an interesting perspective. Please note that this is visualization only. You are basically extending a viewpoint that is one foot behind the head. Artists extend their viewpoints like this all the time. Once you can visualize from this viewpoint behind the head, you can get creative with subsequent visualizations as described above.

Subsequently, you may visualize parts of your body from different viewpoints. You may visualize any problems with them as well. It does not matter if your visualizations are accurate per the textbooks on biology. This exercise is about freeing up fixed viewpoint with respect to parts of the body. So, you may visualize the action of repairing your body parts. Essentially, this is letting your body part unwind and relax back to their natural state. Let it take as long as it takes. This may or may not remove the problem in the body completely. But that does not matter. What matters is that you are exercising your viewpoint.

Here you are being creative with your visualizations. This is called Creative processing. At the same time you are making these visualizations with as firm a conviction as possible. This is called postulate processing. This is how you “repair” your body. You may then go ahead and “repair” parts of your environment as well. Ultimately, you may be able to “repair” the reality of the whole universe.

One’s reality of the universe is based on one’s viewpoint. Rehabilitation occurs as the person enlarges his viewpoint through such “repairs”. By looking at the universe from different angles one may free one’s attention from a narrow and fixed viewpoint. This, ultimately, helps one establish a universal viewpoint that is consistent with reality.

Hubbard’s language is difficult to interpret. But by substituting the word “thetan” by the word “viewpoint” one can get a realistic understanding of what is truly meant here. If you find it difficult to do this visualization go to Step II.

STEP II—BY ORIENTATION: Ask the preclear, still inside, to locate the inside of his forehead. Ask him to put a pressor beam against it and push himself out the back of his head. Supplement this by asking him to reach out through the back of his head and grab the wall with a pulling beam and pull himself out. Ask him to steady himself outside and then, by means of beams, to raise and lower himself while outside and to move to various parts of the room while still outside. Use creative processing. By orientation as a thetan, placing himself as a thetan in time and space, he becomes sure of his whereabouts. Have him find and cast off old lines which have their terminals fixed to him. Have him find those lines wherever they are and attach them to radiators and water taps as the energy will drain out of him. (The II ordinarily has enough lines to cause him to snap back in the head when he releases beams.) Failing this, go to Step III.

This is a fun way to extrovert the attention with respect to the body. Creative processing simply means creative visualizations as suggested above. This is all mental visualization but this does enlarge the viewpoint with respect to the body.

Here you visualize pushing your viewpoint out the back of your head. One is visualizing these beams to help move the viewpoint. Use visualizations as suggested above but you can get creative beyond them. This can be a lot of fun. The idea is to change the belief that your position is fixed by the body both in space and time.  You are more than the body because you have the power to visualize. This is the power of an artist. You can visualize a position in space and time independent of the body. This gives you the certainty of being in control of yourself.

“Old lines with terminals fixed to him” means communications that you desired but you never initiated or communications that you started but you never completed, etc. This leaves your attention fixed on certain people, things, places, etc. The idea is to find such lines and drain them of their influence over you. You may do this by the visualizations suggested above. But you can get creative with all sorts of visualizations here. If you find it difficult to do this step then go to Step III.

Step III—SPACE PROCESSING: In that the MEST universe has forced upon the thetan its spatial dimensions and directions, the thetan is likely to become a point which is being subjected to all the counter-efforts and counter-emotions of his environment, for his entire concept of space is being determined by the MEST universe. Have the thetan, still inside, find his feet in the opposite direction from where the MEST body is located by the MEST universe. Have him turn the feet around. Have him create differences in his body and reverse various limbs and positions according to his viewpoint, each one in disagreement with the MEST universe, particularly as appertaining to gravity and other influences. This sets up an ability to disagree with the MEST universe in terms of space. Have him locate his eyes in the back of his head, on the soles of his feet and in other places. Have him assume other bodies, each time changing them slightly, and putting them away. Then have him gather himself into his normal MEST universe spatial areas and go to Step I.

For most practical purposes, body represents the “MEST universe” and your viewpoint represents the “thetan”. So, your viewpoint is being constrained by the body in many ways, such as, where your viewpoint can be located. The way that body has been affected by the environment reflects in your viewpoint.

Here we have another set of visualizations that may help free up your viewpoint’s dependence on the body. For example, visualize being inside the body. This is the default viewpoint, where feel yourself to be one with the body. Now visualize your feet being in a direction opposite to the feet of the body. Then turn your feet around to make then coincide with the feet of the body. This actually produces an interesting sensation.

Continue with the visualizations as suggested in the write-up above and become creative. You can visualize skydiving and bungee jumping and opposing gravitational influences. You can inhabit animal bodies or even the bodies of other people. Just get your clues from the write up above.

The basic idea is to disagree with the spatial reality as dictated by the body and see what happens if you do so. In the end, visualize yourself being in your own body at its current location in the proper orientation. Then go back to Step I.

STEP IV—RIDGE RUNNING: Ask the preclear to give himself a command to walk. Let him locate the white flow line which results inside his head. When this line goes dark, have him locate the tiny ridge inside the skull that stopped it. Have him run the flow from this barrier (these barriers, are tiny ridges and each has a thought with it such as “Can’t walk” or “Too bored to walk”) back toward the spot where he told himself to walk. It will run white for a moment, then go black. Have him give himself the command to walk again and “watch” this flow line. It may run through two or three tiny barriers and then stop. Again have him run the “objection” to walking. Have him watch this “objection” flow until it goes black. Then have him give himself the Command to walk again and so on and so on. He will wind up at some outside point. Now have him give himself the command “Listen” and have him run this and its back flows on “black and white” until he is exterior on the subject of listen. Then use the command “Talk” similarly. Then the command “Nod,” then the command “Move,” etc. Give “Look” last for it may “blind” his perception of black and white. He may each time get out to a distance in another quarter. If he can do all this, start with Step I again. Failing this step, failing to “see” black and white energy manifestations, go to Step V.

Here Hubbard’s terminology needs to be explained. A “ridge” is suspended energy in space, for example, if attention is stuck on something that would be a ridge. Similarly, if the person is holding on to some arbitrary consideration, and not letting it go, then that would also be a ridge.

“White” is a state of perception where a person can differentiate what is going on. “Black” is an uncomfortable state where one is unable to differentiate.

On this step one gives himself a very simple command, such as, “Walk”. The person then looks to see if that command is being processed in his mind comfortably. He waits to see if the command runs into any stops due to misunderstanding or objection. When it does, he locates the “stop” and meditates on its nature. He simply observes non-judgmentally without thinking one way or the other. He does so until no new awareness is coming up.

He gives himself the same command again and watches for a new stop. If there is one, he treats it as before. By the time there are no more stops he has obtained good awareness of mental processes on that command. He then takes up the next command “Listen” and continues as above.

He takes up subsequent commands in the order: “Talk”, “Nod”, “Move”, etc. The last command he takes up is “Look”. The idea here is to gain better awareness of mental processes. If you can do all this, start with step I again.

STEP V—BLACK AND WHITE CONTROL PROCESSING: Give the preclear a complete E-meter assessment, using the principles of what he would create or destroy or would not create and would not destroy. Use this data to make mock-ups. Then have the preclear create and perceive black spots and then white spots, black crosses and white crosses, and move these here and there through the room or through his own space. Turn them on and off, interchange them, put them in yesterday, put them in tomorrow, make them get larger, make them get smaller; each time doing as much as the preclear can do. Each time one asks him to perceive one of his own created illusions in terms of black and white spots or crosses, one attempts to coax him into successful control of it. Audit very persuasively and lightly. This preclear ordinarily is frightened of blackness because it either can contain dangerous things or contains nothing, and he cannot differentiate which. Thus he cannot control blackness and, in being unable to control blackness, flounders in it. He also has a more basic computation: that blackness is the only safe thing in which to hide and, therefore, blackness is a thing to have. Further, blackness “takes” things for him. This preclear may be afraid of the police, may believe himself to have a hideous body, thetawise, and has many other reasons why he cannot exteriorize. Drills on creating and perceiving black and white should be continued until he can handle each easily. The trouble with this preclear and preclears lower than this is that they have agreed too heavily with the MEST universe and must be very cautious in confronting it, since in that direction they conceive to lie a much more complete defeat even than that from which they are now suffering. Audit him also very heavily on Creative Processing.

Then go through steps again. If the preclear is immediately perceived to have little or no reality on ANY incident, go to Step VI.

Make a list of what you would create or destroy or would not create and would not destroy. Put those items first in the list that readily come to the mind. You will be using this data to make mock-ups (visualizations). Create what you would not create and destroy what you would not destroy. Do it lightly and on a gradient as fun. The idea is to overcome thought resistance so you can have control over your thoughts.

Mock up stuff that is difficult to differentiate (black spots, black crosses, etc.), and stuff that can easily be differentiated (white spots, white crosses, etc.). You may literally create black and white spots and crosses with the understanding of black and white. Do creative processing with these items as described above. Do as much as you can do. This will help you extrovert your attention from all this stuff.

There may be things that introvert your attention, such as, sickness, criminality, police, secrets, etc. These are black things. Mix them up with white things that help extrovert your attention. Continue to mock this stuff up and move it around according to creative processing until your attention extroverts from it. Heavy use of creative processing is recommended. Then go back to step I. Go to the next step if things continue to be unreal.

STEP VI—ARC STRAIGHT WIRE: Drill, by direct questioning, on locks until the preclear can remember something really “real” to him, something which he “really loved,” something with which he was in communication. Then drill him on creating illusions until he is certain he has created one which really isn’t real, which he is certain HE put the emotion and perceptions into. Then go through steps again. Failing Step VI after a quick test, go to Step VII.

A lock is a minor incident caused by misunderstanding where attention gets stuck. Find such an incident which is really real to you. You know with certainty that it did happen. You know the details of this incident as to who you were in communication with, who you liked or disliked, etc. Once you have such an incident, start visualizing something that is entirely your creation. You know that all of it is your creation. You have set up the scenario, generated the characters, put together the script, placed the emotions, etc. You work with this visualization until you know with certainty that it did not happen in reality. Then go back to step I. Go to the next step only if you cannot do this step.

STEP VII—PRESENT TIME BODY ORIENTATION: Have preclear locate a part of his body and recognize it as such. Have him locate furniture, fixtures, auditor in room. Have him locate the town and country he is in. Get him to find something in present time which is really real to him, with which he can communicate. Work on this until he can do this. Then go to Step VI. Then go to Step I.

This is objective processing. There is no thinking involved here. The whole idea is to get in intimate touch with physical reality by directly experiencing it through physical senses. Find out where things are, and where you are. Find something that is really real to you, and with which you can communicate.  Work on this step until your attention is extroverted enough to do Step VI. Then go to step I.

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FINAL COMMENTS

Here we have the very first Scientology procedure. The goal is to accomplish Step I. Other steps are there to help you accomplish Step I. Once you are progressing well on Step 1, you may continue to apply it to any and all aspects of your life.

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