************* The following message is relayed to you by [email protected] ************
From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 20 - January 1995 See Home Page at http://home8.inet.tele.dk/ivy/ Sense and Scientology Nr. 1 What Auditing Can't Do for You! By Eric Townsend, England(1) OVER THE YEARS many unrealistic impressions of the benefits that could be gained from auditing have been allowed to build up. A number of factors have contributed to this. The first was probably the sweeping claim made in Book One that Dianetics would remove all unwanted physical conditions, including poor eyesight! With the increased emphasis on Book One in recent years, this extreme assertion has been brought back into prominence. More recently, the promotional slogan 'To make the able more able' was featured prominently by the Church. This unfortunately led to the impression that Scientology could provide more of the same. A good golfer or financier could be forgiven for thinking that the offer was to make them better at their chosen occupation. Then there was the particular emphasis put on moneymaking skills by the high prices of recent years. The impression was allowed to develop that people who were not very good at managing money would at some point develop an ability to acquire and handle money in large quantities. Finally it should be said that for these impressions to have taken root and grown, there must have been a willingness to believe them by people who should have informed themselves better. Most of these people must have had contact with the phrase in scientology writings, which states clearly that 'Scientology and Dianetics ... were intended for spiritual gain!' So it may be wise to go back to basics in looking at what gain auditing can achieve for us. Areas of gain Firstly there is the area of 'spiritual gain' or spiritual awareness and capacity. There is not space here to deal with this very subjective issue but for those who have experienced it, there is little need to dwell upon its merits or value. Those people would probably agree that if there were no other benefits they would have enough to make it worth all the work, hassle, time and expense to obtain. In looking at the other areas of gain it is helpful to look at what auditing is doing. At its simplest it is freeing us from stuck thought processes that are held in place by charge and which absorb hefty chunks of our attention. The more charge that is released, from any part of our 'case', the more attention units are available for living life. So if we have an individual who wants to be a tightrope walker, but is unable to learn because of his fear of heights, what might auditing do for him? It could remove his fear of heights but he will then have to start at the beginning to learn the skills of tightrope walking. Let us apply this to Level 0. The EP is 'To be able to communicate with anybody on any subject!' That gain however is only made of any value if the PC actually makes the effort to do it. The PC may not have the polish to do an after-dinner speech but they can start on the road to take them there. They need to acquire the skill and confidence by actually doing it on a gradient and setting themselves bigger and bigger challenges. The same can be said for improving one's marriage, bodily health, performance at work, or financial skills. We can be released from the self-imposed obstacles that prevent us being able in these areas, but we still have to work at doing it. In fact we are at an initial disadvantage to others in starting late. We have a lot of 'tech' to help us but applying it still requires considerable effort and dedication. These are however the games that we need to develop and fulfill ourselves. We should be continually stretching ourselves by increasing the scope of our goals. The worst advertisement we can be to people who are approaching the subject of Scientology is to be unsuccessful in life. With the help of auditing we can be free of the barriers that hold so many people back and with the 'tech' we have the key to success in many areas. However we must still put in the effort and determination to achieve anything. It is unrealistic to rush up the Bridge hoping that it will make us 'Healthy, Wealthy and Wise' without any effort on our part. To put it another way, there is little likelihood of an OT level ever becoming available that will turn anybody into a ready-made tightrope walker. (1)This series first appeared in The Edinburgh Journal in 1985. Ed.
_______________________________________________ Trom mailing list [email protected] http://lists.newciv.org/mailman/listinfo/trom
