[religious brainwash] Lets Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology #4/195

The coach must hear clearly what is said, and feel it
was intended that he hear it. A course room full of people declaiming “Off with
his head!” or “Contrariwise” is one of many surreal experiences Scientology provides.

TR-2 deals with acknowledgments. In counseling it is
necessary to show you’ve heard, so you say “Good,” “Thank-you,” “Okay,” or
something similar. This ends what Hubbard calls a “cycle of communication,” and
prepares the way for a new “cycle.” The coach reads a line from “Alice in
Wonderland” and the student acknowledges it.

By the time the student comes to TR-3, he has learned to
concentrate on the person in front of him and not be thrown by their reactions.
The student has also learned to make sure that he is clearly audible, and to
show he has heard what is said to him. The lessons of the earlier TRs must be
retained throughout the course. In TR-3, the student learns to repeat an
unanswered question without variation. TRs were designed for Scientology
counselors, and Hubbard’s counseling questions are exactly worded. To prevent
the drilling from turning into counseling, two non-sensitive questions are
used: either “Do birds fly?,” or “Do fish swim?” If the coach answers, the
student accepts the answer by acknowledging it. If the coach does anything
else, the student says, “I’ll repeat the question,” and does so.

TR-4, the last Training Routine on the Comm Course, drills
the student to “handle originations” made by the coach, and to return his attention
to the original question. For example:

Student: Do birds fly?

Coach: It’s hot in here!

Student: I’ll
open the window (opens window). Okay, I’ll repeat the question, do birds fly?

Over the years I persuaded about 20 people to do the
Communication Course. I instructed some of them, or in Scientology terms “supervised”
as Hubbard’s course materials do all the talking, and the supervisor adds
nothing by way of explanation or comment. He meets the confused student’s
queries with, “What do your materials state?” This is supposed to ensure that
Hubbard’s materials are not altered by personal interpretations.

The Comm Course helps people to hide, though not overcome,
their nervousness, and to look people “right in the eye.” It also inculcates
persistence with questions until they are answered. It can have a positive
effect, generating self-confidence. Of course, people on the receiving end
sometimes feel intimidated. Critics of Scientology usually mention the
“relentless stare” which for the great majority of Scientologists is habitual.

After completing the Comm Course, I was allowed a few pounds
against the “Hubbard Qualified Scientologist Course” for all the people I had
brought in. Scientology usually pays a 10 or 15 percent commission for
recruitment. I was already too involved in Scientology to realize I had been
working for the Mission for several weeks without pay.

The Hubbard Qualified Scientologist (HQS) Course packages
many of the basic ideas of Scientology. The student does the Comm Course
Training Routines again, and four additional Training Routines called the
“Upper Indoctrination TRs.” These drill the student to maintain control of
someone through physical contact, but more so through “intention,” or sheer
will power – really by having a very determined approach.

On the HQS course I learned about several of Hubbard’s many
“Scales,” among them the key Scale of Scientology: the “Emotional Tone Scale.”
Hubbard believed that there is a natural progression of emotional states, and
that any individual can be led through these simply by conversation. The whole
idea of Scientology counseling is to permanently raise the Preclear on the
“Tone Scale.” The scale rises from Death through Apathy, to Grief, to Sympathy,
to Fear, to Hostility, to Boredom, to Cheerfulness, to Enthusiasm. Scientology
seeks to take someone who is apathetic, miserable, anxious, or antagonistic,
and make of them someone cheerful and positive.

While on the HQS Course, I had my first stab at “auditing,”
or counseling. A friend and I drilled the procedures using an over-size rag
doll as the Preclear receiving counseling. One of us would be the “Auditor,”
and the other the coach, making verbal responses on the rag doll’s behalf.

Despite painstaking drilling, my first Auditor collapsed
while giving me a session. He was asking me to touch objects in the room, one
by one, and suddenly crumpled against the wall, sinking to the floor in uncontrollable
laughter. The artificial atmosphere of auditing was too much for him. I was
unprepared for this, and felt dizzy and confused. A seasoned Auditor gave me a
“Review,” asking questions about the session and “earlier similar incidents.”
After 20 minutes I felt better. To me it seemed to prove Scientology’s
validity.

Considering myself a Zen Buddhist, I readily accepted
Hubbard’s ideas about reincarnation.