Volume 6, Issue 1, page 9
Too Many Followers Become Permanent Pre-Clears, Constantly ReportingImprovement from Auditing But Never Seeming to Change
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By FREDERIC N. HAND
EPTING into Dianetics was easy
and rewarding. Staying in was
less so. The Houston Dianetic
Society, of which I was then
secretary, changed over by a
process of political fission, dropping
those members who felt distrust and revulsion for the new metaphysics of ThetaMffir. The transformation happened at. a
series of three impassioned meetings, the
last two of which approached unbridled
riot.
M any of the Scientology processes
greatly aided my own growth as did the Dianetic processes which preceded them. Any
distress I experienced derived from the
Scientology organizations, their dynamics,
their policies, and some of the members.
Some of my closest friends are ex-Scientologists; a few are still "with it". To
these same groups I unquestionably owe
part of my education as a psychotherapist
and counsellor.
Several individuals familiar with the
movement agree with me that what went
wrong with Scientology was not L. R. Hubbard's claiming to have originated much
of his material which, in fact, he had
only replicated and renamed. It is not
Hubbard that is wrong with Scientology.
It is the Hubbardians. Consorting with
Hubbardians for a period of time, one
gets the impression they are intrinsically sad. Perhaps they are sad because
they have been assured that they alone
are capable of saving mankind -- and at the
same time, they know beyond question that
they are incapable of doing the job. Hubbard has described a delusional superiority complex he calls "The Only One". It
happens to Scientologists who are unable
to cope with the situations in which they
find themselves. These Scientologists
call denizens of the " outgroup ", which
include all non-Scientologists, non-preclears, and non-ex-Scientologists -- in
other words, almost all of the human race
-- homo sapiens. This seems to imply that
they, the Hubbardians, are homo superior,
or llebermenschen, and that it is their
superiority that renders them ineffective. The paradox of this view escapes
them. Perhaps future commentators will
say of L.R.Hubbard that he did not regard
himself as a Hubbardian.
It can truly be said of many Scientology techniques what Hubbard said of Dianetics: "It works!" That it does not work
on all individuals means only that these
individuals do not respond to the particEDITOR'S NOTE -- Followers of Bob Arentz's
series on the book-auditing phase of Dianetics
have been asking for a discussion of the metamorphosis from Dianetics into Scientology. We
doubt if ANYONE is capable of handling this
emotional phase of a "science" aimed at controlling aberrative emotion, but if there is
anyone willing to try, they are welcome. In
the meantime, a Texan who has audited under
both the Triangle and Crooked S brands offers a
few comments which may or may not be his alone.
ular system of semantic re-education
taught by Hubbard. They may be easily
accessible to some other system -- such as
Synergetics, client-centered counselling,
religious conversion, or a swift kick. I
have remarked earlier that Scientology is
that system which retains its failures
and eliminates its successes. To the permanent pre-clears, who year after year
attend all the courses and Congresses,
who are constantly improving but never
seem to change, Scientology is a supportive therapy.
The successes who are eliminated are
those who, able to respond and understand
the Scientology techniques, attained the
advertised results. They did, in fact,
eliminate some aberrations, unsane behavior patterns, fixations, regressions, and
other unhappy stuff. These persons obviously benefitted from Scientology and they
know it. Why did they leave then? Many of
us found that altho we were accessible to
Scientology, Scientology was not accessible to us. With increased integration of
the personality goes a sharper evaluation
of one's self, one's environment, and
one's fellow-people. With integration of
the personality comes an increase in a
motivation always praised by Hubbard from
the beginning of his work: Responsibility.
The individuals who succeeded with Scientology saw that there was indeed something wrong with Scientology and that
nothing whatever could be done about it
inside the movement. Scientology is, as
Hubbard said, "a better bridge". There
are worse bridges. It is not the best
bridge. It is wholly owned and operated
by the engineer who built it, and the
toll charges keep going up.
Scientology is bad for the auditors
because they believe that it is the only
bridge, and they are the only ones qualified to succor Mankind -- the "Only One"
complex. They believe that every other
approach is either inferior, futile, or
actually evil. These beliefs isolate them
from society and from their fellowmen. I,
have seen auditors become depersonalized,
APRIL, 1959 The ABERREE 9