Auditing (Scientology)
From Wikinfo
Scientology auditing is a communication activity. It is sometimes compared to the Catholic confessional, where you tell a priest about your sins. Credit is also given to the very early work of Sigmund Freud, who simply listened to what his patients told him. Probably all of us, at one time or another, have talked to a friend, told them some secret we carried, and felt relief. Barkeeps and barbers, policemen and teachers, hear the most astoundng stories.
L. Ron Hubbard found there was a common thread to these kinds of communication, a common thread that Freud narrowly missed. The common thread is the outcome, what you accomplish when you listen carefully during such a communication. Auditing's development was guided by the single principle; did this activity produce a more cheerful person. And; "Is the person's relief a stable, better condition?" Cheerful here means a more upbeat person who can enjoy life a little more, a happier person. Auditing isn’t meant to produce a fleeting happy feeling but a stable, better condition.
Hubbard developed auditing for groups of people, but most auditing procedure has two people talking together to resolve one person's difficulties. Hubbard found and codified the elements that make such a conversation work.
History
Hubbard began with Dianetics auditing in 1948. He published [1] his ideas and called his procedure Dianetics (meaning through mind). He gave public demonstrations and taught his techniques to other people and developed a following. In 1950 he published Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health which has been a record breaking best seller. The book laid out a framework of what areas of thought to address, what results could be achieved and how to go about it. He and his students were getting cheerful results on a regular basis and his following increased. By 1952, quite a number of people had audited and been audited. His procedure had become more finely tuned, results were more reliable more stable.
Dianetics auditing has one person looking at a memory while a second person asks question about the recalled memory and so on. The person looking at a memory has an opportunity their memory into full awareness, often viewing portions of it they were not aware of at the past time, when it happened. The normal result is, the person realizes how significant the past event was, or wasn't, or realizes something new about their past experience.
With Dianetics, people were recalling things and by continuing the procedure, people were improving their memories. The things people recalled were astonishing. People were recalling events from early childhood and even recalling birth. Hubbard stuck with his measurement of success, "a procedure that produces a more cheerful person". By 1952, a quantity of people had recalled experiences earlier than their body's lifetime. For example, a person born in 1945 would recall something much earlier than 1945. Following standard Dianetic auditing procedure led to more cheerful people who consistently did better in life. Hubbard could have used some other measure of success. But that would mean rejecting the good results people had when they followed procedure. These results led Hubbard to define and later establish, Scientology.
Scientology's auditing procedure is the same procedure as Dianetics, but addresses anything a person might recall. This idea of a recall earlier than one's current body's lifetime has been greeted with some skepticism. However, when standard auditing procedure is followed perfectly, people report good results.
What is Audited
We all have memories of course. Hubbard developed a terminology that is used in auditing. A Mental Image Picture is the Scientology word used for what a person observes during a recall. Unlike Psychology, Biology, or other physical sciences, Scientology doesn't attempt to define what a brain does to produce a memory. It doesn't attempt to understand how a body acts or reacts, or what chemicals are involved in producing memories. Instead, it simply asks the person what they remember. Over a period of time, by asking many people, Hubbard found commonalities to human memory. That is, some people remember color and others remember sound. Some remember the past time of day and others remember their body's position. Some remember all of these and more. Dianetics codified those memory characteristics toward a safe, reliable system. Scientology auditing is built on the earlier, Dianetics auditing.
References
- ^ Hubbard's original article, Terra Incognita
