From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 5 - March 1992
Classic Comment
By Terry E. Scott, England
Key Code
When I came across Scientology and began reading one book after
another, I soon discovered the Auditor's Code. That was in 1956, and
the Code was in its 1954 version. This impressed me tremendously at
the time, and still does. It is not for auditors alone.
In a sense, the earlier versions of the Auditor's Code are clearer
than the later ones. Less complexity, more integrity. None of the "I
promise to..." because, I suppose, it was more or less taken for
granted that you would follow the precepts given. Of -course- one
would do whatever that item of the Code stated, for those were the
methods that worked best.
Above all, what really got through to me was the high philosophical
level.
Just imagine the effect on a 17-year-old who had spent years in school
under dogmatic teachers. The nineteen-fifties, remember. Sentences
such as "Do not evaluate for the preclear" had a mighty ring, and
deserved to be written large on the best parchment.
Good Lord, what a tremendous change of viewpoint. How amazing,
refreshing, wonderful, that someone would boldly write these words and
demand they be carried out in auditing sessions. I felt that the
Auditor's Code should be used broadly in life, not merely in session.
It could be adapted. Besides, what would be the point in refraining
from telling a preclear in session that he was silly, and then
informing him so outside the auditing room?
The second line of the Auditor's Code 1954 was just as inspiring as
the first. "Do not invalidate or correct the preclear's data". This
was indeed another ethic that could be understood and applied to one's
fellows generally, as well as when auditing. It was far and away from
the practice of most people at the time, in societies in which inval
was a way of life - more so, I would say, than today.
Interestingly, later versions of the Code do suggest one should not
invalidate the pc in or out of session.
Probably those two lines of the Code are the greatest of its several
vital components.
The Auditor's Code is remarkable. It sprang from L. Ron Hubbard's
discoveries of what was the best way to conduct a session, yes; but
also it came from a remarkable ethic.