From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 7 - August 1992
Classic Comment
By Terry E. Scott, England
True For You...
In a popular tape of a public lecture, L. Ron Hubbard approvingly
quotes Buddha: "If it isn't true for you, it isn't true". And in the
1950s, it was quite okay to go around saying "Ron says .." if one had
no personal reality on a datum in Scientology. No-one jumped up and
down or breathed ethics fury.
Today, in the Church, it is unlikely one would encounter such a
liberal attitude. But thank heavens we Independents do have the
freedom that existed in the early days - we can be selective, and may
use things that have been found to work and which are real to oneself.
The same should apply to studying LRH's materials. There is a most
incredible variety and number of them, in books, tapes, films and
videos. Ron could have done with an editor. Better, and I speak
as a professional writer, he could and should have edited his own
stuff from time to time.
It is one thing to preserve one's original material in an unaltered
state, which is something that most writers with integrity would wish
(free from the hands of those editors who are less skilled than the
writers). But it's good to offer later versions of materials where the
author clearly states that it has been brought up to date. The
original work could still remain in existence.
Scientology would have been better applied and understood if it had
been edited (I do not mean altered) by its author(s).
After all, any communicator has the responsibility of communicating
clearly. The recipient's primary task is to duplicate perfectly.
Remember L. Ron's simile of an ocean of drops and wanting to pick -
the - drops: to decide on the important data from a mass of them.
Today, one must do that with the philosophy, techniques, ethics and
administration.
And, consistent with one of Ron's principles, one should aim in the
direction of true simplicity. For this has power. And where the Tech
lacks potential, it is unduly complex. Ron recognised this, I guess,
when he "stripped down the engine" of Dianetics and introduced
Standard Dianetics in the late 1960s.