From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 13 - August 1993
See Home Page at http://www.ivymag.org


A View from the Bridge (1)

By Eric Townsend, England

Chapter Two

What Really Happens in Auditing

Most people who have had contact with Scientology will have had some
experience of Auditing. There may be some readers however who have
not been audited or have only a sketchy idea of what it is. For this
reason, I will start with a brief summary of what auditing is and
does.

Auditing is a method of enabling people to become more in control
of their lives, by examining the things they think and do that hold
them back. It normally consists of two people sitting in a private
room apparently talking. One person is the Auditor who runs the
Auditing
Session and the other is the beneficiary who will gain insights into
why their life is as it is and what they can do to improve it. In
Scientology the second person is called a Preclear, usually shortened
to PC. In the very early days of Dianetics, Hubbard referred to this
person as a Patient. This term had been dropped however by the time
Science of Survival was published in 1951.

The term Preclear is self-explanatory once one knows the meaning of
the term Clear. Several chapters of this book are concerned however
with presenting the data needed to get a good understanding in
physical
terms of what is meant by  the state of Clear. For the moment I would
ask the reader to be patient and accept that the term Preclear means
someone who has not yet become Clear.

What happens in the auditing room has been likened by some to
counselling.
The first response to that comparison is to say that counselling is
about advising people what they should do. The defenders of
counselling
say that only bad counsellors do that and that the only advice some
one will take is what they work out for themselves. Today auditing
is more often compared to so-called 'Non-directive Counselling'

The term 'auditing' comes from the French/Latin words for 'to listen'
and auditors spend a lot of time learning how to listen.  Despite
the name, Auditing is much more than unguided listening. It is
extremely
directive in the sense that the Preclear is guided gently but firmly
towards the areas to look at. When one understands what is really
happening in auditing one also understands that it is not really
possible
to relate it to  anything else. It seems to be unique

Auditing is communication between thetans

Auditing operates on the spiritual level. One thetan is communicating
with another. The one who is the Preclear is being guided and assisted
by the Auditor to sort out ideas, decisions and considerations that
he, the Preclear, has picked up and which influence his current
ability
to run his life  as he wishes, as a thetan in the MEST universe. This
communication is going on at a theta level, in the theta universe.
This communication  must follow the rules of theta communication,
which are based on the ARCU triangle. These rules are somewhat
different
from normal human communication, although at its best human
communication
can rise to a level where it does follow the same rules. In auditing
however, the door is opened to a very intense and powerful level of
communication. It is vital that the rules of theta communication are
known and followed. ARCU breaks must be avoided and if they do occur
they must be spotted quickly and eliminated.

So what is the difference between the way you communicate to a  thetan
and ordinary human communication? The most notable differences are
that a thetan or spirit does not object to a question being repeated
over and over again, provided it is as a new cycle of action. Thetans
are by nature very persistent and patient. They stay interested in
a question until it is answered or resolved. Thetans do not like
uncompleted
cycles of action because they hold some or all of their attention
until it is complete. This applies equally to uncompleted
communication
cycles. The biggest contrast between the spiritual and human style
of communication however relates to the phenomenon known in
Scientology
as 'Q & A'. This means changing the question because of a non-answer
to the original question or expanding the answer given by follow up
questions. It is only a variety of uncompleted communication cycle
but it is peculiarly common in human conversation.

The basic requirements for auditing to take place

An auditor in training spends a lot of time acquiring the skills  of
theta communication. This includes careful study of the communication
cycle, the auditing communiction cycle and doing the auditor Training
Routines, known as TRs. In addition he studies and learns the
Auditor's
Code  because it embodies a lot of the rules of theta communication
as they relate to auditing.

The E-Meter

No mention has been made so far of the E-Meter. This device is the
thing that many people find most mysterious about auditing. Once again
there may be readers who are not familiar with what it is, so it is
desirable to give a brief description. The Electrometer is a battery
operated device which passes a tiny electric current through the body
of the Preclear. This is done by the PC holding two electrodes, which
look like small diameter tin cans, one in each hand. By observing
disturbances to the current passing through the body, the auditor  is
able to measure mental state and change of state, as an aid to faster
and more precise auditing.

So why is a MEST object like a meter necessary if the communication
is at a theta level, in other words in the theta universe? There are
probably two main reasons. Firstly most of us here in bodies have
forgotten how to operate as thetans and thus communicate on the theta
level. We are so stuck in bodies, which are part of the MEST universe,
that we consider only MEST communication is valid. So we need the
meter to validate or prove at the MEST level our theta perceptions.
This applies to both PCs and auditors.

Secondly a lot of our difficulties are with things with which we got
tangled up in the MEST universe and it probably seems appropriate
to us in our present state that we should disentangle ourselves at
the MEST level. This may be a mistaken viewpoint but it is no good
telling a preclear that. One of the most basic rules of theta
communication
is that you must not tell another thetan what to think!

So we have to start where we find ourselves. The meter is an aid to
the auditor to know what is going on in and around the mind of the
PC.  Hubbard did all his early auditing before a suitable meter was
evolved and that included taking people to the state of Clear. The
most that he could advise others to do was to look and be aware of
the many physical, mental and spiritual signs that are there and which
can guide you. He predicted in 1950 however, in Dianetics The
Modern Science of Mental Health, that some electronic aid would
be needed for auditing to become a widely available facility.

Once E-meters became available  in the mid-fifties, auditing
technology
developed very fast and auditor training became much more streamlined.
Today it is impossible to envisage auditing taking place without a
meter. Even so, some auditors have the presence and awareness to be
able to audit some processes without a meter when necessary.
Occasionally
auditors find themselves in a situation where they have to do some
Assist Auditing with no meter and they can do it without mishap. We
should never put the priorities of auditing the wrong way round. The
meter is an invaluable auditing aid but the presence of a thetan
willing
and able to audit is much more important.

Desire  for change

The second most important requirement is to have someone there willing
to be audited. Actually this is an over-simplification. The need is
for a being who wants to bring about a change in their condition and
is willing to put in the necessary effort to do so. This distinction
is needed to avoid drifting into the 'Doctor and Patient' situation.
In this the patient gives the doctor his symptoms and then sits back
and waits for the doctor to pass a judgement and provide a 'cure'
of some sort. This passive patient role is very different from
the role of a PC.

Auditing is very hard work but it is harder work for the PC than the
auditor. The PC  is the one who has to confront and consider  things
which he has been avoiding for a long time. This is actually
physically
strenuous and requires courage and determination from the thetan
and his body to be in good physical shape. The auditor has the role
of administering the auditing process until it achieves the intended
and predictable result. He has to watch for certain other phenomena
and handle them as necessary. He then continues with the auditing
process which he has already started.

The auditor also performs another vital function. This is the one
of supporting the PC in confronting his reactive mind. This is a theta
role since the Auditor as a thetan is supporting the PC as a thetan,
by providing him with a safe space in which to confront the terrors
of his reactive mind. The sad truth is that we have got to a state
where as Preclears we cannot confront or handle some of the contents
of our own minds. Since the PC participated in the creation of this
mind in the first place, this outcome would be funny if it were not
so tragic.

The presence of the auditor willing to audit is what combines with
the presence of the PC being willing to be auditied for an auditing
session to actually take place. The need for an auditor and the basic
actions required of him are summed up simply and concisely in just
a few HCOBs and Policy Letters listed at the end of this chapter.

One fundamental principle is that 'The auditor plus PC is greater
than the PC's Bank'. There are two corollaries that follow from this
'Auditor plus bank is greater than the PC' and PC minus Auditor is
less than the Bank' (HCOB 30.4.69 Auditor Trust). One further
corollary
can be worked out from this basic proposition which shows why the
PC must understand and be committed to the function of auditing. Can
you work it out?

Application of all of this produces the basic requirement that must
exist before any auditing can be done. This is for the PC to be 'In
Session'. This means having got the PC to a point where he is
'interested
in own case and willing to talk to the auditor'.

Typical session

So let us put together what we have covered so far to see what happens
in a typical auditing session. The auditor first checks the physical
condition of the PC to confirm that his body is up  to cooperating
in an auditing session. This includes questioning about food, sleep,
alcohol, medicines, and being comfortable  in the auditing
environment.
The auditor then does a metabolism test to check that the body is
reacting on the meter. Only if all these aspects are alright will
the auditor start the auditing session.

The next step is to check the PC's spirtual condition. Since this
isn't a physical condition like the body, this may be better restated
as locating the PC's attention, as a thetan. The prime indicator of
this is to be found from the meter. If the meter is not registering
the phenomena that the auditor expects, he goes through various steps
to rectify the situation. The most familiar of these are known as
Rudiments, which means things that are done to set-up the PC for
running
an auditing session. When this has been done, the auditor knows he
has the PC's attention as a thetan, in other words he is 'in session'
and the true business of the auditing session can start.

What the auditor then does is locate a charged area of the PC's case,
that is in the PC's bank, which will read on the meter. He then runs
an auditing process, usually a series of repetitive questions. This
may make the PC feel uncomfortable but eventually there will be a
discharge of the electrical charge relating to that item and the PC
will brighten up, have a realisation and feel much better.  This also
is visible to the auditor on the meter.

The auditor does not usually tell the PC what is happening on the
meter because it can result in the PC becoming 'meter-dependent'.
He does however tell the PC from time to time that his 'needle is
floating', which is the prime indication of the PC being In Session.
So the auditor needs to have his PC with a floating needle before
he starts the action of addressing the PC's case. The needle must
float again at the end of the session when the Auditor has
'discharged'
the charge attached to the area that was opened up within the PC's
bank. An auditing session may consist of several actions of this sort
to discharge areas located. The session should always end after a
big release when the PC is feeling good and his needle is floating.

Need for a Case Supervisor

The next question may well be how does the auditor know where to look
for a charged area? It is certainly not a good idea to go prodding
around unsystematically in the PC's bank to find something to run.
It is for this reason that we have a Case Supervisor. It is his or
her function to programme the PC's case and decide  what area is to
be investigated for a charged item that will discharge. The Case
Supervisor
is a very experienced auditor who has also been trained to supervise
cases. He or she operates from a more remote position in relation
to the PC than does the Auditor. This means that they work only on
written interview and auditing session notes. This is best expressed
in the 'Ivory Tower Rule' which says that the Case Supervisor is more
successful when he works in seclusion. Probably the main reason for
this is because there are far fewer things that can be wrong with
thetans than the average human being may think, and even an
inexperienced
auditor thinks!

The Case Supervisor has another equally important function. He or
she is the Auditor's 'handler'. As stated in the Technical Dictionary
he or she 'tells the auditor what to do, corrects his tech, keeps
the lines straight and the auditor calm and willing and winning'.
The need for a Case Supervisor to do this comes in part from the fact
that the auditor will often get too involved with the PC's case to
see the most direct and usually simplest route to solve any difficulty
that may occur. This is what is meant by 'keep the lines straight'.
Also the auditor could find it difficult not to be drawn into
conversation
by the PC about his case out of session. He is able to make it clear
that the whole operation is run by the Case Supervisor.

The degree to which the auditor is under the control of the Case
Supervisor
is similar to an Astronaut and Mission Control. The astronaut and
the auditor are expected to deal with unforseen occurences requiring
immediate attention but would report back what they had done as soon
as possible. It is unthinkable however that they would change course
or destination without the agreement of Mission Control or the Case
Supervisor. This is the reason for the strong prohibition against
'C/Sing (Case Supervising) in the chair'. An auditor making decisions
on what to do under the pressure of an auditing session is called
C/Sing in the chair. It is considered 'very poor form as it leads
to Q&A'.

So we can see that behind the auditor there is another thetan
operating
for the benefit of the PC. This ensures that the weight of theta
against
the PC's bank is that much greater. We could even modify the axiom
to say 'PC plus auditor plus case supervisor is greater than the PC's
bank'. A PC who has been audited in this situation, and is aware of
it, feels very safe.

Basic Concept of the Bridge

We still haven't dealt with the question that was asked earlier in
this chapter about where to find the charged areas for the PC to
handle.
There is no doubt that every case has a huge amount of charge. Most
of it however is not available to discharge or run-out. This is
because the PC's condition or 'case level' is not up to confronting
that area of charge. Fortunately for the PC and the auditor there
is a mechanism called 'The Mind's Protection', referred to as early
as 1950 in Dianetics: Modern Science of Mental Health. This
means that if the PC is asked to look at an area beyond their confront
level, the mind will close it off so that it is not accessible.
Although
this would protect the PC, it would still represent a setback for
the auditor and the PC's confidence in him.

So how does the Case Supervisor know what the PC will be able to
confront
and and thus run-out. The answer is that he utilises 'The Bridge'
which is also known as the 'Classification, Gradation and Awareness
Chart'. This is the same Bridge that features in the title of this
book  and it will come up again later on. It is a very detailed
document
which contains a lot of data and needs to be studied very carefully.
At this stage however it is appropriate to give a brief introduction
to the origin and purpose of this Bridge or Classification, Gradation
and Awareness Chart. The best way to do this is to look from the top
down.

If we started as very powerful thetans operating in one universe and
came to experiment with a new one, it must have taken some very
powerful
or subtle setbacks to reduce our power. Once the process had started
however it would have become a declining spiral. Each setback would
have needed less and less power to push us a bit further down. From
all the evidence that has emerged, it would seem that all thetans
in this sector of the MEST universe have had broadly similar
experiences.
Thus if we can trace our route down, we can follow it to go back up.
This then is what is meant by The Bridge or Classification, Gradation
and Awareness Chart. It is a gradient of confront that any being to
be found in or around a body in this sector of the universe can follow
to regain his lost abilities.

The Case Supervisor uses this same Bridge or Chart to programme the
running of any individual PC's case. There is not really any question
about where a person should start. He or she should start at the
bottom.
This is because no assumptions can be made about something being
uncharged
if no check has been made to see if it is charged or not. There are
complicating factors however that must be taken into account by the
Case Supervisor. The main one of these is that the PC is continuing
to live a daily life in the MEST universe. There may be some upsetting
interactions which 'key in' other bits of the PC's Bank. These may
require special Rudiment type actions to 'key out' their effects so
the PC can proceed with his or her standard auditing.

Resistive case points

A second complicating factor can be what the PC was doing before they
came to Scientology auditing. This may be drugs, body illness or
mystical
practices. All of these can constitute points that resist case entry
for standard Bridge auditing and are known as Resisitive Case Points.
It is the Case Supervisor's function to programme handlings for these
which will clear them out of the way, so the PC can get on with his
or her  standard auditing up the Bridge.

By-passed charge

Thirdly, mistakes may have been made in previous auditing which need
to be handled. These may be auditing errors or the PC was run on a
process he didn't fully understand (also an auditing error as per
Auditors Code), or a bogged session that was never repaired, or an
abandoned auditing cycle. All of these things, and many similar ones,
will leave 'By-passed Charge' (usually refered to as BPC). This is
charge that was 'restimulated but overlooked by both pc and auditor'.
It is possible for normal life to restimulate charge that is then
overlooked but it usually 'keys out' again pretty quickly. As was
said earlier, auditing is very powerful theta communication and the
potential for BPC here is much greater. The additional difficulty
here can be that although the charge may key out again, the prospect
of further auditing will cause it to key back in again. Once again
it is up to the Case Supervisor to provide a delicate programme to
find and handle the By-passed Charge. This type of auditing is known
as Review Auditing or Setup Programming but it is only done to the
point where the PC can go back to their standard Bridge Auditing.

You may have noticed that the aim the Case Supervisor  is always
working
towards is getting the PC back to Bridge auditing. You may ask where
does auditing to handle physical difficulties, marital problems or
financial disabilities fit in. The short answer is that it doesn't.
All of these things are symptoms of the individual's difficulties
in handling the MEST universe. The quickest and most efficient route
to handle these difficulties is the Bridge. The C/S however will take
into account whether this difficulty is so obsessing the PC that they
cannot get on with their Bridge auditing. In this case, the C/S will
programme a handling to key out the obsession. This should also enable
the PC to exteriorise from the issue sufficiently to take some steps
in life to improve the situation. The full solution or readjustment
of viewpoint may come much later on the Bridge but that must be so
because at this point the PC could not confront the underlying issue.

Auditors operate as OTs

So far we have looked exclusively at the benefits of auditing to the
PC. It is interesting to note however that auditing is also beneficial
to the Auditor. It is an observable fact that successful, winning
auditors look good and feel good after delivering a good session to
a PC.  There are many factors that may contribute to this but one
that was referred to earlier in this chapter is that auditing is theta
communication between two spirits. Not only does the PC regain some
ability to see things from a spiritual viewpoint and operate as a
spirit, but the auditor does so too. The auditor must put himself
in the position of an operating thetan before the session starts
because
he has to initiate the theta communication. The auditor can do this
as a result of his training. He was not just trained to be an auditor
but to be an Operating Thetan at will.

The auditor has a case just like anyone else. This can be an obstacle
to auditing someone who is higher on the Bridge and therefore handling
heavier areas of charge than the auditor has encountered himself as
a PC. Auditors can also find lower level material uncomfortable
because
it restimulates something else on their case.

The question may be asked when is an auditor not in good enough shape
to audit because of their case condition? This was answered with
characteristic
robust humour by Hubbard when he said there was a simple test one
could use. You put a mirror under the nose of the potential auditor.
If it mists over, he or she can audit!

Auditors are guided by the requirement that was familiar to all who
worked in the CofS which was  'No case on Post'. This is very much
an OT(Operating Thetan)  precept because an OT can do anything it
wants to.

REFERENCES

Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary:

auditing, arc, arc break, E-meter, communication cycle & auditing
communication cycle, q & a, rudiments, reactive mind & bank, case
supervisor, c/sing in the chair, ivory tower rule, run out and
discharge,
in session, resistive case rundown & setup programme, by-passed
charge,
key-in and key-out, operating thetan

HCOPL 17.4.70II An Auditor and 'the Mind's Protection'

HCOPL 14.10.68R The Auditor's Code

BTB 30.9.71 Auditing

HCOB 30.4. 69 Auditor Trust

HCOPL 27.5.65 Processing

HCOB 30.4.71 Auditing Comm Cycle

HCOB 15.1.78RA (Rev. 25,3,81 & 10.3.84) Scientology Auditing CS-1

THE BRIDGE TO TOTAL FREEDOM New streamlined Classification, Gradation
and Awareness Chart of Levels and Certificates - 1983

BOOK: Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health Pp 228-9
(Paperback)

Note: The book A View from the Bridge can be obtained
from Anima Publications, PO Box 10, Bramhall, Stockport SK7 2QF,
England.
The price is 10 English Pounds plus postage (surface mail). Postage 1
English Pounds United Kingdom, 2 English Pounds rest of Europe,
3 English Pounds rest of the world.



(1)Earlier instalments of this book appear in IVy 11, p. 24 and IVy
12, p 20.





Mon Jul 17 18:34:07 EDT 2006