What's new

Auditing Experiences

Hello,
I'm doing research for an anthropology paper- I started another thread a little farther back. Would anyone be willing to talk to me about their specific experiences entering the Church and auditing?

Basically, once you entered the Church- what in your previous life changed?

What was your auditing experience like?

What level were you able to attain?

Some people say there are many negatives that go along with auditing- would you agree, or disagree?


Thank you! I really appreciate all this help.
 
Last edited:

SomeGuy

Patron Meritorious
Hello,

I know auditing is often criticized as brainwashing- Would you agree? Why?

I can't help you with any of your questions, just making a note, that this is an odd way to form the question. Meaning it has built in latent bias to those wishing to answer it.

I would rephrase it to something more like:

"Some people consider auditing to be brainwashing, Would you agree or disagree with this statement and please expand on your reasons."

That makes it a neutral question as opposed to one trying to fit a predetermined purpose. Just my .02 on the issue. :coolwink:

(I do have an opinion on it but since it would be from second hand knowledge that is all it is.)
 

grundy

Gold Meritorious Patron
Basically, once you entered the Church- what in your previous life changed?

My hatred for all things religious. I used to hate all religions, especially christian. After a procedure to clear up past misunderstood words, my hatred disappated and I began to respect them.

What was your auditing experience like?

Generally good. I felt many times a lightening of my moods and myself. Increased clarity. A lessening of general upset.

What level were you able to attain?

Clear

I know auditing is often criticized as brainwashing- Would you agree? Why?

No. Because in auditing, one is not allowed to begin the procedure unless well fed and well rested. One is not told what to answer or told what to think.

There are questions that are asked that can be viewed as leading, but in general the questions don't have this result.

The "brainwashing" is often the result of others telling you what to think or now allowing you to question to written works of L. Ron Hubbard as presented. The assumption is that nothing in them is ever wrong.

Realize, I was involved in the training aspect of Scientology, and I avoided telling people what they thought was wrong or telling them. But I would lead them, through different materials to conclusions that I wanted them to make.

But at the end, it's what they thought.

"Ethics" and "Justice" procedures tend to be the most guilty of this stigma. Often procedures and actions are done when the person is emotionally distraught or feeling guilty. Many times the person could be tired or hungry - although this is NOT the way it is supposed tobe done.

People involved with this aspect are not explicitly directed to avoid telling evaulating (telling a person what to think) or invalidating (telling a person he is wrong).

Registration for more services are often done with evaluation/invalidation and an attempt at positive reinforcement.

But the actual auditing procedure? No. I don't think so.
 

Div6

Crusader
Hello,
I'm doing research for an anthropology paper- I started another thread a little farther back. Would anyone be willing to talk to me about their specific experiences entering the Church and auditing?

Basically, once you entered the Church- what in your previous life changed?

What was your auditing experience like?

What level were you able to attain?

I know auditing is often criticized as brainwashing- Would you agree? Why?


Thank you! I really appreciate all this help.



1. I made a clean break with the past, dumped all my druggie friends, and made a clean start of things at the ripe old age of 20.

2. First grade chart action was purification rundown...about 30 days on it. Went exterior from the body and maintained it for about 6 weeks. Very exhilarating experience....after that did a repair action "on the cans". Ran "past lives" in the first hour...that was it for me. Continued on, went "clear" and have logged many many of hours solo auditing on OT levels.

3. Last attested level - OT IV (in the Freezone, Class VIII auditor and CS).

4. Auditing as it is intended to be used can undo the effects of brainwashing.
The current "church" has some major squirreling going on, and uses auditing in a destructive manner to "stick people in incidents" and give them many "wrong indications". I call it a sick form of mental abuse.
 
Basically, once you entered the Church- what in your previous life changed?

Most exceptionally, the way I view myself.

It is directly as a result of my experiences in auditing that I KNOW I am a spiritual being. I no longer simply identify myself in terms of a body.

This is a HUGE distinction which can not adequately be expressed but only experienced.


What was your auditing experience like?

Sitting in a chair in a quiet room and talking to a friend, mostly. Some walking around the neighborhood and looking at things. A few miserable days spent sweating in a wretched sauna, but I prefer not to be reminded of those. :bigcry:

Seriously, auditing is simply taking the time out to engage in a little direct one-on-one communication with an eye towards discovering what makes you think, react, or feel the way you do.

There exist a wide variety of processes & techniques which qualify as auditing. All of them have in common the element of reflective communication with another person.

Well, except for the sauna. That's just sweat. :bigcry:


What level were you able to attain?

Clear in the church. OT III in the freezone.


I know auditing is often criticized as brainwashing- Would you agree? Why?

Nope, not even slightly.

That auditing is best when it involves the active participation of the pc. That is a principle feature of a "standard tech" session.

It is the blowing apart of mental attenuation that is the most exciting aspect of auditing.


Thank you! I really appreciate all this help.

You'll be receiving the bill.


Mark A. Baker
 

Wisened One

Crusader
Hello,

Basically, once you entered the Church- what in your previous life changed?

Gave up my 'old' friends/hobbies, etc. Felt part of a group and that I belonged and was liked.

What was your auditing experience like?

Personally: I had great experiences with all my auditing and each of my auditors. Session wins were: felt very relieved, lighter, went 'exterior' 'buzzed' and happy after sessions.

What level were you able to attain?

Didn't get up to the pre-OT levels or training.

Some people say there are many negatives that go along with auditing- would you agree, or disagree?

Not that I can think of right now....the repetive questions can be sort of strange at first....that might seem like a weird form of brainwashing, I don't know. But I personally had good results from all my sessions.

Not that you asked this, but just ext info....My main beef is with CoS....all the hypocrisy with treatment/conditions of Staff/SO, Children, The scam and costs of OT levels, issue with costs of bridge, things like that.

Like Elvis said about CoS: 'They're all Head and No Heart'.....

But all in all, my auditing experiences as a Public or Staff giving and receiving auditing/courses....really weren't unpleasant for me....


Thank you! I really appreciate all this help.

No prob!:)

Wisened One
 
Last edited:
You're all amazingly fast responders! Thank you!


What changed once you became a CP? Did you believe in Xenu? Is that a concept that is widely agreed upon?
 
Last edited:

Roland ami

Patron with Honors
Auditing

In order to understand the whole Scn and CoS experience, you have to get a real handle on the subject of auditing. People who have not experienced it, either giving or receiving, tend to have a very unrealistic idea of what it is like.

The first thing to understand is that it is totally, completely different from the whole of the rest of the Scn or CoS experience. Most of the latter is completely at odds with the auditing side, and is a main part of the reason that the FZ tends to be made up of auditors, not excecs. In fact the contrast is so very marked that it is in itself a very interesting phenomenon.

Still, to answer your questions:

Basically, once you entered the Church- what in your previous life changed?
The first auditing I ever got was a "touch assist", a very basic procedure, because I was suffereing from a tooth abscess. If you haven't had one of these, feel lucky - they are Extremely Painful! I had previously suffered through the results of English dentisrty on one, and had been in pain for a year as a result; so I knew what this was going to be like. The touch assist completely, and I mean completely, got rid of the pain. I was most surprised, and very impressed.

Later, I swapped what are called Objective processes with other people, and experienced the phenomenon called "exteriorization", the overwhelming impression that one is outside of one's body. This too was a very impressive experience - the more so because of the obvious effect on another person when you exteriorized them.

These experiences, along with others, convinced me that I was in fact a spiritual, rather than a purely physical, being.

What was your auditing experience like?

I did a lot of co-auditing, I got a bunch of set up auditing, and then at Flag I got a lot of review and sec check auditing associated with OTVII. I also did a lot of auditing on others at AOLA and ASHO, and of course did a lot of solo too.

Generally, except the Flag Sec-Checking, I enjoyed it all, and got lots of realizations, epiphanies, whatever you want to call it, out of it. My PC's (the people I auditited) by and large seemed to get a lot out of it too.

One example of a pc I audited was a person who had never had any kind of a love relationship in their entire life. (I will call the person "they" so as to disguise any identification). They didn't much like this, but they thought that that was the way things were, and had basically given up, after trying hetero and homo-sexual lovers. I studied the folder, and realized that they were suffering, probably, from a particular thing (not identified so as not to key them in if they happen to be reading this!), and so c/sed (wrote out instructions) to ask about this (among other things, in case that wasn't it). Sure enough, I'd nailed it, and after 20 minutes or so they were not only blown out (deliriously happy, walking on air) but went off and got married a few months later. I hope that worked out!

Generally, there is nothing better than sorting out a person, changing their life from bleagh to enthusiastic.

On the other hand, endless sec-checking at Flag (this is auditing designed to weed out objectionable people) was the opposite. Pointless, in fact degrading, and miserable.

I'm the person who talks at the start of the recent TV program about the Freezone - and about the only thing they left in the show was my comment that auditing is great stuff if it is done *for* the pc, not for the organization.


What level were you able to attain?
I was on OTVII (solo NOTs), and was a permanent Class VI FPRD auditor, with lots of OT review experience.

Some people say there are many negatives that go along with auditing- would you agree, or disagree?

There are some. In the HGC there is a lot of emphasis on production - getting hours. This goes against thoroughness in that auditors have to wing it too much, rather than spend real time studying folders and figuring out what to do next. On the other hand, auditing is so expensive in the HGC that people want to minimise what they do there, rather than milking things for all they are worth. The best thing to do is to co-audit your way up in a leisurely fashion. I did hundreds of hours of FPRD in this fashion.

The worst thing is the NAY sec checking. NAY stands for "I'm Not Auditing You", which is what you tell the PC when you are about to ask him about bad stuff he's done, and that you are going to tell the ethics officer so he can be keyed back into it all when you've done keying him out. Endless digging for overts and withholds, and always with a slant that you are judged according to how the Church thinks. Alan Waters has written eloquently on how bad this is. It was almost funny how all the pre-OTs in the Flag OTVII HGC were pretending to be cheerful while they were waiting for yet another bloody sec check. It is also "out-tech", that is, technically incorrect, to do that amongst other major actions such as solo NOTs, and is IMO one of the main reasons people take forever on that level and don't get any wins on it.

Hope this helps.

If you don't understand just how good auditing can be, how liberating, energizing, and freeing it can be, you won't have a clue why people stay in and support the CoS. It isn't that they are brainwashed, or willing or unwilling slaves - it is that the auditing is so very good that pretty much anything is tolerable if it means they can get more of it, and make it OK for others to get it.

Roland
 

PirateAndBum

Gold Meritorious Patron
Roland you make it sound like a drug! LOL

Yes, auditing when well done is quite an amazing thing. Far too little of it is actually done. As you said, the price of it is prohibitive of really digging in and getting things handled. Co-auditing is a good way to go if you have a competent partner to do it with.
 

Dulloldfart

Squirrel Extraordinaire
In order to understand the whole Scn and CoS experience, you have to get a real handle on the subject of auditing. People who have not experienced it, either giving or receiving, tend to have a very unrealistic idea of what it is like.

Nice post, Roland. :)

Caroline88, I point this out every now and then: you can get a pretty good idea of what auditing feels like by following along with the procedure in one of my basic YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUGCXzY74aI

By "following along" I mean actually doing the procedure, not sitting back and imagining how it might be done. The video is designed to give an auditing session to the viewer. It is not exactly Scientology, but close enough.

Paul
 
In my experience and simply put...

It gave me a happiness I had only felt few times in my live:

It was like painting a beautifull sky
Like exercising and felling healthy
Like getting over a bad hangover
Like drinking water when thirsty
Something like winning a game against your opponent
Then a beach boys song comes on driving down the 101
And you know that no matter where you are going
Its going to be good times!

MR


PS: Cant wait to get to OT!
 

grundy

Gold Meritorious Patron
Another question--- What did you give to the Church? What did you expect to receive in return?

Just my time and life for 12 years, except for about 5000 that was paid by my father for certain auditing. I expected to reach OT III. I reached clear.

Did anyone live in Church 'community' ? Could you describe your experience there?

Those who were in the Sea Org lived in a cloistered community. Outside information was rare. Newspapers were discouraged.

We were expected to follow certain strict guidelines as far as cleanliness, punctuality and other moral issues.

We experienced attempts (some successful) to completely control all aspects of our lives. Punishments weren't necessarily physical per se (no beatings lol) but were physically and/or emotionally arduous and at times painful.

We were expected to suffer whatever tribulations that the organization suffered. If there was a lack of money, then we ate substandard food which was the minimum needed to keep us active (beans and rice for example - for a few weeks in my years there, 2 out of three meals and the other was oatmeal for breakfast). Illnesses were treated as negative actions.

Those higher up were referred to as "sir" regardless of gender. When talking about higher ups they were referred to as Mr. Whateverthename.

Within the larger church community, we were respected and looked up to. Whenever we went out, there were always non-Sea Org scientologists who we ran into and we were often deferred to.

Don't know if this helps.

I have threads under Current Management which explain church structure and Sea Org structure.
 

Holden Caulfield

New Member
Basically, once you entered the Church- what in your previous life changed?

I was born into it, so this question doesn't apply.

What was your auditing experience like?

Not good. I just never had any wins in the same sense I was told others had had. Mostly I just ran past lives, incidents involving murder, suicide, death, rape, spaceships, etc. It was better than Hollywood. Most of the time the incidents in the sessions would connect to people I knew in PT (present time). I kept expecting some form of change it them, but I never noticed anything. I just noticed my relationship to them getting more and more strained.

I had brief periods in which I felt a bit better, but that was mainly due to the idea that "I am a spirit", which never convinced me simply by believing it through the visions of a daydream. Too much inductive logic for me. So I guess I "supressed" that "win".

I just felt like I was living in an alternate reality. Auditing became a place in which I sought shelter from my unhappy life. It never gave me any cognitions other than abstract things that were completely useless to me at the time. The exact opposite of what it's told to be.

What level were you able to attain?

I was a hard case to "crack". My auditors ran me through Life Repair to Grade III and a shitload of off-chart rundowns, such as Int Rundown to try to crack me. It never worked.
I was in a beneficial situation becasue I could receive auditing by paying very little for it because of my parents. I was finally told I didn't have any cognitions because I was out-exchange, which was one of the final straws that made me loose interest. It counters every scientific principle. If something works, it works regardless of how much you pay for it.

Some people say there are many negatives that go along with auditing- would you agree, or disagree?

I agree. I think auditing can really screw people up. For me, the negative lies in the way you start to create an alternate reality around yourself. You create a distance between yourself and others who have not had this "amazing experience". It then becomes part of the group think process. Only others that have had auditing are worth your time and company. It's a very intricate form of judgemental attitude.

On the other hand, maybe some people truly benefit from it. I'm just not one of them. I think I'm too critical and auditing doesn't work on people like me. I question things, and auditing and Scientology requires and even discourages critical thinking.

One of the major things that made me loose interest was that I loved to watch movies and read books as a child and teenager. I remember, during the time I received an intense amount of auditing, my thoughts on the things I loved were changing. I couldn't enjoy movies to the same extent anymore, because the plots would not appeal to me. I would just sit there thinking "god, these people really need auditing". I had no sense of empathy like the way I had before. It was really scary.
 
Last edited:

Björkist

Silver Meritorious Patron
Interestingly, some of my experiences during auditing are very similar to Richard Alpert's description of some of his LSD/psychedelic experiences which start toward the end of the 5 minute mark.

The entire interview is great. Richard Alpert is a wise individual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMdWWjTw4DA

Also, without getting into specifics, I really handled some things that needed handling in my life and I don't think I would be as happy and peaceful as I am now had I just continued on from where I was without auditing.
 

nw2394

Silver Meritorious Patron
If you don't understand just how good auditing can be, how liberating, energizing, and freeing it can be, you won't have a clue why people stay in and support the CoS. It isn't that they are brainwashed, or willing or unwilling slaves - it is that the auditing is so very good that pretty much anything is tolerable if it means they can get more of it, and make it OK for others to get it.

Roland

This.
 

Holden Caulfield

New Member
If you don't understand just how good auditing can be, how liberating, energizing, and freeing it can be, you won't have a clue why people stay in and support the CoS. It isn't that they are brainwashed, or willing or unwilling slaves - it is that the auditing is so very good that pretty much anything is tolerable if it means they can get more of it, and make it OK for others to get it.

That's a very valid point. Alas, auditing obviously has that effect on some people yet far from all. If more people had that experience, more people would also want and continue to be Scientologists and accept the awkwardness of the CoS organization.

This gives some indication that auditing appeals to some specific personality types and not to others, which in turn weakens the effectiveness of the phenomenon of auditing itself. Its inductive reasoning.

If something works, its supposed to work without condition. Auditing works for some because they want it to work, they expect if to work, they need it to work. A placebo effect without a pill.
 
Top