I was at NY Org in about 1979. I was on a course in the Acadamy. I was studying an LRH policy. I came across the word "eminent" in a sentence, but it was obviously a misprint. The word SHOULD have been "imminent". One would have to be a complete idiot NOT to notice that. :confused2:
It means, "about to happen, soon to occur". The word on the page, which obviously was a misprint, was "eminent". "Eminent" means "distinguished, notable". I pointed it out to the Supervisor. The Supervisor told me, "find your misunderstood words". When I persisted he suggested that I was "requesting unusual solutions and originating weird ideas" and demanded again that I clear up my misunderstood words. I persisted, and soon got VERY annoyed that a "sane person" could actually fail to "see the obvious" (what ever happened to "obnosis"?).
The Supervisor told me to "clear the words fully". I already knew exactly what the words meant, but I did it anyway. Of course, it WAS still a misprint. Word Clearing couldn't solve THAT problem. The problem WAS "in the materials". The Supervisor and others did not at all like it when I said that - that the problem was "in the materials themselves".
I spent 4-5 hours between Qual and Ethics, and NOBODY on staff could actually be there comfortably, pay attention, and be sensible. I was even yelled at for attempting to "cause trouble" and "enturbulate the courseroom" with my "weird demands for unusual solutions". What they ALL did was rotely "apply the materials exactly". It was truly mindboggling to me that grown adults, who supposedly were "bright and more aware because of Scientology" could be such imbeciles. I was involved in Scn until about 2000, and this rotenesss of application NEVER went away (even on Flag).
I finally ended up in front of the ED of the Org! Can you imagine that? I explained the situation with the misprint to him, and he said, "it seems to be a misprint, write up a report, and go back on course". I finally found one human being who could be there, comfortably look, and see that it was a misprint.
While that in itself speaks volumes of people's inability to observe instead of think, one should ask what did all the thousands of others do who read the LRH issue? I have no doubt that some dubbed-in "imminent" automatically. If anyone cleared "eminent", and used that word, since there wasn't any definition that could have the sentence even partially make sense then God only knows what they went away thinking. :confused2: But that IS Scientology. Scientologists walk around with MANY strange ideas in their heads.
I wrote up the situation and it was corrected about three years later. Just because a person "feels good" or is "VGIs" about reading something does NOT mean that they understand it correctly. It simply means that they "feel good". People can F/N when they "think" they understand something correctly – even when they actually don't. THAT happens a great deal in Scientology.
Anyway, this was one of my earliest experiences with the ROTE RIGID lunacy that I came to know so well in Scientology, which occured in some form or another MANY times after that, where the "thinkingness", of the Scientology participant, based on crazy EXACT LRH directions, blocks and prevents any calm observations and sensible dealings with other people. I learned early on that there was MUCH idiocy in Scientology, based on "exact application of LRH materials", so I also learned to NOT "make waves" because I didn't want to get wrapped up in the endless lunacy of the Scientology machinery. I wanted the "Bridge" (at the time), and I decided that I wasn't going to allow stupid Scientologists or the rote application of idiotic LRH policies to interfere with that.
Just another of MANY contradictions in the world of Scientology.