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Please note that words with an asterisk (*) are defined at the bottom of this page! Only first appearances are marked.

The game of Scientology is about sanity, about correct evaluation, about a proper use of the data as is contained in the subject of Scientology, and about to make this world a better place. To accomplish this it offers a variety of techniques and data. And as with any other data it can be misduplicated and misapplied. This page tells little about these things. The hope is that this page clears some usual misconceptions and misuses.
 
Index:

• A word about criticism ... , what it means, what it doesn't mean, and its actual ramifications
• ‘Communicate or not communicate’ (‘To be or not to be’)
• A consideration about policy and policy letters
• Criticisms received (1):  Selection of some frequently used LRH quotations re criticism
          - “attacks on or criticisms of orgs and staffs”  (Good Service)
          - “refuses to speak ill of Scientology or criticize it”  (Non-Scientology Staff)
          - “attainment of one's standards”  (Environmental Control)
          - “Don't criticize or give or receive criticism”  (fellow auditors)
          - “The Enemy Line”  (running a campaign)
          - ‘CRITICISM’ and ‘NATTER’  (‘Technical Dictionary’)
  
• Criticisms received (2):  Additional selection of criticisms to my Scientology pages received
          - Advocating mixing of practices?
          - Incorrect use of “Scientologists” in relation to Free Zone?
          - Not the right gradient?
          - Copyright violation?
  

“Examine all your beliefs, all your theories, all your knowledge by inviting doubt, not by letting doubt creep into your heart. I hold that doubt is essential for the discovering and the understanding of the Truth. If you merely accept, without the invitation of doubt and its cruelty of examination, then what you have is not real.”          J. Krishnamurti
          (from ‘Life the Goal’, published 1928)

So what is criticism? What is it good for? Does it actually have some purpose?

“Now, to be able to criticize, to be able to question, is the first essential requirement for any thinking man, so that he will begin to discover what is false and what is true in the existing system, and therefore out of that thought there is action, and not mere acceptance. So during this talk, if you would understand what I am going to say, there must be criticism. Criticism is essential. Questioning is right, but we have been trained not to question, not to criticize, we have been carefully trained to oppose. For instance, if I am going to say anything which you are going to dislike — as I shall, I hope — you will naturally begin to oppose it, because opposition is easier than to find out if what I am saying has any value. If you discover what I am saying has value, then there is action, and hence you will have to alter your whole attitude towards life. Therefore, as we are not prepared to do that, we have made a clever technique of opposition. That is, if anything I am saying you do not like, you bring up all your deep-rooted prejudices and obstruct, and if I say anything which may hurt you, or which may emotionally upset you, you take shelter behind these prejudices, these traditions, this background; and from that background you react, and that reaction you call criticism. To me it is not criticism. It is merely clever opposition, which has no value.”         J. Krishnamurti
         (from ‘Verbatim reports of talks and answers to questions by Krishnamurti in Auckland, N.Z.’: “1st public talk 28th march '34”)

Sound snippet (1:34)

I think it is obvious that I have chosen to communicate...

Many policies were written at such a time that organizational structure of how to run such were in actual development. Its purpose was to offer an exact solution to handling any kind of adversities, a solution that gave a desired result. Now, what would you do if this policy letter channel did not work, what could you do if you have reported matters and things did not change or some situations did not get handled as they should have been. Keeping Scientology Working would also mean that you inform your fellow Scientologists to enable them to actually take notice of prolonged non-survival situations. Of course you first would attempt to handle things while using the channels that presently exist in the organization, but if this does not get the desired result one has to find other means to get corrections implemented.

There is a practicality about policy. It needs to be able to reverse unwanted, undesirable and non-surivival tendencies or situations. Any of these policy letters were written at a certain time and developed in accordance to some problem or situation that then existed. But as ever the times they are a-changin', policy that once worked and was sufficient in some past distant era may not necessarily work equally well in present time. The organizational line-up may also have changed.

“Following policy is a matter of grasping situations and knowing policy well enough to apply the right policy to the right situation—where no policy covers, an experienced, quick person can easily extend the idea of general policy to cover it, knowing it isn't covered.”          LRH
          (from HCO PL 13 Mar 65 “The Structure of Organization - What is Policy?”)

It remains being true however that in 1970 we actually had sufficient with policy about “how to run orgs”, and this is basically what policy was developed for. “It took 20 years to find out how to run orgs.”  LRH  (from HCO PL 24 Sept 70RA “Issues–Types of”). 

If you are involved with Scientology and you are being critical about some matters, you may get referred to any of the below listed quotations. There is the tendency to use these quotations arbitrarily for any given situation. We will look at some of these that are frequently referred to and attempt to find out what they are about. You have to study the references in full to fully understand where LRH actually talks about and relate the data to the proper target. It is so very easy to take quotations out of contexts, and then they start to be used for something they were not aimed to be used for.

• “attacks on or criticisms of orgs and staffs”  (Good Service)
• “refuses to speak ill of Scientology or criticize it”  (Non-Scientology Staff)
• “attainment of one's standards”  (Environmental Control)
• “Don't criticize or give or receive criticism”  (fellow auditors)
• “The Enemy Line”  (running a campaign)
• ‘CRITICISM’ and ‘NATTER’  (‘Technical Dictionary’)

 
“attacks on or criticisms of orgs and staffs”  (Good Service)

“I regard attacks on or criticisms of orgs and staffs as a personal affront actually, and when somebody complains too hard about an org, I usually ask him why he or she isn't on staff straightening it up and making it go right. I recommend that approach to the critic.”          LRH
          (from HCO PL 28 Apr 73 I “Good Service”, originally released as ‘LRH ED 74 Int’, 23 Dec 68, turned into an HCO PL on Apr 28, '73, presently referred to as HCO PL 23 Dec 68 “Good Service”)

 
“refuses to speak ill of Scientology or criticize it”  (Non-Scientology Staff)

“This group refuses to speak ill of Scientology or criticize it to outsiders.”          LRH
          (from HCO PL 20 Oct 1961 “Non-Scientology Staff”)

 
“attainment of one's standards”  (Environmental Control)

“One's ‘standards’ (the degree of rightness one is trying to establish and maintain) are directly related to one's desire to have a controlled environment.
The attainment of one's standards is not done by criticism (a human system). It is done by exerting control of one's environment and moving things effectively toward a more ideal scene.”          LRH
          (from HCO PL 30 Dec 70 “Environmental Control”)

This has to do with the “attainment of one's standards”, and how these are realized. This could be said to be a specific target. Attainment also has to do with accomplishing something in the physical universe, meaning that there is action involved. Criticizing or complaining in this instance is referred to as something verbal and thus not effectively doing something to actually improve.

 
“Don't criticize or give or receive criticism”  (fellow auditors)

“... don't talk about Scientologists to people who are not Scientologists. Don't criticize or give or receive criticism about other Scientologists. In other words, be completely unwilling to listen to entheta* about your fellow auditors. And be completely unwilling to give out entheta about them.”          LRH
          (from 7th American Advanced Clinical Course held in Phoenix on 23 Jul 54 “Auditor's Code in Practice”)

 
“The Enemy Line”  (running a campaign)

“The Enemy Line.”          LRH           (from HCO PL 9 Jun 75 “The Enemy Line”)

 
‘CRITICISM’ and ‘NATTER’  (‘Technical Dictionary’)

Referrals to ‘Dianetics and Scientology, Technical Dictionary’:

Criticisms received (2):  Additional selection of criticisms to my Scientology pages received

Since I started putting my Scientology pages out on the Internet I have had various responses. Some of these were Scientologists that figured that I should not be critical about anything when discussing Scientology. Quoted were various references from L. Ron Hubbard which they thought supported their stance. I discussed various of the very usual ones in foregoing chapter. I have chosen 4 additional kind of criticisms that I received and are offering them here together with my defense. The criticisms are exactly as I received them, my responses have been adjusted only at a few places.

• Advocating mixing of practices?
• Incorrect use of “Scientologists” in relation to Free Zone?
• Not the right gradient?
• Copyright violation?

Advocating mixing of practices?

From “Scientology & related Question & Answer session”
Source: http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_Q&A-session.html#comparison
“Krishnamurti's way of getting to the bottom of things is not the same as L. Ron Hubbard does....anyhow they are both valuable. We are all different as beings, we may find ourselves easier within a certain concept of thinking than another. Even if one of these concepts/system is more far reaching and better organized than the other it may not be equally attractive to all. Krishnamurti makes that one questions oneself. If I regard some Scientologists, then I may think that it will do them well to read some Krishnamurti.”

 
Incorrect use of “Scientologists” in relation to Free Zone?

From “Scientology & related Question & Answer session”
Source: http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_Q&A-session.html#freezone
“Free Zone actually has no relation with the official Church of Scientology. It is basically a group of Scientologists who chose to leave the official organization or were not being welcome anymore.”

Apparently some evaluation needs to be done here.

 
Not the right gradient?

From “Quotations from L. Ron Hubbard on the matter of evolution”
Source: http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_vs_evolution.html

 
Copyright violation?

From “Quotations from L. Ron Hubbard on the matter of evolution”
Source: http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_vs_evolution.html

From “L. Ron Hubbard vs Alterations (introduction)”
Source: http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_vs_alterations_(intro).html

From “Scientology: The History of a Policy Letter - A detailed study or
    The transformation of HCO PL 23 Dec 65”
Source: http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_policy-letter_history.html

My defense (1, 2 & 3):
Fair use is made of any copyrighted work:
	“The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”
US Code Collection: Title 17, Chapter 1, Sec. 107. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use & Notes

The US copyright law does not say anything about some percentage of some page on some website. It talks about percentage in relation to the original copyrighted work.

“That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others.”          LRH
          (from The Creed of the Church of Scientology - 1954)

I also have the legal right to express my ‘personal comments, interpretations’ etc.. In addition people are not stupid, they in fact are very well able to come to their own conclusion and separate correct from incorrect, truth from untruth. Don't underestimate people! The fact remains that those who are antagonistic towards Scientology do not approve of my website.

Vocabulary:

     1.1:  (covert hostility)
Tone Scale: 1. We have a gradient scale from space to matter which starts at the arbitrary number of 40.0 for our purposes and goes down to –8.0 (from book Scientology 8-8008)  2. The main gradient scale of Scientology. One of the most important observations which led to the formulation of this scale was the change in emotional manifestation exhibited by a person who was being processed. The progress from painful emotions to pleasant emotions was so reliable and evident on indication of success, that it became the main measuring stick of the progress of a case. (from Ability magazine 114)  3. ... we have the various emotional tones ranged from the highest to the lowest and these are, in part, serenity (the highest level), enthusiasm (as we proceeded downward towards the baser affinities), conservatism, boredom, antagonism, anger, covert hostility, fear, grief, apathy. This in Scientology is called the tone scale. (from book Fundamentals of Thought)
     77RA:
For example: ‘HCO PL 18 Mar 77RA’. The date denotes the first time it has been published in issue-form. The R stands for 'Revision' and would refer to that it has been revised since it was first issued. If it is revised a 2nd time it says RA, a 3rd time RB etc..
     ARC, ARC break:
ARC: A word from the initial letters of Affinity, Reality, Communication which together equate to Understanding. It is pronounced by stating its letters, A-R-C. To Scientologists it has come to mean good feeling, love or friendliness, such as “He was in ARC with his friend.”
ARC break: A sudden drop or cutting of one's affinity, reality, or communication with someone or something. Upsets with people or things come about because of a lessening or sundering of affinity, reality, or communication or understanding. It’s called an ARC break instead of an upset, because, if one discovers which of the three points of understanding have been cut, one can bring about a rapid recovery in the person’s state of mind. .
     audit, auditing, auditor:
The application of Scientology processes and procedures to someone by a trained auditor (listener). The goal of the auditor is to make the receiver of the auditing look at incidents and reduce the mental charge which may lay upon them. The auditor may not evaluate and has to adhere to the Auditor's code.
     entheta:
Means enturbulated theta (thought or life); especially refers to communications, which, based on lies and confusions, are slanderous, choppy or destructive in an attempt to overwhelm or suppress a person or group.
     HCOB:
‘Hubbard Communications Office Bulletin’: issue-type since Jan 74 reserved for L. Ron Hubbard only, these address technical issues, having to do with auditing procedures and courses. 
     LRH:
An usual abbreviation for ‘L. Ron Hubbard’.
     org, orgs:
Abbreviation for ‘organization(s)'.
     overt, overt act:
A harmful act or a transgression against the moral code of a group. When a person does something that is contrary to the moral code he has agreed to, or when he omits to do something that he should have done per that moral code, he has committed an overt. An overt violates what was agreed upon. An overt can be intentional or unintentional.
     PAB:
'Professional Auditors Bulletin', Scientology periodical (monthly) send to all members to keep auditors informed about the latest discoveries concerning processing procedures and other.
     squirrel:
Going off into weird practices or altering Scientology. (as per KSW #1: HCO PL 7 Feb 65 “Keeping Scientology Working”).

Copyright © 2005, 2006, 2008  Michel Snoeck.  All rights reserved. This page revised: 2 May, 2010