What’s Good in Scientology: The Early Emphasis on Communication & Understanding

I don’t think there is a group or technology more devoted to communication and understanding than Scientology – at least in the early phases of participation.

As with its early emphasis on present time, later phases of participation in Scientology de-emphasize communication and understanding in favor of defending the ideology against scrutiny. But in the early phases of Scientology, the teachings and practice of communication exercises bring about real and lasting value throughout a person’s life, and for those around him.

Psychs have their active listening exercises, but I do not think that these produce a better result than Hubbard’s writings on communication through the use of his Training Routines. It is true that the TRs can be taken to extremes, and they are in Scientology – even the 100% Standard Brand. But if you do not STARE at people, do not REPEAT YOUR QUESTION OVER and OVER like an asshole, but always remember the importance of confronting life and your fellow human beings in it with tolerance, love, and understanding, then you are taking the good out of Scientology and leaving the bad.

The skill of recognizing an “origination”, the skill of seeking to fully understand someone who is talking to you from his own point of view and not just your own, the skill of making sure that the person you are talking to knows they are being heard and understood, and the skill of giving a person a full acknowledgement are all extremely valuable skills, the value of which any human being can appreciate.

These communication skills that Scientology teaches all new people when they first get involved are the initial reasons most people start calling themselves Scientologists. And they are good reasons to do so. There was no way for most new Scientologists to know that these skills would be distracted from and de-emphasized later in their studies of the subject. That was being intentionally withheld from you.

I have never felt so deeply understood by the people around me as when I was a Scientologist. I have never felt so mis-understood by the Scientologists around me as when I became a critic of Scientology.

The communication skills that Scientology teaches can be used to understand even critics of Scientology, and other with whom you disagree. Even your most vicious enemies can be better understood using Scientology communication skills, and I believe should be. I believe that using these Scientology communication skills in this way is their highest and best use, no matter what L Ron Hubbard later taught.

So the early emphasis on communication and understanding is another good thing in Scientology, and any person who can hold on to these skills as they were taught to him in the beginning, and never allow these teachings to become corrupted, even by Hubbard himself, has achieved something great and spiritual.

I do not know any where else this can be achieved but in the early phases of participation in Scientology.

4 thoughts on “What’s Good in Scientology: The Early Emphasis on Communication & Understanding”

    • Meditation is 100% hypnosis, as well. So is prayer.

      So are a lot of things.

      Yes, Hubbard exploits the vulnerabilities to suggestion in the trance state produced by TRs in every way he can. And that is one of the worst parts of Scientology, and it is a major reason that L Ron Hubbard is more destructive than helpful as a spiritual teacher.

      But the skills of communication learned during drilling the TRs, as I specified in my post, are some of what’s good in Scientology.

      Don’t you think?

      Reply
  1. Thank you for posting this.

    I’ve gotten so weary of people proclaiming the TRs as hypnosis, and with a dismissive wave of the hand, know they never have to consider the subject any further.  I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess that most people that proclaim “TRs are hypnosis, period”, either haven’t done them, or haven’t figured out out to use them to benefit.

    Hubbard either came up with, or adapted from somewhere else, the communication formula — an analysis and description of the way people communicate. While the emphasis is on a typical verbal exchange, this communication formula can be observed in use in written communications as well.

    TRs 0-4 are ways to practice that communication formula so that an individual can become better at communication.

    The “comm course”, the first course done by new people as they entered Scientology, was probably the most effective method of making people want to do more scientology.

    It wasn’t because they were hypnotized.

    Was there a lot of other crap appended onto the TRs? Yes, of course.

    But I, like you Alonzo, have taken that bit of good I learned as a young man who did TRs and “got it” and have used that skill successfully in life ever since.   And it has become so natural, I don’t have to think about it, which is as important an element as any.

    It is my wish that any person no longer involved in Scn can learn to regard their experiences as a small part of their whole continuing journey and take all the good they can along with them, and learn to laugh off the bad.

     

     

     

     

    Reply
    • John Doe wrote:

      “It is my wish that any person no longer involved in Scn can learn to regard their experiences as a small part of their whole continuing journey and take all the good they can along with them, and learn to laugh off the bad.”

      That is a great end result to work for.

      There are as many cognitive distortions (labeling, catastrophizing, etc) after Scientology as during Scientology.

      It’s important to be able to think rationally about the dangers and the benefits of Scientology in order to successfully move on from it. I spent years making myself miserable after Scientology by telling myself all kinds of overly negative characterizations of what I experienced there.

      Many others experienced far worse than I did, and those people should be helped and justice sought for them. But I have to continually remember that I was not one of them. I was not “damaged” too badly. I got over all the crazy totalitarian abuse that was heaped on me as a staff member. And when I got high enough in the organization to finally see that Scientology was more destructive than constructive, I left and set about exposing it so that others could not be deceived as I was.

      And today, no one can be deceived about Scientology like those of us were who got involved in the 70’s or 80’s. So that puts the real danger of Scientology into SOMEWHAT of a proper perspective.

      TRs DO produce trance states. The state of being “IN SESSION” is also very much a trance state. And Hubbard DID create methods where those trance states can be exploited in Scientologists. He did this every chance he got. And that is very important to always keep in mind, and I would never suggest Scientology for a new person for this and many other important reasons.

      But Scientology DID improve my life when I first became involved, and the early emphasis in Scientology on communication and understanding is a big reason why.

      Alanzo

      Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.