Richard if you are unhappy with the word or concept of hypnosis, then substitute the word “suggestive” because that seems to be a natural state for human beings. Hypnosis is not the version we see on TV where someone is hypnotised to act like a chicken for example and look foolish against their will, it is much more subtle than that. Try reading up on the subject and you’ll see how powerful it can be yet it works at a much more superficial level than is generally thought.
We humans really are not as on the ball as we’d like to think. For example we do not have the kind of accurate recall Hubbard and Scientology would have us believe as has been shown and proven with a number of clinical experiments any one could conduct. In fact personal testimony in a court of law should be taken with a large pinch of salt because on the whole it has been shown to be no better than around 30% accurate. And lets remember that Hubbard absolutely denied the right to question anything at any time of his technology. It would instantly be assigned a condition of Doubt and yet to doubt and question is in fact what helps to keep us sane and vigilant! Once one has undermined personal integrity in this manner its a downhill journey from there.

Richard – your denial is telling, and truly Scientologian in nature. For decades academics and laymen alike have studied and written about the various forms of hypnosis, including authoritarian hypnosis.

In three short sentences you deny its existence, with the usual ‘some people say’ replaced by the definitive ‘Maybe”.

You ‘doubt if anyone’ ever caught you practicing command hypnosis on them. A strength and a danger of command hypnosis its ability to remain covert in all but its effect on the recipient.

You simplified to the point of untruth your own personal practice of auditing by claiming to be just a regular old auditor, as if that meant you were just a good ol’ boy, casually shootin’ tha breeze down at the fishin’ hole with a new fren’.

In fact auditors are trained, usually experienced, with a script to follow, a supervisor and an entire upstream hierarchy to please, a prepared set of questions, a set routine to every session’s beginning and end, and the mysterious e-meter which is manipulated with one hand while the other hand writes comments to be forever enshrined in a permanent secret folder… or not-so-secret folder…and that’s ignoring the audio and/or video recordings in progress which your new bud prolly had no ideer evun existed, yuk yuk.

You wrote “I asked questions and he or she gave answers,” but that is not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but but but, etc etc. That statement is an oversimplification of a process conducted by a trained operator that is repetitive, suggestive in nature, often extended to long hours, that lowers the preclear’s resistance by fatigue, produces dependency upon the auditor, and was carefully designed by Elron and laid out step by step in writing for his faithful followers.

I’ll close by repeating my earlier quote from ‘songbird’ to Arnie Lerna:

“Thank you, Arnie. I’ve found that this one topic – [hypnotism] – more than any other – Scientologists just will not address. I’ve raised it over & over here and no Scntst will discuss even the possibility that there is a hypnotic component to auditing. Fascinating. The anti-hypnosis line must be soooo thoroughly drummed into them.”

Ta dum, ta dum

In October 1984 Judge Paul G. Breckenridge ruled in Armstrong’s favor, saying:

The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile. At the same time it appears that he is charismatic and highly capable of motivating, organizing, controlling, manipulating and inspiring his adherents. He has been referred to during the trial as a “genius,” a “revered person,” a man who was “viewed by his followers in awe.” Obviously, he is and has been a very complex person and that complexity is further reflected in his alter ego, the Church of Scientology.[364]

Nuff said.

Agreed. And targetting questioning youth at the time was his masterstroke. Who better to suck in than (often) vulnerable young people with little life experience, searching for something greater than themselves that didn’t involve the organised religious structure they were used to (& running from). As a child of the 70s & 80s (& with zero previous religious indoctrination), I just never got it nor understood the need. Thank goodness for me eh ?

Have you sinned again Dude?

Jon Stack arrivals = Jon Atack articles