Auditing

The primary means by which the basic truths of Scientology are applied to the rehabilitation of the human spirit is called auditing. It is a central practice of Scientology and is ministered by an auditor.

An auditor does not engage in some vague form of mental exploration, nor does an auditor offer solutions, advice or evaluation. One of the fundamental principles of the Scientology faith is the truism that an individual can improve his conditions only if he is allowed to find his own answers to life’s problems. Scientology auditors help individuals to accomplish this goal by guiding them to examine their existence through a carefully structured series of steps that L. Ron Hubbard developed. By following this gradient process, individuals can thereby improve their ability to face what they are and where they are—peeling away the layers of experience that have weighed so heavily upon them.

Auditing, then, is not something that is done to a person. Its benefits can be achieved only through active participation and good communication.

The first description and techniques of auditing were presented in Mr. Hubbard’s book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Dianetics announced the discovery of a previously unknown and harmful part of the mind which contains many recordings of past experiences of loss, pain and unconsciousness in the form of mental image pictures. These exist below a person’s level of awareness and collectively accumulate to comprise what is called the reactive mind—the source of all unwanted fears, emotions, pains and psychosomatic illnesses. Step by step, auditing addresses the reactive mind until its previously unknown content is uncovered and its harmful effects over an individual are erased. When such occurs, one has achieved a new state of being that in Scientology is called Clear. One’s basic and fundamental personality, his artistry, personal force and individual character, his inherent goodness and decency, are all restored.

While Clear is a new state for Man, the Bridge leads to even greater heights of spiritual freedom. Above Clear are the Operating Thetan (OT) Levels. The thetan is the immortal spiritual being, the individual himself, not his body or mind or anything else. A thetan is not something one has, but what one is, a fact that becomes abundantly self-evident on these upper levels. The goal of Clear is to remove from one’s existence those things which are not part of his inherent spiritual self. The goal of Operating Thetan is to overcome the travails of existence and regain the certainty and abilities of one’s native spiritual beingness. At this level, one knows that he is separate and apart from such material things as physical form or the physical universe.

Auditing at any level is an incomparable experience: its full description well beyond the scope of this site. However, imagine something that has been troubling you all of your life—some feeling or attitude or experience. Then imagine sitting with an auditor and being asked an exact question—the right question—that enables you to suddenly, instantly see the truth of this situation, the real source of it.

The goal of Clear is to remove from one’s existence those things which are not part of his inherent spiritual self.

This is what auditing is, and the result is revelatory—tremendous relief, understanding, a sense of freedom, the ability to see everything more clearly, an increased awareness. It is almost magical. And it is because of this spiritual transformation that is experienced by someone somewhere in the world every minute of every day that Scientology has grown as rapidly as it has.

For more information about auditing, go to: Scientology.org/Auditing