by Frank Gordon USA

As a general rule, in order for any processs to be effective in
helping to solve a problem or relieve by-passed charge; it must
focus attention directly on the problem. If attention is on the e-
meter, auditor, or a predetermined "standard" process, then it is
off-target, and will increase rather than reduce the charge.

Matching the process with the problem

I've been run on processes that didn't "make sense" to me. When
that happened, "My main concern became to answer the question in
such a way that the auditor would stop asking it."(1)

And "In the past, I've seen them (the CCHs) as 'meaningless.'
Follow orders, dig a hole and fill it up. Like rote school work,
do it; pass the course, get your grade and go on to another grade,
a meaningless grind."(2)

As far as I'm concerned, for a process to work, I need to
understand how and why it will help me with a particular
difficulty. This means exploring the problem enough to see how the
process applies.

And ".. something that is not sufficiently emphasized about
Hubbard's own approach to auditing, is how he led into a process
and made it real and important to the pc."(3)

Attention fixed on the process

Attention can become fixed on a search for "the right process,"
and pulled away from a more careful as-ising of the difficulty.
This became clearer to me after reading a replay(4) of an
experience reported on the TROM-List which echoed one of my own.
Here is a brief excerpt:

"Well, I was having a really bad persistent PT problem the other
day that had really gotten out of hand .. so why don't I do some
RI(5) .. now that I have done some RI, why don't I timebreak(6)
the incident that I'm upset about, so I did that .. I figured I
would do some creative RI to finish off .. I got fustrated .. I
guess frustration is a change so that I should keep doing this
until there is no more change .. the frustration got worse and I
felt really awful .. I went back to the office .. after I got
there I quickly got overwhelmed by this PT problem and actually
broke down and cried a few times .. I went to bed, tossed and
turned for quite a while .. although I felt very good while
timebreaking and at the tail end of doing RI, doing the TROM
didn't seem to help my emotional state at all afterwards... In
fact afterwards I started getting very bizarre ideas on how to
deal with the situation."(7)
fp

I had also fixed my attention on finding the right process

After reading this, I recalled a similar experience. A friend of
mine got sick, and I felt it was somehow my fault. I really felt
horrible, and went through The Book of Case Remedies trying
different approaches. Nothing worked, and I just felt worse and
began to have burning hot spots in my body. I had lost weight and
obviously looked bad, since another friend asked me, "Are you
dieting or dying?"

Finally I put my attention directly on the difficulty

Then I gave up looking for some "right process" and simply lay
down and thought, "OK, I'm going to let whatever comes up, come
up, no matter how horrible it is."

As I let go, a scene of what looked like a Portugeuse fishing
village came up. It had white buildings with red-tiled rooves and
was on the ocean. As the scene appeared, I had the feeling that I
was supposed to be the protective spirit for that village and had
failed to protect them.

As I had this thought, the hot spots suddenly vanished and I felt
fine! Such a simple action, and such a vast relief! It was
miraculous!

Similar experiences

I have had similar experiences, some of which I reported in "The
Release of Backflow to Suppression," IVy 19, p.25. One paralleled
the above:

"At one time alone in my apartment, I had become almost frantic ..
so I lay down and let come up whatever came up.

"Finally the thought 'Destroy myself' appeared and with it a
slight loosening. This was certainly a negative and destructive
thought, but I was interested in the accompanying relaxation and
probed this area and expanded it. Surprisingly, in about 3 minutes
I felt fine again."(8)

In the cases above, it seems that looking elsewhere for a process
(or solution), was ineffective. In my case, I found it better to
directly explore the upset.

The above examples are not given to denigrate the value of TROM
with its running of RI, timebreaking and postulates, or The Book
of Case Remedies; but to emphasize the importance of first closely
contacting and exploring the problem. Resolving the actual area of
difficulty or by-passed charge is primary; the method chosen is
secondary.

The value of non-resistence

I've read about an aspect of the martial arts where you don't
resist, but keep control by pushing the other person in the
direction he's already going. This can throw him off balance.

The technique of non-resistence was also used effectively in the
political realm by Gandhi, and by Civil Rights workers for
African-American voting rights in the United States.(9)

Observations by others

John McMaster in "Effortlessly Creating a Safe Space," IVy 34,
p.18, recognized the importance of directly exploring the
difficulty, and had good results when he let the pc choose the
question to work on. He asked, "What question would you like me to
ask you so you could find out what you're looking for?" Then
listed, got a good question, asked it until the pc wanted to
change it, and then asked that.

Flemming Funch noted on e-mail that ex-Scns could be difficult to
work with, because they had preconceived notions about what
Standard Procedure should be used. Here again, attention was
shifted off the difficulty and onto a supposed solution.

Geoffrey Filbert in Excalibur Revisited noted that before running
any correction list, he would first ask the pc what he thought
needed to be repaired.

Hubbard himself, although he set up rote routines for others to
make up for their lack of understanding of what was important;
essentially personalized and tailored his procedures to the needs
of the pc in front of him with his emphasis on the importance of
live two-way communication.

Hubbard's reasons for rote processes is given on a tape, "The
Fundmentals of Auditing," 11 January 1955:

"Well, you know the fundamentals .. If you were capable of
applying the axioms of scientology immediately to the problem of
another fellow human being, you could theoretically dream up
enough procsses to satisfy adequately every single condition which
you would meet. But it has been found by experience that auditors
do not do this. So we have codified processes."(10)

Summary

A process, if not on-target and poorly selected, can actually act
as a suppressor. So it is not primarily a case of selecting a
predetermined "right process," but allowing the appropriate
process to arise from thoroughly exploring the nature of the
charge. One way I found of doing this was to "Let come up,
whatever comes up, no matter how 'horrible' it is."

                    ***

1 See "Objectives (10)," IVy 36, p.37.

2 Above, p.38.

3 Above, p.37.

4 Antony has replayed several early comms on the Internet TROM-
Listlist for IVy subscribers. This one was played on 29 March
1995.

5 RI in TROM refers to the Remedy of Importance which roughly
parallels the Repair of Havingnesss.

6 "The general action of simultaneously viewing a 'then' and a
'now' scene is called Timebreaking." TROM, p.14.

7 This report shows that attention was primarily on the process.
This is shown by the questions he had about the right process:
"..so why don't I do some RI .. now that I have done some RI, why
don't I timebreak the incident .. I got fustrated .. I guess
frustration is a change so that I should keep doing this until
there is no more change." Nowhere in this section was attention
directly on the difficulty.

8 Eugene T. Gendlin in his paperback Focusing considers this sense
of bodily relaxation as a positive guide towards resolving a
confusion or upset. My "Let come up whatever comes up," followed
by exploring any sense of loosening, was my version of what
Gendlin calls "focusing."

9 Non-resistence is similar to ending a game in TROM by adopting a
complementary postulate. It is also similar to the way John
McMaster handled aggressive interviews about Scientology designed
to make him angry. He remained unruffled and pleasantly friendly.

10 Quoted in L. Kin, "From the Bottom to the Top: The Way Out."
p.37.

                         ***

THE RELEASE OF BACKFLOW TO SUPPRESSION [IVy 19]

by Frank Gordon

   Suppression is a common denominator of mental and life
difficulties and a higher level of confront and backflow to it are
beneficial. Here are several ways I've discovered of how I could
do this:

With Biofeedback

   On the E-Meter (a biofeedback machine measuring body
resistence) one approach surprised me by its effectiveness. It
was making crude rebellious and sexually aggressive gestures.

   In theory, this rapid effect parallels the release of an
inhibited reach and increasess "havingness.". My early training
was to deny such crude outflows and so I was intrigued by how
rapidly the needle loosened on this (a sign of increased reach and
ability to have).

   You might like to try this. If so, stand or sit, and grasp your
crotch with your left hand, while extending the right arm with the
middle finger upraised, and if you like, say what you felt like
saying, but didn't.

   You can also find your own satisfying variation of this by
rediscovering your childhood gestures of defiance like thumbing
your nose, or sticking out your tongue. I do this with a cheerful
smile, which probably helps.

   If the needle tightens (a sign of the reduction of the ability
to reach), you should of course use something else.

   For me, this exercise seemed to knock out an old chronic
suppression. Suppression includes "Can't flow back!" When one can
flow back against it in any way, it lessens. This appears to be
the case here.

   After several months of working with this, it still blows down
and loosens the needle. This fits the description of a good
havingness process in Dianetics Today," p.420:

   "If the second squeeze shows the needle looser than the first
.. you've got it. .. The havingness process selected, even if the
right one, if run too much (more than 10 or 20 commands), will
start running the bank. It doesn't harm the preclear, but that
isn't its use...The tone arm may 'blow down' toward clear read if
you run 15 minutes or half an hour .. on the other hand, it may
not"

   Upon rereading this, it occurred to me that this process could
"run the bank" (release embedded and internalized suppressions),
and this appears to be the case.

   Also, by composing and whistling spontaneous tunes and
"dancing" to it, I could also loosen the needle. Not crudity, but
uninhibited outflow seems to be the key; although the first
version is still the quickest and most effective for me.

   Over time, the feeling tone of this exercise has gone from
angry aggression to friendly assertion. And I can now get similar
results by cultivating an internal and external sense of unbounded
space and time: "Room enough and space enough and time enough."

In Life:

   To be fully alive, one must be able to tolerate a wide range of
emotion and action and feel free to "get into" and handle any
blockages. But is it safe, and what will the neighbors think? (a
suppression)

   The following incidents have demonstrated to me the importance
of being able to outflow against suppression.

In a Gestalt Group:

   I was in a Gestalt group and asked the leader if it was safe to
scream. He said it was (it's not easy to find a place where one
can scream).

   I crouched down on the floor and returned to an experience at
14, when I fell from the top of a tall maple tree. I had reached
for the top branch and it snapped. I could actually "hear" the
cracking sound.

   In this group, I felt free to scream out the terror of falling
with nothing under me and with a good chance of being killed. I
began with the crack of the branch breaking, and ran through it
four times. I ended up feeling really good, alive and expansive. A
safe space made it possible.

In a County Jail:

   It is easy to suppress physical discharges out of regard for
the feelings of others. One time I was in a county jail and
extremely tense, as might be expected.

   I badly needed to release this tension. So I told the Sheriff
not to be surprised if he heard some odd noises from my cell.
Following some observations of Janov and Reich, I leaned over the
toilet and stuck my finger down my throat to elicit the gagging
reflex and reverse the inflow of "you've got to take it and
there's nothing you can do about it."

   This produced some unpleasant sounds. The Sheriff came back and
said the other inmates were disturbed by these. I replied that I
was sorry, but was going to continue.

   I did continue, finally vomited, and began to cry in a relaxed
way with tears streaming down my face. I let everything go, and
fell asleep. I slept for 24 hours and woke up refreshed. The
tension had evaporated.

   I could release this suppression since I had the agreement of
the Sheriff and did not have to worry about what the other inmates
would think or do. This is not always the case in everyday life
with its frequently highly formalized atmospheres.

In My Apartment:

   At one time alone in my apartment, I had become almost frantic,
a dramatization of "I need help." I thought of signing myself into
a local mental hospital but knew they could do nothing effective,
so I lay down and simply let come up whatever came up. As I did
this I was alert for any loosening or relaxation, howeve tiny,
that appeared. I had previously learned that this was the workable
compass or guiding signal.

   Finally, the thought "Destroy myself" appeared and with it a
slight loosening. This was certainly a negative and destructive
thought, but I was interested in the accompanying relaxation and
probed this area and expanded it. Surprisingly, in about 3 minutes
I felt fine again.

   I have taught this technique to a girl and she also obtained
good results. This approach is similar to that of Eugene Gendlin
in his book "Focusing."

   I just remembered another and tougher situation when I
discovered this approch. I was in the State Hospital some years
ago and thought I had injured a friend. I felt awful, hot spots
turned on, and I lost about 15 lbs in a couple of weeks. One
psychologist even asked me, "Are you on a diet, or are you dying?"
I replied that I wasn't on a diet.

   I finally lay down, and said "What the hell, I'll just let come
up whatever comes up (feeling that I must have done something
terrible).

   When I did this, I got a picture of what looked like a picture
of a Portuguese fishing village, with white houses and red rooves;
and the thought that I was supposed to be the protector of that
village, and had failed.

   Astonishingly, the hot spots immediately vanished, and I then
felt fine with no recurrence since. There was no complex process,
listing, or whatever.

Something That Didn't Work as Well

   In a different difficult situation, I kept thumbing through
"The Book of Case Remedies," looking for a routine answer outside
of myself, and the situation didn't improve.

   I finally concluded that by trying to classify my experience;
like is it BPC or an ARCx or whatever, I was forcing myself to fit
into a category, instead of just allowing myself to experience
what I was experiencing.

With Insomnia:

   A variation of this has worked with insomnia. One night I
couldn't get to sleep. I found myself chewing over what smart
remark I could have made to a dominating woman by whom I felt
suppressed. I was caught in a seemingly endless struggle. Then I
put my attention on the underlying feeling, a kind of exasperated
frustration, looked for an earlier time of feeling this way, found
several and, fell asleep.

   The blocked energy of these previous times was apparently
feeding into the last one.

Summary:

   These are just few ways I've found to help handle and release
those internalized suppressions, which are so closely connected
with aberration, depression and "mental illness." You probably  have your
own which you would like to share.