Phil Spickler - Thoughts About Training
| Phil Spickler - Thoughts About Training | |
|---|---|
| Name | Phil Spickler |
| Period | 50's |
| Location | Washington DC |
| Year | 1957 |
| Website | http://community.freezone-tech.info/phil-spickler/ |
Here is a text of Phil Spickler’s letter to the 9th Free Zone Convention in 2010:
Dear Anita,
What follows are some thoughts about training, as I once experienced it. In January of 1957, I undertook to do the HCA course in Washington DC, at the Founding Church of Scientology. HCA stood for Hubbard Certified Auditor.
In London, the course was called the HPA, Hubbard Professional Auditor because in England to be certified meant you were crazy or insane or just plain nuts.
In 1957, and as out-growth of the Phildelphia Doctorate Course of 1952, as well as OT developements from the Phoenix research period, it was made quite clear to us students that becoming an auditor was achieved by moving thru Have, Do and arriving at Be, in whatever time you needed to assume the beingness of an auditor.
The course consisted of listening to taped lectures and discussing what we heard in an effort to insure that all the students understood what Ron was talking about in the Lecture.
We also received group auditing, and did co-auditing with fellow students.
Our course supervisor was named Dick Steves. He gave talks that were most enlightening on the subject of auditing, including questions and answers.
We were required to learn the Auditors Code and The Code of the Scientologist, and all the Axioms of Scientology.
E-meters were not in use and being able to engage a pre-clear in two way communication, and maintain it throughout a session was considered (correctly) very important–the heart and soul of an auditor’s beingness.
When, in the eyes of the course supervisor, you were auditing well, you could then sit for the HCA written examination, and since you knew what all the questions were, passing grade was 100 %. The idea was to learn the answers in advance of the exam, and then deliver them in writing.
Sounds easy but it wasn’t. Then, if all was judged to be ok you were awarded the HCA certificate.
The next step was to study the requirements for being ordained as a Minister of the Church. Then an exam and ordination.
My next step was to get a job with the District of Columbia, as a GS -7 in the Sanitary Engineering Dept, a euphemism for the Sewer Dept. My hope was to some day get on staff at the organization, something not easy to do, since most staff were highly trained and experienced and really did know how to audit.
I wrote this memoir with the intent to illustrate that in the 1950′s, Ron’s ideal of auditor training was really based on how willing the person was to BE an auditor. The time it took for the student to make the consideration that yielded the beingness of an auditor, varied from person to person, and just how much have, and do, was required before the beingness of an auditor came to pass .
Most importantly was the idea that anytime someone became willing to be an auditor was the point when they achieved the result of training, rather than how many check sheets they complete or how many lectures they heard, or anything regarding the mechanics of auditing. This form of training greatly appealed to some folks and made real that “considerations take rank over the mechanical conditions of existence.” Needless to say, as Ron and his organizations aged and became more and more fixated on the cookie cutter approach to training, with heavy emphasis on mechanics–the type of training that made natural auditors very happy and clearly defined for others that willingness does monitor ability–faded into the Western sunset.
If I had seized the opportunity to speak at your event, what I mention here would have been the theme of my talk.
Hope one of your speakers, if they haven’t settled on their talk, might like to pick up on the idea I’ve been mentioning and make it their subject to talk about.
Love and very best wishes to you all and my best hopes that the event will be a smashing success.
Phil Spickler