In point of fact, communication is one of Scientology’s most fundamental doctrines and the basis for its core religious services, auditing and training. A substantial portion of Scientology scripture is devoted to the understanding and application of communication, including books, tape-recorded lectures and training films. A Scientology auditor studies communication and practices communication techniques at many points in his training, continually working to achieve a perfect mastery of its formula.
Auditing becomes possible only through application of the communication formula. A person participating in auditing (a “preclear” in Scientology) must direct his attention inward to the deepest recesses of his reactive mind to confront occluded past incidents, including past lives, in order to find the answers to auditing questions, erase harmful energy contained in the mental image picture recordings of these incidents, and thus experience relief from spiritual travail. The preclear is fully alert during an auditing session and becomes even more alert as auditing progresses. The auditor and preclear work together to help the preclear defeat the preclear’s reactive mind. Auditing is not something done to the person, but involves his active participation to increase his self-determinism. Using communication alone, the auditor must direct the preclear’s attention (with the preclear’s agreement) to past moments of pain, unconsciousness or misemotion.
The preclear, knowing that the auditor is following the exact and predictable communication formula, feels sufficiently secure to allow the auditor to direct his attention and to tell the auditor about what he finds.