Whatever the problem is, the immediate solution will almost always be a Communication Course, and indoctrination into Hubbard's ideas about Suppressive Persons".
TECHNIQUES
"Scientology is evil; its techniques evil; its practice a serious threat to the community; medically, morally and socially." -Report of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology for the state of Victoria, Australia, 1965.
While the basic ideas of Scientology had nearly all been expressed W by the end of 1952, Hubbard continued to pour out new techniques that were "guaranteed" to cure all human ills. He borrowed from many forms of therapy and meditation to create an elaborate "Bridge" which he claimed led to "total freedom".
Scientology indoctrination usually begins with the Communication Course Training Routines or `"TRs". These are supposed to enhance the ability to communicate, but have been called by one expert "the most overt form of hypnosis used by any destructive cult".
In the first TR, two people sit silently facing each other, with their eyes closed. In the second, they stare at each other, sometimes for hours on end, inducing hallucinations and an uncritical euphoria.
In the next stage, TR-0 Bullbait, the student has to sit motionless, while the "coach" does everything possible to disturb him or her. The student progresses to reading aloud disconnected phrases from Alice in Wonderland, and then to acknowledging statements read out at random from the same text. Then comes TR-3, where the student repeatedly asks the coach either "Do fish swim?" or "Do birds fly?".
In the last "Communication Course" Training Routine, the student again asks one of these questions repeatedly, learning not to be distracted by anything the coach says or does.
Repetition is another way of inducing an altered or trance state. Following these procedures definitely makes the individual more susceptible to direction from Scientology.
From the Communication Course, the new recruit will usually go onto the "Purification Rundown", after a meeting with a Scientology salesperson, who convinces the recruit that the Rundown is well worth the high price demanded for it.
Those on the "Purification Rundown" take extremely high doses of vitamins and minerals, and combine running and sauna treatment for five hours each day.