CHAPTER 1
BEGINNING STEPS

Rather than beginning with a lot of theory, we will start with some practical drills.

The ones given here are very easy, but they should be learned well because they are useful all the way up and they may be lifesavers at times when you are in trouble because they can help you throw off mental fogginess and overwhelm.

These are "processes" which means that they are actions that are to be repeated to a specified result.

There will be more theory on the subject of "processing" later, but one of the basic concepts is that you achieve results much faster by doing an action repetitively rather than by simply straining at something. You pound in a nail by hitting it again and again rather than by simply pushing at it.

The desired result may not happen the first time you do a processing command. You must repeat the command over and over, giving it a chance to "warm up" so to speak, and then you push through and something happens. It might be a trivial thing, or it might be fantastic, but you will have achieved some kind of result.

The processes in this book will be numbered #.# with the first number being the chapter number for easy reference. In other words, 1.1 would be the first process given in this chapter. Later on, more levels of numbers (5.1.1) will be used when we need to group processes together, and letters will be used to designate commands that are alternated with each other.

Some of the processes given in this and the other chapters of this book are advanced solo versions of things that are or were at one time used in Scientology. Others are original, either based on early theories of Hubbard's or based on my own attempts to carry the work forward.

1.1 The Attention Process

This is almost childishly simple. And yet it is an effective technique for pushing through mental fog and blockage by directing your attention outward in a controlled manner. It also raises perception at the same time. Many variations are possible.

In its simplest form, the command is:

1.1) LOOK AROUND AND NOTICE THINGS, SPOTTING PRECISE POINTS AND MOVING BRISKLY FROM ONE POINT TO THE NEXT.

Of course people often do this when they go into a new or interesting place. But most of the time they leave their perceptions on automatic and they tend to introvert and their perceptions become dull as a result.

If you practice this when it is easy, then you will have it at your fingertips in times when you have been heavily introverted and in those cases it can be of tremendous aid in helping you pull yourself together.

Among other things, this one gives you a safety net when you are self processing. If you do get in trouble, it can cool down the mental charge that you have stirred up.

It is extremely useful in pushing through the mental effects of drugs. If, for example, you were to drink too much, it will help sober you up. But in this case, you will find that you have to keep repeating the process while the chemicals remain in your system.

An important part of it is the spotting of precise points rather than just vaguely looking around. If you are indoors, make a special point of spotting the corners (usually 8) of the room.

Even when you are awake and alert and doing well, this drill should bring about a bit of improvement in your perceptions. The room gets a bit brighter, you feel a bit better oriented, and a bit more clearheaded. When you get this improvement, you should acknowledge that the drill has been completed.

If you do it when you are tired or foggy, the effects can be dramatic. There you are, for example, half asleep and you need to force yourself awake. So you begin noticing precise spots in the room and suddenly you come fully awake. Or you are feeling bad and you start looking around and noticing things precisely, and suddenly you sort of pull yourself together and feel renewed strength.

This is important because it demonstrates that you can gain control over your mental state.

You should use this one a lot, to the point where it becomes second nature to do it whenever you are in a fog. This ensures that you will use it if you are half unconscious or even asleep and don't remember the process or any of your usual stuff and yet you just do this anyway because it is so much a part of your operating basis.

On rare occasions, I have had dreams where my perceptions were very foggy. Eventually this technique was so much a part of me that I would use it in such cases even though I was not aware that I was dreaming. Sometimes it had a very startling effect, causing the dream to burst like a bubble and I would find myself staring at the bedroom wall, much to my surprise.

To learn this one effectively, you have to actually do it rather than just reading about it. So your first act is to simply do it right now even though it may seem like a very trivial thing. Simply look around the room, noticing precise points until your perceptions brighten up a bit. It is not a big deal if you are already feeling good and alert.

To get really good at it, use it many times over the course of a few days, running it in idle moments at home and at work or while shopping or while walking around or traveling.

When you are doing well, it is deceptively fast and simple. But You will be surprised at how much willpower it takes to do this if you are groggy. Learn to do it now before you need it in some dangerous or critical situation.

This is sometimes called a "locational" process in orthodox Scientology because it helps the being to locate or orient himself.

1.2 Spiritual Version

This is the first step towards operating without a body, perceiving things from a viewpoint exterior to the body, and to what the psychics call remote viewing.

It is really the same process as 1.1 above, but you do it with your eyes closed.

Begin by running the ordinary attention process on the room while seated in a comfortable position. When your perceptions brighten up, then close your eyes and do it again on an imaginary view of the room.

Don't be constantly opening your eyes to look around and correct your perceptions. Don't invalidate your abilities just because you don't always see real things. Early on you will have a lot of imagination mixed in with the real perceptions. Also, you sometimes get "real" perceptions that are different from what the body sees, for example, you can tune into shadows of how the room once looked.

But gradually, as you continue using this process, you will start getting occasional real flashes of perception.

Don't push this one too hard early on in processing. Just do it occasionally, accepting any mild "win" and not making a big deal out of it.

This is actually one of the "ultimate" processes at the very top of the scale. Simply looking around and spotting things, no matter what is in the way. One might, for example, see nothing but fog, but one spots precise points in the fog, and then one maybe spots things that might be there in the fog, and then one begins to see real things beyond the fog.

1.3 Applying the Attention Process to the Body

This is helpful for speeding healing, easing pain, and improving your control over your body in general.

It is a simple procedure of spotting points within the body. Just close your eyes and touch points in the body with your mind, attempting to look at the areas, but not making a big deal out of whether or not you are getting any visual perception. It is good enough to feel the areas slightly, but try to work up to getting a bit of a view of the inside of the body.

This works best if you alternate the right and left sides of the body and work up and down the nerve channels from the brain to the extremities. If you are trying to handle problems with the head, back, or stomach, then also use a variation where you alternate spotting points in the head and the stomach (the solar plexus is like a mini-brain) because they are at opposite ends of a heavy nerve channel.

Note that you are not your brain. The brain is neither conscious nor self aware, those are your characteristics as a spirit which is capable of thought. However, the brain is a big switchboard and a bit like a computer or calculator used by the spirit.

Your normal operating basis is to control the brain (like typing commands into a computer) and let the brain control the body for you. But you are capable of reaching into and controlling the body directly. This process improves that ability. It is like bypassing the auto pilot and flying a plane yourself. A wise man always makes sure that he can override an auto pilot in times of difficulty and danger.

You can also touch the body (alternating sides) with your finger or the back of a pencil to help focus your attention and then look at the spot (with your eyes closed) from the inside.

For a pain or injury, work in the hurt area for a few commands and then work out to the extremities (fingers, toes, etc.) for a few commands rather than either avoiding the hurt area or becoming fixated on it.

Facing, accepting, and acknowledging a pain often cools it down a bit. And reaching into the area mentally encourages the body to rush healing forces into it rather than withdrawing from the pain.

For now, do a simple drill of spotting points in the body, alternating the left and right sides. Begin at the top of the head and work down the nerve channels to the hands and fingers, including spotting the tip of each finger. Then begin at the top of the head again and work down the spine and legs going down to the toes. Then work from the head down the front of the body to the genital area. Then work over any other areas of interest. Then repeat this, continuing until the body feels good.

1.4 More on the Underlying Theory

Let us think of the spirit as being able to direct a certain amount of attention to things. But the "attention" gets drawn to areas of pain or danger or problems or other difficulties and becomes fixated.

As the being decays, more and more of his potential awareness and attention becomes fixated in areas that he does not want to face up to and he gradually shuts down these areas without actually withdrawing his attention from them. Instead the units of "attention" become "encysted" or "buried" and he has less free attention and awareness available.

As you drill precisely controlling and directing your attention, you will gradually draw "attention units" out of these stuck points and regain control over them. This strengthens your perceptions and awareness and frees up your ability to think.

This is somewhat of an oversimplification because the person is also capable of generating new attention when his interest in something is great enough. Notice how much better you feel when you are looking at something that is really interesting.

The amount of free attention under your own control is a major factor in your ability to think, perceive, and operate successfully.

1.5 Applying the Attention Process to Learning a Skill

As part of learning a skill where there are tools or equipment or facilities of some sort involved with the area, you can use a variation of this attention process in addition to the usual learning activities.

Spot some specific points on the tool or device, looking at it with your eyes, then mentally spot some specific points inside the device (don't bother to close your eyes), then spot some more on the outside with your eyes, then more inside, etc.

Note that this does not substitute for learning how to operate a machine before you start running it. But it helps you become familiar with the machine while you are studying about it, and it improves your perception and alertness as regards to the device.

This could also help with sports. Doing this a bit on a basketball and a basket, for example, might improve your aim.

1.6 More Advanced Variations

You can spot things that you like.

You can spot things that are safe to look at.

Many other variations are possible.

Any of these can be done objectively, with the body's eyes, or mentally with your eyes closed.

And you do not have to limit yourself to only doing this in the vicinity of the body. For example, you can close your eyes and get the idea that you are looking down at the city or the countryside and notice things or find things that are safe to look at, etc. We will be doing a bit more of this in a later chapter.

You can also use larger spaces rather than points and permeate things. But larger volumes can get unreal very easily, so concentrate on working with points. If you do try this with larger areas and they seem too unreal or unproductive of results, then begin spotting specific points again.

As you become more advanced, you will naturally tend to permeate larger volumes of space when you put your attention on things. When you drill placing your attention on specific points, go ahead and make the points as large as you feel comfortable with. But the keynote of these drills is intensity and precision of focus.

1.7 What About Blind People

For somebody who is blind, the first step above is not practical. But the idea behind the first step is to spot points in the physical universe in a manner that gives orientation and certainty.

So a blind person would need to do the equivalent action, which would probably be to feel specific points on an object until he had physical certainty. Then he would step back and do the second process.

In other words, he would first spot points physically and then spot them mentally. The spotting does not really have to be by means of vision. It is presented in terms of vision because that will be easiest for most people, but there are often many ways to achieve the same result.

People with severe handicaps who are trying to do this book will run into the occasional process which is impractical due to their disability. In those cases, the process should be adjusted (as in the above example) to aim at the same target using a variation which lets them work around the disability.

Just because somebody has a physical disability does not mean that they are incapable mentally. In some cases they will actually do better on advanced drills because they have more incentive to bypass the limitations of the body.

1.8 Summary

The entire family of attention processes are extremely useful in orienting yourself, expanding your mental space, and getting you back on an even keel when you are shaken up.

These are not just beginners processes. They go all the way up the scale, with clearer and broader perceptions as you become more advanced.

At this stage we are not shooting for full mastery. Learn the techniques, have some fun with them, get them down well enough to use them in an emergency, and move on to the next chapter. As you continue to advance, come back to this chapter occasionally and push your perceptions a little further each time.