From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 5 - March 1992
 
Classic Comment
By Terry E. Scott, England

Key Code

When I came across Scientology and began reading one book after 
another, I soon discovered the Auditor's Code. That was in 1956, and 
the Code was in its 1954 version. This impressed me tremendously at 
the time, and still does. It is not for auditors alone.

In a sense, the earlier versions of the Auditor's Code are clearer 
than the later ones. Less complexity, more integrity. None of the "I 
promise to..." because, I suppose, it was more or less taken for 
granted that you would follow the precepts given. Of -course- one 
would do whatever that item of the Code stated, for those were the 
methods that worked best.

Above all, what really got through to me was the high philosophical 
level.

Just imagine the effect on a 17-year-old who had spent years in school 
under dogmatic teachers. The nineteen-fifties, remember. Sentences 
such as "Do not evaluate for the preclear" had a mighty ring, and 
deserved to be written large on the best parchment.

Good Lord, what a tremendous change of viewpoint. How amazing, 
refreshing, wonderful, that someone would boldly write these words and 
demand they be carried out in auditing sessions. I felt that the 
Auditor's Code should be used broadly in life, not merely in session. 
It could be adapted. Besides, what would be the point in refraining 
from telling a preclear in session that he was silly, and then 
informing him so outside the auditing room?

The second line of the Auditor's Code 1954 was just as inspiring as 
the first. "Do not invalidate or correct the preclear's data". This 
was indeed another ethic that could be understood and applied to one's 
fellows generally, as well as when auditing. It was far and away from 
the practice of most people at the time, in societies in which inval 
was a way of life - more so, I would say, than today.

Interestingly, later versions of the Code do suggest one should not 
invalidate the pc in or out of session.

Probably those two lines of the Code are the greatest of its several 
vital components. 

The Auditor's Code is remarkable. It sprang from L. Ron Hubbard's 
discoveries of what was the best way to conduct a session, yes; but 
also it came from a remarkable ethic.