How Technology Gets Altered. How to prevent a tech to be altered into something unworkable.

Standard technology is an exact route. It takes a person from human being to the state of Clear. An incredible amount of research and trial-and-error went into finding that route. It was mainly done by R. Hubbard and published between 1950 and 1986. In the general field of the mind, if you take a world view, 99% of the research is unworkable advice and technology, and only about 1% is good technology. You are actually walking in territory that is mainly unexplored.

Fortunately there is this narrow route that does work. It would be irresponsible to just turn people loose without an experienced guide to guide them them to success. This is why it has to be stressed time and again that it has to be done by the book. The student is not supposed to do it as the course supervisor tells him to do it. It has to be done by the book: By the written materials. The student is always referred to the written materials when correction is needed or questions asked. This does not change after graduation. Following the written materials is the path to use, so as not to get lost. It is what keeps the technology consistent and workable over the years.

The "Hidden" Data Line
There is a phenomenon called the "Hidden" Data Line. It is an apparency and a bad line to follow. The way the technology is taught and passed on is through the recorded form. To use the recorded form prevents (or reduces to a minimum) alterations, misunderstandings and students having to depend on their memories.

If a course supervisor or case supervisor were to incorrectly give the student a lot of verbal instructions and "advice", the green student will think, "he really knows his stuff. I better do as he says".

The student may think that the supervisor has some other source of information that he, the student, does not have access to.

The truth is, all data is in written or recorded form. The correct way to teach and instruct a student is to point out the error and then give him the correct materials to study. To do it any other way will at some point cause alterations or misunderstandings and the workable and proven way to do it is at risk.

There is no Hidden Data Line. To introduce 'advice' and verbal explanations would make it seem there is such a line. The written text is not going to fade as memories do. You can't just turn around and say, "I didn't say that". It can be corrected, if in error, but the consistency and the possibility to restudy what was actually said or written is what makes it possible to study and get results in such an opinionated field as that of the mind and spirit.

Verbal Tech
Verbal tech means relaying the technology without using written or recorded materials; whether it is discussing it or getting advice from apparently well informed sources. All the information and data needed to produce Clears are in written and recorded form. The way to teach it and keep it in this workable form is to use only recorded materials. Questions to supervisors, instructors, and case supervisors deserve an answer, of course. The way to answer such questions is for the person in charge to give the student a written reference. As we have seen in the study manual, trying to overcome the student's non-comprehension with new and unusual expiations does little good. The original misunderstoods and skipped gradient actions are still unhandled. The thing to do is to find these and handle with Study Technology. Thus there is an important maxim:

if it isn't written it isn't true.

Here is how you defeat verbal tech:

If it isn't written it isn’t true.
If it's written, read it.
If you can't understand it, clarify it.
If you can't clarify it, clear the Misunderstood words.
If clearing the Misunderstoods won't handle it, query it.
Get it validated as a written order.
Force others to read it.
IF IT CAN’T BE RUN THROUGH AS ABOVE IT'S FALSE!

A Clearbird Footnote
The written materials of the technology can be compared with software code. Small errors can cause the program not to run or do mysterious things. Misunderstoods can cause similar phenomena in the student's mind. You may not agree with the apparently authoritative attitude in " Keeping Technology Working" and "How Technology Gets Altered" but the rules certainly apply to students and general practitioners. Since the field of the mind and the human spirit are so opinionated, and many constitutions guarantee your right to hold any opinion, it has to be stressed that a technology in this field is something new. It's a technology and as such there is little room for opinion. It is as a technology based on natural law and axioms, and doing it wrongly will punish the practitioner in the form of 'no results' or 'bad results'. The technology is under attack from many quarters, individuals, and schools of thought. It has to hold its ground and defend itself against being mixed up and made unworkable.

A textbook, such as this one and Clearbird's 'The Road to Clear', are by some seen as a violation of these issues. We have published the manuals as User's Manuals in the existing technology. The manuals have been scrutinized by experts; any bits that could be misunderstood or twisted have been ironed out. In case of any doubts we still refer the reader to R. Hubbard's works. The rule "If it isn't written it isn't true", then, also applies to students of Clearbird's Manuals. It prevents confusions and conflicting instructions. The student is only given one 'software program'; all the instructions, advice and any modifications are in recorded form. Misunderstoods can be found and handled. There are no attempts to rewrite the technology as technology. But, as with any software program, the practical rendition and the manuals have to be debugged and updated regularly just to be able to be understood by the users. The attempt is to communicate the existing technology to hopefully many new users and practitioners.

There is new research taking place in this field. We support that. The technology presented here is a workable technology, not necessarily perfect. This research is done by true professionals that have practiced the existing technology for years and years. Clearbird's manuals do not contain any of this research as it is outside the scope of a basic textbook. The basics of the technology are sound and solid and that is what a student has to learn first; it's a long and hard study all by itself. We have thus concentrated on the basic technology and have taken great care that no alterations of the technology itself has been accidentally introduced.