Phil Jones is back with a fun look at the thing that strikes fear into any Scientologist paying for courses at his or her local org.
What are Scientologists afraid of? Here’s one: Yawning during course study.
Yawning when reading something is seen as a sign of misunderstood words in Scientology. If a student is caught yawning, it may be flagged by the Course Supervisor. They can be pulled off course, put on an E-meter session for “word clearing,” then forced to restudy materials.
Word Clearing in Scientology means looking up all definitions of a word, looking up any words in the definition you might not understand, and then looking up words in that definition as needed. This could go on for hours as you went deeper and deeper down these word chains. Studying Hubbard’s dense and often confusing writings is difficult enough; clearing word chains and then redoing the material can feel like punishment.
Back in the '70s I was a course supervisor in the Academy at Scientology Toronto. One of our main activities was to watch students for manifesting any of the Hubbard Three Barriers to Study. (Misunderstood word, Skipped gradient, or Lack of Mass). The main one was always the misunderstood word. Hubbard even went so far as to state that one committed overts (harmful acts) because of an underlying misunderstood word. According to the Hubbard study materials one of the manifestations of a misunderstood was yawning. If you were studying and and started yawning, you were “boiling off unconsciousness” (I know, makes total sense, right?). So, the one main thing we looked for as a supervisor in the Scientology Academy was someone yawning.
We were trained to watch out for and pounce on any student who yawns, and could even spot someone stifling a yawn with Scientology-trained eagle eyes.
As a student in Scientology, I early on got nabbed by the course supervisor for yawning, pulled up to their desk and put on the E-meter. Even if I felt there was no word I went by that I didn't understand, it was a certainty with the supervisor that if I yawned, I had an M/U (misunderstood word). I could argue the point but eventually the E-meter dial would tick, the supervisor would say, “There!” and you'd have to blurt out some word so that you could escape the interrogation. The supervisor would then help you “Clear” the word (make you look it up, and understand it, using it in a sentence to prove to them you got it). Feeling quite pleased with themselves the supervisor would then make you go back to your table, restudy the materials, and continue on.
The whole thing was quite an ordeal and tiredness or lack of sleep was never a valid excuse for yawning. If you yawned on course you had a misunderstood word and that’s it.
I soon learned to stifle yawns. It became an art. Deep breath in, head down, breath out, mouth not too open. Glance up to see if you were spotted. Continue studying.
Then one day I was studying the Route to Infinity course on the Freewinds ship. I had barely slept the night before so I was fighting to stay awake. The yawns were coming fast and uncontrollably. I was soon spotted by the supervisor, who came over to check on me. He asked me what word I'd gone by and I told him I didn't go by any word but hadn't slept the night before. He acknowledged me and said why don't I go back to my cabin to get some sleep. I looked up at him, "What?" This was unheard of. He repeated himself so I got up, stumbled out of the courseroom and went back to my cabin.
I often wondered what might have happened to that guy. He certainly wasn't going overboard with the ‘study tech.’
— Phil Jones
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I never understood why I would get an anxiety stomach before going on course. When I woke up one day in November 2011 and knew I was done with Scientology, it was if I’d been on a chain gang 24/7 and I just permanently escaped to another country.
At that point I was under the radar for 6 years and I did go on course. It was a breeze as now I got to document all Hubbards half truths and lies. Going on course was now part of my deprogramming regimen.
I think I’m the only person I know who completed a major course while being under the radar and feeding Tony and Mike Rinder the latest Scientology news.
Studying Hubbards alphabet soup of whacko wisdom was now a breeze. No MUs because I understood Hubbards writing completely. I just looked for the lies and it was a piece of cake. No yawns just smirks and smiles.
Ask Claire about this sometime.
At the Int Base we always cranked the crazy to 11. It's just how we roll. And Claire was a Course Supervisor there early on.
Nobody at the Int Base got enough sleep. Just not how it goes. At times, they just gave up on study time and let us drive ourselves into an early grave 24/7. But sometimes study time was enforced.
Everybody was yawning the whole time, if they were not actively conked out. There are a lot of strategies. One is to get up to use the big dictionary on the podium. Feel a yawn coming on, get up and walk around for a bit. Or pretend to be on a "word chain" and go to the little library to "find a reference". I often found the Bible and snuck in a little Bible study on the side.
Anyway, Claire or another supervisor would eventually rat you out. And then you had to confess that the last time you slept was days ago. You would get assigned to file student papers in the Course Admin area or some such and be told in no uncertain terms that tomorrow you must be slept for study! Ha Ha.
The funniest part is that there was an Advice from Hubbard posted on the wall. It was about sleep. It basically said that going without sleep for extended periods was "so wonkers that it is bonkers". We called it the "Wonkers Bonkers" advice. Widely ignored and defied at the Int Base, because of course the world will collapse into chaos if we don't get 10,000 cassettes recorded that week.
At work now they wonder why I don't get upset if they need me to finish something an hour after quitting time. One hour! They've never had someone tell them they can't sleep until a three-week project is done. It is to laugh!