Scientology Critical Information Directory

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Scientology's "Clear"

«A person audited enough to be free of the "bank," or reactive mind. (The sum of the memories of pain and unconsciousness the person has) A low-level superman-type person; a baby OT (Operating Thetan). "Samantha just had her Clear Certainty Rundown, and is now considered a clear!"» —  The ARS Acronym/Terminology FAQ v3.5 by Martin Hunt.
«Entirely by bringing about public conviction that the sanity of a person is in question it is possible to discount and eradicate all the goals and activities of that person.» — L. Ron Hubbard, "Brainwashing Manual", p. 20.

Channel 4 (UK, 1997): "Secret Lives - L. Ron Hubbard" @ XenuTV


"Secret Lives - L. Ron Hubbard" (hosted at XenuTV)

With his book, Dianetics, a best-seller, Ron Hubbard was America's new guru. In August 1950, at a lecture hall in Los Angeles he presented to a crowd of 6,000 the first person to be what he called a 'clear'. She was a student called Sonya Bianca. As a clear, she was supposed to have total recall.

JEAN COX: "Various members of the audience called questions at her. Could she remember what was said on page 217 of her physics textbook? She couldn't. Could she remember what she had for breakfast on the morning of August 17, 1946? She couldn't. Then various people called out for Hubbard to turn his back on her and see if she could remember the colour of his tie. She couldn't. At that moment, the whole business sort of collapsed. People started leaving the auditorium."

Suddenly Hubbard was in trouble. He was accused of being a con-man and Dianetics a form of hypnotism., a technique at which he was so expert.

Wikipedia: Clear (Scientology)

In Dianetics and Scientology, a subject (preclear) reaches Clear when they have removed all engrams (bad memories) from their reactive mind through the process of auditing.

Los Angeles Times (Jun. 1990): "The Making of L. Ron Hubbard - Chapter One: The Mind Behind the Religion" by Joel Sappell and Robert W. Welkos

Catapulted from obscurity, Hubbard decided in the summer of 1950 to prove in a big way that his new "science" was for real.

He appeared before a crowd of thousands at the Shrine Auditorium to unveil the "world's first clear," a person he said had achieved a perfect memory. Journalists from numerous newspapers and magazines were there to document the event.

He placed on display one Sonya Bianca, a young Boston physics major. But when Hubbard allowed the audience to question her, she performed dismally.

Someone, for example, told Hubbard to turn his back while the girl was asked to describe the color of his tie. There was silence. The world's first clear drew a blank.

DIANETICS by Prof. Martin Gardner

And last but not least, Dr. Winter was puzzled by the conspicuous absence of any clears. "I have yet to see a 'clear' before and after dianetic therapy," he writes. "I have not reached that state myself nor have I been able to produce that state in any of my patients. I have seen some individuals who are supposed to be 'clear,' but their behavior does not conform to the definition of the state. Moreover, an individual supposed to have been 'clear' has undergone a relapse into conduct which suggests an incipient psychosis."

Jeff Jacobsen (1992): "The Hubbard is Bare - The murky state of Clear"

It would seem that the first person to reach the state of Clear should stick out in history like a sore thumb. After all, a Clear -
  • never has colds or accidents,
  • has a soaring IQ,
  • total recall of his entire life from conception on,
  • has cancer (possibly) and other physical deficiencies repaired,
  • can compute in seconds what the average person needs 30 or more minutes for, and
  • is the first case of a truly rational person.

Jeff Jacobsen (1992): "The Hubbard is Bare - The ideal Dianetics society"

Hubbard's goal from the beginning was to "clear the planet", in other words, to see that everyone on earth became a clear. Up until the time that this happened, he envisioned a sharp demarcation in status between clears (real people) and pre-clears (deficient people). Only clears, for example, could marry and bear children.2 And if pre-clears did have children, they would most likely be taken away to avoid the "restimulative" affects that parents would have on the child.3

Scientology's claims about the state of "Clear"

Cyril Vosper: "The Mind Benders, Scientology -  Clear"

Usually the speeches were an exuberant eulogy to the wonders of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. Never did I hear a Clear speak in concrete terms of real life advancement. They spoke of money and of devoting their life to Scientology and of how they were sure they would never revert to their old ways of self-doubt. Yet it always seemed that a set formula was coming out from the smiling face. The speeches seemed contrived. "Now I am a Clear, I must be enthusiastic, happy, grateful and, above all, a true blue Scientologist." Thus, I felt, the Clears had persuaded themselves before their speech. Very sad.

Jeff Lee: "The Scientology Punchline: The Clear Cognition"

But here is the important part: the reactive mind is a concept of Dianetics and Scientology. Preclears are told that they have a reactive mind, and taught how to begin getting rid of it. They only begin "mocking it up" after they learn of its purported existence, often spending thousands of dollars to get rid of a nonexistent thing which they had no reason to believe even existed until they encountered Dianetics and Scientology.

ScientologyWatch.org FAQ: What is a Clear? [went offline it seems]

According to DMSMH, a Clear is one who has had his reactive mind (or 'bank') totally erased of engrams. Initially some rather incredible claims were made for the state of Clear -- a Clear, it was said, would be entirely free of any psychosomatic illnesses, have a vastly increased intelligence, a near perfect memory, have complete control over his bodily functions (the autonomous nervous system, in other words), have perfect eyesight, and would never catch a cold or become ill in any way.

Related topic: Dianetics