Why Audit Babies?
We are frequently asked about the subject of auditing babies. Very possibly your first question is why bother? This is what L. Ron Hubbard has to say on the subject:
It’s not that the baby is incapable
“But the funny part of it is, is the trouble with a baby is, is he’s having a little trouble with his motor control panel.
“He’s somebody that’s suddenly been put into a big bomber and he’s got to find the–it’s got eight engines and each one has got separate throttles and there’s fuel mixtures over here and there’s buttons, wheels, gyrometers, hydrostameters*.
“It’s terrific stuff. If anybody suddenly put you out here in one of these B-47s and said, ‘Well, take it out and land it again’–that’s a baby.
“It’s not that the baby is incapable, it’s just that the baby is not articulating and he’s not in control of the engine yet to any marked degree.”
– L. RON HUBBARD, from lecture The Emotional Curve 29 December 1951
*hydrostatameter: a made-up name for a type of meter. Hydro– means “water, liquid.” –stat means “something that stabilizes” and meter means “a measuring device.” There are various devices called “hydrostats” and “hydrometers” used for measuring and controlling water and/or other liquids.
Doesn’t matter that the kid can’t answer you
“You process a one-day-old baby; start the session! Doesn’t matter that the kid can’t answer you. That has no bearing on it at all.
“Start the session. Audit the child in a proper auditing room. Use communication bridges when you change the process. Bridge out of the session and end the session smoothly when the process is flat.”– L. RON HUBBARD, from lecture Child Scientology 7 July 1957
The baby can understand almost anything
“Now, here’s somebody that’s got a wonderful experience coming. It’s everyone’s assumption — I never jump on anybody for not knowing — but it’s a wonderful assumption to say a little baby cannot understand you. As long as you make that assumption, they won’t. But the very funny part of it is that most of them have just gotten through a life of being erudite and they’re tired of it. And they’ll fake it as long as they can. But if you talk to them as though they understand you, they very rapidly do.
“That’s been one of the more interesting experiences that every auditor has had in handling children, in handling babies and so forth. What can the baby understand? Well, the baby can understand almost anything.”– L. RON HUBBARD, from lecture Child Scientology 7 July 1957
Grant beingness to the baby.
A very key point you should have down pat as a stable datum underneath whatever you do with a baby is from HCOB 20 Dec 58, Processing a New Mother:
“Then the next important thing for a baby is to know he or she is winning. Don’t expect him or her to do more than a baby can do. Grant beingness to the baby.
“After all, you must remember what this being has just been through,… a child is somebody that’s just trying to get over a death which might have been easy and might have been violent. He’s just trying to recover from having shed all of his responsibilities. He’s trying desperately to reorient himself in existence.”– L. RON HUBBARD, from lecture 23 of The State of Man Congress