When you look at a broad field or area it is quite overwhelming to have to find a small sector that might be out.

The lazy and popular way is to generalize “They’re all contused.’’ “The organization is rickety.” “They’re doing great.”

Correction of things which are not wrong and neglecting things which are not right puts the tombstone on any org or civilization.

That’s all very well but it doesn’t get you much of anywhere.

In auditing when one reviews or “corrects” a case that is running well, one has trouble. It is made trouble.

The way to observe so as to find out what to observe is by discarding areas.

Similarly on the third dynamic, correcting situations which do not exist and neglecting situations which do exist can destroy a group.

This in fact was the system I used to make the discoveries which became Dianetics and Scientology.

All this boils down to CORRECT INVESTIGATION. It is not a slight skill. It is THE basic skill behind any intelligent action.

It was obvious to me that it would take a few million years to examine all of life to find out what made it what it was.

The first step was the tough one. I looked for a common denominator that was true for all life forms. I found they were attempting to survive.

When justice goes astray (as it usually does) the things that have occurred are

With this datum I outlined all areas of wisdom or knowledge and discarded those which had not much assisted Man to survive.

1. Use of justice for some other purpose than public safety (such as maintaining a privileged group or indulging a fixed idea) or

This threw away all but scientific methodology, so I used that for investigatory procedure.

2. Investigatory procedure.

Then, working with that, found mental image pictures. And working with them, found the human spirit as different from them.

All suppressive use of the forces of justice can be traced back to one or the other of these.

By following up the workable one arrived at the processing actions which, if applied, work, resulting in the increase of ability and freedom.

Aberrations and hate very often find outlet by calling them “justice” or “law and order.” This is why it can be said that Man cannot be trusted with justice.

By following up the causes of destruction one arrived at the points which had to be eradicated.

This or just plain stupidity brings about a neglect of intelligent investigatory procedures. Yet all third dynamic sanity depends upon correct and unaberrated investigatory procedures. Only in that way can one establish causes of things. And only by establishing causes can one cease to be the effect of unwanted situations.

This is of course short-handing the whole cycle enormously. But that is the general outline.

It is one thing to be able to observe. It is quite another to utilize observations so that one can get to the basis of things.

Survival has been isolated as a common denominator to successful actions and succumb has been found as the common denominator of unsuccessful actions. So one does not have to reestablish these.

From there, to discover anything bad or good, all one has to do is discard sterile areas to get a target necessary for investigation.

Investigations become necessary in the face of outpoints or pluspoints.

One looks broadly at the whole scene. Then discards sections of it that would seem unrewarding. He will then find himself left with the area that contains the key to

Investigations can occur out of idle curiosity or particular interest. They can also occur to locate the cause of pluspoints.

it.This is almost easier done than described.

Whatever the motive for investigation the action itself is conducted by sequences.

Example: One has the statistics of a nine division org. Eight are normal. One isn’t. So he investigates the area of that one. In investigating the one he discards all normal bits. He is left with the abnormal one that is the key.

If one is incapable mentally of tracing a series of events or actions, one cannot investigate.

This is true of something bad or something good.

Altered sequence is a primary block to investigation.

A wise boy who wanted to get on in life would discard all the men who weren’t getting on and study the one who was. He would come up with something he could use as a key.

At first glance, omitted data would seem to be the block. On the contrary, it is the end product of an investigation and is what pulls an investigation along — one is looking for omitted data.

A farmer who wanted to handle a crop menace would disregard all the plants doing all right and study the one that wasn’t. Then, looking carefully he would disregard all the should be’s in that plant and wind up with the shouldn’t be. He’d have the key.

An altered sequence of actions defeats any investigation. Examples: We will hang him and then conduct a trial. We will assume who did it and then find evidence to prove it. A crime should be provoked to find who commits them.

Sometimes in the final look one finds the key not right there but way over somewhere else.

Any time an investigation gets back to front, it will not succeed.

The boy, studying the successful man, finds he owed his success to having worked in a certain bank seven states away from there.

Thus if an investigator himself has any trouble with seeing or visualizing sequences of actions he will inevitably come up with the wrong answer.

The farmer may well find his hired man let the pigs out into the crop.

Reversely, when one sees that someone has come up with a wrong or incomplete answer one can assume that the investigator has trouble with sequences of events or, of course, did not really investigate.

But both got the reason why by the same process of discarding wider zones.

One can’t really credit that Sherlock Holmes would say “I have here the fingerprint of Mr. Murgatroyd on the murder weapon. Have the police arrest him. Now, Watson, hand me a magnifying glass and ask Sgt. Doherty to let us look over his fingerprint files.”

Pluspoints or outpoints alike take one along a sequence of discoveries.

If one cannot visualize a series of actions, like a ball bouncing down a flight of stairs or if one cannot relate in proper order several different actions with one object into a proper sequence, he will not be able to investigate.

Once in a purple moon they mix or cross.

If one can, that’s fine.

Example: Gross income is up. One discards all normal stats. Aside from gross income being up only one other stat is down — new names. Investigation shows that the public executives were off post all week on a tour and that was what raked in the money. Conclusion — send out tours as well as man the public divisions.

But any drilling with attention-shifting drills will improve one’s ability to visualize sequences. Why? Stuck attention or attention that cannot confront alike will have trouble in visualizing sequences.

Example: Upset is coming from the camp kitchen. Obvious outpoints. Investigation discloses a 15-year-old cook holding the job solo for 39 field hands! Boy is he pluspoint. Get him some help!

In HCO Policy Letter 11 May 1965 Ethics Officer Hat, HCO Policy Letter 1 Sept 1965 Issue VII, HCO Policy Letter 1 Feb 1966 Issue II and pages 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Manual of Justice, the subject of investigation as applied to justice is given.

Having attention dragged into an area is about the way most people “investigate.” This puts them at effect throughout.

It will be noted that these are sequences of actions.

When a man is not predicting he is often subjected to outpoints that leap up at him. Conversely when outpoints leap up at one unexpectedly he knows he better do more than gape at them. He is already behindhand in investigating. Other signs earlier existed which were disregarded.

Neglect of these items or a failure to know and follow them led here and there to suppressive uses of justice or to permitting orgs to be suppressed by special interest groups in the society.

Indeed, had these been in and followed we would have had a great deal less trouble than we did.

The usual error in viewing situations is not to view them widely enough to begin with.

But investigation is not monopolized by law and order.

One gets a despatch which says Central Files don’t exist.

All betterment of life depends on finding out pluspoints and why and reenforcing them, locating outpoints and why and eradicating them.

By now keeping one’s attention narrowly on that, one can miss the whole scene.

This is the successful survival pattern of living. A primitive who is going to survive does just that and a scientist who is worth anything does just that.

To just order Central Files put back in may fail miserably. One has been given a single observation. It is merely an outpoint: Central Files omitted.

The fisherman sees seagulls clustering over a point on the sea. That’s the beginning of a short sequence, point No. 1. He predicts a school of fish, point No. 2. He sails over as sequence point No. 3. He looks down as sequence point No. 4. He sees fish as point No. 5. He gets out a net as point No. 6. He circles the school with the net, No. 7. He draws in the net, No. 8. He brings the fish on board, No. 9. He goes to port, No. 10.

There is no WHY.

He sells the fish, No. 11. That’s following a pluspoint — cluster of seagulls.

You follow up “no CF” and you may find the Registrar is in the Public Division and Letter Registrars never go near a file and the category of everyone in CF is just “been tested.” You really investigate and you find there’s no HCO Exec Sec or Dissem Sec and there hasn’t been one for a year.

A sequence from an outpoint might be: Housewife serves dinner. Nobody eats the cake, No. 1, she tastes it, No. 2, she recognizes soap in it, No. 3. She goes to kitchen, No. 4. She looks into cupboard, No. 5. She finds the soap box upset, No. 6. She sees the flour below it, No. 7. She sees cookie jar empty, No. 8. She grabs young son, No. 9. She shows him the set-up, No. 10. She gets a confession, No. 11. And No. 12 is too painful to describe.

The cycle of “outpoint, correct, outpoint, correct, outpoint, correct” will drown one rapidly and improve nothing! But it sure makes a lot of useless work and worry.

Unsuccessful investigators think good fish catches are sent by God and that when cake tastes like soap it is fate. They live in unsuccessful worlds of deep mystery.

They also hang the wrong people

Wisdom is not a fixed idea.

It is knowing how to use your wits.

All discoveries are the end product of a sequence of investigatory actions that begin with either a pluspoint or an outpoint.

Thus all knowledge proceeds from pluspoints or outpoints observed.

And all knowledge depends on an ability to investigate.

And all investigation is done in correct sequence.

And all successes depend upon the ability to do these things.