The Bridge to Total Freedom

In 1950, L. Ron Hubbard wrote Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. In it, he used the analogy of bridge engineering: "We are here at a bridge between one state of Man and a next. We are above the chasm which divides a lower from a higher plateau and this chasm marks an artificial evolutionary step in the progress of Man. [...] In this handbook we have the basic axioms and a therapy which works. For God's sake, get busy and build a better bridge!"^[3][4]: 13

In 1965, Hubbard codified his "Bridge" as a more systematic approach to moving Scientologists to the state of Clear. Hubbard added a series of steps he called "releases" which handled memory, communication, problems, "overts and withholds" (sins, crimes and secrets), upsets, and justifications for failure. The steps were numbered Grade 0 through Grade IV, and each step had a specific ability gained.^{[4][5][2]: 302}

The Bridge to Total Freedom is displayed as a large wall chart, printed with red ink on white paper.^[6] There are two main columns: "Training" on the left and "Processing" on the right.^[7][8]

Scientology's Bridge is divided into two tracks: the auditing track, by which members advance through the various levels of enlightenment, and the training track, by which members learn to audit others. Hubbard envisioned Scientologists progressing on both tracks, often simultaneously, and all Scientologists are required to learn how to audit in order to advance to the upper levels.^[9]: 212

— Janet Reitman

A newcomer to Scientology starts the Bridge at the bottom of the chart and rises through the levels, perhaps reaching the level of Clear, then continuing upward through the OT Levels to higher states of awareness and ability.^{[1]: 134–135}

The section near the bottom of the chart covers the various routes onto the Bridge which can include a communication course, a life improvement course, introductory auditing, and other basic services.^{[10]: 82, 99 [11]} The far left margin lists extra training courses that are available but which are not required for going up the Bridge. Likewise, the far right margin lists extra auditing processes that a Scientologist can do that are not part of the steps up the Bridge.^[12]

The terms "The Bridge to Total Freedom" and "Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart" are synonymous with each other, with the Bridge being used more to express the concept of the steps and the chart name being used more to refer to the diagram on the wall.^[13][14] The word Classification refers to the large left column, "Training". Once a student has completed one of these training levels, he becomes a classed auditor. For example, completing the Class II course, a student becomes a Class II auditor. The word Gradation refers to the large right column, "Processing". In the 1965 version of the Bridge, a much less comprehensive chart than is used today, the beginning Scientologist would move up through the "grades" to Clear. The word Awareness refers to the center area between the two large columns where there are 52 levels of awareness from Unexistence at the very bottom up to the state of Clear.^[5]

The training and processing sides go hand-in-hand for each level of the chart. For example, a student completing the Class III course is qualified to audit someone on Grade III, and two students can train on a level and then co-audit each other. Likewise, a Scientologist wanting to participate in Grade III will need an auditor who has trained at least to Class III.^[5]

Although the chart lists 15 OT levels above the state of Clear,^[10] only seven were released during Hubbard's lifetime.^[1]: 101 OT VIII was released to the public in 1988, two years after Hubbard's 1986 death — to be performed only on Scientology's ship Freewinds.^[2]: 126 According to interviews performed by Rinder, Scientologists have described OT VIII as "less than overwhelming".^[2]: 126

Many who had spent decades and hundreds of thousands of dollars to reach the pinnacle of the scientology Bridge were so disgusted when they finally got there that it was the last thing they did in scientology.^[2]: 126

— Mike Rinder

Since 1986, Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige has dangled the hope of OT IX and X being released in the future, pending certain conditions, which have shifted over time. It has been widely reported that OT IX and X do not exist.^{[15][9]: 153 [2]: 126–127}

Though many Scientologists only ascend the processing side of the Bridge, Hubbard maintained that a person needed to receive auditing and give counseling to another; that 50% of the gains in Scientology were achieved through training as an auditor.^[9]: 277

All steps on the Bridge cost money.^{[2]: 67–68}

Former Scientologist Mike Rinder writes in his book, "In the scientology world, the carrot of ultimate spiritual enlightenment and happiness keeps the donkeys moving up the Bridge and, of course, paying more money. Nothing is free in scientology. Every level of the Bridge has an exact cost, with prices growing steeper the higher one ascends. [A high level called] NOTs also became a huge moneymaker."^{[2]: 67–68}

Costs at the lowest (beginning) end of the Bridge can be quite inexpensive, with the costs rising the higher you go on the Bridge. The cost of going up the Bridge has risen drastically over the years. In the late 1960s, shortly after the first OT levels were released, prices ranged from $75 to $875 per OT level.^{[1]: 135–136} In the 1970s, the price for a complete OT package was around $3,000.^[9]: 101 By the 1990s, prices had risen to several thousand and even tens of thousands per level, with a conservative estimate of $300,000–$400,000 to complete up to OT VIII (in 1991 dollars).^{[1]: 135–136}

Costs inflate further when the Church of Scientology orders Scientologists to re-do one or several steps they have already done, or management releases a new version of an old step, such as was done with OT VIII almost immediately after release. Both practices are fairly common.^{[2]: 126, 251}

• Auditing - the counseling processes in Scientology
• Clear - the state of a person without a reactive mind
• Operating Thetan - a state of being with a high level of ability and awareness

• "The Bridge to Total Freedom : Scientology Classification Gradation and Awareness Chart of Levels and Certificates" (Chart). Church of Scientology. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019.