Scientology values ignorance as the greatest of all virtues. In fact you could see Scientology as nothing more than a means for LRH to remain ignorant about things he wished to ignore.
We see this quest for ignorance in Ron's own life- his fake learning and his ignorance of the scientific method. We see it in his willingness to fake an education and to pretend to have attended courses he was not bothered to attend. LRH would even boast of his ignorance on occasions. He was proud of the fact that he used the children's version of the Encyclopedia Britannica rather than the adult one, for instance.
Throughout all of Ron's writings we see that superficial knowledge is held to be more authentic than deep knowledge. True experts are always disparaged- especially literary reviewers and 'serious' writers. LRH saw himself as a true philosopher king who could view all of human knowledge and see the big picture that eluded everybody else. LRH thought he was only person who could see the wood for the trees.
In fact, for all of his preening LRH was a remarkably ignorant individual. He was not widely read (preferring trashy and sensationalist fiction rather like his own) and he never bothered to check his facts. This resulted in a whole series of howlers such as his belief that the sun was powered by nuclear fission, that Darwin believed that environmental characteristics could be inherited or that nicotine turned into nicotinic acid in the lungs. These are not difficult things to check and I am pretty sure that I knew all three were false by the age of 13 or so.
Why did LRH never bother to cure his ignorance? One reason may be that he could admit no greater authority than himself. Another may be that he incorporated ignorance into the fabric if Scientology itself.
Mere mortals such as myself learn things the hard way. This involves observing the real world and thinking about it. There is no short cut to understanding for the wog! We must study the works of other wogs because we lack the gift of 'knowingness'. Furthermore we believe the world is objective and not some sort of magical projection from our own minds. This means we must take facts seriously even if we do not like them.
Clears and OT's have a special licence to remain ignorant. This is because they have 'knowingness' which means they can make up things to suit them. Addicted to cigarettes? No problem! Simply decide they are good for you!
Furthermore Scientology does not even believe the world is real- it is simply an agreement between thetans. Why bother with actual reality if it does not really exist? Simply make stuff up!!
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