BEFORE READING the online edition of the manual, we highly recommend reading the first page of the TROM 101 series if you haven't done so already.
At the bottom of that webpage, there will be a link to return you right back here.

Wisdom begins when the urge to understand games becomes greater than the urge to play them.

-D.H.S

I’d like to acknowledge my debt of thanks to the world’s great philosophers, artists, and men of compassion, past and present, who reminded me of man’s better qualities. Particularly to George Boole, the man who took logic out of the esoteric and brought it into the realm of a mathematical calculus understandable by a second-year algebra student.

I would like to acknowledge my special debt of thanks to L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Dianetics and Scientology, the man who took psychology out of the brain and gave it back to the people. I was privileged to work with Dr. Hubbard during the formative years of his subjects, and he alone kindled the spark within me the spark which said that sense could be made out of life, and that something could be done about it.

-D.H.S. Sept. 1979.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first drive mad.

-Euripides.

Those whom the gods wish to drive mad they first withhold the nature of life and games.

-D.H.S.

If all games are fun, and no game is reasonable, and if resolving the mind is a reasonable activity, then it is not a game, but that does not prevent it from being fun.

-D.H.S.

It is not necessary to believe the theory before the practical exercises will work for you; just hold it as a possibility, that is all. Even the fact that the practical works doesn’t make the theory right, for there’s a number of possible theories from which the practical could be derived. However, until such time as practical derived from theory is found not to work it is safe to regard the theory as useful. No more can be said of any theory. Also, its’ rightness or wrongness depends on how well it explains natural law, not what people think about it.

I know of no applications where this theory falls short of explaining observed phenomena. However, I’ll be the first to applaud any being who can explain all the facts with a simpler theory from which even more workable practical exercises can be derived. (Occam was an old friend of mine.)

Introduction to the 2025 Edition

Benefits of TROM Therapy

The Resolution of the Mind, better known as TROM, is not some pop psychology quick-fix. It’s not some peaceful activity where you sit on a mountain top and breathe a certain way. We’re not trying to start a religion, cult, guru-driven self-help movement or anything like that. There’s not going to be some advertisement woven into this book to sell you on professional services, retreats or seminars.

We’re talking about ending the games you’ve been playing for a very, very long time with a mind you’ve constructed on your own and built to perpetuate itself. It’s challenging. It’s dramatic. It can also be an absolute joy. I’m almost certain that a few weeks into your TROM practice you’ll consider it the greatest adventure of your life.

Through study and practice, one becomes more “in the now”, better able to perceive one’s surroundings and act in the present. Emotionally charged memories diminish into ones that you can calmly recall without upset. The guilt over one’s misdeeds and the anger over what others have done fades away. And the inner conflicts- the arguments one has with himself -are settled. These are the benefits that I’ve experienced and others have reported to me. There are other possible benefits but I’ll leave those as pleasant surprises to discover on your own.

With this book most anyone who is fluent in English, is of at least average intelligence, a high school graduate, and has the necessary self- discipline can at the very least understand and be able to perform TROM levels 1-3 without much trouble. This is substantial enough that if levels 1-3 are all you ever do, you will be better off than the majority of us on this planet.

Levels 4-5 are a more challenging study and even more of a challenge to perform. Don’t let this discourage you. Once you’ve reaped the rewards of finishing level three, you’ll be highly motivated to continue. In any case, 1-3 will take long enough so that you can study the rest of the subject at a comfortable pace.

If you are on medications, especially ones for a psychiatric condition, do not practice TROM until you are off of them. If you are an alcoholic, you’re going to have to lay off the booze for at least 24 hours before a TROM exercise session and commit to staying off the drinking for as long as you are performing them. But also keep in mind that the longer you do TROM, the less likely you are to crave alcohol. Dennis does mention in the main text how he knew of an alcoholic who was cured by the end of TROM Level Two.

If you have brain damage, these exercises may not work on you. If you have a severe psychiatric condition, you take a big risk doing these exercises solo. If you are in doubt as to whether or not you are up to tackling your mind solo, you need not worry. The first set of exercises also serve as a test to see if you are.

TROM, unlike psychotherapy, is mostly used by ‘normal’ people to take them to spiritual states that are exceptional, as opposed to taking people to the level of ‘normal’ and stopping there. After all, ‘normal’ people still have their problems! Lost lovers one can’t force out of their mind. Arguing with others inside one’s head. Periods of one’s life one can’t recall as easily as others. Daydreaming to the point where one can’t function as well at their job as they should or pay enough attention when they drive. None of these things would necessarily inspire one to see a psychologist but they are problems that are quite real, nonetheless.

Others around you may have issues with you doing TROM. Either they don’t understand it, or take some sort of advantage in keeping you in the dark. Since TROM is self-studied and self-applied, you can keep it a secret. It’s best you do, at least in the beginning. Wait until someone says something to you like, “Wow, you seem so much happier and calmer than you used to be. What changed?” and then invite them to read this book.

If you are so upset about Scientology that you can’t look at anything remotely related to it, now’s the time to get over that because all of the reasons you don’t like Scientology are the very reasons to embrace TROM. Strictly speaking, TROM is not Scientology. The Church of Scientology itself forbids its members to practice it, and that alone should tell you enough. It does build on some Scientology fundamentals you’ll need to understand but that’s what I’m here for- to explain some of them to you so you won’t have to enroll on a course in a Scientology Academy just to understand TROM.

In the years following the release of Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health, Dennis Stephens progressively became more aware of how the goal of a ‘cleared planet’ (one without insanity, criminality, and war) would be impossible to achieve if everyone had to get professional services to achieve that. There had to be a way in which one could administer the techniques that resolve the mind and spirit to one’s self. Dennis believed Hubbard thought the same.

In the 1970s, after leaving the Church Dennis developed a unique therapy that would enable someone to resolve one’s spiritual condition operating solo from beginning to end. Dennis did this in the spirit of trying to help Hubbard and his Church, not to rival him or it. Unfortunately, when he completed his initial research and was ready to share it, it was during a time when Hubbard could be reached by only a few. TROM never made it into the Scientology curriculum as Dennis intended, so he released it to the public instead.

And there lies the fundamental issue.

Dennis was a researcher- not a writer, an editor, a publisher or book promoter. He did not have a reputation or a money-filled organization to back him like Hubbard did. Instead of releasing a bestseller that got millions interested in his subject like Hubbard did with Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health, Dennis released a work that confused most who read it, and few people even knew about.

I am not some hotshot who read Dennis’ works and then thought how cool it would be to tell everyone else about it. I am a former Scientology Course Supervisor who began his study in 1987 then after leaving the Church in 2018 I began my TROM study and then practiced it regularly for several years during which I corresponded with other Trommers who advised me on how to practice it and then I turned around and started helping other Trommers achieve my new level of understanding.

TROM is the only Scientology alternative I recommend without reservation. I have checked Dennis’ theories against my own understanding of the mind and spirit and have performed every exercise described in this book and I am more than satisfied with the results.

I wish I could thank Dennis personally for his contributions to what I like to call “Spiritual Technology”. I can’t because he passed away before I ever even heard of TROM. Instead, I now express my gratitude with this user-friendly edition of The Resolution of Mind* a Games Manual, which I have re-titled “TROM 2023: The Resolution of the Mind a Games Manual” so there’s no confusion between the original manuscript and this enhanced edition. I offer it for free, as Dennis did with the original text that this book is based on.

*If anyone knows why it was called “The Resolution of Mind” instead of “The Resolution of the Mind” please tell me. My only theory right now is that it was the original transcriber’s omission.

Notes on Compilation

At the end of the original manuscript, Dennis wrote:

I offer you a route out. There may well be other routes out; if there are I know not of them after many lifetimes of searching. The fortuitous combination of games matrix* and circumstances that permitted me to discover this route at this time may not ever happen to me again; and others too could easily overlook it. So don’t lose this data, for it may be many lifetimes before you come across it again - if you ever do.

The data is quite free. I only ask two things:

1) You use the data.

2) When you duplicate the data, you duplicate it exactly. Not because I am enamored with my prose style, but because altered it could very easily become just another trap in a universe already abundantly endowed with them.

*Matrix: an environment or material in which something develops; a surrounding

medium or structure:

"Free choices become the matrix of human life"

I know why Dennis wrote that. Throughout history, those who desire to keep others in the dark have altered spiritual teachings to suit their own ends. But at the same time, by demanding his text be duplicated exactly, he doomed his subject to obscurity.

I admire Dennis for all of his hard work, his ingenious theories and clever methods for resolving man’s spiritual condition. But I have this one complaint about him in that his book not only does not communicate

his subject in any way the average person can understand, but he insists it only be transmitted the way he wrote it and thus perpetuates the confusion regarding his subject.

And this is why as early as 2019, a few months into my TROM study and practice, I posted a study guide and glossary on the TROM forum to help the layman along. Then after a few years of practicing TROM, in November of 2022 I started a YouTube channel to demonstrate TROM theory and practice. In 2023, I released an improved version of the manual. In 2024 I launched BetterTROM.com and put an edition of TROM 2023 on that site which is a series of web pages containing the text side-by-side with the videos I had produced explaining some passages of the text.

This new edition that you are reading now has the same benefits of the previous one, which are:

-The order of data is re-arranged so that the simpler theory is introduced first, and the advanced theory is introduced later. I made sure to include all of Dennis’ original text. It’s all there, just re-organized.

-Helpful annotations.

-A complete, beginner-friendly, layman-friendly glossary.

-Illustrations.

-Key data from lectures Dennis recorded in the 1990s clarifying and expanding on his original text.

-An editor’s chapter wherein I explain in plain English one of the more difficult aspects of TROM theory.

-proofreading and error correction.

-I moved difficult passages that were not absolutely necessary to the understanding of and practice of TROM to the appendix. These include passages about the e-meter (the electronic instrument used in Scientology) and the Boolean Algebra (a logic system) equations. Dennis says himself you don’t need an e-meter to get through TROM, and you don’t need to understand Boolean Algebra. You only need know the conclusions he arrived at, and how to do the exercises, and that’s it.

In the past two years since releasing TROM 2023 I’ve had the benefit of reviewing the work once in a while and making an improvement to it here and there, such as adding some annotations, illustrations, and even correcting a misplaced comma or two that I missed on the initial proofreading. I’ve gotten invaluable feedback from readers as well.

TROM has been around since 1978, and I can only imagine how many people have missed out on its benefits because of its poor presentation.

Well, NO MORE OF THAT, I say!

If you have trouble with advanced concepts, then go back and find what fundamental concept you need to clarify that helps you understand the more advanced one.

If after all that you still have trouble, write me at Roger@BetterTROM.com or TROMGuides@Gmail.com with your query. If I don’t get back to you in a timely manner, assume I am in the hospital, detained, dead, or otherwise inconvenienced. I am also working on finding someone else to answer questions from readers if someday I’m no longer able.

How to Use this Book

Make it your priority to read up to the end of the chapter on TROM Level Two. Then perform Level One as soon as possible, and if you are successful with that, go right on to Level Two. I’ve designed this book to be fairly easy reading up to that point so you can get started right away.

While on level two, learn about level three. Before finishing Level Three, make sure to read this book regularly without taking time away from your exercises until you are finished.

You do not need to know the whole subject, understand or even agree with all its theory to do levels 1-2, you need only be able to follow the instructions precisely.

Theory that seems unreal to you at first will click with you while performing the exercises. I have had many moments while during a session I will say to myself, “Oh, that’s what Dennis meant”.

Thank you for your patience in reading my rambling introduction. 

I now present to you this special online edition of TROM 2023!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TROM 101