Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Dianetics - the hook

Nicole and I worked together as waitresses at the same restaurant. I'd only recently moved to Toronto with my boyfriend, and was happy to have found a friend at work, someone who was interesting and cheerful.

After a time, the conversation swung around to Dianetics. Had I read it? No. Would I like to? Sure.

I recently read Jon Atack's recounting of reading Dianetics, and it all came back to me: the excitement, the exhilaration, the possibilities - the hope. I was hooked.

Here's the premise: Man is basically good. The problem is that he has a "held down 7". Think of a calculator: If the 7 is always held down, all the calculations will be incorrect.

Here's how it works. We experience a painful incident accompanied by some degree of unconsciousness. Specifics about our environment and any conversation that takes place around us during that time are faithfully recorded by the reactive mind (the subconscious).

If we later find ourselves in a similar environment, or if we hear language similar to what was used when we were unconscious, our reactive mind will try to warn us that we're in danger and will cause us to "key in" - i.e., experience pain, discomfort, or emotions similar to what we experienced in the first incident.

The example is given of a little fish being bitten on the tail by a larger fish. The sun is low in the sky, the water is murky, the temperature is 68. The little fish gets away, but he's distraught and in pain.

Some time later, he finds himself in a similar environment: sun low in the sky, murky water, temperature 68. And although there are no other fish around, the little fish becomes uneasy. When he doesn't swim away, his unease turns to panic, and he feels a sharp pain in his tail. Not until he swims out of that "dangerous" area do his symptoms subside.

And so all that has to happen to unstick (or clear) our stuck down 7s is to revisit and release the pain and unconsciousness from those past incidents and, presto, we're sane, happy, and healthy.

Makes perfect sense, right? What could be more reasonable?

CAVEAT: LRH makes it clear in Dianetics that there's no way to tell the difference between an actual memory and a fabricated memory. So what happens when the person has a "memory" that they think may be false? It's not up to the auditor to validate or verify. It's up to the auditor to accept whatever the person says on the premise that "What's true for you is what's true for you." And this will have far-reaching ramifications down the line.

NOTE: If you compare Dianetics to Science and Sanity by Alfred Korzybski, you will see astonishing similarities. Korzybski died in March 1950. Dianetics was published in May 1950. Hmm...

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