Well, it's time for us to finally take the plunge and lose the cherry that we call our sanity. Here we go...
SUMMARY
There are several axioms within the study of Dianetics...
SURVIVE! - This is the key command given to all things.
THE PURPOSE OF THE MIND IS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS RELATING TO SURVIVAL.
THE MIND DIRECTS THE ORGANISM, THE SPECIES, ITS SYMBIOTES, OR LIFE IN THE EFFORT OF SURVIVAL.
THE MIND, AS THE CENTRAL DIRECTION SYSTEM OF THE BODY, POSES, PERCEIVES AND RESOLVES PROBLEMS OF SURVIVAL AND DIRECTS OR FAILS TO DIRECT THEIR EXECUTION.
THE PERSISTENCY OF THE INDIVIDUAL IN LIFE IS DIRECTLY GOVERNED BY THE STRENGTH OF HIS BASIC DYNAMIC.
INTELLIGENCE IS THE ABILITY OF AN INDIVIDUAL, GROUP OR RACE TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS RELATING TO SURVIVAL.
The rest of the chapter elaborates on the meaning of these axioms, which I will further discuss in the following section.
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As soon as you begin reading, L. Ron throws his first brainwashing curveball. He never fails to mention that Dianetics is supposedly thoroughly researched, but always fails to support proof that he has, indeed, done any work. For example, the first sentence is this...
Dianetics is a heuristic science built upon axioms.
Here's where the brand spanking new glossary by the Golden Age of Knowledge comes in. Heuristic is defined as "using experimentation, evaluation or trial-and-error methods; involving investigation and conclusions based on invariable workability". Of course, this leaves a lot to be desired, such as a little thing called proof. Next, there's this little gem which once again confronts the disclaimer in the book's very own cover.
The only claim made for these axioms is that by their use certain definite and predictable results can be obtained."A claim? But L. Ron Hubbard did no such thing! This is fact!"
Is Xenu gonna have to choke a thetan?
Moving on, Hubbard talks about how Dianetics works in its organization and axioms, stating this in the process.
There are no principal sources and where a practice or a principle is borrowed from some past school, the connection is usually accidental and does not admit andy further use or validity of that school. Dianetics will work, and can only be worked, when regarded and used as a unity. When diluted by broader applications of older practices, it will no longer produce results. To avoid confusion and prevent semantic difficulties, new and simplified terminology had been used and is used only as defined herein.
Translation: "Oh, this is all my doing. I didn't steal traits of Dianetics from Freud or any others of the evil psychs. And if you do it any other way than what I tell you, you fail at life. And let's make up some new words as we go along! Engram, preclear, A=A=A=A=A..."
Hubbard explains that Dianetics is a family of sciences, but doesn't go further in explaining anything more than what he lays out in this book, which is the form of Dianetics that cures psychosomatic ills, or sicknesses caused purely by the mind. He doesn't enter into it here, but Scientology believes that %70 of all diseases is psychosomatic - including AIDS, according to Jenna Elfman.
Hubbard divides knowledge into two sections, Knowable and Unknowable. Here lies a cunning piece of work by Hubbard; he defines Knowable as all the information relevant to their studies, and unknowable as information not relevant. Not only does this place a major focus on Dianetics itself (and take it away from matters like family and friends), but it also attempts to seperate itself from Scientology itself by stating...
By thus splitting the broad field of thought, we need not now concern ourselves with such indefinites as spiritualism, deism, telepathy, clairvoyance or, for instance, the human soul.
I've done a bit of reading ahead in regards to Scientology's beliefs, and the thetan, or soul, is regarded in L. Ron's earlier works as the concept of "I", or one's self, which is discussed later in this book. Caught you again, Scientology.
So for all of the knowable data, our first axiom of Scientology applies. The first axiom is the now-infamous command, "SURVIVE!" According to Hubbard, by knowing this as the basic command of the universe, one can visualize it as the purpose of all energy of the universe.
The various kingdoms have this as their lowest common denominator, for animals, vegetables and minerals are all striving for survival.
I didn't know rocks strive for survival. I thought they were just...well, rocks.
So as the various minerals formed colonies, the colonies came together to form an aggregation, each colony taking on a different role for the greater good of the rest, and pretty soon they all became controlled by a central control system which would eventually become the mind. (That's funny; where does Xenu fit in all of this?) Since the mind is formed to control the aggregate body, and the goal of this body is survival, then the second axiom is "THE PURPOSE OF THE MIND IS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS RELATING TO SURVIVAL."
The greatest win in the goal of survival is living forever, "at its unimaginable extreme" as Hubbard puts it. The greatest failure is - of course - death. In between the two is simply existing, and there are many different amounts and variations throughout. (Seriously, where the hell is Xenu?) Hence, this forms a gradient from death to immortality, with success heading upwards and failure heading downwards. In order to achieve success, one has to solve problems and keep their assets around, or else face death. Thusly, "THE MIND DIRECTS THE ORGANISM, THE SPECIES, ITS SYMBIOTES, OR LIFE IN THE EFFORT OF SURVIVAL."
Taking a hint from Darwin, Hubbard proclaims that survival is the greatest test of an organism, and even if an organism's actions fail (Alright, I get it already; there is no Xenu in the Original Thesis. Wait for OT III.), it was still nonetheless motivated by the instinct to survive. Next axiom, please. "THE MIND, AS THE CENTRAL DIRECTION SYSTEM OF THE BODY, POSES, PERCEIVES AND RESOLVES PROBLEMS OF SURVIVAL AND DIRECTS OR FAILS TO DIRECT THEIR EXECUTION."
So in case you missed it, there's this contest of natural selection and we're part of it. Also, according to Hubbard, we're winning it on this planet. No seriously. See for yourself.
Man is the most siccessful organism currently in existence, at least on this planet. Man is currently winning in the perpetual cosmic election which possibly may select the thinker of the New Thought.
FINALLY WE GET SOME UFO JARGON. Not only is this incredibly creepy, it is also very much out of place in the context. At first we're talking about evolutionary history of the human mind, and now suddenly it's Xenu Time? And what is this "New Thought", anyway? Well, let's look it up in our handy-dandy glossary!
New Thought: literally, any of various philosophical and religious movements such as the New Thought movement (late 1800s) and its offshoots, holding that affirmative thought or the adoption of a favorable mental attitude results in beneficial changes in Man. Their workable optimisim was in contrast with the "old thought" of sin, evil and pessimistic resignation. Hence, "the thinker of the new thought," an individual or group that brings new, independent and constructive philosophic or religious insight or principles to Mankind.
Scientology deeply wants to disconnect Dianetics (pun intended, lulz) from its UFO-speak and religious status, but it's going to have a hard time if it keeps pulling stuff off like this. It's painfully obvious just reading the statement that something is not right about it fitting in with a "heuristic science".
Moving on, Mankind has evolved, and so has his mind, transforming into an 'analyzer', "which probably exists as his frontal lobe". You mean to tell me that you did all of this research, and you don't even know where the analyzer is? >_<>
The dynamic is variable from individual to individual or race to race.
That easily explains many of Hubbard's statements about black people ("Whuts'a mattah wid' you, hat?"), Chinese ("They smell of all the baths they didn't take...the problem with China is, there are too many chinks there."), and various others. They are inferior, therefore can't survive. Way to go, Mr. hubbard, you win our hypocrisy award!
So that gives way to the next axiom, "THE PERSISTENCY OF THE INDIVIDUAL IN LIFE IS DIRECTLY GOVERNED BY THE STRENGTH OF HIS BASIC DYNAMIC." And since each person's/race's success rate varies, we get the final axiom (Thank God and Raptor Jesus); "INTELLIGENCE IS THE ABILITY OF AN INDIVIDUAL, GROUP OR RACE TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS RELATING TO SURVIVAL."
Hubbard takes this opportunity to outline the 'fact' that wins toward survival are pleasurable, whereas failure isn't. Hence, according to him, pleasure is the sensation of winning, and likewise pain is failing. Then he throws another curveball.
For the purpose of Dianetics, good and evil must be defined.
Well, lucky for us, good and evil are impossible to define, so that means there is no Dianetics...wait...oh, God, he's going ahead anyway.
Good may be defined as constructive. Evil may be defined as destructive. (Definitions modified by viewpoint)
So wait a minute...if you must define good and evil in order to have Dianetics, yet these definitions must be modified by viewpoint, then that means each person must come up with their own version, meaning there is no unification, meaning that no one is following LRH the way he wants them to, meaning THERE IS NO DIANETICS.
Thankfully, we're done with this chapter, but we're far from done with the book. Having read it in itts entirety already, I can assure you that this is definitely a foreshadowing of what is to come. There are many segments of this book which are inaccurate and/or lulzy, but much of it is faked/forged/pulled out of his rear to such a degree that - if the reader weren't picky enough to notice the details - they would believe it. That's why Original thesis comes first on the list. Hubbard may have been a con man, and he may have become a psycopath in his later years, but nevertheless he was a complete genius, and he knew what he wanted so he used everything he could to get it.
Of course, what he wanted was money.
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TL;DR
Hubbard is a racist and pathological liar, yet an all-too-worthy adversary. Prepare the lazerbeams.
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Enturb user DontMindMe writes in with this.
Wow. Even the first sentence is wrong. "Dianetics is a heuristic science built upon axioms." One or more of the words "heuristic," "science," and "axiom" are being used incorrectly. Possibly all three. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on Dianetics, since it's his trademark, and he can do whatever the hell he wants with it.
Anyway, "heuristic" = "intuitive." As a noun, it means a rule of thumb. It does not mean what the Golden Age glossary says it means -- what they're defining is "empirical." Well, for more information about the word, here: http://www.answers.com/topic/heuristic Just so you don't get the wrong idea. Hey, it's like we're word-clearing! And now that I think about it, "heuristic science" is the definition of a pseudo-science, since it's based more on what seems to make sense and seems to work rather than any sort of rigorous examination.
Or maybe that's a bit too harsh.
Not at all, DontMindMe. Not at all.
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