Does "Theta" = Superhuman

[fisherman]

Some help with "theta" epistemology, please --

1. Is "theta" essentially characterized or defined as super-human awareness or ability? That is, a quality a "homo novus" identifies by experiencing something outside or beyond "normal" human reality?

2. Generally speaking, is "theta" most often presented or described as "things that happen" -- i.e. cars levitating, accidents avoided, planets visited, etc. ? Put differently, if I ask a scientologist about "theta" are these the kinds of manifestations they will typically use in explanation?

3. On the whole, is "theta" an immanent quality? That is, it manifests within the individual, is generated by/from the individual, or pertains predominantly to an individual?

Helluva's thread has me wondering if I really understand "theta" and I'd appreciate confirmation or clarification of the above. Am I close?

Tx, fisherman

[HelluvaHoax!]

Theta.

It's a spiritual Swiss-Army-Knife that can do whatever job you need it to do.

It's infinite.

It's all knowing.

It's all powerful.

It's what you are made of so you are infinite and all knowing and all powerful.

If you can only just access your full endowment.

Think of it like having a trillion dollar trust fund that the trustee manages so that you are living in a small apartment and driving a ten year old car.

Are you rich? Hell yeah!

But you just need to break into that trust a little.

Ron, Dave and Marty are the Trustees.

And you keep lots and lots of pictures, photos & cutouts from magazine ads of luxurious vacations, exotic sports cars and mansions that you will be buying. In your universe you can already "have" those things.

The most important thing to know about theta is that you must never challenge it.

And when anyone says something that sounds like it might be a win, you must always think or say:

"Wow, that is soooo theta!"

[Mystic]

Theta.

It's a spiritual Swiss-Army-Knife that can do whatever job you need it to do.

It's infinite.

It's all knowing.

It's all powerful.

It's what you are made of so you are infinite and all knowing and all powerful.

If you can only just access your full endowment.

Think of it like having a trillion dollar trust fund that the trustee manages so that you are living in a small apartment and driving a ten year old car.

Are you rich? Hell yeah!

But you just need to break into that trust a little.

Ron, Dave and Marty are the Trustees.

And you keep lots and lots of pictures, photos & cutouts from magazine ads of luxurious vacations, exotic sports cars and mansions that you will be buying. In your universe you can already "have" those things.

The most important thing to know about theta is that you must never challenge it.

And when anyone says something that sounds like it might be a win, you must always think or say:

"Wow, that is soooo theta!"

Wow, that is sooooo theta!"

(Actually, this term "theta" the Hubbard entity bantered around is just a lower-consciousness substitute for "spirit". The entity was conjured into tulpa existence for the purpose of distorting the hell out of any and all other spiritual teachings. For a while it worked, then we caught on to the farce.)

[The Anabaptist Jacques]

Theta is the opiate of Scientologists.

Operating Thetan, which is different, is equivalent to superman, or more precisely, Nietzsche's Superman.

If you adapt Nietzsche's Ideas to politics you get fascism.

If you adapt Nietzsche's Ideas to race, you get Nazism.

If you adapt Nietzsche's Ideas to religion you get Scientology.

Scientology has Nietzsche's Master-slave ethics mentality.

There is a hierarchal scale where everyone has his place.

Everyone is master to those below him and everyone is a slave to those above him.

I don't mean master and slave literally, but in a social power-arrangement sense.

The Anabaptist Jacques

[Voltaire's Child]

Human and superhuman are the same things.

[fisherman]

Helluva, your analogy to a "trust fund" is a good one and "a spirtual swiss army knife" is excellent. On that humorous note, answer this one for me..

The British Army issues stiletto-like commando knives, so soldiers can sneak up and slit your throat from behind. The Nepalese use heavy Ghurka fighting knives and they can chop your head off in one blow. The American Marines have a survival knife so they can fight you while living off rugged terrain for a year...

...what's up with the Swiss Army knife? Do they attack with tweezers? Offer the enemy a toothpick? Give them a manicure? Open a bottle of wine?...

----------------

Anabaptist, I like and appreciate your comparison to Nietzsche. It seems to me that scientology asserts "theta" to be an 'ubermenchen' spirituality that manifests from the individual. It's MY "trust fund" of spiritually. You have your own. Hubbard's spiritual "trust fund" is bigger than anyone else's.

But here's the thing. Spirituality commonly and traditionally is taken to mean an awareness, connection, or adherence to ultimate reality. A "tapping-in" to the whole or universal. That which is universal is central to "big S" Spirituality by definition. I don't see this emphasis in scientology.

A conglomeration of individual "trust funds" of "theta" is not a "oneness." A rhetoric feint toward the "8th dynamic" doesn't place universality above all other considerations.

To describe scientology "theta" philosophically, I can't see it as anything more than an emphasis on individuals as little gods or monads. Lacking any transcendence to the universal, it seems a rather stunted ideology. It comes across as an aggregation of cheesy, cut-rate, deities with no higher ideal than themselves. Comments?

fisherman

P.S. Volataire's Child: I believe "super" means above or beyond. "Superhuman" connotes a skill or quality above normal human capacity. "Superhuman and human are the same thing" -- I don't understand this.

[uniquemand]

Theta does not equal superman. Thetan MIGHT, if it were the common conception of "operating thetan". Theta is supposed to mean that which contributes to good understanding, clearer communication, established points of agreement, and willingness to share another person's viewpoint.

[Mark A. Baker]

Some help with "theta" epistemology, please --

1. Is "theta" essentially characterized or defined as super-human awareness or ability? That is, a quality a "homo novus" identifies by experiencing something outside or beyond "normal" human reality?

No. The word "theta" is equivalent in meaning to the term "spirit".

Confusion commonly arises from the cavalier use of the phrase "ot" or "operating thetan" to mean something equivalent to "superbeing". That, "ot", doesn't REALLY mean "superbeing" either, but it has often been SOLD as meaning that especially by Hubbard wearing his "marketing hat".

2. Generally speaking, is "theta" most often presented or described as "things that happen" -- i.e. cars levitating, accidents avoided, planets visited, etc. ? Put differently, if I ask a scientologist about "theta" are these the kinds of manifestations they will typically use in explanation?

No. Acknowledgement of "theta" is recognition of the spiritual reality underlying any situation. However people commenting on what seems to them to be "paranormal phenomena" typically ascribe such to the preeminence of "theta", i.e. spirit, over the physical universe, much as an evangelical christian might attribute something they see as a "miracle" to "the power of the holy spirit", or as a Sufi or Hindu might attribute such phenomena to the presence of divinity in spirit.

3. On the whole, is "theta" an immanent quality? That is, it manifests within the individual, is generated by/from the individual, or pertains predominantly to an individual?

Individuals are spiritual beings, i.e. "theta", or more accurately manifest as spirit or "theta". Arguably, the fundamental "state of existence" or "ground of existence" is a non-manifest "form" or "precursor to spirit" which in scientology is called "static" and which can be likened to the "clear mind of buddha nature" of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. [http://viewonbuddhism.org/mind.html#2a]

In such a sense "theta" may be regarded as "generated", "manifested", or "made immanent" by "static". The idea of "static" can also be viewed as "latent theta" or perhaps slightly better the "power to manifest theta/spirit".

As with Buddhism, the only genuine way to understand these concepts is through the actual experience of them directly. Language is at best an inexact tool for communication and understanding.


Mark A. Baker

[BlockPrint]

Theta.

It's a spiritual Swiss-Army-Knife that can do whatever job you need it to do.

When I was growing up, one of my relatives got particularly frustrated with the use of the word theta, since it did seem to get plugged into so many situations. So much so, he used to call the rest of us 'the smurfs', since he figured it was a lot like the cartoon, where the word smurf got subbed in for so many other different things.

So whatever theta is supposed to mean in any official sense, in practice I usually end up translating it into 'thing/idea the speaker likes or agrees with'.

[Zinjifar]

Helluva, your analogy to a "trust fund" is a good one and "a spirtual swiss army knife" is excellent. On that humorous note, answer this one for me..

The British Army issues stiletto-like commando knives, so soldiers can sneak up and slit your throat from behind. The Nepalese use heavy Ghurka fighting knives and they can chop your head off in one blow. The American Marines have a survival knife so they can fight you while living off rugged terrain for a year...

...what's up with the Swiss Army knife? Do they attack with tweezers? Offer the enemy a toothpick? Give them a manicure? Open a bottle of wine?...

----------------

Anabaptist, I like and appreciate your comparison to Nietzsche. It seems to me that scientology asserts "theta" to be an 'ubermenchen' spirituality that manifests from the individual. It's MY "trust fund" of spiritually. You have your own. Hubbard's spiritual "trust fund" is bigger than anyone else's.

But here's the thing. Spirituality commonly and traditionally is taken to mean an awareness, connection, or adherence to ultimate reality. A "tapping-in" to the whole or universal. That which is universal is central to "big S" Spirituality by definition. I don't see this emphasis in scientology.

A conglomeration of individual "trust funds" of "theta" is not a "oneness." A rhetoric feint toward the "8th dynamic" doesn't place universality above all other considerations.

To describe scientology "theta" philosophically, I can't see it as anything more than an emphasis on individuals as little gods or monads. Lacking any transcendence to the universal, it seems a rather stunted ideology. It comes across as an aggregation of cheesy, cut-rate, deities with no higher ideal than themselves. Comments?

fisherman

P.S. Volataire's Child: I believe "super" means above or beyond. "Superhuman" connotes a skill or quality above normal human capacity. "Superhuman and human are the same thing" -- I don't understand this.

Did you know that the Sea Org had dress 'dirks/daggers' modeled on the SS dagger?

I'd love to get one, although I'm not particularly into the memorabilia thang. The only picture I've seen was Cap'n Bill with one.

Zinj