Continuing from parts one and two of a review of "Science of Survival" the
second Dianetics book from L. Ron Hubbard.
http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/science-of-survival-reviewed-part-1.44325/
http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/science-of-survival-reviewed-part-2.44437/
(3) Was LRH acting under Occult influences?
LRH's relevations were consistent with teachings of self-analysis, part of
preparations for the practice of magick within the system of the OTO. Initiates
were required to engage in written self-criticisms to gain entry to the group.
The term "occult" itself is drawn from ancient astrology, and its meaning refers
to interplanetary bodies which are sometimes "hidden" from sight, such as when
they are eclipsed by a larger or brighter planet or star. To outsiders, explanations
of the OTO's system benefits from expository commentary, to unlock meaning from its
many dialogues. What reads as deflections, cognitive dissonance and overt bullshit
are alternately revealed to be actions which are primarily reactions.
A common occult technique was to group items into patterns of the number three.
LRH used this to arrange a "triangle" of "ARC" for affinity-reality-communication.
A better perspective is to see how S.O.S. fits within a "trilogy" of works,
undergone by LRH to regain control over his wounded self-image.
Chronologically, before 1951's S.O.S., before 1950's Dianetics (itself a re-work
of his earlier "Excalibur") there were 1947's "Affirmations." These "Affirmations"
are a series of LRH's written statements about "magickal" goals for himself,
which only became known many years later. (After being introduced in a court case,
Los Angeles County #C420153 in 1984, and reported on by George-Wayne Shelor of the
Clearwater Sun on May 16, 1984, they can now be read online at wikipedia.org).
These include quotes such as:
(Affirmation)
"I have only friendship for Jack Parsons"
This was written after LRH committed fraud within a business partnership,
which left financier Jack Parsons destitute and which caused Jack Parsons
to surrender his position of leadership of the OTO in North America in 1946.
Within S.O.S., a self-referential passage states:
"There is nothing very glamorous about...the breaker of his pledge,
the betrayer of his friend or group." (Chapter 21, Book I)
In response to a report by Alexander Mitchell of the Sunday Times on
October 5, 1969, detailing L Ron Hubbard's activities with the US branch of
the OTO, the Church of Scientology issued a reply. As published on December
28, 1969, it claimed credit for how "Hubbard broke up black magic in America,"
meaning that rather than promote the OTO group, LRH's intention was to betray it.
(Affirmation)
"Men are your slaves"
(Affirmation)
"Essential spirits are your slaves"
These statements compare to LRH's lecture within his 1952
"Philadelphia Doctorate Course" where he said "This universe has long
been looking for new ways to make slaves. Well, we've got some new ways
to make slaves here."
A close reading of S.O.S. helps explain some of today's controversies
regarding the treatment of Scientology's followers, as phrases within
its most notorious chapter (titled "Method used by subject to handle others")
seem to back this up:
"Insidious adoption of domination and nullification methods ...
enturbulates the theta of the individuals in the subjects environment..."
"MEST force is simply that - force. Here we have the efforts to hammer
and pound and dominate by physical strength, threats, anger, and promises
of vengeance..."
"...nullification, wherein the indivdual seeks to minimize individuals,
to be more than they and so to be able to control them. This category
would rather see a man sick than well, because sick men are less
dangerous than well men..."
"Apathy is apparently, and only apparently, more tractable and easier to
manage, since the apathy case to some degree is in a permanent hypnotic
trance, and will listen to and believe anything said no matter how
ridiculous it may be..." (Chapter 27, Book I).
These statements read like an advocacy and practical plan for mistreatment,
and comparisons can be made to health-threatening and punitive routines
demanded from many staff members within the Church of Scientology.
(Affirmation)
"Testosterone blends easily with your own hormones"
This followed a descriptive passage stating "Sexual feeling has been
depressed by several things amounting to a major impasse. To cure ulcers
of the stomach I was given testerone and stilbesterol. These reduced my
libido to nothing."
Within S.O.S. it is noted that "when engrams are reduced, artificial
hormones can be administered with benefit." (Chapter 5, Book I).
(Affirmation)
"Mediums of art are your slaves"
While LRH strived for success in various media, including writing, music
and film, yet received no real endorsements from qualified reviewers or
critics, there are some curious quotes in S.O.S. regarding artistic pursuits.
"Men have lived to write music which has pleased the gods and lines which
have made the angels weep..."
"In a low-toned society, which will admit authoritarianism without much
rebuke and bend before the thundering witless manifestos of some critic
or practicioner who knows nothing more of his subject than an enormously
complex vocabulary, one can expect the definition of a 'cultured person'
to be that person who can recite and give the standard opinion about
numerous artistic works and humanitarian 'ologies'. This makes it very
simple to obtain 'culture'. He must only memorize, without thinking about,
the names of the great operas, the great books, the great paintings and
the humanitarian projects of the past."
Here LRH essentially described tactics of a "confidence man" presumably
without considering that readers would see the same tactics in LRH's
writing, such as his claim to discoveries of existing concepts by his method
of redefinition using newly-invented words.
"The elevation of a culture can be measured directly by the numbers of
its people working in the field of aesthetics ... One of the greatest
single moves which could be made to advance and vitalize a culture such
as America would be to free, completely, the artist from all taxes and
similar oppressions..." (Chapter 18, Book II)
The overt commonality of this statement to actions of the Church of
Scientology would be its aversion to paying taxes over the years,
including the launching of a "war" upon the IRS which ultimately resulted
in a tax exemption in 1995.
(Affirmation)
"You can be merciless when your will is crossed, and you have the right
to be merciless."
Within S.O.S. LRH wrote regarding those who had crossed his will:
"It is true enough that the individual who cannot feel that he is a
threat to the enemies in his environment, at least to some degree,
is insane or becomes insane." (Chapter 9, Book II)
Recalling that the goal of Dianetics starts as "A world without insanity..."
this can be seen as a technique of projection, and a rationale why a
approach involving constant "testing" of others is necessary.
Regarding those who oppose use of Dianetics processing upon others, LRH wrote:
"When you spot a sudden cessation of auditing, the barring of a person from
auditing or a refusal to audit, you can be certain that the person responsible
for this cessation of auditing or the refusal to permit or encourage it has a
selfish profit to make or is hiding something. A person like this is such a
menace to himself and to others around him that auditing is much too good
for him; he should be shot on sight" (Chapter 25, book I)
This is followed by:
"Those who oppose processing either have something to hide or suppose
they gain in some way be continuing authoritarian control of the
preclear in question" (Chapter 13, Book II).
This last quote was reflected in accusations by LRH towards his opponents,
such as some he submitted to Life magazine in December 1968, and by a Scientology-
hired private investigator named Eugene Ingram who was quoted in the Los Angeles
Times of June 29, 1990 as saying "People who claim that I have conducted an
improper investigation against them probably have so many things to hide."
This thread continues at the link below:
http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/science-of-survival-reviewed-part-4.44439/
second Dianetics book from L. Ron Hubbard.
http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/science-of-survival-reviewed-part-1.44325/
http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/science-of-survival-reviewed-part-2.44437/
(3) Was LRH acting under Occult influences?
LRH's relevations were consistent with teachings of self-analysis, part of
preparations for the practice of magick within the system of the OTO. Initiates
were required to engage in written self-criticisms to gain entry to the group.
The term "occult" itself is drawn from ancient astrology, and its meaning refers
to interplanetary bodies which are sometimes "hidden" from sight, such as when
they are eclipsed by a larger or brighter planet or star. To outsiders, explanations
of the OTO's system benefits from expository commentary, to unlock meaning from its
many dialogues. What reads as deflections, cognitive dissonance and overt bullshit
are alternately revealed to be actions which are primarily reactions.
A common occult technique was to group items into patterns of the number three.
LRH used this to arrange a "triangle" of "ARC" for affinity-reality-communication.
A better perspective is to see how S.O.S. fits within a "trilogy" of works,
undergone by LRH to regain control over his wounded self-image.
Chronologically, before 1951's S.O.S., before 1950's Dianetics (itself a re-work
of his earlier "Excalibur") there were 1947's "Affirmations." These "Affirmations"
are a series of LRH's written statements about "magickal" goals for himself,
which only became known many years later. (After being introduced in a court case,
Los Angeles County #C420153 in 1984, and reported on by George-Wayne Shelor of the
Clearwater Sun on May 16, 1984, they can now be read online at wikipedia.org).
These include quotes such as:
(Affirmation)
"I have only friendship for Jack Parsons"
This was written after LRH committed fraud within a business partnership,
which left financier Jack Parsons destitute and which caused Jack Parsons
to surrender his position of leadership of the OTO in North America in 1946.
Within S.O.S., a self-referential passage states:
"There is nothing very glamorous about...the breaker of his pledge,
the betrayer of his friend or group." (Chapter 21, Book I)
In response to a report by Alexander Mitchell of the Sunday Times on
October 5, 1969, detailing L Ron Hubbard's activities with the US branch of
the OTO, the Church of Scientology issued a reply. As published on December
28, 1969, it claimed credit for how "Hubbard broke up black magic in America,"
meaning that rather than promote the OTO group, LRH's intention was to betray it.
(Affirmation)
"Men are your slaves"
(Affirmation)
"Essential spirits are your slaves"
These statements compare to LRH's lecture within his 1952
"Philadelphia Doctorate Course" where he said "This universe has long
been looking for new ways to make slaves. Well, we've got some new ways
to make slaves here."
A close reading of S.O.S. helps explain some of today's controversies
regarding the treatment of Scientology's followers, as phrases within
its most notorious chapter (titled "Method used by subject to handle others")
seem to back this up:
"Insidious adoption of domination and nullification methods ...
enturbulates the theta of the individuals in the subjects environment..."
"MEST force is simply that - force. Here we have the efforts to hammer
and pound and dominate by physical strength, threats, anger, and promises
of vengeance..."
"...nullification, wherein the indivdual seeks to minimize individuals,
to be more than they and so to be able to control them. This category
would rather see a man sick than well, because sick men are less
dangerous than well men..."
"Apathy is apparently, and only apparently, more tractable and easier to
manage, since the apathy case to some degree is in a permanent hypnotic
trance, and will listen to and believe anything said no matter how
ridiculous it may be..." (Chapter 27, Book I).
These statements read like an advocacy and practical plan for mistreatment,
and comparisons can be made to health-threatening and punitive routines
demanded from many staff members within the Church of Scientology.
(Affirmation)
"Testosterone blends easily with your own hormones"
This followed a descriptive passage stating "Sexual feeling has been
depressed by several things amounting to a major impasse. To cure ulcers
of the stomach I was given testerone and stilbesterol. These reduced my
libido to nothing."
Within S.O.S. it is noted that "when engrams are reduced, artificial
hormones can be administered with benefit." (Chapter 5, Book I).
(Affirmation)
"Mediums of art are your slaves"
While LRH strived for success in various media, including writing, music
and film, yet received no real endorsements from qualified reviewers or
critics, there are some curious quotes in S.O.S. regarding artistic pursuits.
"Men have lived to write music which has pleased the gods and lines which
have made the angels weep..."
"In a low-toned society, which will admit authoritarianism without much
rebuke and bend before the thundering witless manifestos of some critic
or practicioner who knows nothing more of his subject than an enormously
complex vocabulary, one can expect the definition of a 'cultured person'
to be that person who can recite and give the standard opinion about
numerous artistic works and humanitarian 'ologies'. This makes it very
simple to obtain 'culture'. He must only memorize, without thinking about,
the names of the great operas, the great books, the great paintings and
the humanitarian projects of the past."
Here LRH essentially described tactics of a "confidence man" presumably
without considering that readers would see the same tactics in LRH's
writing, such as his claim to discoveries of existing concepts by his method
of redefinition using newly-invented words.
"The elevation of a culture can be measured directly by the numbers of
its people working in the field of aesthetics ... One of the greatest
single moves which could be made to advance and vitalize a culture such
as America would be to free, completely, the artist from all taxes and
similar oppressions..." (Chapter 18, Book II)
The overt commonality of this statement to actions of the Church of
Scientology would be its aversion to paying taxes over the years,
including the launching of a "war" upon the IRS which ultimately resulted
in a tax exemption in 1995.
(Affirmation)
"You can be merciless when your will is crossed, and you have the right
to be merciless."
Within S.O.S. LRH wrote regarding those who had crossed his will:
"It is true enough that the individual who cannot feel that he is a
threat to the enemies in his environment, at least to some degree,
is insane or becomes insane." (Chapter 9, Book II)
Recalling that the goal of Dianetics starts as "A world without insanity..."
this can be seen as a technique of projection, and a rationale why a
approach involving constant "testing" of others is necessary.
Regarding those who oppose use of Dianetics processing upon others, LRH wrote:
"When you spot a sudden cessation of auditing, the barring of a person from
auditing or a refusal to audit, you can be certain that the person responsible
for this cessation of auditing or the refusal to permit or encourage it has a
selfish profit to make or is hiding something. A person like this is such a
menace to himself and to others around him that auditing is much too good
for him; he should be shot on sight" (Chapter 25, book I)
This is followed by:
"Those who oppose processing either have something to hide or suppose
they gain in some way be continuing authoritarian control of the
preclear in question" (Chapter 13, Book II).
This last quote was reflected in accusations by LRH towards his opponents,
such as some he submitted to Life magazine in December 1968, and by a Scientology-
hired private investigator named Eugene Ingram who was quoted in the Los Angeles
Times of June 29, 1990 as saying "People who claim that I have conducted an
improper investigation against them probably have so many things to hide."
This thread continues at the link below:
http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/science-of-survival-reviewed-part-4.44439/
Last edited: