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Reference: A Logical Approach to Theoretical Physics
Matter, energy, space and time are the most basic concepts that define the ‘physical’ aspect of the universe. Do they have a common basis?
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The spectrum of substance has matter is at one end, and light is at the other. Mass is the key characteristic of matter, whereas, energy is the key characteristic of light. Einstein’s equation E = mc^2 shows that energy and mass are equivalent. We may, therefore, say that matter and energy are different forms of the reality we identify as ‘substance.’
Physicists, however, do not recognize the word ‘substance,’ and do not use it for matter or energy. We may technically define ’substance’ as,
SUBSTANCE is anything that is substantial enough to be sensed. The primary forms of substance are matter and energy.
Matter is much more substantial than light (energy) because the momentum associated with matter is much greater than the momentum of light. This momentum comes from the ‘consistency’ of substance. This consistency decreases from the mass of matter to the energy of light. We may technically define ‘consistency’ as,
CONSISTENCY is a measure of substantiality of substance. Matter has the highest consistency, light has the least.
The substance has to be the fundamental concept of Physics, because the whole subject of Physics derives from how we sense things.
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Modern physics treats space as an abstract, mathematical entity. But it is not difficult to understand the space filled with matter. In that sense space defines the extents of matter. “Empty space” is empty of solid matter only. It is not necessarily empty of the whole spectrum of substance. The best vacuum is still not empty of light and electromagnetic radiation.
When we talk about the absence of all substance, we are talking about a void. It is difficult to visualize a void, because in a void there is nothing to be aware of. A void is, therefore, an abstraction. We are aware of empty space; therefore, empty space is filled with substance other than visible matter.
Space that is filled with solid matter, defines the extents of that matter. Space that is filled with energy may define the extents of that energy. Current physics treats space as a fundamental concept. But space seems to depend on the concept of substance. We may technically define ‘space’ as,
Space is the extent of substance. Space does not exist in the absence of substance.
The nature of space varies with the consistency of substance it contains. This helps us visualize “empty” space expanding, contracting, curving and twisting just as the mathematics of Einstein predicts.
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When we measure time, we measure the duration of something. The duration is measured against the infinite duration of the universe. The duration of the universe is infinite because substance (matter and energy) can neither be created nor destroyed according to the principle of conservation.
Matter is much more compact, and it endures much longer than light. Both the extents and duration of substance are intimately related with its consistency. We know of extent as ‘space’, and duration as ’time’.
As the consistency of the substance changes over its spectrum, so do its extent (space) and duration (time).
The most fundamental attribute of substance is its consistency, which gives it a form. The substance “thins out” from solid, impenetrable neutrons to protons to electrons to radiation. The change in consistency from neutron to proton is only 0.1%. This indicates that neutrons lie at the core of the nucleus, whereas protons at the surface. The protons then ‘interface’ with electrons through charge. From proton to electron the consistency decreases sharply by 183600%. Subsequently, from electrons to electromagnetic radiation it decreases even farther. As consistency decreases, the duration also decreases, while space increases.
We can visualize time decreasing from nucleus to electrons to radiation tremendously, while space is increasing tremendously. (Visualize time as the duration, and space as the extent.)
Matter appears at the upper end of the spectrum of substance. Matter of highest consistency shall lie at the core of the nucleus at the center of an atom, and at the core of the black hole at the center of the galaxy. It will act as the stable point for the atom and the galaxy because it has the highest duration.
Light appears at the lower end of the spectrum of substance. Light of lowest consistency shall form the periphery of the atom, galaxy or the universe. This radiation shall have infinitesimal duration. Beyond this periphery would be the void.
This means that the solid, impenetrable form of nuclear matter defines stable locations in space. The flimsiest, ephemeral form of electromagnetic radiation defines the rapidly expanding space with no stable locations. We may technically define ‘time’ as,
Time is the duration of substance that manifests as inherent motion in space, which it fills.
Time manifests as inherent motion of substance that varies with its consistency. To Einstein, this was dilation of time.
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We find space and time not to be independent of substance. They are defined by the consistency of substance. Space and time are related to each other through the consistency of the substance. Therefore, they not independent of each other.
The fundamental concept is neither space nor time. The fundamental concept is the consistency (or substantiality) of substance.
The inherent motion of substance derives from its own space and time. Therefore, the relative motion arises from the relativity of space, time and consistency of substance. The space, time and consistency of material objects is nearly constant. Therefore, the relative motion among them is relatively small.
This analysis relates space and time to consistency of the substance. Further analysis of consistency (or substantiality) of substance may lead to a non-mathematical clarification of gravitation.
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Reference: A Logical Approach to Theoretical Physics
The subject of physics starts with the consideration of material objects separated by void. This is so all the way down to the consideration of atoms. We, therefore, should examine the concept of “matter separated by void” closely for assumptions. When we do this, the following question arises,
Does matter end abruptly at its boundary and the void begins?
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In Classical Physics, the basic substance is matter. No matter how finely you grind it, it is still matter. Gases consist of extremely fine particles of matter called “atoms.” The atoms are very small, solid spheres that are separated by the void. So, there is a boundary at which matter apparently ends abruptly and the void begins.
But this cannot be so neatly categorized in the case of electricity, light and similar radiation. Investigation into this anomaly leads us to Quantum Mechanics.
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The material nucleus of an atom is surrounded by a layer of electrical substance that behaves like particle as well as wave. Together, the nucleus and the surrounding layer of electrical substance form the atom. The atom exists in an environment of electromagnetic radiation. This environment behaves mostly like waves. The void is supposed to lie beyond this environment of electromagnetic radiation.
This picture provides us with a gradient of substance from matter to void. Matter is the substance at one end of the spectrum that we are most familiar with. At the other end of the spectrum is light, which is no less a form of substance. In between are quantum particles and electromagnetic radiation. Beyond this spectrum of substance we postulate a void, which denotes absence of substance.
Matter, therefore, does not end abruptly at some boundary; instead, it “thins out” into the void. We have a diffused boundary between matter and void.
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We, therefore, find the Newtonian assumption of a binary matter-void paradigm to be incorrect. We discover that there is a spectrum of substance. Matter is simply a condensed form of substance at one end of this spectrum. At the other end Is an uncondensed form, which we know as light. In between we have the spectrum of “quantum particles” and “electromagnetic radiation.”
Thus, the survey of Physics in Part I shows that we have a gradient of substance from matter to void. This consideration of a spectrum of substance is a paradigm shift in thinking in Physics.
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Reference: A Logical Approach to Theoretical Physics
As observed in the preface, the fundamental theories in the subject of Physics cannot be reconciled with each other. This is an anomaly.
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An anomaly is any violation of the integrity of reality, such as, discontinuity (missing data), inconsistency (contradictory data), or disharmony (arbitrary data). An anomaly flags the presence of a hidden assumption. When the assumption is discovered it explains the anomaly, and a resolution occurs.
The above anomaly in Physics indicates that there is at least one hidden assumption in physics at the fundamental level.
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Philosophy defines “subjective” as “relating to or of the nature of an object as it is known in the mind as distinct from a thing in itself.” It is true that what is out there (a thing in itself) is sensed by our sensory organs. These sensations are then broken down into perceptual elements to be assimilated into a mental matrix. The state of assimilation of the mental matrix provides us with the perception and knowledge of the things out there. The finer are the perceptual elements the closer is the approximation in our mind of “the thing in itself” .
We improve the approximation in our mind of the “the thing in itself” by refining the perceptual elements assimilating them in the mental matrix. This is accomplished through the discovery and resolution of anomalies.
Physics takes pride in being objective. The objective reality is that which has been tested and verified and cannot be argued with. It is the same for all people because all known anomalies have been resolved. Therefore, the resolution of anomalies, in general, leads one from subjectivity towards objectivity.
When we say that physics is objective, we mean that physics is focused on obtaining continuity, consistency, and harmony among all its observations, interpretations and conclusions by discovering and resolving anomalies.
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Reference: Course on Subject Clearing
This glossary is to be used with Subject Clearing.
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Additional reference: Technical Dictionary
ABERRATION
According to Hubbard, aberration is any deviation or departure from rationality. Aberration is used in dianetics to include psychoses, neuroses, compulsions and repressions of all kinds and classifications. All aberrations arise from unassimilated impressions called facsimiles. An aberration manifests itself as a fixation that prevents one from seeing things as they are. Broad concept: “to wander, deviate.” Definition: “mental irregularity or disorder, especially of a minor or temporary nature; lapse from a sound mental state.”
ANALYTICAL MIND
See MIND, ANALYTICAL.
ANOMALY
An anomaly is any violation of the integrity of reality, such as, discontinuity (missing data), inconsistency (contradictory data), or disharmony (arbitrary data). An anomaly flags the presence of a hidden assumption. When the assumption is discovered it explains the anomaly, and a resolution occurs. Broad concept: “irregular.” Definition: “an odd, peculiar, or strange condition, situation, quality, etc.; an incongruity or inconsistency.”
ARBITRARY
An arbitrary consists of the assumption or projection made during the assimilation of perceptual elements to maintain continuity, consistency and harmony in the mental matrix. The arbitrariness exists because not all data is known. It generates anomalies when various data is associated. These anomalies show up as doubts and perplexities, which are then resolved by getting more precise data. Broad concept: “uncertain, capricious.” Definition: “subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one’s discretion.” Example: “an arbitrary decision.”
ARC, ENFORCED
By enforced affinity, reality, or communication is meant the demand on the individual that he experience or admit affinity, reality, or communication when he has not felt it. An individual who has been subjected to enforced affinity, reality, and communication has an interrupted self-determinism.
ARC, INHIBITED
The inhibition of affinity, communication, and reality is no less serious than their enforcement.
ASSIMILATION
As sensations come in, the mind breaks them down into elements and relates them to the contents of mental matrix, such that there is continuity, consistency and harmony. This is assimilation. When the incoming sensations cannot be broken down into elements (as is the case of a trauma) they are left as unassimilated impressions in the matrix. Broad concept: “made similar.” Definition: “taken in and incorporated as one’s own.”
ĀTMAN
Atman refers to consciousness. Jivatman refers to consciousness of a person. Paramatman refers to ultimate consciousness. Broad concept: “to breathe.” Definition: “essence, nature, character, peculiarity, self.”
BASIC PURPOSE
The basic purpose of humanity is to keep on evolving by resolving anomalies as it comes across them. This is because the humans spearhead the evolution in this universe.
BEINGNESS
Beingness is the quality, state, or condition of having existence. The beingness follows the laws of nature. Broad concept: “(I) am.” Example: “It has a crystalline, heartbreaking purity, that ontological beauty… of each object resonating in its beingness…”
BODY
The human body is material structure of the identity. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. It comprises a head, neck, trunk, arms and hands, legs and feet. Broad concept: “person in general.” Definition: “the physical structure and material substance of a person, animal or plant, living or dead.”
CHARGE
By charge means the lower emotions of anger, fear, grief or apathy that a case is burdened with. A heavily charged case means a case with a heavy burden of grief due to losses. Broad concept: “load, burden.”
CIRCUIT
A circuit is a part of mind that behaves as though it were someone or something separate from him and that either talks to him or goes into action of its own accord, and may even, if severe enough, take control of him while it operates. Any circuit is simply a control or nullification “you” phrase which makes the individual compute differently than he ordinarily would and which walls up a certain portion of the analyzer for use against the individual. Broad concept: “to go round, circle.”
CIRCUIT PHRASE
A circuit phrase is a “you” phrase. It is a phrase addressed from an exterior “I” to “you.” An example is, “I’ve got to protect you from yourself.” These phrases are received from persons who seek to nullify the independence of judgment of others.
CLEAR
“The optimum individual; no longer possessed of any engrams. A clear is an individual who, as a result of dianetic therapy, has neither active nor potential psycho-somatic illness or aberration.” (Hubbard). In KHTK, a clear would be a person who is free of anomalies in his thinking and behavior. A gradient clearing takes place throughout a person’s life.
CONDITION
Condition is a particular mode of being of a person or thing; existing state; situation with respect to circumstances. Broad concept: “talk together, agreement, situation, mode of being.”
CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness depends on the degree of fineness of the matrix elements. Human consciousness is higher than the consciousness in animals because the human matrix elements are much finer. Consciousness may be plotted on a scale that extends from mystery to knowingness (C-scale). A point on this scale will represent a level of consciousness (C-point). The lowest point on this scale is the mystery of unconsciousness and waiting. The highest point of this scale is the knowingness of the laws of nature. Broad concept: “to know together.” Definition: “the state of being conscious; awareness of one’s own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc.”
DIANETICS
Dianetics is a subject researched and developed by L. Ron Hubbard, which was published in 1950 in the book: DIANETICS: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Hubbard says, “Dianetics consists of discovering the aberration in the individual, finding the physically painful experience which corresponds to it, and placing the data therein contained at the disposal of the analytical mind.” Broad concept: “through mind.”
The actual discovery of Dianetics is that the mind is capable of recording the details of events, such as, severe injury, delirium, or surgical anesthesia, while the person appears to be unconscious. These recorded impressions stay below the consciousness of a person and they affect his mind adversely. These impressions may only be removed by bringing them up to awareness.
Buddha (500 BC) knew of these impressions as “samskāra,” and he taught “mindfulness meditation” to help remove their adverse effects. In Dianetics, these impressions are called facsimiles and a trained practitioner, called “auditor,” applies dianetic techniques to a person to handle them.
DOMINANT INDIVIDUAL
Those who have forced a person to do exactly what they desired with the mechanism of recrimination and denial of friendship or support unless instant compliance takes place. It seeks by anger and outright criticism, accusations, and other mechanisms to pound one into submission by making him less.
DYNAMICS
Hubbard defines DYNAMICS as, “The dynamics are the urge to survive expressed through eight divisions. (1) self, (2) sex, and the future generation, (3) the group, (4) mankind, (5) life, (6) MEST, (7) theta, (8) the Supreme Being.”
The above definition is from the viewpoint from an individual. From the viewpoint of the universe, Dynamic 8 is the Universe consisting of Dynamics 7 and 6. This means that the universe is not just physical, as spirituality is also an aspect of it. The universe evolves through the interplay of Dynamics 7 and 6, which leads to Dynamic 5. At the peak of this evolution is Dynamic 4, which is characterized in its activities by Dynamics 3, 2 and 1.
EGO
The ego is the awareness of oneself. Broad concept: “I, conscious self.” Definition: “the ‘I’ or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.”
EGOTISM
Egotism arises when “I” identifies itself with something and gets fixated on it. Broad concept: “I, self-centered.” Definition: “excessive and objectionable reference to oneself in conversation or writing; conceit; boastfulness.”
ENGRAM
Engrams are traumatic impressions of shock, and injury that did not get assimilated. Upon key-in, an engram manifests through aberrations and psychosomatic illnesses. Since an engram is not assimilated it cannot be perceived. It lies outside of consciousness. Broad concept: “Something written within.”
EVOLUTION
Evolution means improvement of form. This means death of the existing form and birth of a better form. Evolution is not limited to Charles Darwin’s theory. The universe has been evolving since the so-called Big Bang. Fixation on survival has led to the desire for the permanence of an existing form. This is an anomaly. Broad concept: “rolling out, unfolding.” Definition: “any process of formation or growth; development.” Example: “the evolution of a language; the evolution of the airplane.”
FACSIMILE
A facsimile is a recording of the sensations from sense organs that has not been and assimilated in the mental matrix. They continue as unassimilated impressions. Examples of facsimiles are engrams, secondaries and locks. The mind is not aware of these facsimiles to the degree they are not assimilated. The unassimilated data of a facsimile may get inserted in a circuit and cause irrational thinking and adverse effects on the body. The solution lies in finding and assimilating the facsimile. Broad concept: “make similar” Definition: “an exact copy, as of a book, painting, or manuscript.”
GOD
God is essentially the beingness of supreme consciousness. Broad concept: “call, that which is invoked.” Definition: “the Supreme Being according to some particular religion or conception.” Example: “the God of Islam.”
HUMAN
Broad concept: “earthly beings.” Definition: “of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people.” Example: “human frailty.”
HYPNOTISM
Hypnotism describes a very vulnerable state in which the guarding mechanisms of the mind are bypassed. In this state, the attention is narrow and focused like a laser beam. It leaves the awareness of present time altogether to focus on some past event of life. It is, therefore, able to penetrate and re-live past moments but with no perspective from the present. No memory of this enactment of the past remains when the person comes out of the hypnotic state. During this hypnotic state, “conclusions” may also be inserted, which, then, influence the thinking activity of the person without any memory of it later.
“I”
”I” is the viewpoint of self that continues to evolve during a life cycle. The “I” believes itself to be the identity but it is not the same because the identity remains the same during a life cycle. Broad concept: “one.” Definition: “the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.”
IDENTITY
An identity is made up of those characteristic of a person that remain the same throughout the life cycle. It distinguishes the person from others. Broad concept: “same, always being itself, individuality.” Definition: “condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person or thing.” Example: “a case of mistaken identity; a male gender identity; immigrants with strong ethnic identities.”
IDENTITY THOUGHT
“It is a useful and positive principle that whatever confronts or contests the analytical mind of the preclear will also confront and contest the analytical mind of the auditor. When the auditor is acting as the analytical mind of the preclear, whatever emotion or antagonism is directed towards him is the emotion or antagonism which is directed by the reactive mind toward the preclear’s own analytical mind. If a preclear cannot hear what people are saying in his engrams, he has another engram about “can’t hear.” If he cannot feel anything in his engram, it is because he has an engram about “can’t feel.” If he cannot see, he has an engram about not being able to see, and so forth. If he cannot return, he has an engram about going back, or returning to childhood, or some such thing. If he is doubtful and skeptical about what is happening or what has happened to him, it is because he has an engram about being doubtful and skeptical. If he is antagonistic, his reactive mind contains a great deal of antagonism. If he is self-conscious or embarrassed, it is because his reactive mind contains self-consciousness or embarrassment. If he insists on maintaining his own control, refusing to do what the auditor tells him to do (although he is returned), it is because he has an engram about self-control, and so forth and so on. This is identity thought, and is used in diagnosis.” [DTOT, Chapter: DIAGNOSIS]
IMMORTALITY
Immortality refers to those aspects of a person that are not subject to death and continue forever. Consciousness is such an aspect but person’s identity or individuality are not. Certain impressions may survive some life cycles, but they die out eventually. Man is always trying to penetrate mysteries and solve problems to know what is there. Man’s goal is the immortality of consciousness and not the immortality of identity or individuality. There is no immortal soul or thetan; but there is immortal consciousness. Broad concept: “not die.” Definition: “undying condition; unending life.”
INDIVIDUALITY
The individuality of a person is part of his identity as it distinguishes him from others of his kind. According to Hubbard, an individual is a collection of “memories,” and the individuality depends on facsimiles. In the matrix model of the mind individuality is determined by the character of the mental matrix. Broad concept: “not divisible.” Definition: “the particular character, or aggregate of qualities, that distinguishes one person or thing from others; sole and personal nature.” Example: “a person of marked individuality.”
KEY-IN
A moment when the environment around the awake but fatigued or distressed individual is itself similar to the dormant engram. At that moment the engram becomes active. It is keyed-in and can thereafter be dramatized.
KHTK
The acronym KHTK stands for “Knowing how to Know.” It draws its inspiration from Buddhism. It is an effort to reconcile Scientology with Buddhism, The central concept of KHTK is Subject Clearing.
LIFE CYCLE
A life cycle is the cycle of a life unit from birth to death. That life unit is defined by its identity and individuality. The evolution of consciousness is a product of life unit that continues on through life cycles. Broad concept (life): “body (aliveness).” Broad concept (cycle): “circle, wheel.”
MEMORY
Memory is not a recording that is stored in the mind. Memory is generated ad hoc by associating perceptual elements of the mental matrix by their time stamps. Memory suffers because of charge on the case. As one handles the charge, he will be able to remember things which he has never been able to remember before. Broad concept: “mindful, remembering.” Definition: “the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences.”
MENTAL MATRIX
The mental matrix forms the core of the mind. In a normal functioning mind, the sense organs receive the sensations of touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell from the environment. The mind breaks these sensations down into fine perceptual elements, which are then assimilated into the mental matrix. All elements are identified by the time stamp of when they were received. They can also be compared by their similarities and differences. The mental matrix fills the gaps with reasonable projections and merges any duplication of contents. Over time an approximate multi-dimensional copy of the physical universe is created. The finer are the perceptual elements the better is this approximation, and greater is the consciousness associated with the matrix. Broad concept (matrix): “womb.” Definition (matrix): “something that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates, takes form, or develops.”
MEST
MEST is a word formed from the initial letters of Matter, Energy, Space and Time. It represents the physical universe. The substance of the universe consists of matter and energy where matter is the condensed form of energy. Space denotes the extents of the substance of the universe. Time denotes the duration of this substance. Therefore, MEST is any or all arrangements of the substance of the universe whether in energy or material form.
MIND
The mind perceives the environment, and it outputs directions to the body for internal maintenance and external activity. Mind’s main function is to resolve anomalies. The mind-body system operates on electro-chemical-mechanical laws. According to the Matrix model of the mind, the Analytical Mind is the assimilated part of the matrix; and the Reactive Mind is the unassimilated part of the matrix. From analytical to reactive, there is a scale of assimilation. Broad concept: “think, remember.” Definition: “the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.” Example: “the processes of the human mind.”
MIND, ANALYTICAL
“The conscious aware mind which thinks, observes data, remembers it, and resolves problems. The analytical mind is the one which is alert and aware.” The analytical mind is the natural state of the mind. It refers to the assimilated parts of the mental matrix. Broad concept (analytical): “undoing, loosening.”
MIND, REACTIVE
“A portion of a person’s mind, which works on a totally stimulus-response basis, which is not under his volitional control, and which exerts force and the power of command over his awareness, purposes, thoughts, body and actions. The reactive mind simply reacts without analysis.” The reactive mind refers to the unassimilated parts of the mental matrix. At the core of reactive mind are facsimiles of shocks and traumas that could not be broken down and assimilated. Broad concept (reactive): “Act back.”
NULLIFICATION PHRASE
Examples of a nullification phrase would be somebody telling you, “You are no good,” “Never talk back to your elders,” “You can’t hear,” etc.
NULLIFYING INDIVIDUAL
Those who have sought to minimize a person so to be able to control him. This is covert, and quite often the person upon whom it is exerted remains unsuspecting beyond the fact that he knows he is very unhappy. This is the coward’s method of domination. The nullifying individual feels that he is less than the individual upon whom he is using it and has not the honesty or fortitude to admit the fact to himself. He then begins to pull the other individual “down to size,” using small carping criticisms. The nullifying individual strikes heavily at the point of pride and capability of his target and yet, if at any moment the target challenges, the nullifying individual claims he is doing so solely out of assistance and friendship or disavows completely that it has been done.
PARAMĀTMAN
Paramātman is the ultimate consciousness to which all jivātmans converge upon expansion. Selflessness is the attribute of Paramatman, because all personality/individuality vanishes at this level. Broad concept: “supreme atman or consciousness.” Definition: “the Supreme Spirit.”
PERCEPTION
Perceptions get their meaning from assimilation of perceptual elements in the mental matrix. Otherwise, they may be felt only as sensations. Broad concept: “a taking in.” Definition: “the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.”
PERCEPTUAL ELEMENTS
Sensation from sense organs break down into perceptual elements, which are then assimilated in the mental matrix. Only when assimilated do perceptual elements generate perceptions. No perceptions exist when incoming sensations do not break down.
PSYCHOSOMATIC
“[Psychosomatic illness is] the physical manifestations of mental aberration.” (~ Hubbard). Broad concept (psyche): “breath, spirit.” Broad concept (soma): “body.” Definition: “of or relating to a physical disorder that is caused by or notably influenced by emotional factors.”
REACTIVE MIND
See MIND, REACTIVE.
REPEATER TECHNIQUE
Repeater technique is the repetition of a word or phrase in order to produce movement on the time track into an incident containing that word or phrase. It is not used to de-intensify a phrase or to reduce an engram. It has the liability of hanging a person up in an engram which cannot be contacted and run out.
SELF
The human self is made up of an identity and astate of consciousness. The identity is the mind-body form that helps evolve the general consciousness. The identity terminates at the end of the life cycle but the consciousness continues. A new life cycle has a new identity but it inherits general consciousness. Hubbard views self as an immortal “thetan” to which mental and physical machinery is added. But the “thetan” represents the individuality of the body-mind system. There are as many thetans as there are people. This is the same concept as “soul” in Christianity. The individuality is a part of the identity of the person. Therefore, there is no such thing as an immortal thetan; but the general consciousness is eternal. Broad concept: “oneself.” Definition: “a person or thing referred to with respect to complete individuality.” Example: “one’s own self.”
SENSES
Senses result in sensations, which then reach the mental matrix to be broken down into perceptual elements. Broad concept: “feel.” Definition: “any of the faculties, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body.” Example: “My sense of smell tells me that dinner is ready.”
SOUL
The soul identifies the person apart from the body. It is part of the person’s identity (the body-mind system), and subject to the life cycle. Broad concept: “quick-moving” Definition: “the spiritual part of humans regarded in its moral aspect, or as believed to survive death and be subject to happiness or misery in a life to come.” Example: “arguing the immortality of the soul.“
SPIRIT
The spirit animates the body-mind system just like electricity animates a computer and machinery. The spirit is part of the body-mind system. Broad concept: “breath.” Definition: “the principle of conscious life; the vital principle in humans, animating the body or mediating between body and soul.”
STATIC VIEWPOINT
The Static viewpoint is the ultimate point of knowingness on the scale of consciousness. (See The Static Viewpoint). Broad concept: “stand + see + prick.” Definition: “a viewpoint that itself does not have any motion but has the potential to view all possible motion.”
SUBJECT CLEARING
Subject clearing focuses on the resolution of anomalies. An anomaly is any violation of the oneness of reality, such as, discontinuity (missing data), inconsistency (contradictory data), or disharmony (arbitrary data). The obvious anomaly is the missing consciousness. The evolution of general consciousness is from mystery toward knowingness. The state of consciousness is the true “I” of the human self. The “I” evolves by becoming increasingly conscious of the laws of nature. It senses the environment and breaks down the sensations into perceptual elements. The perceptual elements are assimilated in the mental matrix where they can be freely associated. The mental matrix assimilates by freeing itself of anomalies. The perception of the environment is only as accurate as the mental matrix is free of anomalies. The resolution of anomalies results in finer perceptual elements, which raises the level of consciousness. The development of the Subject Clearing makes it possible to apply the techniques developed in Dianetics and Scientology to oneself without the need for an auditor and E-meter freely and safely. Broad concept (subject): “throw it under, open to inspection.” (clear): “call out.” Definition: “Subject Clearing is an extension of Buddha’s mindfulness approach to handle unassimilated impressions in the mind.”
SURVIVE
Hubbard says, “The dynamic principle of existence is Survive. At the opposite end of the spectrum of existence is Succumb.” However, a person is surviving through a life cycle with the natural goal to evolve in consciousness. The survival of the person ceases at the end of the life cycle, but the consciousness continues. The universe has been evolving and not just surviving. Broad concept: “full of life, lively.” Definition: “to continue to live or exist.” Example: “Few survived after the holocaust.”
THETA
Theta represents the degree of continuity, consistency and harmony of MEST. Very high theta means a state of MEST that is highly continuous, consistent and harmonious.
THETA-MEST THEORY
Pure theta is the state of MEST that is free of anomalies. The state of MEST is enturbulated as anomalies enter in the form of discontinuities, inconsistencies and disharmonies. We may call this state “enturbulated theta” of “entheta.” There is a scale from pure theta to complete entheta that describes the various states of MEST.
THETAN
This is a concept in the subject of Scientology. Thetan is the identity of the person apart from the body, same as soul. Broad concept: “thought being.” Definition: “the personality and beingness which actually is the individual and is aware of being aware and is ordinarily and normally the “person” and who the individual thinks he is.”
THOUGHT
Thought is generated when when the perceptual elements are dynamically associated in a pattern within the mental matrix. To be logical, the pattern of perceptual elements must be continuous, consistent and harmonious. Definition: “the product of mental activity; that which one thinks.” Example: “a body of thought.”
TRAUMA
The sensations of trauma come in so fast that they are difficult to break down and assimilate in real time. Therefore, the real time perception of a trauma is very poor. It is perceived primarily as pain, and its impression is retained as a literal recording. They just have superficial connections with rest of the matrix. Injuries of the body may heal, but the mental trauma is not healed until its impression can be broken down and assimilated with later contemplation. Broad concept: “wound.” Definition: “A body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident. An experience that produces psychological injury or pain.”
UNCONSCIOUSNESS
In “unconsciousness,” the sense organs could still be sensing but the perception is not there because those sensations are not getting assimilated in the mental matrix. The assimilation does not occur when the sensations consist of shock. Such shocks then exist as impressions waiting to be assimilated.
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Reference: The Story of Philosophy
This paper presents Chapter V Section 1 from the book THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY by WILL DURANT. The contents are from the 1933 reprint of this book by TIME INCORPORATED by arrangement with Simon and Schuster, Inc.
The paragraphs of the original material (in black) are accompanied by brief comments (in color) based on the present understanding. Feedback on these comments is appreciated.
The heading below is linked to the original materials.
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At Paris in 1742 Voltaire was coaching Mlle. Dumesnil, to rise to tragic heights in a rehearsal of his play Mérope. She complained that she would have to have “the very devil” in her to simulate such passion as he required. “That is just it,” answered Voltaire; “you must have the devil in you to succeed in any of the arts.” Even his critics and his enemies admitted that he himself met this requirement perfectly. “Il avait Ie diable au corps—he had the devil in his body,” said Sainte-Beuve; and De Maistre called him the man “into whose hands hell had given all its powers.”
Voltaire had the devil in his body.
Unprepossessing, ugly, vain, flippant, obscene, unscrupulous, even at times dishonest,—Voltaire was a man with the faults of his time and place, missing hardly one. And yet this same Voltaire turns out to have been tirelessly kind, considerate, lavish of his energy and his purse, as sedulous in helping friends as in crushing enemies, able to kill with a stroke of his pen and yet disarmed by the first advance of conciliation;—so contradictory is man.
But he was also kind and considerate.
But all these qualities, good and bad, were secondary, not of the essence of Voltaire; the astounding and basic thing in him was the inexhaustible fertility and brilliance of his mind. His works fill ninety-nine volumes, of which every page is sparkling and fruitful, though they range from subject to subject across the world as fitfully and bravely as in an encyclopedia. “My trade is to say what I think”: and what he thought was always worth saying, as what he said was always said incomparably well. If we do not read him now (though men like Anatole France have been formed to subtlety and wisdom by poring over his pages), it is because the theological battles which he fought for us no longer interest us intimately; we have passed on perhaps to other battle-fields, and are more absorbed with the economics of this life than with the geography of the next; the very thoroughness of Voltaire’s victory over ecclesiasticism and superstition makes dead those issues which he found alive. Much of his fame, too, came of his inimitable conversation; but scripta manent, verba volant—writtenwords remain, while spoken words fly away, the winged words of Voltaire with the rest. What is left to us is too much the flesh of Voltaire, too little the divine fire of his spirit. And yet, darkly as we see him through the glass of time, what a spirit!—“sheer intelligence transmuting anger into fun, fire into light”; “a creature of air and flame, the most excitable that ever lived, composed of more ethereal and more throbbing atoms than those of other men; there is none whose mental machinery is more delicate, nor whose equilibrium is at the same time more shifting and more exact.” Was he, perhaps, the greatest intellectual energy in all history?
The astounding and basic thing in Voltaire was the inexhaustible fertility and brilliance of his mind.
Certainly he worked harder, and accomplished more, than any other man of his epoch. “Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing,” he said. “All people are good except those who are idle.” His secretary said that he was a miser only of his time. “One must give one’s self all the occupation one can to make life supportable in this world. … The further I advance in age, the more I find work necessary. It becomes in the long run the greatest of pleasures, and takes the place of the illusions of life.” “If you do not want to commit suicide always have something to do.”
Votaire worked harder, and accomplished more, than any other man of his epoch.
Suicide must have been forever tempting him, for he was ever at work.” It was because he was so thoroughly alive that he filled the whole era with his life.” Contemporary with one of the greatest of centuries (1694-1778), he was the soul and essence of it. “To name Voltaire,” said Victor Hugo, “is to characterize the entire eighteenth century.” Italy had a Renaissance, and Germany had a Reformation, but France had Voltaire; he was for his country both Renaissance and Reformation, and half the Revolution. He carried on the antiseptic skepticism of Montaigne, and the healthy earthy humor of Rabelais;’he fought superstition and corruption more savagely and effectively than Luther or Erasmus, Calvin or Knox or Melanchthon; he helped to make the powder with which Mirabeau and Marat, Danton and Robespierre blew up the Old Regime. “If we judge of men by what they have done,” said Lamartine, “then Voltaire is incontestably the greatest writer of modern Europe. … Destiny gave him eighty-three years of existence, that he might slowly decompose the decayed age; he had the time to combat time; and when he fell he was the conqueror.”
Voltaire was so thoroughly alive that he filled the whole era with his life.
No, never has a writer had in his lifetime such influence. Despite exile, imprisonment, and the suppression of almost everyone of his books by the minions of church and state, he forged fiercely a path for his truth, until at last kings, popes and emperors catered to him, thrones trembled before him, and half the world listened to catch his every word. It was an age in which many things called for a destroyer. “Laughing lions must come,” said Nietzsche; well, Voltaire came, and “annihilated with laughter.” He and Rousseau were.the two voices of a vast process of economic and political transition from feudal aristocracy to the rule of the middle class. When a rising class is inconvenienced by existing law or custom it appeals from custom to reason and from law to nature—just as conflicting desires in the individual sparkle into thought. So the wealthy bourgeoisie supported the rationalism of Voltaire and the naturalism of Rousseau; it was necessary to loosen old habits and customs, to renovate and invigorate feeling and thought, to open the mind to experiment and change, before the great Revolution could come. Not that Voltaire and Rousseau were the causes of the Revolution; perhaps rather they were co-results with it of the forces that seethed and surged beneath the political and social surface of French life; they were the accompanying light and brilliance of the volcanic heat and conflagration. Philosophy is to history as reason is to desire: in either case an unconscious process determines from below the conscious thought above.
Voltaire forged fiercely a path for his truth, until at last kings, popes and emperors catered to him, thrones trembled before him, and half the world listened to catch his every word.
Yet we must not bend back too far in attempting to correct the philosopher’s tendency to exaggerate the influence of philosophy. Louis XVI, seeing in his Temple prison the works of Voltaire and Rousseau, said, “Those two men have destroyed France,’ —meaning his dynasty. “The Bourbons might have preserved themselves,” said Napoleon, “if they had controlled writing materials. The advent of cannon killed the feudal system; ink will kill the modern social organization.” “Books rule the world,” said Voltaire, “or at least those nations in it which have a written language; the others do not count.” “Nothing enfranchises like education”;—and he proceeded to enfranchise France. “When once a nation begins to think, it is impossible to stop it.” But with Voltaire, France began to think.
With Voltaire, France began to think.
”Voltaire,” that is to say, Francois Marie Arouet, was born at Paris in 1694, the son of a comfortably successful notary and a somewhat aristocratic mother. He owed to his father, perhaps, his shrewdness and irascibility, and to his mother something of his levity and wit. He came into the world, so to speak, by a narrow margin: his mother did not survive his birth; and he was so puny and sickly an infant that the nurse did not give him more than a day to live. She was slightly in error, as he lived almost to eighty-four; but throughout his life his frail body tormented with illness his unconquerable spirit.
Voltaire owed to his father, perhaps, his shrewdness and irascibility, and to his mother something of his levity and wit.
He had for his edification a model elder brother, Armand, a pious lad who fell in love with the Jansenist heresy, and courted martyrdom for his faith. “Well,” said Armand to a friend who advised the better part of valor, “if you do not want to be hanged, at least do not put off other people.” The father said he had two fools for his sons—one in verse and the other in prose. The fact that Francois made verses almost as soon as he could write his name, convinced his very practical father that nothing good would come of him. But the famous hetaira, Ninon de l’Enclos, who lived in the provincial town to which the Arouets had returned after the birth of Francois, saw in the youth signs of greatness; and when she died she left him 2000 francs for the purchase of books. His early education came from these, and from a dissolute abbe (a Jerome Coignard in the flesh) who taught him scepticism along with his prayers. His later educators, the Jesuits, gave him the very instrument of scepticism by teaching him dialectic—the art of proving anything, and therefore at last the habit of believing nothing. Francois became an adept at argument: while the boys played games in the fields, he, aged twelve, stayed behind to discuss theology with the doctors. When the time came for him to earn his living, he scandalized his father by proposing to take up literature as profession. “Literature,” said M. Arouet, “is the profession of the man who wishes to be useless to society and a burden to his relatives, and to die of hunger”;—one can see the table trembling under his emphasis. So Francois went in for literature.
When the time came for Voltaire to earn his living, he scandalized his father by proposing to take up literature as profession.
Not that he was a quiet and merely studious lad; he burnt the midnight oil—of others. He took to staying out late, frolicking with the wits and roisterers of the town, and experimenting with the commandments; until his exasperated father sent him off to a relative at Caen, with instructions to keep the youth practically in confinement. But his jailer fell in love with his wit, and soon gave him free rein. After imprisonment, now as later, came exile: his father sent him to the Hague with the French ambassador, requesting strict surveillance of the madcap boy; but Francois at once fell in love with a little lady, “Pimpette,” held breathless clandestine interviews with her, and “wrote to her passionate letters ending always with the refrain, ‘’I shall certainly love you forever.” The affair was discovered, and he was sent home. He remembered Pimpette for several weeks.
Voltaire was wildly impulsive as a lad.
In 1715, proud of his twenty-one years, he went to Paris, just in time to be in at the death of Louis XIV. The succeeding Louis being too young to govern France, much less Paris, the power fell into the hands of a regent; and during this quasi-interregnum life ran riot in the capital of the world, and young Arouet ran with it. He soon achieved a reputation as a brilliant and reckless lad. When the Regent, for economy, sold half the horses that filled the royal stables, Francois remarked how much more sensible it would have been to dismiss half the asses that filled the royal court. At last all the bright and naughty things whispered about Paris were fathered upon him; and it was his ill luck that these included two poems accusing the Regent of desiring to usurp the throne. The Regent raged; and meeting the youth in the park one day, said to him: “M. Arouet, I will wager that I can show you something that you have never seen before.” “What is that?” “The inside of the Bastille.” Arouet saw It the next day, April 16, 1717.
Because of his wild antics Voltaire was imprisoned in Bastille in 1717 at the age of twenty-three.
While in the Bastille he adopted, for some unknown reason, the pen-name of Voltaire,* and became a poet in earnest and at length. Before he had served eleven months he had written a long and not unworthy epic, the Henriade, telling the story of Henry of Navarre. Then the Regent, having discovered, perhaps, that he had imprisoned an innocent man, released him and gave him a pension; whereupon Voltaire wrote thanking him for so taking care of his board, and begging permission hereafter to take care of his lodging himself.
*Carlyle thought it an anagram for A-r-o-u-e-t l. j. (le jejune, the younger). But the name seems to have occurred among the family of Voltaire’s mother.
During this imprisonment Voltaire wrote his epic Henriade.
He passed now almost with a bound from the prison to the stage. His tragedy, Oedipe, was produced in 1718, and broke all the records of Paris by running for forty-five consecutive nights. His old father, come to upbraid him, sat in a box, and covered his joy by grumbling, at every hit, “Oh, the rascal! the rascal!” When the poet Fontenelle met Voltaire after the play and damned it with high praise, saying it was “too brilliant for tragedy,” Voltaire replied, smiling, “I must re-read your pastorals.” The youth was in no mood for caution or for courtesy; had he not put into the play itself these reckless lines?—
Our priests are not what simple folk suppose;
Their learning is but our credulity. (Act iv, sc. 1);
and into the mouth of Araspe this epoch-making challenge?—
Let us trust to ourselves, see all with our own eyes;
Let these be our oracles, our tripods and our gods. (ii, 5)
The play netted Voltaire 4000 francs, which he proceeded to invest with a wisdom unheard of in literary men; through all his tribulations he kept the art not merely of making a spacious income, but of putting it to work; he respected the classic adage that one must live before one can philosophize. In 1719 he bought up all the tickets in a poorly planned government lottery, and made a large sum, much to the anger of the Government. But as he became rich he became ever more generous; and a growing circle of proteges gathered about him as he passed into the afternoon of life.
Voltaire was a genius not only in play writing but also in investing his money. He was also quite generous with his fortune.
It was well that he added an almost Hebraic subtlety of finance to his Gallic cleverness of pen; for his next play, Artemire, failed. Voltaire felt the failure keenly; every triumph sharpens the sting of later defeats. He was always painfully sensitive to public opinion, and envied the animals because they do not know what people say of them. Fate added to his dramatic failure a bad case of small-pox; he cured himself by drinking 120 pints of lemonade, and somewhat less of physic. When he came out of the shadow of death he found that his Henriade had made him famous; he boasted, with reason, that he had made poetry the fashion. He was received and feted everywhere; the aristocracy caught him up and turned him into a polished man of the world, an unequalled master of conversation, and the inheritor of the finest cultural tradition in Europe.
Voltaire’s rise was rapid with his successes. He mingled with aristocracy and became very polished.
For eight years he basked in the sunshine of the salons; and then fortune turned away. Some of the aristocracy could not forget that this young man had no other title to place and honor than that of genius, and could not quite forgive him for the distinction. During a dinner at the Duc de Sully’s chateau, after Voltaire had held forth for some minutes with unabashed eloquence and wit, the Chevalier de Rohan asked, not sotto voce, “Who is the young man who talks so loud?” “My Lord,” answered Voltaire quickly, “he is one who does not carry a great name, but wins respect for the name he has.” To answer the Chevalier at all was impertinence·; to answer him unanswerably was treason. The honorable Lord engaged a band of ruffians to assault Voltaire by night, merely cautioning them, “Don’t hit hIs head; something good may come out of that yet.” The next day, at the theatre, Voltaire appeared, bandaged and limping, walked up to Rohan’s box, and challenged him to a duel. Then he went home and spent all day practicing with the foils. But the noble Chevalier had no mind to be precipitated into heaven, or elsewhere, by a mere genius; he appealed to his cousin, who was Minister of Police, to protect him. Voltaire was arrested, and found himself again in his old home, the Bastille, privileged once more to view the world from the inside. He was almost immediately released, on condition that he go into exile in England. He went; but after being escorted to Dover he recrossed the Channel in disguise, burning to avenge himself. Warned that he had been discovered, and was about to be arrested a third time, he took ship again, and reconciled himself to three years in England (1726-29).
Voltaire got into trouble with aristocracy due to his impertinence and had to leave France for England.
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