Vinaire's Blog

Reference: A Critique of Scientology Philosophy

The human identity has both physical and metaphysical aspects. Based on corollaries 12 and 13 (Ref: The Kinetic Condition) we may say the following.

1. The human identity consists of a physical “body” and a metaphysical “viewpoint”.

2. The body consists of a structure formed out of organic material that exists within an electromagnetic field.

3. The viewpoint consists of a structure formed out of DNA programming that exists within a field of consciousness.

4. The body exists in space.  The viewpoint exists in awareness.

From Scientology 8-8008, section THE BEINGNESS OF MAN:

“The beingness of Man, by which is meant Homo sapiens, derives its impulse toward thought and action from theta and takes its material form in mest. Man, Homo sapiens, is a composite being of four distinct and divisible actualities: these parts are termed the thetan, the memory banks, the genetic entity and the body. The thetan… derives its impulse from the potential of theta itself and has certain definite goals and behaviour characteristics of its own.”

Hubbard uses the terms “theta” and “mest” broadly for metaphysical and physical aspects of reality respectively. Here thetan, memory bank and genetic entity denote the spiritual aspect of human identity. The body obviously denotes the physical aspect.

In the current model, the “potential of theta” is best described as desire; and “thetan” is simply the concept of individuality that is represented by the viewpoint, as described above.

Thetan is the individual identity of Man. The body is the physical aspect of that identity. The viewpoint is the metaphysical aspect of identity. The memory banks and genetic entity are aspects of the viewpoint. 

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From Scientology 8-8008, section THE BEINGNESS OF MAN:

“The standard memory banks and the reactive memory banks compose the memory banks of Homo sapiens… The standard banks can be said to contain data of which Man is easily and analytically aware and the reactive banks are those which contain stimulus-response… The content of the reactive banks was received during moments of lessened awareness such as the unconsciousness of early life in times of weariness, severe pain or heavy emotional stress, such data operating automatically thereafter to command the person without his consent. The standard memory banks are those in which experience is stored for use in the estimation of the effort necessary for survival and are concerned with analytical thought.”

In the current model, “memory banks” are part of the field of consciousness. As a person observes his environment, all his perceptions are assimilated as experience in the field of consciousness. Memory is constructed from this experience as and when required.

“Standard banks” are those areas of the field of experience where the perceptions are well assimilated. When perceptions are not assimilated they retain their literal form as “reactive banks”.

Perceptions are not assimilated when they are distorted due to the overload of  sensory organs. This overload occurs under conditions of severe pain or heavy emotional stress, but there are other means, such as chemical and electrical, that may also overload the sensory organs.

The viewpoint is flawed, and so is the body, to the degree perceptions of reality have not been well assimilated into consciousness.

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From Scientology 8-8008, section THE BEINGNESS OF MAN:

“The genetic entity is that beingness not dissimilar to the thetan which has carried forward and developed the body from its earliest moments along the evolutionary line on earth and which through experience, necessity and natural selection, has employed the counter-efforts of the environment to fashion an organism of the type best fitted for survival, limited only by the abilities of the genetic entity. The goal of the genetic entity is survival on a much grosser plane of materiality.

“The body itself is a carbon-oxygen engine which runs at a temperature of 98.6°F on low combustion fuel, generally derived from other life forms. The body is directly monitored by the genetic entity in activities such as respiration, heart-beat and endocrine secretions; but these activities may be modified by the thetan.”

Scientology description of the body is pretty good. The physical concept of body extends into metaphysics as “genetic entity”. The “genetic entity” is essentially the DNA programming of the person.

Thus, at the core of the viewpoint lies the genetic entity as the core programming. This programming extends outwards as the memory banks in consciousness.

The genetic entity forms the core of the thetan, which is not so viewed in Scientology.

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