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Reference: The Book of Scientology

The Beingness of Man

Please see the original section at the link above.

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Summary

Scientology divides reality into Theta and MEST, where Theta represents ‘thought’ and MEST represents the ‘physical universe.’ The interplay between Theta and MEST results in activities known as life.

Theta is static. It has no substance, and therefore, it has no inherent extents, duration, or motion. On the other hand, MEST is kinetic. It is all substance, and therefore, it has extents, duration, and motion. MEST is an acronym, which is created from the first letters of the four words: matter, energy, space and time.

Theta as thought is not preceded by data; instead it is the starting point of the creation of data. MEST is the universe of data that can be sensed. Hubbard, therefore, sees MEST as the product of theta.

In Scientology, the individuality of a person is represented by the term ‘thetan’. The thetan derives its impulse toward thought and action from theta and takes its material form in MEST. The thetan is the core of human beingness that also includes the memory banks, the genetic entity, and the body. 

The memory banks are like the file system of an electronic computer. They may be divided into “standard” and “reactive.” The standard memory banks are those in which experience is stored; and they can easily be accessed by the person. The reactive banks are those which contain stimulus-response data; and their activity is below the level of awareness of the person. 

The genetic entity is the programming that runs the body. It doesn’t require intervention from the thetan, which is the person. 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 basic goal of thetan, which embraces all his activities, is apparently survival. Survival might be defined as an impulse to persist through time, in space, as matter and energy. The survival activities cover the maintaining a body, procreation and family, groups and society, race and mankind, ecosystem and life, the material universe, the spirit, and the Supreme Being. These are called dynamics in Scientology. 

Scientology believes that the thetan declines in its awareness and capabilities by being attached to the body. The standard processing of Scientology helps the thetan detach itself from the body and its circuits. Such detachment brings tremendous boost to thetan’s awareness and capabilities, and ensures its immortality.

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Comments

The fundamentals of Scientology may be understood better by comparing them to the fundamentals of Buddhism.

Scientology believes in the narrative of Creator-creation, and considers Theta (thought) to have produced MEST (the physical universe). Buddhism, on the other hand, believes in the duality of Unknowable-knowable, and considers the universe to be the knowable part of this dichotomy. From the perspective of Buddhism, both Theta and MEST are constituents of this knowable universe, and the concept of Unknowable does not exist in Scientology. Thus, from Scientology perspective, everything will become known at some point in future. From Buddhist perspective, there will always be something more to know.

Scientology believes in the immortality of individuality (the thetan). From Buddhist perspective, “The Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned and impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul, or Ātman within or without.” The Buddhist concept of reincarnation is very different from Scientology concept of past lives. What continues from one life to the next is karma and not the individual.

Karma is essentially the influence on us from past lives. It is also the consequence of our actions in this life. Structurally, Karma is made up of unassimilated impressions in our mind. In Dianetics, we have mental impressions in the form of locks, secondaries and engrams. In Scientology, we have identification of thoughts (A=A=A) that messes up our thinking. At OT Levels, we have misconceptions that go deep into our postulates. These misconceptions lie at the root of all our aberrations. All these are included in the definition of Karma.

Scientology seems to be fixated on the survival of the individuality; and, therefore, it believes in the eventual immortality of the thetan. According to Buddhism: “Two ideas are psychologically deep-rooted in man: self-protection and self-preservation. For self-protection man has created God, on whom he depends for his own protection, safety and security, just as a child depends on its parent. For self-preservation man has conceived the idea of an immortal Soul or Atman, which will live eternally. In his ignorance, weakness, fear, and desire, man needs these two things to console himself. Hence he clings to them deeply and fanatically.”

In Scientology, the very idea of immortality of thetan means that the uniqueness that makes one thetan different from another is very precious and it must be maintained at all costs. A thetan is basically a point of awareness without any fixation. Any uniqueness of a thetan considered immortal would be a fixation. This fixation on individuality makes Scientology limited in its ability to handle all human aberrations. 

Scientology has many workable techniques but they can be improved upon.The removal of misconceptions pointed out above, will certainly bring about this improvement.

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