Reference: Scientology 8-8008
This paper presents Section 13 from the book SCIENTOLOGY 8-8008 by L. RON HUBBARD. The contents are from the original publication of this book by The Church of Scientology (1952).
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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Terminals
At every turn in the examination of the MEST universe we discover that it is a two-terminal universe. In the manufacture of electricity it is necessary to have two terminals. In order to have an opinion evaluated, it is necessary to have an opinion against which the first can be evaluated. A datum can be understood in the MEST universe only when it is compared to a datum of comparable magnitude. This is two terminals operating in terms of thought. Two MEST universe terminals which are similar, placed side by side will discharge to some degree against each other. This is observable in gravity as well as in electricity.
By the term “MEST universe” Hubbard is identifying the stimulus-response phenomena among humans with the very different property of action-reaction of matter. The action-reaction property in matter is natural and it is not an aberration; whereas, the stimulus-response phenomena among humans is an aberration.
A primary difference between the MEST universe and one’s own universe is that one’s own universe is not a two-terminal universe necessarily. One can mock up in one’s own universe two terminals which will discharge against each other, but he can also at will mock up two terminals which are identical which will not discharge against each other.
In the material universe two terminals discharge against each other only when they are brought into contact at different potentials. They do not discharge when they are at the same potential.
There are a number of processes which could include double terminals. One terminal made to face another terminal (in terms of mock-up) can be discharged one against the other in such a way as to relieve aberration connected with things similar to the terminal thus mocked up. However, these two terminals do not furnish a double terminal of a communication line. A communication line is more important than a communication point. Thus, if one wished to discharge anything, he would desire to discharge the communication line. The MEST universe is intensely dependent upon communication lines rather than communication terminals. One takes two pairs of such terminals then, and standing them in relationship to each other, discovers that he has now four terminals but these four terminals furnish only two lines. These two lines will discharge one against the other.
An aberrated individual is similar to a charged terminal. The charged terminal is discharged when brought into contact with the ground. Similarly, the aberration of an individual may be “discharged” by grounding it with relevant mock-ups. This requires the use of “communication lines.”
This, as a limited process, should not be continued very long. It is of greatest interest in rendering assistance after an accident where it is only necessary to mock up the accident twice, or indeed, to mock up something similar to an injured limb, to have the pain and discomfort and aberration discharged. Should one burn one’s fingers, it is necessary only to mock up his fingers twice side by side and then twice again, making four mock ups with two communication lines, to have the pain in the finger subside. The mock-ups discharge at the same time as one’s injured finger re-experiences the incident. This manifestation is the manifestation of the MEST universe, it is not a manifestation of one’s own universe and if practiced over a long period of time is essentially an agreement with the MEST universe, a thing which should be avoided; thus it is a limited process.
However, this is a limited process. The discharge occurs when the moment of the accident or injury is re-experiencecd. The process ends there.
A terminal is, in essence, any point of no form or any form or dimension from which energy can flow or by which energy can be received. A viewpoint then, is a sort of terminal, but a terminal must have a particle in order to do automatic interchanges and one finds that a viewpoint can be affected by the MEST universe only when the viewpoint has identified itself with some MEST universe article, such as a body. The rehabilitation of the viewpoint’s ability to be, or not be, at will is essential in order that a viewpoint be self-determined about what is affecting him and what is not affecting him. This depends, of course then, upon what a viewpoint identifies himself with and depends upon the ability of the viewpoint to un-identify himself rapidly.
A terminal is involved in automatic interchanges because of its charge. Aberration in an individual is like this charge. It occurs because of the fixation of the viewpoint a material object, such as, the body. Discharge of aberration requires the ability to rapidly free up one’s attention from any fixation.
Terminals are anywhere in the MEST universe and can be manufactured, of course, in one’s own universe. The difference is that any bit of solid, even on the level of an electron in the MEST universe, is, willy-nilly, a terminal; it is affected in certain ways, whether it likes it or not. Any particle in any object or any flow of energy is in itself a terminal. A terminal can be affected by any other terminal or can affect, to some degree, other terminals.
A terminal itself is something “solid” (or substantial) with fixed properties. That is why it can be affected whether it likes it or not.
This cross-relationship of terminals in the MEST universe is MEST universe communication. In one’s own universe a flow is not necessary for the production of energy or potentials.
The terminals in this universe are related to each other in some manner or other. Unwanted influence occurs only when there are anomalies.
It is one of the sources of aberration that the scarcity of things in the MEST universe causes one to own only one of things; this is aberrative, since that one can gather into itself charges which are not discharged since there is nothing immediately similar to it. If one owned two of everything he had and if these two things were nearly identical, he would find that his worry and concern about these objects was greatly decreased. A child, for instance, should have two dolls alike, not simply one doll. The reason for this is that two terminals will discharge, one against the other. The thetan is capable of mocking himself up to be exactly like everything he sees. As a matter of fact, whatever a thetan can see, he can be. Thus, the thetan makes himself into a terminal for everything he sees whenever there is an absence of a duplicate. Thus the thetan is in the danger of having everything in the MEST universe discharging against him the moment he alters his relationship to the MEST universe. This fixes him in the belief that he cannot alter his relationship to the MEST universe. Actually he is rather rapidly disabused of this conception by processing. It is rather interesting to “double-terminal” in mock-up form the childhood toys of an individual. He will find there is an enormous amount of charge simply in the fact that these toys were made out of MEST. The favourite doll has a gravitic influence upon him.
The sense of scarcity comes from a fixation of attention. When one can mock-up abundance of something, the fixation on it goes away. Therefore, mocking up an abundance of bodies lessens the anxiety about death.
Completely aside from the terminals one finds in an electric motor and which produce so much current by reason of being separated by the base of the motor, the subject of terminals goes into behaviour and explains in a great measure behaviour on a stimulus-response basis in the MEST universe. Indeed, it could be said that the MEST universe came into being by one terminal demanding attention from another terminal and these two terminals thereafter facing each other continuing a discharge one to the other. With very aberrated people, one cannot long discuss things with them without getting the manifestation of terminals, for the very aberrated fix on a terminal easily.
The current is continually flowing in an electric motor because the charge is being replenished by a generator. That generator is the fixation of attention. The configuration of motor provides a fixed behavior. This universe has come about because of the desire to know the Unknowable. Those people who are very aberrated are simply trying to discharge their aberration through other terminals around them. They are unable to do so because of their fixations.
It could be said that the MEST universe is the average of agreement amongst viewpoints and that the laws of the MEST universe, no matter how physical, are the result of this agreement; and, indeed, this definition suffices for those conditions which are supposed to be “reality.” The MEST universe is very real, but any hypnotist can instruct a hypnotized subject into the construction of a universe which has tactile, sight, sound and any other manifestation possessed by the MEST universe, and who is to say then, that the hypnotized subject is not perceiving a universe? For one’s own perception of the MEST universe consists of his placing an object in proximity to or against another object, and both of these objects are found to be objects of the MEST universe. This is overlooked by individuals when they, for instance, strike a desk with their fist. It is the favourite declaration of the materialist (that individual who is in a frantic state of insistence upon the existence of the MEST universe) that “this is real.” The effects he is creating are being created by a hand that is made out of MEST on an object which is MEST. The individual has overlooked the fact that the hand with which he is doing the pounding is itself MEST and that his knowledge of that hand is actually no more than his perception of it. This is a problem in two terminals.
The reality of this universe proceeds from natural laws (the original postulates} and the reasoning based on them. The apparent “reality” exists because of the ignorance of those postulates. A hypnotist may manipulate only a reality constructed out of ignorance. He cannot manipulate the reality of an enlightened being. The cynical attitude forwarded by Hubbard is that there is no such thing as enlightenment, and that enlightened beings do not exist.
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FINAL COMMENTS
Newton’s third law is: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This law applies to matter and it is simple and natural. But the stimulus-response phenomena among humans is something very different. It is complex and unnatural. It is an aberration.
In the material universe two terminals discharge against each other when they are at different potentials. They discharge until they reduce to the same potential. An aberrated individual may be considered similar to a charged terminal. It discharges when that aberration is recognized for what it is. For example, an unwanted condition due to an accident or injury discharges when the moment of the accident or injury is re-experienced.
The stimulus-response condition exists because there is aberration that needs to be discharged. The “charge” of aberration is “fixation of attention.” Most of such charge comes from fixation of attention on the body. Discharge of aberration requires the ability to rapidly free up one’s attention from fixation.
Any terminal in this universe has properties. Fixation occurs when these properties become part of some anomaly. Fixation occurs especially when one considers that there is a scarcity of something. When one can mock-up the abundance of that thing, the fixation goes away. This applies to fixation on the body.
The fixation keeps the aberration in place. In the absence of fixations there are no aberrations. The ultimate reality comes from the reasoning based on the postulates that underlie this universe.
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