This paper presents Section 30 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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Ownership
In view of the fact that time can be conceived to be havingness and in view of the fact that time itself is one of the most puzzling concepts which homo sapiens has ever sought to master, the whole question of ownership is subject to grave error, particularly on the part of Homo sapiens.
Havingness is the confidence that one can have. This confidence comes from having the requisite skill. This confidence is maintained through responsible use of that skill.
On the other hand, ownership is attachment. Increasing ownership leads to enduring attachment. That is how it relates to time. Thus ownership becomes part of one’s beingness. A person owning all is weighed down completely. A person owning nothing is completely flexible.
Discussions in the above text demonstrate that individuality depends upon high-tone level and freedom, whereas identity, as such, would be at a complete level of reduction, a condition analogous to MEST.
Individuality depends on the viewpoint. The broader is the viewpoint the higher the person is on the tone scale and the freer he feels. He has high havingness without the sense of attachment.
Identity, on the other hand, depends on the sense of attachment that comes the feeling of ownership. For example, body identity comes from the sense of attachment to the body. Underlying that attachment is the feeling that one owns the body.
It has long been recognized that “a rich man may as well try to get into Heaven as a camel through the eye of a needle.” The auditor will suddenly discover this truth when he tries to process many rich and successful men. These have carried ownership to such an extent that they are themselves thoroughly encased in energy which is solidifying into MEST itself. Instead of having things, they themselves are had by things. Their freedom in motion is enormously reduced, although they have tricked themselves into believing that possession will increase that freedom.
A rich person who possesses many things is so attached that he is actually owned by those things. Beingness becomes structured with ownership and attachment.
The auditor will find his preclear upset nowhere on the tone-scale as he will on the subject of ownership. A childhood, for instance, is intensely upset by the subject of ownership since the child is given to understand that he owns certain things and is then commanded in every action he takes with those items. A child cannot have possession, free and clear, of anything in the average family. He is given shoes and is told to take care of them and is punished if he does not take care of them although he apparently owns them. He is given toys and is harassed whenever he abuses them. He finally becomes convinced that he owns nothing and yet he is in a state of anxiety about owning things. Therefore he will try to possess many things and will completely overestimate or underestimate the value of what he has. The auditing of childhood ownership is a fruitful field for the auditor.
A child may use his toys to understand his surroundings. He understands that he should take care of his shoes because they might be difficult to replace. He also understands that he can let go his toys when he is done with them. This understanding is his havingness.
But when a child feels so possessive about his toys that he would not share it with other children then there is attachment of ownership. This may be induced by the family environment. Auditing of childhood ownership shall be auditing of childhood conditioning by the parents.
That preclear who is upset on the subject of time, even faintly, is, and has been, enormously upset on the subject of ownership, since havingness and its manifestations are themselves the MEST universe trick of giving us an illusion of time.
Experience of havingness and attachment makes the person what he is.
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FINAL COMMENTS
The havingness of skills and understanding is freeing; but the attachment of possessions and ownership is binding. It is good to look at the havingness and attachments of one’s childhood; and to audit out the attachments to attain increased havingness of understanding.
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