Reference: Scientology 8-8008
This paper presents Section 40 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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The Emotional Scale and Sub-Zero Tone-Scale
The emotional scale has been covered often and exhaustively elsewhere. As has been discussed in this text, it is dependent upon that characteristic of energy known as affinity which itself is established by flows, dispersals and ridges.
Affinity is the feeling of nearness that a life organism feels toward other organisms and things. This feeling may be plotted on a tone-scale as a series of emotions. These emotions may be described in terms of flows, dispersals and ridges. They may be looked upon as viewpoints that describe the individual.
Below zero on the tone-scale is applicable only to a thetan.
A thetan may best be described as the viewpoint of the person.
It has been quite commonly observed that there are two positions for any individual on the tone-scale. This occurs because there is a position for the composite of the thetan plus his MEST body operating in a state of unknowingness that he is not a MEST body, and behaving according to social patterns, which give him some semblance of sanity. The other position on the tone-scale is the position of the thetan himself, and it is necessary for us to demonstrate a negative scale in order to find the thetan at all.
A person may have two positions on this tone-scale: one on the THETAN PLUS BODY scale, and other on the THETAN SCALE. The position on the THETAN PLUS BODY scale is based on a person’s social training and education. When the social pattern breaks down we see the position of the person on the THETAN SCALE.
For the thetan you will find the scale as follows:
This sub-zero tone-scale shows that the thetan is several hands below knowingness as a body, and so he will be found in the majority of cases. In our homo sapiens he will be discovered to be below zero on the tone-scale. The zero-to-four plus tone-scale was formulated on, and referred to, bodies and the activity of thetans with bodies. In order, then, to discover the state of mind of the thetan, one must examine the sub-zero scale. He has some trained patterns as a body which make it possible for him to know and to be. As himself, he has lost all beingness, all pride, all memories and all self-determined ability, but yet has an automatic response-mechanism in himself which continues furnishing his energy.
The sub-zero tone-scale could very well be a band between apathy (0.05) and body death (0.0). The “negative emotions” are viewpoints that are oblivious of aliveness as a being. The individual is reduced to an automatic response-mechanism of the body. Above this band, between 0 and 4, He is aware of having a body, and is influenced by it. Beyond 4, the influence of the body drops off.
EACH ONE OF THE ABOVE POINTS ON THE SCALE IS RUN AS POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE. Example: The beautiful sadness of needing bodies. The beautiful sadness of NOT needing bodies. The beauty of being responsible for bodies, the beauty of NOT being responsible for bodies. Each one is run as itself and then as the reverse with the addition of NOT.
A person may meditate upon these points on the scale, and compare them to the objective viewpoint at 40.0. This may help sort out any stuck viewpoints.
The sub-zero to 40.0 scale is the range of the thetan. A thetan is lower than body death, since it survives body death. It is in a state of knowingness below 0.375 only when it is identifying itself as a body and IS, to its own thinking, the body. The BODY-PLUS-THETAN scale is from 0.0 to 4.0, and the position on this scale is established by the social environment and education of the composite being and is a stimulus-response scale. The preclear is initially above this 0.375 on the BODY-PLUS-THETAN range. Then, on auditing, he commonly drops from the FALSE TONE of the BODY-PLUS-THETAN scale and into the true tone of the thetan.
There is no thetan that survives body death. Nobody has ever encountered “thetans without bodies” objectively in Scientology. The “sub-zero” scale simply lists the viewpoints of robotically animated bodies. The THETAN PLUS BODY scale lists the viewpoints conditioned by social environment and education. The THETAN SCALE lists the viewpoints in absence of social conditioning.
This is actually the only self-determined tone present— the actual tone of the thetan. From this sub-zero he quickly rises up scale through the entire range as a thetan and generally settles at 20.0 and in command of the body and situations. The course of auditing then takes the preclear, quite automatically, down from the FALSE TONE of the BODY-PLUS-THETAN scale to the actual tone of the thetan. Then the tone of the thetan rises back up the scale level by level.
The improvement of an individual in auditing (or meditation) is monitored by his position on the THETAN SCALE. The social tone is a false tone level.
It is not uncommon to find the preclear (who IS the thetan) quite raving mad under the false “veneer” of social and educational stimulus-response training and to discover that the preclear, while behaving quite normally in the BODYPLUS-THETAN state, becomes irrational in the course of auditing. BUT DESPITE THIS, the preclear is actually being far more sane and rational than ever before and the moment he discovers himself as himself, as THE source of energy and personality and beingness of a body, he becomes physically and mentally better. Thus the auditor must not be dismayed at the course of tone, but should simply persevere until he has the thetan up into rational range. A raving mad thetan is far more sane than a normal human being. But then, as you audit, observe it for yourself.
An individual’s irrationality may be hidden under a social veneer that puts up a false tone. In auditing (or meditation) the individual may first seem to become irrational, but he is actually improving. It is the social veneer that has dropped off, and he is becoming more himself. One should simply persevere with auditing (meditation). The individual will rise quickly reaching the rational range. It takes courage to give up social conditioning and accept the reality of what one truly is and to behave as such in the society. This is like coming out of the closet.
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FINAL COMMENTS
The emotional tone scale is quite revealing of the social conditioning of the individual. It provides tremendous help in auditing and meditating. Please see the detailed comments in the essay.
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