Reference: Hubbard 1950: Dianetics TMSMH
These are some comments on Book One, Chapter 5, “Summary” from DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH.
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Comments on
Summary
KEY WORDS: Analytical Mind, Reactive Mind, Somatic Mind
Dianetics needs an update after seventy years. To do so, we need to move from a human-centric approach to a universal one. The universe has been evolving all along; man is part of that evolution.
Therefore, we need to revise the dynamic principle of existence from survival to evolution.
The goal of man is not necessarily to seek immortally. From a universal point of view, the goal of man becomes the broadening of the consciousness to be able to understand the whole universe as it truly is.
Therefore, we need to revise the goal of man from immortality to a STATIC viewpoint from which all MOTION can be viewed as-is.
This requires expanding the viewpoint from self to a universal viewpoint that encompasses the family, the society, the race, mankind, all life, matter and energy.
The update of above fundamental postulates, in alignment with Buddhism, brings many changes to the subject of Dianetics.
The cycle of birth and death is natural in the course of evolution. A life organism must die in order to evolve into a higher form. The natural process of death due to old age need not be painful. Upon death, the body disintegrates into organic molecules. The molecules come together to form the next iteration of the BODY. The mind also disintegrate into patterns that reside in the organic molecules. These impressions also come together to form the mental matrix in the next iteration of the MIND. The “spirit” is the innate impulse of energy. It animates the next iteration of the BODY-MIND SYSTEM as it did the previous one. Any individuality is part of the body-mind system. It evolves as the body and mind evolve.
The individual is not immortal. The individuality evolves as the body-mind system evolves. The only eternal element is the subtle energy that energizes the body-mind system and its consciousness.
The urges of man are expressed as the dynamics of self, family, society, race, and mankind. These dynamics evolve from the innate impulse of energy that we see in the properties of matter and in the life activities of all different organisms, such as, plants, insects and animals.
The dynamics align naturally in man as he puts his attention on evolution.
The human mind is engaged in resolving anomalies (inconsistencies, discontinuities and disharmonies). It breaks the incoming perceptions into perceptual elements. These perceptual elements get assimilated into a mental matrix. Thinking occurs as the perceptual elements freely associate themselves in the desired direction. The more assimilated are the perceptual elements, the more analytical is the mind. The perceptions of painful shocks and disorientations are difficult to reduce and assimilate. They fuse themselves with other perceptual elements of the mental matrix. The greater is the fusion of perceptual elements, the more reactive is the mind.
Intelligence is the ability of the mind to perceive, pose and resolve anomalies. Alignment of dynamics determines the persistency of the organism in it course of evolution. Both intelligence and the alignment of dynamics get inhibited by the fusion of perceptual elements; this is the core of aberration. Aberrations are special type of anomalies because they reduce the ability of the mind to resolve anomalies.
All aberrations arise from the reactivity of the mind, which is caused by the fusing of perceptual elements in the mental matrix due to painful shocks and disorientations.
The somatic mind translates the signals from the mind to the body. Reactive signals generate aberrated behavior and psychosomatic illnesses in the body. A training pattern is not an aberration because it is not reactive; it can be changed at will. A habit, on the other hand, is reactive; it is difficult to overcome. Aberrations result in irrational computations and activities. Not all destructive activities are necessarily irrational.
The mind is capable of resolving its aberrations and the anomalies in the environment.
As the aberrations are resolved the viewpoint expands. The person moves on the tone scale from apathy to violent effort to mediocre success to overall success and happiness.
Happiness is the joy that comes from resolving aberrations and anomalies.
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