Reference: Hubbard 1950: Dianetics TMSMH
These are some comments on Book Two, Chapter 8, “Contagion of Aberration” from DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH.
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Comments on
Contagion of Aberration
KEY WORDS: Aberration
Aberrations are contagious. They are passed along through dramatizations of engrams just like disease are carried by germs. The common source of contagion is somebody dramatizing his engram around an “unconscious” person; for example, on operating table under anaesthetic, after an accident, or when sick or injured. The father and mother, in dramatizing their own engrams around sick or injured children, pass them along just as certainly as if those engrams were bacteria. This is how misconceptions and poor data also gets manifested in a society’s culture.
Aberration passes from people to other people in a society like a communicable disease does.
Aberration is also passed through the programming recorded on the genes. Birth itself may contribute to contagion as it can be a very painful experience for both mother and child that causes unconsciousness. Mother and child can then become mutually restimulative to each other. If the husband has been aberrated, he will have aberrated or restimulated his wife and children in one way or another, even when he used no physical violence upon them.
Aberration passes from parents to children in a family.
In the larger sphere of society contagion of aberration is extremely dangerous and cannot but be considered as a vital factor in undermining the health of that society. A society which practices punishment of any kind against any of its members is carrying on a contagion of aberration. Contagion of aberration is never more apparent than in that social insanity called war.
Engrams enter from the exterior world into the hidden recesses below rational thinking and prevent rational answers being reached. This is exterior-determinism. Any interference with self-determinism cannot but lead to wrong computations. Forced groups are invariably less efficient than free groups working for the common good.
In a society, the passing of aberration has much more severe consequences than the passing of misinformation alone.
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