Reference: Course on Subject Clearing
The following definitions are logical and consistent according to the Principle of Oneness. However, they may appear strange to us due to our long term social conditioning.
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SUBSTANCE
A substance is anything substantial enough to be known or sensed. We know matter to be substance. But we can sense light; therefore light also is substance. We can know thought, so thought too is substance. In general, all things knowable must have substance because they cannot be known otherwise. When a postulate is manifested we have substance. Origin: “That which stands under.”
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THOUGHT
The substance of postulate is called thought. Thought then develops into considerations, concepts, etc. Pure thought has no resistance and its motion is infinite. It appears as space but as it condenses it takes on the characteristics of energy. The condensing thought has increasing resistance and a motion rapidly becoming finite. Condensing thought produces a spectrum. This spectrum is represented by a Tone Scale in Scientology on which 40.0 represents pure thought as “serenity of beingness”; and 0.0 represents a very condensed thought as “death of beingness.” Origin: “to know.”
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SPACE
Space represents the dimensions of substance that we see as “extents.” Space of pure thought is infinite. Space condenses as thought condenses. Condensed space is seen as “energy space,” which represents the extents of the electromagnetic radiation. Extreme condensation of space appears as “material space,” which represents the extents of matter. Space to energy to matter we have increasing condensation of substance. Thus, the presence of space as “extents” implies the presence of substance. There is no empty space. Physics conceives of empty space as an abstraction of “material space” that we study in geometry. Einstein expanded the concept of space from rigid “material space” to increasingly malleable “energy space.”
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ENERGY
Energy arises as thought condenses (see THOUGHT, and SPACE). Our experience does not differentiate “energy space” from “thought space” in terms of extents, or the electromagnetic radiation from thought in terms of substance. Therefore, much confusion exists regarding the concepts of ENERGY and SPACE. The electromagnetic radiation changes considerably as it condenses from radio waves to gamma rays. This is presented in detail as the electromagnetic spectrum of decreasing wavelengths and increasing frequency. When we talk about energy as activity, it is energy changing in its wavelength and frequency.
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MATTER
Matter is condensed energy. This was the breakthrough discovery of Einstein which made atomic bombs and nuclear reactors possible. It explained how Sun produces its energy. Einstein also differentiated “material space” from “energy space.” These were the new scientific revolutions of the twentieth century. Matter is the most ubiquitous part of our experience as the solidity of substance, so much so that we have identified all substance as matter. Matter itself has a spectrum of density. The matter in collapsed stars and black holes have much higher density than what we normally experience.
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TIME
Time is a measure of the condensation of substance as its “duration.” Thought has little duration; energy has greater duration; and matter has the most duration. We experience time, generally, as the changes occurring in our experience. We are generally conscious of the “material time” connected with the duration of matter. It is measured in terms of the passage of sun across the heavens due to earth’s rotation. This “material time,” however, is very different from the “thought time” connected with the duration of our thoughts. It is startling when we are confronted with both of them at once, such as, when waiting for something to happen in the “material universe” while thoughts are racing in our “thought universe.”
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MEST
MEST is the mathematical symbol assigned to all substance that we are familiar with as space, energy and matter; along with time as the measure of condensation of substance. MEST refers not just to the material universe but also to the thought universe, because it is a designation for all that is knowable, as opposed to the Unknowable. MEST is an acronym formed from the initial letters matter, energy, space and time. Scientology makes the error of limiting the designation of “MEST” to the material universe only. See SUBSTANCE, SPACE, ENERGY, MATTER, and TIME.
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