Reference: Hubbard 1950: Dianetics TMSMH
These are some comments on Book Two, Chapter 2, “The Reactive Mind” from DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH.
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KEY WORDS: Engram, Restimulator
It is observed that when a person is unconscious he is not aware of his surroundings, and when he returns to consciousness he cannot recall the events from that period of unconsciousness. Therefore, it has long been assumed that nothing gets recorded in the mind during the periods of unconsciousness, such as, those caused by anesthesia, drugs, injury or shock.
Hubbard discovered that the mind not only records data during the periods of unconsciousness, but such data acts like hypnotic commands later in that person’s life. More exactly, this data containing painful emotion and physical pain is recorded below the level of “consciousness.” It is called engram. It gets triggered when something similar appears in the environment.
The engram makes a person act according to its recording. Such action is “rational” in the context of the recording, but it is irrational in the broader context, but the person feels forced to follow it.
These engrams define the contents of the reactive mind. The whole effort in Dianetics is to discharge this content.
Hubbard concludes,
“1. The mind records on some level continuously during the entire life of the organism.”
The mind does not record, but it breaks down the incoming perceptions into data elements and assimilates them in a mental matrix. Only engrams exist as recordings because they do not break down and get assimilated.
“2. All recordings of the lifetime are available.”
All perceptions that were assimilated are available as memories. Only recordings are the engrams, and they are not available as memories.
“3. ‘Unconsciousness,’ in which the mind is oblivious of its surroundings, is possible only in death and does not exist as total amnesia in life.”
“Unconsciousness” occurs when perceptions are not getting assimilated. Upon death, the mind disintegrates, and neither consciousness nor unconsciousness remains.
“4. All mental and physical derangements of a psychic nature come about from moments of ‘unconsciousness’.”
All perceptions are assimilated with other data. Therefore, they can be differentiated and understood in a wider context. Engrams are not assimilated.
“Unconsciousness” is the single source of aberration simply because it is accompanied by non-assimilation of data.
“5. Such moments can be reached and drained of charge with the result of returning the mind to optimum operating condition.”
Hubbard says,
“There is no such action as ‘mental conditioning’ except on a conscious training level (where it exists only with the consent of the person).”
A person holding fixed ideas, prejudices or biases is “mentally conditioned.” He is fixated on the narrow context of his ideas and is broadly “unconscious.” This is the case with all “mental conditioning,” including training patterns.
“Mental conditioning” is “rational” in a narrow context only. It generates errors in thinking and behavior in a wider context.
Hypnotic suggestions are also rational within a narrow context, and appear normal to the person. Different people may act differently upon that suggestion, but they see their actions as rational. However, other people, viewing those actions in a broader context, see them as irrational.
A hypnotic suggestion makes a person act irrationally, though he thinks he is acting rationally.
Engrams are “hypnotic suggestions” that are almost hard wired into the body-mind system. Originally, simple engrams provided the organism with an ability to react fast under certain situations so the organism could survive. Engram that include language are a lot more complicated and they have a lot more power to aberrate the person. Homonymic words are supposed to be interpreted in terms of their context. But the context of the engram being fixed, the homonymic words lead to the strangest behavior.
Language gives engrams a lot more power to aberrate.
Painful emotion and physical pain makes the engram. Pain is a measure of the misalignment in perception. It makes the perception difficult to break down and assimilate in the mental matrix. The shock of accidents, the anesthetics used for operations, the pain of injuries and the deliriums of illness are the principal sources of engrams. Once an engram gets activated by a similar experience it get its hooks into the circuits of the mental matrix and aberrates them.
Aberration starts and spreads through the body-mind system as engrams gets hooked up into the mental matrix.
Engrams may be categorized as follows:
Contra-survival engram — contains apparent or actual antagonism to the organism.
Pro-survival engram (Sympathy engram) — a sympathetic address to an artificially unconscious subject.
Painful emotion engram — caused by the shock of sudden loss such as the death of a loved one.
The most dangerous category is the “sympathy engram” as it pretends to support the person’s survival. This is the mechanism used in hypnotism. This engram may be installed when sympathy is shown to a sick person.
A sick person should be tended to efficiently with compassion, but without verbal sympathy.
“Unconsciousness” is related to the body, and “unawareness” is related to the mind, but the common denominator of both is inability to differentiate. Under this condition the mind associates different things as being identical to each other. Thus, under the influence of the engram, the body-mind system operates on much simpler, rugged principle.
Pain knocks out the ability to differentiate and keeps the engram out of sight and moored below the level of “consciousness.” The pain also drives the actions of the engram. If the command of the engram is resisted, the pain overwhelms the organism.
Engram retains its power as long as it stays below awareness. Engrams are not really deleted; they are resolved by bringing them up to awareness and assimilating them in the mental matrix. No engram has any constructive value until it is assimilated.
Engrams do not become part of the experience until they are assimilated.
Hubbard says,
“It is not very complicated to understand what these engrams do. They are simply moments of physical pain strong enough to throw part or all the analytical machinery out of circuit; they are antagonism to the survival of the organism or pretended sympathy to the organism’s survival. That is the entire definition… The engram is the single and sole source of aberration and psycho-somatic illness.”
Any material that has not been fully assimilated in the mental matrix functions like an engram to greater or lesser degree.
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