Reference: Hubbard 1950: Dianetics TMSMH
These are some comments based on the Introduction of Dianetics from the book, DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH.
NOTE: Winter wrote the introduction to the first edition of the DIANETICS book. A year later, he critiqued only minor assumptions and outrageous claims of Hubbard in a book whose cover is reproduced above. After about 70 years, we are now in a position to navigate through the hype of Hubbard, and really strengthen the actual discovery of Dianetics—that there are impressions in the mind generated by traumas that underlie consciousness and influence human thinking, health and behavior.
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Comments on
Introduction
KEY WORDS: Unconsciousness, Engrams
This introduction by physician J. A. Winter states, “In the creation of any New Idea, there is one step which is highly important. It is so obvious as to be frequently overlooked. This step, the sine qua non of any idea, consists in examining the basic assumptions of the subject and determining whether or not they need to be revised. The creator of a New Idea asks, ‘What would happen if I assume that this belief which everyone has had for centuries isn’t necessarily so?’”
The above statement defines Subject Clearing too. What makes Dianetics so revolutionary, and at the same time evolutionary, is that it examines the basic assumptions underlying the subject of life and the functioning of the mind. Dianetics exposes some of these assumptions.
One of the assumptions has been that the mind cannot record what is happening in the environment when the person is unconscious.
In Dianetics therapy, impressions from the periods of unconsciousness were found to exist in the mind. This led to the speculation of impressions from existence prior to birth, such as, in the womb, or in the DNA. Such past impressions have been known as samskara in the ancient Vedic philosophy. It is interesting to note that, in Buddhism, the mind is considered to be an organ of perception. We, therefore, have six organs of perception—touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste and the mental matrix.
The actual discovery of Dianetics is that the mind is capable of recording events, such as, severe injury, delirium, or surgical anesthesia, while the person appears to be unconscious. Such recordings normally stay below the level of consciousness, but can be retrieved back into consciousness with some effort.
Such recordings, called ENGRAMS, are susceptible to reactivation during future periods of mental anguish. The engram, hidden beneath unexplored layers of “unconsciousness,” possesses a power of command not unlike that of a post-hypnotic suggestion, in a far more insidious and tragic effect. This fact has been found to be a single, direct source of aberrated behavior in Man.
Winter states, “We should feel free to examine the basic assumptions of any body of knowledge we wish, without fear of committing lese majeste. If any system of thought is going to wither in the light of investigation, it does not deserve the title of Authority.”
Soon after a very successful publication of Dianetics in May 1950, Hubbard, the originator of Dianetics, started to act as an Authority. Dr. Winter, who served as the medical director of the Hubbard’s Dianetics Research Foundation, resigned in October 1950, stating “there was a difference between the ideals inherent within the dianetics hypothesis and the actions of the Foundation.” He published A Doctor’s Report on Dianetics in 1951 (see the image above), that was critical of Hubbard’s Authority. Some detail’s of Winter’s book may be found at Early Scientology / Dianetics – 1950.
It is important to look beyond the Authority of Hubbard at the actual scientific facts that support or deny the claims made by Hubbard with respect to Dianetics.
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