In the essay referenced above we identified Theism being self-centric while non-Theism being reality-centric. The present essay takes a closer look at the meanings of self-centric and reality-centric.
In Scientology, INTERIORIZATION refers to a condition that has to do with “going into and becoming part of the body too fixedly.” EXTERIORIZATION is defined as a state where the individual experiences being outside his body. When this is done, the person achieves a certainty that he is himself and not his body. Such “out-of-body” experiences are common outside of Scientology but they are random and uncontrolled. Scientology offers processing that can bring about “out-of-body” experience.
Technically, the “out-of-body” experience occurs when the attention, which has been stuck on the body, suddenly becomes unstuck. Once the attention is unstuck it remains unstuck. The euphoria of being “outside the body” settles down after a while to freer attention with normal perceptions.
Any freeing of attention is therapeutic. One is no longer going through life believing that one is just a body. But Scientology now makes one believe that one is a thetan (an immortal self) that can operate from outside the body permanently.
There is no such thing as a “thetan” that literally moves out of the body and stays outside permanently. But a person who believes in a God (with self) can easily be convinced that he could be this thetan. This gives the person the goal of operating as a spiritual self without the encumbrance of a physical body.
But the person’s attention now gets stuck on becoming an operating thetan. He moves from being “body-centric” to being “self-centric.”
Scientology promotes this because there is good money in it for Scientology.
Thus, we may define INTERIORIZATION also as: Going into and becoming part of the self too fixedly.
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In physics, the concept of “center of mass” is used to simplify various important calculations in mechanics. The center of mass is the weighted average location of all the mass in a body. The entire mass of a body is treated as if it is concentrated at the center of mass.
The self may then be seen as a “center of feeling” much like the “center of mass.” The center of feeling would be the weighted average location of all physical and mental energies or forces related to a person. The entire feeling of a person is treated as if it is concentrated at the center of feeling or “I”.
When the attention stuck on self suddenly becomes unstuck, there is a wonderful “out-of-self” experience. We may call it exteriorization from self. When this happens, one achieves the certainty that one is much more than some boxed in ideas and thinking patterns. One can be as large as the reality one is witnessing. This is very likely a movement toward the state of Nirvana that Buddha was talking about.
This would be a condition that may be referred to as reality-centric. One is no longer fixated on the survival of a little self. One feels freer than ever before. One now feels compassion for all life and the whole universe because one is now identifying with it.
Nobody is trying to get rid of the “I” here. It is just a shift of focus. One is interiorized in a body because one is so focused on the body. Similarly, one can be interiorized in a self because one is so focused on it.
A reality-centric view simply exteriorizes one from the self. The self does not cease to exist as a result, just like body does not cease to exist when one exteriorizes from the body.
There is a road that takes one beyond being reality-centric. But that would be the subject of another essay.
NOTE: Self is a subset of reality. Self is not the source of reality as one is made to believe in Scientology.
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