History of Axioms etc
| History of Axioms etc | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nomen Nescis |
| Type of Article | Category:Articles |
- The following originally (2016) was a sort of supplement to a small Internet list presenting/discussing a Scientology book chapter every week; in this case in connection with the chapter mentioning the axioms in Fundamentals of Thought. I asked a friend if he would amplify the brief comment I made and this is his answer (written over a pseudonym). Antony Phillips (ant.phillips@post8.tele.dk )
Hi Ant
I really have little to say about the development of the axioms beyond the time line, which is evident to anybody who cares to look.
We have the axioms from the Original Thesis (1948, you may find them in Scientology 0-8), introducing survival as the basic dynamic principle and the mind as the precursor of a self-determined thetan, one might say - the pc whom we audit in Scientology, as different from e.g. psychoanalytic practice which interprets what the pc says and discovers the workings of the mind for the pc. Looking at these axioms now, I notice that number 4, "THE MIND, AS THE CENTRAL DIRECTION SYSTEM OF THE BODY, POSES, PERCIEVES AND RESOLVES PROBLEMS OF SURVIVAL AND DIRECTS OR FAILS TO DIRECT THEIR EXECUTION", is a more clearly formulated version of Scn. Axiom 39: "LIFE POSES PROBLEMS FOR ITS OWN SOLUTION". This is interesting because Axiom 39 is not commented on in Phoenix Lectures as are the other axioms. It happened to be at the end of a lecture, and Ron began the next commenting on axiom 40 (Phoenix Lectures, Ch. 15-16, page 186-187).
Then came "The Book One Axioms" on the inside of the cover of DMSMH (later in Scientology 0-8), giving the mechanical fundamentals of locks, engrams and secondaries. The axiom containing the formula "PV-IDx" (sorry, I cannot place the exponent "x" correctly) is interesting because it states that force, i.e. the ability to handle effort, plays a more important role than intelligence. This is the basis of the often repeated statement that the way out is the way through; in the Philadelphia Doctorate Course (PDC) lectures Ron states emphatically that it is force that we cannot avoid going through. Intelligence and wisdom follows.
Next came the logics and the axioms of Dianetcs in the course manual Advanced Procedures and Axioms from November 1951 (later in Scientology 0-8). The Logics are a summary of at least in part entirely conventional philosophy of science: Make a hypothesis about something, predict something based on it and see if it holds. If it does so in a lot of cases in spite of your efforts to see if you can prove it wrong, it is considered to be well confirmed, and is now a theory (which you are justified in considering relatively true; the most certain knowledge a science has, are theories, certainty belongs to individuals, not science). Ron further states that: Arbitrary or false data, based on authority rather that natural law, will aberrate a problem and necessitate further arbitraries. Quite relevant for "true believers". Ron stresses the importance of gradient scales, which is not new to modern philosophy, but which refers to Aristotelian logic where a fact is either (absolutely) true or false. "Tertium non datur", a third (possibility) does not exist. Aristotle was not an idiot, logic is a science about how to draw conclusions correctly from certain premises, not about what exists in the real world. The real world comes into the picture when we begin to draw conclusions from our best theories.
The Dianetic axioms from that book are a very accurate and elaborate summary of the theories (best knowledge, based on observation) of Dianetics. It depends a lot on Darwinism, but of course includes the workings of the reactive mind. Ron introduces the life static, the source of life which has "peculiar and particular properties" (Dn Ax 1), which he names Theta (Dn Ax 8). At this time he seems not to be sure whether to conceive theta as an energy or an individual; he sometimes seems to think of an individual as a sort of located emanation from a common source af power. Indeed, in A History of Man he refers to the history of the theta line (the thetan's time track) beginning "with his 'Separation from the Main Body of Theta' " (Chapter six, page 47 in my edition). He never refers to that incident as separation from the static, though, which is important because "Static" in Scn. Axiom 1 is sometimes wrongly understood as "the main body of theta". Ron dismisses that idea completely in the PDC Lectures in 1952; in 1954 he dismisses it twice: In Creation of Human Ability, page 123, R2-48: Separateness. He writes, "This was the process which told me that we are not natively sprung from one 'common body of theta' ". And in Phoenix Lectures, commenting on Scn Axiom 1 and 2: "So we have then actually described a thetan when we have gotten Axioms One and Two" (Phoenix Lectures, Ch. 13, page 147. When Ron talks about axioms in the PDC tapes, it is these 194 Dianetics axioms he refers to).
At some time during 1951 pcs had begun to go past life. Ron didn't like it because that meant that there were more engrams, secondaries and locks than one could hope to run out in lifetimes and lifetimes. He eventually accepted the individual thetan as a fact, and so he had to develop new methods that would make it feasable to clear a person in a lifetime. The Prelogics, or the Qs, briefly summarize how we may conceive a thetan: A self determined energy unit who, by its creations, creates universes and action cycles, and therefore also time (since a cycle implies that some things happen before others; this is specified in Scn. axiom. 7 and 43).
Then come the Factors (also in Scientology 0-8), which Ron, entirely honestly, I believe, "[h]umbly tendered as a gift to Man", April 23, 1953. They appear to be a sort of Genesis, and may be understood that way. However, in a lecture dated the following day, "The Factors", Ron stresses that he did not mean the factors as a copy of the Genesis, but that they are subject to test by creative processing. The principles of the factors manifest themselves all the time in life. You locate yourself, find a place from where to communicate, and at the same time you create or agree on anchor points and dimension points (touch the things in your working area, if you like) and interchange new dimension points with them by sending out particles of attention and getting back information that you duplicate. Factor 28 summarizes what has to be done to de-aberrate a being.
The Scientology Axioms were introduced in Creation of Human Ability (also in Scientology 0-8) in 1954, except for axiom 51-58 which were added later. They are explained quite thoroughly in Phoenix Lectures in chapter 5-16. Briefly, they explain the view of Scientology that the person, the pc, is a thetan, a viewpoint that is nothing in terms of MEST, physical or mental, (axiom 1), but who by postulating (creating), considering (agreeing) (axiom 2-3) and forming opinions (implicit, factor 17) builds up his own universe on all dynamics (Q3), in this universe by using, mechanically, the four conditions of existence: As-is (creation by postulate and destruction by spotting and creating that same postulate), alter-is (change through time, e.g. by concluding, generalizing, forming opinions about, refusing to be or be cause for etc.), which results in is-ness (continuous change, for instance considering you have a certain life, have a job, a family, a home etc; it is quite true, and it is not bad, but you entirely overlook all the specific creations and considerations which go into the creation of these, and so life goes on instead of as-ising = vanishing) and not-is (forcefully rejecting something - or refusing to take the viewpoint of somebody, as in axiom 25. It makes things continue to exist covertly, and so you get unreal phenomena such as engram dramatizations, ARC breaks, missed withholds and mysteries). Not-is is not bad, necessarily, you do need, sometimes, to hold off your pains or impulses in order not to be overwhelmed or commit overts, and that is not-is-ness; but you would do it to cope, and you need to undo the not-is afterwords, or it will catch up with you when you least expect it. Ron stresses that you need fluency with all four conditions of existence.
Finally one might not want to overlook The Axioms of S.O.P. 8-C (in Scientology 0-8, but given with examples for use in The Journal of Scientology issue 24-G, 31 Jan 1954, Tech Volume II, p. 13. They relate to a particular program, but it might be worth your while to read, among other things, the axioms about duplication (step VIII). At least I sometimes get the impression that Scientologists often forget that communication is also duplication. I relate it to Dianetic Axiom 111: SELF-DETERMINISM CONSISTS OF MAXIMAL AFFINITY, REALITY AND COMMUNICATION. For you need to understand (ARC) a situation completely in order to act analytically.
Wish you luck,
Nomen Nescis
Further article by Nomen Nescis[edit | edit source]
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