Arthur Ronald Conway Hubbard

Understanding – Part 4

Scientology 1.0.0 – chapter 31

“To be or not to be…” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet

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Click here to bring up the Tone Scale in a separate window for ease of reference.

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Theta

“What in tarnation is ‘theta’ anyway? Is it even a real word?”

Some places one might go to on the internet make light of Scientology’s use of this unusual term, rarely indicating why it is used, let alone adopted. Understanding the reasons behind the addition to Scientology’s lexicon of the word “theta” to indicate “spirit” and/or “soul” is pretty key for a better understanding of Scientology 1.0.0, though.

The word spirit is defined as the non-physical part of a person that is considered their true self and capable of surviving physical death or separation from the physical body. It comes from Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, and from Latin spiritus “breath, spirit,” from spirare “breathe.”

The definition of soul, similar to the definition of spirit, is the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal that is considered immortal. Its origin is from the Middle English soule, from Old English sawol, “spiritual and emotional part of a person, animate existence; life, living being,” from Proto-Germanic saiwalō.

How one cares to approach the definitions of spirit and soul can be either synonymous or somewhat different; I suppose when discussing the intangible, there must be room for some speculation. Furthermore, specific religious, mystic, or occult practices use these terms, each carrying their own unique meanings—or baggage. Therefore, Scientology 1.0.0, presenting a fresh take on matters incorporeal, required a new term: theta.

Scientology 1.0.0 describes two distinct yet analogous universes. The physical universe, called the “MEST universe,” and the spiritual reality, called the “theta universe.”

MEST stands for matter, energy, space, and time, as mentioned in Chapter 23, which is, of course, the physical universe. This term was created, however, because the word physics, meaning “the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy,” leaves out space and time, although they are implied. But both space and time are so vitally important in Scientology’s curative procedures that the four properties of physics always get specifically listed, resulting, eventually, in the acronym “MEST.” I mean, who doesn’t have at least some trouble with one or all four of these specific things?

Well, that’s one universe; as to the other:
 
Theta is the eighth letter in the Greek alphabet. In the 6th century BC, Greek mathematics began to emerge as a distinct discipline—as opposed to earlier times, when numbers were inextricably connected to specialised subjects such as bookkeeping, histories, and astronomy, and it became traditional to use Greek letters to represent certain mathematical concepts as well as ideas in science and engineering. My father’s approach to mental health and spiritual well-being was derived from the engineer’s perspective, which, put most colloquially, is: if the idea about building or fixing a thing don’t result in something useful, then the idea ain’t no good. In the 1950s there were many ideas about healing minds but few improvements; ergo, those ideas fell somewhat short. Hence his approach, which was to come up with better ideas that had potentially greater value.

Anyhow, Scientology’s use of the word theta (and its symbol, θ, or Θ), besides being synonymous with spirit or soul, has an additional significance. Or emphasis might be the right way to think about it.

In Scientology, theta is life itself and is defined as the energy peculiar to life that acts upon the material of the physical universe and animates, mobilises, and changes it. Rather than only saying that theta is an immortal, immaterial, or non-physical part of a person, the word “theta” takes the “breathe” and “animated existence” aspects of “spirit” or “soul” and stresses a causal factor.

Animate means bring to life and comes from Latin animat– “instilled with life,” from the verb animare, from anima “life, soul.” “Life (theta) breathes life (living existence) into life.” This is a crucial point as it directly addresses the typical approach to problem-solving, which involves addressing the root causes whenever possible. Treating symptoms while ignoring causes is very common in such fields as medicine and mental health, but it’d probably be better for everyone if, instead, they treated the causes of physical and mental illness where and when they can be known. Theta can get stuck in lower levels of consciousness—as discussed in Chapter 29—and to get unstuck, it needs proper recognition as that which animates life and all the potential stickiness that goes with it so that it might be reoriented as to its own cause in its own condition.

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Thetan
 
As for the word “thetan”:

As already mentioned in Chapter 4, in Scientology life is understood by breaking it down into eight dynamics:

8, God.

7, Theta. 

6, MEST.

5, Living things.

4, Mankind.

3, Groups.

2, Sex and family.

1, Self.

To get to our current material reality, theta creates and seeks certain kinds of particular experience through dynamics 6 to 1. The first dynamic is theta’s expression and experience as the individual, so by adding “n” to the word “theta,” you get the noun “thetan.”
 
Theta is the quality of conscious causality. Thetan represents the individual beingness as such.

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Beingnesses

“What the heck are “beingnesses”? I mean, beingness isn’t even a word!”

Well, it is now: “being” means existence; the suffix “-ness” is used to form nouns (chiefly from adjectives) denoting a state or condition; so beingnesses are states or conditions of existence.

The Tone Scale represents a scale of states of beingness.  Essentially, that’s what emotions are: states of being.
 
The seventh dynamic, theta, could be thought to lie “beyond,” “outside,” or “exterior” to MEST, all living things, mankind, all groups and families, and all selves. It “encompasses” them (although these aren’t really correct terms since they imply positions of MEST objects in relationship to other things, and theta, although it is a “thing,” isn’t MEST). Dynamics 6 to 1 are what theta has animated, mobilised, and is always changing. In other words, all the first six dynamics are also beingnesses of theta. Dynamics 4 to 1 are the human dynamics, and, as humans, theta also experiences emotions. (All things probably experience emotions; they’re just expressed in different ways.)
 
Theta also has the choice of being “in” its beingnesses—or not. In other words, theta can remain exterior to such things as humans, cats, trees, and teapots, or it can be a human, be a cat, a tree, or a teapot. Or anything at all, including emotions.
 
Theta is more than just conscious; it is consciousness, but this can only be a knowable fact if there are things it can use to “see” itself. Like the eye, theta does not perceive itself unless by way of a reflection, as in a mirror; hence, these six dynamics. In other words, these six dynamics are how to have an “experience.”
 
It may seem like a lot of trouble to go to just to make anything happen, yet here we are. I mean, if theta don’t do this, then there ain’t no universes, no game, and no awareness of anything; there’s just an eternity of goose egg, zip, nada, and bupkis.

It’s sort of obvious, though, that if theta is willing to choose to engage with its own creations, which have varying degrees of magnetic pull (stickiness), then there must perforce be varying degrees of theta being MEST; how much MEST could it become? It’s an exciting game to be sure, but it carries an inherent danger: conviction. Like a “convict: in a prison, theta can get so joined with MEST that it can become trapped “in” MEST. It seems this doesn’t happen in one fell swoop; it appears to occur gradually, with a plotted gradient scale indicating the extent to which theta perceives itself as matter, energy, space, and time, rather than its own immaterial self.

According to the theory, theta can become so involved and entangled with MEST while being various forms of MEST that it becomes convinced that it is less and less theta until it thinks it is only MEST. All becomes MEST, and boom! There are your devout atheists and convicted materialists, all tragically stuck below 2.0.

I suppose some people reading thus far will have decided there are enough ontological and epistemological holes in all this to compete lavishly with Swiss cheese. However, metaphysics and philosophy are complex subjects, and the seventh dynamic inevitably leads to paradoxes and conundrums. I’ll let the reader decide what to think. What I’m attempting to convey here, however, is that if all of this is accurate and true, it could potentially provide a possible explanation for the stark differences in people’s levels of sanity.

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Sanity versus insanity

Sanity means reasonable and sensible behaviour or thinking. From late Middle English, from Latin sanitas “health,” from sanus “healthy.”

Insanity means extreme foolishness or irrationality. It comes from mid 16th century: from Latin insanus, from in– “not.”

The Scientology definition and description of sanity is “the ability to recognise differences, similarities, and identities; the measure of this ability is how ably an individual assists things that facilitate survival and inhibits things that inhibit survival.” Furthermore, Scientology stresses the significance of recognising differences over similarities and identities. Being able to see even the tiniest differences shows a higher level of rationality, as not being able to do so leads to thinking only in terms of identities, which is what makes a person less sane.
 
For instance, how far can theta go in identifying itself as MEST rather than spirit? How insane can it become? It would appear as insane as theta being entirely unable to differentiate itself from MEST, and it’s this reduction in theta’s awareness of itself that leads to increasingly irrational behaviour. I mean, if the driver thought they were the car, they might forget they were driving and crash, right?

In Scientology 1.0.0, theta represents the pinnacle of sanity. On the other hand, its complete immersion in, identification with, and conviction as MEST represent the nadir of insanity. For theta to get too identified as being its own creation/expression is irrational, like thinking you were any object. I’m saying, you can pretend to identify as a teapot, but if you came to be convinced thoroughly that your whole existence was as a rounded container made from fired clay in which tea is brewed and poured, then helloo nuthouse! This might be why “identity politics” ain’t politic (that is to say, prudent and wise).
 
Identifying as a human being is probably fine, as one commonly finds it practical to use a label in order to indicate or locate things, but identifying wholly and completely as a thing isn’t; particularly as a body of any kind. Usually, one has a body, not one is a body. Usually.

Interestingly, a thetan can become so immersed in objects that they may not only be a body but also a specific race or sex, or even be a sexual “orientation,” rather than just having one. Put differently, insanity, as far as Scientology is concerned, could be defined as “a spiritual being that is convinced it is MEST (or even a label).” In fact, it’s a sad reality that a thetan can identify so thoroughly as MEST, potentially leading to the conviction that “all is just matter, and I am just an infinitesimal speck.” As previously mentioned, despite their self-absorption and self-importance, materialists face this very plight.
 
By the way, ever noticed the widespread fear of death among many atheists and all materialists? It makes no sense. I mean, if we are merely blobs of goo and there is an eternity of nothingness after the goo’s dead and rotted, then what’s the issue? We who understand our immortality should be most concerned because we will suffer the consequences of our past transgressions forever if we are not redeemed. Typically, however, we are not overly worried about dying, or, at least, not the dead part. Denial may be the root of this irrational fear; I don’t know, just saying.

Anyway, as said, theta is theta and not MEST, being as it is not just the animator of MEST but life itself. Politically, for our old pals, the psychopaths, tyrants, and oligarchs—and identitarians—theta is such a terrifying reality that it gives they/them the perpetual heebie-jeebies. Their tireless need to crush theta in all social equations condemns these tortured souls to endless rounds of whack-a-mole trying to crush it, which gives one a much clearer perspective as to why there is always so much social upheaval on Earth; if we were to just let people get on with their own business and mind our own, there’d be a lot more peace; we should try it sometime.

I mean, keeping theta down is not just a challenging task but an impossible one, demonstrating the utter insanity of all authoritarians.

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Emotions

The emotional tone scale is produced by the spirit’s participation with its own creation. At 8.0, a Thetan does not perceive itself as identifying with MEST overmuch, if at all. When being 0.0, though, it thinks it has no beingness; all beingnesses have ceased; in a word, it has “died” At 0.0, theta has appeared to have identified with MEST—thoroughly.
 
To be clear, just because someone is dying or is dead doesn’t mean they have hit 0.0 on the scale. The scale is a scale of beingnesses, not necessarily a scale of physicality. Not everyone who is dying is at 0.01, as any doctor or nurse could tell you. Often quite the opposite. Much of our experience of dying and death is as observers, and a great amount of the pain and sorrow that is suffered is experienced by those who remain, not those who have left; we are the bereaved, and the ones who are leaving or gone can be in great shape emotionally, quite possibly only feeling sorry for us. Death, in fact, can be a condition experienced very high on the scale, such as when a person lays down their life for another. It’s a thetan believing overly much that it is MEST and identifying with it that is tantamount to it actually being so. Dead, I mean (although it isn’t, of course).

Conversely, the more theta is differentiated and disentangled from MEST, the less trapped it is. “Exhilaration” (8.0) is the highest degree of free theta, without ceasing to be human.

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Free theta

Okay, so theta can experience states of being; stages of beingness: the Tone Scale.

The more a thetan identifies, entwines itself, and becomes convinced that it is MEST, the lower it falls on the scale, decreasing its understanding of itself as spirit and becoming increasingly convinced it is matter. Eventually, at 0.0, the thetan becomes so convinced that it is MEST (a small pile of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium—plus a few trace doodads) that it feels it has ceased to be; this would be a very serious degree of entrappedness (new word – coined by me). Death, 0.0, is the only tone where no indomitable theta factor—the ability to forward survival—is demonstrated (except perhaps as food for something, like worms, microbes, or something even smaller, such as Anthony Fauci).
 
The book Science of Survival contains a chart. At the far left of the chart is a column containing a series of numbers ranging from 0 to 1000, with 1000 representing 100% free theta. These are the approximate ratios of free theta to MEST according to each tone. In other words, these quotients represent the theta that remains exterior to MEST.

Every tone above 0.0 will demonstrate some ability to assist survival; therefore, this “free theta” quotient represents the sanity factor:

0.1 – Victim – 3 – (0.3%)
0.5 – Grief – 6 – (0.6%)
1.1 – Covert Hostility – 10 – (1%)
1.5 – Anger – 15 – (1.5%)
2.0 – Antagonism – 22 – (2.2%)
2.5 – Boredom – 32 – (3.2%)
3.0 – Conservatism – 47 – (4.7%)
3.5 – Cheerfulness – 70 – (7%)
4.0 – Enthusiasm – 100 – (10%)
 
There wasn’t much discussion about tones higher than Enthusiasm when the chart came out in September 1951. Therefore, the chart mostly only lists theta estimates for tones up to 4.0. But if you follow the sequence, then it would probably continue:

6.0 – Aesthetic – 150 – (15%)
8.0 – Exhilaration – 200 – (20%)

4.0, the 100 quotient—10% free theta—represents a very optimal level of sanity for an individual or group, indicating a strong ability to aid survival. Therefore, 150-200 are very high levels of sanity indeed.
 
Not to beat a dead horse, but material objects are always in a state of flux; they have a finite lifespan and will ultimately cease to exist. Therefore, when theta engages overly much in identifying as MEST and excessively merges with it, it also experiences the passage of time and goes “on the clock”: a body experiences birth, growth, ageing, and death, while the immortal thetan, if too identified and entrapped, believes it is also born, grows up, ages, and dies. While it may be somewhat melancholic and tragic, it provides a compelling narrative for Hollywood films.
 
But lo! Until enveloped by that so-called “eternal night,” there is always, even to the tiniest degree, that incredible, indomitable factor: free theta. Theta doesn’t appear to “wink out” in relation to the body until 0.0, so even a person who is at Victim is .03% sane, which still gives them the chance at getting better as well as some small survival value for themselves and any group they may be part of (provided the group doesn’t buy over much into their victimhood).

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Sanctity

Now, a person might wonder, “What’s the use of this free theta chart? Why bother?” “You say a person below 2.0 is a mess; we got that. Why get more complicated?” Well, its main use is to give the Scientology practitioner, called an auditor, some estimation of the effort that will be involved in getting their client more free, that is, “exterior” to MEST. The more exterior a person, the higher toned they’ll be, the saner they are, and the better they get at surviving, flourishing, and thriving. Victim at 3, who is very convinced they are MEST, will be a lot of work; a person at Conservatism, which is 47, is far less convinced they are MEST, comparatively little work.

But for the non-practitioner, I believe the quotient underscores the sanctity of all individuals, as theta is sacred; even that guy imprisoned in solitary confinement, strapped into a Hannibal Lecter dolly, has a hallowed aspect; may God help us all. If a person is above 0.0, they still have a chance of redemption and ultimate survival. Once they drop to 0.0, though, they essentially become like spoilt food (typically consumed by scavengers and bacteria – like Bill Gates).

Materialism does not hold the view that the soul is sacred because there is no soul. Or spirit. Or theta. At least, not outside its own view (materialists are terrible narcissists). But seeing all the rest of the world as profane and all other humans as mere blobs of animate goo, as “wet robots,” materialists are very effective in providing those that are in power all the justification and laws they need to murder all opposition and enslave mankind. As in, kill us all, including you and me.

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1000

As to the numbers that go above 200.

When a thetan surpasses 8.0, it expands from a singular individual identity to eventually be all eight dynamics, gradually transforming from an individual self to being the entirety of existence and beyond.

The number 1000—100% free theta—represents the Greater Self, encompassing the mystery of theta (7th dynamic) and possibly even approaching the ultimate daddy of all mysteries, the 8th dynamic, which is God.

This would be transcendence.
 
More about this soon.

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