Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health - Content

Content

In the section "How to Read this Book," L. Ron Hubbard suggests to read right on through. An "Important Note" appeared in later editions of the book advising the reader to understand every word read. In the book, Hubbard uses two different and contradictory definitions for the word engram. In Book One, the Goal of Man, chapter 5, summary, Hubbard states the Fundamental Axioms of Dianetics, among which is "... The engram is a moment of 'unconsciousness' containing physical pain or painful emotion and all perceptions and is not available to the analytical mind as experience." Later in the text, Hubbard writes of the engram in a footnote on page 74 of Book Two, chapter two, of the 2007 edition of Dianetics: the modern science of mental health. The footnote reads: "... The word engram in Dianetics is used in its severely accurate sense as a 'definite and permanent trace left by a stimulus on the protoplasm of a tissue'. It is considered as a unit group of stimuli impinged solely on the cellular being." In other words, Hubbard takes a definition previously debunked by biology and calls it a Dianetics definition. Karl Lashley spent decades looking for the engram and could not find any. According to Alexander Rosenberg, no one really believes there are engrams. As of 2010, there is no hard scientific evidence to support the existence of the reactive mind or of engrams, though the basic concept of traumatic past experiences influencing present behaviour is widely accepted if not self-evident. Dianetics, in and of itself, thus presents nothing that was not already known to science in that area, while adding phenomena and functional systems that have no basis in fact. The very manner of "scientific method" displayed by Hubbard in his works has indeed been called "anti-science," in that the claims made in the books are based not on peer-reviewed observation of phenomena, with its attendant blind testing, control groups etc., but rather on deciding a priori that a phenomenon exists–followed by an attempt to prove its validity.

In Dianetics, to explain the abilities of a Clear, Hubbard makes use of tropes and special idioms and draws the attention away by pointing to old colloquialisms as the "mind's eye." Hubbard uses such terms as "optimum recall," "optimum individual," "... What a Clear can do easily, quite a few people have, from time to time, been partially able to do in the past.," "... A clear uses imagination in its entirety," "... Rationality, as divorced from aberration, can be studied in a Cleared person only," a Clear's intelligence is above normal, a Clear is free from all aberrations and the attributes of a Clear have never been previously included in a study of man and man's inherent abilities. After faithfully enumerating all kinds of goodies about Clear, Hubbard finally admits "... Until we obtain Clears, it remains obscure why such differences should exist" as if no Clear has ever been made or no Clear ever made it. L. Ron Hubbard was extremely apt and able in using these tropes to suit Dianetics presentation of a new reality.

In 1951, Consumer Report announced a one-month $500 course, based on the recently published Dianetics, open to anyone and intended to produce the Clear, the goal of Dianetic therapy. The Report on "a new cult" places Dianetics beyond the scope of medical practice.

According to Hubbard, the book Dianetics: the modern science of mental health follows the original line of research:

A) The discovery of the dynamic principle of existence and its meaning.

B) The discovery of the source of aberration: the reactive mind.

C) Therapy and its application.

Hubbard leaves out all the basic philosophy.

Dianetics purports to reveal revolutionary discoveries about the source of psychosomatic illness, neuroses and other mental ailments, as well as an exact, infallible way of permanently curing them. Hubbard divides the human mind into an "analytic mind" which supposedly functions perfectly, and a "reactive mind" which is incapable of thinking or making distinctions. When the analytic mind is unconscious, the reactive mind physically records memories called "engrams." As a result of all stimuli it receives, the Reactive Mind is one mass of engrams, feeding the otherwise perfect Analytical Mind incorrect data. Misinterpretation of these Reactive Mind engrams by the analytical mind causes damage later in life. Actually, these engrams cause compulsions and repressions in later life. According to Hubbard, a person is affected in later life by the unconscious effects of these engrams. By a process called "Dianetic auditing," the book promises, people can achieve a superhuman state called "Clear" with superior IQ, morally pure intentions and greatly improved mental and physical health. In August 1950, Hubbard predicted that Clears would become the world's new aristocracy, although he admitted that he had not achieved the state himself. In welcoming expectancy, the Theosophist Magazine compares the Dianetic engram to the Theosophic permanent atom as these atoms receive and retransmit impressions received life after life so that as the ego descends to a new birth, the new incarnation receives the stored impressions of engrams from previous lives. As the appearance of a new science, it was not so explicitly stated in DMSMH but eventually, Hubbard would go into the exploration of past lives with Dianetics.

A) The dynamic principle of existence: Survive!

According to Hubbard, the basic discovery is not that man survives, but that he is solely motivated by survival.

B) The single source of aberration: The Reactive Mind

According to Hubbard, the Reactive Mind works solely on a stimulus-response basis and it stores not memories but engrams.

In Dianetics, Hubbard mentions the post-hypnotic suggestion. This phenomenon of the post-hypnotic suggestion was described as far back as 1787. The development of Dynamic psychiatry dates back to the encounter between the physician Mesmer and the exorcist Johann Joseph Gassner. According to followers of the school of Dynamic Psychiatry, the advent of hypnotism signaled the discovery of the unconscious. At the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, where he was being treated for ulcers, Hubbard studied hypnosis, psychological theory and other similar subjects; Hubbard was quite adept at hypnotism. According to Hubbard, it was trying to find what makes hypnotism such a wide variable that led to the discovery of the Reactive Mind. Dr. Roy Grinker and Dr. John Spiegel developed Narcosynthesis which was widely used by psychiatrists in World War II. In the book Dianetics Hubbard mentions Narcosynthesis or drug-hypnosis. However, Hubbard states that the technique of drug-hypnosis has been known for ages, both in ancient Greece and in the Orient. The technique of narcosynthesis is not used in Dianetics even though Hubbard may have been trained in it while in Naval Intelligence. A shot of sodium pentothal is administered as a truth serum. The technique is described on page 150 of the 2007 edition of Dianetics: the modern science of mental health.

C) Therapy and its application

The medical establishment completely rejected the new "science" for lack of experimental proof. Dianetics has never passed the science bar with flying colors. In 1953, Harvey Jay Fischer wrote the report Dianetic Therapy: an experimental evaluation concluding that "... Dianetic does not systematically favorably or adversely influence the ability to perform" either intellectually, mathematically or resolving personality conflicts. According to Hubbard's son, DMSMH is not the result of any research whatsoever but a man's obsession with abortion and other phenomena of the unconscious, specially the occult and black magic. There is an entire chapter in DMSMH devoted to demonology. To maintain the "scientific" appearance of DMSMH, Hubbard decries the belief in demons. In DMSMH, demons are explained as electronic circuits. However, in Hubbard's later writings, entities begin to appear that possess man's physical body. These entities are spirits which Hubbard calls "thetans." What Hubbard does assert is that demonology is good business. A person is a thetan but the person's physical body is possessed by thetans called body thetans. To be spiritually free, a person would have to audit out all those other thetans in the body and that would take a great deal of time and a great deal of money.

In advising the auditor to be uncommunicative, Hubbard was divorcing Dianetics from other psycho-therapies, as in psychoanalysis, where the therapist most obstinately offers a personal interpretation of what is happening in the patient's mind.

Harvey Jackins said of Dianetics therapy: "... The results have been nearly uniform and positive. Apparently, the auditor (listener or therapist) can be very forthright and direct in seeking out the past traumatic experiences which are continuing to mar the rationality and well being of the person. Once located, the exhaustion of the distress and re-evaluation of the experience apparently leads uniformly to dramatic improvement in ability, emotional tone and well-being."

Hubbard considered that to maintain silence around unconscious or injured persons is of the utmost importance in the prevention of aberration. After the publication of DMSMH, Hubbard moved to Cuba. There, the signs in every hospital zone are still prominently displayed: Hospital Silence. In a letter dated December 7, 1950, Ernest Hemingway's son Greg writes to his father mentioning that the publisher of Dianetics is coming down to Cuba to present Ernest with a copy in earnest. Hemingway's son's girlfriend is the publisher's daughter; Greg himself is working at the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation. On December 14, Hemingway answered: "... The Dianetics king never sent the book so I bought one, but Miss Nita borrowed it and it is still outside of the joint. So have not been able to practice jumping back into the womb or any of those popular New York indoor sports and have to just continue to write them as I see them."

According to Martin Gardner, the workability of Dianetics lies in the field of faith healing as most neurotics will react positively to something they have faith in. There is nothing extraordinary about Dianetics case histories as it is something quite common in faith healing.

Finally, Hubbard gives fair warning to those who attempt to self-audit his DIY (do-it-yourself) Dianetic process. It cannot be done, says Hubbard, because every engram contains analytical attenuation. It is better to learn to audit the technique and apply it to others. Anyone engaged in self-auditing will only succeed in getting sick. However, in later developments of technique application Hubbard would develop "Solo Auditing" where auditor and pre-clear are one and the same except that in the procedure as always Hubbard would be obeyed to the letter. In Dianetics and Scientology, self-auditing always carries a bad connotation while solo auditing does not. As usual, Hubbard's particular use of nomenclature would win the day.