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The Dynamics of Life: An Introduction to Dianetics Discoveries
Discusses how an individual's life forces can be blocked and how the principles of Dianetics can be used to release these dynamics
216 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 1988
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About the author
L. Ron Hubbard
2,001 books656 followersL. Ron Hubbard is universally acclaimed as the single most influential author and humanitarian of this modern age. His definitive works on the mind and spirit—comprising over 350 million copies in circulation and more than 40 international bestsellers—have resulted in a legacy benefiting millions and a movement spanning all cultures.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 2, 2018
Hubbard's experience as a science fiction writer is apparent in designing a belief system as documented in The Dynamics of Life. While he includes many technical/sciencey sounding terms and concepts, they're really just a series of claims and an invented system that isn't backed up by peer reviewed research as true science would. Time after time he makes bold claims but offers no verifiable evidence supporting them outside of the examples at the end of the book which can't really be confirmed without talking with a number of parties that are conveniently not available to cross exam.
One claim is that a child has formed his/her general purpose by age 2. This is highly unlikely since he/she has no education and little experience with the world. Most kids change what they want to be when they grow up a number of times.
Another claim references that some people do not dream. This is simply untrue. Everyone dreams whether they remember it or not. Without REM sleep a person couldn’t store information or process the events of a day. This shows his ignorance of the stages of sleep and what happens with brain waves at those stages.
The driving theory of the book is the claim that "engrams" occur at pivotal painful moments in life and are stored in the "reactive mind." These are allegedly the source of most problems and can only be removed by "auditing." He essentially fabricates a concept to explain memories and emotional pain which he says are tied to physical pain.
He claims that everyone has a birth or pre-natal "basic engram" which must be reached by an auditor to eventually "clear" the person. This seems to run counter to his basic claim that a person's drive in everything is to Survive. How can there be a birth "engram" if birth is necessary for survival? The very act of birth is the essential first step to Survive.
A logical fallacy in the system of auditing, if accepted at face value, is that he says the auditor can't have the same "engram" that the person they're auditing has or it would be restimulated in them and they would become more and more aberated and go crazy. Since everyone allegedly has a birth and/or prenatal "engram," how could anyone ever clear their birth "engram?" It would set off a recursive loop of stimulating the "engram" in the auditor and they wouldn't be able to help the other person. If Hubbard was the first auditor, who cleared his "engrams?" As I understand from the book, a person can't clear their own "engrams;" they need an auditor.
His examples of the "reactive mind" storing data about attempted abortions while in utero are very far fetched. Especially since an unborn baby does not yet know language, there would be nothing meaningful that could be processed from any sounds heard. He claims that in one example the unborn baby was stabbed 18 times with an orange wood stick at 3 months after conception which was allegedly discovered during "auditing." The baby would die or be permanently disfigured and maimed. Even an adult would be severely injured. The examples he includes like this are so far fetched as to discredit the concept and reveal it as nothing more than a false belief system.
He claims that “abortion attempts are extremely common.” When he released the book, it was 1948 at the beginning of the post war baby boom with enormous population growth. This is strong evidence that abortion attempts were not "extremely common." This also doesn't take into account the much more conservative morals of the 1940s & 1950s and the stigma associated with abortion.
Before Hubbard created "auditing" it wouldn’t have been possible for people to get rid of "engrams" and according to him they should have become more and more "aberrated." This cannot be categorically stated for all of humanity. Many people throughout history lived fulfilled, productive lives before he ever came up with the theory.
For those who have allegedly been helped by auditing, one thought is that it may seem helpful to the person by giving them reasons to tie their troubles in life back to an event, person, or situation whether it actually occurred or not. Think of the concept of the movie Inception. A skilled persuader could convince someone that something happened whether it really did or not. Once the person latches on to the alleged event, it could allow them to resolve why they’ve had a particular difficulty and lay blame on it. It doesn’t mean it actually occurred. If the person believes it occurred, perhaps that could be enough.
Stylistically, the writing is very tedious and was a chore to get through the book. The numerous footnotes defining terms were distracting as well.
The book masquerades as a way to help people but seems to be nothing more than a product of the author's imagination. I would only recommend reading it if you are interested in a study of how to create a belief system. This could possibly be helpful in writing science fiction/fantasy to establish how people in the fictional world believe and operate.
One claim is that a child has formed his/her general purpose by age 2. This is highly unlikely since he/she has no education and little experience with the world. Most kids change what they want to be when they grow up a number of times.
Another claim references that some people do not dream. This is simply untrue. Everyone dreams whether they remember it or not. Without REM sleep a person couldn’t store information or process the events of a day. This shows his ignorance of the stages of sleep and what happens with brain waves at those stages.
The driving theory of the book is the claim that "engrams" occur at pivotal painful moments in life and are stored in the "reactive mind." These are allegedly the source of most problems and can only be removed by "auditing." He essentially fabricates a concept to explain memories and emotional pain which he says are tied to physical pain.
He claims that everyone has a birth or pre-natal "basic engram" which must be reached by an auditor to eventually "clear" the person. This seems to run counter to his basic claim that a person's drive in everything is to Survive. How can there be a birth "engram" if birth is necessary for survival? The very act of birth is the essential first step to Survive.
A logical fallacy in the system of auditing, if accepted at face value, is that he says the auditor can't have the same "engram" that the person they're auditing has or it would be restimulated in them and they would become more and more aberated and go crazy. Since everyone allegedly has a birth and/or prenatal "engram," how could anyone ever clear their birth "engram?" It would set off a recursive loop of stimulating the "engram" in the auditor and they wouldn't be able to help the other person. If Hubbard was the first auditor, who cleared his "engrams?" As I understand from the book, a person can't clear their own "engrams;" they need an auditor.
His examples of the "reactive mind" storing data about attempted abortions while in utero are very far fetched. Especially since an unborn baby does not yet know language, there would be nothing meaningful that could be processed from any sounds heard. He claims that in one example the unborn baby was stabbed 18 times with an orange wood stick at 3 months after conception which was allegedly discovered during "auditing." The baby would die or be permanently disfigured and maimed. Even an adult would be severely injured. The examples he includes like this are so far fetched as to discredit the concept and reveal it as nothing more than a false belief system.
He claims that “abortion attempts are extremely common.” When he released the book, it was 1948 at the beginning of the post war baby boom with enormous population growth. This is strong evidence that abortion attempts were not "extremely common." This also doesn't take into account the much more conservative morals of the 1940s & 1950s and the stigma associated with abortion.
Before Hubbard created "auditing" it wouldn’t have been possible for people to get rid of "engrams" and according to him they should have become more and more "aberrated." This cannot be categorically stated for all of humanity. Many people throughout history lived fulfilled, productive lives before he ever came up with the theory.
For those who have allegedly been helped by auditing, one thought is that it may seem helpful to the person by giving them reasons to tie their troubles in life back to an event, person, or situation whether it actually occurred or not. Think of the concept of the movie Inception. A skilled persuader could convince someone that something happened whether it really did or not. Once the person latches on to the alleged event, it could allow them to resolve why they’ve had a particular difficulty and lay blame on it. It doesn’t mean it actually occurred. If the person believes it occurred, perhaps that could be enough.
Stylistically, the writing is very tedious and was a chore to get through the book. The numerous footnotes defining terms were distracting as well.
The book masquerades as a way to help people but seems to be nothing more than a product of the author's imagination. I would only recommend reading it if you are interested in a study of how to create a belief system. This could possibly be helpful in writing science fiction/fantasy to establish how people in the fictional world believe and operate.
Read
June 16, 2016"The Dynamics of Life" by L. Ron Hubbard provides an introduction to the study of Dianetics. Dianetics is a word coined by the author which can be defined as an exploration into the most fascinating realm on earth - human mind and spirit. The purpose of dianetics to pass man across the abyss of irrational, solely reactive thought and enter him upon a new stage of constructive progression towards the ultimate goal, immortality. (The basic instinct that drives all living organisms is that of survival. Thus, the ultimate goal is immortality and the final defeat is death.) It also works on deleting from the existing mind those physically painful experiences which have resulted in aberration of the analytical mind.
The brain is divided into three main sections by the author, namely, physio-animal section, analytical mind and the reactive mind. The physio-animal section contains the motor controls, the sub brains and the physical nervous system in general. It controls all voluntary and involuntary muscles. It controls all metabolic activities of various parts of the body. Analytical mind is a sort of analyser in animals. Reactive mind lies between the physio-animal mind and analytical mind. This is the first post of emergency command in man.
The reactive mind consists of a collection of experiences received during an unanalytical moment which contain pain and actual or conceived antagonism to the survival of the animal. These are known as engrams. An engram is severe in the exact ratio that it is conceived by the organism to have been a moment of threat to survival. The character of the threat and the “perceptic”(sensory) content produce the aberration. A number of engrams with similar perceptics in an individual produce a complex aberration patter which nevertheless has for its parts individual engrams.
Engrams are of two types: floaters and chronic. Floater is an engram which has not been restimulated in the individual during the lifetime succeeding it. A chronic is an engram which has been more or less continuously restimulated so that it has become an apparent portion of the individual. A chronic begins to gather “locks.” A floater has not accumulated locks since it has never been restimulated. A lock can be conceived to be joined to an engram in such a way that it can be reached by the multiple scanners of the analytical mind which cannot reach the engram. It is a painful mental experience.
A preclear is someone who is receiving Scientology or Dianetics auditing on their way to becoming Clear. Clear is a person who has attained the state of highest possible rationality through auditing with the help of an auditor. An auditor is a person trained to better people through Dianetics counsellor.
The auditor must always treat a preclear in a certain definite way which can be outlined as the “Auditor’s Code”. The auditor should himself be cleared. Otherwise, he will find that many of his own engrams are restimulated as he listens to the engrams of his preclears. This restimulation may cause his own engrams to become chronic, victimizing him with various allergies and delusions and causing him to be, at best, extremely uncomfortable. He must act towards the preclear exactly in the way that the preclear as an organism would desire that his own conscious analytical mind would react to and consider the organism. A cheerful optimistic presence encourages the preclear through his most painful experiences. The auditor must be courageous, never permitting himself to be intimidated by either the aggression or hostility of the preclear.
The tone scale, is a scale which denotes numerically, first the status of an engram in the reactive mind, next its erasure or reduction and provides a measure for sanity in an individual.
Values on the scale and their equivalent status are as follows:
1) Zero: equivalent to death.
2) From 0 to 1: Emotional bracket which may be denoted as apathy along its graduated scale from death to the beginnings of apathetic resentment.
3) From 1 to 2: Range of antagonism, including suspicion, resentment and anger.
4) From 2 to 3: Boredom denoted by minor annoyance.
5) From 3 to 4: Emotions which range from carelessness to cheerfulness
6) Four: Denotes a person who has achieved rationality and cheerfulness.
Now, one might question that what is the need of the auditor? One can himself be the preclear and the auditor. Well, the preclear’s dynamics are less than the engramic surcharge. The auditor’s dynamics are equal to or less than the engramic surcharge in the preclear. The sum of auditor and preclear’s dynamics is greater than the engramic surcharge.
With the help of an auditor, the preclear can exhaust his engrams and reach a tone of four. Dianetics is an interesting subject which can help humans heal their painful experiences with the help of self-realization.
Regards
Nandini Goel
The brain is divided into three main sections by the author, namely, physio-animal section, analytical mind and the reactive mind. The physio-animal section contains the motor controls, the sub brains and the physical nervous system in general. It controls all voluntary and involuntary muscles. It controls all metabolic activities of various parts of the body. Analytical mind is a sort of analyser in animals. Reactive mind lies between the physio-animal mind and analytical mind. This is the first post of emergency command in man.
The reactive mind consists of a collection of experiences received during an unanalytical moment which contain pain and actual or conceived antagonism to the survival of the animal. These are known as engrams. An engram is severe in the exact ratio that it is conceived by the organism to have been a moment of threat to survival. The character of the threat and the “perceptic”(sensory) content produce the aberration. A number of engrams with similar perceptics in an individual produce a complex aberration patter which nevertheless has for its parts individual engrams.
Engrams are of two types: floaters and chronic. Floater is an engram which has not been restimulated in the individual during the lifetime succeeding it. A chronic is an engram which has been more or less continuously restimulated so that it has become an apparent portion of the individual. A chronic begins to gather “locks.” A floater has not accumulated locks since it has never been restimulated. A lock can be conceived to be joined to an engram in such a way that it can be reached by the multiple scanners of the analytical mind which cannot reach the engram. It is a painful mental experience.
A preclear is someone who is receiving Scientology or Dianetics auditing on their way to becoming Clear. Clear is a person who has attained the state of highest possible rationality through auditing with the help of an auditor. An auditor is a person trained to better people through Dianetics counsellor.
The auditor must always treat a preclear in a certain definite way which can be outlined as the “Auditor’s Code”. The auditor should himself be cleared. Otherwise, he will find that many of his own engrams are restimulated as he listens to the engrams of his preclears. This restimulation may cause his own engrams to become chronic, victimizing him with various allergies and delusions and causing him to be, at best, extremely uncomfortable. He must act towards the preclear exactly in the way that the preclear as an organism would desire that his own conscious analytical mind would react to and consider the organism. A cheerful optimistic presence encourages the preclear through his most painful experiences. The auditor must be courageous, never permitting himself to be intimidated by either the aggression or hostility of the preclear.
The tone scale, is a scale which denotes numerically, first the status of an engram in the reactive mind, next its erasure or reduction and provides a measure for sanity in an individual.
Values on the scale and their equivalent status are as follows:
1) Zero: equivalent to death.
2) From 0 to 1: Emotional bracket which may be denoted as apathy along its graduated scale from death to the beginnings of apathetic resentment.
3) From 1 to 2: Range of antagonism, including suspicion, resentment and anger.
4) From 2 to 3: Boredom denoted by minor annoyance.
5) From 3 to 4: Emotions which range from carelessness to cheerfulness
6) Four: Denotes a person who has achieved rationality and cheerfulness.
Now, one might question that what is the need of the auditor? One can himself be the preclear and the auditor. Well, the preclear’s dynamics are less than the engramic surcharge. The auditor’s dynamics are equal to or less than the engramic surcharge in the preclear. The sum of auditor and preclear’s dynamics is greater than the engramic surcharge.
With the help of an auditor, the preclear can exhaust his engrams and reach a tone of four. Dianetics is an interesting subject which can help humans heal their painful experiences with the help of self-realization.
Regards
Nandini Goel
January 10, 2009
Ask me.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews