Thought Life and the Material Universe (501120)
Date: 20 November 1950
Speaker: L. Ron Hubbard
Throughout the history of man in various cultures, the Babylonians, the Hindus, the ancient Greeks, for example, much has been learned and formulated about thought. Put some of these things together in a new way, and you have Dianetics.
In the recent past, investigators have been trying to explain thought in terms of the organism which thinks and to explain the organism of life in terms of the material universe. They have not succeeded in explaining life in these terms. The creation of life is evidently the impingement of the universe of thought upon the material universe. Thought has as one of its purposes the conquest of the material universe, and this conquest produces life.
When we examine the ruling principle of the universe, we find that it is a duality, that, like the angels, has two faces—survive and succumb.
The four manifestations of the material universe may be said to be matter, energy, space and time, or as we abbreviate them, MEST.
The universe of thought appears to follow laws similar to, but not the same as, those of MEST. It may be said that there is thought matter (or ideas), thought energy, thought space and thought time. (Thought time, unlike MEST time, changes with the amount that is accomplished.) This universe of thought we shall refer to as theta.
A constant error has been made in seeking to find a Prime Mover Unmoved. One datum by itself is meaningless. It can only be evaluated by comparing it to another datum of comparable magnitude. The minute you agree that God exists, it becomes necessary to invent the devil.
Thought is a kind of energy, but it can do things that MEST can’t. What is thought doing? Thought doesn’t necessarily occupy the same universe as MEST, but a new, unexplored universe. It may not be all that thought is doing, but one mission of thought is controlling the universe of MEST. Thought plus MEST equals life. Death equals life minus thought equals MEST.
What is an engram? It is MEST kicking back, or a turbulence, turmoil, confusion—thought has momentarily failed.
When thought controls MEST, thought is surviving. But when MEST controls thought, MEST is surviving. There is a contest between the two. For example, if you are swept out to sea by an undertow, energy is in control. If you lose your car keys, space has stolen them. If you are late to an appointment, time has defeated you. In each case MEST has won.
The unaberrated and creative person is close to the top echelon of theta. But one could be creative in terms of MEST, also. For example, a bricklayer using energy and matter. Thought energy and thought matter do not follow the MEST laws.
A man depends for his survival on his recognition of his brotherhood with the universe of theta.
Life is valuable to life because matter has already been converted to usable forms. MEST is conquered by lower life forms for the survival of higher life forms.
Thought takes a little piece of MEST and produces a cell, then it takes that cell to conquer more MEST, producing perhaps a lichen, and so on, through higher and higher forms of life, to man, and each of these forms may use some of those below it in the conquest of MEST.
Reason cannot be created or controlled by force. Society exists because of persuading reason—or an agreement between reasonable beings. Force belongs in MEST and not in theta. Any state which uses force is doomed to failure.
How does aberration begin? Aberration results from a collision of MEST and theta. This is an engram, an area of turbulence. In Dianetics we try to straighten out areas of turbulence.
In the areas of turbulence, the two kinds of time get mixed up. Theta time is only now, but some of it gets left back in MEST time in an engram. Keep peeling off pieces of now-time and leaving them back in the past, and finally death results. As we regain more and more theta, we live.
One can’t create anything in MEST without destroying something. Some people object to this, but they are confusing MEST and theta. We would starve to death if we couldn’t destroy lower life. But you don’t destroy men—it doesn’t work, it’s bad computation.
Man is now technologically to the point where he can think of mankind as a whole. Up to this time we considered any other race as MEST. Man is again becoming a reasonable being. History unfortunately tells us mostly about turbulence and violence, about group engrams.
We have to attack MEST on its own terms. We use thought to attain the use of MEST for our own purposes, survival.
Theta creates for itself its own future reality.
Thought gives us the next reality. Reality is man’s blueprint of what he will do with MEST. When we agree upon this blueprint, it becomes reality. When we disagree, reality is lowered and destroyed.
We can conquer MEST as long as we have agreement.
Communication with all mankind has never before been attained.
Therefore agreement has never before been possible.