Squirrelling in Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health
This page was originally meant to be a repository for the quotes that Granfalloon (an ex-Scientologist from Toronto) mentions in his essay on the book Dianetics, with the page numbers referenced in the two editions of Dianetics that I possess (June 1981 edition and a 1987 edition). However, in comparing the quotes to make sure that I got the right page numbers for each quote, I noticed some differences between the editions - capitalizations on lower-case words, words changed, that sort of thing. This is rather odd, since according to Scientology, you're not supposed to change Scientology "tech", or it won't work. In fact, this squirrelling (the Scientology word for altering Scientology "tech") is considered a crime in the cult's own internal justice system.
So, this page. As well as Granfalloon's supporting quotes, some evidence that the Scientology organization is squirrelling its own material, and then lying to members by claiming that it's still "standard tech". By and large they aren't big alterations - but still, any alteration is squirrelling.
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 6-7, Hubbard tells us that Dianetics is a science:
Simple though it is, dianetics is and does these things:
1. It is an organized science of thought built on definite axioms: statements of natural laws on the order of those in the physical sciences.
...
6. The single source of mental derangement is discovered and demonstrated, on a clinical or laboratory basis, by dianetics.
In the 1987 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 11-12, Hubbard tells us that Dianetics is a science:
Simple though it is, dianetics is and does these things:
1. It is an organized science of thought built on definite axioms (statements of natural laws on the order of those in the physical sciences).
...
6. The single source of mental derangement is discovered and demonstrated, on a clinical or laboratory basis, by Dianetics.
The alterations in the 1987 edition as compared to the June 1981 edition above are as follows: Parenthesis used instead of the semicolon in section 1, "dianetics" capitalized (to "Dianetics") in section 6.
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 155-156, Hubbard refers to his 270 cases in the following fashion:
At the end of a series of 270 clears and alleviations a short series of five cases was taken to finally settle the argument... Before then 270 cases had been worked and 270 cases had reached prenatal engrams. And 270 cases had been cleared or alleviated as the dianeticist chose and time permitted.
In the 1987 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 174-175, Hubbard refers to his 270 cases in the following fashion:
At the end of a series of 270 clears and alleviations a short series of five cases was taken to finally settle the argument... Before them, 270 cases had been worked and 270 cases had reached prenatal engrams. And 270 cases had been cleared or alleviated as the Dianeticist chose and time permitted.
The alterations in the 1987 edition as compared to the June 1981 edition above are as follows: "Dianeticist" is capitalized (from "dianeticist").
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 160 (page 180 in the 1987 edition), Hubbard tells us that we are dealing with facts:
All these things are scientific facts, tested and rechecked and tested again.
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 489-490, Hubbard says that DMSMH is a product of twelve years of research spread over 15 total years (Granfalloon is off a bit in his count):
The history of dianetics would be the history of a voyage of discovery, of an exploration into new and nearly uncharted realms, Terra Incognita, the Human Mind, a land which lies an inch behind your forehead.
This voyage has taken twelve years and the labor has been long, but we have charts now and can go and return at will.
...
In 1935 some of the basic research was begun... The war interrupted the work, as wars will, being chaos, but shortly after the cessation of actual hostilities, research was renewed...
...
Five years after the initial resumption of labor, in 1950, the work was prepared for release...
In the 1987 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 530-531, Hubbard says that DMSMH is a product of many years of research spread over 15 total years (Granfalloon's count makes a bit more sense now, thanks to the squirrelly changes that Scientology has made to its founder's Book One):
The history of Dianetics would be the history of a voyage of discovery, of an exploration into new and nearly uncharted realms, terra incognita, the human mind, a land which lies an inch behind your forehead.
This voyage has taken many years and the labor has been long, but we have charts now and can go and return at will.
...
In 1935 some of the basic research was begun... The war interrupted the work, as wars will, being chaos, but shortly after the cessation of actual hostilities, research was renewed...
...
Five years after the initial resumption of labor, in 1950, the work was prepared for release...
The alterations in the 1987 edition as compared to the June 1981 edition above are as follows: In the first paragraph, "Dianetics" is capitalized (from "dianetics"), while terra incognita and human mind have their capitalization removed (from "Terra Incognita" and "Human Mind"). In the second paragraph, "twelve years" is changed to "many years".
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 11 (page 17 in the 1987 edition), Hubbard says that a clear's eyesight will recover its optimum perception if that person's eyesight had been bad before Dianetics processing (it's in Book 1, Chapter 2 in this version):
One of the incidental things which happen to a clear is that his eyesight, if it had been bad as a aberree, generally improves markedly, and with some slight attention will recover optimum perception in time.
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 17-18, Hubbard says that it's a person's "incorrect data" which causes error:
...the sentient portion of the mind which computes the answers to problems and which makes man Man is utterly incapable of error.
...The actual computing ability of Man is never in error even in a very severely aberrated person...
...
In the same way the human mind, being called upon to resolve problems of a magnitude and with enough variables to confound any mere calculating machine a thousand times an hour, is prey to incorrect data. Incorrect data gets into the machine. The machine gives wrong answers. Incorrect data enters the human memory banks, the person reacts in an "abnormal manner." Essentially, then, the problem of resolving aberration is the problem of finding a (source of incorrect data)...
In the 1987 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 25-26, Hubbard says that it's a person's "incorrect data" which causes error:
...the sentient portion of the mind which computes the answers to problems and which makes man man is utterly incapable of error.
...The actual computing ability of man is never in error even in a very severely aberrated person...
...
In the same way, the human mind, being called upon to resolve problems of a magnitude and with enough variables to confound any mere calculating machine a thousand times an hour, is prey to incorrect data. Incorrect data gets into the machine. The machine gives wrong answers. Incorrect data enters the human memory banks, the person reacts in an "abnormal manner." Essentially, then, the problem of resolving aberration is the problem of finding a (source of incorrect data)...
The alterations in the 1987 edition as compared to the June 1981 edition above are as follows: First paragraph fragment, "man Man" is changed to "man man". Second paragraph fragment, "Man" is changed to "man".
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 110, Hubbard says that clears won't get colds because colds are psychosomatic ailments:
...For example, the common cold has been found to be psycho-somatic. Clears do not get colds. Just what, if any, part the virus plays in the common cold is not known, but it is known that when engrams about colds are lifted, no further colds appear - which is a laboratory fact not so far contradicted by 270 cases...
In the 1987 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 125, Hubbard says that clears won't get colds because colds are psychosomatic ailments:
...For example, the common cold has been found to be psychosomatic. Clears do not get colds. Just what, if any, part the virus plays in the common cold is not known, but it is known that when engrams about colds are lifted, no further colds appear - which is a laboratory fact not so far contradicted by 270 cases...
The alterations in the 1987 edition as compared to the June 1981 edition above are as follows: The word "psycho-somatic" is changed to "psychosomatic".
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 115 (page 131 in the 1987 edition), Hubbard says that Dianetics processing will extend life:
...it can be predicted with confidence that the deletion of engrams from the reactive bank has a marked effect upon the extension of life. A hundred years or so from now this data will be available, but no clears have lived that long as yet.
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 163 (page 183 in the 1987 edition), Hubbard tells us how Zulus are basically insane (more on racism in Scientology here):
Primitive societies, being subject to much mauling by the elements, have many more occasions for injury than civilized societies. Further, such primitive societies are alive with false data. Further, their practice of medicine and mental healing is on a very aberrative level by itself. The number of engrams in a Zulu would be astonishing. Moved out of his restimulative area and taught English he would escape the penalty of much of his reactive data; but in his native habitat the Zulu is only outside the bars of a madhouse because there are no madhouses provided by his tribe...
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 189, Hubbard tells that morning sickness is due to the mother hurting her foetus:
Attempted abortion is very common. And remarkably lacking in success. The mother, everytime she injures the child in such a fiendish fashion, is actually penalizing herself. Morning sickness is entirely engramic, so far as can be discovered, since clears have not so far experienced it during their own pregnancies. And the act of vomiting because of pregnancy is via contagion of aberration. Actual illness generally results only when mother has been interfering with the child either by douches or knitting needles or some such thing. Such interference causes the mother to become ill and, from an actual physical standpoint, is much harder on the mother than on the child. Morning sickness evidently gets into a society because of these interferences such as attempted abortion and, of course, injury.
In the 1987 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 211-212, Hubbard tells that morning sickness is due to the mother hurting her foetus:
Attempted abortion is very common. And remarkably lacking in success. The mother, everytime she injures the child in such a fiendish fashion, is actually penalizing herself. Morning sickness is entirely engramic, so far as can be discovered, since clears have not so far experienced it during their own pregnancies. And the act of vomiting because of pregnancy is via contagion of aberration. Actual illness generally results only when Mother has been interfering with the child either by douches or knitting needles or some such thing. Such interference causes the mother to become ill and, from an actual physical standpoint, is much harder on the mother than on the child. Morning sickness evidently gets into a society because of these interferences such as attempted abortion and, of course, injury.
The alterations in the 1987 edition as compared to the June 1981 edition above are as follows: The word "mother" is capitalized to "Mother" in two places.
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, page 204 (page 228 in the 1987 edition), Hubbard describes a Clear's superhuman state (in the June 1981 and the 1987 editions the paragraph appears in Book 3 Chapter 2, in these editions Book 2 has only 10 chapters):
As a standard of comparison, a clear is to the contemporary norm as the contemporary norm is is to a contemporary institutional case. The margin is wide and it would be difficult to exaggerate it. A clear, for instance, has complete recall of everything which has ever happened to him or anything he has ever studied. He does mental computations, such as those of chess, for example, which a normal would do in half an hour, in ten or fifteen seconds... He can do a swift study of anything within his intellectual capacity, which is inherent, and the study would be the equivalent to him of a year or two of training when he was "normal."...
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
In the June 1981 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 415-416 (it's in Book 3, Chapter 9, Part 2 in this edition and the 1987 edition), Hubbard describes how people who doubt Dianetics (among other things) actually have problems that can only be fixed through the use of Dianetic therapy:
Every now and then some unfortunate auditor finds a "Can't believe it" on his hands. This case is extremely trying. Under this heading come the "I doubt it," the "I can't be sure," and the "I don't know," cases.
Such a case is easy to spot for when he first comes into therapy he begins by doubting dianetics, the auditor, himself, the furniture, and his mother's virginity. The chronic doubter is not an easy case because he cannot believe his own data. The analyzer has a built-in judge which takes in data, weighs it and judges it right, wrong or maybe. The engramic doubter has a (source of false data) to the effect that he has to doubt everything, something much different from judging. He is challenged to doubt. He must doubt. If to doubt is divine, then the god is certainly Moloch. He doubts without inspecting, he inspects the most precise evidence, and he still doubts.
...
In ten or twenty hours of therapy such a patient will begin to face reality enough so that he no longer doubts the sun shines, doubts the auditor or doubts that he had a past of some sort. He is only difficult because he requires these extra hours of work. He is usually, by the way, very aberrated.
In the 1987 edition of Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health, pages 452-453, Hubbard describes how people who doubt Dianetics (among other things) actually have problems that can only be fixed through the use of Dianetic therapy:
Every now and then some unfortunate auditor finds a "Can't believe it" on his hands. This case is extremely trying. Under this heading come the "I doubt it," the "I can't be sure," and the "I don't know," cases.
Such a case is easy to spot for when he first comes into therapy he begins by doubting Dianetics, the auditor, himself, the furniture, and his mother's virginity. The chronic doubter is not an easy case because he cannot believe his own data. The analyzer has a built-in judge which takes in data, weighs it and judges it right, wrong or maybe. The engramic doubter has a (source of false data) to the effect that he has to doubt everything, something much different from judging. He is challenged to doubt. He must doubt. If to doubt is divine, then the god is certainly Moloch. He doubts without inspecting; he inspects the most precise evidence, and he still doubts.
...
In ten or twenty hours of therapy such a patient will begin to face reality enough so that he no longer doubts the sun shines, doubts the auditor or doubts that he had a past of some sort. He is only difficult because he requires these extra hours of work. He is usually, by the way, very aberrated.
The alterations in the 1987 edition as compared to the June 1981 edition above are as follows: In the second paragraph "Dianetics" is capitalized (from "dianetics").
Back to Dianetics - A Review - 50 Years Later
Well, there you have it. Alterations in Scientology's Book One. These aren't big alterations, not particularly important ones, in my opinion. However, Scientology teachings are definitely uncompromising when it comes to alteration of L. Ron Hubbard's writings. In the words of L. Ron Hubbard, Founder and Source of Scientology, in his Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter "Keeping Scientology Working (7 February 1965):
Getting the correct technology applied consists of:
- Having the correct technology.
- Knowing the technology.
- Knowing it is correct.
- Teaching correctly the correct technology.
- Applying the technology.
- Seeing that the technology is correctly applied.
- Hammering out of existence incorrect technology.
- Knocking out incorrect applications.
- Closing the door on any possibility of incorrect technology.
- Closing the door on incorrect application.
(In the Original, the list numbers are spelled out... One:, Two:, etc.)