From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 4 - December 1991
Book News
Lawrence West - Understanding Life
Reviewed by Leonard Dunn, England
As I had mixed feelings about this booklet I asked the opinions of
some others who would be the types of people that the author wishes to
reach.
The work has two main parts the first of which is a simplified
versions of Scientology without technical terms or jargon. This was
appreciated by all concerned. The second part is his concept of the
mind which is a mixture of Scientology and the concepts of other
psychologists and workers in this field. All found the first part to
be better than the second.
Some Actuel Comments
"This work seems over simple for any with some knowledge of
Scientology but likely to convince a sceptic".
"Too many statements not substantiated by evidence".
"An excellent work, simple and easy to read".
"Not convincing enough for me to read the second part".
"I have some knowledge of this material, having been concerned four
months with Free Scientology but feel I could write a better book than
this".
"The title is not good since this is a very wide subject but presents
only one aspect of it".
"Facts are not clearly presented".
"The statement 'In 1982 Barney Clark received the first artificial
heart transplant' is untrue. The first was in 1969 in Cape Town, South
Africa, the operation being performed by Chris Barnard. This wrong
fact makes me doubt other facts in this book".
"I like the quotes at the beginning of each chapter".
"I agree about the subconscious being affected whilst the body was
asleep or unconscious but found much of the rest of his explanation
about this to be unconvincing".
My View
For myself, the first thing that struck me was whilst he writes about
the spirit controlling a body he states that it has no physical
location. Whilst this may be true in some cases I know that the
majority of thetans are located in space and time because they
consider themselves to be so. Such a statement could very well confuse
one who is new to this subject.
Taking all into consideration, this booklet does have good things
about it but it is much of a mixture and I would hesitate to recommend
it as a suitable introduction to the subject.