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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which was available to all those who subscribed to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
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If you can't beat them -- arrange to have them beaten
by Phil Spickler
29 Aug 00
Dear Friends,
As I temporarily assume the beingness of the Single Deity, let me
assure everyone and anyone that's had anything to say about that notion, or
should I say "me" (Phil, that is), I'd just like to say that I certainly
appreciate all the attention I've been getting, and i think that there have
also been some excellent things said that come about as close as you can get
with words to the idea of what I really am.
I'd also like to say that I don't go anywhere after I go to bed or go
to sleep, since, as Ray Krenik pointed out, I'm everywhere. And come to
think of it, I don't sleep in the sense that that interesting composite
called a human being does. I could probably say a lot more about this, but
it's a wonderful question, and since the IVy list is my main relief from
being the Single Deity, I don't want to steal anybody's thunder.
As for the second question about the nature of the Tone Scale, the
only thing I can really say is "Thank you for asking it, Ed, and thank you
also for answering it."
And now, on to my thought majeur for this evening, which somewhat
pertains to IVy 48 and the happy story that someone sent in about having
wonderful experiences and enlightening thoughts and great relief from merely
reading the book _Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health_.
Well, I was chatting with Phil Spickler about this, even though he's a
bit of a Johnny (or Philly) come-lately, having not read the book until
October 1952, even though as a reader of science fiction he started seeing
ads for the book in 1950, and in 1951 chose to go to a piano recital instead
of attending an on-campus lecture about Dianetics. Well, anyhow, and more to
the point, Phil had quite a similar reaction when he read the book and
started feeling something on the order of "I am saved!"
And he went on to tell me that over the years he ran into all kinds
of people from many walks of life who had a similar experience during and
after reading Hubbard's book. And he said to me also that after he got his
own operation going, a fairly consistent trickle of people over the years
dropped in saying that they had read this wonderful book and were feeling
amazingly well after so doing and wanted to know what more, or what was going
on, with all the Clears.
Well, this got me wondering about the Hubbard fellow and his book on
Dianetics, and as the Single Deity I decided to give it a read myself just to
see what it is all about, and I must say I got quite a kick out of it -- not
a bad effort for a human-type on a tiny planet at the fringes of the galaxy
known as the Milky Way. I checked to see if the book was somehow stirring up
implants that made people feel that way or just what, and I've come to the
conclusion that human beings, at least of the type found on the planet called
Earth, seem to have certain innate thoughts (perhaps memories, not quite
sure), that resonate loudly and brilliantly when thoughts like "a greater
freedom" are mentioned, when the notion of being a clear mind, the idea of
being free from stimulus-response behavior, the notion of being higher-toned,
the idea of recovering most of one's potentials -- these seem to be great
chords that are embedded in the human psyche that is filled with great
longings for such possibilities. And Mr. Hubbard seems to have been able to
tap these chords and got quite a bit of resonance and harmony to come forth,
and to release the massive yearning that humans possess, suppressed though it
be, for such possibilities. I consider that to be quite extraordinary.
Phil was telling me about another book that's entitled _8-8008_,
which is sort of a formula for reducing the size of the effect of the
physical universe on the being to zero whilst taking the zero of the being's
universe and raising it to infinity. And he said that that book had a
tremendous effect on his life, and that he had seen it over the years have
quite an effect on the lives of others who read it. That particular book
interested me a great deal also, because it really put something into a
wonderful perspective that eliminates most of the motivatorish notions that
some human beings carry around concerning the idea of the physical universe
being a big trap that's having and will continue to have its awful effect on
all these poor body-embalmed spiritual beings.
Stuff and nonsense, says I as the Single Deity! "Everybody" knows
that beings make themselves as small as they are and the universe as big as
it is in order to make possible the tremendous spectrum of games that can be
played, and all beings innately know that if they expand their own size to
infinite dimensions, and make the physical or any other universe about as big
as a grain of sand, there's no game, no life, possible.
That, of course, is why most people (and here I'm letting the secret
out of the bag) are not really interested in getting sprung out of the
so-called trap, except perhaps for a little bit here and a little bit there,
'cause if they make the mistake of doing the whole bounce at once, they end
up with nothing; and it's hard from that nothing to go back without any
memory at all of what you really are to being small enough to play a game
again.
Anyway, I'll probably get in trouble for talking about these things
with mortal immortals, but what the heck -- even a Single Deity likes a few
tequila shooters occasionally.
Anyway, Phil would probably like to hear what others think about these
matters, including some of Hubbard's books, and in the meantime, I'm going to
pop a few aspirins and hope I don't end up with a cosmic-sized infinitely big
deity-type headache. Oh, if only I had a head!
Good night and so long --
Signed, E Pluribus Unum