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The jazz-me blues
by Phil Spickler
11 July 99

    Hello once again from the old folks' home (just kidding), as we continue
what might be called the series regarding Dianetics, Scientology, and old or
aging folks.

     In the last posting, there were a few thoughts about sickness or
illness, and in this current issue I'd like to speak about age and aging.  So
here goes: it seems to me (or someone) that everything that exists has
somehow acquired the habit of aging or getting older, and this seems to apply
whether we are talking about solid rock, which may require eons to undergo
significant changes, or whether we are talking about that rather ephemeral
and extremely lively composite object that is sometimes referred to as the
body human.

     Most folks that are or have bodies, as well as other collections of
physical objects that mostly exist to make things easier or better for
bodies, face an ongoing, if not continuous, dilemma, namely, how can we
subscribe to the notion of the passage of time (which, by the way, can be
very handy, since it gives us the impression that everything isn't happening
all in the same single moment) -- so anyway, we subscribe to Time while at
the same time mostly wanting our bodies and many of the other things that
exist, such as our new car or our perfectly-working computer or our all-time
best love affair, or the original L. Ron Hubbard, etc. etc. etc. etc., to
remain as they were when they were exactly the way we wanted them to be.

      But of course the only way that would be possible would be to get rid
of this thing called Time, since Time is an agreement that is extremely
fundamental, axiomatically speaking, and since it is the first and ultimate
lie that makes existence possible and has in the past lightly been called the
basic source of untruth.  It's not the sort of thing that one can just wave a
finger at and have it go away; even though it is a lie about ultimate truth,
or by any other name Static, it nevertheless permits persistance, which for
all us fun-loving fools is somewhat essential for this kind of game.

      The downside, of course, is that with the agreement about Time, all
things must undergo continuous change (at varying rates of course), and this
leads to the reality or apparency of aging or growing old.  And even though
we may make tremendous efforts and come up with all kinds of systems to
reduce the effect of this aging, at this time and inevitably, all that exists
appears to be going through a cycle of action that includes old age, and
finally even the rocks, the giant formations of stone, will, geologically
speaking, reach a point of dissolution.

       I think it's interesting to note that perhaps and for good reasons
some things age and decay a lot slower than other things.  I'm mostly glad
that stones and rocks require eons to dissolve, so that my mortal form has
something to stand on and go and visit occasionally when backpacking in the
mountains.  On the other hand, it seems that things that are the most
sentient, the most lively, the most endowed with theta or life, the things
that are capable of the greatest feelings, are, alas, in this universe the
things that most undergo alteration and the effect of Time.

      On the other hand, if you're fed up with these short-cycle bodies, you
could try being something like a redwood tree or, if you want a really long
cycle, become a big rock.  I think though, in the final analysis, most of us
would choose the shorter and tempestuous cycle of the human body to
30,000,000 years as a rock.  On the other hand, I can't hope to speak for
everyone.

      So there seems to be aging, and with aging there is change, and some
of the changes that occur are most unwelcome, and when it comes to human
bodies, changes of the unwelcome variety generally come under the heading of
an old folk tune called "The Old Gray Mare, She Ain't What She Used to Be."
However some of the things that arrive with aging are welcome: one of these
being wisdom, not that everyone is the automatic heir to that notion, but it
is possible; and whilst there might become some degree of diminuation of the
passions that drive younger bodies, older bodies may find that they are
capable of thinking more clearly and seeing and understanding things that
have formerly been withheld from them due to the excesses of the survival
urge.

       It also gives folks a chance to come to grips with something that is
said to be a primary task of philosophy, namely the mystery of death and most
particularly how that might apply to that which is considered oneself.  It
has been said that in order to be a truly whole person, one must embrace
one's life and death and make of them one thing, and that when this is
accomplished, the resultant might be called a whole person.  Most of us, I
fear, myself included, live with  a strong avoidance of matters pertaining to
death and dying, and seek to live as though these were terrible and awful
things that must be resisted at all costs until they finally drag us,
struggling and kicking, with our heels dug in, into that final embrace.

     This of course is very much to be expected from an organism that is so
devoted to survival, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, seeking to continue
forever and to avoid death.  It is not enough for most of us to carry the
seed of future generations within our bodies and to have successfully
procreated so that we have visible proof of the immortality of this amazing
line of protoplasm.  I think most of us would like to possess bodies that we
could keep alive, hopefully in good condition, for centuries or possibly even
forever.  These attitudes do not do a great deal for considerations of having
a life quite apart from human bodies that is individual, discrete, that
always has been and always will be,  and that can pick up and discard bodies,
if not at will, inevitably as a continuum.
The scope of this article does not propose to get into that, preferring to
leave this to "What is true for you is true."

       In our opinion, there is quite a bit that could be done with both
Dianetics and Scientology to make getting older or being old a marvelous
experience.  There are a number of rundowns that could be created and
designed for older folks to reduce the charge on subjects like aging, illness
and death and to handle some of the buttons that constitute not-isness such
as Protest, Trying to Escape, Prevent, etc. etc. etc.

       Folks in general, me included, tend to go through some pretty rugged
periods of not-isness when gradually or suddenly they start realizing that
the cycle of a given lifetime is somewhat accelerating toward its end, and
wondering if they would prefer a very sudden accidental death to the
possibility of a slow, lingering, possibly painful one, sort of instant
obliteration versus "Let's take it on a gradient and extend as long as
possible."

       Anyway, one can use Dianetics and Scientology to take these matters
that tend to become quite serious and solid, and with such lighthearted tools
as a simple Prepcheck, help an aging or older person to regain their sense of
humor about the whole subject called Existence, their personal life and its
possible futures, and possibly even recover an immortal's-eye view of the
whole thing, although I don't recommend that, because it diminishes the
realities of sensation and somatic, which according to some authorities is
the big reason for being here.

      Thus concludes today's outpouring, and in the next installment of
"Phil Faces Life," I think in due fairness we must examine some of the
notions that exist, wise or foolish as they may be, as to what Death is all
about, and just what is there (if anything) that is exempt from the ravages
of Time, and that can only experience death vicariously :-).

    All the best,  Phil
P.S.  If you have done or are currently auditing much, you've undoubtedly run
into the phenomenon known as the resistive case.  In some earlier strokes of
brilliance, never to be repeated, I was able to discover that these areas of
resistance, which in the case of auditing is inevitably resistance to change,
may be found in valences or entities who have long been being things such as
rocks and redwood trees that are not amenable to the sudden changes that
auditing can and does being about.  Therefore, it's important to know what
your valences and entities are being -- of course if they go "quack, quack"
they might be a duck.   -- P.

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