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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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To dream the impossible dream
by Phil Spickler
27 Aug 1998

Dear Friends,

I can see by the shaft of light that bounces off the Sultan's turret
and briefly penetrates the deep gloom of my cave that the time to
talk has come again, and so, let's speak of shoes and ships and
sealing wax and Clears and OTs, or cabbages and kings.

And so a bit more about the '58 Clear -- sounds a bit like an
automobile model, doesn't it?  Well, it's true; the '58 Clears were
quite a beautiful Clear model, and may have been, whilst clear, the
clearest Clears ever.  This may have had a lot to do with the fact
that they were also known as "Help Clears," and during the period of
the 19th Advanced Clinical Course, and later on the 20th ACC, there
was a mood in the Washington Organization and amongst its public that
took on a festive air of great hope and promise.

Prior to the spring of 1958, the E-meter, which had pretty much been
the invention of a chap by the name of Volney Matheson, had been a
rather large cumbersome affair with all kinds of dials and knobs and
derived its power source by being plugged into a wall socket.  The
meter, of course, had to step down that line voltage a long ways to
prevent the electrocution of those daring enough to pick up the cans
or various and assorted electrodes that went in and out of popularity
in the early 50's.

To digress for a moment: Ron in the spring of '58, and in order to
match the new prospects of clearing, had a series of discussions with
a couple of Scientologists, one a staff member by the name of Don
Breeding and another an old-timer by the name of Joe Wallace, who
were both electronic whiz kids and knew a lot about transistors, on
how to make simple low-powered circuits.  Out of this came the first
transistorized Wheatstone bridge, powered by a nice rechargeable,
small nickel-cadmium battery, which was then stuffed into a nice
little blue metal rectangle with one dial, and thus was born the
Hubbard Electrometer.  I was entrusted with the task, as Director of
Administration in those early days, to order all the parts needed for
these meters, to keep Joe Wallace and Don Breeding happily assembling
the components, and to make sure that the baking of the blue enamel
on the E-meter metal box in the oven of the kitchen of the
organization on 19th Street didn't get so out of hand that the place
went up in smoke (although a few people did complain of some rather
strange smells in the air).  If I recall correctly, by the time of
the 19th ACC, following the very high-toned Freedom Congress (summer
of 1958), we had enough meters produced for all of the staff and
students that required them, and the means of advertising and
marketing them to the field.

Ron had also advertised that he would pay $10 (or something like
that) to anyone out in the field who wanted to get rid of their
old-fashioned meters, since they were in truth somewhat dangerous.  I
can recall seeing some of the things that came in, and the sheer size
of some of the gadgets was most humorous, looking like something out
of an old Frankenstein movie.

Anyway, when you bring together a pretty large number of people who
have pretty well gotten rid of all of the things that interfere with
the free and ongoing expression of help (a small word meaning aid or
assistance), and all of these people are living to create and sponsor
and encourage help on all the flows imaginable, and you compare this
to the normal sad state of human affairs, and the terrible hang-ups
that people have, collectively and individually, on the subject of
help, well, it seemed for awhile there that the real promise of a
clear world was just around the corner.

As you may have noticed, here we are in 1998 and the world is still
the world -- it is not Clear by Hubbardian standards, let alone the
Scientology dynamic.   Well, if you had your heart set on a clear
planet, you've probably been disappointed.  On the other hand, if
over the years you'd worked real hard on the idea of having the world
as it is and including yourself in that, you're probably doing quite
well.

Whether we talk about a Dianetic Clear (1950), or a Help/Step 6 Clear
(1958), or a 12-Goal Implant Clear (1963), or a Light Lock on OT 3
Clear (1966), or a Natural Clear (1978), or an R3R Dianetic Clear or
any other type of Clear, you may have noticed that they all depended
on getting rid of something that was supposed to be standing between
the single-unit You, the PC, and the state of no reactive mind.  Now
in relation to the subject of Problems, it has long been noted that
the ability to *have* a problem is a far more successful handling
than getting rid of the problem.  Furthermore, just as in the physics
of the MEST universe, Nature abhors a vacuum, so in the spiritual
universe She likewise seems to abhor a spiritual vacuum and will fill
it with . . . something.  And I do think it's important to note that
all these Clears were based on getting rid of the Reactive Mind and
whatever it was supposed to consist of, and that one-for-one, all of
these Clears did not endure through time.  In fact, in some of the
sadder but somewhat humorous cases, folks would go out the door one
day Clear and back in to Qual the next day saying they didn't feel
Clear anymore.  This led to all kinds of trouble and reasons given to
explain what had happened, and up around '67-'68 the answer proved to
be OT 3, The Wall of Fire.  And of course the guy couldn't understand
why he couldn't stay Clear until he'd done OT 3.  And of course after
OT 3 there was a difficult period up until 1978 and the appearance of
NOTs , in which even OT 3 wouldn't keep the guy Clear -- in fact, in
his endless efforts to use OT 3 to stay Clear, he might have ended up
worse off than ever.

And now came the promise of NOTs  and a great relief from OT 3, which
might be said to have been just a small jot in the midst of a much
larger view of "what is your case" that was taken by NOTs  auditing.

Hearkening back to 1951-'52, Ron made it pretty clear in the book
_History of Man_ that a human being was not simply a single-unit
thetan with a body/mind reactive mind, but that a human being was a
very complicated composite of all kinds of different things that had
been mushed together in a balance of theta and MEST that yielded what
we called a human being.

In the midst of all of this there might be considered one super-big
soul that might like to call itself "I" or the real you, and if we
could pull it out of all this other stuff, you'd have a Theta Clear.
The Theta Clear probably felt kind of naked after all that and in
order not to feel too lonely would probably try hard to continue as a
human being.  So then, let's really work hardest on helping the guy
to be a better player at the game called Life, who fully understands
that Life, like all games, is aberrative, but also fun, and that we
possess the tools, the equipment, the mechanics, for not only making
the guy capable of playing the game of Life for all he's worth, but
when he falls on his head and crashes, or gets beaten too thoroughly
or too smashed up so that he starts sounding like a victim and
doesn't want to play anymore but wants to be a spectator or worse, we
can now restore his spirit of play and let him taste once again
enough of his own immortality so as not to be too frightened of Life,
and once again be able to get out there with the rest of the kids and
play for all he's worth.  If he's had enough of Life and the game and
wants off the great wheel, as the Buddhists might call it, we can
even help him on the road out of existence.  And that, my friends, is
a big WOW.

Now this information is bad for business, because you can see from
the history of Scientology and the many movements that have sprung up
in its wake, it's always necessary to market and sell the reason why
last season's giant and incredible rundown did not prove to be The
Rundown that would yield the result that would exist unchanged
forever.  This information is bad for business because some people
will cognite that if they wish to take responsibility for how Clear
they and their dynamics are, they can do so.  Many folks, however,
have been turned into consumers, rather than creators, of new models
of Clearing and OTship, and they expect to go into the wisdom shop
and buy the promises of the new model, rather than making their own.
This is sort of OK, but it has led to a rather large business of
selling and marketing spiritual WOWs, and it leaves us, at least many
of us, as the type of resistive case that is seeking the same thrill
attained on ______.  In other words, enlightenment junkies or
addicts.  (Oooh, they're gonna hate me for this!).  Not all that
different than all the drug users that we've poked fun at over the
years because they were trying to become totally free using chemicals.

I pause to ask myself at this point why I am stating or suggesting
such an unpalatable, unkind set of conclusions regarding these
matters.  I guess it's the desire or hope that I will find some
agreement out there, or even better, that I shall find out I am
completely full of alfalfa manure and that those that package,
promote, market and sell wisdom are really right, and that the axiom
about Time and what happens to all things that are put onto the time
stream is false, and that perfectly stable imperishable states of
Clear (and if you will, OT) are possible and if your time and money
hold out you can get 'em.

On the other hand, I don't think I've covered anything that is really
so awfully difficult to confront, and in no way suggests that the
possibilities inherent in taking responsibility for how clear you and
your dynamics are going to be is anything other than good news.
Plus, if you wouldn't mind, please send me all the money you're going
to save going this other route, and I'll build a giant marble cave
lined with golden walkways and guarded by sheep in the costumes of
Beefeaters and Swiss knights, and the whole place will be incredibly
enormous, and after you get through the last set of gilded golden
doors, you'll find me sitting on my large behind watching Monday
Night Football, drinking Coca-Cola and eating Kentucky Fried Chicken
with a very strange smile upon my face.

Now then, the last is just kidding, as you know, so don't really send
me all that money -- instead, consider it yours and do as you will
with it.  You could set up a charity for all the churches and things
you're going to be putting out of business, if you feel like it.  And
remember, it has been said that he who laughs last, laughs best --
let that be you.   Love, Phil

P.S.  As a suggestion to the wisdom shops, I should like to recommend
that they devote themselves to dealing with new people who have never
been exposed to Dianetics and Scientology, or the like, to give them
a sound basis and a good start on the road to a greater freedom, with
the expectation that they will reach a point where they will have the
tools and the responsibility to go on on their own, rather than
becoming the perpetual property of the wisdom school.  As for the
old-timers that need it, sell them some good repair and rehab and a
good kick in the butt to get them going again -- no more ownership by
the shop.