Another Look at Basics - #1

THE ONLY ONE AND LOGIC 8

Logic 8. A datum can be evaluated only by a datum of comparable magnitude.

Logic 9. A datum is as valuable as it has been evaluated.

If one is dealing with an "only one," by these logics it can not be evaluated. It's unique, unduplicatable, and heart-rendingly dogmatic.

There is only one church leading to salvation, and of course I'm in it.

There is only one tree, and it's the maple tree I fell out of in Ripley, Maine.

Any engram is an only one, and once it can be compared to other traumas, the attention should free up.

Comparison by Event

In the Dane Spots (1) letter, Dane states that the church-field conflict is due to a 3rd party unknown to both sides who then accuse one another. In addition, he blames an attitude he calls "the aesthetic of unreasonableness" (which I have't yet grasped).

Using Logic 8, however, many event comparisons can be made. The Protestant Reformation vs. the Catholic Church led to similar doctrinal and power splits, resulting in the many varieties of Protestantism.

Comparison by Organizational Type

The CofS can be compared to a spiritually helpful church, or a corporation (with its many hard-sell and short-term profit attitudes). Or it can be viewed as constantly valence-shifting between the two.

The Independent field can be compared to "rebellious adolescents" asserting their new-found possibilites of independent thought and action, or to sensible rational adults who refuse to be "hornswoggled (2)."

Comparison by Gradient Scales

Hubbard developed many gradient scales. In addition to applying Logic 8, he brought an ordered framework to the related items, as in the Tone Scale and many others (3). He also applied this logical method to problems, as in "Invent a problem of comparable magnitude."

From Widget Inventor to the Widget Corporation

In the transition from inventor or entrepreneur to big business, there is a frequent breakdown. They seem to require different abilities. There was such a battle in Wichita ca. 1951 between a businessman who wanted to stabilize and promote Dianetics as such and Hubbard who wanted to keep exploring.

As another example, Jobs and Wozniak started Apple Computer, but called in a professional manager, Scully, who finally fired Jobs.

Logic 8 as a tool for understanding

It is easy to fall into an only one of some kind, and a use of Logic 8 can expand one's view.

For example the use of Logic 8 could lead to clues as to "what really happened to the philosophy and practice of scientology", once we can admit that we don't really know.

But why bother, there's only one villain, the other guy, and blaming him is so comforting and effortless.

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1 We have called it the Dane Tops letter - his signature, which is the only source of his name, is difficult to decipher. The letter is avilable from Box 78, DK-2800 Lyngby, and probably your IVy distributor. Ed.

2 slang for conned, manipulated, and overwhelmed.

3 Scientology 0-8 - The Book of Basics has many of these, pp. 99-134. These include Reality, Responsibility, and Havingness Scales and many others.