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MEST is an acronym for matter, energy, space and time, and means the physical universe. It was coined in 1950 by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and is spoken as a word rather than spelling out the letters.
MEST is used to refer to the physical universe (as opposed to a spiritual universe) . [1] [2] : 300 [3] : 248 Property and possessions including cars, houses, clothes, jewelry, and other physical or material goods are MEST. [4] [5] : 332 In the Sea Org, MEST is considered relatively unimportant. [2] : 28
By the end of 1950 in a series of lectures in California, Hubbard introduced a distinction that formed the basis of further theoretical change, between 'MEST' and 'theta'. MEST (Matter, Energy, Space, Time) was Hubbard's acronym for the material or physical universe, while theta stood for the universe of thought. [6] : 38
MEST body means the physical body; the human body. [3] : 27, 249
The body is, after all, composed of mest. It follows the laws of mest. One of these laws is Newton's first law of motion: inertia. This is the tendency of a mest object to remain motionless until acted upon by an exterior force. Or to continue in a line of motion until acted upon by an exterior force. Well, the main force around that is continually acting on a human body is a thetan, the being himself. The body will remain at rest (since it is a mest object) until acted upon by the thetan that is supposed to be running it. [5] : 50
— L. Ron Hubbard
The MEST universe is considered to be the physical universe as opposed to the native thought-universe of thetans, and was created by thetans. [6] [7] In 1986, David Miscavige's public announcement to Scientologists referred to L. Ron Hubbard's death as leaving the MEST universe: "L. Ron Hubbard discarded the body he had used in this lifetime for seventy-four years, ten months, and eleven days. The body he had used to facilitate his existence in this MEST universe had ceased to be useful and in fact had become an impediment to the work he now must do outside of its confines." [2] : 115
In the Theta-MEST theory, the native thetan, being bored, decided to create a physical universe. Then pretended to forget he was playing in a MEST universe, then did forget it and became part of the MEST universe. [8] Per Wallis, "Thetans are by now in a hypnoid state, having forgotten their quadrillions of years of existence and their original godly power, barely capable of even leaving their bodies at will." [6] : 381
Lawrence Wright describes Hubbard's version of the Big Bang event:
Incident One was a kind of Garden of Eden fall from grace that occurred four quadrillion years ago, which is when Hubbard dates the origin of the universe. Before Incident One, thetans were in a pure, godlike state. Suddenly, there was a loud snap and a flood of light. A chariot appeared, trailed by a trumpeting cherub; then darkness. This incident marked the moment when thetans became separated from their original static condition and created the physical universe of matter, energy, space, and time (MEST). In the process, they lost awareness of their immortality. [7] : 104
ENMEST is a compound word meaning "enturbulated MEST". To enturbulate means "to cause to become turbulent, agitated and disturbed." [9] ENMEST is "property, energy, or space which has been rendered less useful by poor thinking. Time which is wasted. ... [for example], a rotten canvas, broken chairs, things which don't belong in the area, rubbish, etc." [5] : 174 An individual who is low on Scientology's emotional tone scale will make ENMEST out of any MEST, "will prefer sordid and squalid quarters, will drive ancient and rickety cars, will dress only in the most ragged clothes." [9] : 159, 250 With respect to Scientology auditing, ENMEST is a nonphysical/thought component of an engram, and it is desirable to remove it through auditing. [9]
The aim of Scientology auditing processes is to free a person from the limitations of MEST and to return them to their native "godlike" state and be 'at cause' over their body, environment and past lives. [6] : 106, 109
The ultimate goal of auditing is not just to liberate a person from destructive mental phenomena; it is to emancipate him from the laws of matter, energy, space, and time — or MEST, as Hubbard termed them. These are just artifacts of the thetan's imagination, in any case. Bored thetans had created MEST universes where they could frolic and play games; eventually, they became so absorbed in their distractions they forgot their true immortal natures. [7] : 15
— Lawrence Wright
According to Wallis, a MEST Clear is a person at 4.0 on the emotional tone scale, who would be near accident proof, without any psycho-somatic ills, nearly immune to bacteria, and would have a high courage level. [6] : 40
MEST work means manual labor, physical labor, and hard labor. The term has been used to indicate both a therapy and a punishment. To be "put on MEST work" is to be assigned to do manual labor. In the Sea Org, one is expected to be able to confront all kinds of MEST work. Some positions in the Sea Org are specifically MEST work oriented, such as in an Estates Division which would manage the hotel functions, or a janitor. MEST work projects, on the other hand, are mostly renovation, demolition, and construction. [8] : 206 [10] : 360
More often than not, a Sea Org member is assigned to MEST work as a punishment, and children (young Sea Org members) are not exempt from such assignments. There have been many work units explicitly run as MEST work units or with a large component being MEST work — and assignment to such units has routinely been given as a punishment. These include the Estates Project Force (EPF), Deck Project Force (DPF), Rehabilitation Unit, Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), the Heavy MEST Work Unit, and the Mud Box Brigade. [11] [5] : 341
I didn't actually consider the dirty work itself to be degrading; in fact, Hubbard wrote that MEST work (physical rather than mental labor) helped "extrovert" a person who had gotten too "into his head" and thus was not performing well, which is why manual labor was done on the RPF.The work was not really the point. It was the humiliation of being sent to do the lowest grunt duties in front of all the Freewinds crew. This was the reason for many of Miscavige's random punishments—to ensure everyone understood their status was very impermanent and he could remove it with the snap of his fingers. [2] : 145
Hubbard felt that African Americans had a tendency to personify the MEST universe by giving objects personalities: "Actually, have you ever noticed how a negro, in particular, down south, where they're pretty close to the soil, personifies MEST? The gate post and the wagon and the whip and anything around there. A hat – they talk to 'em, you know. 'Wassa madda wit you, hat?' They imbue them, with personality." [12]
In The Fundamentals of Thought , Hubbard claims:
"Unlike yellow and brown people, the white does not usually believe he can get attention from matter or objects. The yellow and brown believe for the most part (and it is all a matter of consideration) that rocks, trees, walls etc., can give them attention. The white man seldom believes this and so is likely to become anxious about people. Thus the white saves people, prevents famine, flood, disease and revolution for people as the only purveyors of attention are scarce. The white goes further. He often believes he can get attention only from whites and that yellow and brown peoples' attention is worthless. Thus the yellow and brown races are not very progressive, but, by and large, saner. And the white race is progressive but more frantic. The yellow and brown races do not understand white concern for "bad conditions" since what is a few million dead men? There are plenty of identities and there is plenty of attention, they think. The white can't understand them. Nor can they understand the white."
— L. Ron Hubbard [13]
Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices, invented in 1950 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, regarding the human mind. Dianetics was originally conceived as a form of psychological treatment, but was rejected by the psychological and medical establishments as pseudoscientific. It was the precursor to Scientology and has since been incorporated into it. It involves a process referred to as "auditing", which utilizes an electrical resistance meter, ostensibly to remove emotional burdens and "cure" people from their troubles.
The Church of Scientology maintains a wide variety of beliefs and practices. The core belief holds that a human is an immortal, spiritual being (thetan) that is resident in a physical body. The thetan has had innumerable past lives, some of which, preceding the thetan's arrival on Earth, were lived in extraterrestrial cultures. Based on case studies at advanced levels, it is predicted that any Scientologist undergoing auditing will eventually come across and recount a common series of past-life events.
In Scientology, the concept of the thetan is similar to the concept of self, or the spirit or soul as found in several belief systems. The term is derived from the Greek letter Θ, theta, which in Scientology beliefs represents "the source of life, or life itself." In Scientology it is believed that it is the thetan, not the central nervous system, which commands the body.
In Scientology, Operating Thetan (OT) is a state of complete spiritual freedom in which one is a "willing and knowing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time". The Church of Scientology offers eight "levels" of OT, each level costing thousands of US dollars. Each OT level is confidential and is not revealed to anyone beforehand. In summary, the objective of these levels is to remove "body thetans" which are "confused, disembodied souls from other planets who have attached themselves to us".
Auditing, also known as processing, is the core practice of Scientology. Scientologists believe that the role of auditing is to improve a person's abilities and to reduce or eliminate their neuroses. The Scientologist is asked questions about past events while holding two metal cylinders attached to an electrical resistance meter (galvanometer) with a dial. The term "auditing" was coined by L. Ron Hubbard in his 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, which describes the process.
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard routinely referred to "space opera" in his teachings, drawing from science-fiction and weaving it into his origins of human history. In his writings, wherein thetans were reincarnated periodically over quadrillions of years, retaining memories of prior lives, to which Hubbard attributed complex narratives about life throughout the universe. The most controversial of these myths is the story of Xenu, to whom Hubbard attributed responsibility for many of the world's problems.
In Dianetics and Scientology, Clear is a status afforded to followers by the Scientology organization, or by other Scientologists, after they complete certain activities. It is one of the major ostensible "states" practitioners strive to reach on their way up what the Scientologists call the Bridge to Total Freedom. Scientology followers are given the status of Clear when a person is deemed to be free of the influence of engrams – supposed unwanted emotions or painful traumas which Scientology claims are not readily available to the conscious mind. Scientologists believe that human beings accumulate anxieties, psychosomatic illnesses, and aberration due to receiving engrams throughout their current or past lives, and that by applying Dianetics, every single person can obtain the status of Clear.
Scientology ethics and justice are a collection of policies and procedures by L. Ron Hubbard and used by the Church of Scientology. Scientology defines ethics as "the actions an individual takes on himself", and justice as "the action taken on the individual by the group when he fails to take these actions himself". The body of writings include techniques and policies of moral choices, and the rules of conduct to be followed by scientologists.
When the individual fails to put in his own ethics, the group takes action against him and this is called justice.
Science of Survival is a 1951 book by L. Ron Hubbard, extending his earlier writings on Dianetics. Its original subtitle was "simplified, faster dianetic techniques", although more recent editions have the subtitle "Prediction of human behavior". The book is considered part of Scientology's canon.
OT VIII or OT 8 is the highest current auditing level in Scientology. OT VIII is known as "Truth Revealed" and was first released to select high-ranking public Scientologists in 1988, two years after the death of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. OT VIII is only delivered to members of the Church of Scientology in one place—aboard the organization's private cruise ship, the Freewinds. There are a few advanced auditors that are able to deliver the level to those who meet the prerequisites.
This bibliography of Scientology includes Scientology and Dianetics-related books, periodicals and other issues authored by L. Ron Hubbard and those produced by the Church of Scientology and its related organizations. Books bearing L. Ron Hubbard's name are considered texts of Scientology's canon.
The amount of material on Dianetics and Scientology is extensive, to say the least. This material is composed of books by L. Ron Hubbard ; compilations of his works; taped lectures; auditor training materials ; course packages; booklets; a large number of magazines and annuals; and video recordings of the major annual events.
An incident in Scientology beliefs is something that happened to a person that continues to have a grip on their mind or spirit, and is negatively affecting them. It could be an accident or traumatic event that includes pain and subconscious commands, whether from this life or in past lives. Scientology auditing procedures are used to locate incidents in the mind, and relieve them.
The Bridge to Total Freedom, also known as the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart, is Scientology's primary action plan and road map to guide a person through the sequential steps to attain Scientology's concept of spiritual freedom. Displayed in every Scientology organization as an enormous poster using red ink, the comprehensive chart contains almost every service available within Scientology. Each step on the Bridge has a monetary cost.
The beliefs and practices of Scientology include material related to sex and the rearing of children, which collectively form the second dynamic in Scientology. These beliefs and practices are based on the written works of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
The relationship between Scientology and religious groups is very complex. There are significant contradictions between Scientology and most religions, especially the major monotheistic religions. Scientology texts written by its inventor, L. Ron Hubbard, claim that it is fully compatible with all existing major world religions, and that it does not conflict with them or their religious practices. Members are not allowed to engage in other similar mental therapies or procedures, religious or otherwise. Part of Scientology's claimed compatibility with religions lies in its leaving open the question of God's existence. According to James R. Lewis, Scientology instead "focuses on improving one's conditions in this life. As part of this openness to other religious alternatives, Scientologists are simultaneously allowed to be practicing members of other religions."
The intersection of Scientology and abortion has a controversial history which began with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's discussion of abortion in his 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Hubbard wrote in Dianetics that abortion and attempts at abortion could cause trauma to the fetus and to the mother in both spiritual and physical ways. Scientologists came to believe that attempted abortions could cause traumatic experiences felt by the fetus, which would later be remembered as memories referred to in Scientology as "engrams". In the Scientology technique called Auditing, Scientologists are frequently queried regarding their sexual feelings and behaviors. These questions about Scientologists' sexual behavior are often posed to members during "security checks", a specific form of auditing sessions where individuals are required to document their divergence from the organization's ethics. One of the questions asked in these security checks is, "Have you ever been involved in an abortion?".
The Church of Scientology network operates as a multinational conglomerate of companies with personnel, executives, organizational charts, chains of command, policies and orders.
Religious Technology Center is the most powerful executive organization within the Scientology empire, and its current chairman, David Miscavige, is widely recognized as the effective head of the church.
From 1950 to 1953, Hubbard led the Dianetics Movement which published, promoted and provided an alternative talk therapy called "auditing".
Nor is it possible to document fully the numerous developments in the theory and practice of Dianetics during its early years. These include Hubbard's distinction between 'MEST' and 'theta' (the former is an acronym for the physical universe of Matter-Energy-Space-Time, while the latter stands for the universe of thought); the development of the 'Tone Scale', indicating the amount of 'free theta' available to the analytical mind, and according to which pre-clear individuals and groups can be classified; Hubbard's proliferation of 'logics, corollaries, axioms, and definitions' [...]; and his growing commitment to past lives and deaths.