Lecture: Scientology Zero

In this 1963 lecture, Hubbard announces an undercut to Scientology philosophy; discusses the actions of merchants of chaos in society and how they sell solutions to a dangerous environment; patterns Scientology’s entry level technology as solutions to the dangerous environment; uses a boa constrictor and its prey to illustrate the activity of some religious activities with respect to reality; implies Scientology is a boa constrictor, but that it delivers coping mechanisms for victims being constricted.

Well, it works out this way: Having completed the entire span of Scientology research at all of the upper levels and rounded it all out, I never thought I’d be called upon to suddenly undercut the lot, find a brand-new series of processes, and a processing theory and philosophy on which to build the edifice. You don’t think that’s quite a trick?

Of course, actually knowing the upper strata, it might be seen to be very simple to build the lower strata. Well actually, it’s quite the contrary. You see with such enormous clarity exactly what has been going wrong and exactly what you’ve been doing that you wonder how anybody could miss it. You see? And you say, “Well, it’s a very simple matter, you know. You got into a knuckle-headed frame of mind and started postulating purposes, you see. And then these accumulate mass, and the basis of the solution of your difficulties in the physical environment and for the last trillions multiple, some vast figure, you see-you been lousing yourself up. That’s what it is. You get it now, huh?”

And you wonder, “Why don’t you understand this, you knucklehead? It’s awful clear to me! It’s very clear to me. I postulate these things and get all messed up, and so on, and so on, and then all this energy mass is still around and its automatic solutions to everything, and it knocks hell out of me, see? I can’t do anything and I have to wear a body and all kinds of wild things occur. Don’t you get it?”¹

I’m afraid you’d find people would look at you blankly. They would look at you blankly.² They are worried just today about the fact that the stock exchange trembled, and that Tel & Tel rose while gold shares sunk. And this shows that there is some interesting implication concerning racialism in Lower Slobovia. And that’s what’s really wrong with them, they know. It’s the fact that they might go broke if they didn’t go broke or something, you see. If they didn’t have enough money in order to buy a wah, and then the waf-wah, and then the boss is a waf-wah, and then so fo-wah-wa. They know what’s wrong with them; and their wife was cross at them at breakfast. They know what’s wrong with them.

And you say, “Well, actually, you just think that that’s what’s wrong with you, because in actual fact what you’ve been doing is carving yourself down. See, a lot of trillions of years ago you had these goals and postulates and so on, and you run around and make these GPMs and so on. And they react against you, and so on, and you’re not very able. And your environment and so on … Don’t you get it?” Well, of course, our communication line is absolutely stopped at that point. You can know so clearly exactly what is wrong with the being, you can know so brilliantly, with such insight, exactly what’s wrong with you, and see it unraveling at great speed and with considerable accuracy; and so seeing it, you wonder how anybody else could fail to see it.

Well, the funny part of it is that if you try to … You got a fellow there, and he’s facing this boa constrictor. And this boa constrictor is about to constrict. And you say to this fellow, “We’re going to run a little process on you. In your childhood . . . ” I’m afraid you’re not going to get much attention from this fellow, see? He sits there looking fixedly at this snake, you know, ho-ho. He knows what’s wrong with him: he’s about to be constricted.³

Well, some religious activities have had solutions to this. They say it’s very simple. All you do is say, “There is no substance to reality.” And you see-you look at the boa constrictor and you think good thoughts. And you think, “There ain’t no boa constrictor,” you see.⁴ And if you think these thoughts strongly enough while you’re being constricted, you won’t mind it. They’ve had methods of coping with this in the past. So we’re not completely original, here.

But to jack up Scientology one level and run a whole new philosophy underneath of Scientology, which is immediately graspable, understandable and quickly agreed with, which can be discussed in the highest intellectual planes, over the very, very best breakfast tables, and in the lowest hovels, all with complete and utter reality the whole way, and to provide in that sphere a therapy, based on no different an understanding than this, and a reason why … And the last few weeks I’ve been walking around in a small circle trying to do just that and finally succeeded. And finally got a Scientology Zero that undercuts Scientology One, and which everybody would, I’m sure, agree with.

Scientology Zero⁵, as you knew before, was descriptions of the environment and what was wrong with it, and so forth. This takes care of the world in which the person lives. Has nothing to do with his mind at all. Scientology One is the isness of things and takes care of his mind as well, but Scientology Zero simply takes care of the environment in which the person lives.

Now, the whole subject is instantly summable in—of its own heading, which is “the dangerous environment.” That’s all. You just say, “the dangerous environment,” you see. And that sums up what you’re talking about, and the frame of mind of the individual who is listening to you. You have immediate agreement that the environment is dangerous.

Now, the funny part of it is, a great many people who are professional dangerous environment makers—these include the politician, the policeman, the newspaperman, all of these blokes are specialists—the undertaker. These birds are specialists in the dangerous environment. That’s their mainstay. They sell a dangerous environment. If they didn’t sell a dangerous environment they feel they would promptly go broke, and so on. So it is to their interest to make the environment far more dangerous than it is. The environment is dangerous enough. But they make it far more dangerous than it is.

They sell a dangerous environment—100 percent. And like judo, the avidity with which these people sell a dangerous environment can be used by the Scientologist. The whole activity of judo is using the strength of the opponent to overcome the opponent. He aims a whale of a blow at your head and the strength which he used to propel that blow takes him over your shoulder and onto the floor.

So understanding Scientology Zero would include an understanding that the very person who is the worst enemy of Scientology—the chaos merchant, the slave master, the fellow who’s trying to hold everybody down, the fellow who’s trying to keep everybody shook up one way or the other and so he can’t ever get up again, and so forth, the fellow who makes his money and his daily bread out of how terrible everything is—that fellow, of course, would forward Scientology Zero for you with great speed. It’s an interesting comment to make and it’s worth thinking about in passing.

Hubbard, L. R. (1963, 10 December). Scientology Zero. Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, (SHSBC-360). Lecture conducted from East Grinstead, Sussex.

Notes