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Thread: Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

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    United States Avalon Member James's Avatar
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    Default Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

    The Old Testament has the Ten Commandments, ancient Egypt had the 42 Laws of Ma’at, and Scientology has but one principle tenet - SURVIVE.

    L. Ron Hubbard says of survival:

    Quote No behavior or activity has been found to exist without this principle. It is not new that life is surviving. It is new that life has as its entire dynamic urge only survival.” In fact, survival is the first law of Dianetics, this pervasive principle of existence.
    Long before Hubbard wrote Dianetics, he wrote a far lesser-known text referred to as Excalibur. Few individuals have ever read a transcript of Excalibur, but from what’s known, it was the early stew of its successor.

    Few passages of this book have leaked, but one of which reads as follows:

    Quote If all the wisdom of the world could be compressed into a single line, certainly it would do all these things and more. There is one line, conjured up out of a morass of facts and made available as an integrated unit to explain such things. This line is the philosophy of philosophy, thereby carrying the entire subject back into the simple and humble truth. All life is directed by one command and one command only—survive!
    Prior to writing Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer. He still holds the Guinness World Record for most published works by one author. However, Hubbard’s career path took a turn in the late 1930’s. In April of 1938, while undergoing a routine dental procedure, Hubbard had a reaction to the drugs used, triggering a near death experience. From this experience, he penned a work he called Excalibur, which Hubbard cites as the early version of Dianetics. Even as a braggart, Hubbard’s letters at the time to his wife Margaret and his associate Arthur Burks seemed to suggest he came back with something far greater than anything he’d done previously. His language was more direct than ever before, and he had little interest in his old writing.

    Near death experiences are widely known to disrupt even the most hardened skeptics’ paradigm of the world, life, and sometimes even death. Hubbard seems to have experienced such a shift, and like many other experiencers of similar events, he returned with something - an idea out of time and place.

    Having studied Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard in great detail, I look at his writing of Excalibur as the “timer start” moment of what was to come of his life. The tone of his work changes. He seeks responsibility over casualty. His interests shift more seismically than before, and most importantly, his center of self moves from cheesy space odysseys to complicated analyses of mental processes and outputs.

    Again, having studied Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard, I’ve often asked myself the obvious question - “why Ron?” It’s apparent to even the laziest researchers to come to a fair and just conclusion that L. Ron Hubbard has a self-aggrandizing nature. He embellishes past events, fancies his strengths, and advances himself to where there is a stage and an audience.

    But this last point answered my question, and triggered yet another - “why is it that the most boisterous among us tend to have the most impressive revelations?”

    It’s an honest question, and although it’s not the case that meek individuals cannot have profound, otherworldly experiences, it’s just a noting that the folks who can tell a story often receive a story to tell - and who can tell a better story than the man who’s on course to publish more books than anyone is modern history?

    Just as a yogi who envisions good health and longevity often achieves it by virtue of the law of attraction, so do the bold seekers of spiritual knowledge often attain whimsical bits of this unfathomable knowledge from beyond that their peers fail to capture.

    L. Ron Hubbard, although a deeply flawed vessel, carried something to the world that was unseen up until that point, and how fitting, that now, just as the mythical sword Excalibur remained lodged in stone, the Excalibur L. Ron Hubbard brought the world in the form of Dianetics and auditing remains lodged behind a firewall of misinformation, conceit, and selective editing.

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    Bhutan Avalon Member enigma3's Avatar
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    Default Re: Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

    If survival is the key, then why is there empathy that will induce a person to give up their life to save another? Is that another 5% anomaly/outlier?

    Did Hubbard elucidate what it takes to survive? What is the key to survival?

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    Canada Avalon Member TomKat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

    Hubbard was a manic-depressive who placed great importance on realizations because they launched him out of depression and into a god-like mania, where the prosaic realization that every living thing wants to keep on living becomes the KEY TO EVERYTHING! "Speakers don't know and knowers don't speak." In other words, beware the boisterous proclaimers of truth.

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    United States Avalon Member Mike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

    it could be that i'm entirely missing the point, but that doesn't seem like a terribly impressive revelation (survive). if i were to suggest everyone here continue breathing, i wouldn't call it a philosophy. i'd just call it common sense. but again, i must be missing the point somehow. i'd like to hear him expound on that idea a little.

    did the thing about the near death experience at the dentist's office come from Hubbard's mouth? if so i think we can safely discount it. likely another exaggerated origin story to lend gravity to his ideas. his life is full of them.

    it doesn't mean he didn't have some great ideas. he did! i think if he would have skipped the religion thing, and skipped all the bullsh!t stories meant to paint him as a courageous and heroic renaissance man, he might have been regarded now as a somewhat eccentric but brilliant man who made many noble contributions to humanity. but that wasn't good enough for him. he wanted to be regarded as god-like. that was his undoing.

    the trick is in separating the man's pathologies and self-created legends from his actual, legitimate contributions. for most people, it all tends to bleed together..making judgements difficult. the simplest way to say it might be to say that just because the man was mentally ill doesn't mean he didn't have very brilliant, sane, coherent ideas; and on the flip side, those brilliant ideas hardly make him a god, or a god-like figure. the truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle.

    Bill burr's take:

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    Aaland Avalon Member Agape's Avatar
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    Default Re: Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

    I think that “survival” is one of the deepest realizations- that is reality based reflections that concerns every temporary entity- life form- one has to come to terms with, sooner or later in their lifetime.
    It concerns not only our individual existence but survival of the civilization and ultimately, survival of the species.

    In case of these higher categories - survival of civilizations and species we are likely to succeed only because our genomic information and possibilities are so vast and versatile that we( as a kind) transcend and evolve capacity to change beyond the stakes offered by changing physical environments.

    Even though and from very long term perspective compared to the age and evolution of the Planet( and any planet) human beings can strive happily here for short time before they will have to move onwards.
    Seems like too distant option yet very real from planetary perspective.

    I have not seen many “religions” would ever touch the topic of survival of mankind other than some religious/cosmological tenets propose we are turning in seemingly endless rounds/time loop here but it’s a seeming - illusion that even individual entity can leave and/or there will be the Last Day to it ( most certainly it will after some millions of years) before which we will be either ready to leave or perish.

    On individual level - and yes it’s rarely if not so often but that surely depends on the critical threshold of circumstances- there are many cases of lives sacrificed in favor and prospect of the bigger whole- survival of the civilization, its cultures and species.
    People are quite capable of sacrificing their lives for greater cause and more life to continue ahead after reflecting on the ephemerality of individual existence.
    It’s certainly not our default but it strictly( or less) depends on necessity of survival of the whole.


    People who are true philosophers of Life come to face the same principal questions and answers through out history, I believe even though mentalities do ethnically and historically differ so much we seldom understand how much of our current “mentality” differs from cultures preceding us and those who will succeed us,
    so “translating” very old scriptures, hieroglyphs and other records is very precious yet almost always quite inaccurate considering diversity of cultures and their philosophical systems we know so little about,
    some of them could have been less technical but philosophically more accurate and vice versa.

    It’s good that today’s anthroposphere allows and encourages modern people to think more than believe.
    Philosophers have been here through out all times whether people noticed them or ignored them.

    But there are long epochs and cultures that discourage people from thinking independently and give them education based on limited tenets, some regimes are known to block information and curtail natural philosophical processing as well.
    Why quote examples if most of us know who they are.

    The problem with “religions” discouraging discourse is quite obvious and does take advantage of natural lethargy and stagnation of cultured social evolution etc.,
    the same problem -rigidity of thought, inbuilt prejudice including linguistic prejudice and stubbornness of old fashioned scholars obsessed with their own perfectionism of words and labels - was passed to form solid skeptical base of so called academic curriculums ruled by those who mastered the particular academic language well enough in order to deflect all their opponents.
    It says many of the academic “top dogs” dumping students on punctuation and accuracy of statements studied hard by memorizing other people’s thoughts, words and essays but were not allowed the liberty of “free think” until much later in their carrier.
    It’s a discrepancy of rigidity versus versatility of thinking process we will be part of probably for long time yet but in short,and from what I’ve witnessed in the education/academic avenues is that people pride themselves on tenets/algorithms memorized but are scared, almost frightened to evolve new algorithms freely and everyday simply because they never did it.

    Survival itself depends somewhat on knowledge previously acquired but in real-time circumstances much more on our adaptation quota and willingness to continue, of all things the most. Biological and psychological factors are much more important than most we have ever learned.
    Either we are “alive” with capacity to think and function from the present moment, thus we make it to the next existential future or
    we may insist or dwell on being “brain dead” ( not meant literally here),
    thus we end up reliving the same cycles again until the exit point so to say.

    Some people live still very much in the past, only repeating old patterns, cliches, words and melodies but did they ever - rhetorically speaking- enjoyed the true beauty of Life? Did they ever sing a melody no one ever sang?
    Did they ever invent a new term, word or even come to the edge of the need, one of the most unique privileges of human kind observing new not yet named phenomenon asking for one?
    It makes me think whether any of these people are truly “alive” or whether they cherish a stone art more than their lives and lives of others.

    There is more to survival than it seems to be.

    Beyond survival of cultures, religions, scientific dogmas and their instruments, survival of drones and AI that some plan could replace humanity in faraway future, that of telomeres enabling survival of biological bodies with no end date,

    there’s one important survival sense I dwell upon it seems beyond this little life and that is survival of healthy( happy, clear and logical) thinking process
    and our right and freedom to it.

    Without it I would fear, even if “something - someone” survives here it won’t be quite like us.


    😄
    Last edited by Agape; 15th January 2020 at 07:14.

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    Avalon Member Pam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

    Quote But this last point answered my question, and triggered yet another - “why is it that the most boisterous among us tend to have the most impressive revelations?”
    Most likely because they have narcissistic tendencies and either fabricate or dramatize any revelations that they have for the purpose of manipulating others and glorifying themselves. I believe we would never recognize those that have had significant revelations because most will have humility and won't seek self gain off of their wisdom.

    I'm not saying this is always the case, but I'm willing to bet this is true in most instances.

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    UK Avalon Founder Bill Ryan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Excalibur: the Mythical Sword of Scientology

    Interesting stuff. Yes, the much-discussed and almost mythological unpublished book Hubbard wrote ('Excalibur') does seem to have existed.

    Church of Scientology ex-member and researcher Gerry Armstrong has stated on record that he found it in a box of Hubbard's personal belongings. But, presumably for legal reasons, Armstrong has never published the material.

    The dictum 'Survive!' was one of the core tenets of Hubbard's first [1950] book, introducing Dianetics. That's principally about traumatic events, and their triggered aftershocks, that effect the body. So it can be understood how the drive for 'survival' can be basic to any living organism.

    But that doesn't apply to the immortal spiritual being, of course. For Hubbard, that came a little later in 1952, with the advent of what he called 'Scientology' — which is about the being, not the body.

    In one of Bill Robertson's lectures (I can't quite recall which one right now, but I can find the reference), Robertson, who continued Hubbard's research into new areas (and corrected some things Hubbard got wrong), explained that what was important was the QUALITY of 'survival'. Not just 'survival' itself.

    This is my analogy, not his. But there's a very real difference between living a healthy, rewarding life full of growth, learning, challenge, enjoyment, freedom, high quality relationships, and new experiences, and being tortured (but not actually put to death) in a concentration camp.

    So Robertson coined the word Viability — which Hubbard never used — to replace Hubbard's Survival. He defined 'viability' as
    • Continued life, survival, fun and play.
    It should be noted that 'fun and play' in this context are nothing trivial. That refers to a spiritually light-hearted (but still profound) view of existence, one that any Buddhist would immediately understand.

    To use a mountaineering analogy, one might battle for one's life in a severe storm when climbing a high mountain. But deploying all one's skill and experience, solving every serious problem that's encountered, deploying a great deal of resolution and courage, and maybe working highly effectively with others in one's team, one then succeeds and returns home safely.

    Then, a little later, one might well tell others: "Well, that was a fun experience".


    Not a single regret. Because with that 'fun' comes a great deal of learning, growth, and maybe acquired wisdom than can then be deployed later in any similar circumstance. That's how we all grow and expand.

    The mountaineer survived the experience.... but what they took away from it all was far more than just that.

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