Affinity is Relational
| Affinity is Relational | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nomen Nescis |
| Type of Article | Category:Articles |
Affinity is a scale of attitudes, and is the scale we know as The Tone Scale or The Know to Mystery Scale.
It is also sometimes referred to as The Emotional Tone Scale, and of course there is an emotional aspect of Affinity but Affinity really is merely the consideration of how well it’s going[1], that everything is fine, or that a situation is sad, dangerous or requires attack, and this motivates us to act and influences how we do it, whether we should attack, flee, mourn or enjoy ourselves. An affinity is an attitude, i.e. a particular emotional response to a person or situation. Affinity for a person is "the cohesion of theta - the recognition of similarity of efforts and goals" with others [2] . We like them because they are like us.
But here's an important distinction that Ron made in the fall of 1950: Emotions are subjective states while affinity is relational [3] . In other words, Affinity has to do with how we react or how we think about certain people or situations at specific times. It changes depending, precisely, on how well things seem to be going. If life keys us in over time, we tend to get stuck at a certain tone level, and we tend to evaluate any situation accordingly. We are stuck in an emotion which we then bring to any situation instead of letting the situation determine the Affinity proper for it. This emotion then regulates the way we see things, our Reality and Communication and so gets the status of Affinity, and it is very likely not good, since self-determined action depends on a full understanding of the situation - maximal Affinity, Reality and Communicationiv[4]
Emotion can exist independently of Reality and Communication[edit | edit source]
The three corners of the ARC triangle increase or decrease together. Raise the Communication, and you raise the Affinity and Reality etc. But it is quite possible to simply postulate any emotion without it affecting Reality or Communication. One may, for instance, simply postulate that one feels good, quite independently of any situation in life[5]. This is not necessarily a bank phenomenon, but can be an isolated postulate that does not relate to anything at all. No ARC.
This is not bad, in itself, but if we mistake emotion for Affinity, we can fool ourselves into believing that we are going up the tone scale - which we would be, after a fashion - or even up the bridge - which we wouldn't be - while in reality we are just feeling better and better, but in an entirely fictitious universe. A fixed emotion can be the result of a person being at a fixed position on The Tone Scale because his natural tone level has been depressed by attrition in life, as described above, but the person may also create his own emotional level where all is happy bliss no matter what horrors are taking place in his earthly existence.
Emotion is a subjective state. Affinity relates to the dynamics of the person. Auditing, the bridge, is designed to put a person's destiny into his own hands[6], not to make him vanish into his own universe or some higher plane.
This can happen if the person goes out of ARC with something, like a study where he doesn't get the mass of the words, i.e. what they signify in the real or abstract world that is studied - "the thing". He clears the definitions and gets, perhaps, an F/N and feels good - except he is not quite sure what the thing is in real life. But he can relate the words to other words, and his concepts to other concepts, they are real to him, so he actually creates a whole universe of words or concepts with which he is not only in good ARC, but with which he also gets agreement from other glib students of the subject. And so we wind up with schools of thought or sects or ideologies or true believers which are very, very sure they are right and have very, very little understanding of life, which will be evident from the fact that some of their dynamics will be in a bad state.
Emotion, then, can be the pivotal point on which one swivels from reality and into the blue yonder.
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
There is nothing wrong with using the word emotion synonymously with Affinity, but it is important to realize that there are two different commodities which can be confused.
Also, there is nothing wrong with going to a movie or read a book in order to be shuttled up and down the emotional scale. That may inspire one to expand one's dynamics, help one dissipate charge or raise one's confront to better tackle life. But if we intend to get a person up The Tone Scale or up The Bridge, we must raise his Affinity as it relates to his Reality and Communication in life.
And the most fundamental thing in doing that is, of course, to ensure that the pc has great ARC with us, with his auditor. It could hardly be otherwise, could it?
Further articles by this authorː[edit | edit source]
History_of_Axioms_etc
How to think About The Technology of Scientology
Wundt,_Fundamentals_of_Thoughts_and_Scientology
Footnotes[edit | edit source]
- ^ Phoenix Lectures, Chapter 9, Page 103 (1968, 1st edition)
- ^ Axiom of Dianetics 112, Scientology 0-8, page 83 (1971 edition)
- ^ Scientology 0-8, page 102 (1971 edition); Notes on the Lectures, page 76+ 77 (first edition at http://www.antology.info/first-editions.php )
- ^ .Axiom of Dianetics 111, Scientology 0-8 (1971 edition), page 83
- ^ Phoenix Lectures (1968, 1st edition), Chapter 7, page 82
- ^ ACC 18, lecture 21: The Future of Scientology, 16 Aug 1957