Valences and the Life Continuum
An article by L. Ron Hubbard,
from the Scientology: Milestone One lectures
Now, regret that one has killed or maimed or injured results in another phenomenon: the phenomenon of life continuum. An auditor must know this phenomenon—life continuum. When a person has done an overt act to another, he conceives that he has taken on the responsibility and responsibilities of this other person, including this other person’s responsibilities in life—his goals, his physiology, his infirmities, his computations, his methods of doing business. All of these things, every single one of them, can form up into the life-continuum pattern.
Now, you’ll find that this phenomenon also exists: Grandma dies, and after that Grandma is to be found—in terms of mannerisms—in the grandchild. This is almost as though Grandma’s soul has transmigrated or reincarnated into the child, on Grandma’s death.
Not so. All this child has done, has looked at the fact: “Grandma is dead. I don’t want Grandma to be dead because this is nonsurvival on the dynamics. Therefore, how can I ‘undead’ Grandma? All right, the way I ‘undead’ Grandma is to figure out what was done to Grandma and undo that. And then I can ‘undead’ Grandma.” It’s a rather strange computation but it exists, and it exists just in that order.
So he says to himself, “Let’s start with me.” Always—“What have I done to kill Grandma?” He does the trick, then, of going into Grandma’s valence.
Valence is a very interesting manifestation. An individual will suddenly turn around and become like another individual and stay that way. An individual has himself and then he has valences, and he can go into dozens of valences. There's all sorts of valences: there’s synthetic valences, there’s bedpost valences, there’s… Yeah, that’s right; you’ll find people in insane asylums in the valence of a bedpost or in the valence of a brick wall or something of the sort.
And then there’s composite valences. Then there is imaginary people valences, like practically every girl in America at one time or another has gone into the valence of a movie actress. Sat there, and… One of the reasons why people go to see picture shows is to steal the valences of the actors and use them—go into those valences.
The whole subject of acting is actually bound up in the subject of valences. An actor only must be able to go into the valence of his character—see his character well and then step into that valence—and thereafter he will act almost automatically.
Now, therefore, this manifestation of valences is something with which an auditor will have to deal. In addition to that, he can actually predict the behavior of those around him by knowing whose valence they’re in—if he knew the characteristics of the other valence.
For instance, they say, “Life father, like son.” The chances are fair that the son is to some degree in father’s valence or to some degree completely out of father’s valence and on opposite polarity. Like “I’m never going to be like my father if it’s the last thing I ever do, I—rorr-rorr-rorr-rorr!” And so he becomes opposite to everything Father can do. Father happens to be a good businessman, so the son, of course, becomes a terrible businessman.
Therefore, a person can stay out of valences perforce and stay away from everything that is a characteristic of that valence, or he can be in the valence or he can just leave it alone.
Best thing to do is for an individual to be in his own being. That’s pretty hard for an individual to do. Most of the complaints you will get from preclears, as a fact, is, “I cannot be myself.” And the people they hate most are the people who inhibited them from being themselves—people who interfered with them being themselves.
L. Ron Hubbard, from the lecture
EFFORT AND COUNTER-EFFORT:OVERT ACTS.
Excerpted
from the Scientology: Milestone One lectures
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