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The Entire Structure of Civilization Depends on What?

"Another thing we know is that men are not dispensable. It is a mechanism of old philosophies to tell men that if they think they are indispensable they should go down to the graveyard and take a look—those men were indispensable, too. This is the sheerest foolishness. If you really looked carefully in the graveyard, you would find the machinist who set the models going in yesteryear and without whom there would be no industry today. It is doubtful if such a feat is being performed just now. A workman is not just a workman. A laborer is not just a laborer. An office worker is not just an office worker. They are living, breathing, important pillars on which the entire structure of our civilization is erected. They are not cogs in a mighty machine. They are the machine itself."

—L. Ron Hubbard

This excerpt was taken from the book The Problems of Work by L. Ron Hubbard.   

Success in the Workaday World

"When I first reviewed the project description I was frankly dismayed. I didn't see how we could finish the job in the time we had. My personnel hadn't ever handled anything like this, and none of us had the training or experience needed to deal with some aspects of the work.

"To make matters worse, we had just finished another major project and were still recovering from the organizational strain it had involved.

"After swimming in the initial confusion of 'How on earth are we going to do this?' I realized that it was a confusion. An awfully simple realization, but my eyes were opened to the means to deal with the matter. I knew I first had to find a single stable datum. From there I would handle one thing, then another and another and somehow carry off the whole project.

"Resisting the feeling that I had to handle everything at once in a mad rush, I looked over some of the most important points that had to be solved to get the project rolling and chose one as the point to be settled first: who would be in charge of one particular phase of the production. Just doing this was a relief. At least there was one firm thing there I could concentrate on. I reviewed the possible personnel, named one for the job and briefed him on his responsibilities. Now I not only had one bit of the confusion out of the way, I also had someone to help me deal with the rest of it.

"Without going into all the details of what came after, we took one point at a time and handled it. How would these raw materials be gotten? Who would be in charge of this function and that? How were we going to make sure no 'loose ends' went by unnoticed and unhandled? And so on and so on, nailing down one detail after another, pushing forward actual production all the while. The confusion was under control and we were getting somewhere.

"It was by no means an easy job, and not without its share of shouting matches and near disasters. But we kept our sanity and managed to finish the project. We also gained new stable data from the experience which I'm sure will make future projects go a lot more smoothly."

—Executive

This person used the data contained in The Problems of Work. Click here for more information or to purchase your copy.

Confusion and the Stable Datum
Based on the chapter "Handling the Confusions of the Workaday World" as published in the book The Problems of Work, by L. Ron Hubbard.

A confusion can be defined as any set of factors or circumstances which do not seem to have any immediate solution. More broadly, a confusion is random motion.

If you were to stand in heavy traffic you would be likely to feel confused by all the motion whizzing around you. If you were to stand in a heavy storm, with leaves and papers flying by, you would be likely to be confused.

Is it possible to actually understand a confusion? Is there any such thing as an “anatomy of confusion”? Yes, there is.

If, as a switchboard operator, you had ten calls hitting your board at once, you might feel confused. But is there any answer to the situation? If, as a shop foreman, you have three emergencies and an accident all at the same time, you might feel confused. But is there any answer to that?

A confusion is only a confusion so long as all particles are in motion. A confusion is only a confusion so long as no factor is clearly defined or understood.

Confusion is the basic cause of stupidity. To the stupid all things except the very simple ones are confused. Thus if one knew the anatomy of confusion, no matter how bright one might be, he would be brighter.

If you have ever had to teach some ambitious young person who was not too bright, you will understand this well. You attempt to explain how such and so works. You go over it and over it and over it. And then you turn him loose and he promptly makes a complete botch of it. He “didn’t understand,” he “didn’t grasp it.” You can simplify your understanding of his misunderstanding by saying, very rightly, “He was confused.”

Ninety-nine percent of all education fails, when it fails, on the grounds that the student was confused.

And not only in the realm of the job, but in life itself, when failure approaches, it is born, one way or another, from confusion. To learn of machinery or to live life, one has to be able either to stand up to confusion or to take it apart.

We have in Scientology a certain doctrine (principle) about confusion. It is called the Doctrine of the Stable Datum.

A confusion exists when all particles are in motion.

If you saw a great many pieces of paper whirling about a room they would look confused until you picked out one piece of paper to be the piece of paper by which everything else was in motion. In other words, a confusing motion can be understood by conceiving one thing to be motionless.

In a stream of traffic all would be confusion unless you were to conceive one car to be motionless in relation to the other cars and so to see others in relation to the one.

The switchboard operator receiving ten calls at once solves the confusion by labeling, correctly or incorrectly, one call as the first call to receive her attention. The confusion of ten calls all at once becomes less confusing the moment she singles out one call to be answered. The shop foreman confronted by three emergencies and an accident needs only to elect his first target of attention to start the cycle of bringing about order again.

Until one selects one datum, one factor, one particular in a confusion of particles, the confusion continues. The one thing selected and used becomes the stable datum for the remainder.

It becomes less confusing when one item is singled out and becomes the stable datum for the remainder.

Any body of knowledge, more particularly and exactly, is built from one datum. That is its stable datum. Invalidate it and the entire body of knowledge falls apart. A stable datum does not have to be the correct one. It is simply the one that keeps things from being in a confusion and on which others are aligned.

Now, in teaching an ambitious young man to use a machine, he failed to grasp your directions, if he did, because he lacked a stable datum.

One fact had to be brought home to him first. Grasping that, he could grasp others. One is stupid, then, or confused in any confusing situation until he has fully grasped one fact or one item.

Confusions, no matter how big and hard to overcome they may seem, are composed of data or factors or particles. They have pieces. Grasp one piece and locate it thoroughly. Then see how the others function in relation to it and you have steadied the confusion and, relating other things to what you have grasped, you will soon have mastered the confusion in its entirety.

In teaching a boy to run a machine, don’t throw a torrent of data at him and then point out his errors: that’s confusion to him, that makes him respond stupidly. Find some entrance point to his confusion, one datum. Tell him, “This is a machine.” It may be that all the directions were flung at someone who had no real certainty, no real order of existence. “This is a machine,” you say. Then make him sure of it. Make him feel it, fiddle with it, push at it. “This is a machine,” tell him. And you’d be surprised how long it may take, but you’d be surprised as well how his certainty increases. Out of all the complexities he must learn to operate it, he must know one datum first. It is not even important which datum he first learns well, beyond that it is better to teach him a simple basic datum. You can show him what it does, you can explain to him the final product, you can tell him why he has been selected to run this machine. But you must make one basic datum clear to him or else he will be lost in confusion.

Confusion is uncertainty. Confusion is stupidity. Confusion is insecurity. When you think of uncertainty, stupidity and insecurity, think of confusion and you’ll have it down pat.

What, then, is certainty? Lack of confusion. What then is intelligence? Ability to handle confusion. What then is security? The ability to go through or around or to bring order to confusion. Certainty, intelligence and security are lack of, or ability to handle, confusion.

How does luck fit into confusion? Luck is the hope that some uncontrolled chance will get one through. Counting on luck is an abandonment of control. That’s apathy.

Find out more about dealing with the problems in the workaday world by ordering your copy of The Problems of Work. Click here for more information or to order now.

Letter from the Editor

Dear Friend,

Have you ever wondered if there was a way to “deal” with the daily demands and pressures of the workaday world?

As I am sure you know, the number of incomplete projects on hand can become a real strain. The feeling of overwhelm, overwork and just plain exhaustion can make the workplace become a very stressful environment.

However, a truly fast and effective technique was discovered by L. Ron Hubbard and published in The Problems of Work that allows you to greatly reduce the stress and pressure in the work environment. I use it all the time, not only in my work place, but in my personal life as well. And it works!

Below is an article taken from The Problems of Work entitled Confusion and the Stable Datum that will tell you about this technique and how you can put it to work right now in your life!

Sincerely,

Patrick Howson
Mail Order Department
Bridge Publications, Inc.
phowson@bridgepubDOTCOM

 

The entire structure of civililization depends on what?
Success in the Workaday World
Confusion and the Stable Datum

 

 

How to be more competent, more able, less tired and more secure in the workaday world

The Problems of Work contains the application of the Scientology® principles to the workaday world. By use of these principles, work ceases to be mere drudgery, stress and exhaustion, and becomes a stable, productive activity filled with purpose and personal satisfaction.

As an understanding of life is necessary to fully live it, so is an understanding of work necessary to successfully do it. This book contains drills and procedures you can use to immediately increase ability and competence at work.

Subjects Covered:

•  Getting and Keeping a Job
  Just how do you get and keep a job? Since life is seven-tenths work this is quite an important question to have answered.
•  Handling Confusion
  How do you handle confusions? Maybe at times you've had too much to do all at once on your job. You can find out how to handle this with a very simple yet powerful procedure.
•  Making Work More Enjoyable
  Is work necessary? Somebody invented the difference between work and play. Find out how to make work more fun than play.
•  The Secret of Efficiency
  Learn the technology to increase efficiency in anything you do. This secret can be applied to something as simple as typing a letter or to the managing of a major corporation.
•  Life as a Game
  How to increase confidence and control of your working environment.
•  Affinity, Reality and Communication
  How to get along with people at work and increase your own enthusiasm.
•  Handling Exhaustion
  Why a person becomes introverted and exhausted at work, and a simple drill to handle it.
•  The Man Who Succeeds
  What are the ingredients of success? Find out the vital points which create success, no matter what your line of work.
•  Recovery from Injury
  If someone were to be injured where you work would you know exactly what to do? Would you know how to lessen the pain and speed recovery? Find out how to assist another in handling injuries, sprains, burns, scalds, broken bones, headaches, colds, etc.
•  How to Handle Work
  How do you handle the despatches, memos and tools related to your job? Find out how you can double your speed.

Click here to order your copy of The Problems of Work.


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