Holy Cows Ser. 5

Ethica and His Evil Twin

In Eastern philosophy they talk about Yin and Yang; it's about these opposite principles (like male and female) that comprise a whole. They are complimentary and both are needed in the scheme of things.

Scientology™ Ethics is no different. You need Ethica, the mild and helpful Ethics Officer, that sees everything from your point of view and sincerely helps you to 'do the right thing'.

Sometimes his twin, Justin, has to step in to 'exert greater pressure than the bank' to make you do the right thing. Justin has however an evil streak. He can be inconsiderate and sometimes even sadistic to a point of becoming your worst nightmare. He has a few tricks up his sleeve, that Ethica knows nothing about.

We are of course talking about Scientology™ Ethics and Scientology™ Justice (the latter is based on the 'Ethics Codes' to confuse the language). They are of distinctly different composition and 'personality'. Let's first get familiar with 'Brother Ethica'.

Hubbard defines Ethics as: Ethics is reason and the contemplation of optimum survival.

To understand this better, some basic explanation is needed. Hubbard's first big discovery was to find the common denominator of life and all life impulses. The common denominator is: It seeks to survive.

This impulse does not only exist on the level of raw survival (like Darwin’s "Survival of the Fittest"). As we get ahead in life we set new and higher goals for our activities. To be successful is in Hubbard's use 'good survival'. Survival is not limited to self interest either.

When Hubbard examined the urge to survive, it soon became clear, that Man has many spheres of interest, that he cares about. Survival is seen to consist of eight spheres of interests and activities, that all play an important role. These he called the Dynamics. The eight dynamics are:

1) Survival for self (self preservation). It includes personal belongings.

2) Survival through family and sex. Includes spouse and children, family and  their family belongings.

3) Survival as a group member and survival for one's group or groups. From work place, circle of friends, associations, clubs, congregations to ‘King and Country’.

4) Survival of mankind and activities that ensure that. Care for other nations, races, helping a complete stranger, United Nations, peace movements, etc.

5) Survival for animals and plants. We don't only need them for food, we want and care for them as our pets and gardens; we take care of nature and wildlife, are environmentalists etc.

6) Survival of the physical universe. We want to ensure the survival of the physical universe as it is our home. We enjoy it and depend on it in many ways. It includes taking care of material objects, large and small, up to care for and wonder about the vast physical universe.

7) Survival as a spirit. We seek extended survival through spiritual activities, like the arts, philosophy, beliefs in life after death etc.

8) Survival as Infinity. We seek to survive as part of Infinity and by worship of God or religion.

All human activity can be classified in one or more of these dynamics. Interestingly enough, we are able to observe the first four dynamics in other life forms too. With the understanding of these dynamics, the door to a much clearer understanding of what ethics is, suddenly opens up.

We realize with Hubbard: Man is basically good. Ethics is reasoning to find "the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics". This has one important modification often overlooked: namely your point of view. Your Dynamics have a unique set of personnel, groups, pets, nature spots, causes  and a piece of the physical universe etc. assigned to them; probably because you chose them.

As far as ethics is concerned: the more of your dynamics an action helps and the fewer it harms, the more ethical it is. Suddenly it is possible to analyze and express ethical problems and conflicts in clear terms. This is a real breakthrough!

So we have ethics as being a personal thing, not meaning a selfish thing, but something we consider long and hard before making our major choices and decisions in life.

Brother Ethica and Scientology™ Ethics have a lot of additional technology, data and tools, that can help you make good choices and help you succeed in life; like ethics conditions, PTS and SP data, indicators and statistics, knowledge about overts, withholds and the overt-motivator sequence, games conditions, etc.

When you sit down with brother Ethica and spill out your guts, he will look at you with a little smile, because you are not the first one. He will soon make an analysis of your situation and help you a lot! With great skill he will take out just the right tools needed to do an incredible job with you. 

It may be hard work on your part. You may have to run around a lot and actually do things, contact people, clean up your office, get incomplete projects wrapped up, tell your carping mother-in-law off etc. But at the end of the program, you will feel like a new person with a new life and a bright future ahead of you. You will feel, that brother Ethica had this incredible capacity of compassion and insight and he was completely capable of seeing your situation and your dynamics from where you live.

We are into serious business now. We need to call in the twin brother, Justin.

When we talk about Justice, we are talking about the group disciplining it's members. Naturally any group or society need rules, laws, do's and do not's in order to function, be productive and survive as a group. The court system disciplines citizens, that break the law by convicting them and giving them a punishment. The boss disciplines employees that goof up or are lazy. Parents discipline children that misbehave. It is simply a part of all walks of life. Justice, discipline, codes of conduct, morals etc.

The problem here is to make sure to differentiate between the twins -  between Ethics and Justice.

Let's say you go into the Ethics Office, and you don't realize, it's Justin, that is on duty that day. You spill out your guts - just like the last time - and the next thing you know, he opens his top drawer and suddenly he slaps a big label on you and asks you to leave - right away!

Whoops! What happened? You ask him and yourself. Well, he may tell you in the mail.
You have matched up with something listed in "Ethics Codes - Offenses and Penalties" (and 'Ethics' here means Justin's type of Ethics/Justice). It lists transgressions from Misdemeanors to Crimes to Suppressive Acts.

You should simply have known better, than just spill your guts. "You have the right to remain silent". You should just have kept your mouth shut, and maybe elegantly and smoothly have revealed your misdoings down the line, "cut a deal with the prosecution", hired a lawyer or whatever. But no! You had to blurt it all out and now you suffer the consequences.

What happened here is, that you crossed the line between Ethics and Justice. You ended up "on the wrong side of the law" and Justin told you just that in no uncertain terms. He is authorized to use all the same tools as his brother Ethica to "rehabilitate you". He can use Ethics conditions, assign amends projects for you to do, "blows to the enemy", security checking etc. That he uses the same tools makes it acceptable to some and confusing and perplexing to others. Usually it looks acceptable from the outside. And it looks confusing and perplexing from inside the "jail cell".

It is also perplexing, that Justin is the sheriff, the prosecutor, the judge, the jury, the warden and jail keeper and the parole officer all rolled up in one person - and you thought you were talking to his friendly twin brother, Ethica...

I have no bone to pick with brother Ethica. I love him. He has time and again proven himself to be my friend and best ally. Most of the time I can even grudgedly accept brother Justin’s approach. But it just seems to me, that Justin has a bad temper on top of it all. He has an evil streak.

I know, he has his own problems. His seniors sometimes yell at him, want him to get things terminatedly handled, get things moving or whatever. They and he see the big picture and I am just a little fish in a fish bowl. I have this distorted vision as the bowl distorts my view as well as the way I am viewed.

So I can understand if you object, "but didn’t you say that Man is basically good?" "That means, that Justin as well is basically good, doesn’t it?"

The key here are two things. First: ‘basically’ is right. It may not be evident to me or you, what the big picture is. The Big Picture he operates on may be different from mine. The "Greatest Good' in that big picture may be very different from the "Greatest Good" in my not so big picture. After all I am more concerned about my spouse and kids; my job and my savings in the bank, my new car and so on. Secondly: Justin and I are viewing the present situation from two very different points of view. And as I pointed out, it looks a lot different from inside a fish bowl or a jail cell.

So justice seems a lot more complicated than Ethics. There are so many points of view involved. As you are dealing with the group versus the individual, criminal behavior versus social conduct, it's impossible to make everybody happy, to say the least. You have to sort out these big pictures or Ideal Scenes more than anything else. There isn't any pat answer for "Greatest Good". It all comes down to from where it's viewed and where you want to go. This defines, who are for or against and who the suppressors and criminals are. It defines the good guys and the bad ones. Supporters  and enemies. So maybe Justin and I just have a disagreement of this nature. The Ethics system does not go into that in it's purest form.

We have to recognize, that there exists a technology below the specific values put into it. It does have some generic human values, that are true for all individuals and groups. They all derive from 'survival'. But just like any other technology it can be used differently by different individuals and groups. The same Ethics Technology could be used by Mormons, Muslims, Mongolian nomads or cannibals for that matter. Cannibals would call their enemies for 'creep' or 'animals' (or squirrels perhaps) to make it all fit, but with this twist, they could still use ethics conditions, the SP/PTS tech, overts and withholds tech and all the rest with great success.

So the specific values, that differ from group to group are what define them and give them their complexion. It is best understood on the basic theory of overts and withholds. If you do security checking or confessionals it's always done against a specific moral code. That's why the famous Joburg Sec check has odd questions like 'Have you ever dealt in illicit diamonds?' and 'Have you ever slept with a member of another race?'. These types of overts would hit home in South Africa, but seem silly to someone who has never seen a colored person nor diamonds. I think another example is: let's say you sec check a 'Casa Nova' and you ask: 'Have you ever seduced a married woman?' you would get no reaction. Then you get smart and ask: 'Have you ever failed to seduce a married woman?' And this really hits home. That's because. according to his 'moral code' all women should be seduced; sometimes he failed to do that and he is ashamed of that.

So when brother Ethica works with you he does it on your terms and based on the rock bottom ethical values of survival and your dynamics and the moral codes you more or less always have lived by. It's a tailor made VIP treatment you get.

When his evil twin, Justin takes over you have to dance to a different tune. He already has a mold for you, that you have to fit into. As he is a Scientology™ Ethics/Justice Officer, his mold is first and foremost defined 'by the group' meaning LRH Policy; and here at the core is "Ethics Codes - Offenses and Penalties" (and as mentioned 'Ethics' here means Justin's type of Ethics/Justice). It also gets it's values from other parts of Policy of course, just as Policy over the years added Crimes etc. to the code itself.

Some of the things Justin takes into consideration are, the characteristics of a suppressive person, PTS indicators and PTS Policy. Your production statistics, especially if you are a staff member. Knowledge Reports (KR's), meaning other group members written complaints or observations of your wrong doings or out Policy actions and behavior. Your confessions in "I am not auditing you" type of security checks are there; your own write ups of overts and withholds as well. He runs through "Ethics Codes - Offenses and Penalties" next, to see if you are 'busted'. What he is not too interested in nor have any good record of are your accomplishments despite all odds. Your sacrifices monetarily or in terms of time and work put in. How well you are liked or respected by your associates and friends.

In a follow up article we will examine different elements of Justin's job - of Scientology™ Justice.

We love Ethica, the good twin, he does a lot of good for a lot of people every week. But we suspect, that Justin somehow takes advantage of this because they look so much alike.

We pose these questions: What kind of group profile does "Ethics Codes - Offenses and Penalties" outline?
How does the Scientology™ Justice System compare to traditional justice systems in civilized countries?

Although Scientology™ Justice claims to be a complete new breed of Justice, how new is it? How well does it work for the group?
How well is Scientology™ Justice guarded against individual or arbitrary decisions?

Sincerely,               
Holy Cow!              

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You need Ethica, the mild and helpful Ethics Officer, that sees everything from your point of view and sincerely helps you to 'do the right thing'.

Sometimes his twin, Justin, has to step in to 'exert greater pressure than the bank' to make you do the right thing.

Justin has a few tricks up his sleeve, that Ethica knows nothing about.

  Ethics is reason and the contemplation of optimum survival.

all life impulses' common denominator is: It seeks to survive.

To be successful is in Hubbard's use 'good survival'. Survival is not limited to self interest either.

The eight dynamics are:

1) Survival for self

2) Survival through family and sex.

3) Survival for groups 

4) Survival for mankind

5) Survival for animals and plants.

6) Survival of the physical universe. 

7) Survival as a spirit.

8) Survival as Infinity.

We realize with Hubbard: Man is basically good. Ethics is reasoning to find "the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics".

One important modification is often overlooked: namely your point of view.

Brother Ethica and Scientology™ Ethics have a lot of additional technology, data and tools, that can help you make good choices and help you succeed in life

With great skill he will take out just the right tools needed to do an incredible job with you. 

You may have to run around a lot and actually do things

When we talk about Justice, we are talking about the group disciplining it's members

Whoops! What happened? You ask him and yourself. Well, he may tell you in the mail.

You have matched up with something listed in "Ethics Codes - Offenses and Penalties" 

You had to blurt it all out and now you suffer the consequences.

You ended up "on the wrong side of the law" and Justin told you just that in no uncertain terms.

It is perplexing, that Justin is the sheriff, the prosecutor, the judge, the warden and jail keeper and the parole officer all rolled up in one person

They and he see the big picture and I am just a little fish in a fish bowl.

The Big Picture he operates on may be different from mine.

So justice seems a lot more complicated than Ethics. There are so many points of view involved.

There isn't any pat answer for "Greatest Good".

there exists a technology below the specific values put into it

The same Ethics Technology could be used by Mormons, Muslims, Mongolian nomads or cannibals for that matter.

specific values, that differ from group to group are what define them and give them their complexion. 

When his evil twin, Justin takes over you have to dance to a different tune. He already has a mold for you, that you have to fit into.

We love Ethica, the good twin, he does a lot of good for a lot of people every week.