A general query, contained both in the letters and conversations I have had lately with various readers of this magazine, has to do with how one overcomes opposition to Dianetics on the part of one’s friends. Evidently many individuals have attempted to communicate Dianetics to others who, knowing nothing about it, have simply refused to receive any knowledge of it, primarily on the grounds that the problem of the human mind is terribly complicated and cannot be solved and that, therefore, it is of no use to listen to any possible solution.
Apropos of this matter, let us take the case of a writer for this magazine who, ten months ago, elected himself a violent opponent of Dianetics. No release of its tenets had been made and he knew nothing whatever about it. But he was opposed to it. Four months later he engaged in violent argument with a medical doctor who was supporting Dianetics. Four months after that he was savage in his denouncement of Dianetics. But in mid-flight the isolated datum came home to him that a ringing in the ears was a psychosomatic condition. Immediately he stopped resistance long enough to ask what would cause the three thousand cycle note. He was told that it was possibly a quinine abortion attempt with his mother saying, “It just won’t stop. My ears go on ringing and ringing and ringing until I’m almost crazy.” A few hours after that he was on the phone begging for some data about Dianetics therapy. In short, opposition generally comes from a complete ignorance of the subject and an unwillingness to inspect it. Further, opposition to Dianetics breaks down instantly when the opposer realizes that he himself, personally, has a stake in it. After that the opposition vanishes.
Some of the auditors here have developed a method of “selling Dianetics” which they term “showing yard goods.” They do not try to sell it at all but if a person is interested they will answer his questions. Dianetics actually doesn’t have to be sold. The psychology professor who was reported by one reader to have used his entire hour in scathing denunciation of that “trash” knew nothing about Dianetics, had made no tests, had read no data or axioms and was generally uninformed about the subject. If that professor were to qualify as a scientist, he would have to lay aside such extreme emotionalism, for science is a matter of facts, not of opinions. The reader reporting it, evidently one of the students, was rendered extremely curious as to just what direction that professor’s aberrations were taking him. Nevertheless, if the man were to be given data on Dianetics and persuaded into a cool survey of them, it is certain that his attitude would alter for Dianetics shapes up in the form of laboratory tests as prettily as you please and is, indeed, the experimental system the psychologist needed in order to qualify himself as an exact scientist and to render him immune from the brickbats which are continually being pitched at him by the physical scientist; Dianetics places the psychologist in a very firm position for he can prove that what he is working upon has great value and has, additionally, precision in its results. Using Dianetics, the psychologist is safe from such a bombast as he was given in the recent book, Science is A Sacred Cow. Dianetics is on his side. If he or anyone else wants to attack it, that’s a God-given right; if anyone wants to use it or needs it, he will see it.
Almost all opposition to Dianetics comes from ignorance of it and folds up – except when one is dealing with a truly moronic mind or a psychotic – the moment the details and evidences of the science are surveyed.
It is to be remembered, too, that many individuals have a stake in past methods and theories relating to the mind and that such individuals see in Dianetics an economic threat or a threat to personal prestige. One must be able to appreciate and understand this. Usually the size of the stake and the damage Dianetics will do to somebody’s paycheck are both fantasies. Personally I have met very few such people but when I have in a few days or a few months they have responded favorably. Remember that some minds are not as swift in grasping things as others, and that some minds are so engrossed in personal prestige and economics that they do not see benefit in anything which will not serve these fixations.
