Phyll Stevens Cl VI, N. Z. , has made the following digest of my study tapes for use in HAS and Level 0. This is a very good summary and is recommended for use pending a book on the subject.

Definition: Scio is the Latin word meaning knowing in the fullest sense of the word; Logos is the Greek word meaning to study.

Thus we have Scientology meaning "The Study of Knowledge".

Scientology is an applied philosophy.

A philosophy is something that helps you get over the rough spots in life.

Definition: The pursuit of knowledge. The knowledge of the causes and laws of all things.

An applied philosophy is one which has to do with doing and action. One which applies to living — not just a theory, but one where the theory can be used to help you get on better in life.

So there is something to learn, know and use in Scientology.

In order to learn something one must have an idea of how to study. So the first part of this course has to do with the mechanics of study. There are ways to study successfully and there is information on the subject of study.

To achieve successful study there has to be:

1. Something there to study.

2. The idea that one does not know it all already.

1. There is something there to study. We are going to study a man's relationship to the universe, who he is, what he is doing and the laws of life.

There are those who will tell you there is no rhyme or reason to life, that there is nothing anyone can do about life, it is all a matter of luck, and chance, that man is only a machine who reacts when a button is pushed, that he has no choice… These people are telling you there is nothing you can find out about life because there is nothing to find out.

There is something to study.

Man does have a definable relationship to the universe, there are laws to life, one can have a choice about his own actions, and these things will be taught on this course.

2. The first barrier (block, stoppage, obstacle) to learning is the idea that you know it all already. People say, "Well, I must know all about life because I'm living. " Does a golf player know all about golf when he's on a 24 handicap? Does a passenger know all about airplanes just by traveling in one? Does a person know all about his body because he has one?

People have problems only where there is something they don't know. If they knew all about cars they wouldn't have problems about cars. If they knew all about women they wouldn't have problems with women.

A person doesn't learn if he thinks he knows all about it already. Such a person doesn't look at the fact that if one knew all about it he would be able to do it or handle it. Such a person also has fixed opinions. You will always have fixed ideas in an area where a person doesn't really know but insists that he does.

A person having trouble handling children. We know he doesn't know some things about children and will also say that people can't be taught how to handle children.

He knows:

They are all bad.

or They are all angels,

or Spare the rod and spoil the child,

or They are always a trouble until they are 20.

or They never do what you want.

Interest in a study will be maintained only if the person can see that the study leads to an attainable goal.

Any piece of knowledge you observe or learn has value to you if you can see its use.

In order to see its use and therefore its value, you have to invest some of yourself in it. You have to apply it to yourself and life. When you are given a new idea or you read one you should ask yourself questions about it. Does this apply to me? Has it ever happened to me? Have I seen this happening in life? Once you have sorted an idea out in this way it then becomes your idea to make use of.

A datum: A piece of knowledge, something known. Plural — data.

The more data a person has the better he can get along in life, if the data has been looked at and sorted out as above. The less data a person has the more problems and trouble he has. He can also have lots of trouble by having a lot of data that he has never sorted out to see if it is really that way. This kind of data that he has never taken the trouble to apply to himself and life can get in the way of his thinking, and prevent him from looking at the way things really are.

"If you drop something heavier than air it drops downward. "

This is a datum you have learned by observation, by having had it happen to you, by having seen it happen to others. This datum, you can use in life and is part of your knowledge as one of the laws of the universe.

Now take a datum you are given to study that you are not familiar with or which goes against something you formerly believed. You should do these things with it:

1. Make sure you understand the words used.

2. See if it applies in life. Ask yourself, "Have I seen this happen? How does it apply to me?" Then set up some examples of how it is this way and how it is not this way and then make up your mind.

Remember that a person cannot learn anything new if he already has fixed opinions and will not look at anything different from those opinions, and so he never learns judgment. Judgment depends on freedom from fixed opinions, so that a person is free to examine what is there.

1. Do we understand the meaning of the words? Yes. Help means assistance, listening means giving attention (to what is being said).

2. Does it apply in life? Have I ever been helped by having someone listen — to me? Yes, I felt better when… Have I ever helped someone by listening to them? Yes, when my son told me all about his bad day at school he became more cheerful. We then look at the datum again and say, "Yes, that does apply", and at that point it becomes your knowledge and yours to use when and where you want to.

Now if someone had fixed opinions on the subject of help or listening he would never understand the datum and never use it. e.g. no one ever helps anyone unless they want something for themselves. It isn't possible to help people. I don't need any help. It never pays to help people. No one ever listens.

With all this in the way do you think that this datum would be understood or be of any use to the person?

Write down a datum, a known fact which you use in life, and which you know works for you.

One of the biggest barriers to learning is the nomenclature of the subject, i.e. the names given to the things of the subject, the words used to describe the things to be studied.

Many people object to having new words to learn in a subject but we have to have accurate labels which have an exact meaning before our subject can be understood. If I were to describe parts of the body as thingamabobs and whatsernames we would all be in a total confusion, so the accurate naming of something is a very important part of study.

Now I am going to give you a datum.

"The only reason a person gives up a study or becomes confused or unable to learn is because he has gone on past a word that was not understood. " LRH

The confusion or inability to grasp or learn comes after a word that the person did not have a definition for.

Let me give you an example of this: "It was found that when the crepuscule arrived the children were quieter and when it was not present they were much livelier. " You see what happens. You think you don't understand the whole idea but the inability to understand what was said came entirely from the one word you did not have a definition for. Crepuscule, of course, means darkness.

This piece of knowledge about not going past an undefined word is the most important fact in studying. Every study you have taken up and abandoned had its misunderstood words.

We are going to be very careful on this course to explain every new word very accurately but you also have to be alert to any other words used that you don't fully understand and jot them down and look them up in a dictionary or get a definition of them from me, nightly! Do not leave it for several nights for by then you will have given up the course.

A dictionary is a must when you undertake any study. It will not only be the new and unusual words that you will have to look up. Some commonly used words can often be misdefined and so cause confusion. e.g. if anyone here had a misdefinition on the word "study" Def: "To apply the mind in order to acquire knowledge or skill"… and had it defined only as a room in the house where you read books, everything I told you about study would be confusing.

"Have you ever had the experience of coming to the end of a page of reading and realizing that you didn't know what you had read? Well, somewhere earlier on that page you went past a word that you had no definition for. " LRH

While you are studying on this course, if the material becomes confusing or you can't seem to see it, there will be a word just earlier that you have not understood. So, you should be alert to the signs of a misunderstood word and as far as you are able, stop and look for it yourselves and when you find it, get it defined.

Examples for the class to do:

Write down an example of an incident in which you were confused by someone using nomenclature that was not defined.

Write down an example of an incident in which you used words or terms that were not understood by others and the resulting confusion.