Hubbard's e-meter books say something like the meter passes a small current through the body, which measures its resistance. When something charged is encountered, that something has mass, which increases the resistance, which is measured on the meter. When the person does whatever auditing process is involved, the charge is dissipated, and the resistance comes down. There is no metaphor or allegory involved in the "official" explanation — the mass is mass, grams and ounces and pounds. The "Understanding the E-Meter" book says mental image pictures have weight, and there is even a diagram of a person surrounded by lots of heavy-looking (charged) mental image pictures, and a scale showing an increase of 30 lb. because Hubbard [STRIKE]lied about[/STRIKE] said that (the 30 lb. increase) in a lecture once. There's a diagram of a person holding a can in each hand and arrows showing the flow of current up one arm and across the chest and down the other arm and completing the circuit through the meter.
On a cursory not-too-scientific inspection it sounds OK, apart from the 30 lb. thing. The meter measures the resistance in the body, and the resistance observably goes up when one thinks of emotionally-charged stuff and goes down when one discharges that heavy stuff.
The explanation wobbles a bit when one considers that some emotionally-charged thing produces exactly the same meter readings, both as to TA (resistance) and needle reads, when holding a can in each hand and holding solo cans in one hand only, with the cans separated by maybe 2 mm of insulator. At least, the TA is exactly the same if the same amount of skin is on the cans when held solo or in two hands.
Observably, the TA can crash from 6.0 to 2.0 in a few seconds, i.e. the resistance across the body (or across 2 mm of skin) changing from literally 200,000 ohms to 5,000 ohms in a couple of heartbeats. What physical change in the body causes the change in reading? I don't know, although the change in the pc is obvious!
Paul
Here's what the tech dictionary has to say:
CHARGE, 1 . harmful energy or force accumulated and stored within the reactive mind, resulting from the conflicts and unpleasant experiences that a person has had. Auditing discharges this charge so that it is no longer there to affect the
individual. (Scn AD) 2 . the electrical impulse on the case that activates the meter. (HCOB 27 May 70) 3 . stored energy or stored recreatable potentials of energy. (HCOB 8 Jun 63) 4 . the stored quantities of energy in the time track. It is the sole thing that is being relieved or removed by the auditor from the time track. (HCOB 13 Apr 64, Scn VIPart One Tone Arm Action) 5 . emotional charge or energy. (NSOL, p. 29) 6 . the accumulation of entheta in locks and secondaries which charges up the engrams and gives them their force to aberrate. (SOS Gloss) 7 . by charge is meant anger, fear, grief, or apathy contained as misemotion in the case. (SOS, p. 108) See also CHRONIC CHARGE.
CHRONIC CHARGE, the impulse to withdraw from that which can’t be withdrawn from or to approach that which can’t be approached, and this, like a two pole battery, generates current. This constantly generated current is chronic charge. (HCOB 15 May 63)
MASS (IN THE GPM), 1. when we say mass we mean mass. It’s electronic standing waves actually, and they usually appear black to the pc and these become visible. (SH Spec 96, 6112C21) 2 . no more and no less than a confusion of
mismanaged communication. (Dn 55 .!, p. 65)
MASSES, masses are masses and they are not by the way particles unless you consider particles as a subdivisible singular. Masses are something that are shed from a thetan by mock-up and particles are something that are shed from masses. That’s usually the way we find things. (17 ACC-5, 5703PM01)
In addition I believe it is in
Fundamentals of Thought where Hubbard asserts that with thought alone an individual's weight was altered by as much as thirty pounds.
Presumably this was done with Havingness Processes or Mock Up processing or something and should be relatively easy to replicate given it were true.
Hubbard meant mass to be mass in the classical sense...it was measurable and had definable weight even if subtle as it was mentioned along with the measuring of people at death to see if the soul had weight and the corresponding figure of 21 grams.
The reason for this weight is the mental image mass accompanying the being and NOT the weight of the being itself as it is a static that has no mass, no weight, no location, no wavelength, etc.
Someone, I think Adam####, mentioned valence for the father remembering the uncle's incident. This would fit Scientology doctrine fine and correctly because the idea of the thetan having weight is related to the thetan being out of valence, blah, blah, blather, babble.
The idea from Mark Baker that the mass means emotional weight is inaccurate...the mass has physical weight.