Clearing up the State of Clear
Hi Transtaafl, nice to meet you. I'll take a stab at your questions.
What the hell is Clear?!
I don't know, despite the fact that I'm certain I went Clear last lifetime!
If we stick with the later definition of "a being who no longer has his own reactive mind" then we can assume that the being's remaining case may comprise the reactive minds of others.
One of the best references I know on this is HCOB The Nature of a Being, where LRH talks about "injected entities." Also, you can read more about these entities in 8-80 and the materials of that time. Point being, there is MORE to a case than you and your own reactive mind. The nature of a being reference is actually great - it aligns quite a lot of this type phenomena.
But Clears get FPRD, Ls, etc. I'm assuming that at least some incidents on these RDs contain "pain and unconsciousness" and therefore engrams.
Yes, a Clear may run an incident after going Clear that had pain and unconsciousness in it originally, however that incident is no longer reacting on the person. It is no longer a stimulus response mechanism. This is just my own understanding and R on it really.
If LRH truly understood the state of Clear, then how did so many get audited on Dianetics past Clear from the release of the Clearing Course to the release of NOTS (1965-1978?)? Why have so many had their CCRDs screwed up or multiple CCRDs in recent years?
One thing here: Did they REALLY get audited past Clear? I say this because the Church itself seems to have had a tremendous difficulty determining the state of Clear. In the late 70's and early 80's there was an avalanche of people who declared to "Natural Clear". From my experience with those cases, they literally attested to it and nearly immediately dropped of the lines forever. Practically the last thing in the folder is that "attest". And I know several of these guys - not a single one I know of ever went up the Bridge past that point.
More recently, about 50% of people on OT VII have actually run MORE NED as it turns out they never attained Clear fully in the first place. I personally know a few people who had to do this. Point being, their CCRD cycles were non-standard apparently, and the Church could not correctly spot if they were Clear or not.
Further more, I can assure you that the current viewpoint in C/Sing cases is that unless there is FULL and COMPLETE evidence, in the folder, from THIS LIFETIME with full and EXACTLY stated Clear Cog, with adequate amount of NED run they will not even do a CCRD. Yep, so to say one attained the state of Clear in their Past life these days is pretty much like whistling in a hurricane. What Ron says to do in the CCRD series, the exact line delineated in those refs, is NOT being done. (NOTE: DO NOT TAKE THIS AS ANY INVAL OF YOUR OWN CASE. If you are Clear, you are Clear - it is what it is. I am only saying this to show what the current viewpoint in the Church is, that is all. The state of Past Life Clear is to be handled exactly per HCOB Hanling of Past Life Auditing and the CCRD issues.)
Can a person really attest to Clear if they don't have a full understanding of it? I get the impression that some have.
Absolutely. Take a look at some of the "Clears" you run into. And also know that about 50% of people previously labeled Clear have been, or will be, R-factored they are in fact not Clear. (This stat of 50% comes from my own observation of some lower level cases in the field, and from one SO member at an AO and one person on VII.)
So how can they attest to it without full understanding? Well, a person can F/N on something - but that only means a subjective release. Unfortunately there are some points of the CCRD itself which are highly subjective. From my understanding there is not a TEST that can show 100% of the time if a person is in fact Clear. There is a collection of indicators and a certain phenomena which occurs when the state is reached. However, a PERSON (a C/S) has to interpret that data, and that's where the ball gets dropped. We used to read off Goals and if any of them read the person was not Clear, etc. Suffice it to say that in the years since the DCSI and CCRD there have been some misapplications of the materials which allowed people to F/N their way through it on a Big Win.
Now the pendulum has swung the other way - too far it appears.
I'm really struggling getting a handle on this whole area. The only clue I have is that the definition of engram includes "impact or injury" which strongly implies the involvement of a body/bodies. Is the reactive mind connected to body-related case in some way?
You are not the only one! The Church itself can't seem to figure it out! That does not mean it can not be fully determined, I am just saying your confusion is understandable. Given the materials that you have to sort this area out with, it is unlikely to make much sense without a bit of digging and effort. You have pieces, and you have to assemble them. If you could watch all films for R6EW and the Clearing Course and read ALL the Clear Refs, you could then really figure it out. Left with only the non confidential refs, it is a bit tricky, but it can be done.
Where do implant and actual GPMs fit into all this?
Sorry, the best refs I know on that are confidential, although you can look at some of the later GPM materials on this in the tech vols, just before R6 came out and the new Clearing Congress, etc. Let's just say the materials of R6EW cover FULLY the area GPMs. It is an amazing body of tech.
The thing is - you can attain Clear through running R6 OR by Dianetics. There was LOTS of confusion on this area in the past. Is a "Scientology Clear" clearer than a "Dianetics Clear", etc. So we have the re-definition of Clear into "A being who no longer has his own Reactive Mind." Doesn't matter how you get there really, all roads lead to Rome.
Have I missed a simple MU and just made a complete fool of myself?
No my friend, it is not due to that. There is just a bit more to this subject, and trying to make one line of what the State Of Clear is make sense is a bit ambitious to say the least.
Here are some refs that might help:
HCOB 30 July 1980 The Nature of a Being
(Tech Vol XII:131 - A
MUST read. I think this will answer many of your questions.)
HCOB 5 Aug 1965 Release Stages VII:636
HCOB 30 Aug 1965 Issue II Release Stages VII:661
Study these two together and it really helps to get some stable data on this area and make some sense of it. And there is some humor in the first one too.
Lecture 26 July 1966 The Classification Chart and Auditing
(Find it in Volume 1 of the Expanded Grades Reference Packs, 1994 Edition. Really has some good stuff.)
HCOB 4 May 1994 CCRD Series 5 Clear and Release
(Not in the tech vols as it came out in 1994, but still a good ref.)
The Original Thesis - (It's got all the basics in it really. If you are interested the "new" version actually has a chapter called "Clear" which gives a bit more data. This is most likely the rumored "new reference" that started to be used in the last several years as the new measuring stick by the Church to determine the State of Clear. You will have to decide for yourself if Ron wrote it. It is supposedly from one of two sound scriber records recently "discovered" and shown at the recent Freewinds events. The changes in how the CCRD is delivered and rumors of a "new reference" started about 4 -5 years ago, which interestingly enough aligns with what DM said in the Freewinds events, that the project to restore the basics books started 5 years ago. I found the new chapter to be pretty interesting myself, and believe there is a reasonable chance it is Ron - but that is just my opinion.)
If you do not have access to these refs I may be able to send some of them to you. Just let me know if you need them.
I know I may not have directly answered your original questions, but I believe the above and help you sort it our satisfactorily for yourself.
The State of Clear is a great thing - I hope this will help you understand it better and clarify the confusions that have enveloped it over the years.
Cheers,
Crusty Old Bastard