Synergese Explained and Defended

Clarifying Synergetics -- Part I

By ART COULTER

EDITOR'S NOTE--Last year, we ran a series, "A Primer on Synergetics", by Don Purcell; a couple months ago, we had a two-part article by Richard Lundberg, "An Analysis of Synergetics". Now, with this four-part serial by Art Coulter, the maestro himself, "Clarifying Synergetics", we think the subject should be pretty well simplified. If anyone still is confused, we suggest they write to Coulter himself, at 297 Canyod Drive, Columbus, Ohio. And that, we might explain, is a house number on a street in the capital city in the central part of a State east of the Mississippi bounded on the north by Lake Erie and on the south by the Ohio River. Any problems?

THE PURPOSE of this series of articles is to present Synergetics in a form that is simple and clear. It is a response to the sincere objections of persons that Synergetics uses "too wl many technical terms". These terms-- affectionately dubbed "synergese"by Synergeticists--are used for the same reason that an engineer uses technical terms: to achieve precision of statement. Instead of writing out the words "belief-attitude-motive complexes" every time this idea is used, it is often simpler to use "synergese" for this and say "BAM''. B stands for belief, A for attitude, M for motive. As long as all parties concerned understand what is meant, a lot more can be said in a lot less time.

The use of technical terms in any field is desirable and necessary, whether it be electrical engineering or baseball. Let's take baseball as an example. How could you describe a baseball game without using technical terms? "With the count three and two and the bases loaded, Mantle slammed the next pitch for a homer, driving in four runs". This is all very simple and clear if you know baseball terms, and it doesn't take long to say. Ad take a look at the technical terms that were used in saying this:

1. Count
2. Three and two
3. Bases loaded
4. Slammed
5. Pitch
6. Homer
7. Driving in
8. Four runs

Try saying that in "plain English" some time!

Synergetics is an engineering science of human development, and the use of synergese is as necessary to us as "baseball-ese" is to baseball players and baseball fans. However, to one unfamiliar with Synergetics, these terms can and should be clearly explained. I will try to do this, for some of the more basic ideas, in this series of articles.

Because many readers of The ABERREE are familiar with Dianetics (and dianese!), an attempt will be made to point out similarities and differences as we go along. It is true that there are a number of similarities between the two approaches, and that for some concepts the "dianese" term has an equivalent "synergese" term. There are also basiedifferences, however, and these too will be pointed out.

Both Dianetics and Synergetics start out with the idea that the average man is the victim of "irrational patterns" Which in Dianetics are called "aberrations ". (They also are called "aberrations" in psychiatry.) In Synergetics,we call these Patterns impedances. Why, the reader may well ask, do we use a different term? If even Dianetics and psychiatry can agree on a term, why can't Synergeticists go along?

The answer is that of course we can, And the term "aberration". is often used in Synergetics as a synonym for "impedance°. However, we object to the term "aberration" for what it implies. The term aberration means literally "departure from the norm", and it is used in precisely this sense in psychiatry (tho not in Dianetics). In Synergetics, we believe that each person is unique, and hence that the only standard by which he can be measured is himself. We reject all efforts to force human beings to conform to some norm, as likely to produce impedances. We feel, for this reason, that "impedance" is a better term.

The goal of Dianetics in 1950 was to "clear" an individual of all these aberrations. A Dianetic clear originally meant an individual who had no aberrations. (This meaning still exists but the situation has been complicated by the introduction of other meanings, such as "theta clear", "cleared theta clear", "operating thetan", and the like). Now in Synergetics we have a similar goal; a Synergetic clear is a person who has no impedances.

From 1950 thru 1951, I made a thoro trial of Dianetic techniques (Standard Procedure and Advanced Procedure), with the aim of producing the state of "clear". I began this trial under the impression that about 270 "clears" already had been produced and that anyone could produce the state in about 20 to 30 hours of processing. Later, I learned that my impression was in error, that not only had 270 clears