REALITY AS A MENTAL MODEL
by Frank Gordon, USA
In the Tech Dict, Reality as defined by Hubbard may be paraphrased in part as: the agreed upon aparency of existence; the ability to place something in time and space; it begins with postulates and ends with mass; the solid objects, the real things of life.
Reality as a general concept is expressed as a very abstract substantive, which I've found difficult to grasp since it's such an enormous generality.
By putting this concept into an active verb form, we get:
Realize: 1. to bring into concrete existence, accomplish, or 2. to
become fully aware of what exists.
Then we can place this in reference to Scn Axiom One: Life is basically a static... It has the ability to postulate and to perceive...Life is a space-energy-object production and placement unit because that is what it does.(1)
Thus, the Life Static postulates (creates, realizes) realities and then perceives (realizes) them.
Another action view of reality is the operation of "negotiating" in order to establish a given "reality" or set of agreements.
Mental Models:
Another aspect of reality is considered in The Volunteer Minister's
Handbook: "Reality is not a function of the physical universe, it is a
function of spirit." Following this definition, we may view realities as
mental models made by the spirit.
A mental model is an internal image of how the world works, an internal picture of reality used as a basis for action. It is composed of images, assumptions, stories, stereotypes and other habitual forms of thought.
Thus, we may view reality as a set of mental maps or models, R1, R2, etc. covering dynamics 1 through 8.
And then for each Rx, we can select criteria to evaluate the "reality"
model of this dynamic:
Accuracy (is it an accurate map),
Useability (can we use it to get where we want to go?,
i.e., workability or applicability), this aspect is expanded in the utilitarianism
of Jeremy Bentham (2)
Predictive value (will it predict the results of a given
action?),
Explanatory value (does it provide a model explaining
how things go together - their connectedness - and how they influence each
other), oriented around some key datum as per Logic 10? (3).
Reality and Isness:
The term "reality" as a noun or substantive, used with IS, denotes
an existence, but used in this way, it has a static abstract quality.
So to look more closely at this concept of "reality" let's use Logic 8. (4) A "reality" is comparable to a perception (5), a category (6) or a theory (7); and thus a person's realities are his mental models: his theories about life, his habitual categories of thought, or his itsas (8) of how the world works.
One's collection of realities are the mental maps (like road maps) or models one uses to organize thoughts about life, and serve as a guide to action.
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1. The Phoenix Lectures, LRH, Pubs Org., 1968, pp.146-7.
2. Utilitarianism: n. (1827) a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences.
3. Logic 10. The value of a datum is established by the amount of alignment (relationship) it imparts to other data.
4. Logic 8. A datum can be evaluated only by adatum of comparable magnitude.
5. Sensation, seeing, hearing, smelling, etc., is distinguished from perception, which involves the combination of different sensations for the utilization of past experience in recognizing the objects and facts from which the present stimulation arises. Web.Col.Dic.1961.
6. Category (in logic) An ultimate concept or form of thought; one of the primary fundmental conceptions to which all knowledge can be reduced. Web.Col.Dic.1961.Also, a general class, such as animal, vegetable or mineral.
7. Theory, A plausible general principle offered to explain phenomena, e.g., in science, the atomic theory. In everday life, perhaps something like: "He's being nice to me because he wants something."
8. Itsa is what travels on a comm line, if that which travels is saying
with certainty "It is." from Tech. Dict., Def. 5