Scientology and Dianetics Glossary of Terms



aberration: a departure from rational thought or behavior. It means basically to err, to make mistakes, or more specifically to have fixed ideas which are not true. The word is also used in its scientific sense. It means departure from a straight line. If a line should go from A to B, then if it is aberrated it would go from A to some other point, to some other point, to some other point, to some other point, to some other point, and finally arrive at B. Taken in this sense, it would also mean the lack of straightness or to see crookedly as, for example, a man sees a horse but thinks he sees an elephant. Aberrated conduct would be wrong conduct, or conduct not supported by reason. When a person has engrams, these tend to deflect what would be his normal ability to perceive truth and bring about an aberrated view of situations which then would cause an aberrated reaction to them. Aberration is opposed to sanity, which would be its opposite. From the Latin, aberrare, to wander from; Latin, ab, away, errare, to wander.

ABLE: an acronym for Association for Better Living and Education International.

action phrases: word phrases contained as part of the content of engrams which dictate some type of “action” in the mind.


affinity-reality-communication (ARC) triangle: a triangle which is a symbol of the fact that affinity, reality and communication act together to bring about understanding. No point of the triangle can be raised without also raising the other two points, and no point of it can be lowered without also lowering the other two points.

analytical mind: that part of the mind which one consciously uses and is aware of. It is the portion of the mind which thinks, observes data, remembers it and resolves problems.


AO: abbreviation for Advanced Organization.

apparency: something that seems to be, that appears to be a certain way; something that appears to be but is different from the way it looks. In Dianetics and Scientology apparency is used to mean something that looks one way but is, in actual fact, something else. For example, a person “gives an apparency of health,” whereas he is actually sick. From the Latin, apparere, to appear.

ARC: a word coined from the initial letters of affinity, reality and communication.

ARC break: a sudden drop or cutting of affinity, reality or communication with someone or something. Upsets with people or things (ARC breaks) come about because of a lessening or sundering of affinity, reality or communication or understanding. Scientologists usually use the term ARC break instead of upset, because if one discovers which of the three points of understanding have been cut, one can bring about a rapid recovery in the person’s state of mind.

assessment: an auditing technique which helps to isolate specific areas or subjects on which a preclear has charge so that they can be addressed in auditing.

auditing: Scientology counseling, taken from the Latin word audire which means “to hear or listen.” Auditing is a very unique form of personal counseling which helps an individual look at his own existence and improves his ability to confront what he is and where he is.

Auditing by List: a technique used in certain auditing procedures.

auditor: a minister or minister-in-training of the Church of Scientology. Auditor means one who listens, from the Latin audire meaning “to hear or listen.” An auditor is a person trained and qualified in applying auditing to individuals for their betterment. An auditor does not do anything to a preclear, he works together with the preclear to help the preclear defeat his reactive mind.


beingness: the assumption or choosing of a category of identity. Beingness can be assumed by oneself or given to oneself or attained. Examples of beingness would be one’s own name, one’s profession, one’s physical characteristics, one’s role in a game – each or all of these could be called one’s beingness.

Book One: a colloquial term for the first book published on the subject of Dianetics, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. A Book One Auditor is someone who knows the data in this book and uses it to audit others.


case: a general term for a person being treated or helped. It is also used to mean the entire accumulation of upsets, pain, failures, etc., residing in a preclear’s reactive mind.

case gains: the improvements and resurgences a person experiences from auditing; any case betterment according to the preclear.

Case Supervisor: a highly trained auditor who is also trained in the technology of supervising auditing. The Case Supervisor reviews all auditing sessions done by auditors under his charge. His purpose is to see that the technology is standardly applied for the greatest possible benefit for the preclear.

CCHR: abbreviation for Citizens Commission on Human Rights.


Claims Verification Board: an official group within the Church of Scientology which facilitates refund requests.

Clay Table Processing: a particular process used in certain types of auditing.


control: the ability to start, change and stop something. One is successful in his life to the degree that he can start or change or stop the things and people within his environment. For example, a driver who cannot exert control over a car by making it start, move about and stop when he wants it to is quite likely to have accidents. A person who can control a car, on the other hand, will be able to arrive where he intends to.

counter-effort: an effort of something or someone in a person’s environment against that person.

C/S: abbreviation for Case Supervisor. Also used to designate a Case Supervisor direction of what to audit on a preclear (as in “he was given a new C/S”), or the giving of such a direction by the Case Supervisor (as in “the preclear was C/Sed for his next action”). See also Case Supervisor in this glossary.

CSI: abbreviation for Church of Scientology International.







dynamics: the eight urges, drives or impulses of life.




enturbulence: turbulence or agitation and disturbance.




floating needle: a rhythmic sweep of the needle on an E-Meter dial at a slow, even pace, back and forth, back and forth. A floating needle means that the charge on a subject being audited has dissipated, and is one of the indications of a process being complete.

FSO: abbreviation for Flag Service Organization.

FSSO: abbreviation for Flag Ship Service Organization.


genetic entity: a term coined in early Dianetics research to denote that part of a human being which takes care of the automatic mechanisms of the body, such as heartbeat, respiration, etc.




HASI: an acronym for Hubbard Association of Scientologists International.

hat: a Scientology slang term for a particular job, taken from the fact that in many professions, such as railroading, the type of hat worn is the badge of the job. The term hat is also used to describe the write-ups, checksheets and packs that outline the purposes, know-how and duties of a job in a Scientology organization.

hatting: the training given to a person so that he or she can successfully perform the functions and produce the products of a specific job, duty or activity. See also hat in this glossary.

havingness: the concept of being able to reach. By havingness we mean owning, possessing, being capable of commanding, taking charge of objects, energies and spaces. Specific processes exist in Scientology to help a preclear increase his havingness, and these are appropriately called Havingness Processes.

HCO: abbreviation for Hubbard Communications Office.

HGC: abbreviation for Hubbard Guidance Center.

Hubbard Consultant Outpoint-Pluspoint List: a list of illogics (outpoints) and logics (pluspoints) used in an auditing process to help the preclear locate and handle illogical thinking in the area being addressed.


lAS: abbreviation for International Association of Scientologists.

I HELP: an acronym for International Hubbard Ecclesiastical League of Pastors.

INCOMM: an acronym for International Network of Computer Organized Management.

int: short for interiorization, the action of going into something too fixedly and becoming part of it too fixedly. Int is also used to refer to the auditing procedure which handles the adverse mental and spiritual effects of interiorization.

invalidate: refute, degrade, discredit or deny something someone else considers to be fact.


knowledge-responsibility-control (KRC) triangle: a triangle which is a symbol of the fact that knowledge, responsibility and control act together as a whole entity. In order to handle any area of one’s life, it is necessary to know something about it, take some responsibility for it and control it to the degree necessary to achieve the desired result. This triangle interacts best when used with high ARC, thus it interlocks with the ARC triangle. See also affinity-reality-communication (ARC) triangle and control in this glossary.


Listing and Nulling: a specialized technique used in certain auditing processes.

lock: a mental image picture of an experience where one was knowingly or unknowingly reminded of an engram. It does not itself contain a blow or a burn or impact and is not any major cause of upset. It does not contain unconsciousness. It may contain a feeling of pain or illness, etc., but is not itself the source of it. For example, a person sees a cake and feels sick. This is a lock on an engram of being made sick by eating cake. The picture of seeing a cake and feeling sick is a lock on (is locked to) the incident (unseen at the moment) of getting sick eating cake.


mental image pictures: three-dimensional pictures which are continuously made by the mind, moment by moment, containing color, sound and smell, as well as other perceptions. They also include the conclusions or speculations of the individual. Mental image pictures are composed of energy, have mass, exist in space and follow definite routines of behavior, the most interesting of which is the fact that they appear when somebody thinks of something.

mest: a word coined from the initial letters of matter, energy, space and time, which are the component parts (elements) of the physical universe.

meter: short for E-Meter. See E-Meter in this glossary.

missed withhold: a withhold which has almost been found out by another, that leaves the person who has the withhold in a state of wondering whether or not his hidden deed is known. See also withhold in this glossary.


NCLE: abbreviation for National Commission on Law Enforcement and Social Justice.

NED: an acronym for New Era Dianetics.

New Era Dianetics for OTs (NOTs): a series of auditing actions, delivered as part of the OT levels, developed by L. Ron Hubbard during his research into New Era Dianetics in the late 1970s.

NOTs: an acronym for New Era Dianetics for OTs. See New Era Dianetics for OTs (NOTs) in this glossary.


Objectives: short for Objective Processing, an auditing action which helps a person to look or place his attention outward from himself.

OCA: abbreviation for Oxford Capacity Analysis.

Operating Thetan: a state of being above Clear, in which the Clear has become refamiliarized with his native capabilities.

organizing board: a pattern of organization which expresses every function a Scientology church needs to attend to in order to minister to its congregation.

OSA: an acronym for Office of Special Affairs.

OT: abbreviation for Operating Thetan. See Operating Thetan in this glossary.

overrun: continue an auditing process or a series of processes past the point of completion.



pan-determined: able to view both sides. Pan-determinism is across determinism or determinism of two sides. If a person were playing both sides of a chess game, he would be exercising pan-determinism. See also determinism in this glossary.

PDH: abbreviation for pain-drug-hypnosis, a behavioral modification technique used by military and intelligence services in which pain, drugs or hypnosis, or any combination of these, are administered to drive an individual into a state whereby he can be given suggestions or commands subconsciously. Dianetics auditing can undo the effects of PDH. For more information.

perceptic: any sense message such as sight, sound, smell, etc.


potential trouble source: a person who is in some way connected to and being adversely affected by a suppressive person. Such a person is called a potential trouble source because he can be a lot of trouble to himself and to others. See also suppressive person in this glossary.

preclear: a person who is receiving Scientology or Dianetics auditing on his way to becoming Clear, hence pre-Clear. Through auditing he is finding out more about himself and life.

process: an exact set of questions asked or directions given by an auditor to help a person locate areas of spiritual distress, find out things about himself and improve his condition.

processing: another word for auditing. See auditing in this glossary.

PTS: abbreviation for potential trouble source. See potential trouble source in this glossary.


Qual: short for Qualifications Division.


RD: abbreviation for rundown. See rundown in this glossary.

reactive mind: that part of the mind which works on a totally stimulus-response basis, which is not under a person’s volitional control, and which exerts force and the power of command over his awareness, purposes, thoughts, body and actions.

reality: that which appears to be. Reality is fundamentally agreement — what we agree to be real is real.

rehab: short for rehabilitation, an auditing action which is used to help a person regain a former ability, state of being or more optimum condition which has been discredited, denied or suppressed.

restimulation: the “awakening” of an old engram, which occurs when a person’s present environment contains enough similarities to the elements found in the engram to cause a reactivation of it. When an engram is restimulated, a person can experience similar pains and emotions to those contained in the original incident.

R6EW: the designation for the auditing process used on Grade VI.

RTC: abbreviation for Religious Technology Center.

rundown: a series of related actions in Scientology which culminate in a specific end result. For example, the Drug Rundown consists of several different auditing processes and actions which, done fully and in sequence, result in the freeing of a person from the mental and spiritual effects of drugs.



Sea Org: short for Sea Organization.



SHSBC: abbreviation for Saint Hill Special Briefing Course.

SMI: an acronym for Scientology Missions International.











unmock: become nothing, disappear, cease to exist.


whole track: the whole span of the time track. See also time track in this glossary.

WISE: an acronym for World Institute of Scientology Enterprises.

withhold: an overt a person has committed but is not talking about; an unspoken, unannounced transgression against a moral code by which a person was bound. Any withhold comes after an overt. See also overt in this glossary.

WW: abbreviation for Worldwide – the worldwide headquarters of the Church of Scientology at Saint Hill, where management was located until the early 1970s.

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