Vol. 47, Issue 2 ‣ what is scientology?
Enough unsolved problems in a person’s life add up to a huge confusion.
It would be wise, then, to understand exactly what a confusion is and how it could be resolved.
A confusion can be defined as any set of factors or circumstances which do not seem to have any immediate solution. More broadly, a confusion is random motion.
If you were to stand in heavy traffic, you would be likely to feel confused by all the motion whizzing around you. If you were to stand in a heavy storm with leaves and papers flying by, you would be likely to be confused.
A confusion is only a confusion so long as all particles are in motion. A confusion is only a confusion so long as no factor is clearly defined or understood.
We have, in Scientology, a certain doctrine about confusion. It is called the Doctrine of the Stable Datum.
If you saw a great many pieces of paper whirling about a room, they would look confused until you picked out one piece of paper to be the piece of paper by which everything else was in motion. In other words, a confusing motion can be understood by conceiving one thing to be motionless.
The switchboard operator, receiving 10 calls at once, solves the confusion by labeling—correctly or incorrectly—one call as the first call to receive her attention. The confusion of “10 calls all at once” becomes less confusing the moment she singles out one call to be answered.
The shop foreman, confronted by three emergencies and an accident, needs only to elect his first target of attention to start the cycle of bringing about order again.
Until one selects one datum, one factor, one particular in a confusion of particles, the confusion continues. The one thing selected and used becomes the stable datum for the remainder.
Confusions, no matter how big and formidable they may seem, are composed of data or factors or particles. They have pieces. Grasp one piece or locate it thoroughly. Then see how the others function in relation to it and you have steadied the confusion. And, relating other things to what you have grasped, you will soon have mastered the confusion in its entirety.