The Eight Dynamics of life (from the Scientology website)
Because the fundamentals upon which Scientology rests embrace all aspects of life, certain key principles can be broadly employed to improve any condition. Scientologists use these principles in their daily lives and their use alone can often make the difference between success and failure. Moreover, the principles greatly clarify what is so often confusing and bewildering.
Suppose, for example, life could be correctly compartmentalized so that its many activities, often confused and blurred, could suddenly assume a new clarity? Suppose, for instance, that all the activities in one’s varied life could not only be understood for what they really are, but each harmonized with all others?
This is possible in Scientology by describing the eight dynamics.
The basic command “Survive!” which is obeyed by all of life, is subdivided into eight compartments so that each aspect of life can be more easily inspected and understood. These compartments are called the eight dynamics (dynamic meaning urge, drive or impulse).
L. Ron Hubbard observed and delineated the first four of these dynamics in Dianetics. When his research led him into the realm of Scientology, he was able to amplify these first four dynamics and delineate the remaining four.
Through Scientology, a person realizes that his life and influence extend far beyond himself. He also becomes aware of the necessity to participate in a much broader spectrum. By understanding each of these dynamics and their relationship, one to the other, he is able to do so, and thus increase survival on all these dynamics.
Simply delineating these dynamics clarifies and brings order into existence. One can observe these dynamics in one’s own life, note which one or ones need improvement and, through Scientology, bring these factors into greater harmony.
The First Dynamic is SELF.
This is the effort to survive as an individual, to be an individual. It includes one’s own body and one’s own mind. It is the effort to attain the highest level of survival for the longest possible time for self. This dynamic includes the individual plus his immediate possessions. It does not include other people. It is the urge to survive as one’s self. Here we have individuality expressed fully.
The Second Dynamic is CREATIVITY.
Creativity is making things for the future and the Second Dynamic includes any creativity. The Second Dynamic contains the family unit and raising children as well as anything that can be categorized as a family activity. It also, incidentally, includes sex as a mechanism to compel future survival.
The Third Dynamic is GROUP SURVIVAL.
This is the urge to survive through a group of individuals or as a group. It is group survival with the group tending to take on a life and existence of its own. A group can be a community, friends, a company, a social lodge, a state, a nation, a race or any group. It doesn’t matter what size this group is, it is seeking to survive as a group.
The Fourth Dynamic is SPECIES.
Man’s Fourth Dynamic is the species of Mankind. This is the urge toward survival through all Mankind and as all Mankind. Whereas the American nationality would be considered a Third Dynamic for Americans, all the nationalities of the world together would be considered the Fourth Dynamic. All men and women, because they are men and women, seek to survive as men and women and for men and women.
The Fifth Dynamic is LIFE FORMS.
This is the urge to survive as life forms and with the help of life forms such as animals, birds, insects, fish and vegetation. This includes all living things whether animal or vegetable, anything directly and intimately motivated by life. It is the effort to survive for any and every form of life. It is the interest in life as such.
The Sixth Dynamic is the PHYSICAL UNIVERSE.
The physical universe has four components. These are matter, energy, space and time. The Sixth Dynamic is the urge of the physical universe to survive, by the physical universe itself and with the help of the physical universe and each one of its component parts.
The Seventh Dynamic is the SPIRITUAL DYNAMIC.
This is the urge to survive as spiritual beings or the urge for life itself to survive. Anything spiritual, with or without identity, would come under the heading of the Seventh Dynamic. It includes one’s beingness, the ability to create, the ability to cause survival or to survive, the ability to destroy or pretend to be destroyed. A subheading of this dynamic is ideas and concepts and the desire to survive through these. The Seventh Dynamic is life source. This is separate from the physical universe and is the source of life itself. Thus, there is an effort for the survival of life source.
The Eighth Dynamic is the urge toward existence as INFINITY.
The Eighth Dynamic also is commonly called God, the Supreme Being or Creator, but it is correctly defined as infinity. It actually embraces the allness of all. That is why, according to L. Ron Hubbard, “when the Seventh Dynamic is reached in its entirety, one will only then discover the true Eighth Dynamic.”
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