From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 8 - September 1992
 
Classic Comment
By Terry E. Scott, England

Admiration

Happiness, according to L. Ron Hubbard in PAB number 8, is a "state of 
admiration of things".

This is a very interesting remark, because admiration is in fact a 
kind of high level emotion, a cousin of love. It is tied in with 
aesthetics - art, beauty, and the like.

And it resolves cases right and left.

The emotional tone scale is to do with aesthetics: the loveliness or 
otherwise of people and things. It is a scale of attitudes, and its 
high levels include exhilaration and enthusiasm. But right up there is 
admiration.

One can expect a soldier to hate his enemies. But Jesus and others 
suggested it would be a good thing to love them. This sounds wishy 
washy and idealistic, but has more than a grain of truth.

Process

If we look at both love and admiration, well, one could run a process 
such as finding something about an enemy that one wouldn't mind 
loving. That might be difficult.

Why enemies? Stay tuned, for I want to tackle this difficult area 
first.

It is more easy to ask a being to say what about an enemy he would be 
willing to admire. This introduces a more workable gradient scale.

He might find that he wouldn't mind admiring the smart uniform or the 
elegant hat or something. The being begins to draw back from utter 
hatred and resistance and becomes more able to deal with the enemy he 
has been resisting.

The principle applies too with those who are not one's enemies. They 
include friends, relatives, workmates, and everyday people. Further, 
objects can be included in admiration processing.

What about a particular terminal or class of one wouldn't the preclear 
mind admiring? Build a gradient scale.

Admiration is, I believe, -the- key to handling emotion. It is one of 
the highest emotions, refers to aesthetics (itself a major case 
factor), and yet is smooth and sweet to run. It can undercut difficult 
areas of the reactive mind without the preclear's getting involved in 
upsetting material. Try it.