The “Goals Problems Mass”, as it is called in Scientology, is widely thought to be a very complex thing, very challenging to understand and daunting to solve, but from what I have come to know and understand, really isn’t at all. I think the main reasons Scientologists have these ideas are:
In Scientology, many things are given the air of “depth”, and “mysticism”, to create interest and awe, and to influence us to resign to “leave it to the proscribed experts to understand, handle or figure it out”; and
L Ron Hubbard himself failed to successfully analyze and solve what he termed the “goals Problems Mass”; he did accumulate interesting, if incomplete information about such phenomena, and bored headfirst into inadequate attempts to fully process it with fascinating, if not successful effects. But in the end, and very abruptly, the subject was simply dropped literally overnight at Saint Hill circa 1964-one day Hubbard was talking about “GPM research”, and the very next day, he broached the subject of “Study tech” without further mention of the Goals Problems Mass, and the only further mention of anything related was the processing of what Hubbard termed “Implanted GPM’s” on the Clearing Course and on OT II, and these are a different matter.
The “Goals Problems Mass”, as it is called in Scientology, is a playing field, populated by 3 essential elements:
(1) Beings assuming and thereby enacting Identities:
An identity is, most basically, a 3-dimensional spiritual energy construct that conveys a specific attitude. The essential purpose of each identity in any given game is to fulfill an aspect of function that creates and maintains that game. The identities relate to each other in various ways: supporting another in their purpose, opposing another, redirecting another, separating one from another, etc. The spiritual architecture of each identity- appearance, attitude, powers, weaknesses, etc, will be in accord with its role in the game.
The sticky, obsession-creating and -perpetuating aspect of these is that in actuality, to enter into a game, one first knows, exists as and creates every aspect of the game, but must then retreat into one particular identity within the game and thus suppress full consciousness of the balance of the playing field and all it’s elements in order to experience it as a game.
(2) Purposes:
Every identity is created and assumed to fulfill one particular purpose, which exists within the game. The interactions experienced within the game bring about shifts of purpose and of identity, extending a trail of reflexive purposes, identities and interactions.
(3) Purpose-driven interactions between the identities:
These interactions are exchanges of energies, ranging from coarse and brutal force to fine and light love or admiration, and the energetic responses vary accordingly; reception of admiration might be responded to by returning the admiration and/or obsessively seeking to maintain the reception of admiration, reception of brutal force might be responded to by creating a force shield to deny such further force, or returning force with force, etc, etc, in each case being driven by the purpose of that response to the energetic interaction, the first step of which is the creating/assuming of a fixed identity that would be the embodiment of that purpose, and then would function to enact that purpose in it’s manner and choice of energies then impelled.
How dare you start off a post by saying such “spot-on” stuff, Dex Ha! Ha! [This is probably what’s called a mixed metaphor or some such rot, but] Does the term “Mystery Sandwich” ring a bell? … I love this post! Btw, it occurs to me — upon reading more of this post — that the GPM as you describe it may not be entirely different form what some spiritual folks, such as Caroline Myss, call “archetypes” … [Despite CoS statistics,] there may not be many card-carrying Scientologists around, but there may be (my opinion) lots of “para-scientologists’ / In fact I may start calling myself that 🙂 Rock on!