Ron Says…
“But where this universe at this time is concerned, this universe—at this time—presents an aspect wherein the greatest certainty which can be realized by an individual is that it’s a cruel universe: that he will eat as long as he serves, as long as his force is great enough to meet the situation and he will die when that force is no longer adequate to the problem. And that is very close to the truth.
“Now, we take in this society a little child and we raise them up on sweetness and light, that if you are a good boy and do not employ any force, the society will take care of you and you will have justice and you’ll this—and it’s all love and sweet sympathy.
“Now, just because this kid is living in the middle of a bunch of smoke-filled chimneys and narrow streets in something called ‘culture,’ does not for one moment remove his environment from the environment of the MEST universe, which is, essentially, a cruel, dog-eat-dog universe. In other words, he’s being falsely trained. He’s being trained that he’s living in some kind of a special strata.
“Well, now let’s take an extremity: let’s drop him into the ocean, for a moment, where we have sharks and we will find out that not one shark present will ask whether he is sweet or full of light before he bites. The shark will bite regardless.
“Not one of the acts of charity of this individual will save him for a split instant between the teeth of that shark. What will save him — if he had the force of prying open the jaws of the shark and eating the shark, that would save him.
“So essentially, Man is impractical. In his effort to control his fellows, he has fallen into a very dangerous situation and that situation is ‘that if one is good enough and if one is sweet enough and if one helps enough, he will then be repaid by endless adoration and survival.’ And this is not true. He will not be.
“A man is as good as he can use effort, use force and predict it. And he’s as bad off as he cannot predict, on his own part or on the part of others, effort and force. And that’s about all you can say about it.”
L. Ron Hubbard
from 2nd American Advanced Clinical Course lecture
“Force, Part I”
13 December 1953