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.ce ((Editor's comments in double parenthesis - Homer))
 
.ce Copyright (C) Flemming A. Funch
.ce Redistribution rights granted for non commercial purposes
 
Technical Essay # 69 - FAF 13 Feb 92

.ce Null-A


Null-A is the concept of seeing the world as it is rather than as it is said to be; addressing the
whole rather than the parts; thinking in differences and similarities rather than in identities.

Alfred Korzybsky introduced the idea of Null-A in 1933 with a subject he called General
Semantics.

A. E. van Vogt popularized it in a series of science fiction books elaborating on the
possibilities in having Null-A trained people as members or leaders of society.

The "A" in Null-A is for "Aristotelian", referring to the prevalent system of logic according to
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). Aristotelian thinking is very black & white, two-valued logic. Physical
phenomena are regarded as very finite, isolated occurrences that can be fully and
adequately identified. This was the prevalent way of looking at the world in the sciences until
the beginning of this century. It is still the prevalent form of human thinking in the world.

Null-A signifies the negation of the Aristotelian think. It is also called Non-Aristotelian. It
replaces two-valued logic with infinite-valued gradient scales, identification with
differentiation, and places detail phenomena into a bigger holistic picture.

Physics according to Newton are A. Relativity theory and Quantum Physics are   .

Traditional western medicine is A. Holistic eastern medicine is mostly   .

Now, the reason I bring up these fancy ideas here, is that Null-A has a whole lot to do with
what we're trying to accomplish with clearing. Korzybsky and van Vogt talked about Null-A
training, the idea being that through study, exercises, and games people could become
adept at Null-A thinking. Korzybsky proposed exercises, but they never reached a very high
level of applicability. The most effective Null-A tools today are probably found in clearing, as
well as in NLP. it should however also be noted that several eastern religious philosophies,
such as Zen-Buddhism, strive in that direction.

Clearing addresses fixed conditions, identifications, mis-understoods, limited focus and so
forth. Through the application of clearing one can become more able to see the world as it is
and to be flexible under changing circumstances.

However, there are also elements commonly associated with clearing that pull the other way.
For one thing, clearing practitioners have traditionally been taught a lot of identifications.
"Engrams are in chains and that's just the way it IS." The rules and the words have
sometimes become more important than what is actually there. And the belief has been
encouraged that what the words name actually exists and can be isolated. But, really, nobody
has yet produced a "reactive mind" that we could study separate from everything else. Or
demonstrated that one disappeared for that matter.

Many of the identifications have been passed on to the recipients of clearing under the
heading of "indoctrination" or "word clearing". That made many of the clearing processes
possible, but it is also evaluation and puts aberrations there that might not previously have
existed for the client.

Let me illustrate a little more how a lack of Null-A abilities might be seen. All of you have
people around you who will identify people based on fixed detail information. E.g. A and B
are having a conversation and apparently getting along well. Then B picks his nose. A "hates
people who pick their noses", so from that point on she loses interest in B. If A were Null-A
she would look at the big picture and chances are that nose-picking would only be a small
distraction from an otherwise positive conversation.

If you find that you have to be very careful when you communicate with a certain person, not
to say or do the wrong thing, not to ARC break them, etc, then you are dealing with somebody
who identifies a lot, who responds to symbols rather than to reality. They can be helped of
course; clearing and training can make them more Null-A gradually.

Looking around at the people I know, I don't really see anybody, including myself, who quite
qualifies for Null-A grade. But, well, absolutes are unobtainable (and Aristotelian), so "close
enough" might be just fine.

What I am calling for, however, is a more holistic gradient scale, non-identified view of what
clearing is about. And a recognition of the true basics of clearing. The basics aren't fixed
ideas, they are dynamic principles.