DENYERS, BOUNCERS, HOLDERS

A lecture given on 18 August 1950

The tape recording of this lecture has not been found. A transcript has been located and is reproduced here. Without the recording we have not been able to verify the accuracy of the transcript.

Demonstration and Talk

Now I would like to give you a demonstration of straight line memory.

LRH:
All right, have a seat. How are you doing?
PC:
I’m a bit worried about my baby and my wife.
LRH:
Anything wrong with them, particularly?
PC:
No.
LRH:
Is something liable to happen to them?
PC:
No. I just think how important it is for my wife to get into Dianetics. She’s not in it as much as I am, and she should be.
LRH:
Does that worry you?
PC:
A bit.
LRH:
Was your father ever worried about his wife, your mother, cooperating?
PC:
It’s hard for me to think of it. My father died when I was 3, I believe. I had a wonderful relationship with my stepfather.

This example demonstrates one of the broken legs you sometimes get in Straightwire. Here we have a parent who is not alive after a certain period of time, so we don’t get any of the person’s dramatizations repeated much above the speech level. Furthermore, we don’t get Mother’s standard reaction to him; her reaction to stepfather is not necessarily her reaction at all to the father, since she may have shifted into another valence or her life may have altered considerably. But nevertheless, we can do things with Straightwire.

LRH:
Doyou have any chronic psychosomatic troubles?
PC:
As of this morning, the recurrence of early morning sneezing— hay fever. At one time in the army I took a skin test and had 21 shots in the arm and 60 skin tests, but nothing came of it. I was just told to stay away from cats.
LRH:
What were the tests for? Did you test for allergies with them?
PC:
No, but after they gave me shots they said, "You are not allergic to anything we have here. Just stay away from cats."
LRH:
Well, that at least gave you hope, anyway. All right, do you like doctors?
PC:
Not particularly.
LRH:
Are you against them?
PC:
Generally speaking, I am not crazy about medicine.
LRH:
When did they force medicine down your throat?
[to audience] This is a pick- up of a tongue slip. He says he is not crazy about medicine, which would be a rather odd way of saying "I don’t like doctors."
PC:
When I was 12 I had infantile paralysis and I was at the county hospital. After several days, they started giving me a tonic so that I would eat more when the food came. It was a green tonic, and it was in a little shot glass.
LRH:
Is this clear in your memory?
PC:
Oh, yes.
LRH:
Just remember a time when you had a good time, when you really enjoyed yourself.
PC:
When I had a good time? That’s funny because I have been manic for about three days, but I can’t think of a real good time. The last time I had a really good time was the Sunday before last.
LRH:
You had a good time?
PC:
I had a good time.
LRH:
All right. What were you doing?
PC:
I was working here.
LRH:
How about a year ago, have any good times a year ago?
PC:
Yes, I had a good time. I went up to the mountains with a friend of mine last September before school started, and w camped.
LRH:
Very nice?
PC:
Yes, a lot of fun. He was hunting deer, and I was just walking along behind him. Didn’t catch a deer, but we had a lot of fun.
LRH:
Who triggered that manic?
PC:
Who triggered this manic?
LRH:
Yes. That you just mentioned.
PC:
Gee, there were a lot of people. Seemed everybody I ran into Sunday night was triggering it. I mean just the general atmosphere around here, and then I was audited Tuesday night, and I came out of the session feeling very, very good, and went. up high, about tone 6. Then, however, some terrific restimulator occurred later on that night. It was about 1: 30 in the morning when I finally got to sleep. Then my little boy woke up, came wandering into the bedroom, got into bed with me and went back to sleep. Then he fell out of bed. I was to all intents and purposes sound asleep, but he barely hit the floor when I was picking him up. He had gone over head first and hit his mouth. So I picked him up and held him, and my wife came in and said something to him, and I said, "You will remember this. " I said this a few times and then as I put him down on the pillow I noticed my shoulder was wet. I thought it was tears, but it was blood. I turned the light on and his mouth was bleeding, so I didn’t feel so good. I picked him up again and started walking into the living room. My wife went to fix him a bottle, and she takes the baby away from me, takes him into bed with her and gives him the bottle. I go to the living room with a headache and kind of unhappy at the fact that I was feeling so wonderful and now I have got this headache. I went back into the bedroom and his eyes were open and his mouth was pretty swollen. My wife said, "Go back to bed. He will be all right now." So I did that. I finished a cigarette and went back to bed. When I laid down and shut my eyes, I thought, "Damn you. You’re taking my baby away from me," and I started to cry. I cried for about ten minutes and I got very unnerved.
LRH:
Shut your eyes. This isn’t straight memory now. Let’s contact the grief discharge on this. Return to it. The file clerk will give it to us, if possible. When I count from one to five and snap my fingers, your somatic strip will be at the beginning of the engram and the first phrase that flashes into your mind you will give to me. One- two- three- four- five (snap!).
PC:
My baby."
LRH:
Go ahead, answer.
PC:
My baby, my baby, my baby, my baby."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
My baby, my baby, my baby."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
My baby, my baby, my baby."
LRH:
Next line.
PC:
Don’t take him from me."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Don’t take him away from me."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Don’t take him away from me."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Don’t take him away from me, don’t take him away from me, don’t take him away from me."
LRH:
All right. Give me a yes or no on this: bouncer?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
What is the bouncer? When I count from one to five the bouncer will flash into your mind. One- two- three- four- five (snap!).
PC:
Get out
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Get out
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Get out, get out, get out."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out. Get out, I will keep him.... Get out, I am going to keep him."
LRH:
Go over that again.
PC:
Get out, I am going to keep him."
LRH:
Go over that again.
PC:
Get out, I am going to keep him. Get out, I am going to keep him. Nobody takes him away from me."
LRH:
Go over that again.
PC:
"Get out. I am going to keep him. Nobody takes him away from me."
LRH:
Go over that again.
PC:
Get out, I am going to keep him. Nobody takes him away from me."
LRH:
When I snap my fingers, you will get an age flash. (snap!)
PC:
Two.
LRH:
Days, weeks, months, years? Now, when I snap my fingers a flash. (snap!)
PC:
Months.
LRH:
Okay. Go over it again.
PC:
Get out. No one’s going to take him away from me. Get out. No one’s going to take him away from me. Get out. No one’s going to take him away from me."
LRH:
Have you got a somatic?
PC:
Slight headache.
LRH:
Is this postconception or postbirth? Two months postconception, yes or no?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
Go over it again. Return to the beginning of the engram. Let’s return to the beginning of the engram. When I count from one to five and snap my fingers, the first phrase of the engram will flash into your mind. One- two- three- four- five (snap!).
PC:
Don’t take my baby away from me
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Don’t take my baby away from me"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Don’t take my baby away from me"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Don’t take my baby away from me"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Don’t take my baby away from me."
LRH:
Got a somatic?
PC:
A slight somatic in the shoulder.
LRH:
Okay. Give me yes or no on this. Are you in your own valence?
PC:
No.
LRH:
Can you shift to your own valence, yes or no?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
Let’s shift. Feel that moisture. See if you can get a moisture contact there. See if you can get a moisture contact. All right. Let’s return to the beginning of this engram and a moisture contact.
PC:
I seem to contact moisture in the palm of my hand a little bit.
LRH:
All right, let’s see if you can get the sensation of moisture across your shoulders. Let’s contact the first part of this engram. Now, are you in your own valence?
PC:
Shaky along my arm here.
LRH:
Okay. Contact the first thing. Give me a yes or no on it. Yes or no, blow?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
All right. Let’s contact that blow. The somatic strip will contact the blow.
PC:
Right here; the small of the back.
LRH:
Okay. The somatic strip will move to just a moment before the blow hits. Just a moment before the blow hits. Now, the somatic strip will sweep along. Now, it contacts the moment of the blow. Bang! What words come with this blow?
PC:
"Ow."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
"Ow."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
"Ow."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow."
LRH:
Shift into your own valence and contact that blow again. Let’s contact the first part of this, just before the blow, just before the blow. Now, the somatic strip sweeps forward into the blow. Contact it in your own valence.
PC:
I get a shaky feeling.
LRH:
Can you contact the blow now? Have you contacted the blow?
PC:
No.
LRH:
Okay. Let’s sweep back to the moment before the blow, just a moment before the blow. The moment before the blow. Now, the somatic strip is going to sweep forward to the moment of the blow. Bang! Contact that blow.
PC:
Very slight sensation here. I would hardly say a pain, it is a slight sensation.
LRH:
All right. What comes with that slight sensation?
PC:
Kind of a flash of light.
LRH:
All right. Let’s go through that again. Now, can you tell me, are there any words with this blow?
PC:
I can’t get any right now.
LRH:
All right. Give me a yes or no on this. Denyer?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
All right. The denyer will flash into your mind when I count from one to five and snap my fingers. One- two- three- four- five (snap!).
PC:
I won’t go"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t go"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t go"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t go"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t go"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t go"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t give him up"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t give him up"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t give him up"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t give him up"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t give him up"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I won’t give him up"
LRH:
All right. Is there a bouncer we haven’t contacted in this engram, yes or no?
PC:
No.
LRH:
All right. Can you now reach the front of the engram and roll it, yes or no?
PC:
No.
LRH:
All right. The phrase which prevents you doing so will flash into your mind when I count from one to five
PC:
Stop it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop it. Stop this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stop this. I won’t. Stop this."
LRH:
Roll it.
PC:
Stop this; I won’t."
LRH:
Continue.
PC:
Stop this; I won’t."
LRH:
Continue.
PC:
Stop this; I won’t."
LRH:
Continue.
PC:
I won’t give him. I won’t give him. You can’t take my baby away from me. I won’t give him up."
LRH:
Continue.
PC:
No one can take my baby away from me. No one can take my baby away from me. Stop it; I won’t. Stop it. I won’t give him up. No one can take my baby away from me."
LRH:
Next line?
PC:
I can’t see it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I can’t see it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I can’t see it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I can’t see it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I can’t see it."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I can’t see it."
LRH:
The next line?
PC:
No.
LRH:
The next line?
PC:
There’s no other way"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
There’s no other way"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
There’s no other way"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
There’s no other way"
LRH:
Next line?
PC:
(pause) LRH: Are you in your own valence, yes or no?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
All right. Let’s contact the beginning of this engram, contact the beginning of it. Contact the beginning of it. Let’s roll it now. First phrase.
PC:
Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. I won’t. You can’t do this, you can’t take my baby away from me."
LRH:
Go over "You can’t do this" again.
PC:
You can’t do this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
You can’t do this."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
You can’t do this."
LRH:
Next line.
PC:
There’s no other way"
LRH:
Next line.
PC:
There’s no other way. This is the only way. This is the only way."
LRH:
Go over that again.
PC:
This is the only way."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
This is the only way"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
This is the only way"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
This is the only way"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
This is the only way"
LRH:
Next line.
PC:
Don’t take my baby away from me. For God’s sake, don’t take my baby away from me. For God’s sake, don’t take my baby away from me. Don’t take my baby away from me. Can’t you understand ? You can’t take my baby away from me."
LRH:
Continue.
PC:
Nobody can take my baby away from me, ever. Nobody will take my baby away from me, ever."
LRH:
Next line.
PC:
I am not trying to take your baby away from you. Be sensible. Be sensible. I am not trying to take your baby away from you. Be sensible."
LRH:
Continue.
PC:
(pause)
LRH:
When I count from one to five the next phrase will flash into your mind. One- two- three- four- five (snap!).
PC:
How can yon think?"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
How can you think I would do anything to you?"
LRH:
Let’s go over that again.
PC:
How can you think I would do anything to you?"
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
How can you think I would do anything to you?" "I don’t know, but I do. I don’t know, but I do."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I don’t know, but I do."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I don’t know, but I do."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
I don’t know, but I do." "Well, he is my baby too, and I am willing to give him up." "Nobody can take my baby away from me. Not you, not anybody, can ever take my baby, because he is mine. Because he is mine. Because he is mine."
LRH:
Go over that again.
PC:
Because he is mine"
LRH:
Go over that again.
PC:
Because he is mine"
LRH:
Next line. When I count from one to five the next line will flash into your mind.
PC:
He’s not yours."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
He’s not yours."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Hes not yours. He’s notyours, and he’s not mine."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
He’s not yours, and he’s not mine."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
He’s not yours, and he’s not mine."
LRH:
Next line.
PC:
(pause)
LRH:
When I count from one to five the next line will flash into your mind. One- two- three- four- five (snap!).
PC:
Belongs to everybody "
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Belongs to everybody."
LRH:
Okay. Is there a phrase in here to the effect of "Control yourself"? One- two- three- four- five (snap!).
PC:
No.
LRH:
No? Is there a holder in this, yes or no?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
All right. Give me the holder. The holder will now flash into your mind when I count from one to five.
PC:
Stay where you are."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stay where you are."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stay where you are."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stay where you are."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stay where you are."
LRH:
Go over it again. PC: "Stay where you are."
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Stay where you are." (starts to laugh)
LRH:
Go over it again.
PC:
Stay where you are. " (laughing)
LRH:
Okay, let’s roll it once more.
PC:
Stay where you are. " (laughing)
LRH:
All right. How’s the somatic on this?
PC:
No somatic.
LRH:
Give me a yes or no on this. Are you in your own valence?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
All right.
PC:
(laughing) "Where are you? Stay where you are, but where are you? Stay where you are, but where are you?" (laughing) "You stay where you are, because you are where you stay, see?" (laughs)
LRH:
Okay. Let’s roll that again.
PC:
Stay where you are because you are where you stay. So, you stay there, because that’s where you are. " (laughs)
LRH:
Okay. I am going to ask the file clerk now. How many engrams similar to this precede it? Number?
PC:
Six.
LRH:
All right. Six engrams similar. Okay. How do you feel?
PC:
Fine.
LRH:
Go over that phrase again.
PC:
Stay where you are."
LRH:
Yes.
PC:
Stay where you are. You are where you stay." (laughs)
LRH:
All right, now. Let’s come up to the time you are camping.
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
All right. Let’s wake up there in the morning. The moment you are waking up in the morning.
PC:
Wow! Colder than hell.
LRH:
All right. Let’s get some coffee right now. How does it feel?
PC:
It’s cold out there, but it’s real nice. The air’s clean.
LRH:
Let’s take a smell.
PC:
Yes, smells nice.
LRH:
All right. Come up to present time.
PC:
Now wait a minute, I want to smell the lake once more. (sniffs)
LRH:
Are you in present time?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
What is the date?
PC:
The eighteenth of August.
LRH:
What was the flash?
PC:
Seventeenth of August.
LRH:
That was the flash?
PC:
Yes.
LRH:
All right. What is the date?
PC:
Eighteenth.
LRH:
All right. What happened yesterday that had a holder in it?
PC:
Oh, brother. I had 46 children between the ages of 7 and 10 at the swimming pool, and one boy pushed a 4- year- old girl into the shallow end. I didn’t see it, but when I came up this other teacher said, "I don’t know what we are going to do about Tony. He’s got to be isolated." I said, "Come here, Tony. Let’s go down to the locker room. " I said, "How do you feel?" And he said, "I don’t want to swim anymore." Then I said, "You may get dressed. There are too many of us. You will hare to stay here. You get dressed, and then you stay here in the locker room and wait for me. " (It’s that "Stay here. ") And he said, "You stay here, too." I said, "I will stay here for a minute."
LRH:
What is that a lock on?
PC:
You stay here."
LRH:
Is that a lock on what we recovered just a moment ago?
PC:
(laughs) Yes.
LRH:
Okay.
PC:
Stay where you are, because you are where you stay. " Well, how do you like that? A 7- year- old gives me a lock.
(laughs)
LRH:
Okay. When I count from one to five come up to present time. One- twothree- four- five (snap!).
PC:
Thanks ever so much.

This preclear, by my estimate, is in very excellent condition. Normally, if anybody had six engrams of a similar character before the one which I picked up, the auditor should have gone back and gotten the first one. Normally you never ask for a specific aberration or engram. That is very bad. However, in this case I knew previously there was an emotional discharge on it. I listened to this preclear talk yesterday, so I knew something about what had happened to him.

I expected that it was probably just after birth and that there was a grief discharge on it, and that he hadn’t been particularly affected. We wound up down there, not in the basic area, but two months postconception. After three months it would have beaten into a recession and it would have stuck.

I adjudicated that there was a holder someplace in that grief discharge he was talking about because he still seemed a little concerned about it, and I knew from yesterday’s conversation that nobody had run it out. Since I was fairly sure there was, I took the chance and shot the holder out of the thing.

I didn’t expect him to dive into the prenatal bank, so I was playing it too close to the edge there. I shouldn’t have gone after anything specific like that. However, I got away with it.

Portions of that engram at two months postconception are in good condition. It is all ready to roll. We took a little tension off it and got it straightened out. But the proper procedure would have been just mechanical procedure.

Suppose one of the class gets restimulated by something that is said on the platform; for instance, I stand up and say "It’s a girl; it’s a girl," and someone turns on a sudden feeling in the hip or a headache or something like that. If his auditor thought, "Oh, we have got a somatic. Oh, let’s go after this specific somatic," and took him in and said, "Now, what was it in that lecture that turned on this somatic? Repeat it, " he would probably bring the person down into birth. Birth would stay restimulated for two weeks with the person feeling very uncomfortable, so that would be bad auditing.

The proper thing to do is to knock out the somatic which has just been restimulated by getting a direct wire to the moment when it turned on, and possibly the somatic will key out by your making the person remember who said it and what was said. If it doesn’t, then you would take him back down the track to a recent pleasurable moment and you would run this moment like an engram until he could experience some of the pleasure. If this were run sufficiently, it would lay the somatic back on the track, then when you brought him up to present time you could say, "How’s your hip now?" and he would say, "What hip? Oh, yes, that’s right. It hurt me," because pleasures are powerful.

Don’t go for a chronic somatic or any specific somatic, and don’t go for any specific aberration in a case. Don’t say, "Well, this person has a bad pair of eyes, let’s see what we can do about his eyes. The file clerk will now give us the incident where his eyes were injured."

Your question should be, "The file clerk will give us the engram necessary to resolve the case," and the file clerk does. Then, "The somatic strip will go to the beginning of that engram." You know the somatic strip is there. You don’t sit around and wonder whether it is there. It is either there, or the person has got circuitry. If he has got circuitry, you are going to find out in a hurry. You assume automatically that the case is working pianola, with the file clerk working perfectly and your flash answers exactly what they’re supposed to be. That’s a case that’s working perfectly.

Before we start to roll engrams, we do anything we can to reduce a case, and we consider a case opened when this procedure will take place. For instance, you ask the file clerk for the necessary way to resolve this case, and suddenly you are running birth. That’s no reason to back off. Run the first few contractions, and then run them again and run them again and find out if they are toughening up. If they are starting to get a lot worse, something is wrong with this case because when the file clerk gives you something, it is a reliable fact that that thing will reduce or erase. And if you have gotten into something which you considered the file clerk had given you, it was probably that the person was stuck there all the time and you will have something that you have to adjust.

The case in this demonstration has been working very well. He was in his own valence. He had a tremor which went off and on when somatics hit him for the first time. He then went out of valence and finally back into valence. I was trying not to kick this engram up too high. I was trying to find out if any part of it was reduced. So, I was playing various sections of it. I figured that he had a holder somewhere on the track, not because he had an aberration about the baby or an overweening desire to hold on to the baby, but because he had been restimulated very heavily and apparently there was a holder in it. I was going to see if I could shoot the holder out of it and I did, but I had to get a denyer and a bouncer before I got a holder.

I computed that he had a holder because he was dragging down the engram, and he was going slower and slower, getting further and further from the center where the attention units were, with less and less contact with the incident, so obviously he had a holder. He was latched up there someplace.

As soon as I saw that somatic toughen up on him I immediately asked the question "The file clerk will now give up the number of engrams similar to this which precede it," and we got the number six. If I were working him on a regular run, I would have said, "Go to number one. The file clerk will now give us the first engram similar to the one we have just contacted." It may have been that the file clerk wouldn’t have been able to give us number one, but he would probably have given us at least number three, and if he did we would run number three for a couple of times and then ask again if it was the first one.

If the answer was no, we would go over it a couple more times and then say, "The file clerk will now give us the first one," until at last we know we have got the first one. Then we would run it.

I have heard several individuals mention the fact that somebody’s auditing is different from somebody else’s auditing. Learning to be an auditor is not anywhere near as difficult as, but somewhat similar to, learning how to play a Wurlitzer organ. It’s a big keyboard you are playing. You can do a lot of things with it, and your own personality and idiosyncrasies can’t help but enter into it, knowingly or unknowingly. For instance, you may become amazed sometimes by realizing that you have been practicing tacit consents on AAs, and that that was an unknowing idiosyncrasy. But if you continue to audit standardly you will find that Standard Procedure will begin to broaden in your hands. All of a sudden you will develop a sense of touch, and can look at the case and know what the case is going to say and do.

But, your individual auditing will be individual. All we can do is make you cognizant of everything you can do and the things that you can’t do, and then let you practice from there and be coached until you are good at it. Dianetics is a science which concerns itself with thinking, and a person who studies that science without bothering to think has a hard time of it. It cannot be learned by rote.