- the somatic strip is so called because it seems to be a physical indicator
mechanism which has to do with time. The auditor orders the somatic strip. There is
this difference between the file clerk and the somatic strip: he works with the
file clerk but commands the somatic strip. On command, the somatic strip will go
to.any point of the preclear's life, unless the entheta on the case is so heavy that the somatic
strip is frozen in one place. The somatic strip goes to the point of return,
but it is not the same as completely returning since the preclear's "I" can stay
in present time and the somatic strip can be sent back to earlier periods of his
life. This is a very useful mechanism. The somatic strip can be sent back to the
beginning of an engram and will go there. The somatic strip will advance through an
engram in terms of minutes counted off by the auditor, so that the auditor can say that
the somatic strip will go to the beginning of the engram, then to the point five
minutes after the engram began, and so forth. (SOS, Bk. 2, p. 163)