This is very much a Scientology word and used quite a bit by Scientologists; “my havingness is low today”, “look at her house, she has great havingness”, etc. However, many Scientologists think of it as a word Ron made up … but it is an English word; Definition of “havingness” in English by Oxford Dictionaries, NOUN rare 1. Covetousness, possessiveness. 2. The fact or state of having or possessing something. Origin Mid-17th century. From having + -ness.
Its use in Scientology is far more important and extensive in relation to beings and their environment.
In PAB 83 – 8 May 1956 – The Conditions of Existence, Ron gives some very simple explanations of Havingness, as it is applied in the role of life as follows:
There are three conditions (circumstances, qualities) of existence (apparency, reality, livingness).
These three conditions comprise (make up, constitute) life.
They are BE, DO and HAVE.
THE CONDITION OF BEING is defined as the assumption (choosing) of a category of identity. It could be said to be the role in a game (E.G: one’s name, profession, or physical characteristics). Each or all of these things could be called his beingness. …
THE SECOND CONDITION OF EXISTENCE IS DOING. By doing we mean action, function, accomplishment, the attainment of goals, the fulfilling of purpose, or any change of position in space.
THE THIRD CONDITION IS HAVINGNESS. By havingness we mean owning, possessing, being capable of commanding, positioning, taking charge of objects, energies or spaces.
The essential definition of having is to be able to touch or permeate or to direct the disposition of.
The game of life demands that one assume a beingness in order to accomplish a doingness in the direction of havingness.
These three conditions are given in an order of seniority (importance) where life is concerned. The ability to be is more important than the ability to do, the ability to do is more important than the ability to have. In most people all three conditions are sufficiently confused (chaotic, baffling) that they are best understood in reverse order.
When one has clarified (brought order into) the idea of possession or havingness, one can then proceed to clarify doingness for general activity, and when this is done one understands beingness or identity.
It is an essential to a successful existence that each of these three conditions be clarified and understood. The ability to assume or to grant (give, allow) beingness is probably the highest of human virtues. It is even more important to be able to permit (allow) other people to have beingness than to be able oneself to assume it.
You can find many other definitions of “havingness” the Technical Dictionary which give you a further idea of how much it is part of the subject.
HAVINGNESS,
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- that which permits the experience of mass and pressure. (A&L, p. 8)
- the feeling that one owns or possesses. (SH Spec 84, 6612C13)
- can be simply defined as ARC with the environment. (SH Spec 294, 6308C14)
- that activity which is run when needed and when it will not violently deflect the pc’s attention. (SH Spec 85, 6111C28)
- the result of creation. (SH Spec 19, 6106C23)
- the ability to duplicate that which one perceives, or create a duplication of what one perceives, or to be willing to create a duplication of it. But it’s duplication. (lSHACC-10, 6009C14)
- ability to communicate with an isness. The ability to conceive an is-ness and communicate with it. ( 17ACC-4, 5702C28
- havingness is the concept of being able to reach or not being prevented from reaching. (SH Spec 126, 6203C29)
- the need to have terminals and things to play for and on. (Dn 55!, p. 137) Abbr. Hav.
LRH stresses the importance of the proper evaluation of havingness in the section below …
“If a person over-evaluates havingness consistently and continually, then he will begin to protect things he’s better off without. He will have things he doesn’t need because he feels he can’t ever replace them. And you get your pack-rat nature of man.
“And he goes below that level; he feels that other people want to damage him solely because he has things; therefore, he’ll start to abandon, abandon, abandon, abandon. He has no proper evaluation of the importance of havingness, which means automatically then he’d have no proper evaluation of time. And so he doesn’t have.
“But it all starts out with a desire and a conviction and goes on down the line. And after a person has been convicted and sentenced to seventy-four trillion years in the MEST universe, that much havingness of the MEST universe, it’s time for somebody to bail him out.”
“SOP: Assessment (Continued)” Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture of 13 Dec 52, Research and Discovery Series volume XIV page 367
The advertising industry is well aware of people’s desperate need to acquire and have. So who is happier; Bill Gates or the guy who lives in a wooden hut in the forest growing his own food? Well it all seems to come down to the case shape you are in …
“But this universe vector is: ‘In order to progress, you must have. And that, of course, is 180-degree falsehood. You can progress with or without having. But this universe tells you, ‘Only by having and acquiring and by new possession can you progress.’ And so you turn the vector around and you start un-having, and of course the fellow gets freer time, more action, more capabilities in space and a much more desirable ability or capability in all directions, including that of knowingness. And then he says to you, ‘Having acquired nothing, I feel I should acquire something.
“Up at the top of all this, you see, is this terrible mania ‘Acquire. Have. We must be in a time span. We must be timed according to this universe.’
“Well, a conviction must exist before a possession can exist. You must be convinced, one, either out of yourself or from another, that you desire something. And then next, you must be convinced by it, by yourself or by another, that its havingness is actual. And of course, it isn’t actual, it’s real. Get the distinction between those two words we’re making?
“So, all of a sudden here nothing existed. Nobody had to desire anything, but could. And now, desiring it, two conditions can ensue: one has it, and then has to have it and then, of course, mustn’t have it.”
LRH, “SOP: Issue 5” Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture of 15 Dec 52, Research and Discovery Series volume XIV page 416-417
Knowing something about havingness, knowing it well makes the understanding of oneself, others and the MEST universe a great deal easier.
“And the difference between a right and the difference between a criminal act is simply knowing one has a right to and knowing one doesn’t have a right to….
“To the petty thief who knows he doesn’t have the right to pay a nickel to ride on the subway, and the second after he’s paid his nickel he still looks like he doesn’t have a right to ride on the subway and what do you know? He paid his nickel! Now, that’s an interesting point, isn’t it? Fascinating.
“He knows he doesn’t have the right to. He knows he doesn’t have the right to do anything. He has no space and no time, no havingness. And as such, he comes right on down scale.
“Now, there are some people who have the right natively to have a space bigger than a galaxy, easily….
“Well, your petty thief possibly could be someday the size of the MEST universe. But it would mainly depend upon his knowing he had the right to be.”
LRH, “The DEI Scale”, Philadelphia Doctorate Course Lecture of 11 Dec 52, in Research and Discovery Series Volume XIV page 162
