Part One:
PHILOSOPHICAL ORIENTATION

1:1 SCIONICS: Science Versus Mysticism

It is natural to seek pleasure, happiness, and those things which lead to them; likewise, it is natural to seek to avoid pain, unhappiness, and those things which lead to them. Pleasure, happiness, and those things which lead to them may be identified as positive hedonic values; likewise, pain, unhappiness and those things which lead to them may be identified as negative hedonic values. (The term “hedonic” is derived from the same root as the word “hedonism:” the Greek word “hedon,” meaning “pleasure.” Hedonic value and related concepts will be explored in more detail in 1:4 ETHICS.) To seek hedonic value is to seek both to increase positive hedonic value and to decrease negative hedonic value. Thus the first sentence of this paragraph could be rephrased: “It is natural to seek hedonic value.”

One’s methods for pursuing hedonic value are guided by one’s philosophy. A philosophy is a set of concepts and beliefs which provides a framework for understanding the world and one's relationship to it, and for guiding one's activity within it.

Any of the various concepts or beliefs which comprise one's philosophy may or may not correspond with reason and reality. Those which do will be useful, reliable, and productive guides in the pursuit of hedonic value; those which do not will be useless, unreliable, and counterproductive guides.

All of the various methods by which humans have attempted to understand the world and their relationship to it, and for guiding their activities within it, can be broadly classified into one of two distinct and irreconcilable categories: science and mysticism. The word “mysticism” has roots in the Latin “mysterium” and Greek “mysterion,” meaning “mystery.” Mystery is the opposite of knowledge. To be “mystified” is to be “bewildered” or “confused.” “Mysticism” refers to any sort of ineffective, irrational, or non-reality-based methodology or approach to the acquisition of knowledge and understanding; instead of knowledge, the fruits of mysticism are confusion, ignorance, unhappiness, and ultimately death.

In contrast to the deplorably ineffective approach of mysticism is the profoundly effective approach of science. The word “science” is derived from the Latin word “scire,” meaning “to know;” science is, in fact, the most powerful means available for reliably deriving rational, reality-based knowledge about ourselves, the world, and indeed everything in existence. Knowledge truly is power, and science is the path to that knowledge. The fruits of science, if its power is properly applied, are knowledge, understanding, happiness and life.

All of human history and prehistory has been infected by the damaging and deadly effects of mysticism. Science, on the other hand, is a relatively recent advancement which has remained largely misunderstood or ignored by most individuals; all too often some even go so far as to resent or even fear science. Thus, most individuals never fully take hold of the tremendous knowledge and power which science has placed within their grasp: rather than growing and prospering through the application of the liberating, reality-based approach of science, most individuals stagnate and decay, trapped within the impotent, and limiting approach of mysticism. This is an unfortunate and very avoidable state of affairs.

The term “natural philosophy” has been traditionally used as essentially a synonym for “science,” particularly before science and philosophy were divided into two distinct fields of endeavor. Science embraces, whether implicitly or explicitly, both the idea that everything that we can experience is part of the natural (rather than supernatural) world and that only natural methods such as observation, measurement and mathematical modeling (as opposed to some sort of supernatural methods) are valid for studying the world. (Note that the distinction here is between natural and supernatural, not natural and artificial. Things which are artificial, in the sense of being “made by humans,” would thus still be considered to be part of the natural world, rather than some supernatural world.)

The equivalence between “natural philosophy” and “science” reflects the fact that science and philosophy are part of a continuum rather than separate unconnected endeavors, that all valid philosophy is necessarily based upon reality itself, and that the natural world ultimately includes all of reality. Mysticism, including all types of “supernatural philosophy,” on the other hand, is a means for concocting information which does not correspond with actual reality. The less that one implements reality-based, integrated thinking, the more that one defaults to mystical thinking. Science, or “philosophical naturalism,” is a means for knowing and understanding reality; mysticism is a means for evading and mystifying reality.

The means by which knowledge is scientifically derived is called the scientific method. While this has been defined in various ways, it fundamentally involves the skeptical integration of empiricism and rationalism, into a powerful methodology which may be called empiricorationalism. Empiricorationalism is the creation of conceptual models of aspects of existence (beliefs) based upon actual empirical observations (empiricism) using valid, logical reasoning (rationalism) and then testing and re-evaluating these models to see if they actually hold up under scrutiny (skepticism).

Scionics is the invincible philosophy, science and technology of the fully integrated, wide-scope application of empiricorational philosophical naturalism. (The term “Scionics,” like the word “science,” is derived from the Latin root “scire,” meaning “to know.”) Scionics entails the full utilization of, and adherence to, empiricorationally valid criteria for developing, evaluating, and integrating concepts and beliefs. The Scionics protocols maximize an individual’s capability to respond to all situations with understanding, rationality, control and love, potentiating the extraction of maximum hedonic value from all situations.

A strict adherence to self-honesty is absolutely necessary if one is to abandon all forms of mysticism and to gain and maintain an iron-clad grasp of the empiricorational methodology, knowledge, and power of science. This is the very essence of Scionics. The term “Scion” may therefore refer to one who applies the protocols of Scionics, consistently adhering to empiricorational self-honesty, and consequently extracting maximum hedonic value from every situation. A Scion is the opposite of a mystic.

Mystical thinking puts the mystic in constant danger of acting self-destructively and of being manipulated and exploited by others. A mystic’s irrational and anti-reality-driven actions result in the waste or destruction of hedonic values.

The situation is gloriously different for the Scion. Reason and reality form the very foundation of Scionics. This unshakable foundation and the resulting freedom from destructive mysticism allows the Scion to empiricorationally, effectively and lovingly pursue, obtain, and create maximum hedonic value – both for oneself and for those whom one loves.

Much research and effort has gone (and is still going) into Scionics in order to develop it into a truly wide-scope and ever-expanding system of knowledge. This required the in-depth study and investigation of subjects and ideas from across the entire gamut of human thought and activity; these include (but are not limited to):

During this research and investigation, it was critical that mystical ideas and concepts be identified and distinguished from reality-based ideas and concepts. Those which were based in reality were integrated into an all-encompassing whole; those which were not were discarded.

The task of investigating and integrating so knowledge from so many diverse fields eventually became too much for one person. Thus it was that the Founder of Scionics began to quietly seek out the consultation and aid of others with the necessary knowledge and skills, often without revealing almost anything about the project at all, beyond the very bare minimum required to accomplish the task for which they were recruited. This practice is continued to this day.

Over time a very small handful of other individuals have been assembled into something of a think tank, the Scionics Institute. In a playful reference to the 1956 French fraternal organization, the “Priory of Sion,” (French: “Prieuré de Sion“) the Core members of the Scionics Institute call have given the Founder the title of “Prior,” “Chyren,” or “Prior Chyren.” (Chyren was the pseudonym of Pierre Plantard, the founder of the Priory of Sion, so this seemed an apt, albeit somewhat humorous, appellation for our Founder as well.)

The Scionics Institute maintains an iron-clad constant adherence to the grand universals of reason and reality in their construction of Scionics Philosophy, necessarily resulting in a truly grand universal philosophy. Scionics thus represents the terrestrial entelechy of the grand universal philosophy of the cosmos. Any beings, anywhere in the cosmos, provided they are capable of forming the necessary philosophical conceptual integrations, will ultimately discover the grand universal philosophy, i.e., the Scionics protocols, for themselves. Just as mathematics and science are universal, so too is Scionics. It must be recognized, however, that just as the application of Scionics will vary in some aspects from individual to individual on Earth, according to their individual differences, so too will it vary among any conceptual beings elsewhere in the cosmos, due to their own differences from human beings and each other; while its application may vary, however, its underlying fundamental truths of Scionics are universal.