My Library

I then learned that the essay had been expanded into book form as DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH. So I acquired a used copy of that, too. The book stood around for about two years in my to-read piles. When I did read it, I was impressed by quite a number of his observations. Among these he insisted that intra-uterine memory was possible and did occur and that the unborn baby began recording memory and other impressions well before actual physical birth. This concept is rather broadly accepted today. But even as of 1963, it was anathema to science, the medical professions, and to psychology. I felt I had such memory -- and as a young child I used to refer to events and situations which occurred while my mother was pregnant with me. My family used to say: "Who told you that? You couldn't remember that because it happened before you were born." There is of course, the small detail of where and when the mind begins. For quite a long time it had been understood that during the later months of pregnancy, the senses of the babe become formed and functional, especially during the seventh to the ninth month. Convincing cases also abound regarding the pre-birth baby's capability of sending empathy and telepathic signals to their mothers. Today, mothers are sometimes encouraged to read out loud so their pre-birth babies can hear and begin their learning processes. But one must draw one's own conclusions about all of this.