one of the five
ways in which a human being reacts toward a
source of
danger. The
term derives its name from an
example given in the book
Dianetics: The Modern
Science of Mental Health. A particularly blacktempered black panther is sitting on the stairs and a
man named Gus is sitting in the
living room. Gus wants to go to
bed. But there is the black panther. The
problem is to get
upstairs. There are five things that Gus can do about this panther:
(1) he can go
attack the black panther;
(2) he can
run out of the
house and flee the black panther;
(3) he can
use the back stairs and avoid the black panther;
(4) he can neglect the black panther; and
(5) he can
succumb to the black panther. These are the five
mechanisms:
attack, flee, avoid, neglect or
succumb. All actions can be seen to
fall within these
courses.
—Academy Level III Glossary