A Narrative Item is one which will land the pc in a single incident for which there is no chain.

Flagrant example: “The time the horse Baldy dumped me in the Potomac.”

Obviously there was only one such incident. If it doesn’t F/N, where are you going to go with R3R? No chain.

Example: “When my mother spanked me.” One incident. No chain.

Example: “A feeling like catching my hand in a 322 IBM computer on March 3 last year.” Only one incident. No chain.

Example: “Like being bitten by a dog.” Several examples on a chain but the SOMATIC he is trying to get rid of has a basic on it of being tortured.

These are by repeating story. By incident description.

There may be 40 billion times his shoe pinched.

Example: “Feeling like a shoe pinching me.” The chain is endless. On the same somatic list was “A painful foot.” This, being a somatic, permits you to get to a basic.

Example: “Feeling like my parents were cross with me.” There may be seven thousand such incidents. You never get to basic.

In old Dianetics, we often ran narratives. They can be run. But now and then there is only one incident and it never arrives at any basic.

Or there are so many similar incidents you go on for days!

The breakthrough came in assessing only somatics, sensations, emotions, attitudes.

There are two types of chains – (1) story or narrative (2) feelings.

The feeling chains (pain, soreness, physical sensation) are the ones that relieve what’s wrong with the pc. You can audit for a long time on narrative or story incidents without relieving any somatics.

Narrative items can give you trouble in R3R.

Somatics, sensations, emotions, attitudes as R3R items not only give you no trouble to audit but deliver the goods.

A sore arm chain can include incidents such as:

1. Being hit by a tree.

2. Run over by a carriage.

3. Being wounded in a duel.

4. Being hit by a stone axe.

If “sore arm” is the item assessed (a somatic) then you get all four incidents listed.

Suppose you assess 3 “Being wounded in a duel” as the item. It’s a narrative item because it describes the incident. So you run 3 only, never get to 4 and leave the pc

with a sore arm.

He’s trying to get rid of a sore arm, not a duel.

Get it?