DWINDLING SPIRAL, 1. one commits overt acts unwittingly. He seeks to justify them by finding fault or displacing blame. This leads him into further overts against the same terminals which leads to a degradation of himself and sometimes those terminals. (HCOB 21 Jan 60, Justification) 2. as life progresses, more and more theta becomes fixed as entheta in locks and secondary engrams, and less and less theta is available to the organism for purposes of reason. This is called the dwindling spiral. It is so called because the more entheta there is on the case, the more theta will be turned into entheta at each new restimulation. It is a three-dimensional vicious circle which carries the individual down the tone scale. (SOS, Bk. 2, p. 26)
Hubbard, L. R., (1975) Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary. Los Angeles: Church of Scientology of California Publications Organization.