THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY (1)

The Founder:  L. Ron Hubbard

Victor M. Eskew

 

          Many individuals have heard of The Church of Scientology because many celebrities have been part of this organization:  Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Isaac Hayes, Kristie Alley, Sonny Bono, and Priscilla Presley.  However, they know very little about its founder, L. Ron Hubbard and its teachings.  In this next series of articles, we will examine this unique “church.” 

          Again, The Church of Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard.  Its International Headquarters is located in San Jacinto, Californica.  The name of the headquarters is Gold Base.  The church boasts of more than 11,000 congregations in 167 nations.  They claim to have between eight to ten million adherents.

          The founder of any religion is important to the character and quality of the organization.  L. (Lafayette) Ron Hubbard was born on March 13, 1911 in Tilden, Nebraska.  His father was Harry Ross Hubbard, a naval officer.  His mother was Ledora May (Waterbury), a teacher.  Ron was never a very good student.  After graduating from highs school, he only attended two years at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. 

          Hubbard was first known to some as a writer for pulp fiction magazines in the 1930s.  Pulp magazines, also called “the pulps,” were low-cost fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s.  They were printed on low-cost pulp paper instead of more expensive glossy paper.  A typical pulp magazine consisted of 128 pages.  Although only a small portion of their actual material, pulp magazines “were best known for the lurid, exploitative, and sensational subject matter” (Wikipedia, “Pulp Magazine”).  These magazines were especially appealing to the young, working-class people.  L. Ron Hubbard published about 140 stories for these magazines.  His fantasy and science fiction articles brought him much notoriety.

          L. Ron Hubbard was married to Margaret “Polly” Grubb on April 13, 1933.  They had two children, L. Ronald Hubbard, Jr. and Katherine May Hubbard.  Mr. Hubbard was married to Polly for fourteen years.  During this time, Hubbard spent nine years in the Navy.  In April of 1938, Hubbard had a bad reaction to some drugs given to him during a dental procedure.  According to Hubbard, this caused a near-death experience.  This experience caused Hubbard to write an unpublished manuscript entitled, Excalibur.  It was also referred to as The One Command.  “The one command” that Hubbard learned during his near-death experience was “survive.”  This theme would be part of one of Hubbard’s books, entitled:  Dianetics:  The Modern Science of Mental Health.

          After his time in the Navy, Hubbard moved to Pasadena, California.  However, he did not take his wife and children with him.  He moved into a mansion of a rocket propulsion scientist named John “Jack” Whiteside Parsons.  Parsons was an avid occultist and Thelemite.  Thelema was a philosophy developed by Aleister Crowley, an English ceremonial magician, in the early 1900s.  The foundational teaching of Crowley was that each person should follow his “True Will.”  Parsons’ interest in Thelema caused him to be a leader of a lodge of Crowley’s magical order, Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO).  Parson’s interest in these teachings and practices sparked the interest of Hubbard in them as well.

          Two major things happened while Hubbard lived in Parsons’ mansion.  First, he stole the affections of Parsons’ girlfriend, Sara Northrup Hollister.  These two married in 1946 while Hubbard was still married to his first wife.  Sara noted that she did not know Hubbard was already a married man when they were married.  When Margaret learned of the marriage, she divorced Hubbard and retained custody of both children.  It is interesting to note that Ron Hubbard, Jr. later changed his name to Ronald DeWolf.  Neither he nor his sister continued in the Scientology movement. 

While in Pasadena, Hubbard wrote a work entitled “Affirmations” or “Admissions.”  It consists “of a series of statements by and addressed to Hubbard, relating to various physical, sexual, psychological and social issues that he was encountering in his life. The Affirmations appear to have been intended to be used as a form of self-hypnosis with the intention of resolving the author's psychological problems and instilling a positive mental attitude” (Wikipedia, “Affirmations (L. Ron Hubbard).

          After facing some difficult financial times, Hubbard and Sara moved to Savannah, Georgia.  There, Mr. Hubbard volunteered his time to work in hospitals and mental wards.  He began to develop his concepts of Dianetics, the forerunner to Scientology, there as well.  The word “dianetics” is the combination of two words.  The first is “dia” meaning “through.”  The second is “nous” which means “soul.”  Hubbard defined the words as “a spiritual healing technology” and “an organized science of thought.”

          Hubbard’s first work was entitled, “The Original Thesis.”  It was a short treatise dealing with human aberrations and handling them through auditing.  His first articles involving Dianetics were titled, “Terra Incognita:  The Mind.”  Prior to publishing Dianetics, he and Sara moved to New Jersey and lived near his publisher, John W. Campbell.  He came in contact with a doctor named Joseph Winter.  Hubbard recruited him to assist him in refining the principles of dianetics.  Dianetics:  Modern Science of Mental Health was published on May 9, 1950. 

          Dianetics was based upon four basic principles.  First, the brain records every experience and event in a person’s life, even when those of which he is not conscious.  Second, difficult and painful experiences are said to be stored in what Hubbard called “engrams” in a “reactive mind.”  Later in life, these difficult experiences can be triggered causing emotional and physical problems.  Third, auditing enables a person to be regressed through his engrams and re-experience past experiences.  This enables engrams to be cleared.  Fourth, “the subject, who would now be in a state of ‘Clear, would have a perfectly functioning mind with an improved IQ and photographic memory.  The ‘Clear’ would be cured of physical ailments ranging from poor eyesight to the common cold, which Hubbard asserted were purely psychosomatic” (Wikipedia, “Dinanetics”).  These thoughts grasped the attention of many people.  By August of 1950, Hubbard had sold 55,000 copies of his book, Dianetics:  The Modern Science of Mental Health.