Historical Figure
L. Ron Hubbard
1911–1986
American writer and Scientology founder (1911–1986)
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Biography
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored the pseudoscientific book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and established organizations to promote and practice Dianetics techniques. Hubbard created Scientology in 1952 after losing the intellectual rights to his literature on Dianetics in bankruptcy. He would lead the Church of Scientology – variously described as a cult, a new religious movement, or a business – until his death in 1986.
In Their Own Words (5)
God was feeling sardonic the day He created the Universe. So it's rather up to at least one man every few centuries to pop up and come just as close to making him swallow his laughter as possible.
A letter to his wife Polly (October 1938), quoted in Bare-faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (1987), p. 81. , 1987
You are a spirit, thena god,full capableof making spaceand energy and timeand all things well.And there you crouch, forgottento yourself and hidden fromthe eyes of allpretending there to bea beastthat walks and eats and dies.
"There Is No Compromise With Truth" ( a poem written in 1953 or 1954). , 1953
You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.
Response to a question from the audience during a meeting of the Eastern Science Fiction Association on (November 7, 1948), as quoted in a 1994 affidavit by Sam Moskowitz. , 1948
In any event, any person from 2.0 down on the Tone Scale should not have, in any thinking society, any civil rights of any kind, because by abusing those rights he brings into being arduous and strenuous laws which are oppressive to those who need no such restraints.
The "Tone Scale" is Scientology's measure of mental and spiritual health; p. 145. , 1951
there is no war not based on lies,there is no infamy alive withoutits kindred kin, deceit.
"There Is No Compromise With Truth" (a poem written in 1953 or 1954). , 1953
Timeline
The story of L. Ron Hubbard, told in moments.
Published prolifically in pulp science fiction magazines. Wrote westerns, adventure, and horror too. One cent per word. Reportedly told a writers' gathering, "If you want to make a million dollars, start a religion."
Published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. It claimed a new technique could cure psychosomatic illness. The AMA and scientific establishment rejected it. It sold millions of copies.
Incorporated the Church of Scientology. Took his self-help system and built a tax-exempt religion around it. Added past lives, alien origin stories, and a hierarchical payment structure.
Died on his ranch in Creston, California. Age 74. Had been in seclusion for years. The Church announced he had "discarded his body" to do research on another plane of existence.
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