History of Dianetics® and Scientology®

L. Ron Hubbard

In 1923, when twelve years old, L. Ron Hubbard was introduced to Sigmund Freud’s work by Commander Joseph C. Thompson, of the US Navy Medical Corp. Commander Thomson had been sent by the US Navy to study under Sigmund Freud. After this introduction to the mind L. Ron Hubbard travelled Asia, studying life.

In 1932 he coined the word Scientology to describe his research. In 1938 he compiled philosophic writings into a manuscript, “Excalibur.” The manuscript did not contain a therapy but was a discussion of the composition of life. His research continued.

The second-world war intervened. In 1945, partially blind and lame from hip and back injuries he successfully applied his theories on himself and Americans liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps.

In 1948 he published a manuscript Dianetics: The Original Thesis, which proved very popular.

Mr. Hubbard soon decided to write a book on the subject, a full account of all his discoveries to date, a full manual of the mind, called, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

Before the book was printed Mr. Hubbard wrote a magazine article called Dianetics: A New Slant On Life, heralding the coming book.

Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health was published on May 5, 1950. It sold phenomenally well, resulting in six immediate printings. Over 25,000 letters and telegrams of congratulations poured into the publisher. Hundreds of Dianetics groups sprang up all over America. The book became a best seller on the New York Times bestseller list week after week. Over 22 million copies have been sold to date.

The therapy contained in Dianetics was new and exciting. Mr. Hubbard had discovered separate minds, which could be harmlessly accessed with simple therapy. Much of a person’s dreads, fears, irrationalities, and shortcomings could be addressed through these minds.

Mr. Hubbard found that a person could recall distant pasts, particularly birth, and the prenatal nine months. He also found that when a person recalled traumatic times from the developmental stages before birth, a case would respond dramatically well.

The book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health outlined the simple and exact theories and procedures.

That people could recall nine months before birth was new. Claims of a new mental theory were not new. But the fact that people were also able to predicably use the therapy to reproduce the exact same results from person to person was totally unheard of. Psychiatry, a subject with few positive results, was upset. Earlier, psychiatry had been offered the studies of Dianetics but had rejected them.

The technology outlined in Dianetics is simple and works. A person can get rid of their unwanted emotional symptoms, be they shyness, fear, anger, unwanted emotional outbursts, psycho-somatic (mentally generated) illnesses and more. Irrational causes in the mind have been found. The claims of effectiveness have been and always will be extraordinary. Dianetics is drug free. It is natural. It works.

Clear is the goal of Dianetics therapy. “A Clear can be tested for any and all psychoses, neuroses, compulsions and repressions (all aberrations) and can be examined for any autogenic (self generated) diseases referred to as psychosomatic ills. These tests confirm the Clear to be entirely without such ills or aberrations. Additional tests of his intelligence indicate it to be high above the current norm. Observation of his activity demonstrates that he pursues existence with vigor and satisfaction.” (L. Ron Hubbard, from Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health.

For more on this state of Clear, see the attached article: The Clear, from the book DIANETICS: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

While Dianetics worked precisely and positively, L. Ron Hubbard continued researching for higher states above Clear.

Since 1949 practitioners had been occasionally reporting past life memories. So while people were getting well from Dianetics there was research into past lives through the Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation. But while past lives may have seemed controversial, the truth of what existed in the minds of men was too overwhelmingly evident to be ignored.

In 1951 Mr. Hubbard gave a lecture on how thought could be measured by an instrument. An engineer in that audience manufactured the instrument, called an e-meter (electro-galvanometer). It was not complicated. With it the human mind was ripe for total investigation.

These discoveries proved man was a life force, his own soul, a spiritual entity, inhabiting a body, surviving death. And by accessing past life memories containing adverse emotions, a person became more able, aware, intelligent, and potentially possible to achieve the stuff of dreams.

For some the concept of past lwas cloudy. But the research facts bore out that individuals had whole vistas of memories, called whole-track, which could be mapped. Mortal and spiritual abilities could be returned to man.

Here was a science that had evolved into a religion. Here were twentieth century discoveries validating all the major earlier religions of Earth. Here was Scientology.

The first Church of Scientology was established in 1953. The Founding Church of Scientology was established in Washington DC in 1954

From the results of research into the life-force that is man, it was found that man obeyed certain laws, as did all life. These were not physical universe laws, but hitherto unknown laws of the spirit. And they turned out to be as predictable as physics. In Scientology these laws are known as axioms, logics, pre-logics and factors. Here was the knowledge to restore man’s spiritual greatness.

Further, Mr. Hubbard also introduced the exteriorization of the spirit from the body for faster and more gain.

In 1959 the headquarters of Scientology moved from the USA to East Grindstead, Sussex, United Kingdom, to take advantage of the communication lines reaching out of Great Britain. This became the worldwide hub of the expanding Church of Scientology. Here Mr. Hubbard continued his research. The Church of Scientology expanded into all English speaking countries plus Europe.

One of the greatest contributions to man was Mr. Hubbard’s knowledge. It alone has helped many people lead better lives, ease suffering, and bring people to happier and more productive pursuits. Above all else, Mr. Hubbard was a writer, and philosopher.

Today, there are over 11 million Scientologists with numbers expanding exponentially. There are over two thousand Churches, Missions and Field Groups around the world, and Scientology books and lectures are translated into over 100 languages.

Scientology is the culmination of 50,000 years of thinking men. It is an evolving religion. There is no stopping it. Its time has come.

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