L. Ron Hubbard is a well-known author and founder of the religion of Scientology. The Scientology philosophy is that man is an immortal spiritual being with unlimited capabilities. Scientology missions and churches have been established on six continents. After more than half a century of research into methods to better the human condition, Hubbard left a legacy that improves people’s lives in numerous ways.
Hubbard’s interest in education and the problems associated with it began early. Born in Tilden, Nebraska in 1911, he taught Chamorro children in Guam at age 15, utilizing unique methods he came up with. Then, while in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he trained ship crews and developed some of the techniques of pre-battle conditioning still used today.
Hubbard received worldwide attention with the publication of his book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, in 1950. The book, which marked a turning point in history, provided the first workable approach to solving the problems of the mind. It also provided the first hope that something could be done about the causes of irrational behavior—war, crime, and insanity.
Hubbard studied engineering, mathematics, and nuclear physics at George Washington University, all disciplines that would serve him well through later philosophic inquiry. He was the first to rigorously employ Western scientific methods to the study of spiritual matters. Hubbard has described his philosophy in more than 5,000 writings, including dozens of books, and in 3,000 tape-recorded lectures.
• Look. See what you see, not what someone tells you that you see. What you observe is what you observe. Look at things and life and others directly, not through any cloud of prejudice, curtain of fear, or the interpretation of another.
• Instead of arguing with others, get them to look. The most flagrant lies can be punctured, the greatest pretenses can be exposed, the most intricate puzzles can be resolved, and the most remarkable revelations can occur, simply by gently insisting that someone look.
• There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is thinking you see something that isn’t there.
• A person is either the effect of his environment or is able to have an effect upon his environment.
• Being competent means the ability to control and operate the things in the environment and the environment itself.
• A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists.
L. Ron Hubbard is best known for Dianetics and the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology has 3,700 churches, missions, and groups all over the world, and it all started with the book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. This book was first published in 1950, has sold over 20 million copies, and is clearly the place to get started.
According to L. Ron Hubbard and the book, there is a single source of all your problems, such as stress, unhappiness, and self-doubt. It is called the reactive mind—the hidden part of your mind that stores all painful experiences and then uses them against you. Dianetics teaches you how to get rid of the reactive mind.
In the book, Hubbard writes that the “mind is more accurately called your reactive mind, since it reacts illogically and irrationally, giving you feelings you don’t understand and making you react in ways that are not you. The reactive mind is also the source of psychosomatic ills—which means illnesses which are caused by the mind. Feelings of unhappiness, uncontrollable emotions and the like are no more than the ‘memory’ of past painful experience being replayed by your reactive mind.”
According to the book, Dianetics can tell you:
• The real reason for unexplained pains, negative emotions, and unhappy relationships in your life.
• Exactly what is destroying your belief in yourself and how Dianetics helps you get rid of it so you become more you.
Dianetics and Scientology get frequent endorsements from a variety of well-known actors, including John Travolta, Tom Cruise, and Isaac Hayes. According to Travolta, “Dianetics put me into the big time. I always had the ability to be somewhat successful, but Dianetics freed me up to the point where something really big could happen, without interference.”
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