L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?

[Veda]

The book 'L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?' has been published in three English language editions, each further revised and updated (1987, 1992, and 1996.) There is also a hardbound Russian language edition that became available in 2005.

Unlike most other books on Scientology, 'Messiah or Madman?' examines both the "positives" and "negatives" of the subject. It was written under extremely strenuous circumstances, and - I think - despite everything, succeeded in its objective of reaching and helping those who had been involved in Scientology.

These three links will have to do for now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard:_Messiah_or_Madman?

http://www.xenu-directory.net/critics/corydon1.html

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0942637577/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-0654802-4263319

Anyone who wishes to add excerpts is most welcome to do so.

Some time later...

The excerpts, and personal recollections, recently posted by programmer guy are great. And I know Emma, much earlier, has posted some excerpts too.

Since I have a copy of the 1996 (464 page) edition, here is a little bit of the new material, starting at the very beginning of the book, with an excerpt from the new book flap. (All of the front material, and the top paragraph of the back):

"I have high hopes of smashing my name
into history so violently that it will take a
legendary form even if all the books are
destroyed. That goal is the real goal as far as
I am concerned. Things which stand too
consistently in my way make me nervous.
It's a pretty big job. In a hundred years
Roosevelt will have been forgotten - which
gives some idea of the magnitude of my
attempt. And all this boils and froths inside
my head...
"Psychiatrists, reaching the high of the
dusty desk, tell us that Alexander, Genghis
Khan and Napoleon were madmen. I know
they're maligning some very intelligent
gentlemen."

L. Ron Hubbard wrote these words in a letter to
his first wife in 1938.

In 1950 he wrote the bestseller 'Dianetics, the
Modern Science of Mental Health. This inspired a
layman oriented mental health movement which,
ultimately, developed into Scientology, the most
profitable of the money-making new religions.

Hubbard's early Dianetic and Scientology writings
borrow freely from Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and
the founder of General Semantics, Alfred Korzybski.

And P.T. Barnum appears to have been an inspiration.

Hubbard also took much from the writings of Aleister
Crowley - self-proclaimed "Beast 666." This is a source
of embarrassment for the Scientology Church, which
is determined to achieve broad public acceptance.

In the 1960s Hubbard incorporated Brainwashing
methodologies into the subject. He established the
"Fair Game Policy" which states that an "enemy" of
Scientology "may be deprived of property or injured
by any means by any Scientologist, without
discipline of that Scientologist. May be tricked,
sued, lied to or destroyed."

He also became the Commodore of his own private
navy, and began to refer to himself as "Source."

'L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?' exposes
as never before the dark side of Scientology, yet
contains an in-depth examination of the potential
positives of the subject and their actual origins.

 

[programmer_guy]

Here is a link to the text:
http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/mom/Messiah_or_Madman.txt

I think that there may be some occassional OCR errors in the content of the above BUT it is still readable.

The Saviour Lives Just Down the Road!

Until the first press about Hubbard's presence in La Quinta appeared in early 1980, I was unaware that Hubbard was living just down the road, some 25 minutes by car from my home. By that time my life was in a shambles, my family kept alive by a mortgage on our house.

My troubles had begun after "Source" moved into Riverside county.
...In late 1977 the FBI raids had just happened. These raids - the result of illegal acts inspired by Hubbard - made it apparent he'd committed a major blunder, and left his ego bruised. So subsequent to the raids he was thrashing around trying to find scapegoats. Anyone and any pretext would do, so long as attention shifted from him. Franchise holders were seen to fit the bill.

The fact that he was living so close by put me high on the list of targets for attack. Most other major franchise holders in California (and subsequently the U.S. and Europe) were later subjected to similar treatment.

We finally sold the Tustin house and the one in New Zealand. We invested all the money into the franchise, and began to do quite well. Then we searched for new quarters and eventually came up with a 40,000-square-foot brick building (originally built in 1909 as a YMCA) and we moved there during the latter part of 1974.

I was on staff when we made this move into that big building from an old house in Riverside. I didn't know about La Quinta until much later because I had left in Spring 1976 and, eventually, had cut ties.

Franchises were extremely permissive in their operation when compared to the totalitarian Sea Org (and were tolerated by Hubbard as a necessary "PR" activity for attracting "wogs" into Scientology).

We were the number-one single franchise in the world at this time. That crown was held tenuously, with Martin Samuels's Sacramento franchise neck and neck. It was a friendly rivalry.

Yes, I remember that it was pretty big. I have posted pics here of the building on the "Riverside Mission" thread.

While not approaching the severity of "discipline" that was occurring on the flagship, we nevertheless pushed the staff intensely, with a similar message of self-abnegation for the greater cause. The group's achievements was a collective source of enormous pride. We certainly had no doubts that we were helping mankind.

"self-abnegation"... I remember this. I lived in the basement for awhile with several other staff. I had also lost some weight which had my parents a little concerned.

 

[Veda]

The thread, Reading "Messiah or Madman?":

http://forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=275

Note - the OCR link to the text, though dated "1998," is only for the rush-to-print 1987 edition. As far as I know, there are no available scans of latter editions.

 

[Royal Prince Xenu]

As I read more and more of the various topics on this board, it rapidly emerges that 90% of useful materials that came out of the org were not from LRH "source" but in fact stolen from other philosophers and writers.

Messiah: Definitely not.

Madman: Undecided.

And as for the ongoing argument about what an ex-scientiologist is, I would suggest that anyone still using any of the plagiarized material can safetly call themselves ex(non)scientologists because the product was never scientiology in the first place.

So there!

 

[Veda]

The book 'L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?' has been published in three English language editions, each further revised and updated (1987, 1992, and 1996.) There is also a hardbound Russian language edition that became available in 2005.

Unlike most other books on Scientology, 'Messiah or Madman?' examines both the "positives" and "negatives" of the subject. It was written under extremely strenuous circumstances, and - I think - despite everything, succeeded in its objective of reaching and helping those who had been involved in Scientology.

...

'L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?' exposes
as never before the dark side of Scientology, yet
contains an in-depth examination of the potential
positives of the subject and their actual origins.

Veteran Sea Org member, Chuck Beatty, on 'Messiah or Madman?' by former Mission Holder and Class 8 auditor, Bent Corydon:

http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=22768