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L.
Ron Hubbard
A
brief look at the founder of Scientology
By
Jeff Jacobsen
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Lafayette
Ronald Hubbard was born in 1911. His father worked for the Navy
which meant Hubbard moved quite often during his early years. Some
of his childhood was spent in the British West Indies where he would
pick up a phrase that is still heard today inside Scientology. The
British colonialists would disdainfully refer to the locals as "worthy
Oriental gentlemen" or wogs. Hubbard later used the phrase
"wog" to describe anyone who isn't a Scientologist.
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Hubbard
attended college at George Washington University for 2 years.
Later
in life, Hubbard would make claims about his educational background
which were at great odds with his college
records.
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Hubbard
supported himself by writing fiction. He gradually began
to specialize in science fiction for pulp magazines and
books but also wrote westerns, fantasies and adventure stories.
Writing
for the pulps was neither prestigious or profitable. The
magazines paid a penny a word for their stories, perhaps
contributing to the excessive verbiage of Hubbard's writing
style.
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Sci-
Fi Pulp Covers
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In
World War II he had an undistinguished career in the Navy, later
severely inflating his accomplishments. Scientology perpetuates
many of the myths about Hubbard's military involvement.
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Was Hubbard machine-gunned in the back while escaping the
Japanese on Java?
Was he flown home in the Secretary of the Navy's private
plane as the first US casualty from the Far East?
Find
out more at Chris Owens excellent site, "Ron,
the War Hero."
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Near
the end of his service Hubbard was at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital,
suffering from ulcers and minor pains. Hubbard enhanced this to
being "crippled and blinded" and later claimed to have
healed himself using the precursor practices to dianetics.
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After
the war Hubbard settled in for a time with Jack Parsons, a
follower of occultist Aleister Crowley. Hubbard would later
call Crowley his "dear, old friend" in a Scientology
audiotaped lecture.
Jon Atack
(author of the book, "A
Piece of Blue Sky") wrote about "Hubbard
and the Occult."
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Aleister
Crowley
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Hubbard
left Parson's estate with Parson's girlfriend, Sara Northrup. Hubbard
married Sara in 1946, making Hubbard a bigamist having not bothered
to divorce his current wife Margaret who was unaware of these new
adventures.
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While
many of the events of Hubbard's life seem too wild to be true,
they are all documented. Much of the documentation
can now be seen on the web. |
To
fellow writers, Hubbard once reportedly stated that "writing
for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make
a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own
religion." Soon Hubbard was to do just that as his self help
book, "Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health"
gave way to Scientology.
More
About L. Ron Hubbard
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