Way back in late fifties, I read a book by L. Ron Hubbard, describing his methods of the equivalent of psychoanalysis. It was so advanced and marvelous that one of his subjects was able to remember his father having sexual intercourse with his mother before he was born! I believe it probable that you may not be surprised I was more than merely sceptical of that claim.
In today's AWAD newsletter, there is a letter from someone describing L.Ron Hubbard in glowing terms, mentioning having been to one of his lectures recently. Since he died in 1958, that is remarkable, although the religion he founded believes in re-incarnation. For a site I find quite believable, L. Ron Hubbard is called a con man. I think the term fits. Here is URL:
http://www.lermanet.com/L_Ron_Hubbard/
It was so advanced and marvelous that one of his subjects was able to remember
his father having sexual intercourse with his mother before he was born!
...I don't want to remember my dad having sexual intercourse with my mother--ever!! I mean, in the abstract I'm glad they did and all that--but in reality? Doesn't sound so marvelous to me...
Thanks for the url, wwh. Will check out this oddball.
I've always pictured L. Ron and some of his scifi author buddies sitting around a table in some bar discussing the concept of whacko religions and ending up betting who could start one successfully. L. Ron won.
you're not to far off. L Ron was not as successful as Heinlein, (and others) and Heinlein told him, "you're in the wrong business. you're books are so filled with religion, you should start a religion,and not try and write sci-fi"
L Ron took Heinlein at his word.. and so began Scientology. in the end, he earned more money as the head of scientology than he ever earned as a writer. (tax free, too!)
heinlein was only half serious when he told L Ron what he did, but he claimed to regret the comment.
... and there went John Travolta.
meanwhile, good catch, Dr Bill (and I quote from Anu's newsletter):
What's perhaps more interesting, though, is a lecture I recently heard by
famous author, educator and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, in which he makes
the observation that soldiers who are brought back away from the battlefield
tend to lose their sanity (go doolally) while ones that are kept near the
sound of cannon fire, no matter how severe their wounds, or even having lost
limbs, will tend to stay sane, just on the idea that they are still in a
position to do something about it, still have a hope of fighting back.
Maybe Ron's been reincarnated?
I still remember how bullshit I was that the Medical Librarian on the recommendation of a nutty psychologist had bought that piece of pure scam, and I hadn't be able to get her to get some books needed badly.The same guy got her to buy "Naked Lunch" which I thought hardly necessary in a medical library.
All I remember from that book was something about "penises darting up assholes" at which I went ballistic.
While I think it's a scam, I'm not sure the Germans are handling it correctly. Does being a scam preclude something from being a bonafide religion?
Anyways, for your amusement.
http://www.skeptic.com/990102.htmlk
for your amusement.
Love it FF. What a great little article. And happy to know how close to right I was with my sitting around drinking WDI.
When P.T. Barnum said there was one born every minute, it was a tremendous understatement. I knew some people in the fifties who thought it was a big joke to join. I never heard the details, but they thought it could lower their income tax.
>Since he died in 1958...
I fully support everything said here about this fruitcake, but I think he died a little more recently, like in the mid-eighties.
()
in the mid-eighties.
I googled two sites say 1986. One was in Italian so it must be true.
I fully support everything said here about this fruitcake, but I think he died a little more recently, like in the mid-eighties.From the first line of the following link: "
L. Ron Hubbard [March 13, 1911 - January 14, 1986] lived an extraordinary and adventurous life."
http://www.egnet.co.uk/HallofFame/hubbard.htm
And from my
favorite place for this sort of confirmation:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3476Ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean... wouldn't you know.
