Does Scientology Believe in Brainwashing? The Strange Story of the Brain-Washing Manual of 1955 (original) (raw)
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In 1955 the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International claimed it had obtained a secret Soviet brainwashing manual, andthenpublished it. Based on that text, and other information he claimed to have received on Communist mind-control techniques, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbardmentionedbrainwashingin several lectures. In this article, I discuss the contested authorship of this manual and conclude that it probably was written by Hubbard, although other hypotheses cannot be entirely dismissed. I also distinguish between the Communist brainwashing Hubbard described within a Cold War context, and anticultists’ claims that brainwashing is practiced by ‘‘cults,’’ including Scientology.
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard Reviews: Dianetics & Scientology
And of course, the whole discourse is invested in language, the whole auditing procedure is invested in and performed with language, the whole conception of the human being is founded on the triad affinity-reality-communication and for human beings communication is primarily linguistic, but never Hubbard analyzes the way language works and the way language both informs and inspires the human mind. It is true that his conception of the mind, analytical or reactive, is nothing but a bank, a place in the psyche of the person where things are sorted out and classified by type and time and managed by a file clerk. The term computation is never explored. That is a lot of non-specified nor explored domains. I will overlook the grossly anti-communist discourse that is only paralleled by the rejection of all subversives, and you will be happy to know that the fascists like Hitler are only one notch higher than these, but all under 2.0. This is typical Cold War rhetoric and today that has no value whatsoever anymore.
Brill Handbook of Scientology, edited by James R. Lewis and Kjersti Hellesøy, pp. 485-506, 2017
The Church of Scientology, following the example of its founder L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) has been notorious for the extent to which it has striven to keep teachings (particularly the controversial OT Levels) secret, and for the virulence of the reprisals it has visited upon those who have taken the ‘Tech’ and used it for purposes other than those Hubbard mandated, or in a context outside CoS. Yet since 1954 when the Church of Scientology was founded, there have been a number of notable individuals who were briefly Scientologists, then broke away to form their own groups, whether religious, spiritual or secular. Within CoS these people are termed ‘squirrels’, a name coined by Hubbard. This chapter examines three of these ‘squirrels’: Werner Erhard (b. Jack Rosenberg, 1935), founder of est (now Landmark Education); Ken Dyers (1922-2007), founder of Kenja; and Harvey Jackins (1916-1999), founder of Re-evaluation Counselling (or Co-Counselling). Both Erhard and Dyers were insistent that their movements were not religious, yet they have nevertheless been accused of leading ‘cults’ and of sharing many of the behaviours characteristic of abusive charismatic leaders of NRMs. Harvey Jackins’ adoption of Dianetics led to a different application of Scientology ‘Tech’, which for several decades hovered at the fringe of respectable psychology. Yet the reputation of Jackins too, has been tainted by stereotypical NRM/’cult’ leader behaviours, including sexual predation on young girls in RC. It is concluded that the biography and career of L. Ron Hubbard, in addition to the teachings he developed, had a disproportionate influence on these three men, and that to a large extent each replicated LRH and CoS in their own careers and groups.
SAGE Open
Dianetics was unveiled to the public in the May 1950 edition of Astounding Science Fiction. Dianetics was the brainchild of science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, and became the foundation for scientology toward the end of the decade. Dianetics was marketed as a “scientific” method for mental improvement—a robust alternative to conventional psychiatry—and was strongly debated in science fiction (sf) magazines. This article follows the trajectory of this cultural phenomenon from 1949 to 1999 as it appeared in this form of popular culture. A proximal reading method was applied to analyze 4,431 magazines, and identified 389 references to dianetics and scientology. References were found in advertising, reader letters, stories, feature articles, and editorials. Significant fluctuations in the prominence and perception of dianetics became clearly visible in the source material across a broad spectrum of content. Negative criticism was present from the outset, and based on logical and scie...
Scientology: Up Stat, Down Stat
From Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, eds. The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements. Cambridge University Press 2012, pp. 133-149
Scientology: Religion of the Stars – A Christian Perspective
2020
Depending on your perspective, Scientology was either discovered or invented by the successful pulp and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. He and his followers claimed to have uncovered deep secrets of the mind and spirit. But while adherents say Hubbard’s discoveries can eradicate most of what ails humanity, critics argue that Hubbard invented a new religion with the same creative mind that fashioned popular works of science fiction. Hubbard’s critics add that this new religion was formulated to make its founder and close associates very wealthy.