The "Affirmations", also referred to as the "Admissions", is a document written around 1946 or 1947. It does not list an author, but it is widely believed to have been written by L. Ron Hubbard, a few years before he established Dianetics (1950), which formed the basis for Scientology (1952). The document consists of a series of statements by and addressed to Hubbard, relating to various physical, sexual, psychological and social issues that he was encountering in his life. After the Affirmations became public knowledge in 1984, the Church of Scientology initially disputed their authenticity. However, they later effectively admitted the document's authorship, describing the work in legal papers as having been "written by" Hubbard and seeking to retain ownership of it.
The Affirmations were intended to be used as a form of self-hypnosis with the intention of resolving Hubbard's psychological problems and instilling a positive mental attitude. They are closely linked to the occult philosophy of Thelema, devised by Aleister Crowley in the early 20th century, in which Hubbard participated for a while during 1945–46. In her book Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion , Janet Reitman calls the Affirmations "the most revealing psychological self-assessment, complete with exhortations to himself, that [Hubbard] had ever made". [1] : 20
L. Ron Hubbard had become a well-known writer of pulp fiction stories in the 1930s before he joined the United States Navy in 1941, a few months before the US entered World War II. [2] : 206–7 His military career was not a success; he was removed from both of the vessels that he commanded after disagreements with his superiors and an incident in which he inadvertently shelled neutral Mexico. He spent a lengthy spell in hospital with chronic stomach ulcers in the last year of the war. [2] : 207–8 After the war ended in 1945 he moved in with Jack Parsons, a rocket scientist and occultist who shared a large house in Pasadena, California with various like-minded individuals. [2] : 209 Hubbard was an enthusiastic participant in the sex magic rituals which Parsons, a member of Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), performed with the aid of his girlfriend and muse, Sara "Betty" Northrup, who was 20–21 years old in 1945. Hubbard subsequently eloped with Sara to Florida and eventually married her bigamously, without divorcing his first wife Polly, whom he had abandoned in Washington state along with their young son L. Ron Jr. [2] : 210
At some point around 1946 or 1947, Hubbard is said to have composed what have become known as the "Affirmations" or "Admissions". They were written with the intention of reading them into a recording device and playing them back to himself as a form of self-hypnosis. [3] [4] : 52 The document came to light in the 1984 court case Church of Scientology v. Gerald Armstrong when the Church of Scientology's former archivist, Gerry Armstrong, read sections of them into the record against the strong objections of the church's lawyers. Other sections of the document were subsequently posted on the Internet by Armstrong after someone anonymously emailed a copy of the Affirmations to him in 2000. [1] : 379 The name "Affirmations" was given to the document by Omar V. Garrison, a British writer hired by the Church of Scientology to write an official biography of Hubbard. [5]
In the Armstrong case in 1984, Hubbard's wife's lawyer acknowledged that the document, written in Hubbard's own handwriting, was by Hubbard himself and claimed that it was part of his "research". It was, he said, "far and away the most private and personal document probably that I have ever read by anybody". Armstrong's lawyer agreed, commenting that "most Scientologists ... if they read these documents would leave the organization five minutes after they read them." [6] : 100 The church argued that they constituted "a kind of self-therapy". It later backtracked, claiming that Hubbard had not written the document. [4] : 51 However, as part of the agreement with the Church of Scientology that settled the 1984 case, Armstrong was required to return "all originals and copies of the documents commonly known as the 'Affirmations' written by L. Ron Hubbard". As religious studies scholar Hugh Urban comments, "here the church clearly indicates that the text was written by L. Ron Hubbard, and it seems difficult to understand why the church would file suit to retain ownership of the text were it not an authentic document." [3]
The Affirmations is a semi-autobiographical text in which Hubbard confronts several problems in his life, from his failures in his naval career to his health and sexual problems. Hubbard intends to overcome them by self-hypnosis, affirming his ambitions and personal well-being. The Affirmations are voluminous, with the introduction alone running to thirty pages. [6] : 100 According to Reitman, "the affirmations went on for pages, as Hubbard repeatedly avowed his magical power, sexual attractiveness, good health, strong memory, and literary talent." [1]
The document is divided into three sections: Course I, Course II and The Book. [4] : 51
The first section sets out Hubbard's aim in writing the Affirmations. He describes it as an "experiment" whose purpose "is to re-establish the ambition, willpower, desire to survive, the talent and confidence of myself". [1] : 20 He refers to his anxieties and insecurities, particularly relating to his writing and naval careers: "I was always anxious about people’s opinion of me and was afraid I would bore them. This injected anxiety and careless speed into my work. I must be convinced that I can write skilfully and well . . . I must be convinced I have succeeded in writing and with ease will regain my popularity, which actually was not small." His naval career was a source of angst (a theme to which he returned in the other sections of the Affirmations); he wrote, accurately enough, that "my service record was none too glorious". [4] : 51
Sex and relationships are a major theme in Course I. Hubbard writes that he is ashamed of his frequent affairs and his determination to succeed with the "young, beautiful, desirable" Sara, though he admits that he is hindered by impotence: "I want her always. But I am 13 years older than she. She is heavily sexed. My libido is so low I hardly admire her naked." [4] : 51 He had suffered sexually transmitted diseases and was treating his impotence with testosterone supplements. He wrote: "By eliminating certain fears of hypnosis, curing my rheumatism and laying off hormones, I hope to restore my former libido. I must!" [4] : 52
Hubbard appears to have believed that he could overcome his insecurities and physical weaknesses by focusing on a series of positive statements. Thus:
The second section comprises the statements that have been referred to as the Affirmations. Hubbard appears to have intended them to be self-hypnotic, as they start with the command "You are asleep." [4] : 52 He was well known to his peers as an accomplished hypnotist and liked to give demonstrations of his abilities. In one demonstration to the Los Angeles science fiction society in April 1948, he hypnotised almost everyone in the society's clubroom. One member was convinced he was holding a pair of miniature kangaroos in the palm of his hand; another was persuaded that the floor was becoming so hot that he took off his shoes; and a third had a ten-minute conversation on an imaginary telephone with an equally imaginary car salesman. [7] : 140
Many of the Affirmations relate to Hubbard's health problems, which were recorded at length in his Veterans Administration files; for instance:
Others concern Hubbard's views towards women and sex, a significant issue in his life (he was to have three wives and seven children, with numerous other affairs on the side):
Some of the Affirmations relate to Hubbard's views on how he related with others:
Hubbard also expressed his ambitions for the future:
Finally, a significant number of the Affirmations relate to Hubbard's "Guardian". In 1945, Parsons had written to Aleister Crowley to inform him that Hubbard had become his "magical partner" and described Hubbard's beliefs: "From some of his experiences I deduced that he is in direct touch with some higher intelligence, possibly his Guardian Angel. He describes his Angel as a beautiful winged woman with red hair whom he calls the Empress and who has guided him through his life and saved him many times." [7] : 118 Hubbard appears to have continued to believe in his Guardian Angel well after leaving Parsons's circle and wrote in his Affirmations:
The last part of the document is titled "The Book", which appears to allude to his authorship in mid-1938 of a still-unpublished manuscript called Excalibur , which he refers to as The One Commandment in the Affirmations. [4] : 54 He wrote that it had "freed you forever from the fears of the material world and gave you material control over people." [4] : 55 The document lists Hubbard's personal goals, self-compliments and statements of what he believed (or wanted to believe) were his extraordinary qualities. [4] : 54 For instance:
Lawrence Wright suggests in his book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief that in the Affimations "Hubbard is using techniques on himself that he would later develop into Dianetics." He draws parallels with the practice of "auditing" used in Dianetics and Scientology, noting that the Affimations and Dianetics both involve tackling difficult memories that hold back mental and spiritual progress. The Affirmations themselves are intended to overcome the psychological effects of these memories. Wright calls the Affirmations "certainly be the most revealing and intimate disclosures Hubbard ever made about himself" and comments that they reveal "a man who is ashamed of his tendency to fabricate personal stories, who is conflicted about his sexual needs, and who worries about his mortality. He has a predatory view of women but at the same time fears their power to humiliate him." [4] : 54
Hugh Urban links the Affirmations with the magical practices that Hubbard participated in while a member of the OTO. He notes that Hubbard refers to the Affirmations as "incantations", which suggests that he intended them to be a magical ritual. Indeed, one of the Affirmations is "that my magical work is powerful and effective". [3] During his stay with Parsons, Hubbard had come to regard himself as an adept or "magus", an enlightened spiritual being existing on a higher spiritual plane than the rest of the human race. [1] : 21 Urban highlights Hubbard's repeated invocations of the Guardian, his spiritual adviser. This concept is drawn directly from Aleister Crowley's book Magick in Theory and Practice, which advocates that "adepts" should make it a priority to get in touch with their Guardian. [3] Like Crowley's Magick, Hubbard's Affirmations assert that he was all-powerful and invulnerable because of his contact with the Guardian:
God and your Guardian and your own power bring destruction on those who would injure you. But you never speak of this for you are kind. A sphere of light, invisible to others, surrounds you as a protecting globe. All forces bounce away from you off this. [3]
Janet Reitman and Urban both note that the Affirmations contain themes that reappeared later in Scientology. [3] Reitman points to one Affirmation that foreshadows Hubbard's future interest in mental healing: "You understand all the workings of the minds of humans around you, for you are a doctor of minds, bodies and influences." [1] : 21 Len Oakes writes that Hubbard appears to have been so convinced of the power of his words that he used them "to make love to an image of himself." He characterises Hubbard's belief as a symptom of "an infantile, magical view of the world wherein one only need wish to make it so" and comments that beneath Hubbard's "freewheeling, lying exterior was a rigid, driven, superstitious mind-set desperate to win every time." [8]
Dianetics is a set of pseudoscientific ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body created by science fiction writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Dianetics is practiced by followers of Scientology and the Nation of Islam.
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and established organizations to promote and practice Dianetics techniques. Hubbard created Scientology in 1952 after losing the rights to Dianetics in bankruptcy proceedings, and would manage the Church of Scientology until his death in 1986. Born in Tilden, Nebraska, in 1911, Hubbard spent much of his childhood in Helena, Montana. While his father was posted to the U.S. naval base on Guam in the late 1920s, Hubbard traveled to Asia and the South Pacific. In 1930, Hubbard enrolled at George Washington University to study civil engineering but dropped out in his second year. He began his career as a prolific writer of pulp fiction stories and married Margaret Grubb, who shared his interest in aviation.
In Scientology, Operating Thetan (OT) is a state of complete spiritual freedom in which one is a "willing and knowing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time". The Church of Scientology offers eight "levels" of OT, each level costing thousands of US dollars.
In Dianetics and Scientology, auditing is a sequence of actions whereby the "auditor" takes an individual through times in their current or past lives with the purpose of ridding the individual of negative influences from past events or behaviors. According to practitioners, auditing is meant to bring the individual to "Clear" status; thus, an individual being audited is known as a "preclear" or PC.
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, sometimes abbreviated as DMSMH, is a book by L. Ron Hubbard about Dianetics, a system that he developed from a combination of personal experience, basic principles of Eastern philosophy and the work of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. The book is a canonical text of Scientology. It’s colloquially referred to as Book One. The book launched the movement, which later defined itself as a religion, in 1950. As of 2013, New Era Publications, the international publishing company of Hubbard's works, sells the book in English and in 50 other languages.
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard explicitly compared his teachings to the science-fiction subgenre space opera. In his writings, wherein thetans were reincarnated periodically over quadrillions of years, retaining memories of prior lives, to which Hubbard attributed complex narratives about life throughout the universe. The most controversial of these myths is the story of Xenu, to whom Hubbard attributed responsibility for many of the world's problems.
Bare-faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard is a posthumous biography of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard by British journalist Russell Miller. First published in the United Kingdom on 26 October 1987, the book takes a critical perspective, challenging the Church of Scientology's account of Hubbard's life and work. It quotes extensively from official documents acquired using the Freedom of Information Act and from Hubbard's personal papers, which were obtained via a defector from Scientology. It was also published in Australia, Canada and the United States.
Since the founding of the Church of Scientology in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard, the relationship between Scientology and psychiatry has been dominated by strong opposition by the organization against the medical specialty of psychiatry and of psychology with themes relating to this opposition occurring repeatedly throughout Scientology literature and doctrine. According to the Church of Scientology, psychiatry has a long history of improper and abusive care. The group's views have been disputed, criticized, and condemned by experts in the medical and scientific community and have been a source of public controversy.
MEST is an acronym for matter, energy, space and time, and means the physical universe. It was coined in 1950 by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and is spoken as a word rather than spelling out the letters.
Ronald Edward "Ron" DeWolf, also known as "Nibs" Hubbard, was the eldest child of Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard by his first wife Margaret Louise Grubb. He is known for having been highly critical of his father and of the Church of Scientology.
Gerald "Gerry" Armstrong is a critic of the Church of Scientology and a former member. As an archivist and assistant to L. Ron Hubbard's biographer, he discovered the truth about Hubbard's life history which impugned the Church's fantastic and idealized version. When Church management refused to correct the record, Armstrong left Scientology with copies of some of the documents. For decades he was harassed by the Church and pursued through the court systems, bankrupting him, in an attempt to keep the materials and facts undisclosed. But with each successive court case, more documents were inevitably disclosed as evidence and became part of the court's records and accessible to the public.
The Church of Scientology publicly classifies itself as a religion, but scholars and other observers regard it as a business, because the organization operates more like a for-profit business than a religious institution. Some scholars of sociology working in religious studies consider it a new religious movement. Overall, as stated by Stephen A. Kent, Scientology can be seen as a "multi-faceted transnational corporation that has religion as only one of its many components. Other components include political aspirations, business ventures, cultural productions, pseudo-medical practices, pseudo-psychiatric claims, and, an alternative family structure."
Sara Elizabeth Bruce Northrup Hollister was an American occultist and second wife of Scientologist founder L. Ron Hubbard. She played a major role in the creation of Dianetics, which evolved into the religious movement Scientology. Hubbard would evolve into the leader of the Church of Scientology.
Keeping Scientology Working is the most important policy in the Church of Scientology, serves as the keystone for every action, and is mandated to be presented as the first document at the beginning of every single course of study in Scientology. Written by founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, and originally issued in 1965, it was reissued in 1970 and again in 1980. It lays out ten points concerning the exact application and preservation of "Standard Tech" in Dianetics and Scientology, and the eradication of "non-standard tech", more commonly referred to in Scientology as "squirreling."
The intersection of Scientology and abortion has a controversial history which began with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's discussion of abortion in his 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Hubbard wrote in Dianetics that abortion and attempts at abortion could cause trauma to the fetus and to the mother in both spiritual and physical ways. Scientologists came to believe that attempted abortions could cause traumatic experiences felt by the fetus, which would later be remembered as memories referred to in Scientology as "engrams". In the Scientology technique called Auditing, Scientologists are frequently queried regarding their sexual feelings and behaviors. These questions about Scientologists' sexual behavior are often posed to members during "security checks", a specific form of auditing sessions where individuals are required to document their divergence from the organization's ethics. One of the questions asked in these security checks is, "Have you ever been involved in an abortion?".
Scientology is in part derived from, and shares elements with, a number of esoteric or occult systems. The extent of the influence of specific occult belief systems on Scientology is a subject of debate amongst scholars.
Excalibur is an unpublished manuscript written in 1938 by L. Ron Hubbard, later the founder of Scientology. The contents of Excalibur formed the basis for Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950) and some of Hubbard's later publications.
L. Ron Hubbard, the creator of Dianetics and Scientology spent the first four decades of his life as a student, a pulp fiction author, a low-ranking officer in the US Navy, and an occult practitioner.
From 1950 to 1953, L. Ron Hubbard promoted Dianetics until losing the rights to term and pivoting to Scientology. In 1953, Scientology incorporated as church.
Armstrong's lawyer, Michael Flynn, tended to agree: 'Most Scientologists ... if they read these documents would leave the organization five minutes after they read them.' The 'Affirmations' are voluminous. The introduction alone runs to thirty pages. They are in Ron Hubbard's own hand. Only a tiny portion was read into the court record, and the originals were held under court seal.