MEET L. RON HUBBARD

‘Unless there is a vast alteration in man’s civilization as it stumbles along today,” he declared in the mid-1960s, “man will not be here very long.” For signs of that decline, he cited political upheaval, social putrefaction, violence, racism, illiteracy and drugs. It was in response to these problems, then, that L. Ron Hubbard devoted the better part of his final years. Indeed, by the early 1970s his life may be charted directly in terms of his search for solutions to the cultural crises of this late twentieth century.

That he was ultimately successful is borne out in the truly phenomenal growth of Dianetics and Scientology: There are now more than five thousand organizations in 156 nations utilizing the various Dianetics and Scientology techniques. It is borne out in the mountain of accolades for L. Ron Hubbard’s work — recognitions and proclamations that would literally fill volumes from state, county, national and international bodies. It is borne out in the sheer scope of his worldwide impact: with 70 million philosophic works regularly read in virtually every country on Earth, no philosopher in history even approaches his popularity. Then again, it is borne out in all that is contained in these pages, including the inherent fact that so many of Scientology’s fundamental truths are now part of our social fabric. But most of all it is borne out in the continued fulfillment of L. Ron Hubbard’s personal philosophic aim:

“I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.

“These shadows look so thick to him and weigh him down so that when he finds they are shadows and that he can see through them, walk through them and be again in the sun, he is enormously delighted. And I am afraid I am just as delighted as he is.”