Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (25 page)

Hubbard felt so confident of his change of fortunes that he
telegrammed a proposal of marriage to his Los Angeles girlfriend.
³
Then in June he filed for divorce in Wichita, and negotiated a settlement with
Sara. Alexis was returned to her mother, who had not seen her baby for over
three months. In return, Sara dropped her Los Angeles suit, abandoned any claim
to the million dollars that she said the Foundations had earned in its first year;
instead accepting $200 per month for the support of Alexis.
⁴
She
also signed a retraction:

I, Sara Northrup Hubbard, do hereby state that the
things I have said about L. Ron Hubbard in courts and the public prints have
been grossly exaggerated or entirely false. I have not at any time believed
otherwise than that L. Ron Hubbard was a fine and brilliant man.

I make this statement of my own free will for I have
begun to realize that what I have done may have injured the science of
Dianetics, which in my studied opinion may be the only hope of sanity in future
generations. I was under enormous stress and my advisers insisted it was necessary
for me to carry through as I have done.

There is no other reason for this statement than my
own wish to make atonement for the damage I may have done. In the future I wish
to lead a quiet and orderly existence with my little girl far away from the
enturbulating influences which have ruined my marriage.

The retraction is clearly Hubbard's work (even containing
his invented word “enturbulating”). Sara has confirmed that it was
⁵
Sara remarried, and has largely evaded interviewers ever since. In 1972, she
broke silence to write to author Paulette Cooper. In that letter, Sara
described L. Ron Hubbard, the “fine and brilliant man,” as follows:

I really think he is a terribly destructive man - and mad as a
hatter ... His sickness is not just destructive, it is also contagious. I hate
to think how many weak people have been harmed by this man. The day of my
divorce from Ron was like a day of rebirth for me. I feel that Alexy and I
escaped from a death-in-life situation ... I am really afraid of him. He has
such control over his people ... You have no idea the lengths to which he can
go.

June, 1951, brought a major change in Hubbard's fortunes.
His divorce was made final, and his book
Science of Survival
was
published by the new Wichita Hubbard Dianetic Foundation. The title was coined
to appeal to readers of Korzybski's highly popular
Science and Sanity
.
Korzybski was acknowledged in Hubbard's new book. The size of the first
edition, 1,250 copies, is evidence of Hubbard's decreasing popularity.
⁶
He later blamed poor sales on Purcell.
⁷
The book elaborated the theories
of
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health
in relation to
Hubbard's “Tone-Scale,” gave variations on earlier Dianetics techniques, and
made yet more claims for the miraculous properties of auditing.

Hubbard asserted that an individual's emotional condition,
or “tone level,” is the key to the interpretation of their personality. The
purpose of Dianetics was to raise the individual's tone-level to Enthusiasm. In
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health
the tone-scale was divided
into four numbered “zones”
⁸
: from Apathy to Fear, from Fear to Antagonism,
from Antagonism to Conservatism, and on to Enthusiasm.

In
Science of Survival
, the Tone Scale was laid out
in far more detail. Death was below Apathy at Tone 0, Grief at 0.5; Fear at
1.0; Covert Hostility at 1.1; Anger at 1.5; Antagonism at 2.0; Boredom at 2.5;
Conservatism at 3.0; Cheerfulness at 3.5; and Enthusiasm at 4.0. The numbering
was arbitrary,
⁹
but Hubbard would continue to speak of an enthusiastic
person as a “Tone 4,” and the wolf in sheep's clothing, or covertly hostile
individual, is still called a “1.1” (or “one-one”) by Scientologists.

The new book was accompanied by a large fold-out “Hubbard
Chart of Human Evaluation,” with forty-three columns, each relating to a
particular trait, from “Psychiatric range” to “Actual worth to Society,” all
related to “emotional tone level.” By knowing someone's emotional level,
Hubbard claimed you would know their physiological condition, and be able to
predict their behavior. An Enthusiastic person will be “near accident-proof”
and “nearly immune to bacteria.” An Antagonistic person will suffer “severe
sporadic illnesses,” and a Frightened person will suffer from “endocrine and
nervous illnesses.” An Enthusiastic person will have a “high concept of truth,”
while a Bored person is “Insincere. Careless of facts,” and an Angry person,
engages in “blatant and destructive lying.”

Hubbard also expounded upon the idea of A.R.C., which was to
become central to Scientology. He asserted that Affinity, Reality and
Communication are inextricably linked, and dubbed them the ARC triangle. The
increase or decrease of one of the comers of this triangle would influence the
other two by the same amount. Reality, according to Hubbard, was fundamentally
agreement. In its eventual formulation, Affinity, Reality and Communication
were said to equal understanding.

In
Science of Survival
, Hubbard referred to the
exploration of “past lives.” If the “pre-clear” offered a “past life incident,”
the Auditor should simply “run” him through it. Hubbard complained that Elizabeth
Foundation Directors “sought to pass a resolution banning the entire subject”
of “past lives.” However, several Auditors trained at Elizabeth ran “past
lives” on Preclears there and say it was Hubbard who was slow to adopt the idea
¹⁰
Eventually Hubbard adopted it with gusto and “past lives” became
a focus of Scientology. Although reincarnation was a commonplace idea in the
West by this time, Hubbard had undoubtedly met the notion in the works of
Aleister Crowley who also preferred the expression “past lives” to
“reincarnation.”

In the new book Hubbard also advanced his “theta-MEST”
theory. MEST stands for “Matter, Energy, Space and Time” - the
physical
world. By this time Hubbard asserted that “MEST” and that which animates it are
two very different things. He used the Greek letter “theta” to categorize
“thought, life force, élan vital, the spirit, the soul.” Hubbard described the
relationship between “theta” and “MEST”:

Consider that theta in its native state is pure
reason or at least pure potential reason. Consider that MEST in its native
state is simply the chaotic physical universe, its chemicals and energies
active in space and time.

The cycle of existence for theta consists of a
disorganized and painful smash into MEST and then a withdrawal with a knowledge
of some of the laws of MEST, to come back and smash into MEST again.

MEST could be considered to be under onslaught by
theta. Theta could be considered to have as one of its missions, and its only
mission where MEST is concerned, the conquest of the physical universe.
¹¹

The Dianetic movement in 1951 consisted mainly of small
autonomous groups, many of which had rejected Hubbard's leadership after the
collapse of the Elizabeth Foundation with the ensuing bad press. There were a
number of newsletters in circulation, some openly hostile to Hubbard. There was
an air of experimentation. Helen O'Brien, who attended, wrote “Audiences at
Hubbard's lectures were always partly composed of oddly dynamic fringe
characters who were known to us as 'squirrels' ... They practically never
enrolled at a Dianetic Foundation seeming to obey some unwritten law which
prohibited them from supporting an organization acting in Hubbard's interest.
Nevertheless, his ideas dominated their lives.”
¹²

At the Wichita Foundation, Hubbard's only duties consisted
of giving weekly lectures,
¹³
and signing students' certificates
which were awarded for time spent studying, rather than as the result of any
examination.
¹⁴

The price of the Dianetic Auditor course remained at $500,
¹⁵
but there were far less takers than there had been in Los Angeles six months
before. Only 112 people attended the first major conference held at Wichita.
¹⁶
They were the remaining core of the Dianetic movement.

Small editions of new Hubbard books and pamphlets poured out
of the Wichita Foundation: Preventative Dianetics,
Self Analysis
,
Education
and the Auditor, A Synthesis of Processing Techniques, The Dianetics Axioms,
Child Dianetics, Advanced Procedure and Axioms, Lectures on Effort Processing, Handbook
for Preclears
, and
Dianetics the Original Thesis
were all published in
the last six months of 1951.
¹⁷

By October 1951, Hubbard attracted only 51 students to a
brief series of lectures.
¹⁸
In December, he held a convention for
Dianeticists, and, according to O'Brien, felt betrayed when none of his old
Elizabeth colleagues showed up. The men who had helped to make Dianetics a
nationwide movement had deserted him. Winter, who had lent the air of medical
authority; Morgan, the lawyer who had incorporated the first Foundation;
Ceppos, the publisher who had unleashed
Dianetics: The Modern Science of
Mental Health
on the world; and, most important, Campbell, Hubbard's first
recruiter and greatest publicist, who had virtually created the Dianetics boom.
Winter had even written a book which, although it defended Dianetics, attacked
Hubbard. Ceppos had published Winter's book.

The first major challenge to Hubbard's leadership came in
January 1952. A Minneapolis dianeticist, Ron Howes, was declared “Clear” by his
Auditor, Perry Chapdelaine.
¹⁹
Remarkable claims were made for, and
by, Howes including his statement that he was seeing if he could grow new
teeth. To many Dianeticists Howes seemed proof of Hubbard's claims.
Unfortunately for Hubbard, Howes set up on his own and attracted a following
for his “Institute of Humanics.” More desertions from the Hubbard camp
followed.

In an effort to raise money, Hubbard launched “Allied
Scientists of the World,” the name of the organization which had figured in his
first post-war novel,
The End is Not Yet
. From its headquarters in
Denver, Colorado, Allied Scientists solicited donations from scientists. Some
of the scientists approached were working on secret government projects, and
the Justice Department took a keen interest in the approach. Long hours were
demanded of the Foundation's lawyer to sort out ensuing problems.
²⁰

Unsurprisingly, Hubbard and Purcell had a falling out. At
Wichita, Hubbard had joined the “past lives” faction. This leap of attitude
from a supposed precision study of the mind to a spiritual practice aggravated
the conservative Purcell.
²¹
Purcell had also initially failed to
realize that the Wichita Foundation would be treated as the legal successor to
the Elizabeth Foundation, and would therefore be forced to settle Elizabeth's
extensive debts, which ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Purcell tried
to persuade Hubbard to put the Wichita Foundation into voluntary bankruptcy.
Hubbard refused, but in February, after creditors had threatened receivership,
he resigned. He sold his 70 percent holding to the Foundation for $1.00, along
with permission to teach Dianetics. He opened the “Hubbard College” on the
other side of town, leaving Purcell the complicated task of settling accounts.
The Foundation filed for voluntary bankruptcy.
²²

On the same day, Hubbard sent a telegram to Purcell
informing him that he was filing two suits against Purcell for a total of $1
million.
²³
Hubbard then published an attack on Purcell, accusing him
of bad faith and incompetence. Despite this, the Foundation sent a moderate and
matter-of-fact account of events to their members.
²²
No-one was
blamed. The report included a simple record of income and expenditure, showing
that the Foundation had earned $141,821, of which $21,945 had been paid to
Hubbard. The Foundation had overspent by $63,222 in less than a year of operation.
Hubbard launched an out-and-out attack on the Foundation using its mailing
lists, which he had misappropriated, and claiming Purcell had been paid
$500,000 by the American Medical Association to wreck Dianetics.
²⁴

In March, a restraining order was put on Hubbard and his
lieutenant, James Elliot, requiring that they return the mailing lists, the
addresso plates, tapes of Hubbard's lectures, typewriters, sound-recorders,
sound-transcribers and other equipment which had disappeared from the Wichita
Foundation.
²⁵
Elliot admitted having “inadvertently” removed this
immense haul from the Foundation. When they were eventually returned, in
compliance with a court order, some of the master tapes of Hubbard lectures had
been mutilated.
²⁶

The Court auctioned the Foundation's assets, freeing it from
debt. Purcell bought the assets outright for $6,124. Hubbard had left the
sinking ship a little too hastily. The battle between Hubbard and Purcell
continued throughout 1952, with attacks and counter-attacks being sent to those
on the Wichita Foundation mailing list. Purcell distributed the record of the
bankruptcy hearings. Hubbard sent out a statement insulting those who had
chosen to remain with the official Foundation. He accused them of emotional
inadequacy and intellectual shallowness, saying that they obviously preferred
shams to the genuine article. Using the tone of a spoiled child in a tantrum,
he grieved about his isolation, his unswerving devotion and his unselfishness.
Yet again, he claimed to have new techniques which would solve the ills of
mankind.

Hubbard also sent out increasingly desperate pleas for
funds. For the first time he introduced the ploy of steadily escalating prices.
Would be franchise holders could buy a package of tapes and books, along with
the right to use and teach his methods, for $1,000. Soon the price would rise
to $1,500, then $2,000 and then $5,000 within three months. Hubbard outlined
the goal of his new organization thusly: “Bluntly, we are out to replace
medicine in the next three years.” He also promised “degrees” in Dianetics.
²⁸