“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, start a religion.” With those words, prolific sci-fi pulp fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard prophesied the course of his life’s work.
The 1950s saw the emergence of UFO- and alien channeling-based spiritual groups, as postmodern religious syncretism transformed supposedly ancient angels and demons into benevolent and/or terrifying aliens. No iteration of this fantasy has been more financially fruitful, culturally impactful, controversial, or bizarre than Hubbard’s brainchild: Scientology.
In the latest episode of Roots of Conspirituality, Julian digs into the fascinating backstory of this prolific author, revered as prophetic by thousands, pursued as a fraud by the IRS for decades, described as a cult leader by church escapees, and called an abusive madman by his ex-wives. Allegedly…
The religion is a complex blend of self-help psychology, elaborate pseudoscience, high-demand paranoia, and alien mythology that, at its height, commanded 100,000 members—and is still valued at roughly $2 billion.
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At 2,000 hours Friday, the 24th of January, AD 36, L. Ron Hubbard discarded the body he had used in this lifetime for 74 years, 10 months, and 11 days.
The body he had used to facilitate his existence in this mess universe had ceased to be useful and in fact had become an impediment to the work he now must do outside of its confines.
We felt it was important as Scientologists that you were the first to become aware of this fact.
That was David Miscavige's first public appearance as he was beginning to step into the role of being the new head of Scientology.
L. Ron Hubbard His body was found in a small motorhome tucked in behind the stables on a ranch in the town of Creston, close to San Luis Obispo in California, which is almost an exact halfway point between L.A. and San Francisco.
This was in 1986, but notice that Miscavige right there just referred to the year as AD 36. Did you catch that?
The AD stands for...
No, no.
It stands for after Dianetics.
And the idiosyncratic year that he's referring to there is calculated by counting from the year 1950 as zero.
And that's when Hubbard's seminal text was published.
So AD 36 means 36 years after Dianetics was published.
Here's a little more from his speech.
As Scientologists, we know more than anyone that we are not bodies.
We have bodies.
And our current existences in our current bodies are but one in a million that we have lived and will live.
LRH, in fact, used this lifetime in the body we knew to accomplish what no man has ever accomplished.
He unlocked the mysteries of life and gave us the tools so that we could free ourselves and our fellow man.
The fact that he causatively and willingly discarded the body after it was no longer useful Now,
listening to his voice and seeing his confidence, I was surprised to find out that Miscavige was just 26 years old when he stepped up to that podium on the stage at the Hollywood Palladium, which has a capacity of 4,000 people.
Scientology itself was at its absolute peak at that time, boasting around 100,000 members worldwide, with the largest concentration of those being in LA, primarily associated with the entertainment industry.
Today, after wave after wave of controversy, legal battles, allegations of abuse, and other forms of criminality, that number has shrunk to be estimated close to 40,000.
Thank you.
When Hubbard's body was found, I only mention this because one key tenant of Hubbard's teachings I'm
Julian Walker.
Welcome to Conspirituality, where we investigate the intersections of conspiracy theories and spiritual influence to uncover cults, pseudoscience, and authoritarian extremism.
On Deck Today is the latest in my series that travels back through time to track the roots of what we study.
You can find all seven of the previous episodes in the Roots of Conspirituality series under the Collections tab on Patreon.
Today we're picking up again in the 1950s, a wild and woolly time in the American psyche when post-World War II new religious movements were springing up around claims of spiritual aliens, spaceship-traveling prophets, None of these have been more financially fruitful, culturally impactful, controversial, and I would say bizarre.
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