Honestly, when you are asking about a person who lied thousands and thousands of times and in his lectures and writings and contradicted himself thousands of times it's difficult to judge his true intentions and beliefs.
I have examined a lot of evidence and Hubbard's mind is not an open book. It's more like a book with pages overwritten and parts torn out and written over with crayon.
The models created by experts on cult leaders in my opinion are useful, in particular the ones by Daniel Shaw, author of Traumatic Narcissism and Robert Jay Lifton, author of numerous books including Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism and Losing Reality.
The idea of the malignant narcissist or traumatic narcissist from Daniel Shaw can include the idea of a person with a split or fractured mind. In one part is the false self presented to the outside world as a perfect, infallible, godlike, superior inhuman being with perfect and total knowledge, impeccable morals and perfect choices who literally does no wrong. The false self is the opposite of the inner true self, this is a self image, often created by years of perhaps neglect or abuse or idealization, the true self is (in its self image) inferior, weak, worthless, incompetent, unworthy of love or acceptance or even existence and pathetic and undeserving of sympathy from anyone.
The inner self is petulant, immature, atrophied in emotional development, belligerent and projects the opposite undesirable qualities it has onto the false self and seeks endless positive attention to escape the feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability it is plagued by.
This can result in a part of the mind that believes the false image to a degree but if the ego or survival is threatened enough the inner self can operate as if the lies about the superior false self are not true.
Other cult leaders who for example, claim psychic powers such as levitation and telekinesis, can be found to somehow avoid the tasks that would demonstrate these abilities.
Hubbard notably often claimed telekinesis, remote viewing, telepathy, healing, and prophesy of the future as definitely available abilities to those who used Scientology for decades yet he used entirely mundane espionage methods and had agents infiltrate the US government to steal documents and this would have been unnecessary of his alleged psychic powers existed. Similarly Hubbard's health both physically and mentally was quite poor for the last fifteen or twenty years of his life and he sought conventional medical care for many of his injuries and ailments despite having claimed numerous times in very clear terms that Scientology could cure these things.
The famous Sarge special E meter story is taken by many people as rock solid proof that by the end of his life Hubbard was a true believer. But there are numerous obstacles to that which are simply ignored. First, the story is one anecdote related from one person to one witness. Second, Hubbard may have known deep down that Scientology was always a fraud but felt that, for just one example, if he used a powered up meter to kill himself he would be remembered as a hero and martyr instead of a tyrant and con man.
To explain the Sarge special E meter story I will quote an excerpt from the book Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior by Mark “Marty” Rathbun
From Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior:
Sarge (Steve Pfauth): So, anyway, he (L. Ron Hubbard) wanted to see me. So I went into the Bluebird and sat down. And he sat across from me and he said, “Sarge,”…boy I wish I had written it all down because I don’t want to goof it up, because this is kind of important. Basically he said, “Sarge, I need you to do something.” He wanted me to build him a machine that would get rid of the bts [body thetans] and kill the body.
Mark (“Marty” Rathbun): Wow.
Sarge: Yeah. It’s kind of heavy. It struck me real hard. He told me a few things. He said, “Yeah, I’ve done all I can do here and I’m just… I’m not coming back. I’m leaving and I am not coming back.” He wanted to die, basically. You know, his body was going to hell and all that stuff. He was having trouble with bts.
Mark: And you say that was in late ʼ85?
Sarge: Yeah. Fall of ʼ85. Yeah, it was right around October.
Mark: Like three months before he died.
Sarge: Yeah, like three or four months. So, I didn’t want to do it. But I didn’t tell him that. And I was hoping I could talk to Pat because Annie insisted that I build the machine. And I said, “Annie, I don’t know that much about building machines that fry people, you know what I mean?”
Mark: Well, did he describe how it should be done?
Sarge: Basically, he wanted to hook it up to the e-meter. And he wanted enough voltage in there that it would get rid of the bts. And I asked him about voltages and I asked him some questions…it was so long ago. And, uh, well, I gotta tell ya, it upset me a lot.
Mark: I bet. So, the idea was that you’d be holding the cans…
Sarge: Turn the thing on and then, in other words, he was gonna audit the bts away and the body was gonna die.
Mark: Right. So there would be enough voltage to kill the body?
Sarge: To do it all. How he figured I was going to figure that out, I have no idea…
… Sarge: Yeah. Earlier on I cooked for LRH. He thought I was a good cook. And then he got sick. Anyway, what happened was I was very upset. So I got pissy-ass drunk and Annie found me about four o’clock in the morning with beer cans all over the green truck, out at the racetrack. I had passed out on the seat. And she was screaming at me, “Oh, you son of a bitch!” Oh man, she laid into me. And I said, “All right, Annie,” and my head was hurting. But I was upset, I was very upset. I was crying and everything. That was a rough time. Very rough. Uh, so anyway, then days went by, okay? And Annie kept saying, “He wants to know about the machine, he wants to know about the machine. What are you doing on the machine?” Annie says, “If you don’t do anything on this Sarge, he’s going to get the local electrician to build one for him.” Can you picture that?
Mark: Wow. That would have been a…
Sarge: I said “No way, man.” So I had to show some progress. So I went to an electronics place in San Luis Obispo and I bought some Tesla coils and some up-transformer things and I got all sorts of things. I basically built him a battery-operated automotive coil type thing. This is my reasoning now, Marty. If he gets zapped by that sucker, it’s gonna shock him but it ain’t gonna kill him. Okay?
Mark: Okay.
Sarge: It’ll shock him but it ain’t gonna kill him. It’ll scare him and he won’t want to do it again.
Mark: These are like 12-volt batteries?
Sarge: Yeah. But the voltage is going to go way up on a transformer. It’s like an automotive coil sort of thing.
Mark: So your thought, what you understand is that he is not going to get…
Sarge: I’m not frying him!
Mark: Exactly. I gotcha.
Sarge: I didn’t want anything that is going to plug into the wall. I didn’t want to fry him, but I didn’t want to tell him I didn’t want to fry him. You know what I mean?
Mark: Yeah, I think about what you are saying right now, and I try to put myself into your position and I…
Sarge: It was very difficult. I didn’t want to kill the old man. So anyway, he used the thing and he fried up my Mark VI [e-meter]. I had a Mark VI that got fried.
Mark: He used it?
Sarge: Yeah.
Mark: LRH actually used it?
Sarge: Yeah, it was my Mark VI, yeah. And it fried the Mark VI. I knew that was going to happen. Fried it.
Mark: You mean he actually tried…
Sarge: Oh, yeah. It had burn marks on it and everything.
Mark: He didn’t get burnt?
Sarge: He may have. But after that there was no more mention of any machines. And that was my intention. That was my intention.
Mark: He probably got a good, hard jolt.
Sarge: I think it scared him, or something.
Mark: And it burned the plastic?
Sarge: It was burnt. It was fried. The insides were gone. Because, you know, those things are like a computer. You can’t put that much power into them without zapping them…I do think people need to know. I just wish at the time when I first blew that I would have written it all down. But I carried it because I had no terminals [people to talk to]. End excerpt from Memoirs of a Scientology Warrior
One thing is definitely clear about Hubbard - he wanted to be remembered and was extremely concerned with his image.
Scientology expert and author Jon Atack gave us insight into the mind of Hubbard in an article he wrote which Tony Ortega published in his blog The Underground Bunker:
What Motivated L. Ron Hubbard? Historian Jon Atack Follows the Clues
By Tony Ortega | August 26, 2013
“The letter is addressed to his first wife, Polly, whom he called “Skipper.” First of all, he gives a rather melancholic explanation for his discovery of the principle “Survive!,” saying: “Living is a pretty grim joke, but a joke just the same. The entire function of man is to survive. Not ‘for what’ but just to survive.” He added: “It’s a big joke, this living. God was feeling sardonic the day He created the Universe. So its [sic] rather up to at least one man every few centuries to pop up and come just as close to making Him swallow his [sic] laughter as possible.”
As for immortality, Hubbard is entirely unconvinced of the survival of the soul, spirit, or thetan: “Personal immortality is only to be gained through the printed word, barred note or painted canvas or hard grabite [sic — presumably he meant “granite”]. Note the word “only.”
A 26-year-old Hubbard laid out his aim in life: “Foolishly perhaps, but determined none the less, I have high hopes of smashing my name into history so violently that it will take a legendary form even if all the books are destroyed. That goal is the real goal as far as I am concerned. Things which stand too consistently in its way make me nervous. It’s a pretty big job. In a hundred years Roosevelt will have been forgotten — which gives some idea of the magnitude of my attempt. And all this boils and froths inside my head and I’m miserable when I am blocked.”
Hubbard added that he was going to “make Napoleon look like a punk” in comparison to the fame he would come to enjoy.
So, “Excalibur” was not about spiritual immortality, or spiritual anything. Hubbard felt that he had made contact with some underlying force in the universe, and that he was the only person ever so to do, but he wanted to exploit that force not for the good of the world (which finds no mention anywhere in this five-page letter), but to “smash” his name into history.” End quote Jon Atack
Further insight into the mind of Hubbard can be gained in my opinion from reading his affirmations.
Hubbard claimed expertise in dozens of fields and in truth he never was proficient in the vast majority of them, but one of the few he actually did put considerable effort into studying was hypnosis. In hypnosis affirmations can be self hypnosis commends that are read or listened to over and over again to produce influence upon the mind of the subject.
Hubbard had his affirmations and may have listened to them thousands of times over the years in an effort to produce desired changes in his mind.
I call them the Rosetta Stone of Scientology as they allow one to reexamine much of Scientology doctrine and practices with increased understanding.
Here are some excerpts that show his intentions. Remember, these were private self hypnosis commands that he likely never meant for anyone else to discover.
I have them posted at Mockingbird's Nest as
A Psychiatric View With Comments On The Admissions By Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1947)
I will put a few excerpts here to highlight Hubbard's intention regarding hypnosis and in general. To understand Scientology I absolutely recommend reading the post in full. These excerpts are just for this post on his intentions.
LRH is obviously L Ron Hubbard
LRH:Your psychology is good. You worked to darken your own children. This failure, with them, was only apparent. The evident lack of effectiveness was "ordered." The same psychology works perfectly on everyone else. You use it with great confidence.
LRH: Material things are yours for the asking. Men are your slaves. Elemental spirits are your slaves. You are power among powers, light in the darkness, beauty in all.
LRH : Your psychology is advanced and true and wonderful. It hypnotizes people. It predicts their emotions, for you are their ruler.
LRH: No matter what lies you may tell others they have no physical effect on you of any kind.
LRH: Lord help women when you begin to fondle them. You are master of their bodies, master of their souls as you may consciously wish. You have no karma to pay for these acts.
LRH: You can tell all the romantic tales you wish. You will remember them, you do remember them. But you know which ones were lies. You are so logical you will tell nothing which cannot be believed.
LRH: You use the minds of men. They do not use your mind or affect it in any way.
So, Hubbard in his private affirmations clearly described his "psychology" as such that it "hypnotizes" people and that men are his slaves and regarding women that he was master of their bodies and souls. He described himself as being able to lie and be both believed and he was immune to physical effects from his lies. He described himself as the ruler of people who uses the minds of men but they do not use or affect his mind.
Imagine having these goals and using self-hypnosis commands repeatedly for years to bring these things into your mind.
From a tape on the Philadelphia Doctorate Course lectures in 1952 entitled Structure/Function we get this:
RON THE HYPNOTIST
Structure/Function: 11 December 1952 page 1
"All processes are based upon the original observation
that an individual could have implanted in him by hypnosis
and removed at will any obsession or aberration,
compulsion, desire, inhibition which you could think of – by hypnosis.“
"Hypnosis, then, was the wild variable;
sometimes it worked,
sometimes it didn’t work.
It worked on some people; it didn’t work on other people.
Any time you have a variable that is as wild as this, study it.
Well, I had a high certainty already –
I had survival. Got that in 1938 or before that. And uh…"Ron Hubbard
From the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course lectures we have a couple extremely relevant quotes. The tapes are listed by their number:
SHSBC-402
Of course, we go on a tradition "if you learn anything about man that will help him,
you help him with it." ...
"If you learn anything about man that you can manipulate him
You're going to manipulate men,
you've got to change their definitions
and change their goals
and enslave them and do this and do that.
SHSBC-447
Now, brainwashing simply is the trick of mixing up certainties.
All you have to do if you want to know and develop the entire field
of brainwashing as developed by Pavlov,
is simply to make somebody ..... into a confused or hypnotic state in which he can believe anything. Ron Hubbard
Complimenting this is a quote from Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture tape numbered 39 from 1952 - known as the games maker tape or lecture
"Now here’s a process that has to do with the making of games, and all this process adds up to, is you just address to those factors which I just gave you, oh, run and change postulates and any creative process that you can think of and shift postulates around, you get a whole process." End quote
THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTROL PEOPLE IS TO LIE TO THEM. You can write that down in your book in great big letters. The only way you can control anybody is to lie to them.
- Lecture: "Off the Time Track" (June 1952) as quoted in Journal of Scientology issue 18-G, reprinted in Technical Volumes of Dianetics & Scientology Vol. 1, p. 418. Ron Hubbard
Conclusion:
Hubbard plainly defined "postulates" broadly as decisions, conclusions and this can be called beliefs. Changing postulates in a person is changing their beliefs.
So, he called brainwashing the trick of mixing up certainties. Putting a person into a confused state in which he would believe anything was how he phrased it. He said if you can manipulate men you WILL, not leaving any exceptions for himself ! And he said you will change their definitions and their goals which were their certainties and you will enslave them !
He said he started with hypnosis which could "implant or remove any inhibition, compulsion, aberration or desire you could think of BUT it has the wild variable that it works on the some people but not others and it works sometimes but not others." So, he was trying to see who it worked on and when and likely how to get it to work as often as possible on as many people as possible. He wanted people in Scientology to shift around the certainties, the postulates, the decisions and beliefs of people to change their definitions and goals, to definitions he wanted them to believe and goals that benefited Hubbard.This all aligns with the "game" he wanted.
His private communication to himself and to his wife Polly make it clear that his ideas regarding "you" using psychology, hypnosis and brainwashing and lying to control people as he described in Scientology doctrine was really him describing his own intention. The evidence is overwhelming.
One other reference that I believe is essential to understanding the mindset of Hubbard is a taped lecture he gave in 1952 as part of the Philadelphia Doctorate course lectures called the games maker.
Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture tape numbered 39 The games maker tape 1952
"The MEST universe would have you believe this is the only game there is anyplace in the whole of anything. That’s not true! Not even vaguely true."
"Games are going on with all kinds of rules, terrific interest levels and so forth. All right, I’m going to read off for you this paper just so we’ve got it on the tape. How many minutes we got? – five minutes. That’s plenty."
"Now we get The rules of games are as follows: Limitations on self and others, obedience to rules, unconsciousness of rules to add reality – we pretend the rules are real."
"ARC with others to play. Pain as a penalty which will be obeyed – you have to have a penalty that will be obeyed. Otherwise, nobody will stick with the rules."
"Agreement to rules and penalties is necessary to continue a game. And boy, are they!
Deterioration of a game until no game – cycle of action shows you the whole game is an object with no action."
"You know, the… the… the wienie finally becomes everything there is, and there is no action even to get the wienie."
"Work is admission of inability to play – if you have to work, you can’t play, obvious. They really yap about that here."
"A game of complexity and levels – the Tone Scale is such a game. It’s just a map of MEST universe games."
"Peculiarity or liability of a maker of game, people attempting to play the game of Maker of Games– it’s a game itself. Your big capitalista or commissar will do that."
"The game called Maker of Games results in No Game. And the game called Unmaking Games results in a game. 8008.“
"There’s a game called freedom, which is what you’re playing right at this minute.
And Games contain trickery and misdirection to win – your 180 degree vector of Have and Agree."
"The prize of winning is making a new game– what do you know? Or permitting a new game to be made or making it possible for a new game to be played. Those are all prizes, and that’s all the prizes there are. "
"The necessity – oh, of course, there’s these gimmicks, these wienies and so forth. But everybody just knows that they’re spurious as hell. Uh… The necessity to have a new game coded before one ends the old game.“ Otherwise, everyone becomes a maker of games with no game."
"Now, The value of pieces. Ownership of pieces may be also the ownership of players. And the difference between players and pieces, and the difficulty of pieces becoming players“
"boy, when a piece becomes a player, there’s really a hell of an upset in the game; it’ll just blow. Oh, the quarterback walks out of the football game and all of a sudden starts to run the whole football game, and nobody can tell him No. That football game’s dead."
"Now… so you’ve got to hide the rules from the pieces, otherwise this is going to happen."
"Now the caste system of game consist of this: The Maker of Games, he has no rules, he runs by no rules."
"The player of the games, rules known but he obeys them. And the assistant players merely obey the players. And the pieces obey rules as dictated by players, but they don’t know the rules.“
"And then, what do you know. There’s broken pieces, and they aren’t even in the game, but they’re still in the game."
"And they’re in a terrible maybe: Am I in the game or am I not in the game? Now, How to make a piece. This is how to make a piece: First, deny there is a game. Second, hide the rules from them. Three, give them all penalties and no wins. Four, remove all goals–. Enforce them… their playing. Inhibit their enjoying. Make them look like but forbid their being like players“
"– look like God but uh… you can’t be God."
"To make a piece continue to be a piece, permit it to associate only with pieces and deny the existence of players.“
"Never let the pieces find out that there are players. Now out of these you’re going to get games."
"Now here’s a process that has to do with the making of games, and all this process adds up to, is you just address to those factors which I just gave you, oh, run and change postulates and any creative process that you can think of and shift postulates around, you get a whole process."
"But remember, that up at the top of it there is a big postulate, There must be a game.
Therefore if you want to regain the Spirit of Play, people have got to unmake postulates they’ve made all along, saying, There mustn’t be a game. There mustn’t be a game. It can’t be a game. Don’t play with me. I mustn’t be played with. Life is serious. This isn’t a game. We’re playing for keeps. I’ll never get out of this,“
"and so forth. In other words, the postulates which they’ve made to convince themselves that these are the rules and the only rules that can be played, and these that I’ve just read off to you.
I’m going to have this typed and you can figure it out more or less as you want to. I could, of course, give you even further rundown on this, if you wanted me to, but it takes… takes a little while to do so. It’s actually the backbone of what we are doing. But let’s take a break." (TAPE ENDS) PDC tape 39 The games maker Ron Hubbard
Let's really look at what Hubbard told us. (Words bolded by me for emphasis)
"A game of complexity and levels – the Tone Scale is such a game. It’s just a map of MEST universe games."PDC tape 39 The games maker Ron Hubbard
Hubbard told us THE TONE SCALE IS SUCH A GAME.
"There’s a game called freedom, which is what you’re playing right at this minute.
And Games contain trickery and misdirection to win – your 180 degree vector of Have and Agree."PDC tape 39 The games maker Ron Hubbard
Hubbard told us several things here, all important.
Hubbard told us THERE'S A GAME CALLED FREEDOM, WHICH IS WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING RIGHT AT THIS MINUTE.
Hubbard told us GAMES CONTAIN TRICKERY AND MISDIRECTION TO WIN - YOUR 180 DEGREE VECTOR OF HAVE AND AGREE.
"Now, How to make a piece. This is how to make a piece: First, deny there is a game. Second, hide the rules from them. Three, give them all penalties and no wins. Four, remove all goals"
"Enforce them… their playing. Inhibit their enjoying. Make them look like but forbid their being like players“
"– look like God but uh… you can’t be God."
"To make a piece continue to be a piece, permit it to associate only with pieces and deny the existence of players.“
"Never let the pieces find out that there are players. Now out of these you’re going to get games."
"It’s actually the backbone of what we are doing. "
Hubbard told us FIRST, DENY THERE IS A GAME.
Hubbard told us SECOND, HIDE THE RULES FROM THEM.
Hubbard told us THREE, GIVE THEM ALL PENALTIES AND NO WINS.
Hubbard told us FOUR, REMOVE ALL GOALS.
Hubbard told us ENFORCE THEM...THEIR PLAYING.
Hubbard told us INHIBIT THEIR ENJOYING.
Hubbard told us MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE BUT FORBID THEIR BEING LIKE PLAYERS.
Hubbard told us LOOK LIKE GOD BUT UH...YOU CAN'T BE GOD.
Hubbard told us TO MAKE A PIECE CONTINUE TO BE A PIECE, PERMIT IT ONLY TO ASSOCIATE WITH PIECES AND DENY THE EXISTENCE OF PLAYERS.
Hubbard told us NEVER LET THE PIECES FIND OUT THERE ARE PLAYERS.
Hubbard told us IT'S ACTUALLY THE BACKBONE OF WHAT WE ARE DOING.
Scientology is now the game that has David Miscavige as the player.
Ron Hubbard was the games maker.
Here Hubbard laid it out - HIS game is built on TRICKERY and MISDIRECTION. He lied to people to put them into his caste system of pieces and broken pieces. He acted like God but knew he couldn't openly claim to be God because people who come right out and say that they literally are God aren't accepted or even worse are accepted as believing it without it being true.
Hubbard made many of his intentions clear here. He wanted to change the goals of people and to use processes (Scientology auditing) to do this.
Scientology has the records of this but we don't normally ever see the truth about Scientology separated from the lies.
Hubbard made it perfectly clear, but you have to do a lot of digging.
"Now here’s a process that has to do with the making of games, and all this process adds up to, is you just address to those factors which I just gave you, oh, run and change postulates and any creative process that you can think of and shift postulates around, you get a whole process." End quote
"’Psychiatry’ and ‘psychiatrist’ are easily redefined to mean ‘an anti-social enemy of the people‘. This takes the kill crazy psychiatrist off the preferred list of professions...The redefinition of words is done by associating different emotions and symbols with the word than were intended...Scientologists are redefining ‘doctor‘, ‘Psychiatry’ and ‘psychology’ to mean ‘undesirable antisocial elements‘...The way to redefine a word is to get the new definition repeated as often as possible. Thus it is necessary to redefine medicine, psychiatry and psychology downward and define Dianetics and Scientology upwards. This, so far as words are concerned, is the public opinion battle for belief in your definitions, and not those of the opposition. A consistent, repeated effort is the key to any success with this technique of propaganda."
- Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 5 October 1971, PR Series 12, "Propaganda by Redefinition of Words"
Hubbard keeps talking about changing the goals, certainties and definitions of people to control them and of course to use trickery, misdirection and hiding information from people to control them, to enslave them with lying and that things could be done with hypnosis but it had the wild variable of sometimes working and sometimes not, of working on some people but not others.
"There are conditions worse than being unable to see, and that is imagining one sees."
Lecture, Scientology and Effective Knowledge (15 July 1957)Ron Hubbard
I feel the articles by Jon Atack are the best resource to untangle the lies of Scientology. I must recommend them all but you definitely should not skip Never Believe A Hypnotist and Hubbard and the Occult as well as all his articles at The Underground Bunker.
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