Showing results by author "L. Ron Hubbard" in All Categories

It betrays the brightest hopes of individuals, drives families apart, incites organizational turmoil and pitches nations into chaos. What malignant seed grows in the human mind that not only prevents individuals from “thinking straight,” but forces them to act out their irrationalities?

No civilized culture has failed to recognize the importance of education. And it is widely acknowledged that in today’s fast-paced society, success depends on the ability to swiftly understand and use information. What lies behind the crisis in education? Are some subjects simply hard to teach? Are some teachers just not good at imparting knowledge?

Through his extraordinary journey to the founding of Dianetics and Scientology, Ron did just that. From his adventurous youth in a rough-and-tumble American West to his far-flung trek across a still mysterious Asia; from his two-decade search for the essence of life to the triumph of Dianetics and Scientology - such is the story Ron recounts in a lecture so legendary, it has been heard by millions. How could one man discover the source of all human aberration and provide an actual technology by which Man could rise to greater heights of honesty, decency, and personal freedom? The answer is here.

To overcome tyranny is to win freedom as a people, a nation or even Mankind. Yet to benefit fully from their liberties, each man and woman must also be free - as individuals. In regard to freedom as a nation, here is the remarkable story of how one man, the Athenian statesman Pericles, envisioned a better future for Mankind - a future free from tyranny. Thus was developed a principle at the heart of modern civilization - specifically, that the individual citizen has a right to his own opinions, a right to be heard, and a right to know and participate in government.

It has been bought and sold in a thousand dramas. It has been preached about from every pulpit - debated, contested, condemned, and exalted. And with no means to accurately measure or quantify it, the physical sciences either ignored it or denied its very existence. The human soul. Here, then, is a discovery all the more remarkable for being grounded not merely on faith and belief, but on proofs as irrefutable as any in science.

In a world of unpredictable forces racing headlong toward an uncertain future, how can a single individual control his own fate? How can he safeguard the well-being of his family, the prosperity of his group, and the security of his nation? Must he mutely await the next unforeseen blow, which might well signal the end of all dreams and aspirations? Or should he endeavor by whatever means, through whatever plan, to secure the future for those he cherishes and the society in which he lives?

Money is, of course, something with which everyone is familiar. But how many people truly understand the role money plays in the society? Judging from the duress and anxiety associated with this subject, few people are aware of the real purpose and function of money. Here Ron delineates its proper role in assisting the survival of individuals, groups, and cultures.

Your mind: it is your constant companion. You live with it 24 hours a day, every day of your life. Yet Man has known practically nothing about how it works. And from marriages that end in divorce to careers that wind up in frustration, from tensions that interfere with work to conflicts that divide nations, virtually every human crisis can be traced to Man’s ignorance of the mind. Imagine, then, the potential benefits of finding the answers.

Everyone performs certain routine tasks automatically. Driving a car would be awkward indeed if one had to think newly of every tiny procedure. But what happens when someone puts a whole field of thought and action “on automatic”? His education, for example? Or his work? Or even his entire life? The answers are here and they open a completely new perspective on the mind. To the degree an individual has withdrawn from participation in an area of life, he substitutes an automatic mental mechanism for himself.

Since time immemorial, Man has sought to liberate the soul from the body and so achieve immortality. In this account of the religious heritage that stands behind Scientology, Ron recounts the extraordinary story of Man’s epic quest for a way to attain that goal. Embracing a tradition from the very dawn of civilization, here is the history of Man’s relentless pursuit of the knowledge which inspired this planet’s great philosophies and religions.

An extraordinary drama played out across thousands of years, Man’s long search to penetrate the mystery of “the other fellow” - and thereby to know himself - found its expression not only in philosophy and religion, but even in war and conquest. Yet in spite of, or perhaps because of, the crucial intensity of this quest, its continuing failure down the centuries accumulated ever-deepening problems for Man. Hence, in desperation, he eventually abandoned the search entirely - in 1879, to be precise.

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Johnny Trescott is as smart, tough, and fearless as they come. But he’s about to lose everything - his boat, his freedom, and his identity. Johnny’s mission is to track down drug runners in the Gulf of Mexico, and he’s got his eye on the biggest fish of all - Georges Coquelin. But an SOS from a downed plane that’s sinking fast leads him straight to disaster. Coquelin springs a trap. Stranding Johnny and the plane’s passengers on a deserted island, the drug smuggler commandeers Johnny’s boat and his name.

Things are disappearing. Parts of buildings, parts of people, parts of the whole world - they’re here today, gone tomorrow. Old Shellback thinks he needs glasses. But all he really has to do is open his eyes...and see the light. Or so says George Smiley - otherwise known as the Messiah. George claims that the reason things are vanishing is because he wants them to go away. He has no more use for the world...and so it goes. Say goodbye. But Old Shellback has a different idea, and since he is the most stubborn man in the universe, you might want to hear him out.

Bat Conroy - cut him and he’d bleed ink, he’s a born newspaperman. The greatest American journalists of the 20th century all made their names as war correspondents, but none of them would have beat out Bat Conroy to a good story. Which makes it that much more mystifying - and aggravating - when an unknown writer, filing under the byline Perry Lane, scoops Bat on every story that comes along. Bat’s always been the go-to reporter covering the Japanese invasion of China...until this Perry Lane person came along to steal his thunder and maybe even his job.

US Navy Lieutenant Steve Craig is in one hell of a mess. Being accused of murder is bad enough, but the local police are convinced he’s killed his own father. And now, for Steve Craig, the plot is about to get down and dirty. Steve’s safe from the cops as long as he stays aboard his Navy ship - but the word safe isn’t in his vocabulary. He slips off the vessel and vanishes into the seamy underside of the city, determined to find out who took his father's life...even if it means risking his own.

There’s not a dare Smoke Burnham won’t take, and there’s not a wager he won’t make. Now he’s betting his life that he can fly his plane, Super Comet - with his pet cheetah Patty coming along for the ride - across the mountains and jungles of South America to a prize-winning payday. All he has to do is out-race the competition, out-maneuver a saboteur, and make out with his girl - who’s determined to bring him down to earth. One thing you can count on - in the air, in a fight, or in his girlfriend’s arms - he’s a man who likes to turn up the heat.

Insurance investigator Brent Calloway may be too hard-boiled to crack a smile, but he’ll go to any length to crack a case. Calloway’s about to go to extremes to see to it that one ship makes it safely from Hawaii to the mainland. Going undercover and posing as ruthless killer Spike O’Brien Calloway quickly discovers that on this ship nothing is what it seems, and no one can be trusted. With so much insurance money at stake, and the whole crew apparently in on the scam, this could end up being a voyage to the bottom of the sea....

When it comes to boiling up a pot of coffee or stirring up a pot of stew, Old Laramie’s about as good a man as you’re going to find. But other than cooking three squares a day for the cowpunchers over at the Lazy G ranch, Laramie’s not good for much. But Laramie’s luck - and life - are about to take an amazing turn. Quite by accident, he somehow manages to save a family of Mexicans from bandits, and as a token of their gratitude they give him The Magic Quirt - a horsewhip that he’s told will turn him into a new man.

It is one of the greatest conflicts - and a pivotal turning point - in history...the Chinese civil war. On one side stands Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists. On the other, Mao Zedong and the Communists. And their forces are about to meet in a decisive battle...the outcome of which is in the hands of one American pilot, John Hampton, a man who couldn’t care less....

Firsten Guide is a tough, wise-cracking rebel leader who’s light years ahead of his time - and about to lead his crew into a battle that’s Beyond All Weapons. He and his fellow colonizers of Mars have faced a brutal crackdown engineered by Earth’s tyrannical government. But the resourceful Firsten has developed an extraordinary new fuel that enables him and his hardy band to escape into space - and time.