science

Scientology: A History of Man

Scientology: A History of Man is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Scientology: A History of Man rather than just read about it. In short: Scientology: A History of Man is a book by L. Ron Hubbard, first published in 1952 under the title What to Audit by the Scientific Press of Phoenix.

Key takeaways

Scientology: A History of Man belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Scientology: A History of Man to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Scientology: A History of Man from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Scientology: A History of Man is a book by L. Ron Hubbard, first published in 1952 under the title What to Audit by the Scientific Press of Phoenix. According to the author, it provides "a coldblooded and factual account of your last sixty trillion years." It has gone through many editions since its first publication and is a key text of the Church of Scientology. The book has been ridiculed by scholars, journalists and critics of Scientology for its unusual writing style and pseudoscientific claims; it has been described as "a slim pretense at scientific method ... blended with a strange amalgam of psychotherapy, mysticism and pure science fiction; mainly the latter."

Publication history According to Christopher Evans, the book reportedly originated in Scientology auditing sessions held in Wichita, Kansas in early 1952, involving Hubbard and his personal auditor, Perry Chapdelaine. Chapdelaine said that Hubbard would "settle himself on a couch with a tape recorder handy and an 'auditor' who would be expected to provide appropriate feedback. In no time a flow of introspection - like the free association characteristic of a psychoanalytic session - would begin." In a different account, Hubbard's son, L. Ron Hubbard Jr. (otherwise known as "Nibs," or Ronald DeWolf) and Hubbard senior's medical officer, Jim Dincalci, have both stated that the book's content originated when Hubbard fed his son amphetamines:

[Hubbard] gave his son Nibs some amphetamines, and Nibs started talking, he said, started really going talking fast, from the speed. And he kept talking, he kept talking, and his dad kept giving him speed and all of a sudden he was talking about his history, when he was a clam and all these different situations in early Earth. And out of that came History of Man. This material was first released as four lectures which Hubbard delivered to Scientologists on March 10, 1952. Further lectures followed in Phoenix, Arizona in April, and in July 1952 the book What to audit; a list and description of the principal incidents to be found in a human being was published by the Phoenix-based "Scientific Press" - an imprint established by Hubbard. The same book was published under the title A History of Man by the London-based Hubbard Association of Scientologists. It was reissued in two substantially modified editions, in 1968 (minus chapter 11 of the original book and under the current title of Scientology: A History of Man), in 1988, and again in 2007, this time with a set of lectures expanding on the content. Since 1968, the book's jacket has displayed a picture of a hirsute, unkempt "caveman" dressed in a fur, eating the raw meat from a thigh bone of an animal. This appears to refer to one of the past-life incidents described by Hubbard in the book. Many Scientology books have similar curious pictures on their jackets; according to former Scientologist Bent Corydon, their purpose is to restimulate past-life memories and make the book irresistible to purchasers. Corydon states,

A special "Book Mission" was sent out to promote these books, now empowered and made irresistible by the addition of these supposedly overwhelming symbols or images. Organization staff were assured that if they simply held up one of the books, revealing its cover, that any bookstore owner would immediately order crateloads of them. A customs officer, seeing any of the book covers in one's luggage, would immediately pass one on through.

Synopsis As the original title suggests, What to Audit / A History of Man was written as a guide for Scientologist auditors, pointing out various Space opera incidents said to occur in all past lives. The book proposes that the human body houses two separate entities. The most important is a thetan, said by Hubbard to be the true self of a person, accompanied by a genetic entity, or 'GE': "a sort of low-grade soul" located more or less in the centre of the body, and which passes to another body when the current body dies.

Key incidents The book describes numerous incidents that, according to Hubbard, occurred to the thetan or the genetic entity in past lives. Although commonly misinterpreted as an alternative theory of evolution, the purpose of the incidents list is that individuals have subconscious memories of past lives as clams, sloths, and cavemen, and that those memories result in neuroses, known as 'engrams'. These stages of biological history, some typified by an animal and others typified by other items, were marked by traumatic incidents which have to be "run out" using an E-meter. Hubbard emphasized that these incidents are not limited to the list below: for example, he notes "there are many steps and incidents between the Birds and the Sloth". The list arbitrarily names some incidents that Hubbard found particularly worth commenting on:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Scientology: A History of Man

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Scientology: A History of Man claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Scientology: A History of Man before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Scientology: A History of Man ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Scientology: A History of Man

In research: Scientology: A History of Man appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Scientology: A History of Man in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Scientology: A History of Man is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 books, Books published by the Church of Scientology, English-language books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Scientology: A History of Man outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Scientology: A History of Man in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Scientology: A History of Man means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Scientology: A History of Man out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Scientology: A History of Man in simple terms?

Scientology: A History of Man is a book by L. Ron Hubbard, first published in 1952 under the title What to Audit by the Scientific Press of Phoenix.

Why does Scientology: A History of Man matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Scientology: A History of Man?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Scientology: A History of Man.