Have You Lived Before This Life?
9780884040040
Have You Lived Before This Life? is a Scientology book about past lives by L. Ron Hubbard published in 1958 by the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International. The book is considered part of Scientology's canon.[1]: 21
Premise
The book was Hubbard's response to the success of the Bridey Murphy phenomenon in the UK. Hubbard saw this as an opportunity to increase public interest in past life regression.[2]
Have You Lived Before This Life? purports to be a collection of forty-one actual case histories of reincarnation and past-life experiences, gleaned from auditing with an e-meter at the Church of Scientology's "Fifth London Advanced Clinical Course" held in October-November 1958.[3] Some of the stories took place on other worlds or in the extremely distant past.[4] The book was based on an earlier privately printed softcover circulation made available to Scientology students who attended that course.
Scientology's official website says of the book: "The major portion of the book is devoted to the auditing case histories of individuals, detailing their memories of past lives. These case histories graphically show how a person’s attitudes and actions in present time can be affected by incidents in his or her past lifetimes. They also document the improvements that occurred when such incidents were addressed and run out in auditing."
Reception
In 1960, there was a "storm of controversy" about the book in the small English town near his Saint Hill property; Hubbard had to issue a statement explaining that the contents from the book was not actual history, but were observations from his work into the mind.[5]: 238
In her book The Scandal of Scientology, Paulette Cooper examined the often fantastical nature of the past lives described, referred to by Hubbard as "space opera":
"Hubbard has devoted a special book called Have You Lived Before This Life: A Scientific Survey just to past-life case histories of Scientologists. The preface of this book also contains the names and addresses of the people who took part in the experiment so that the cynical could check its facts ... Most of the Scientologists who relived their past lives believed that they had once been plain people, or very often space people, and for plots, their histories read like a type of science-fiction sadomasochism." —Paulette Cooper[6]
Unpublished sequel
According to Cooper, Hubbard announced a sequel called Where Were You Buried? was in the works. He instructed his auditors to check all preclears for recent deaths, and then to physically locate their place of burial.[6][7]
See also
- Bibliography of Scientology
References
- ^ a b Rothstein, Mikael (2007). "Scientology, scripture, and sacred tradition". In Lewis, James R.; Hammer, Olav (eds.). The Invention of Sacred Tradition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–37. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511488450.002. ISBN 9780521864794.
- ^ The LRH Study Tapes 1972
- ^ "More on Have You Lived Before This Life by L. Ron Hubbard". The L. Ron Hubbard Bookstore. Church of Scientology. Archived from the original on November 7, 2004. Retrieved April 8, 2006.
- ^ Kent, Stephen A.; Raine, Susan (2017). Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-3249-9.
- ^ Miller, Russell (1987). Bare-faced Messiah : The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805006540. OL 26305813M.
- ^ a b Cooper, Paulette (1971). "4. Have You Lived Before This Life?". The Scandal of Scientology. Tower Publications. Archived from the original on April 11, 2008. Retrieved April 20, 2008.
- ^ *Ability (Scientology newsletter) number 114.
External links
- 1968 version of Have You Lived Before This Life? at Open Library
- Archived Church of Scientology-published description of the book
- v
- t
- e
practices
- Abortion
- Auditing
- Books
- Bridge
- Clear
- Dianetics
- Dianetics (book)
- Disconnection
- E-meter
- Engram
- Ethics and justice
- Glossary
- Implant
- Incident
- Keeping Scientology Working
- Marcab Confederacy
- Marriage
- MEST
- Operating Thetan
- OT VIII
- Reactive mind
- Scientology and religious groups
- Reincarnation
- Sec Check
- Sex
- Silent birth
- Space opera
- Study Technology
- Thetan
- Training routines
- Xenu
controversies
- Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act
- Books critical of Scientology
- Church of Scientology editing on Wikipedia
- Clearwater Hearings
- Death of Elli Perkins
- Death of Kaja Ballo
- Death of Lisa McPherson
- Fair game
- Fishman Affidavit
- Guardian's Office operations
- Keith Henson
- The Internet
- Operation Clambake
- Operation Freakout
- Operation Snow White
- Project Chanology
- Project Normandy
- R2-45
- Psychiatry
- Scientology and Me
- Scientology as a business
- The Secrets of Scientology
- Suppressive person
- Tax status in the US
- "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power"
- Timeline
- Hubbard v Vosper
- United States v. Hubbard
- X. and Church of Scientology v. Sweden
- Church of Scientology v. Sweden
- Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology
- Hernandez v. Commissioner
- New Era Publications International ApS v. Carol Publishing Group and Jonathan Caven-Atack
- Church of Scientology of California v. Armstrong
- R. v. Church of Scientology of Toronto
- Church of Scientology Intl. v. Fishman and Geertz
- Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto
- Religious Technology Center v Lerma
- Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services, Inc.
- Church of Scientology Intl. v. Time Warner, Inc., et al.
- Arenz, Röder and Dagmar v. Germany
- Church of Scientology Moscow v. Russia
- Cadet Org
- Celebrity Centre
- Church of Scientology
- Church of Scientology International
- Church of Spiritual Technology
- Founding Church of Scientology
- Golden Era Productions
- Hubbard Association of Scientologists International
- International Association of Scientologists
- Office of Special Affairs
- Religious Technology Center
- Rehabilitation Project Force
- Scientology Missions International
- Sea Org
- L. Ron Hubbard
- Mary Sue Hubbard
- David Miscavige
- Shelly Miscavige
- Bob Adams
- John Carmichael
- Tommy Davis
- Jessica Feshbach
- David Gaiman
- Leisa Goodman
- Heber Jentzsch
- Kendrick Moxon
- Karin Pouw
- Mark Rathbun
- Mike Rinder
- Michelle Stith
- Kurt Weiland
organizations
and recruitment
- Association for Better Living and Education
- Applied Scholastics
- Celebrities
- Citizens Commission on Human Rights
- Concerned Businessmen's Association of America
- Criminon
- Cult Awareness Network
- The Delphian School
- Free Zone
- Front groups
- Moxon & Kobrin
- Narconon
- New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project
- Oxford Capacity Analysis
- Safe Environment Fund
- Second Chance Program
- Trademarks
- Volunteer Ministers
- The Way to Happiness
- World Institute of Scientology Enterprises
- Youth for Human Rights International
culture
- Ali's Smile: Naked Scientology
- Being Tom Cruise
- Bowfinger
- The Bridge
- Going Clear
- film
- Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath
- My Scientology Movie
- The Master
- The Profit
- South Park
- "A Token of My Extreme"
- A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant
- We Stand Tall
- Wikibooks
- Wikimedia Commons
- Wikinews
- Wikiquote
- Wikisource
- Wikiversity
- Wiktionary