Editing L. Ron Hubbard (section)

===Pivot to Scientology===
{{main|Life of L. Ron Hubbard from 1950 to 1953}}
{{seealso|L. Ron Hubbard and starting a religion for money}}
[[File:Mary sue hubbard 1957.jpg|thumb|[[Mary Sue Hubbard]] in 1957.]]
Having lost the rights to Dianetics, Hubbard created Scientology. At a convention in Wichita, Hubbard announced that he had discovered a new science beyond Dianetics which he called "Scientology". Whereas the goal of Dianetics had been to reach a superhuman state of "Clear", Scientology promised a chance to achieve god-like powers in a state called [[Operating Thetan]]. Hubbard introduced a device called an "electropsychometer" (or [[e-meter]]), which called for users to hold two metal cans<ref>Initially, the user held emptied soup or juice cans with the paper labels removed. Later versions of electrodes had abandoned food cans, however Hubbard continued to use the term "cans" to refer to the handheld metal electrodes.</ref> in their hands to measure changes in skin conductivity due to variance in sweat or grip. In 1906, Swiss psychoanalyst [[Carl Jung]] had famously used such a device in a study of word association.{{Sfn|Urban|2012|page=49}}{{sfn|Peterson|Jung|1907}} Rather than a mundane biofeedback device, Hubbard presented the e-meter as having "an almost mystical power to reveal an individual's innermost thoughts".{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=204}}<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/236566795/ |title=One Man's Lake County |first=Ormund |last=Powers |date=October 23, 1952 |newspaper=[[Orlando Sentinel|Orlando Morning Sentinel]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Hubbard married a staff member, 20-year-old [[Mary Sue Whipp]], and the pair moved to [[Phoenix, Arizona]].{{Sfn|Miller|1987|p=202}} Hubbard was joined by his 18-year-old son Nibs, who had become a Scientology staff member and "professor".{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=207}}{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=232}} Scientology was organized in a different way from the decentralized Dianetics movement — The Hubbard Association of Scientologists (HAS) was the only official Scientology organization. Branches or "orgs" were organized as franchises, rather like a [[fast food restaurant]] chain. Each franchise holder was required to pay ten percent of income to Hubbard's central organization.{{sfn|Tucker|1989|p=304}} In July, Hubbard published "What to Audit" (later re-titled ''[[Scientology: A History of Man]]''), which taught everyone has subconscious traumatic memories of their past lives as clams, sloths, and cavemen which cause neuroses and health problems. In November 1952, Hubbard published ''Scientology 8-80'', followed up in December with ''Scientology 8-8008'', which argued that the physical universe is the creation of the mind.{{r|malko|page=103|quote="In Scientology 8-8008 he summarized all this as follows: 'It is now considered that the origin of MEST lies with ''theta'' itself, and that MEST, as we know the physical universe, is a product of ''theta''." Put another way, colloquially, all matter, energy, space, and time are, well, a figment of our imagination. ''It'' is all here because we are thinking ''it''.'"}}
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|source=Hubbard in December 1952.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tonyortega.org/2018/01/28/sunday-scientology-sermon-l-ron-hubbard-on-freeing-kids-from-their-bodies/ |title=Sunday Scientology sermon: L. Ron Hubbard on freeing kids from their bodies |first=Tony |last=Ortega |date=January 28, 2018}}</ref>
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In December, Hubbard gave a seventy-hour series of lectures in [[Philadelphia]] that was attended by 38 people in which he delved into [[the occult]].{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=210}} In the lectures, Hubbard connects rituals and the practice of Scientology to the [[magick]]al practices of [[Aleister Crowley]],{{Sfn|Urban|2012}} recommending Crowley's book ''[[Magick in Theory and Practice|The Master Therion]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Melton|first1=J. Gordon|title=Studies in Contemporary Religion: The Church of Scientology|date=2000|publisher=Signature Books|location=United States|isbn=978-1-56085-139-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/churchofscientol00meltrich/page/67 67]|edition=1|url=https://archive.org/details/churchofscientol00meltrich/page/67|access-date=May 15, 2015|quote=In an off-the-cuff remark during the Philadelphia Lectures in 1952 (PDC Lecture 18), Hubbard referred to "my friend Aleister Crowley." This reference would have to be one of literary allusion, as Crowley and Hubbard never met. He obviously had read some of Crowley's writings and makes reference to one of the more famous passages in Crowley's vast writings and his idea that the essence of the magical act was the intention with which it was accomplished. Crowley went on to illustrate magic with a mundane example, an author's intention in writing a book.|url-access=registration}}</ref> During the Philadelphia course, Hubbard joked that he was "the prince of darkness", which was met with laughter from the audience.<ref>{{Cite book |title=My Billion Year Contract: Memoir of a Former Scientologist |first=Nancy |last=Many |year=2009 |publisher=BookBaby |isbn=9780982590409 |ol=25424752M |page=203}}</ref> On December 16, 1952, Hubbard was arrested in the middle of a lecture for failing to return $9,000 withdrawn from the Wichita Foundation. He eventually settled the debt by paying $1,000 and returning a car belonging to Wichita financier Don Purcell.{{sfn|Atack|1990|p=135}}

In April 1953, Hubbard proposed setting up a chain of "Spiritual Guidance Centers" as part of what he called "the religion angle".{{sfn|Streeter|2008|p=215}}{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=213}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Westbrook |first=Donald A. |title=Among the Scientologists: History, Theology, and Praxis |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 |location=Oxford |page=84|quote=We don't want a clinic. We want one in operation but not in name. Perhaps we could call it a Spiritual Guidance Center. Think up its name, will you. And we could put in nice desks and our boys in neat blue with diplomas on the walls and 1. knock psychotherapy into history and 2. make enough money to shine up my operating scope and 3. keep the HAS solvent. It is a problem of practical business. I await your reaction on the religion angle. In my opinion, we couldn't get worse public opinion than we have had or have less customers with what we've got to sell.}}</ref><ref>L Ron Hubbard letter to Helen O'Brien dated April 10, 1953</ref> On December 18, 1953, Hubbard incorporated the Church of Scientology in [[Camden, New Jersey]].<ref>Also incorporated were Church of American Science and Church of Spiritual Engineering</ref><ref name="Williams">Williams, Ian. ''The Alms Trade: Charities, Past, Present and Future'', p. 127. New York: Cosimo, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-60206-753-0}}</ref> The religious transformation was explained as a way to protect Scientologists from charges of practicing medicine without a license.<ref>"[T]here is little doubt but what this stroke will remove Scientology from the target area of overt and covert attacks by the medical profession, who see their pills, scalpels, and appendix-studded incomes threatened&nbsp;... [Scientologists] can avoid the recent fiasco in which a Pasadena practitioner is reported to have spent 10 days in that city's torture chamber for "practicing medicine without a license.", Staff (April 1954). "Three Churches Are Given Charters in New Jersey". ''The Aberree'', volume 1, issue 1, p. 4</ref> The idea may not have been new; Hubbard has been quoted as telling a science fiction convention in 1948: "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."<ref name="Methvin">Methvin, Eugene H. (May 1990). "Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult". ''[[Reader's Digest]]''. p. 16.</ref><ref>Lawrence, Sara. (April 18, 2006) [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-secrets-of-scientology-474636.html "The Secrets of Scientology"]. ''The Independent''. Retrieved February 17, 2011.</ref><ref>Staff. (April 5, 1976). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070105162606/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913995,00.html?internalid=ACA "Religion: A Sci-Fi Faith"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. Retrieved February 17, 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Underdown |first=James |date=2018 |title='I Was There...': Harlan Ellison Witnesses the Birth of Scientology |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |volume=42 |issue=6 |page=10 |author-link1=James Underdown}}</ref>