Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

added that he was also working on a rewrite of a Broadway play, no less than ten novels and a
serial for Street and Smith.
This was the conundrum. In 1949, the year in which Hubbard's 'research' was presumably
approaching fruition, he once again began writing fiction at a prolific rate: 'Gun Boss of
Tumbleweed' and 'Blood on his Spurs' for Thrilling Westerns, 'Gunman' and 'Johnny the Town
Tamer' for Famous Westerns, 'Plague' and 'The Automagic Horse' for Astounding, 'Beyond the Black
Nebula' and 'the Emperor of the Universe' for Startling Stories, and many more.
Not a month passed in 1949 without the name of L. Ron Hubbard appearing on the cover of one of
the pulp magazines. Nevertheless, rumours began to circulate among science-fiction fans in the
summer of 1949 that Ron Hubbard was also writing a book about philosophy and was intending to
unveil an entire new 'science of the mind'. What was most surprising to the fans was that Hubbard
had found the time to produce such a science, for it had long been expected by science fiction
devotees that one of their number would eventually come up with some world-shaking discovery.
Many of the technological developments of the previous twenty years, including the atom bomb, had
been predicted with uncanny accuracy by science-fiction writers and to the fans it was entirely
logical that science fiction should give birth to an important new science.
The rumours were fuelled by the fact that no one had seen Hubbard for months - he had not
attended any of the recent gatherings of the Los Angeles science fiction society, neither had he
made an appearance in any of the magazine offices in New York. It was said he was holed up
somewhere in New Jersey and that John W. Campbell was somehow involved in his plans. But no
one knew exactly where Hubbard was or precisely what he was doing or what the new 'science'
might entail, although everyone was agreed that Hubbard was on to 'something big', whatever it
was.
The first tantalizing details were revealed in an editorial in the December issue of Astounding
Science Fiction. With an implicit sense of history in the making, Campbell announced that an article
was in preparation about a new science called Dianetics. 'Its power is almost unbelievable; it
proves the mind not only can but does rule the body completely; following the sharply defined basic
laws set forth, physical ills such as ulcers, asthma and arthritis can be cured, as can all other
psychosomatic ills . . .' On the facing page, by a curious coincidence, there was a story titled 'A Can
of Vacuum' by L. Ron Hubbard, about a practical joke which results in remarkable scientific
discoveries.
By January 1950, the rumours had reached the ears of Walter Winchell, the syndicated columnist
on the New York Daily Mirror. 'There is something new coming up in April called Dianetics,' he
wrote in his column on 31 January. 'A new science which works with the invariability of physical
science in the field of the human mind. From all indications it will prove to be as revolutionary for
humanity as the first caveman's discovery and utilization of fire.'
In the April issue of Astounding, Campbell announced that the long-awaited article was at last
ready for publication: 'Next month's issue will, I believe, cause one full-scale explosion across the
country. We are carrying a 16,000 word article entitled "Dianetics - An Introduction to a New
Science", by L. Ron Hubbard. It will, I believe, be the first publication of the material. It is, I assure
you in full and absolute sincerity, one of the must important articles ever published. In this article,
reporting on Hubbard's own research into the engineering question of how the human mind
operates, immensely important basic discoveries are related. Among them:
'A technique of psychotherapy has been developed which will cure any insanity not due to organic