Sixty-eight years ago, on May 9, 1950, L. Rob Hubbard’s “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health” was published. The book immediately hit the New York Times best-seller list, where it spent the next 28 weeks. Publishers Weekly called the book “perhaps the best-selling non-Christian book of all time in the West” and awarded “Dianetics” its prestigious Century Award for appearing for more than 100 weeks on its bestseller list.
Virtually overnight, hundreds of Dianetics groups sprang up across the United States and as far away as Australia, and within weeks of the book’s publication, L. Ron Hubbard was traveling coast to coast, lecturing to tens of thousands of new readers on his philosophy and methodology of achieving mental health.
The Church of Scientology Silicon Valley will be holding a celebration of the anniversary of Dianetics this Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the event hall at 1080 Linda Vista Ave. in Mountain View.
The insights L. Ron Hubbard reached with “Dianetics” and the movement he inspired proved a stepping stone to him delving more deeply into the spiritual nature of man and eventually founding the Church of Scientology in 1954. It is the only major world religion to emerge in the 20th century.
L. Ron Hubbard went on to put his ideas about the spirit, mind and life in 19 books, thousands of other written materials and nearly 2,500 recorded lectures.
“Dianetics” is now available in 165 nations in 50 languages, and more than 21 million copies have
been sold.
And now, with the launch of the Scientology TV Network, the people, Churches and programs that comprise Scientology are reaching millions with original programming.
But it all began 68 years ago this week in the first chapter of “Dianetics” when L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “You are beginning an adventure. Treat it as an adventure. And may you never be the same again.”
If you want to find out more about Dianetics or Scientology in general, a good place to start is the Church of Scientology in Mountain View. The church welcomes anyone who is interested to come in and take a self-guided tour of their public information center, which offers a film and interactive multimedia presentations to explain the basic principles of Dianetics and Scientology and the many offerings of the church. Some of those offerings include personality tests to assess your strengths and weaknesses and a series of inexpensive classes on life management skills, from handling stress to improving family relationships to becoming more successful in business.
Scientology seeks to create a just world without violence by helping individuals improve themselves and their lives, says community outreach director Pete Hoffman. He said the church is a place of spiritual counseling and life learning.
To sign up for a tour, go to www.scientology-siliconvalley.org.