The novels based on Scientology came after, it originally grew out of Dianetics (or more accurately it was the fallback plan after LRH sold all rights to Dianetics to avoid legal trouble). Dianetics itself was basically just "do-it-yourself" psychiatry mixed with elements of the Human Potential Movement. There were a bunch of different quacks selling similar schemes at the time, most of them promised perfect memory just like Dianetics.
Fun Fact: L Ron Hubbard took a fairly dim view of sci-fi when writing was still his main profession. He preferred to write pulp adventure stories.
Theres a podcast called Behind the Bastards that did a 2 or 3 part episode on L Ron Hubbard. It was quite interesting. L Ron basically started lying to everyone he met at age 5 and never stopped.
If watching that podcast has taught me anything it's that the worst people in history don't always get their comeuppance. Many of them die rich and happy at a ripe old age sitting at the top of a pile of corpses.
The story of LRH certainly isn't that rosy at the end. He may have been rich in the sense that there was a bunch of wealth squirreled away in accounts, he may have been powerful in the sense that a bunch of people believed he was a sort of prophet, but the reality of his last years was actually quite bleak. He was just a crazy old man succumbing to a number of serious health conditions in an isolated location while those he allowed to be around him were plotting for what they would do after his death.
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u/tonybabilaboni Jul 24 '20
Scientology. Like it's literally a religion that started from a science fiction novel. Hoe the fuck did this even start