 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | L. Ron Hubbard |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Reincarnation |
| Genre | Pseudoscience |
| Publisher | The Hubbard Association of Scientologists International Limited |
Publication date | 1958 |
| Media type | |
Have You Lived Before This Life is a book published by L. Ron Hubbard in 1958. It was one of the canonical texts of Scientology,[1]
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]
It 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 these "case histories" 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 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 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."[5]
Unpublished sequel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.[5][6]
See also
References
- ↑ Rothstein, Mikael (2007). "Scientology, scripture and sacred tradition". In James R. Lewis, Olav Hammer (ed.). The invention of sacred tradition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 21. ISBN 978-0-521-86479-4. OCLC 154706390.
- ↑ 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 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2006-04-08.
- ↑ 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.
- 1 2 Cooper, Paulette (1971). "4. Have You Lived Before This Life?". The Scandal of Scientology. Tower Publications. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
- ↑
- Ability (Scientology newsletter) number 114.
- Miller, Russell (1987). "14. Lord Of The Manor". Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (First American ed.). New York: Henry Holt & Co. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-8050-0654-4.
External links
- 1968 version of Have You Lived Before This Life? at Open Library
- Archived Church of Scientology-published descriptions of the book (now out of print and unavailable):
- "Past lives: Have You Lived Before This Life?". New Era Publications. Archived from the original on June 20, 2006.
- "Scientology Books: Have You Lived Before This Life?". lronhubbard.org. Archived from the original on November 7, 2004.