A Review of the Book, Self Analysis, by L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of Scientology and Dianetics

L. Ron Hubbard is the discoverer of Dianetics and founder of the Church of Scientology. Most people either love him or hate him. I tried to keep an open mind as I began reading Self Analysis, but I ran into a roadblock in the first two paragraphs of Hubbard's introduction.

He states:

"Self Analysis cannot revive the dead.

Self Analysis will not empty insane asylums or stop war. Theses are the tasks of the Dianetic auditor and the Group Dianetic technician."

Hubbard's claims in these paragraphs are astounding. He is claiming that Dianetic auditors and Group Dianetic technicians, which roughly correspond to mental health counselors, can revive the dead, empty insane asylums and stop war.

I read two more pages of the introduction and found that on page seven, Hubbard claims that sinusitis and poor eyesight are psychosomatic illnesses. He states further that this book, Self Analysis, should be able to help markedly with psychosomatic illnesses.

That perked my interest. I wear thick glasses, and I have sinusitis. Sinus surgery has improved my sinusitis dramatically. I don't get it as often as I used to; and when I do, it is not as severe as it used to be. But just maybe I can get rid of my glasses or at least graduate to a thinner pair if I study this book.

I read on. Chapters One through Seven contain a lot of common sense psychology translated into Hubbard's own jargon. Hubbard uses words like theta, engrams, entheta, preclear and enturbulates. Hubbard coined many of these words. Fortunately, Self Analysis comes with a glossary or the reader would be lost. Some readers will find it difficult to understand what Hubbard is talking about even with the glossary.

The purpose of the first part of the book is to prepare you for the tests and exercises that make up most of the book. You are introduced to The Hubbard Chart of Human Evaluation, the Tone Scale, and given instructions on how to use the cardboard disk at the back of the book.

Hubbard explains the laws of survival and abundance, death of consciousness and our efforts for immortality. He also talks about raising our level of consciousness and our level of life and behavior so we can achieve immortality.

On pages 39 and 40, I found some more strange comments by Hubbard. Hubbard is explaining and describing organisms and the various stages they are at with regard to death or as he calls it, death of consciousness. On page 40 he says that the surest way to know that someone has passed the halfway point on his way to death, is his physical condition. "The chronically ill have passed it," he claims.

On page 39, he describes those who have passed the halfway mark, "Here we have the Hitlers, the criminals, the destructively neurotic." This passage does not provide much comfort for a chronically ill person who picks up this book. To be fair, Hubbard does seem to imply on page 40, that Dianetics can help such people.

Whether it can help such people or not is not for me to decide. I want to know if Self Analysis can help me. Can I get rid of my glasses? Will my sinusitis improve as a result of working my way through this book?

Using the Hubbard Chart of Human Evaluation, I took my first Tone Scale test. I did remarkably well, scoring near 4.0 on the Tone Scale. I was relieved because Hubbard states in this book that the Tone Scale he developed is also a scale of insanity. Since 4.0 is the top of the scale, I am not insane by Hubbard's standards.

Now on to the Processing Section, the remainder of the book. Here is where the reader does a number of exercises that are meant to help him or her learn more about themselves and improve their lives. This is where therapy takes place. Processing is also called auditing and the person helping you with the processing is called an auditor. Hubbard makes it clear that when you practice self analysis by using this book; he, L. Ron Hubbard, is auditing you.

In spite of the bizarre claims made by Hubbard in this book, and in spite of the fact that Hubbard does not support his claims for Dianetics and Scientology, the exercises in the Processing Section of the book can be helpful. The cardboard wheel which comes with the book is hokey, and the book states that you can still do the processing without it.

Essentially, the processing exercises involve remembering incidences from your past. Going through an exercise the first time, you might be asked to remember smells from a particular incident. The next time, the turn of the wheel will direct you to recall colors from an incident.

I doubt that these exercises can help you psychologically. However, they can be very useful if you want to improve your memory. They can also be useful if you are a writer or artist and want to bring back the sights, smells, colors and other aspects from earlier incidents in your life.

It is only on this limited basis that I can recommend this book to anyone. I believe that a person would be better served reading and working their way through David Burns' Feeling Good book than they would this one. The reader must also consider that books like Self Analysis, while they can be used as stand alone products, are also used by the Church of Scientology to woo you into the church. The detailed descriptions of other Dianetics and Scientology books at the back, the postage free insert for obtaining a free copy of The Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart of Levels and Certificates chart and the toll free numbers listed in the book are proof of that.

One thing I can say for sure. After working through the book, I am still wearing the same glasses, and I still have sinusitis.